The past few weeks have been a very stressful time in our home. Like many families, fall brings changes, and some are not expected.
- Daughter changes districts and positions. But not just districts and positions, but states.
- What a blessing for her and family! So very proud of her.
- Granddaughter starts high school and was working on making the volleyball team.
- So proud of her and the young lady she continues to grow to be. Watching her play volleyball is so fun.
- I needed another oral surgery to replace bone and damage done from the accident I had planned to complete when COVID-19 hit. Breast Cancer then became an issue, and on top of that, my bones were deteriorating due to the medication I was taking.
- So blessed to have excellent doctors, and thinking maybe with all these improvements, I can try out for one of those soap operas my parents used to watch!
- My husband experienced an injury to his hip, which resulted in us going from one place to another and another. I will not name places but say one location nurse spoke to me reading from the doctor’s note, and it was in no way the best approach. Nurse Sarah says, “I will read from the doctor’s note. I cannot see this patient as he needs to see an oncologist at a more extensive facility. This is not something I can do! (She says he used an exclamation mark). You need to go to a place like Barnes in St. Louis or NorthWestern in Chicago.
- My brain injury has taken my emotions but not completely when I experience extreme situations. I replied, “I cannot tell my husband the doctor believes this is cancer. You are canceling the appointment, and he is going to feel defeated. What can you do? You cannot stop helping him.”
- I will report they did stop helping him. The primary health care facility continued to help us and came through with another referral quickly. Our niece worked with a doctor at a facility we were interested in attending. We went to the appointment in the neighboring state, and tell us it is not cancer. He does not have to have surgery, and the doctor will follow up with him in six months. It is a benign tumor on his left side, the torn tendon on the right, and what was the first thought for the right side area as possible cancer is fluid, blood buildup, and scarring from injury.
- We have to do better for people. Were we discriminated against? I always believe people do not determine others first because you have to know others before you can make a sweeping statement about discrimination. When you think of discrimination, your first thought is always about race. I am not referring to race in this statement of bias. This discrimination comes from the idea of being a veteran, and there are many other ways of discrimination as well.
We took a scenic way on our drive home to miss out on the heavy traffic. We stopped to each lunch in a small town atmosphere place and enjoyed the beauty nature offers us.
Looking through a lens of hope helps us to refocus on the blessings around us. Others have stories the same as we do, but we need to do better when we are in the business of serving others.
Hope is the light we have for ourselves when the shadows of fear and darkness appear. When we have hope, there is nothing we cannot do. Many blessings as you welcome in your fall of changes.