ZONED

OK, the good news is that my blood work came back normal and there are no fatal diseases lurking in my body somewhere! I was a little worried about that since Mother has had arthritis of the spine probably since the day that I was born, if not before. I don't think that I can ever remember her not having back problems or grey hair! More good news is that I will be going to see EMILY next Thursday at 5:00 in the afternoon. Until then I will continue to take the muscle relaxers that have been prescribed for me. They aren't as bad as Flexeril, as in, I don't wake up feeling like I have been on a 10 day drunk, but they did help me sleep a little better and even caused me to oversleep just a little! Another thing that was comforting to me last night was that a good friend of mine suggested an ice pack instead of heat for my back. I made the funniest looking ice pack known to man. A ziploc baggie full of ice with an old towel wrapped around it. I put it on my neck/back at different intervals and by the time that I went to bed I was completely numb! So, thank you Patience for the advice about Emily, I know that you have been telling me to go and see her for a while, but I guess I had to wait until it was just unbearable. If things work out I will make you and Bill some Chicken Cacciatore and French Bread. I know that anything will make me feel better than I do now. It's kind of strange though, now that I brought that up, I just realized how long I have been having this kind of problem. Didn't I complain about my neck and back way last summer? Then I went through the sciatica thing (for more info see the post called STEROID HELL) and knew that I was absolutely going to die. I did tell my doctor that steroids for whatever is ailing me was NOT AN OPTION! I guess that all of this is just a sign that i am getting older and need to start paying attention to what my body is telling me and get it taken care of in a timely manner. Will update on the physical therapy after it happens!

Actually, there is one more thing that has really made me feel good in the last week, not physically, but emotionally. At the end of last week there was a resume' left on the desk for me at work. I kind of read it over and was pretty impressed at the job candidates longevity at her previous jobs. There was a business card attached that said Easter Seals of West Kentucky, and the woman's name on it to contact if I wanted to interview the job candidate. I wasn't really sure about the situation, but then my husband's niece came to mind! Her name is Olivia and she is 5 and has Downs Syndrome. I thought about when she gets older and has the opportunity to join the work force after some special skills training. Then I thought about one of the salesmen that pays me visits at work and his son, who is also Downs, working at a family business in Nashville, which is the same line of work that I do. So, I thought, what the heck, I may as well set up an interview! Her case worker brought her in for the interview. When she came in to the office I saw the sweetest person in the world. She has no physical limitations at all. She is just extremely shy! There may be some other underlying things that I don't know about, but her resume' was great so I decided to hire her. When I gave her the good news she was beaming! She wanted a job where she could just work by herself and the one that I hired her for will be perfect. Today was her first day at work, and of course her case worker came with her, probably for moral support and stuff like that and she said that she had to document everything. Her case worker won't be with her tomorrow, but will check on her periodically. I have another girl that is helping with her training and I will check in on her often. What was so amazing to me was the awesome smile that I got when I told her that she had the job. It was unforgettable!

WORD OF THE DAY

FORMIDABLE

for·mi·da·ble /ˈfɔrmɪdəbəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fawr-mi-duh-buhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1.
causing fear, apprehension, or dread: a formidable opponent.
2.
of discouraging or awesome strength, size, difficulty, etc.; intimidating: a formidable problem.
3.
arousing feelings of awe or admiration because of grandeur, strength, etc.
4.
of great strength; forceful; powerful: formidable opposition to the proposal.

PATIENCE PICTURE

I guess I will call this on "farm life"