Thanksgiving seemed to come and go quickly. It was an off year meaning that my married kids spent the holiday with their in-laws. Collin and Karsten say it is lame when it’s an off year because the house is so quiet. Saturday Britton and his family and Whitney and Ty came on their way home to go with Karsten, Collin and I to the Pinecrest Tree Farm to get our annual tree. http://www.pinecrestchristmastreefarm.com/ The boys got it in the stand and put on the lights. They also brought down the Christmas boxes from the attic so I could finish decorating today.
I heard someone say that ornaments are memories on branches. So true. Last year it was very difficult to put on Neal and my ornaments because the memories flooded back. The daily reminder was difficult. I decided then this year my tree would have all new ornaments. I don’t think I am stuffing down the memories but needing new traditions. Maybe I will be ready some year to get them out again. But for now my tree has red, white and silver ornaments.
2013 Christmas Tree
Christmas time is about love and family. I feel so blessed to have had the love from Neal for over 32 years. I don’t want to focus on what I don’t have but the blessings all around me. God sent the ultimate gift of love in Jesus so he could take the penalty for our sin resulting in the gift of eternal life. That means I will see Neal again one day!
How did I injure my shoulder? I don’t remember originally what happened but this has been going on for the past 4 years. I have had x-rays, physical therapy which made it worse and cortisone shots that did not last. I re-injured it this September when I was babysitting my grandsons, Eli and Caleb, at my house. I had the boys in a double stroller for a walk. We had walked up our very steep driveway and I was punching the garage code. I heard “Whoa.” I turned to see my grandsons rolling down the driveway backwards. I ran to grab the stroller and tried to stop it but it was going fast. Still holding on to the stroller I layed down on the driveway dragging my legs to stop it. It finally stopped at the bottom. The boys looked at me with wide eyes. I said, “Boy, that was fast!” Praise God that it was cooler outside so I had jeans and closed toe shoes on otherwise I would have had really bad road rash. The bottom is down where the black trailer is!
The boys and I had done a variety of fun things that weekend but what was the first thing Eli said to his mom and dad? “The stroller was going fast.” Confession time!
The doctor thought I probably had a tear somewhere in my right shoulder. I opted not to have an MRI because the doctor said it doesn’t usually see everything. It was actually a bone spur and some loose fragments that the doctor took are of. The worst part was getting the IV. Because I had a bi-lateral mastectomy and had 21 lymph nodes removed on the left side my right side is the arm to take blood pressures and place IV’s in. If they use my left arm I have a strong chance of developing lymphodema which develops a swollen arm and other complications. The surgery was on my right shoulder so they couldn’t use that arm either so the IV had to be placed in my feet. The nurse said they hurt in the feet but they would use lidocaine to numb it some! After three attempts by nurses the anesthesiologist finally was successful placing it a couple inches above my ankle. Thank you:) I am managing the pain with drugs and doing well. I start physical therapy tomorrow. The surgery is getting me out of bringing anything to Thanksgiving dinner at my Neal’s brother’s house!
I have been thinking about the government a lot lately because I find myself among the millions of people whose insurance was dropped because Obahma care (that’s for another post!) and of course my shoulder. The verse in Isaiah 9:6 came to me “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Our government is very frustrating to me right now but one day God will reign over all kingdoms and governments. “The government will rest on his shoulders” affirms that God is Lord over all. He carries the weight of this world on his shoulders so we don’t have to. What a weight off my shoulders!
