“Don’t let it happen again,” said Marianna Crane, my nurse practitioner friend. I could hear the disbelief in her voice. Marianna and I share a history of graduating from diploma schools of nursing in the early sixties. At that time, a visible hierarchy existed in health care. Doctors were treated like gods. And, even though Marianna …
Continue reading Therapeutic Communication Skills – An Essential in Health Care
If you have a loved one living with either one of these illnesses and would like to understand them better, then Ka Hancock’s Dancing on Broken Glass is a compelling, informative read. Hancock, as a nurse in the clinical specialty of psychiatry, dives into the minds of Mickey and Lucy as they forge a life …
Continue reading Living with Bipolar Illness or Breast Cancer
“Don’t tell me you are still itching,” a friend said yesterday. “That is just terrible! What’s been happening?” I’d not seen her in a month, and while she was off gallivanting across the world, I was continuing my journey from one doctor to another. As a retired nurse, I ask myself, every minute, What if …
Just like that, last week I flirted with acquiring a new addiction. One that could seriously compromise my credit card. A one-step click that could turn expensive. But let me back track. I’ve worked hard over the years to combat my one major addiction: wedding cake. The cake thing started when I was a kid; …
It was only a garage sale, for Pete’s sake. So, what are the tears about? I sit at home this morning with wet eyes. I’m trying to clean up the usual accumulation on my desk, but instead I’m crying. Why? Because I’m sifting through the photos from last weekend on my phone. My husband and …
"I'm at peace," I heard a woman say. My husband and I were attending Calvin's 50th reunion last weekend when I overheard this comment. She went on to explain that she was facing a life-threatening surgery. From her story and demeanor, I felt she was saying she was ready for any untoward outcome. I thought …
Continue reading Calvin College 50-year Reunion Celebration 2013
Anyone with toddlers knows that the loss of a favorite blanket can become a grandma’s nightmare. But not for this grandma, not if I could help it. Last week my husband and I babysat, actually babyran, our two youngest grandchildren for four days. Eighty-seven hours. Numbers wise, they are our fourth and fifth grandchildren. G4 …
Private painting party for 10. Instructors teach paintings through an easy to follow step-by-step process. These words attracted me to this silent auction item at the recent Mental Health America of Illinois benefit in Chicago. I couldn’t pass it up. Ever since my failed attempt at creating apples that looked like apples (and not flat …
Continue reading Hues & Booze Party – An Evening of Hilarity and Discovered Talent
You may think writing down these ten things is bizarre. Well, the idea is not mine. It’s an exercise my writing group agreed to do for this week’s meeting, adopting it from “The Time is Now” column in the March/April issue of Poets&Writers. And just having had a scare in which I thought I may …
Continue reading Ten Things I Will Not Think About in My Last Seconds of Life
If you live with a chronic illness, you know that nothing surprises you. You are used to new symptoms arising out of the blue, and you are accustomed to doctors' visits, diagnostic tests, and hospitalizations. About a year ago, I swore off doctors for treatment of my fibromyalgia. Weary of chasing a cure and reaching …
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