Linner (combo of lunch and dinner) today with an old friend reminded me once again of what happens to each of us when we have decisions to make.
Her son-in-law decided about 5 weeks ago that he "needed to find himself." He doesn't think he wants to be married right now and he got married too young. AND, he didn't know what was involved in being married. (quote/unquote)
That is all well and good, but what about their 4-year old daughter? How do you explain these things to her when they don't even make sense to adults? So, my friend's daughter packed up and moved in with Mom and Dad. What else could she do?
Mom and Dad have a big 4-bedroom, 3-bath house w/pool. There is a cleaning lady who not only cleans but also washes and irons the clothes; Mom cooks all the meals, and Mom and Dad do the dishes. Even as good as all that sounds, it doesn't make up for the fact that there is no husband for the wife; no father for the daughter; and, no one to live in that little house that they own.
The one thing that confuses me is that he doesn't understand why no one wants to include him in the "trips" to the beach, the 4th of July celebration, or the vacation plans for next month. He chose to leave the family and he doesn't understand why he's being left out of all the activities. In other words, "He just doesn't get it."
Is there someone else in the picture? I wouldn't be surprised. That is usually the case when people want to "find" themselves. Even if that is true, the bottom line still remains - You can't make someone else do what you want them to do; even if it is the best thing for them. If that were possible, I would have made my husband take better care of himself so he wouldn't have died.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
ONE MORE TIME
There is a real possibility that I will be working again pt time, back at my old position. In fact, I've already had one supervisor tell me they would be glad to have me back. This was before I even knew I was considered. I've already been sent the days I'll be working, Sunday, Monday and Thursday. What is the hold up? They don't do anything quickly. If I am not re-employed by Friday, I lose all my seniority. Not much chance of that; so be it.
I am looking forward to having some extra money again. It's been tight these last few months, especially with having to make trips to JAX every other week or two, but I am right now "Pain Free." Wahoo. I also have energy again, and I guess I'm tired of staying home everyday and doing nothing.
I have worked since I was 17 years of age, and I believe I "think" and move better when I am employed. I mean, come on, Ween can only look interested for a few weeks. She is nodding off when I talk to her now. It must be time to go back to work. And, if I have to work, there isn't any better place with as many perks. So, I guess I'll go back.
I can hardly wait to hear all those complaints again. It will be like "magic" to my ears.
I am looking forward to having some extra money again. It's been tight these last few months, especially with having to make trips to JAX every other week or two, but I am right now "Pain Free." Wahoo. I also have energy again, and I guess I'm tired of staying home everyday and doing nothing.
I have worked since I was 17 years of age, and I believe I "think" and move better when I am employed. I mean, come on, Ween can only look interested for a few weeks. She is nodding off when I talk to her now. It must be time to go back to work. And, if I have to work, there isn't any better place with as many perks. So, I guess I'll go back.
I can hardly wait to hear all those complaints again. It will be like "magic" to my ears.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
First Time
There is always a first time for everything, or so I'm told, and today I had a "FIRST" happen. Two or three weeks ago I had a procedure done at Mayo to alleviate the pain I had been having in my legs, (my right one mostly). Today, I had a call from my surgeon's office, his charge nurse, to find out how I was doing since the procedure.
I must be the queen of surgeries - tonsils, appendix, C-sections, gallbladder, hysterectomy, 2 knee arthroscopic, and a rhinoplasty (I think that is all), but NEVER have I had a Dr or hospital call to see how I was doing after a procedure.
I have been so impressed with this hospital. They are not only organized and do not waste my time with appointments that don't happen or are off schedule, they are also kind and extremely helpful with all the encounters I have had. I can't say enough good things about this place.
I would advise anyone who is having medical problems and your doctors can't seem to focus on the real problem, just make an appointment and go there. It is not only beneficial, but also rewarding and emotionally settling. They are the best place I have ever seen a doctor, nurse, or office staff. They should give lessons.
I must be the queen of surgeries - tonsils, appendix, C-sections, gallbladder, hysterectomy, 2 knee arthroscopic, and a rhinoplasty (I think that is all), but NEVER have I had a Dr or hospital call to see how I was doing after a procedure.
I have been so impressed with this hospital. They are not only organized and do not waste my time with appointments that don't happen or are off schedule, they are also kind and extremely helpful with all the encounters I have had. I can't say enough good things about this place.
I would advise anyone who is having medical problems and your doctors can't seem to focus on the real problem, just make an appointment and go there. It is not only beneficial, but also rewarding and emotionally settling. They are the best place I have ever seen a doctor, nurse, or office staff. They should give lessons.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
SMOOSH
Who invented the mammogram? It had to have been a man - no women would inflict that torture on another woman. Why do we suffer? Why the pain? Why is it necessary? It saves lives!
I have a friend who has had 2 mastectomies. She is the same, outwardly, physically. For the most part, she is the same emotionally. What has she been through? Only she can tell you that. I have just seen a very brave person go through a personal hell, and survive. Her husband is supportive and protective. Their marriage goes on, much in the same way it has for the last 40 years. Could I have been so brave? I like to think so, but you never know how you will respond until you go through something. She's a hero, but she'd be the first to deny it. I am so proud of her.
My young friend, Mock, got out of the hospital today. I picked him up and took him home. He was all ready to do laundry and go back to work tomorrow. I suggested he take another day off, and do laundry tomorrow, a little at a time. He text me later and said after his shower, he decided to follow my advice. He was wiped out. (Sometimes I do know something).
The other Sheila is doing better. She has worked her way up to liquids for meals, instead of the IVs, so she's progressing. She probably won't be let loose until Thursday or Friday, so I offered to take her home. She said she'd let me know if her husband couldn't take her. We'll see.
Also heard from another friend, Cloe, that wants to do dinner on Thursday night. Sheila in Clearwater, and Cloe in Tampa. I think that would be easy to get to both friends on the same day. I hope that works out. I have great friends and I'm always excited to see them.
Ween's eyes are getting droopy and she needs to go to bed. Since we sleep together, she wants to stay up until I get ready, but she's too sleepy. I call her my "undercover dog" because she always burrows under the covers and sleeps until she get too hot, then she wiggles around and comes back out to her pillow and sleeps until she get too cold and then repeats the process again. (She's gone for the evening).
It's late. I'm all alone; typing and listening to tv at the same time. Multi-tasking has always been one of my strong suits. Where was I again; Oh yeah...
I have a friend who has had 2 mastectomies. She is the same, outwardly, physically. For the most part, she is the same emotionally. What has she been through? Only she can tell you that. I have just seen a very brave person go through a personal hell, and survive. Her husband is supportive and protective. Their marriage goes on, much in the same way it has for the last 40 years. Could I have been so brave? I like to think so, but you never know how you will respond until you go through something. She's a hero, but she'd be the first to deny it. I am so proud of her.
My young friend, Mock, got out of the hospital today. I picked him up and took him home. He was all ready to do laundry and go back to work tomorrow. I suggested he take another day off, and do laundry tomorrow, a little at a time. He text me later and said after his shower, he decided to follow my advice. He was wiped out. (Sometimes I do know something).
The other Sheila is doing better. She has worked her way up to liquids for meals, instead of the IVs, so she's progressing. She probably won't be let loose until Thursday or Friday, so I offered to take her home. She said she'd let me know if her husband couldn't take her. We'll see.
Also heard from another friend, Cloe, that wants to do dinner on Thursday night. Sheila in Clearwater, and Cloe in Tampa. I think that would be easy to get to both friends on the same day. I hope that works out. I have great friends and I'm always excited to see them.
Ween's eyes are getting droopy and she needs to go to bed. Since we sleep together, she wants to stay up until I get ready, but she's too sleepy. I call her my "undercover dog" because she always burrows under the covers and sleeps until she get too hot, then she wiggles around and comes back out to her pillow and sleeps until she get too cold and then repeats the process again. (She's gone for the evening).It's late. I'm all alone; typing and listening to tv at the same time. Multi-tasking has always been one of my strong suits. Where was I again; Oh yeah...
Monday, July 19, 2010
Earth, The Moon, or Mars?
For some unknown reason, Bob got the "wild" idea to go to NASA Sunday after he had worked all night. Loving to drive, and he being a little tired, I drove to the space center.
Beautiful day, clouds fluffy, and little or no traffic made it an easy drive to Cape Kennedy. A few things have changed since I was last there. The 3-4 hr bus ride is now broken up into 3 stops instead of being one continuous drive and only "viewing" different areas. They have even added 2 or 3 new restaurants. After the bus ride, Bob was pretty much wiped out, he was ready to go. (short and sweet trip).
With the few pictures I did manage to take, they seemed to be fairly clear. I enjoyed seeing the changes, but we really didn't see anything new. I guess it's hard to conjure up new experiences once the idea has been introduced. We did have a good lunch at Cracker Barrel.
(Picture of V A B or Vehicle Assembly Bulding)
Unfortunately, today I am a little achy and really need to take a day off. I was going to see my friend, the other Sheila, who had to have emergency surgery Sat night, but I text to tell her how I felt and she agreed that I needed to rest. Mock is also in the hospital; some sort of heart arrhythmia. He expects to have a stress test before they will let him leave; probably some time tomorrow. Some people. They just couldn't stand me having all the medical attention. Good luck and prayers to both.
Beautiful day, clouds fluffy, and little or no traffic made it an easy drive to Cape Kennedy. A few things have changed since I was last there. The 3-4 hr bus ride is now broken up into 3 stops instead of being one continuous drive and only "viewing" different areas. They have even added 2 or 3 new restaurants. After the bus ride, Bob was pretty much wiped out, he was ready to go. (short and sweet trip).
(Picture of V A B or Vehicle Assembly Bulding)
Unfortunately, today I am a little achy and really need to take a day off. I was going to see my friend, the other Sheila, who had to have emergency surgery Sat night, but I text to tell her how I felt and she agreed that I needed to rest. Mock is also in the hospital; some sort of heart arrhythmia. He expects to have a stress test before they will let him leave; probably some time tomorrow. Some people. They just couldn't stand me having all the medical attention. Good luck and prayers to both.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Another Year?
It's amazing to me how our bodies work, and that doctors actually know some things that help us to keep our bodies moving. This procedure has made a world of difference in my ability to move about. I am grateful.
Monday, July 12, 2010
D.O.B
I have two more appointments in August. Those are basically consultations in different areas and I'm not expecting anything major. The results of my two blood works done in the last two weeks were good. I am slightly anemic, and sugar level is of concern, but for the most part, they look good.
Today is my birthday and I am so grateful. I have to take it easy for the week - no driving and no pool, but those are very minor concessions for relief of pain. I have contacted my former Director at the park, and there are a few part-time positions available. I am interested. We will see where that takes me.
(Bottom picture is a view from the pool area in Jax)
Friday, July 09, 2010
Teachable or Our Own Thing
Back in the Ice Age when I was employed as a teacher, I was always looking for that "Teachable Moment". That time, in class, when something comes up for discussion, incidentally, that is actually pertinent to our learning. Most days it did not appear. Sometimes, it was like pulling teeth to try to teach anything. Something happened this morning that was a "Teachable Moment" for me.
While I was waiting to go to Mayo for my surgical procedure, I was enjoying the beautiful view from our balcony outside the spacious room. The waves were lazily rolling in, touching the sand, and rolling right out again. A man and his dog were on the beach. Periodically the man would stoop, pick up something, throw it with some sort of "flinging" thing, similar to the jai lai basket, and the dog would run down the beach, catching the item in his mouth or retrieving it from the water. Enjoying the moment, the dog would run into the next wave, do a happy dance in the water; eventually even laying down in the coolness; almost totally ignoring the man.
The man would call to the dog, the dog would look in the other direction, momentarily, then reluctantly pull himself up from the water, ever so slowly walk toward the man, tail and ears hung. As another dog approached, he was chained; dropping to the sand, the dog would roll back and forth as he was having a rapid back massage. He had given up.
The antics of the animal did not stop the man from his "thing" of exercising - stretching, bending, and contorting his body in stretches. With the chaining of the dog, the man proceeded to put the animal through a seemingly known set of obedience tricks - shake, roll over, etc. With some hesitation, the dog slowly obeyed.
Isn't this a good analogy of God with us? God sends us something to do, but we want to play in the nice, cool, comfortable water of our lives. He calls; we reluctantly head back toward Him, distracted by most any thing. He sends us again, we hesitate. We want to stay in the nice cool, water of doing our thing. He coaxes us; He offers comfort, but we want to wallow in the laziness of our own disobedience. Eventually, we have to be "reeled" in; possibly our chain even needs to be "pulled" to help us realize we are somewhere in an area that is not right for us; we are not doing His will.
I want to obey, yet I really like the comfort of my own decisions. I pull away at times; do my happy dance of selfishness, and show my reluctance of obedience. Eventually, I turn back to God. I am so glad God knows my heart and patiently forgives and calls again.
While I was waiting to go to Mayo for my surgical procedure, I was enjoying the beautiful view from our balcony outside the spacious room. The waves were lazily rolling in, touching the sand, and rolling right out again. A man and his dog were on the beach. Periodically the man would stoop, pick up something, throw it with some sort of "flinging" thing, similar to the jai lai basket, and the dog would run down the beach, catching the item in his mouth or retrieving it from the water. Enjoying the moment, the dog would run into the next wave, do a happy dance in the water; eventually even laying down in the coolness; almost totally ignoring the man.
The man would call to the dog, the dog would look in the other direction, momentarily, then reluctantly pull himself up from the water, ever so slowly walk toward the man, tail and ears hung. As another dog approached, he was chained; dropping to the sand, the dog would roll back and forth as he was having a rapid back massage. He had given up.
The antics of the animal did not stop the man from his "thing" of exercising - stretching, bending, and contorting his body in stretches. With the chaining of the dog, the man proceeded to put the animal through a seemingly known set of obedience tricks - shake, roll over, etc. With some hesitation, the dog slowly obeyed.
Isn't this a good analogy of God with us? God sends us something to do, but we want to play in the nice, cool, comfortable water of our lives. He calls; we reluctantly head back toward Him, distracted by most any thing. He sends us again, we hesitate. We want to stay in the nice cool, water of doing our thing. He coaxes us; He offers comfort, but we want to wallow in the laziness of our own disobedience. Eventually, we have to be "reeled" in; possibly our chain even needs to be "pulled" to help us realize we are somewhere in an area that is not right for us; we are not doing His will.
I want to obey, yet I really like the comfort of my own decisions. I pull away at times; do my happy dance of selfishness, and show my reluctance of obedience. Eventually, I turn back to God. I am so glad God knows my heart and patiently forgives and calls again.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
HEADS OR TAILS
There are times in my life that are vivid memories. Some are good and some are not so much. We had an experience while driving to JAX that I probably won't forget for some time.
We decided NOT to take I-95. We found US 90 instead. It runs North to South up the eastern coast of Florida. The beauty was not lost on us; greens, purples, rolling hills. The small towns passed, one much like the other, as we made our way to our destination. I was sailing along, approximately 60 miles per hour. During one "nanosecond", I saw four car lights headed toward me, on a two lane road, as they dipped into the pocket of the road. I immediately slammed on my breaks, and pulled to the right shoulder. Before my friend could even ask what I was doing, the black car veered into the left lane in front of the car he was illegally passing. Some time after that I started breathing again.
It will be a very long time before that image will leave my mind. We both thanked God for His mercy. He really does take good care of me.
We decided NOT to take I-95. We found US 90 instead. It runs North to South up the eastern coast of Florida. The beauty was not lost on us; greens, purples, rolling hills. The small towns passed, one much like the other, as we made our way to our destination. I was sailing along, approximately 60 miles per hour. During one "nanosecond", I saw four car lights headed toward me, on a two lane road, as they dipped into the pocket of the road. I immediately slammed on my breaks, and pulled to the right shoulder. Before my friend could even ask what I was doing, the black car veered into the left lane in front of the car he was illegally passing. Some time after that I started breathing again.
It will be a very long time before that image will leave my mind. We both thanked God for His mercy. He really does take good care of me.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Oh well
At the last minute, actually, the Dr realized that I was allergic to Lidocane and cancelled the procedure for the day. I was ready to go ahead, even with the allergy, but he said no. We have rescheduled for next Thurs and Friday. Now he has to do surgery instead of a simple procedure. More tests next week and have to stay somewhere all night Thursday. My friend has offered to go with me again, but she has to check with her husband about their schedule.
I am very disappointed that the procedure wasn't done. I was ready to be out of pain. This is supposed to work, and again my weight was mentioned by everyone I talked with yesterday. I HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT! I'm considering a lapband procedure. I have to contact my head doctor at Mayo to see if he will refer me, AND, if medicare will cover it. Who knows?
The procedures and processes take a long time at Mayo. They are very thorough. But, I'm frustrated, at times, with everything. I hope that I am learning something; at the very least - patience. And, we all know I certainly need that.
Back at home today and really wiped out. I have to take the "Sim" that is in my bipad to the company today. They need to read it and see if I'm following all the rules. I THINK I should be okay. I'm certainly sleeping better, usually for at least 6 hrs or more.
It was good to "refresh" my relationship with my friend. It's very interesting in that we have a lot of the same ideas on what we need to be doing with our lives. I wonder if God planned this? He's know for doing things like that.
I am very disappointed that the procedure wasn't done. I was ready to be out of pain. This is supposed to work, and again my weight was mentioned by everyone I talked with yesterday. I HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT! I'm considering a lapband procedure. I have to contact my head doctor at Mayo to see if he will refer me, AND, if medicare will cover it. Who knows?
The procedures and processes take a long time at Mayo. They are very thorough. But, I'm frustrated, at times, with everything. I hope that I am learning something; at the very least - patience. And, we all know I certainly need that.
Back at home today and really wiped out. I have to take the "Sim" that is in my bipad to the company today. They need to read it and see if I'm following all the rules. I THINK I should be okay. I'm certainly sleeping better, usually for at least 6 hrs or more.
It was good to "refresh" my relationship with my friend. It's very interesting in that we have a lot of the same ideas on what we need to be doing with our lives. I wonder if God planned this? He's know for doing things like that.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
No Lottery Today
Being in Tallahassee gives me pause for thought - What if? It certainly makes my head spin. I went to Jacksonville yesterday for a follow-up visit. I saw the "Pain Management Dr." and he wants me to come back today to get injections in my back. That in itself isn't unique, but ending up in Tallahassee could have been.
A friend I have know for about 10 years is with me. Coming to Tallahassee and staying at her daughters apartment was not only to visit, but to be in the "general" vicinity for my appointment today. It's great to renew friendships and to learn what has been happening during our time apart. We also dreamed of what we could do for God with all the Lottery money.
It's a good thing my friend is with me. She has to drive back. If you know me, my car is just another thing to me. Don't get me wrong, I do like it; can't afford it; but like it just the same. She thinks I have issues about someone driving my car. (It's probably a control issue thing.) Little does she know, I really don't care who drives my car and look forward to sleeping on the way back. It could have been so much more interesting though if we had won the money.
A friend I have know for about 10 years is with me. Coming to Tallahassee and staying at her daughters apartment was not only to visit, but to be in the "general" vicinity for my appointment today. It's great to renew friendships and to learn what has been happening during our time apart. We also dreamed of what we could do for God with all the Lottery money.
It's a good thing my friend is with me. She has to drive back. If you know me, my car is just another thing to me. Don't get me wrong, I do like it; can't afford it; but like it just the same. She thinks I have issues about someone driving my car. (It's probably a control issue thing.) Little does she know, I really don't care who drives my car and look forward to sleeping on the way back. It could have been so much more interesting though if we had won the money.
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