SUNDAY:
What a wonderful day it was yesterday!! Not only did we celebrate Father’s Day, we also celebrated my parents 60th Wedding Anniversary! Wow, that is a long time to be married to one person, isn’t it?! Practically unheard of these days, sad to say. I was amazed when I read the quote for today on my e-mail and it was about marriage, I thought of putting it on mom and dad’s picture but decided to use another instead. Still fitting though.
They had rented the banquet room of a local pub/steakhouse for the evening and invited immediate family to come. There was just one exception though, my aunt from Washington state (mom’s sister) was in Indy visiting my other aunt and uncle (mom’s sister also) and so the three of them joined us as well. It was great to see her, I think it’s been over 15 years since I had the last time. I loved seeing my family from Indy as well, whom I used to go and spend time in the summer with their daughters and I’m very close to them.
The food was great, the company equally so. My sister had made a commemorative DVD in honor of the day but the facilities player would not work 😦 So we didn’t get to watch it while we were eating as planned. Thank God Kathleen (Kate) had made us each one to take home.
I watched it as soon as we got back and it was FABULOUS!! She did such a good job with it and the accompanying music choices. Kudos to you Sis!
The only damper on the day was that Sara was sick and couldn’t join us.
SATURDAY:
Mark and I both had our Dr. appointments with the new pain specialist we’ve been referred to, him for his back and me for the fibromyalgia that’s out of hand again.
She took us in together, which I liked so that we can help remind the other of what they’re supposed to do. Plus, I’m the one who always makes all the phone calls too. We really, really liked this lady! She has a great personality/bedside manner and took her time with us to explain things thoroughly.
We were both being under medicated for our particular problems, so she increased our dosages. She is going to consult with my GP about some new med’s for me and I go back in 4 weeks.
Mark is a different story and I am requesting some prayers be said for him ’cause his problems is much more serious than what we thought. The back surgery he had a couple of years ago, I never really understood very well. This Dr. got out the model of the spine and went through it all step by step/ vertebrae by vertebrae. What it boils down to is this:
The last MRI he had done a couple of weeks ago shows scarring from the surgery, totally expected, but the problem has returned and so she is going to consult with his back surgeon about it. Mark is scheduled to go into the Out Patient Surgery ward in 2 weeks to get steroid injections done (by her) to try and get the inflammation out of the nerves that are being compressed. If she can’t get the swelling down, he will have to have more surgery done soon. She said if he doesn’t get it taken care of, one way or the other, he is at great risk of suffering permanent nerve damage in his back! Our worse nightmare would come true.
So please pray for him that this procedure will work. She said that if we can keep the inflammation out of there, his body has a good chance of repairing itself and no surgery will be required at all.
LAST WEEK:
I don’t remember if I told anybody or not about my Dr. visit last week and the results of my blood work. I’m not happy but I am glad to know why I have been so sick and what needs to be done to fix it.
I probably have not had a virus at all. My thyroid levels were way too low and she said that is more than likely what has been causing my continual cycle of symptoms. So she increased that medication and we’ll see in 8 weeks what the new levels show.
My cholesterol levels, normally perfect, we off. My LDL was too high and so she prescribed med’s for that.
And last but definitely not least, I am now officially borderline diabetic. So she wants me to watch my diet closely and to get more regular exercise. Which puts me in a catch 22 situation because of the fibromyalgia, it’s hard to exercise when you can barely move half the time.
So I’ll get that part under control soon, I hope, and then I can put myself back on my old daily routine of 30-45 minutes every morning. She said to get a minimum of 160 minutes a week but from past experience I know that a daily routine works better for me.
Well, that should about do it for now.
Love and hugs,
Terri
I have two fathers to celebrate with on Father’s Day, my earthly one and my Heavenly One. Yesterday I wrote a poem for my father in this life. I love them both dearly and owe them the world. It pains me to see the father that I have here on earth growing smaller and frailer as the years go by. He will be 82 in September and it seems that he has shrunk immensely over the last 5 or 6 years. Of course, as a child, he always was larger than life. As we both have aged, he has become more appropriately sized in my mind. But still, my daddy will always be the gentle, roaring lion of old. I remember so many things from the past as I think of him today and one in particular stands out because my youngest daughter and I were just talking about it the other day and I thought I would share it with you.
After I left my abuser and got my own apartment, my son and her were living there. He was about 15 at this time and she was 4. I was continually grounding him, it seemed, for a variety of “crimes”. One day I had decided that it was not working. It had become a joke among his friends and when they would call, the first thing they asked was, “So, are you grounded today?”
I don’t recall what he was in trouble for this time, but I decided that while he was gone to school I would remove his new PlayStation from his room. He had just gotten it from his dad for Christmas. I figured that would drive my point home more than grounding him. Of course, when he got home he was livid. We had been dealing with the issue of his temper for a while and it got out of hand on this particular day.
To say that he was throwing a fit would be putting it mildly. As I heard him kicking and punching the walls and door of his bedroom, I walked in to see there were holes in both. I screamed at him to stop but to no avail. He was out of control. I told him that I was going to call Grandpa if he did quit. He yelled back at me, “Go ahead, I’m not afraid of that old man!” I calmly said to him, “You will be.”
I immediately picked up the phone and did exactly what I said. When dad answered, I told him that I needed help and he said that he would be right there. We only lived about 6 blocks away from each other and he arrived within minutes. When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was the look of anger on his face and the second was the axe handle in his hand. I thought to myself, “Oh man, is he gonna get it now!”
My dad walked straight to the bedroom and flung the door open. When he saw the holes in everything, he yelled, “Boy! What do you think you’re doing?!”, as he raised the axe handle and pointed it in my son’s face. Then, “Don’t think I won’t use this on you! You may be my grandson but that’s my daughter in there and she comes first!! I’m gonna bring you some spackeling and paint and you are going to fix every one of these holes. What is wrong with you?!”
My son’s eyes were the size of silver dollars. I have to laugh now when I think of it! After my dad left the room, I said to him, “Thanks dad, I didn’t know what else to do.” And he replied, “That’s alright, I’ll be right back.” When he left, I walked into my son’s room and said to him, “So, you’re not afraid of ‘that old man’ huh? Bet you’re afraid of him now!”
After he stammered a bit he replied, “I thought he was going to hit me with that axe handle. I’ve never seen him so mad!” My response was, “What did you expect? I’m his daughter and I came before you!”
We all laugh about it now and when I reminded my dad today, he chuckled and quietly said, “That’s right!” God bless you dad. I love you more than words can ever say. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there.
Always remember that Jesus died for us because He loves us!
In His love,
Teresa Marie
My Father Is:
Someone that you run to
when things have gone bad
and someone who holds you
when you are feeling sad
The one who heard you cry
when somebody had hurt you
Someone who tells you why
those things you shouldn’t do
Someone who is always there
though you don’t deserve it
and handles you with care
when on his lap you sit
Someone who will just listen
when you need him to
Reminds you when you’re forgettin’
to do what you should do
I love my father dearly
for always being there
and I now see clearly
the devotion that we share
Although I’ve failed to show you
as often as I should
Dad I’d never trade you
even if I could
‘Cause God gave you to me
chosen as my perfect dad
You’re what a father should be
and the best that could be had!
Teresa Marie 6/18/11
What about God? 