Making a Difference
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There are so many ways a person can make a difference. I enjoy
volunteering. It gets me out into the community - I meet interesting people
and it feels ...
4 months ago
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Flipping to Word Press
Ok, no rolling of the eyes here....I am seriously debating returning to Wordpress because of their added features. I hate to flip flop but what to do. I get bored with a format and yearn for change....the woman in me ha ha and ha ha.....but am considering it so don't be surprised if you see a link to my old site. ;^)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Managing Stress
This month is a killer. Am turning 40, have to fly to Florida for a week for a wedding and dad is in the hospital as I write this.How to manage all of this without losing your mind?
Good question...
For me it has always been exercise however I canceled my membership at 24 Hour Fitness because I want to try out the three month exercise regime mentioned in this post. Burning off the anger, stress, ranting, crying, hair pulling, frustration, screaming, and all around kookiness of the issues I am facing will do wonders......
In the meantime I feel that taking all of this in stride, one day at a time is a must.
Thinking positive thoughts...knowing that there is a silver lining in every cloud (as corny as that can be) can be a life saver.
Good medicine for the soul...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Slow down!
It looks nicer in another language :^)
Check out more wonderful Omani photography from member Rossonero on English Sabla
Dealing with an elderly parent part II
Normally I don't delve too much about my "personal" life here unless I feel it can benefit others.
I had a family emergency this week regarding my father who is diabetic and insulin dependent. He was transferred from the Marion VA Hospital to the one here in Saint Louis. Thankfully there are benefits out there for veterans like my dad and myself when the need should arise.
However, I can easily see how more money needs to be filtered into the VA hospitals in this country for several reasons (it's just not Walter Reed--check out this story for more reasons why we need to be an active voice for our nation's veterans):
The scandal has reverberated through generations of veterans. "It's been a potent reminder of past indignities and past traumas," said Thomas A. Mellman, a professor of psychiatry at Howard University who specializes in post-traumatic stress and has worked in Veterans Affairs hospitals. "The fact that it's been responded to so quickly has created mixed feelings -- gratification, but obvious regret and anger that such attention wasn't given before, especially for Vietnam veterans."
Across the country, some military quarters for wounded outpatients are in bad shape, according to interviews, Government Accountability Office reports and transcripts of congressional testimony. The mold, mice and rot of Walter Reed's Building 18 compose a familiar scenario for many soldiers back from Iraq or Afghanistan who were shipped to their home posts for treatment. Nearly 4,000 outpatients are currently in the military's Medical Holding or Medical Holdover companies, which oversee the wounded. Soldiers and veterans report bureaucratic disarray similar to Walter Reed's: indifferent, untrained staff; lost paperwork; medical appointments that drop from the computers; and long waits for consultations.
My personal observations
1. They are understaffed (big time)
2. The hospitals are outdated and in need of repair. (The conditions which these vets are hospitalized in leaves allot to be desired).
3. With the influx of war veterans the US Government has to step up to the plate and fix these problems...along with everything else that is in need of help in the VA system.
Be your own advocate
Being a diabetic means watching (diligently...almost religiously) what you eat and HOW you take care of your body. Dad, for whatever reason, doesn't take care of himself like he should with this disease.
Everything falls on mom or the children.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for parents to ensure that they can manage their health care. Create living wills, make sure your affairs are in order (for the inevitable), use common sense....(canNOT stress that enough).
Children are there, of course for the moral support and if need to be to step in. But at the same time I am a strong advocate of people taking charge of their lives if they are capable of doing so. Don't get lazy or stubborn about these issues. I for one plan on making sure that my affairs are in order, that I use common sense when it comes to my health, and to create the least amount of stress for my only child when that time does arise in the far off future.
Taking care of my health now, mental and physical not only is common sense but a responsibility that I have to myself and to my family.
Be your own advocate!!!
I had a family emergency this week regarding my father who is diabetic and insulin dependent. He was transferred from the Marion VA Hospital to the one here in Saint Louis. Thankfully there are benefits out there for veterans like my dad and myself when the need should arise.
However, I can easily see how more money needs to be filtered into the VA hospitals in this country for several reasons (it's just not Walter Reed--check out this story for more reasons why we need to be an active voice for our nation's veterans):
The scandal has reverberated through generations of veterans. "It's been a potent reminder of past indignities and past traumas," said Thomas A. Mellman, a professor of psychiatry at Howard University who specializes in post-traumatic stress and has worked in Veterans Affairs hospitals. "The fact that it's been responded to so quickly has created mixed feelings -- gratification, but obvious regret and anger that such attention wasn't given before, especially for Vietnam veterans."
Across the country, some military quarters for wounded outpatients are in bad shape, according to interviews, Government Accountability Office reports and transcripts of congressional testimony. The mold, mice and rot of Walter Reed's Building 18 compose a familiar scenario for many soldiers back from Iraq or Afghanistan who were shipped to their home posts for treatment. Nearly 4,000 outpatients are currently in the military's Medical Holding or Medical Holdover companies, which oversee the wounded. Soldiers and veterans report bureaucratic disarray similar to Walter Reed's: indifferent, untrained staff; lost paperwork; medical appointments that drop from the computers; and long waits for consultations.
My personal observations
1. They are understaffed (big time)
2. The hospitals are outdated and in need of repair. (The conditions which these vets are hospitalized in leaves allot to be desired).
3. With the influx of war veterans the US Government has to step up to the plate and fix these problems...along with everything else that is in need of help in the VA system.
Be your own advocate
Being a diabetic means watching (diligently...almost religiously) what you eat and HOW you take care of your body. Dad, for whatever reason, doesn't take care of himself like he should with this disease.
Everything falls on mom or the children.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for parents to ensure that they can manage their health care. Create living wills, make sure your affairs are in order (for the inevitable), use common sense....(canNOT stress that enough).
Children are there, of course for the moral support and if need to be to step in. But at the same time I am a strong advocate of people taking charge of their lives if they are capable of doing so. Don't get lazy or stubborn about these issues. I for one plan on making sure that my affairs are in order, that I use common sense when it comes to my health, and to create the least amount of stress for my only child when that time does arise in the far off future.
Taking care of my health now, mental and physical not only is common sense but a responsibility that I have to myself and to my family.
Be your own advocate!!!
Favorite Arabic Poem
A comment was asked regarding which Arabic poem is my favorite. Hands down it is the Story of Layla and Majnun (interpretation by Ahmad al-Alawi):
Full near I came unto where dwelleth
Layla, when I heard her call.
That voice, would I might ever hear it!
She favored me, and drew me to her,
Took me in, into her precinct,
With discourse intimate addressed me.
She sat me by her, then came closer,
Raised the cloak that hid her from me,
Made me marvel to distraction,
Bewildered me with all her beauty.
She took me and amazed me,
And hid me in her inmost self,
Until I thought that she was I,
And my life she took as ransom.
She changed me and transfigured me,
And marked me with her special sign,
Pressed me to her, put me from her,
Named me as she is named.
Having slain and crumbled me,
She steeped the fragments in her blood.
Then, after my death, she raised me:
My star shines in her firmament.
Where is my life, and where my body,
Where my willful soul? From her
The truth of these shone out to me
Secrets that had been hidden from me.
Mine eyes have never seen but her:
To naught else can they testify.
All meanings in her are comprised.
Glory be to her Creator!
Thou that beauty wouldst describe,
Here is something of her brightness
Take it from me. It is my art.
Think it not idle vanity.
My Heart lied not when it divulged
The secret of my meeting her.
If nearness unto her effaceth,
I still subsist in her substance.
Whoever would find a place in that world must tread on the lusts of this world. This world is dust and is perishable. That world is pure and eternal. . . . Commit yourself to love's sanctuary and at once find freedom from your ego. Fly in love as an arrow towards its target. Love loosens the knots of being, love is liberation from the vortex of egotism. In love, every cup of sorrow which bites into the soul gives it new life. Many a draft bitter as poison has become in love delicious. . . . However agonizing the experience, if it is for love it is well.
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