Reflections From a Country Girl

When I discovered I was sick in February of this year I recall having – what I called then – five good days between then and May 18th.  That may sound a bit negative, but there were really five days during that time when I could say that I felt great.  The others were not so good days physically.

I was thinking this morning about the number of good days since I’ve been here at MD Anderson Cancer Center in May 18th.  I have been out of the hospital for a total of eight weeks on and off as an outpatient.  The rest of the days were as an inpatient. 

Being in a “new” city as big as Houston, I have been able to take advantage of pro baseball games, some remarkable museums, and other sites that are not as frequent in smaller places like Columbia.  It has been good to be here and experience those things. 

How many days, I thought, have I had that were good days here since May 18th?  

My thoughts on “good days” have changed since February.  Now, I believe everyday I live has been a good day in some way or other. Some days the fact that I survived till the next day is the best I can say.  Others have been filled with new friends, angels that have touched me in some special way, or even last night when someone said a kind word at a local Mexican eatery where I had to wear a mask coming and going.  There were lots of stares but many smiles as we made eye contact. We were even able to help jump start someone’s car who, turned out, worked at MD Anderson in the benefits department.

So how many good days have you had in the last month?

I dare you to count them up and see what you come up with.  Oh, I know there are not always smooth days and that sometimes we collapse from exhaustion at the end of the day.  

I hope and suspect that, if you think about it, your days, too, will be filled with good days for the most part…even if there are financial, physical, or other worries that were part of those days. 

I had a stressful day yesterday dealing with my insurance company.  My house flooded on July 3rd and it is still not liveable.  My agent had to step in and help with things to get the finance issues resolved with his agency.  He did a great job helping and I think I finally can get the contractor to start work on the house so it will be liveable when Pierce and I return – hopefully after the first of the year. 

I also spent 12 hours at the hospital getting transfusions and having doctor appointments before going to dinner at seven and celebrating the time my friend, Annette, has spent with me these last nine days.  She goes home today and I will miss her.  

My wish for you today is that you make every day you can a good day and – when things get tough – you find that it was just part of a day when you were able to be here and enjoy life as much as possible. 

~ Joellen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 6:29:am and is filed under Living Life to the Fullest, Medical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.