Gratitudes journal

[Kimba22]

Sounds like your family had a rough time of it. Hope you're rid of your cough!

Thanks, Mamabug. Cough is still lingering, but not as bad as it was.

Hope you and your family are all feeling better, Kimba!

I understand the weakness you experience with a fever. I am extremely heat intolerant also, and have no strength whatsoever when my core temp rises. No fun!

Take Care

Thanks, KoKo. Everyone is better, but still dealing with the lingering cough. Unfortunately, I can't cough as hard as I should so have to cough more.

Sorry you also have the same problem when your core body temperature rises. Definitely not fun! Makes getting sick even more challenging.

Being extremely heat intolerant is something you just can't understand unless you have it. My husband knows what happens to me, but since he was sick too, he was weak too ...

[Seasha]

Well, that was a double whammy, Kimba, but glad you both are better

I am grateful that my large family has been healthy so far this season. Knock on wood

[Kimba22]

Well, that was a double whammy, Kimba, but glad you both are better

I am grateful that my large family has been healthy so far this season. Knock on wood

Thanks, Seasha.

My brother in law is the one who gave it to my family Christmas Eve. He also shared it with a few other family members. To be fair he didn't know he had it yet. Glad he didn't give to my 95 old mother in law, and we didn't share it with anyone in my family Christmas day. I know I've been been lucky since honestly can't remember the last time I had the flu. I think the last time was when I was a kid.

Grateful we paid for travel protection insurance for the vacation we had planned. Just never know with my health, and this time turned out we all needed it.

I hope this was our illness for the year! I hope you and your family stay healthy, as well as everyone else here.

[502E79]

Been a while. Guess exercise and a milder winter here have allowed more "busy time" in what is normally an isolating month.

I've found opportunity to discuss my future / possible futures with friends.

Most conversation online or phone, most friends at a distance. The blessing of these discussions is that none of these people know the others. And yet the conversation with each could be said to segue from one to another, much like a conference call.

I don't remember being the catalyst directing the conversation but admit the MS is a top topic. The discourse was welcome, the opportunities numerous and the opinions varied.

The thing about it that made this entry necessary was that I don't remember directing the conversation. Yet somehow the discussions came round again and again to my future.

No one can see or has seen me very often these last few years, yet they knew. So... by my words alone they could "see" the disease progression, the deliberations involved, my tentativeness, ups / downs.... The whole bag that makes MS... MS.

Maybe "You'll know when it's time" is better illustrated by the honesty inherent in true friendship?

And not forgetting faith in God and His will.

[Mamabug]

...
I've found opportunity to discuss my future / possible futures with friends.

...true friendship

...And not forgetting faith in God and His will.

Thanks for sharing!

[Mamabug]

Just this

Often, I believe that I really should take more time to intentionally consider and recognize what I need to be grateful. And, I really should.

But, sometimes, I just want to acknowledge that I have a good life. I have the blessings of family and friends, I have meaningful activities and opportunities to continue working at strategies that support stabilizing my MS and improving my health.

I'm just grateful, in general, for where my life is right now.

[KoKo]

My older sister made a delicious soup with black beans, kale, and carrots.

She also made some very tasty fermented cabbage (kraut).

My brother-in-law brought them over for me to enjoy, and I sure did enjoy them!

What a treat when I don't have to prepare my meals for a few days.

Grateful for family!

[Mamabug]

What a treat when I don't have to prepare my meals for a few days.

Grateful for family!

Awesome! Sounds like the kind of ingredients I use a lot in my cooking. Sounds good!

[502E79]

Yesterday my housekeeper, a young woman, now 30, was a human whirlwind as she turned mild messy chaos into clean, homey bliss.

Sun (yeah the real thing!) came up today. Widows & floors gleamed! Counters spotless. Even my ugly mug reflected in the toaster! So I sent a text thanking her.

And that didn't prove to be sufficient, so here's a post to say that even if we cannot do it as thoroughly as we once did or we can or do hire another, we are by extension accomplishing something. Maintaining, to some degree, a bit of what we can still appreciate.

Another plus: the young lady herself is a joy, and it isn't simple sympathy. A genuine spirit, putting herself into anything she does.

I'm grateful and It lifts us both!

[Mamabug]

I just had a phone conversation with someone who has MS who knows a mutual acquaintance. She lives about 30 miles away and we set up a time next week to get together for lunch. We are both really excited that we'll be able to meet each other.

Finding a new personal connection who might really "get" MS is exciting!

[502E79]

Wasn't going to post this here but the more I thought about it....

Sunday is my off day, a pair of sweats and "work" consist of a load of laundry, I cut a check & file a few statements. That's it.

A minor washing machine snafu + a decision to clean out ONE office draw led to 2 hours of genuine exercise.

The whole affair was hard but doable. Yes I'm grateful for being able to do the physical up / down, walk around stuff, but the true gratitude lies in not getting up set as things unraveled. It was funny in hindsight, the way one screw-up cascaded into another and yet another.

So it's patience that saved the morning, maybe the day. I was NEVER as patient as I have become since MS entered my life.

[KoKo]

The whole affair was hard but doable. Yes I'm grateful for being able to do the physical up / down, walk around stuff, but the true gratitude lies in not getting up set as things unraveled. It was funny in hindsight, the way one screw-up cascaded into another and yet another.

So it's patience that saved the morning, maybe the day. I was NEVER as patient as I have become since MS entered my life.

Hi Jer, thanks a million for sharing that your patience has improved while dealing with MS.

So true for me also.

Example:

Last week I dropped my container of frozen blueberries on the kitchen floor.

There I stood with my rollator walker, in a sea of blueberries with no clear path to walk.

In the not too distant past, I would have immediately called one of my sisters to come help me out of this predicament.

But I remained calm, and thought 'well, I have all day to clean this up'.

I keep a reacher/grabber in my walker, which can pick up tiny things such as vitamin supplements and blueberries.

So, I picked up some of the blueberries, one by one with the reacher, in order to make a decent path to get to my chair and rest awhile.

After resting, got back up to pick up more blueberries, then more rest and repeat.

Finally, when all blueberries were picked up, I wet some paper towels and used my reacher to wipe up the purple floor.

(Now that I think about it, I should have claimed extra credit on the exercise thread!)

In any case, I patiently handled this predicament (as my sister and I call this type of thing) much better than I would have in the past.

[Mamabug]

How refreshing, that you are both framing patience as a gratitude, rather than framing your challenges as frustration instead.

Today, I'm grateful for some good phone calls in the last few days, most of them to Canada:
- talked to my Dad
- Skped with my daughter. While she cooked supper, my 3 y.o. grandson stayed on Skype and we read about 5 or 6 books because he kept asking for more.
- I called a friend (a childhood friend whom I've kept in touch with all of these years) to wish her a happy birthday. Although our conversation migrated to politics and we have some very differing views, we're OK talking about it without it affecting our friendship.
- I called another friend who struggles with health, pain, etc, just to check on how she was doing.

[502E79]

KoKo! There should be a law applicable to all who work in markets that not a single pint of berries (of any kind!) leave the store without a rubber band securely in place. Enough said, my blueberry debacle will remain private... but know you aren't alone.

She lives about 30 miles away and we set up a time next week to get together for lunch. We are both really excited that we'll be able to meet each other.

Mamabug, thanks for your post regarding "reaching out," I did a bit too this past weekend. Lifts all spirits. Was wondering about the new friend mentioned a few posts back. Did you get together?

Jer

[Mamabug]

Mamabug, thanks for your post regarding "reaching out," I did a bit too this past weekend. Lifts all spirits. Was wondering about the new friend mentioned a few posts back. Did you get together?

Jer

Not yet. It's scheduled for next Friday, March 6.