Latest Blogs

Two steps back...
Done with radiation... a huge step, yes, yet its been a few weeks and we haven't seen much improvement in anything else. In fact we are in a two steps back phase.
This week we've attended several support groups, a place where Deb can learn from others in a similar situation and where we, as her support, can learn how to best help her through each stage.
Sometimes I don't think...

Growing up I never thought it possible, the world couldn't possibly continue without him? And yet it did...
From the moment I walked out of that hospital room where he lay in Parma, I noticed the television playing loudly in a waiting room, people buzzing about and cars on the way to their intended destinations. My world had just crumbled and yet the world outside continued on as if nothing had...

March
List the things that feel like home
a cup of coffee and warm blanketfireplacea safe zonea dog and cat nearbydinner cookingcountry furnaturestacks of books all aroundhemlock treesporch swingbirds singinglakereading on the deckjournals to get lost ina bottle of redcozy robemarkers, pens, paints, papermy camera to capture the mood  

Heard this poem at a support group meeting and I'm sure it can apply to many peoples lives...
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, 
When the funds are low and the debts are high, 
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, 
When care is pressing you down a bit, 
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its...

Can you make a difference in twelve weeks?  I'm about to find out...
Starting today I have 12 weeks until I turn 50, and while I'm not as concerned about the number, I do want to challenge myself to do some things to improve myself, like push ups, increasing my running in both speed and distance, find some muscles and then say, yes... this is 50!
Kind of like a second chance at those New Years resolutions.
Besides...

Confabulation...
When I first heard that word I was thinking of Elmer Fudd saying something and yet  reading it in a report on Deb and again on a brain injury website I learned it is a real word and a real disorder with TBI.
Occasionally, a person with a brain injury tries to fill in memory gaps by making up information. Known as “confabulation,” this behavior is different than lying. Do not...

March
List your essentials
lovehonestyhopehubbyfamilycameraiphonerazorsbookskindlerunningpenpaperwritinglip glosshair straightenercozy blankets 

Have you met these people? They try and try to bring sadness or upset into your life and yet each day you get up singing like the characters in whoville...
Because you have a choice. You can either let their negative actions consume you or you can learn that those actions speak more about them than they do you. 
For me life has been a series of ups and downs, and these ups and downs are the life...

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed with life?
There are days when I feel like life is falling in on me from so many directions, forging me into something new. I've always been a journaler, and as these struggles continue to shape me.  My writing has given me more strength as my words teach me and hopefully others, and that part I like.
Problems are our opportunity to find our strengths and...

Life has been counted by the weeks...
Three weeks in ICU, 2 weeks in step down, five weeks at Lakewood hospital, endless weeks at Mentis in Stow and most recently, 5 weeks of radiation. "wow, that's a lot of time!" Somehow, the time keeps passing and before we know it and we are out of another phase.
I'm glad this phase is over and I am sure Gordon is too, although we know the effects from the...