Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Day After The Day After

Well, not the dramatic improvement I had hoped for. Maybe because Doug was gone from 3:30 til 9:15 last night at the cow auction. Hmmm....could be. There is such a juxtaposition between before treatment and after.

In the weeks following these treatments (after the recovery of course), so far I have felt fantastic. It's like a new lease on life. Like I used to feel at my strongest since I've been diagnosed.

Then I get the treatments. If I don't just sit and do absolutely nothing, it takes longer to feel better. And timing sucks. It seems like there are people coming out of the woodwork when I feel fantastic, but when I'm half dead, everyone is gone or busy.

My mom volunteered to come out today, but she just had Jacob on Monday, and my dad is still recovering from being in the hospital last week with pneumonia. (He is doing really well though). So I just suck it up. What choice do I have?

That's why there is SUCH a need for a type of ministry that has people available to help people in similar situations as the one I am in. The ones who fall through the cracks. The ones who make too much money for government help (which is almost everyone if you have a spouse with a job). The ones who aren't 60 who can't get "elder care."

So once again I urge you, no, I IMPLORE you....please volunteer. PLEASE find something you can do to help. Maybe it's to supply paper and pencils for schools hit by the horrible tornadoes this year.

Maybe it's donate blood or plasma. If people did not donate plasma, I could not get treatments, and would probably be dead. So don't think "that's ALL I can do." It's huge.

Call your local Red Cross, or hospital, or hospice, or someplace like Love INC. Ask what the needs are. Call your church if you go to one. Tell the pastor what you can do. Can you cook? Can you clean? For people like me, those are (80% of the time) monumental tasks.

You don't have to give someone a million dollars to be a hero. Sometimes all it takes is a card, or a phone call, a meal, or a visit.

Whatever you do for the least of these....

3 comments:

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

So glad you feel some better. I agree that we need volunteers. I try to call lonely people with the telephone??

Rachel said...

PLEX is very taxing, I'm sure you feel much better in another day or two!

I think in general people don't volunteer like they used to. It's like the more free time we have, the less free time we have. I'm sure you know what I mean, like in the days when you washed all your laundry by hand, now we have fancy washers, but laundry piles up because there's no time!

At my church it seems like it's always the same people who volunteer, maybe that in itself is a turn off for others, I wish I knew the answer. Like you say even if all you can do is send a card to someone, even the littlest things are much appreciated!

Pitterle Postings said...

I am glad you feel some better, and am hoping that you will continue to improve. It is hard to find volunteers for most things. I am not sure that people volunteer less, I just think there are so many good things that need volunteers. The trick is to find something or someone that you are passionate about and start there. I volunteer alot (probably too much some times) But my family has to have me every once in a while. It is a hard line to draw and a harder one to keep. There are just so many people who need something. I think there are a lot of people that don't feel like they have much to give, so instead of starting small and giving what they can, they just don't do it at all.

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