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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The All In One




I can't get over how doctors today have come to be so wealthy.  At what cost? Our health care system is based on medical insurance premiums and high deductibles. No wonder medicare is collapsing.  We can't live in the past, but hey we should learn from it.


Not so long ago, when I was a child I remember my mom taking me to a run down office (have you ever walked in those designer offices nowadays)  where Dr. Montalvo saw almost all people who lived in the small town I came to live in as a preteen. He basically was the all in one doctor (if that's possible). Which meant he was the pediatrician, the gyn-ob, the hematologist, the dermatologist, the hepatologist, the gastroenterologist, etc., etc.  He would identify a problem and just solve it, if he would want to call a specialist there was some serious s^&%$t going on with you. Back in the day, specialists were for serious business. 

Let's see if this sounds familiar to you.. you're in a medical appointment with a cardiologist for high blood pressure and all of a sudden you remember that your glucose meter has been telling you that your levels are high, you ask him or her about it.  You can't believe your ears when you listen, "You need to see your internist about that."  Gee, haven't all specialists been internists first.  Were they brainwashed when they finished their cardiology fellowship?  Another one I detest is,  "Sorry, but that's not my specialty."  When I come across this baloney I sure would like to be seeing my all in one doctor again.

Another thing that tics me off is that,  nowadays doctors seem to be interviewing you in front of a computer and don't even bother to touch where it hurts.  What happened with the healing hands of a doctor?

My all in one doctor would even get your hemoglobin or urinalysis done on the spot because he would do it there.   He would quickly tell my mom, what was wrong with me and would go on to prescribe whatever I needed to get better.  Usually it would be a prescription my mom could go and buy in the only pharmacy in town,  at more than a reasonable price, and if she was short on money they would even give her the meds on a thirty-day credit note.  Which was basically an entry on a ledger, which she would go and pay when my dad gave her the money to cover the debt.

In the pharmacy she wouldn't be able to buy anything that weren't medicines, no paper towels, no toilette paper, no cosmetics, no hair products, no toys, no pampers, no food, no pictures or picture frames, no magazines and the list could go on and on and on.   Getting the picture here!

I'm thankful for all our medical advances believe me.  I should be, my husband received a liver transplant eighteen years ago.  I myself struggle with an autoimmune disease every day, but sometimes and just sometimes when I'm sitting there for hours and hours waiting, I would like to travel back in time and just be seen by my all in one doctor who relied on  touch and gut to know exactly what was wrong with me. 





Monday, April 29, 2013

The Locked Door

"Tomorrow is a mystery!"  Oh Noooooooooo, here comes this wacky lady with another one of those worn out cliches.  Hold it,  don't kick, sorry I meant click yourself out of my blog. Just stop to think about it, this is not a cliche.  It should become a universal truth to guide us through the choices we make in our lives.

Usually we like open doors, we see what's beyond them and we have no troubles passing through.  On the other hand,  when we have to deal with  a locked door we  become aggravated if we don't have a key. That's how our future is, it's locked and the worse part is that you don't have the key to unlock it until it becomes your present.




Even if tomorrow is our worse mystery, we're always making plans to do this or do that, never stopping to consider that we may not even see that day come by.  You know,  I learned this lesson the hard way.  I thought, well my life is planned (my husband and me thought that just by saying it out loud are plans were going to fall through)   and all of a sudden when my door was unlocked - - -BAM-  - - it didn't turn out as I planned. I would have liked to scream out of frustration, but I did what I always do, move on.

Now this can be a tiny bit hard to deal with.  Some of us say, "You need to plan your future now, the time is right.", others may say "You never know what can happen tomorrow." meaning don't do anything about IT.  But, where can we find the perfect balance?

I have come to learn that we can find the perfect balance today, but don't forget to bring your yesterday into the picture.  All of our experiences form us, and make us what we are.  So, YES yesterday is important, but today is the time to make a difference in your tomorrow.  Live your today wisely,  responsibly,  go a little bit crazy once in a while, because if you don't you're just a living corpse, and most of all treasure all that is important to your heart (this means take care of your spirituality).

Don't take me wrong, material things are also important.  Who ever said that material things weren't is lying and probably just wants to rip you off.  We need things to be able to survive and give us comfort as well, just don't get to greedy and keep close to your heart those who don't have as much as we do.

Last, but not least I want to mention a  blog written by Feminista Jones, I recently read, where she talks about the insights her mom gave her on life and relationships.  One of the most interesting parts were these words,  "Don't look into the future because it's already written...we just have to play it out as it comes."   A very wise lady if you ask me, let's take her little piece of advice and our locked door isn't going to aggravate us as much anymore.  Life is what it is, you just have to figure out how you play along with it. 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Coming Home


"Our world is a mess and I can't do anything about it!" Gee, what an easy and lazy statement and to think it came straight out of my thoughts.  Actually, I think it was my self defense that kicked in after coming across two situations that appealed to my heart.  We're so caught up trying to avoid situations that can disturb our way of life that we've become isolated to what's going on around us.  The trend is to be as individualistic as you can, everything is about me and only me.  I've heard many times people I know say, "If it doesn't affect me or my family,  I can't deal with that right now." This is like going to the dentist, if you fix a cavity you'll improve your oral health and ultimately save not only the tooth that had the cavity, but also everything that surrounded it.  If we use this same approach, resolving these issues will lead to building a better community, country and ultimately a better world.

One of my situations was how I felt after reading  K. Mark Koenig 's blog about the problems Palestine refugees confront everyday.  It shocked me to know how they faced being basically homeless, and struggle with their new life circumstances.  To make things worse, not only they live surrounded by these awful  circumstances, but as icing to the cake they also face situations where their life is often threatened.

As their days fade into the night, they can't just go home as we do everyday.  They can't leave towards their safe haven because they don't have one, they were forced out of it by circumstances out of their control.

"I see them as they go home at the end of the day...I want to go home to." Ronald Davis
Another story I could have spared myself from listening, was Ronald Davis' story.  As I heard him speak, I began feeling smaller and smaller, until nothing was left.  Saying that we're full of sh&%$t is an understatement!  Just having food, shelter and some level of peace is being filthy rich for some that don't have a dime to their name.   Nothing I can write can come close to the shattered speech of being homeless

    

Davis himself gave to the person who interviewed him.  This was over a year ago,  and it wasn't until this video became viral,  that attention wasn't  drawn to him.  He's only one of the thousands who face living in the streets in the United States every day.  He's a face that had the blessing of coming into the public eye due to social networks, and I'm more than sure he's very happy about it.  Help came on it's way for him and that's great, but what about the others?

Just knowing sometimes is unbearable!  Again I could go back to my opening statement and simply walk away.  Or on the other hand,  I could try to complete one act of random kindness to the next homeless that crosses his or her life with mine, reaching out and trying to help.  It's painful just to acknowledge how wrong some things are.  Yet we need to face the ugliness, heartbreak, loneliness and sorrow that some live through very close to what we call home.

That same ugliness is also found many miles away.  It's easy for us to buy something from China or any given country on E-bay, but are shy just giving a few bucks to a great cause abroad. Which is as simple as a click on Paypal.  The Palestine refugees Mark talks about struggle against getting just one dollar a day.  Being proactive in our world is just another form of globalization, the only thing we need to do is embrace and act on it.  

Wanting to reach out comes with a price!  It's like willingly putting yourself out there, in the unknown (a place that can bring us pain and frustration),or becoming vulnerable, yet I think I can  pay the price. Can you?









 




K. Mark Koenig

Sunday, April 21, 2013

A New Thread of Terrorism: Crime



Much is said about terrorism  and how it affects all of us.  Many want to link it to specific people and causes, but we’re not aware of a new thread of terrorism.  It’s called crime.  Crime is faceless, unmerciful, knows no creed, or follows no rules.  We’re up against something almost impossible to fight, because it’s wide spread all across the United States, Puerto Rico and the world.   

 
Image credit: toonpool.com

You can say, “Well, this lady is nuts because terrorism is  not about crime, it’s about politics and people who hate the United States.”  Terrorism is more than that, it’s about being coerced into a way of life,  in this case one that  we don’t want for ourselves.  It’s about being afraid to even go out to your own front or back yard because you just don’t know who can be lurking around your house.  It’s about having to purchase a gun to protect our family, it’s about losing our faith in our government, it’s about feeling vulnerable, and most of all feeling we’re up against anybody or everybody.

Terrorism is about having to purchase a gun to protect our families..

More than a year ago, my sister in law suffered a home invasion.  Thank God they weren’t there, and the criminals got in and out taking with them all they could.  I was home, but not feeling well that day, so I really didn’t see or hear anything.  To top things, someone seemed to be using a weed trimmer, and the noise these gadgets make is pretty deafening. So it kind of mumbled the noise they were making when they broke open her windows.

That unsettled all of us! To think that complete strangers barged into her home,  felt like a violation to her life.  Just thinking about all the things they touched or looked through, or just simply by being inside,  gave me the creeps.   We didn’t sleep much that week, just listening to the sounds of the night.  We were terrorized about someone gaining access to our home with us inside.  If that’s not terrorism, then I just don’t know what terrorism is.

Bottom line, I really don’t know what to say.   All kinds and sorts of terrorism will strike again and again, and we have no way of really protecting ourselves.  We don’t know from where or when it will through us a blow.  Because that’s how terrorism works, yet if we succumb to our fears they have won.  They’ve accomplished their purpose, we are living in fear.

Monday, April 15, 2013

In The Event Of Something Happening To Me...

April is organ donation awareness month, and  as a true believer in organ donation, I can't pass out on the opportunity of blogging about it. I'm not going into the facts about organ donation and how you can register to become a donor because that information is just a click away.   At Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh you can find great information on organ donation, and if you want to hear some incredible stories feel free to visit Transplant Friends.  Each story is compelling in it's own way.

This been said, let's get down to the nitty and gritty  of organ donation. First, nobody and when I say nobody, is prepared to face the difficult situation of having a transplant coordinator come up and ask you to donate your loved ones organs, even if he or she expressed in life that they wanted to become donors. 

I can only imagine the expressions of the family, as a complete stranger,  that seemed to be waiting on the side,  jumps in and asks the terrible question of,

-"Have you thought about donating "Jane or John Doe's" organs?  - (Remember we're making this up.)

Then continue to talk about the process, the marvelous thing you are doing for others, and the cliche "You are giving a gift of life." to another person (which is totally true).  In the meanwhile the person is in  total and complete shock,  they are speechless, the pain and grief of loosing that important person in their lives is overwhelming.  How does a person overcome this kind of tragedy and goes on to agree to donate?

I would think that some kind of conversations should have taken place with the donor prior to that moment in their lives. Maybe the donor at some point voiced his/her wishes and during those brief minutes, time is suspended and they hear his or her voice loud and clear.



 -"If anything happens to me, remember to donate my organs."

This is precisely why we need to talk about organ donation in the intimacy of our family circle.  These are conversations that are dreaded and seldom do we want to talk about death after dinner, but we need to get it out in the open.  Specially with the alarming statistics of people that die each day waiting for an organ donation.

Let's talk to our family, friends and anyone that needs to know how we feel about organ donation.  If you  want to become a donor voice it, and if you don't,  voice it as well.  Either way, it's fine!   Be sure that your family hears your voice loud and clear above all the grief and pain they are feeling than and there, and are able to follow your dreams of doing something worthy up to the last chapter of your life.









  

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Live Slowly: A Command Hard to Follow

This short sentence is a command.  Live slowly. It tells us to take one thing at a time as we live our lives. It's easier said than done because we usually get unsettled by any event that clashes into our lives with no notice.  I heard these two words about seven years ago, when I was still was undiagnosed for Myasthenia Gravis.

Even though I wasn't feeling to great, it seemed my life was better than okay.  I had turned forty in March (wasn't precisely crazy about that), was back at school to complete my masters in Literature, had been granted with the blessing of a T.A. (that meant free tuition), was working,  everything at home was fine, so I brushed off my symptoms all together.  As the semester was closing in I began to feel so sick it wasn't funny, and still I thought that it was stress and possibly I was pushing myself to hard, or it was simply in my head.  To make the VERY LONG STORY short I ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of a nearby hospital at the end of October. Myasthenic patients can go very easily in cardiac arrest if we're not on our meds.  The doctor's didn't know what was happening with me, so the only thing each and everyone one of them told me that I needed to take things slower.

Actually what does it mean, to live your life slower?  It's so easy to write or say and so hard to live up to. People who live their lives slowly have way to much time on their hands and heads.  You begin thinking and rethinking your life over and over again.  The sad part is that usually your thoughts aren't pleasant, all you think about are the treacherous "what ifs".



When someone is facing an illness, they shouldn't have to face those two dreadful words.  Live slowly. They should be able to just shake it off, regain their health (even if you have a chronic disease) and continue to live your life as always.  There are many things you can do to become pro-active in regaining your health.  For starters, you can begin by eating healthier and continue to adjust other tiny things that at the end are going to make a huge difference. I'm not a country music fan, but I love a song by Tim McGraw  where he sings that if he would be told he was dying he would go sky diving, rocky mountain hiking and he would ride a bull who's name was Fumanchu...  In other words, he would live his life without regret and that's what precisely we need to do.  Just keep on going and live our lives as we please, slow or fast, not forgetting that we are the ones in control not any medical term used to chain us down to a life we don't want for ourselves.  



Thursday, April 4, 2013

Please, sit still!!!!


How can we renew our minds?  Our mind is so unique as ourselves because it contains our bare essence.  We can cover up flaws we may have in our bodies dressing a particular way, or we may diet,  or even have plastic surgery done so we can fix whatever it is that we think is wrong with ourselves. Yet our minds can not undergo any plastic surgery, we are what we are and none other than ourselves can change that. 

The wise man who wrote “..be transformed by the renewing of our minds” in Romans 12:2 was totally right when he put together these two powerful words  “transformed and renewed”.  We can absolutely change our ways when we bring into the picture new concepts and mental structures and feel different about ourselves and the world that surrounds us. 

If this is so, why do we always want to stay where we are?  You know what, because we’re darn lazy!  We don’t want to be transformed because we just might want to do something about it.   A great way to renew our minds is to ask ourselves questions.  Not any type of questions, but those who may transform  how we feel about mostly everything that makes up our lives.  

Benjamin Franklin would reflect on his day when he settled to rest at the end of it.  He would think in ways he could improve himself and would live abiding some very specific principles he had set for himself.  He was a hyperactive being and constantly transformed himself through the renewal of his mind.  No wonder he invented so many things, became of self made man and so many other incredible things.  Taking on his technique about reflecting or meditating or whatever you want to call it is not such a bad idea after all because it doesn’t let us fall into our comfort zones, where everything is black and white with no shadows in between.  Have you been around a child that is always moving?  If so, you probably know that it bothers most people.  These children usually hear more than they should, “Would you please sit still.”.  That’s what we do when we become adults, we sit still in body and soul.  Our thoughts also sit still, we don’t want to move or change because that’s what we would were told to do.

Life is about shadows...not everything can be categorized into tiny or large boxes.  We have to be able to cope and improve ourselves doing just that.  Reflecting on ourselves and not focusing on how others should improve.  We’re great doing precisely that, telling those who surround us close and afar how they should live their lives.  Stop!!!!! Let’s look at ourselves for one minute and learn how we can change our minds to become transformed in a world that desperately needs transformation.

Great site to check on:  Image credit:  Sit Illustration The Meditation Cartoon Book ( http://sitillustrated.com/)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Life Is A Story

Last Sunday I felt the warmth of a hug that was given to me by someone very dear to my heart. I have the blessing of going to the same church as my 8th grade Spanish teacher.  Way back then, I knew I wanted to become a teacher someday and I admired her as one.  I would love the way her classroom was organized, how she cared for her books, and for her students.  But most of all I would admire her the most for loving what she did.  She engaged her students in the novels we HAD to read for her class.  You know, during all my years in school in Puerto Rico those became the only novels I did read out of joy, even though it started out as an obligation.  I will never forget "Maria" and how she fought against a rare disease; nor will I forget "Marianela" and her quest for love despite her ugliness. The joy of getting to know these characters were all because of her.  

After her hug she went on to tell me that she admired me and that I had surpassed her as a teacher. I was speechless for a moment and only went on to hug her again.  I hugged her not only because of what she told me, but for what it meant for me.  I traveled back in time, and saw her classroom, her desk sat on the left side of the classroom and our desks were arranged in rows of two facing each other. Her classroom resembled a square.  It was liking seeing two persons one young and one old.  Not old in a bad way, but old as in wise and cultivated by her years and experience in life.  Her voice has become subtle during the years, but still has traces of how vibrant and strong it used to be.

I know as a fact that today she struggles to overcome many things in her later years, but she does it in an elegant way.  She stands tall, even when her shoulders carry the burden of loosing a child to cancer when he was only ten or eleven.  It should have been hard to keep her family going when facing such a tragic event in their lives.  I'm more than sure she stumbled along the way, but at the end she ended up raising her daughter and son to be two incredible adults and managed to keep her family going.    

As her words mingle around my thoughts, I can only hope to one day face life in  my older years with the elegance and wit of my dear teacher that has overcome so many things during her own life. Her voice will still be part of my adolescent years when she would ask in her vibrant voice, "What did you like the most of this story?", because life itself is a story and you are the one who writes it every day.  

(image credit: http://www.jackheimbigner.com/life-is-a-story/)
  


Monday, April 1, 2013

The Miracle of Change

Listening to what we don't want to hear is hard.   Our defenses are high and if we do listen, it's going to take more than a minute for what is being said to  sink in. That doesn't mean we are going to do anything about it.   This is one of the reasons that so many relationships go under board. Those defenses that I talked about a minute ago are going to grow rapidly as we listen to what is being said, specially if we don't like it.  A couple of years ago I held a strong grudge against an old friend and would not let it go.  My oldest son gave me a reality check on how things had gone and why he thought that we both acted against our friendship.  He also told me to let it go because I wasn't going to gain anything good out of all those negative feelings I was holding inside.  The only person I was damaging was myself.  That day I received the first smack in the face of my life, it didn't feel good, but I was able to snap out of that horrible grudge.

Over the years many of us get stuck in our own ways.  I would love to emphasize the word "stuck" because it means there is no way we're moving.  We are up to our knees in cement, meaning that change is not an option.  We just stand where ever we are and not move!  No kidding so many of us have a mid life crisis.  Sometimes we fill our thoughts with the famous what ifs...., what if God can do this or that.  This or that can have a very broad range,  those what ifs can go from saving the life of a terminal cancer patient up to finding a job.  We're so caught up handing all our problems to God that we overlook the miracle of change itself.   God has given us the capacity of changing our views and ways to set a new path for ourselves and others as well. I've learned to listen to my daughter over the years,  even though sometimes it's gone wrong and we've end up bickering and mad at each other.  Yet we overcome our anger and begin our conversations all over again.  It doesn't matter if we do fight sometimes over things we don't agree, but we keep on working on it.  The important part is that we listen and try to understand each other.

I consider change to be a miracle because of its  cause and effect relationship.  Let us say for example if we change our perspectives on things like: homosexuality, we become more tolerant with those that surround us; the homeless, we become proactive in helping them overcome this way of life; and on drug addiction, we may find ways of helping them overcome their addiction.  In all these possible changes we are getting involved and that's precisely what God want us to be. On the other hand, if we stay as we are, looking from afar, how can we make that miracle happen?   The other day I read an interesting post on Facebook, it was a thank you prayer.  It got me thinking about my own thank you prayers, how many times have I thanked God for his blessings, but done nothing for others.  I felt like a phony!!!  We need to overcome our ways and move on to a change not only in our spirit, but also in our day to day actions.   

God has created our world and He didn't make it still, but dynamic.  This amazing World we live on is always moving, changing, in constant evolution, and I ask myself, why can't we be the same?   I know for a fact that it can be hard because I myself am as stubborn as a donkey.  Nevertheless, I'm sure that after we take time to listen to the many voices that surround our lives we will be heading towards the right direction, the direction that God has set for us.  The direction that will bring small miracles in our journey through life, that same direction will substitute the what ifs and make them only hows.  Instead of saying what if God did this or that, we will begin saying how can I make that happen not only for me, but also for others. So let us all embrace change as part of God's plan for us, because when everything has been said and done, we'll finally understand  that's what living is all about!

(Image credit: http://www.amreshkumar.com/2011/01/14/hoping-for-a-miracle/)