Are you a mentor?

Have you ever thought about that question? I have. A lot. Sometimes because they made me think about it. Now, I think about it on my own. Who was your first mentor 

Webster's on line dictionary describes a mentor as someone who educates another (among several definitions).

I think my first mentor was my mom. I wanted to be like her. I had baby dolls. I was their mommy. I patterned my mommy play from her. I guess next was my mammaws. Both of them. Mammaw James was a teacher. I teach. I taught my children life lessons. I teach nursing students. I teach new nurses. I teach new to CCU nurses. I teach my patients and I teach their families. Teaching and learning are lifelong! 

Mammaw Childress was a midwife in her community. She delivered babies and even helped deliver her only twin grandsons! It was February. About 60 some odd years ago. There was snow butt deep. No one could get out or in. Those babies slept in a dresser drawer for a few weeks. They were like 2 weeks old before Dr Wilkes could get into see them! They are fine!! Now, I'm not even close to a midwife. But that's part of caring for others! She had no formal training. She surely knew what she was doing. Had 12 babies herself!! 

There were others growing up. Aunts. Friends mothers. Ladies at church. Oh! I just thought about that! Gertie Geralds could get ahold of the spirit of The Lord! So could Thelma Strange! Wava, Becky! Pauletta! Oh, my!! 

There were two nurses I admired too as i was growing up. One was Thelma Blanton. She worked for Dr Wilkes. (Her daughter is also a nurse.) the other was Mrs Alexander, the Edmonson County Health Nurse. I decided I wanted to be a nurse because of her!! I remember when she retired. She encouraged me to be all I could be. She's been gone a number of years now. I think she'd be proud of me. 

I want to be the kind of nurse who people will remember. Not because I was mean, not because I felt it necessary to follow the rules, not because I'm better than someone else. Because I'm not. I want to be remembered as a mentor who helped someone in ways so that they didn't even know I was helping until later. Like Thelma and Mrs Alexander. And Gertie. And Thelma. And Virginia. And the others!!

I love all y'all!❤

To be continued......

The bite is much better! Much better!!!

A great week so far!

I've had a great week and its only Tuesday! Dr Wierson yesterday and Dr Lin today and two happy doctors equals one happy patient! Dr Wierson believes the bite is as bad as its gonna get and should heal. It will scar. That's a given you know. It might take a while but it will heal. Dr Lin was also happy with my blood pressure. Last few checks my diastolic pressure (bottom number- pressure while heart is at rest) was in mid 60's!!!! Including today's pressure! Systolic was in 130's but that's ok! He was happy with the other progress and that I wasn't short of breath. I have ankles and I don't have to go back until January! No med adjustments and no new meds!  I don't go back to Dr Wierson unless I wind up needing to! 

Rick always said worry is a lack of faith. And I must admit, my faith has been a bit low if late. These two visits are reassuring! 

Miss Tobi is loving school! I need to see my babies! Soon I will get them for the weekend! 

Summer is winding down. Although, you can't tell it by the temp outside! Upper 80's with high humidity. I'm looking for more fall like temps so I can walk some more! 

That is all for today. No bite pics- it's covered with band aids because its draining ever so slightly. 

I love all y'all!❤

To be continued.....

Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. (Psalms 30:7, 8 KJV)

Oh my goodness!

This sweet angel is in school. Preschool but school non the less! I feel so old. It's making me cry! She's too little to be going to school! Gamma's precious girl can't be old enough! But she is. In less than 2 months she will be 5 years old! And Perry will be four! She's gotten a haircut since I saw her. Her journey is just beginning and I'm about to cry! 

I love my babies!

I love all y'all!❤

To be continued.....

It's Thursday!

I'm glad it's Thursday! I have to say though that I'm very surprised that a little critter about the size of a penny can make such a mess! 

It still hurts. It hasn't completely stopped hurting since Saturday. It feels like a fresh incision for lack of any other description. I will be glad when it's over! I'm also a little upset that no one until today gave me anything stronger than Tylenol for pain. They all asked if it hurt. I said yes! I gave it an 8 out if 10 (and that's being conservative!) and still nothing. But today that got taken care of! Thanks!! I asked a Dr friend who specializes in infections and such what she thought. She deals with this kinda thing. She said 2-3 weeks for the red to get better and who knows on the rest. She again confirmed the tissue damage is still up in the air and nothing to do until it 'finishes' its damage. So.... We go on. I do ask again if you would kindly mention me in your prayers. That whatever His will is in this that it not be too bad. 

If Rick was here he'd make a joke about it to try to keep me upbeat about it. He would also try to comfort me and tell me it's gonna be ok. 

I love all y'all!❤

To be continued.....

It's getting bigger

 

So I went to the surgeon yesterday. He said it is definitely a brown recluse bite and it will have to declare itself as to how big it is gonna get and do it's worst before he can do anything to help. Nothing will fix the damage, it is what it is. It has gotten bigger since last night. It still hurts quite a lot. There is lots more red and sore than just the yellow-tan area. The yellow-tan area will likely die out. What or if anything can be done will depend on how deep it winds up going. If it is just superficial, then there might not be much else to do. I am still scared. I don't know what is gonna happen and I am afraid because of how much it hurts. It hasn't stopped hurting since noon time on Saturday just after the lil devil bit me. I just wish I knew for sure it was dead. I take Tylenol for the pain. It does nothing. I take Tylenol PM at night just to be able to sleep some. When I roll over on it, it hurts worse. I can't wear my heart necklace Rick gave me because the necklace hurts it too. First time it has been off in over 3 years. I will take my Keflex antibiotic for a total of 10 days and call the surgeon when/if I need him. 

I am at the library right now. There is a woman here who talks to herself. I hope I don't do that. It is kind of odd the way she acts and what she says. Please tell me if I do that!

 

I have to remember the above scripture right now. Really I do. There is a lesson in this somewhere.

That is all for today.

I love all y'all!❤

To be continued..............

Where to start?!

Saturday I went to Greenview to visit a friend. I came home and was on the front porch watching the hummingbirds after I put out frest food for them. While sitting there, I killed a biting fly (no, it definitely was NOT a horsefly) and a long legged brown spider of some sort. Just a few minutes later my chest started hurting stinging and burning pretty badly. 

I thought ok one of those critters bit me! As the afternoon wore on, the pain did not stop. In fact, it's been 36+ hours now and it still hurts non-stop. I was supposed to work yesterday. I went in but it was hurting so bad they finally sent someone to replace me and I went to ER. 

It is hard to tell in this photo but I am red and swollen from left neck to waist. It is red most of that. There is a large amount if swelling on my upper chest/neck. The ER folks were very concerned. Labs were drawn which the CBC showed the inflammatory response that was obviously taking place and blood cultures were drawn. I was having chills. If you know me, you know I am never cold and rarely wear an actual coat unless its below about 25 degrees. They did a CT Scan if my chest which also showed the inflammatory response. It is cellulitis according to the ER doc. I see a surgeon today for his opinion. I know there is not a surgical issue at this point. The reason is all this inflammatory response stuff can get worse and if that brown spider was a brown recluse or fiddler spider, then there is an increased chance of this becoming much worse and the bad part of that is there is still no way to prevent the tissue damage if it is going to happen, it will and it takes several days to determine whether or not it will happen. 

Last night the red was really bad. ER gave me IV meds (Benadryl, Solu-Medrol and Pepcid) to help with the allergic reaction part of this and Rocephin which is a potent antibiotic. The whole area is still very tender to touch. I can't describe how tender but similar to a deep cut that required stitches or a fresh surgical incision. The brightness of the red has dulled considerably. Though, it appears higher and a little more on the right side too. And though just about everyone in CCU and ER saw, I just can't show you how far down it goes, you will have to take my word for it!! 

The blue areas are where the bites were. They haven't gotten longer overnight but are wider. I am still worried. Hopefully Dr Wierson will be able to tell me more thus afternoon. The Rocephin is good for 24 hours, I will get Keflex filled today and take it for ten days- unless Dr Wierson changes it. 

I ask for your prayers that this is the extent of the problems and it will get better each day. 

I also ask you for prayers for my friend in the hospital. She (among others!) has been there for me and my family many times. I ask for prayers for healing for her!

That is all for today!

I love all y'all! ❤

To be continued..... 

O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. (Psalms 30:2 KJV)

 

Old friends!

So yesterday while I was doing some internet "stuff" a friend and neighbor messaged me on Facebook. Seems she was in a mood to become an investigator. We have both been looking for a mutual old friend for some time now. Way back in 1978 (November to be exact) I moved out from my parents house and in with a co-worker who needed a new roommate because her current one was getting married if memory serves correctly. I was working 11 pm to 7 am and driving about an hour. I was getting so very tired driving home in the mornings that it was getting dangerous so Thanksgiving after lunch at my grandparents, my parents let me borrow their station wagon and move my bed to the new place. It was a 3 bedroom trailer in Shive Lane Estates. An older friend's mom said "She will be back in a week!" That will be 35 years this coming Thanksgiving and I haven't moved back home yet; though I have thought about it from time to time HA!

I digress-again! So, Deborah and I were there in that trailer both working nights. I was having a hard time sleeping in the day time. She didn't so I stayed in my room and tried instead of getting up. I never did learn to sleep in the day time. Anyway, in a few months Carol joined us from New Jersey. Did I mention Deb is from New York? So here we were the 3 of us. My first time out on "my own" and it was kind of hard for me. I did get homesick sometimes. I realize that now. In the spring, we moved to a new apartment at Knox Manor. When our lease was up there, Carol took a single bedroom there and Deb and I moved to Kenton Street. I was working 3-11 by then and at WKU full time. Deb's boyfriend and I moved all our stuff to the new place. By this time Deb was working for an orthodontist in Bowling Green, she and her boyfriend were getting serious. When our lease was up, I moved in with a childhood friend, Deb moved in with church friends and married shortly after that. Though we were all in the same town, we didn't see much of each other after we moved out. After Val was born and before I moved to Massachusetts, Deb came over with her son and we had a great visit. I think that was the last time I saw her. I have seen Carol, she became my roommate again prior to Rick and I marrying. After we moved back to Wingfield, we contacted Carol. She came up and spent the weekend with us. We haven't seen her since. I learned that we had all 3 suffered great loss since we saw each other last. Carol's husband passed away in 2005 I believe from cancer. Deborah's daughter passed away in August of 2008. She was just a few weeks older than Nick. Deb never met Rick. Carol was still my roommate when Rick and I married. 

I hope one day before too long, the three of us can get together and have hamburgers and baked beans. Ah! Memories! Deborah could make some killer spaghetti sauce! Yum! It was great!

So back to the friend/neighbor who also knows Carol... her husband used to sing with Carol back in the 80's. They had a contemporary Christian group. They were great! It was so great "talking" with them last night over facebook! Very, very pleasant surprise!

That is all for today.

I love all y'all❤

To be continued.....

No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. John 15: 13

Last night's sermon

I have talked about this before in this blog somewhere.....

The signs of the end of time are all around us. Matthew 24:7 talks about earthquakes in diverse places. You know we hear about earth quakes several times a year now and it seems they are becoming more frequent. Matthew also talks about wars and rumors of wars. What happened this weekend?  War is threatened with at least 2 different countries. This past weekend most US embassy's were shut down because of  Al Qaeda threats. Timothy talks about marriage being forsaken. False profits and teachers will come, we will not know the day or hour until it happens. There are many more signs Matthew also warned The Ten Commandments would be abandoned. There are many more. Read about them. Ponder them in your heart. You know you see the signs. Some of them anyway!

Brian preached about some of these things last night. Got me to thinking about it. I was watching someone during the preaching. I hope it lodged in her heart. Something has to!

If you are not ready for the hour of the coming of the Lord, I beg you to get ready!

I love all y'all!❤
To be continued.....

Isaiah 5:20
King James Version (KJV)
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

It's been a good day

I've had a good day. Seeing different pictures of folks garden bounty has brought back many, many memories of days in the garden with Rick. I still miss him like it was yesterday. This is our fourth summer without him. Didn't get any calls about garden stuff for the first time this year. But mom did and folks who saw her with me at the farmers market see her and ask about beans. Our 'regulars' tell me how much they miss Ricks half runners. I have 2 cans left. I don't know if I can open them or not. 

I've used this picture of him a lot. I dreamed about him last night. My contract I'd almost up with AT & T for my cell phone. I have considered changing to Bluegrass because its a lot cheaper. But I still have Ricks cell on and I still call it sometimes to hear his voice. I don't know how long I will keep it on. I may never turn it off. I just don't know. He would be so excited because his girl is starting preschool this year.

They were 2 peas in a pod! He sang T-T-T Tobers to her all the time. She said T-T-T before she said mama. 

But I'm not upset tonight. He always said he would never make it past 65.  He was a good man with a dreadful cancer. One day maybe a cure will be found. Yes, I miss him and yes if I could have him back healthy I would in a second but not to suffer! He did enough of that. I would not keep him here one more second to suffer like he did for 6 weeks. Tobi knows who her papaw is when she sees him in pictures. She knows he's in heaven. I don't know how much she understands that though. She's Gamma's girl for sure though. 

It's been a great day in other ways too. As I posted earlier in another blog, my changes are going well. I walked again tonight. My hip bones/joints hurt like the dickens when I walk. Cardiologist took my Mobic away (arthritis med) I might have to talk about that some. Gotta have something to help the arthritis! Tylenol just won't cut it! 

Please remember several folks in your prayers! I have a cousin who got bad news (cancer) this week; friends have sick family who need prayer; those involved in the accident Saturday night- those in the wreck and those who tried to help all need our prayers; also Facebook friends whom I've never met have sick loved ones who need our prayers. I have other friends who needs our prayers. God knows why and who!! I need your prayers!! 

I love all y'all!❤

Have a blessed night!

To be continued!