Thankful Thursday

Another week gone by, another chance to count blessings & be thankful for the little things...

Thankful for this:

 It's a new lymphedema sleeve and glove, and a huge pile of pillows.  The pillows is what it takes to keep my arm from swelling at night - 3 under my left arm.  My really pretty pewter sleeve left some seriously ugly welts on my underarm.  This one is uglier, but much more functional.  I am still trying to get the thumb & index finger stretched out so they quit cutting off circulation, but it's better than the first one!  It got me released from my wonderful PT/ LE massage lady today.  Dang, I'm gonna miss her, but hope to not see her at work any time soon!  I'm not sure which was more beneficial, the LE massage (really, it's not like a spa massage, just trying to get the lymph nodes working that I still have) or the girl talk staring at the ceiling while laying on her table.  I felt like Lucy and Charlie Brown some days with Lucy's shingle hanging out, "The Doctor is In, 5 cents"  Both were needed, though!  And, the sleeve means I can use this:

 

Tom built me a frame for my treadmill so my arms are up, not swinging down, and no, I don't smack my head on it.  More LE adaptations.  Frustrating to need them, but useful.  Did Darwin say "Adapt or Die?"  I was hoping to have this LE stuff all figured out by the time of my nephew's Eagle Scout 5K Food Drive, but that didn't happen, so I was just moral support instead of an active participant.  We had fun anyway, and my future Eagle Scout got to see a one-day project in action.

And I am pretty sure my sister is glad it all ran smoothly.  1682 items for the food pantry & 114 participants.  Nice job, Z!


Thankful for these boys and their 6-0 season.  Evan (75) had a great assist in their last game, against another undefeated team.  So glad for a great self-esteem boost for him!  And their orange is for Galen, a local kid who lost his fight with leukemia earlier in the week. 

Thankful for small-town community to support Galen and his family.  Breese played Carlyle - county rivals - the day after he came home from Children's with hospice care, and everyone had their "Team Galen" shirts - both teams had orange on.  He got to Skype with the Duck Dynasty folks, and Children's made a music video with him in it, finished the day before he passed away, so he got to see it.  These guys are young enough that they didn't play football with him, but he played Aviston FB a few years ago.  His leukemia was diagnosed the summer of his freshman year during FB tryouts, so he never got to play High School ball.

Thankful for these, a gift from my mom, in honor of our anniversary.  13 years.  I still do.

And one more thankful, for goofy hair.

Because I can, that's why!  We all need a mohawk day once in a while!


I have 2 more pretty slow weeks with just a shift or two at work, and then it's back to 3 or 4 8 hour days a week.  It looks like I have to work maybe one more weekend's worth of 12 hour shifts, then I am straight PRN.  I will miss the weekend rhythm, and the time & a half, but those 12's hurt by the end & take longer to recover from, so I think it's the right decision.