So many changes, it's hard to put them all down. The biggest change is that I am actually working outside the home and getting paid for it! I have done volunteer/ministry work for so long, it is actually refreshing and nice to get a pay check. I am teaching K-1st grade at a local Christian School, and loving it. Granted, my paycheck isn't big, but hey that's ok. I love my kids and the challenges, and it gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I use my scooter, without it there is no way I could do what I do. I use a whistle, to call my kids, and they come running and line up behind me like a choo choo train. It is quite a sight. I have 6 boys and two girls, one boy is ADHD, one was undisciplined, and one acts out to get the attention of the others, and one girl had a serious 'attitude' . They have all matured so much, it is had to believe they are the same kids.
Related to the first change, I had my first parent/teacher conference, and my first Christmas production, ,(even if it was only 5 minutes long). I do love them all and enjoy seeing them get excited about reading. Need to go.
Christmas blessings to each of you
]]> ]]>I started by calling her oxygen people to cancel the service. It didn't take them long to come and get her oxygen tanks, concentrator, and C-pap. Then I cleaned out all of mom medicines and tubing left over from her oxygen concentrator. I had no idea how many she had. Every time they came to check it, they left tubing. Since she hadn't used her oxygen much in the last year it was hidden everywhere. I mean like 2 garbage bags full! Then I went through the drawer where she kept her bills and cards. It was good for me. It was a time of remembering. As I go through things, I am going to set aside things that can be used as keepsakes. I already have some things set aside.
We called General Motors, Her insurance policies, and got death certificates. Today I paid what was left of her funeral expenses with her insurance policies paid benefits. We paid for having the date put on the headstone before we left the funeral home, so all of that is done. Since GM had deposited her January pension I wrote a check today to pay them back. Fortunately Social Security didn't direct deposit her January, so I don't have to send anything back for that.
We are turning her room into a library. We are bringing our books down from the attic. I have given away some purses and hats to some of the ladies in her Sunday School class. We haven't brought everything down from the attic yet.
There are many memories of Priscilla Hall Days, but I will save them for another day
]]>I remember when mom and dad brought my siblings and a few friends to see me.(I don’t remember who exactly) They couldn’t come up to see me so I waved to them from a window looking down.
My days were filled with “hot packs” and “exercises”. Every day several times a day they would push a cart with steaming wool pieces of cloth. They would wrap them on my arms, shoulders, legs, and put plastic over the top to hold in the heat. Since I was such a good patient, I was the guinea pig while interns stood and watched. Sometimes, I felt like screaming because it was so hot, but I didn’t. and they kept bringing all these students to watch day after day. Physical therapy was an everyday affair. It was exhausting work, but they tried to make it fun, by letting us compete with each other. We would race to see who could put on and take off their braces the fastest. We not only had the exercises on the tables, but we had to learn to walk, and fall. We had to conquer the stairs up and down, long hallways, falling without harming ourselves and getting up after you fell. We couldn’t go home until we were proficient.
In our rooms we would race to see who could throw out an ace bandage and roll it back up the fastest. There were wheel chair races, which I mostly watched from the sidelines.
]]>My first room seemed crowded to me, but I didn’t mind because there was a baby close by that I could watch. For me what could be better than that! I remember being right next to a big picture window looking out at the hallway. The first test they did was a spinal tap. It wasn’t bad, just a few pin pricks. And the results were conclusive, Polio! It was spreading. It looked as though by morning, I would be in an “Iron Lung”. (A big tube that you fit inside, except for your head.) A pump would put pressure on the lungs and ‘breath’ for you. That is what the Doctors told my parents. Expect to see me in an iron lung when they returned the next morning. But God had other plans. My mother tells me, “When Dad and I got home, we knelt and prayed, giving you to the Lord. We told Him, ‘No matter what happens to her, we will serve You’.” Mother said, she had peace for the first time since I had gotten sick. She had a good nights rest. When they returned the next morning, they were greeted by the doctors. My fever had broken. The polio stopped spreading, no iron lung. My Dad and Mom asked what time the fever broke, it was the exact time they had knelt in prayer committing me to the Lord. I spent the next three/four months in the hospital.
My first room seemed crowded to me, but I didn’t mind because there was a baby close by that I could watch. For me what could be better than that! I remember being right next to a big picture window looking out at the hallway. The first test they did was a spinal tap. It wasn’t bad, just a few pin pricks. And the results were conclusive, Polio! It was spreading. It looked as though by morning, I would be in an “Iron Lung”. (A big tube that you fit inside, except for your head.) A pump would put pressure on the lungs and ‘breath’ for you. That is what the Doctors told my parents. Expect to see me in an iron lung when they returned the next morning. But God had other plans. My mother tells me, “When Dad and I got home, we knelt and prayed, giving you to the Lord. We told Him, ‘No matter what happens to her, we will serve You’.” Mother said, she had peace for the first time since I had gotten sick. She had a good nights rest. When they returned the next morning, they were greeted by the doctors. My fever had broken. The polio stopped spreading, no iron lung. My Dad and Mom asked what time the fever broke, it was the exact time they had knelt in prayer committing me to the Lord. I spent the next three/four months in the hospital.
At the same time, my mother developed an infection in one of her toes. Being a diabetic, she could have lost her toe, but thanks be to God, we think that threat is over. We are still treating it and she sees the dr. again the end of September.
We did have a wonderful time on our vacation to Michigan. All our kids and g'kids were there for the reunion on my husband's side of the family. We took our camper and set it up at Dick's sister's house where the reunion was held. It was good to rest, and enjoy family. We hired a young lady to take care of mother, which allowed me to enjoy the time away knowing she was in capable hands. The second half of the trip was spend at my sister's lake house. We didn't get to see all my siblings, nieces, and nephew's, but we did get to meet my niece's new husband and enjoyed getting to know Robin. We had dinner with my youngest sister and her daughter and husband. We always enjoy visiting with Matt and Julie.
Anyway, that was my summer
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