Bring it on

Happy New Year! And bring it on.

I am so ready to welcome a bright new year. Or better said, I am so ready to give 2014 the BOOT! Out with you! Out with you, full of C-words, hospitals, doctors, tests, you bad year, you. We've had enough.

Another C-word crept into our house during December and it was as unwelcome as the C-cancer word that visited my husband in July. Thankfully, after several rough months, he has recovered and is adjusting nicely to life without a bladder. He manages the urostomy remarkably well.

This time it was my turn to host another C word that I'd never heard of before: C-Diff (technically, Clostridium difficile), which causes infectious diarrhea due to a type of spore-forming bacteria. Symptoms of C diff often mimic flu-like symptoms and can also mimic disease flare in people with inflammatory bowel disease-associated colitis. C diff release toxins that can cause bloating and diarrhea, with abdominal pain, which may become severe (Wikipedia).

So it started with cramps, then chills, then put me in bed as I thought I had the flu. Thinking it would only last a day or two, we proceeded with our scheduled laminate floor installation, so as I lay in bed, workmen were tearing up carpeting, drilling, sawing and pounding, all in the next room.

When symptoms got worse and I became very weak, my husband brought me to the emergency room of the nearby hospital. Blood tests, x-rays and CT scans were done and the next thing I knew I was moved to a hospital room in isolation. The diagnosis was explained to me as IVs were started, heart monitors were put in place, a catheter was inserted, and I lay helpless.

Seven days of helpless, in the hospital, on my birthday, daughter flew from Minnesota to help, daughter addressing and mailing all my Christmas cards, and Christmas preparations going on around me. Without me.

Home now and recovering, slowly but surely, I am ready to ring in a new year, full of promise and optimism, like a precious gift waiting to be opened.

I read about somebody who last year set a goal of listing one thousand blessings during the year. In the process, her eyes were opened to all the everyday things taken for granted.

As I thought about this, I realized how even illness, disappointments, losses and changes can be blessings. You see and appreciate little moments, small pleasures and small progress. An epiphany of sorts.

And you recognize in people around you the gifts they freely share with you that you perhaps never noticed before. Smiles, small acts of kindness, offers of friendship, gestures of friendship, signs of caring for one another.

I wish for you a Happy New Year, full of God's richest blessings....and no C-words!

November musings

Here it is, the last day of November. And I've posted nothing since mid-October. Topics for new posts come and go in my head and yet I never quite make it to the computer to jot them down.

I only hope you won't give up on me. I promise to do better. I love to write and I love even more that you think it worthy of reading my rambles.

So today, I will simply ramble about this and that.

Update on The C Word: My husband has his surgery to remove the cancerous bladder in early September. I could fill a page with the six weeks that ensued but you might never read another post of mine if I did that. Suffice it to say, the following six weeks involved four hospitalizations, two transitional care stays and some major bumps in the road. We often wondered if we would ever get past another bump as one issue after another seemed to crop up.

Fast forward to today: We have arrived at our winter home in Arizona and hubby is doing well. Today he is putting up our outdoor Christmas lights, greens and decorations.

Without the help of dear and longtime friends, I'm not sure we would be in such great shape. Since they arrived earlier, they got our car ready by reconnecting the battery, removing the wheel covers, blowing up tires, washing it, and having it all ready to drive. They washed our carport, removed the deck covering, anchored in place by heavy blocks, cleaned the deck, washed the deck rails, made sure we had some groceries, then picked us up from the airport which involved transporting Catrina, the cat, along with us and our four heavy bags of luggage.

To top it off, they had dinner ready for us a couple of hours later. A warm, nourishing meal complete with Cherry Crisp for dessert. Are they friends to cherish or what? We're so glad they are ours!

My sister, Joan, gave up two days to care for us before we left while I was ill, tending to me, driving George to two doctor appointments (one in a blizzard), and making sure we were in good shape to leave. Then she drove us to the airport.

So our November was filled with gratitude and thanksgiving, the likes of which we felt deep in our soul. Grateful for family, grateful for friends; above all, grateful to God who made His presence known and felt working through these dear ones.

Thanksgiving brought the coldest day in thirty years in Minnesota. Yet here in Arizona, we set a record high of 87 degrees. Such a contrast.

So as I muse, our November was a month of contrasts: sick versus well, independent versus dependent, giving versus receiving, cold versus hot. But always and constantly blessed.

I hope you will be patient with me as I regain momentum and and that you'll continue reading as I post into December and beyond.

Thank you to each of you for your loyal readership. I don't take you for granted.