This is one of my favorite praise songs from Casting Crowns, named Praise You in This Storm. I need some prayer right now. I have a cold which is causing me to be congested and to cough. I also am on immune suppressant drugs. So besides feeling awful, I’m in a waiting period right now…hoping that I don’t get sicker. Please pray.
I was hoping to embed it but it wont work so here’s the link:
Since my Uncle passed recently I’ve been facing the reality of my mortality. Not a pretty subject. But something that we all must face, plan for and consider.
Actually I’ve faced this a few times before due to Myasthenia Gravis crises. (No, I’ve not been intubated, thank God.) I’ve had rides in ambulances, really scary choking episodes, and breathing problems.
When I had my thymectomy I faced major surgery like open heart surgery. While in the OR I did have heart problems. I learned about them after being in ICU and being placed on the Cardiac floor. In my drug induced daze I wondered why I was there. why two cardiologists visited me and why nurses came running every few hours to check me when my heart monitor showed my racing heart rate.
But I digress (as usual). Before this surgery I sat my hubby down and told him that I wanted a will. He didn’t want to face it, go with me to the lawyer or even talk about it. I learned that since we’re married we needed to have a will for each of us. There were some tough decisions to make. The most difficult was about our younger daughter - who would take care of her if we both died.
Hubby and I argued, fought, cried, screamed about this. When you have your own families (his both parents are alive, my Mother is alive) you feel allegiance to them. But, hey it got him talking!
I have a Living Will or Advance Directives done and my Will. I’d suggest anyone with any kind of Chronic Illness do both. I’d suggest anyone without do both. Be prepared. Don’t leave major decisions up to your family. It’s hard enough when you’re grieving or in shock to decide to put a loved one on a respirator or not, or to bury them or cremate them.
Death is real. We just need to face it like adults.
Love is in the air! I just joined a brand new blogging forum because I really need to connect with other bloggers on a more personal level. Blogging is a something I enjoy, a way for me to express myself and a route that I’ve found to be an advocate for people with chronic illnesses and disABILITIES.
But, blogging can be difficult too. For me I need to find balance in what I write. I’m a positive, optimistic person. So I don’t want to blog only to vent. I also don’t want to blog only to educate. I want well-rounded writing which is not self-centered or boring.
Being part of a forum with other bloggers is a great way to learn how to blog, how to improve postings and a way to form friendships too.
Blogger Love is brand new. It was started by christiegirl who now has three blogs. One of her blogs is about living with Diabetes. So that helps me right there - another woman with a chronic illness.
There’s a contest right now sponsored by Blog About Your Blog. I’m hoping to win one of three prizes:
Why not come on over to Blogger Love and join in on the fun?
What is real and what we wish to be are sometimes a bit different. Sometimes they’re the exact opposite.
Young children who thrive on routine can be thrown for a loop when their days get messed up. So what happens when Mom is sick and is sick quite often?
I’ve tried to keep things on an even keel for Peanut. She loves routine, gets quite upset when things are changed around and gets anxious when they’re not back to normal for days.
I have back up plans. I have family and friends that I can call on in an instant if I need help. They can get Peanut to school, pick her up, know her likes and dislikes, be sure her homework is done, etc.
I try to stay positive. There’s no sense in complaining about every ache and pain. If your child hears those words coming from you, it can mean disaster.
I let her school or any organization she belongs to know of my issues. If there’s a sudden change of plans they understand and can accommodate.
I am honest with my child but keeping age appropriateness in mind. If I’m really sick she can tell anyway, but I try to put a positive spin on it. I’ll say something like, “Mom’s sick today but you know how well I’ve been. The doctors are working to make me better already.”
One thing I’m hoping to get done is to get a support group running for children with parents of Chronic Illnesses. I know I can’t run it, so I’m in the thinking stages still.
I’ve missed posting here for a bit. My Uncle who I love very dearly and was very close to passed on Friday September 7th. It was a complete shock. We’re just heartbroken and still grieving.
We (hubby, Peanut and I) had tickets to attend Night of Joy at Disney on Saturday September 8th. We also had a hotel room reserved. It will be pretty easy to get our deposit back from Shades of Green. We have to fax them the info from the Funeral Home.
But I told hubby we’d never get our tickets refunded. He called and explained our situation and lo and behold, our tickets were refunded just like that.
Thank you Disney for caring.
My neurologist who treats me for Myasthenia Gravis is about 120 miles away from my home. He usually sees patients that live a distance away, even 2000 miles away. He’s that good and he’s one of a few doctors who specializes in this rare disease.
One of the things that I really like about him is that he teaches me about my disease. He doesn’t just treat me - write a prescription, send me for tests and then sends me on my way. He spends the time to educate me on my symptoms, what to look for if I feel my symptoms worsening and what to do.
He doesn’t view me as a body to poke and prod or a list of symptoms. I’m a person with a life, a family, and the will to go on living as normally as possible. To know that he wants the best for me and that he believes I can understand what to do in an emergency or before one arises, what to do or not to do to keep my as symptom free as possible is a refreshing.
I’ve seen too many doctors who see you for 5 - 10 minutes, maybe ask a couple of questions and send you off with a prescription with no explanation about what it is, what it’s for and how to take it.
The medical community needs to educate us to keep us free from disease and/or complications. I pray that more doctors learn from my neuro. If yours doesn’t speak up! Ask questions, let him or her know that you want to know, have the right to know and are the best person to know when things aren’t feeling right.
Being proactive can make anyone’s health condition better especially those of us with Chronic Illnesses.
Dr. D. James Kennedy died today in his sleep. He was 76 and was the retired Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He had suffered a heart attack in December of 2006 and was still having health issues from it. He had just retired two weeks ago.
Many may know him from his television and radio broadcasts. The Coral Ridge Hour was on tv for many years. His sermons were often about how the Bible and our world today coincide.
I know without a doubt that Dr. Kennedy is home with Jesus. He has served Him well. My prayers are with Dr. Kennedy’s wife, family, friends and the members of his congregation.
Salmonella was found again in packaged spinach by Metz Fresh on August 22nd and the company is voluntarily recalling all of it’s bagged spinach. Thank you Metz Fresh. I mean you’re doing this without any government agency forcing you to do this. You’re doing it before anyone dies or gets ill from salmonella.
Andrew Cumming, Metz Fresh President, said “Nothing is more important to Metz Fresh than the safety of our consumers, period. As soon as we learned of the presumptive positive test, we directed all customers to hold all boxes of the spinach affected as a precaution. Now, with this positive test confirmation, there is no question that we would recall and destroy all spinach bearing these three codes.” from the above mentioned article in Med News Today.
Seriously for a company to do this is way beyond what normally occurs. Usually someone (or more than one person) does die first and then it’s tracked back to what food the person(s) ate. Metz Fresh found salmonella on its own, while doing its own testing. Unfortunately the spinach has been distributed already. There was a breakdown somewhere in the chain of events.
So what does our government do to insure our safety? According to the Associated Press, some of our legislators are saying not enough. “This in no way should be seen as a success story,” said state Sen. Dean Florez, who chairs a committee on food-borne illnesses. He said that Metz Fresh should have caught the salmonella before any of its spinach reached consumers, and that he has written the state’s agriculture secretary demanding answers about “this breakdown in California’s food safety system.”
Those of us with chronic illnesses, especially those who take any type of immune suppressant drugs need to keep an eye on these developments. Maybe bagged salads and spinach is not an option for us. Or we may need to wash these vegetables again before eating them.
All I know is that I don’t take chances with things in my life that I have control over. So if you catch me with bagged salad draining in a strainer in my sink, don’t think I’ve totally lost it.
