Month: February 2018

I will be honest, I had never heard about Anna Marie Island before I scheduled our vacation for this week. We wanted to find sunshine and warmth for golf and beach walking and accommodations that would work for the six of us.

Every February I take a week to go away with my parents, very dear family friends and my Aunt and I. We have good conversations, we laugh a lot, we play cards most evenings, and I find it to be a time I am very grateful for.

As I anticipate this week on Anna Marie, I feel like we might have discovered a gold mine we didn’t even know we were looking for. The number of people who I have heard from who have long traditions of coming to Anna Marie creates excitement and anticipation about what we will experience this week.

I find my thoughts wandering a bit between life at home and breathing in the goodness of all that awaits. I am relaxing in a bedroom with a comfy soft king size bed, the breeze is coming in the open windows, and the fairly large TV is playing the Olympics in the background. I am anticipating that tomorrow’s sun will bring mid 80’s, a lovely worship time at Bradenton CRC, steaks on the grill with roasted Brussel sprouts and some time walking along the ocean, laying by the pool and soaking in the goodness that surrounds me. I love that my fit bit just had a fireworks show for me because I hit my 10,000 step goal today.

And so why is this blog worthy?

For me, I want to remember the goodness of all I am anticipating. I am aware that so much of what I experience is influenced by how I am entering into it. It is not difficult to expect goodness in almost every moment this week. But I must remember, it is true every day, about all I experience. I wonder how aware you are of what thoughts and beliefs you are carrying into your day and all it holds. Do you anticipate and expect the best of most things or do you struggle with feeling defeated before you move into a situation?

I want to experience this day and this week entirely. I am committed to experiencing every day and each week fully. I hope you will join me in being curious about your thoughts and beliefs and begin to allow the goodness of life start as gratitude and hope. Let gratitude and hope fill your heart, soul, and mind.

Signing off tonight feeling deeply grateful

Today I spent more time at the hospital advocating. A dear soul, who happens to be a feisty 92-year-old woman, and a client of mine, is ready to be discharged. I heard the plan was to send her to rehab. Interesting I thought, she has advanced lung disease and when she exerts any amount of effort, her oxygen levels drop rapidly. How on earth was she going to be successful in rehab? My concern was that she would go to rehab, not be able to meet the goals required for Medicare to pay for the stay, and then be deemed too weak to return to her condo and be considered for nursing home placement.

There is one thing I know about this feisty 92-year-old dear soul is that she wants to be at home until her last breath. She is of sound mind, and her daughters are doing their best to honor her wishes. I asked them for permission to ask a few questions.

I started with her nurse and asked her if she believed rehab would be successful. She highly doubted it as her numbers drop just going to the bathroom. I asked the nurse if she would mention this to the Doc and asked her to help me ensure we were talking about what was real and setting her up for the best discharge possible. She agreed and said hospitals aren’t always very good at having those honest, real conversations. I was sad about that reality, and I was convicted to continue advocating for those who God brings into my world.

I mentioned Hospice as an option for my client and her daughters, and in conversation, they learned why Hospice would serve them well. It was not about their Mom having cancer, or that death was coming in the next few days or even weeks. It did mean she would be able to discharge home with the support of Hospice and take each day as it comes.

What Hospice does mean is this:

Hospice is a specialized type of care for those facing a life-limiting illness, their families and their caregivers.

• Hospice care addresses the patient’s physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.
• Hospice care also helps the patient’s family caregivers.
• Hospice care takes place in the patient’s home or in a home-like setting.
• Hospice care concentrates on managing a patient’s pain and other symptoms so that the patient may live as comfortable as possible and make the most of the time that remains.
• Hospice care believes the quality of life to be as important as length of life

Tonight I am grateful for this families willingness to learn and speak up about where they had come to be misinformed and believe wrong things about Hospice.

I am thankful for the opportunity for this feisty 92-year-old dear soul to go home with Hospice support.

I admire her courage to recognize her life-limiting illness and to explore Hospice, even when she was sure it was meant only for people who will die in the coming days.

I wonder what you know and/or believe about Hospice. I invite you to do some research or talk to someone who knows and learn about what is true before your faced with a need to decide if Hospice is right for you or someone you love. If you have questions, please email me at Trish@vangels.com.

I know that my years working as a Hospice social worker taught me about living and dying and the importance of quality of life in those both.

 

My Beppe was a reflective, reserved, quiet woman and this picture is celebrating her 80th birthday. One of the phrases we repeat straight from her passed down wisdom is “it will be better before your 80.”

I don’t know if this is a phrase that was heard all over Friesland and Sussex New Jersey or just in homes influenced by my Beppe, but it has stuck with me. Now of course I know it doesn’t apply to everything and today, I have a sense of relief when it does apply to me.

So this past weekend I woke up achy and with a headache. I didn’t feel awful and was debating about if I should push through or get checked out. After all one thing I was pretty sure of, was that it would be better before I am 80.

Due to the fact that this flu is highly contagious and easily spread, I work with seniors, and am anticipating an upcoming vacation I opted to get checked out at Urgent Care.

Let me say that the care I received was phenomenal, starting with solid affirmation for coming in. I didn’t even know yet if I was sick and the Nurse and Doc were affirming the steps I was taking just in case. Then when I tested positive, they were so good at prescribing what will aid me and telling me what to expect and so far on day 3, they have been right on. I am on the days where you just seem to sleep, wake up briefly, sleep some more and sleep all through the night along with a fluctuating fever. A side note is that these PJ’s that my parents gave me for Christmas are so very accurate this week!

I am grateful that for me Beppe is right again. I will be better before I am 80. But I am thinking of families who are dealing with the flu and are experiencing that it is life-threatening. If you suspect you might have caught the bug, get checked early and take the time you need to recover. It is the best thing you can do for yourself and for others. And this little video viewed my millions says it like it is and has a whole bunch of wisdom as well!

I wonder how parents do it. I am just an aunt and find myself overwhelmed with how quickly my nieces and nephews grow up. How could it have been 22 years ago that Annelise claimed a piece of my heart?

When I knew the little girl here, she was a mystery to me. Like they all are at this age. I see this little girl differently now that I know the woman she is.

Anneliese is a deep thinker, a lover of Jesus and people, comfortable with silence and a radiator of joy. She is fully alive in the great outdoors, has a contagious laugh, is curious and caring and responsible.

Anne has a sense of adventure and courage which we saw in full when she chose to travel the world through YWAM and walk the El Camino trail. As a young girl, she envisioned working on a horse ranch that also helped children.

Guess where she works today?

http://5110youthranch.org/

Her job today is a perfect fit for her passion, her gifts, and her growth. Anne is faithful to God’s work in her heart and making a difference in the lives of those she invests in. I am proud of you Anneliese and love the woman you are today! Thank you for your kindness and interest in my day to day, and I hope you know I will always love you, forever and always! Happy 22nd Birthday!