When I was a child, I acted like, well, a child. Especially when it came to getting my finger pricked, which happened more often than I care to think about because my Mama was absolutely determined I was anemic. (I wasn't anemic. I was lazy. Big difference!). Luckily, my Daddy's dental office was right down the sidewalk from the Dr.'s office. I remember one time, in particular, I was being extremely difficult and literally both drs and a few nurses were trying to hold me still to prick my finger and they had to call my Daddy to come help hold me down. Those of you who still have nightmares of those big pointed lancets they used and equally big nurses that were rough, will shudder with your own memories and identify with what I'm talking about.
To put it mildly, I've never liked medical procedures. Dental were fine, but "medical"...well, no! Fast forward to late 1999. Car accident, RSD sets into my hand with the doubly broken thumb, and I have to have a nerve block for the pain. I don't have a clue what that procedure is like today but then it involved IVs in both hands and a long, blue tourniquet that covered the affected arm that needed the block. I had to have it, the only other option was one I didn't like, so I got all adult and told the anesthesiologist to just do what he had to do and not tell me about it. If he needed me to do something then tell me only that much. I explained to him what a big baby I was and we'd both fare much better through this if he took my advice on how to deal with me.
To make a long nerve block short, I took all the stuff he had to pump into me and took it in a way that made it vital for him to leave all tourniquet settings alone and not ease up. Up until that point, he had never had a patient take all the medicine nor had one that didn't need their tourniquet adjusted, and he had done thousands of nerve blocks he said, And here, big baby me was doing both firsts! And because I took it all and did great, I've never needed another nerve block and I should have had up to 5 more.
Before he left me that day he said and I'll never forget it, "You know, you talk like you're a baby. But you're not. You're tough as nails."
Those thuds you hear across America are people who know me fainting at the thought of me being tough as nails! Daddy, pick Mama up from the floor!
Being Southern and having seen "Steel Magnolias," that became my nickname for me. I'm a steel magnolia! Yessirreee buddy-bobby-boy! Being a metallic tree came in very handy when in 2008 I was diagnosed with melanoma...in the same arm with the RSD no less! Is God good or what?! (I mean that! That's a huge blessing!)
And now, here in 2011, I'm having an identity crisis of monumental proportions! I find I'm not a metallic tree after all. I find I haven't been around the block as many times as I thought I had. I'm not tough as nails, I'm as pliable as a small paper clip. At least when it comes to other people.
I'm finally getting involved with melanoma awareness. I write and administrate the Melanoma Prayer Center on Facebook (which you can click on the link and read everything there without being on FB. I particularly suggest scanning through the several pages of "notes.")
http://www.facebook.com/MelanomaPrayerCenter
I'm meeting people, hearing stories...real life stories, of people in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, ages far too young to be touched by this horrible, highly preventable, highly treatable when caught early enough, and highly deadly when not caught early enough, disease. They're touching my life and melting my heart. They're pulling back the steel and revealing "heart." They're uprooting the tree and planting "soul." They're showing me I was right all along about who I am. But the anesthesiologist was right too. I am both.
May is Melanoma Awareness Month. All May, every May. I leave you with this marvelous video called "Dear 16-year-old Me." You'll see other people who are tough yet teary. Driven yet compassionate. Learn from them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM&feature=share
This is what every one of us with melanoma in our lives wants to tell you. These warriors did.
And I am grateful!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Walking Miracles!
Yesterday, as I write, I was at a local Relay For Life event. As a current melanoma patient, it's always inspiring to see the Survivors take their grand lap to kick off the festivities. Although this was a county that I'm fairly new to, I did know some of the people there as well as a few that proudly strutted their stuff in that lap around the track.
There's this one woman though that I want to lift up. I've known her for almost a year now. I know she has health problems, severe ones, but I didn't know she's a cancer survivor. None of her current issues are cancer related. So I asked her after her victory lap about her cancer. Keep in mind she's 81 years old.
Fifty-six years ago, when she was 25 years old, she had ovarian cancer and both her ovaries were, of course, removed. She didn't mention any other treatment, and to be honest, 56 years ago I don't know what else they could have done other than remove her ovaries, send her home, and hope for the best.
The best is apparently what she got! The hope it gives to know she has lived 56 years...FIFTY-SIX YEARS...following ovarian cancer surgery is absolutely an amazingly astounding miracle in my book! One worth sharing.
No matter what I face, what you face, find hope in my friend. She's one of the most upbeat ladies you'd ever meet, a sweet spirit, strong in her faith, spunky little thing who does what she wants as best she can with her walking stick and oxygen-waiting-for-her-at-home. Her heart operates at 30% capacity and she's always freezing cold. There are a few other ladies in this little country church who are also amazing.
As a matter of fact, look around and you'll see amazing people with their own amazing stories of hope, courage, and faith everywhere!
And I am grateful!
There's this one woman though that I want to lift up. I've known her for almost a year now. I know she has health problems, severe ones, but I didn't know she's a cancer survivor. None of her current issues are cancer related. So I asked her after her victory lap about her cancer. Keep in mind she's 81 years old.
Fifty-six years ago, when she was 25 years old, she had ovarian cancer and both her ovaries were, of course, removed. She didn't mention any other treatment, and to be honest, 56 years ago I don't know what else they could have done other than remove her ovaries, send her home, and hope for the best.
The best is apparently what she got! The hope it gives to know she has lived 56 years...FIFTY-SIX YEARS...following ovarian cancer surgery is absolutely an amazingly astounding miracle in my book! One worth sharing.
No matter what I face, what you face, find hope in my friend. She's one of the most upbeat ladies you'd ever meet, a sweet spirit, strong in her faith, spunky little thing who does what she wants as best she can with her walking stick and oxygen-waiting-for-her-at-home. Her heart operates at 30% capacity and she's always freezing cold. There are a few other ladies in this little country church who are also amazing.
As a matter of fact, look around and you'll see amazing people with their own amazing stories of hope, courage, and faith everywhere!
And I am grateful!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
O Worship the Sun!
One of my first "Notes" on the Melanoma Prayer Center Facebook page I administrate was this. To reach a broader audience I re-post it here. Another Public Service Announcement if you will.
I will be grateful if you read it. I will be even more grateful if you take it seriously, make any necessary lifestyle changes, and use it to educate others on being sun-smart and tanning bed smart.
O Worship the Sun!
Go ahead. Lay down on the altar of sand. If you're feeling really self-sacrificing (because you ARE sacrificing yourself!) lay down on the altar of a tanning bed in the Church of Tanning Salon.
Many today talk about how we worship our stuff and how consumerism and me-ism are quickly replacing God in our hearts and lives. That kind of worship, while indeed spiritually deadly, won't physically kill you. I'm concerned that we overlook the other god so many serve, because we "joke" about sun worship.
Many want to look youthful and healthy and think a sunny, bronze glow accomplishes that and if we can get a good burn then that gives us a good story to tell of our dedication to looking healthy and young. Never mind that all that sun leaves skin feeling leathery and will look 70 when it's actually 30, leather is expensive by golly! There's a price to pay for expensive commodities. You just won't realize the full price you're paying till it's too late. You're borrowing on bad credit and the creditor will come looking for you.
If you're one of these people who love the look of the sun, whether fake from a tanning bed, or real from old Sol, while you're making that tanning bed appointment, make one with a dermatologist. While you're buying that new bikini or other sunning attire, go ahead and buy a cemetery plot. Got the number of the tanning salon? Get the number of a good mortician, your family will need it.
Instead of worshiping the created, try worshiping the Creator. He warns us over and over in His Word how deadly worshiping false gods is and he warns of dire consequences when we succumb to temptation, buy the good sounding lies, and sacrifice to idols.
God hates human sacrifice, the sun doesn't. God tells us the truth, tanning beds are idols that can't speak but still kill. Melanoma is no joke, no laughing matter.
Some of you reading this have melanoma or know someone who does and you know what I'm talking about. We have the scars to prove it. Some reading this will go right outside, in the heat of the day, without any sunblock, get browned by the sun and think they look gorgeous and the sun is their friend. Melanoma happens to other people; older people, Caucasian people, people who've gotten blistered many times with lots of moles.
Newsflash: melanoma happens to people who have skin and it doesn't care what nationality or ethnicity that skin is or how old it is. As a matter of fact, it's showing a growing preference for young skin! Skin that's in its teens years, its twenties and thirties.
This is one cancer that is highly treatable when caught early and highly deadly when it isn't. It has no standard mode of operation because it acts differently in everybody. But it will, usually, show itself first in skin or a mole. Keep a vigilant check on yours and let a dermatologist who specializes in melanoma help you.
If you choose to take your chances on the sun and/or tanning bed, go ahead, get that glow. While you're at it, accessorize that tan with a beautiful casket. Go ahead and pick out a nice one. You'll want to be the best looking, youngest looking, healthiest looking corpse around.
O God! Wake people up! Smarten us up! Today God, today, people who worshiped the sun will die because they smartened up too late. People will be diagnosed and be plunged into a world they never knew existed. People will prepare for procedures, tests, surgeries and so many could have been prevented if they had just known. Had just listened. Had just believed melanoma really could happen to them. Today, God, use this note, use me, to help spare someone melanoma. Lord, in your mercy! Amen.
(If you're still reading, yes this is harsh, but those of us with melanoma are frustrated that people look at us and just don't get it! We want to help you learn our lesson before you walk in our shoes. Trust us, you really, really don't want to try and fill our shoes!)
I will be grateful if you read it. I will be even more grateful if you take it seriously, make any necessary lifestyle changes, and use it to educate others on being sun-smart and tanning bed smart.
O Worship the Sun!
by Melanoma Prayer Center on Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 10:25am
Many today talk about how we worship our stuff and how consumerism and me-ism are quickly replacing God in our hearts and lives. That kind of worship, while indeed spiritually deadly, won't physically kill you. I'm concerned that we overlook the other god so many serve, because we "joke" about sun worship.
Many want to look youthful and healthy and think a sunny, bronze glow accomplishes that and if we can get a good burn then that gives us a good story to tell of our dedication to looking healthy and young. Never mind that all that sun leaves skin feeling leathery and will look 70 when it's actually 30, leather is expensive by golly! There's a price to pay for expensive commodities. You just won't realize the full price you're paying till it's too late. You're borrowing on bad credit and the creditor will come looking for you.
If you're one of these people who love the look of the sun, whether fake from a tanning bed, or real from old Sol, while you're making that tanning bed appointment, make one with a dermatologist. While you're buying that new bikini or other sunning attire, go ahead and buy a cemetery plot. Got the number of the tanning salon? Get the number of a good mortician, your family will need it.
Instead of worshiping the created, try worshiping the Creator. He warns us over and over in His Word how deadly worshiping false gods is and he warns of dire consequences when we succumb to temptation, buy the good sounding lies, and sacrifice to idols.
God hates human sacrifice, the sun doesn't. God tells us the truth, tanning beds are idols that can't speak but still kill. Melanoma is no joke, no laughing matter.
Some of you reading this have melanoma or know someone who does and you know what I'm talking about. We have the scars to prove it. Some reading this will go right outside, in the heat of the day, without any sunblock, get browned by the sun and think they look gorgeous and the sun is their friend. Melanoma happens to other people; older people, Caucasian people, people who've gotten blistered many times with lots of moles.
Newsflash: melanoma happens to people who have skin and it doesn't care what nationality or ethnicity that skin is or how old it is. As a matter of fact, it's showing a growing preference for young skin! Skin that's in its teens years, its twenties and thirties.
This is one cancer that is highly treatable when caught early and highly deadly when it isn't. It has no standard mode of operation because it acts differently in everybody. But it will, usually, show itself first in skin or a mole. Keep a vigilant check on yours and let a dermatologist who specializes in melanoma help you.
If you choose to take your chances on the sun and/or tanning bed, go ahead, get that glow. While you're at it, accessorize that tan with a beautiful casket. Go ahead and pick out a nice one. You'll want to be the best looking, youngest looking, healthiest looking corpse around.
O God! Wake people up! Smarten us up! Today God, today, people who worshiped the sun will die because they smartened up too late. People will be diagnosed and be plunged into a world they never knew existed. People will prepare for procedures, tests, surgeries and so many could have been prevented if they had just known. Had just listened. Had just believed melanoma really could happen to them. Today, God, use this note, use me, to help spare someone melanoma. Lord, in your mercy! Amen.
(If you're still reading, yes this is harsh, but those of us with melanoma are frustrated that people look at us and just don't get it! We want to help you learn our lesson before you walk in our shoes. Trust us, you really, really don't want to try and fill our shoes!)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Raindrops On Roses
These are a few of my favorite things:
Dr. Seuss and The Cat in The Hat; actually, everything Seuss! Love him!
Dogs.
Red. Red cars, red shoes, red dresses & shirts. Red hair (which, God, I don't have). I like all things "red" except rashes and measles.
Soft curls. On my granddaughter's head. Just like her Mama had and her Unc had. Love baby curls!
Frost on the ground and tea in my cup.
Snow and hot chocolate.
Top of the morning and coffee, every day. Never gets too hot for fresh perked, strong black coffee. God IS good!
Planning a worship service and picking hymns.
Bursting into song! Don't like it? Don't listen. Songs are meant to be sung...anywhere! Yes, that is a warning!
Wonderful smells. Florist shops and bakeries. Hard to beat fresh flowers and aromas from the kitchen!
Rainy days and stormy nights.
Disney movies. Still love the Lion King and Mary Poppins.
Musicals. Can we sing "Oklahoma" and "Grease" and "Hair" and "Saturday Night Fever"?!
Disco!!!!! Seventies music!!!!!
Still have warm spots in my heart for Donny & Jay Osmond, David Cassidy, Tiger Beat & 16 & Fave magazines! I wall-papered my hot-pink walls in pictures of those guys from those magazines.
My parents actually LETTING me have hot-pink walls!
My parents actually letting me having Osmond and Cassidy wall-paper! (Who knew?)
Memories!
Health and LIFE! Big on Life!
Family: hubby of 31 years, daughter & her hubby & their little girl, son in college, Madre & Padre, brother and his two sons, aunts & uncles & cousins. Oh my!
God. saving the best for last. Without him the rest just isn't possible.
This list, obviously, isn't exhaustive. Many more favorite things to mention. But if I did, all of cyberspace couldn't hold it.
Dr. Seuss and The Cat in The Hat; actually, everything Seuss! Love him!
Dogs.
Red. Red cars, red shoes, red dresses & shirts. Red hair (which, God, I don't have). I like all things "red" except rashes and measles.
Soft curls. On my granddaughter's head. Just like her Mama had and her Unc had. Love baby curls!
Frost on the ground and tea in my cup.
Snow and hot chocolate.
Top of the morning and coffee, every day. Never gets too hot for fresh perked, strong black coffee. God IS good!
Planning a worship service and picking hymns.
Bursting into song! Don't like it? Don't listen. Songs are meant to be sung...anywhere! Yes, that is a warning!
Wonderful smells. Florist shops and bakeries. Hard to beat fresh flowers and aromas from the kitchen!
Rainy days and stormy nights.
Disney movies. Still love the Lion King and Mary Poppins.
Musicals. Can we sing "Oklahoma" and "Grease" and "Hair" and "Saturday Night Fever"?!
Disco!!!!! Seventies music!!!!!
Still have warm spots in my heart for Donny & Jay Osmond, David Cassidy, Tiger Beat & 16 & Fave magazines! I wall-papered my hot-pink walls in pictures of those guys from those magazines.
My parents actually LETTING me have hot-pink walls!
My parents actually letting me having Osmond and Cassidy wall-paper! (Who knew?)
Memories!
Health and LIFE! Big on Life!
Family: hubby of 31 years, daughter & her hubby & their little girl, son in college, Madre & Padre, brother and his two sons, aunts & uncles & cousins. Oh my!
God. saving the best for last. Without him the rest just isn't possible.
This list, obviously, isn't exhaustive. Many more favorite things to mention. But if I did, all of cyberspace couldn't hold it.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining and Mine's In Cyberspace!
Who knew that when I started down Melanoma Road back in July 2008 that I'd wind up zooming through cyberspace riding the coattail of a mole?!
A lot of doors have recently opened up due to this time of my life that I'm extremely grateful for! For one, God has graciously given me back the opportunity to write, which is something I've always enjoyed. (I don't write my sermons unless they're for a wedding, funeral, or class). I've missed taking keyboard in hand and typing to my little heart's content. Now, with two weekly blogs and the Melanoma Prayer Center on Facebook, I write whether anything gets read or not.
I've noticed that much of what I write lately has to do with melanoma, except for my "Say That Again, Jesus" blog. I feel a strong urge, nay, duty, to get as much info and support as I can out there for people and their families who are fighting the beast, will fight the beast, or have fought the beast and either beat it or fought the good fight against it.
To that end I'm grateful for cyberspace: I'm grateful to Google for providing free blog space and to Facebook for providing free space for the Melanoma Prayer Center (and for allowing people to access it and read what's there without belonging on FB). I'm grateful for the communication capacity provided by each host and for my email accounts. I'm grateful that the Information Highway has a an off-ramp for the Melanoma Research Foundation.
In case you need it, be thee a patient or care-giver, the MRF has a wonderful community section on their website where you can register and post questions and issues surrounding melanoma. You'll meet some of the most wonderful, knowledgeable fellow journey-people there and get quick responses that will help you know that you're not alone and give you guidance to help with decisions.
Thanks to all of these cyber-opportunities, I've met people from France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, and all around the USA. Folks I would not normally have had the chance to interact with. They are the ones who inspired the MPC and keep me inspired as I write prayers and notes as a resource for them.
Sometimes the Internet can get a bum-rap because of all the seedy stuff and downright nasty sites that are out there, but the Internet is a tool. It can be used for good or for bad. It's up to each of us how we use it. I, for one, appreciate the opportunities it affords me to spread the word about melanoma. It also gives me, and others, a platform to warn people of the absolute dangers of the sun and tanning beds. It gives me a chance to be a voice in the wilderness.
It has provided yet another avenue for something good to come from my stubbornness and stupidity that resulted in melanoma (you can find that story here:
http://letsgivethanks.blogspot.com/2010/12/big-c-is-not-candy.html).
If God uses any of what he allows me to write to help even one person that reads something I write, no matter where in the world they are...
Then I am grateful!
A lot of doors have recently opened up due to this time of my life that I'm extremely grateful for! For one, God has graciously given me back the opportunity to write, which is something I've always enjoyed. (I don't write my sermons unless they're for a wedding, funeral, or class). I've missed taking keyboard in hand and typing to my little heart's content. Now, with two weekly blogs and the Melanoma Prayer Center on Facebook, I write whether anything gets read or not.
I've noticed that much of what I write lately has to do with melanoma, except for my "Say That Again, Jesus" blog. I feel a strong urge, nay, duty, to get as much info and support as I can out there for people and their families who are fighting the beast, will fight the beast, or have fought the beast and either beat it or fought the good fight against it.
To that end I'm grateful for cyberspace: I'm grateful to Google for providing free blog space and to Facebook for providing free space for the Melanoma Prayer Center (and for allowing people to access it and read what's there without belonging on FB). I'm grateful for the communication capacity provided by each host and for my email accounts. I'm grateful that the Information Highway has a an off-ramp for the Melanoma Research Foundation.
In case you need it, be thee a patient or care-giver, the MRF has a wonderful community section on their website where you can register and post questions and issues surrounding melanoma. You'll meet some of the most wonderful, knowledgeable fellow journey-people there and get quick responses that will help you know that you're not alone and give you guidance to help with decisions.
Thanks to all of these cyber-opportunities, I've met people from France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, and all around the USA. Folks I would not normally have had the chance to interact with. They are the ones who inspired the MPC and keep me inspired as I write prayers and notes as a resource for them.
Sometimes the Internet can get a bum-rap because of all the seedy stuff and downright nasty sites that are out there, but the Internet is a tool. It can be used for good or for bad. It's up to each of us how we use it. I, for one, appreciate the opportunities it affords me to spread the word about melanoma. It also gives me, and others, a platform to warn people of the absolute dangers of the sun and tanning beds. It gives me a chance to be a voice in the wilderness.
It has provided yet another avenue for something good to come from my stubbornness and stupidity that resulted in melanoma (you can find that story here:
http://letsgivethanks.blogspot.com/2010/12/big-c-is-not-candy.html).
If God uses any of what he allows me to write to help even one person that reads something I write, no matter where in the world they are...
Then I am grateful!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Just Call Me "Sparrow"
There's a wonderful old hymn, His Eye Is On The Sparrow, and the chorus is, "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me."
Can I get an "AMEN!"?
It can be easy to forget though, just how precious we all are to God. I have permission to use this story, it's true and recently happened. I won't give any names though to protect the innocent. But I absolutely love, love this!
There's this friend that I think a lot of who's going through one of those roller coaster times of life. Something good, really good, happens and right along with it comes something world-shattering, really world-shattering. And these times are like the animals on Noah's Ark...they're coming two-by-two.
Well, with one of the really good events comes the decision by him and his wife to clean out a room and that involves getting rid of an old piano. So they decide to donate it which means getting a moving truck and it also involves physical labor. Which my friend, being a manly man who still loves showing off for his wife apparently, decides to do. The way he tells this, he's moving this piano by himself.
Which may explain why he drops it going down a step! Scrapes himself a little (manly men never get scraped a lot!) and the top comes off the piano. While getting himself and piano straightened up and ready to resume moving, he sees inside the piano and there's a glint of something at the bottom that catches his eye.
Savor this. At the bottom of the inside of an old piano that's in the process of being taken away from the house and donated and freakishly loses its top and he happens to catch the glint of something.
He reaches inside the piano and pulls out a dusty DIAMOND TENNIS BALL BRACELET that he had given his wife, was expensive, that she had lost and didn't tell him she had lost it, and he's pulling it out right before giving it away with the piano and NEVER knowing it! I can't imagine!
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us that not a single sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing it and we're more valuable than sparrows (Matthew 10: 29-31) Luke phrases it in a way that reminds us God doesn't forget a single sparrow and we're more valuable than a whole flock (Luke 12: 6-7).
Apparently, God keeps his eyes on sentimental objects as well. And his timing is perfect. I don't know when his wife lost the bracelet or how it ended up in the bottom of a piano, and none of that really matters.
What matters is, at just the right time for my friend, God reminded him, in a powerful way, that He's got his eye on what he's going through and he's not lost to him. See, this happened during one of those intense roller coaster moments and he, like the rest of us, need to remember that even when we don't have a clue as to what's going on, God does and God can handle it and us at the same time. He can bring things together in ways we don't even know need bringing together.
My friend is more valuable than a sparrow and God is watching over him and his entire family.
I've experienced "sparrow" moments. Remember, when you're on that roller coaster, His eye is on the sparrow and it's on you, too.
Be grateful!
Can I get an "AMEN!"?
It can be easy to forget though, just how precious we all are to God. I have permission to use this story, it's true and recently happened. I won't give any names though to protect the innocent. But I absolutely love, love this!
There's this friend that I think a lot of who's going through one of those roller coaster times of life. Something good, really good, happens and right along with it comes something world-shattering, really world-shattering. And these times are like the animals on Noah's Ark...they're coming two-by-two.
Well, with one of the really good events comes the decision by him and his wife to clean out a room and that involves getting rid of an old piano. So they decide to donate it which means getting a moving truck and it also involves physical labor. Which my friend, being a manly man who still loves showing off for his wife apparently, decides to do. The way he tells this, he's moving this piano by himself.
Which may explain why he drops it going down a step! Scrapes himself a little (manly men never get scraped a lot!) and the top comes off the piano. While getting himself and piano straightened up and ready to resume moving, he sees inside the piano and there's a glint of something at the bottom that catches his eye.
Savor this. At the bottom of the inside of an old piano that's in the process of being taken away from the house and donated and freakishly loses its top and he happens to catch the glint of something.
He reaches inside the piano and pulls out a dusty DIAMOND TENNIS BALL BRACELET that he had given his wife, was expensive, that she had lost and didn't tell him she had lost it, and he's pulling it out right before giving it away with the piano and NEVER knowing it! I can't imagine!
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us that not a single sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing it and we're more valuable than sparrows (Matthew 10: 29-31) Luke phrases it in a way that reminds us God doesn't forget a single sparrow and we're more valuable than a whole flock (Luke 12: 6-7).
Apparently, God keeps his eyes on sentimental objects as well. And his timing is perfect. I don't know when his wife lost the bracelet or how it ended up in the bottom of a piano, and none of that really matters.
What matters is, at just the right time for my friend, God reminded him, in a powerful way, that He's got his eye on what he's going through and he's not lost to him. See, this happened during one of those intense roller coaster moments and he, like the rest of us, need to remember that even when we don't have a clue as to what's going on, God does and God can handle it and us at the same time. He can bring things together in ways we don't even know need bringing together.
My friend is more valuable than a sparrow and God is watching over him and his entire family.
I've experienced "sparrow" moments. Remember, when you're on that roller coaster, His eye is on the sparrow and it's on you, too.
Be grateful!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Let The Sun Shine!
But don't be stupid about it!
It's that time of year again. The birds are out of their nests early in the morning and chirping; the days are warmer, and people will be dressing accordingly. I remember the year I was at Meredith College, 1977-78. That February got up into the 50s and girls donned their bikinis and started laying out getting sun. Those were the good old days and the days before tanning beds. The days before "melanoma" really began climbing the cancer charts.
If you value your life, at all...if you love anyone and value them...please, PLEASE, keep reading! The life you save may be your own, or theirs.
In case you don't know what "melanoma" is, it's skin cancer. The deadliest of all skin cancers and projected to be the deadliest of ALL cancers by 2022. The rate it is rising in younger people is alarming and that trend is directly related to the desire to be a youthful-looking, tanned person, and that person is probably female. If detected, caught, and treated early enough, its survival rate is also among the highest. Make no mistake though, melanoma really doesn't care if you're female, young, or sun-addicted. It's an equal opportunity cancer and strikes all ages, races, and both genders. You may not be a sun-worshiper, but if you've ever, ever, been sunburned, even once, you're at risk. If you have an "odd" looking mole, you're at risk. If you have a family history of any type of skin cancer, you're at risk.
Back to being smart, not stupid. Do you really want to be totally hot looking in your casket? Weigh: tanned...dead. Bronzed and sexy...cold and dead. Alive...dead. I'm serious and so is melanoma. I'm alarmed at the deaths of people in their 30s from this disease. Their 30s!
I'm currently a melanoma patient and have blogged about it twice on this particular blog. Read "The Big C Is Not Candy" and "Valentines Day 2011" for more of my story. They don't tell my whole story. I've had three sunburns, in my life, that I remember caused peeling. An oncologist told me that was enough to do it. I was in my teens at the time of the burns...the melanoma arose when I was 48...in an "odd" mole. And I've got a family history.
I'm providing you with links to good, current information. But in case you don't read them, let me please stress the importance of being smart. Despite what the tanning bed industry tells you, if you use them or know someone who does, they are NOT safe. Please don't go getting the owner's opinion or your best friend's opinion...get the facts. If you MUST be in the sun, go out in the morning or late afternoon and ALWAYS wear strong sunblock...the highest you can get. And, don't assume that if you aren't blond and fair-skin that you're safe. I'm brunette and not fair-skin. Avoid getting sun-burned at all costs! Keep a check on your skin and moles and if you have an "odd" looking mole...get it removed. NOW!!!!! If it is raised or black, get it cut off and sent to a pathology lab to be on the safe side. If it is bleeding, go straight to your local oncologist, preferably one specializing in melanoma. Run and don't walk.
Here are three great places to get up-to-date information and connect with people who can answer questions or help you in other ways if needed:
http://www.aimatmelanoma.org/en/index.html Aim at Melanoma
http://www.melanoma.org/ Melanoma Research Foundation
http://www.cancer.gov/ National Cancer Institute
I've got a new friend from France who connected with me through the Melanoma Research Foundation. This age of the Internet is wonderful for that and for dispensing information. She's in her 30s and my prayers are with her. Melanoma, like all cancers, doesn't care what country you live in either. Like all cancers, it just doesn't care. Period.
Don't buy the hype that tanned equals youthful. Don't buy the hype that tanned equals sexy. Don't buy the hype that you're going to live forever. We're in a culture that's death-denying and forever-young-espousing. Don't buy it and don't kill yourself in the process. Be smart.
This has been my Public Service Announcement. If you have read this far and learned something...
I am grateful.
Since posting this I've opened the Melanoma Prayer Center and Melanoma Grief Chapel on Facebook. See upper right side of blog for links. They are for spiritual and educational support. ALSO, the more I have learned since writing this, the more I am convinced we have got to stop calling this "skin cancer" and am leading my own little one-woman crusade against that term being applied to melanoma. I've blogged about that so please do a search here on the blog site. Thank you!
It's that time of year again. The birds are out of their nests early in the morning and chirping; the days are warmer, and people will be dressing accordingly. I remember the year I was at Meredith College, 1977-78. That February got up into the 50s and girls donned their bikinis and started laying out getting sun. Those were the good old days and the days before tanning beds. The days before "melanoma" really began climbing the cancer charts.
If you value your life, at all...if you love anyone and value them...please, PLEASE, keep reading! The life you save may be your own, or theirs.
In case you don't know what "melanoma" is, it's skin cancer. The deadliest of all skin cancers and projected to be the deadliest of ALL cancers by 2022. The rate it is rising in younger people is alarming and that trend is directly related to the desire to be a youthful-looking, tanned person, and that person is probably female. If detected, caught, and treated early enough, its survival rate is also among the highest. Make no mistake though, melanoma really doesn't care if you're female, young, or sun-addicted. It's an equal opportunity cancer and strikes all ages, races, and both genders. You may not be a sun-worshiper, but if you've ever, ever, been sunburned, even once, you're at risk. If you have an "odd" looking mole, you're at risk. If you have a family history of any type of skin cancer, you're at risk.
Back to being smart, not stupid. Do you really want to be totally hot looking in your casket? Weigh: tanned...dead. Bronzed and sexy...cold and dead. Alive...dead. I'm serious and so is melanoma. I'm alarmed at the deaths of people in their 30s from this disease. Their 30s!
I'm currently a melanoma patient and have blogged about it twice on this particular blog. Read "The Big C Is Not Candy" and "Valentines Day 2011" for more of my story. They don't tell my whole story. I've had three sunburns, in my life, that I remember caused peeling. An oncologist told me that was enough to do it. I was in my teens at the time of the burns...the melanoma arose when I was 48...in an "odd" mole. And I've got a family history.
I'm providing you with links to good, current information. But in case you don't read them, let me please stress the importance of being smart. Despite what the tanning bed industry tells you, if you use them or know someone who does, they are NOT safe. Please don't go getting the owner's opinion or your best friend's opinion...get the facts. If you MUST be in the sun, go out in the morning or late afternoon and ALWAYS wear strong sunblock...the highest you can get. And, don't assume that if you aren't blond and fair-skin that you're safe. I'm brunette and not fair-skin. Avoid getting sun-burned at all costs! Keep a check on your skin and moles and if you have an "odd" looking mole...get it removed. NOW!!!!! If it is raised or black, get it cut off and sent to a pathology lab to be on the safe side. If it is bleeding, go straight to your local oncologist, preferably one specializing in melanoma. Run and don't walk.
Here are three great places to get up-to-date information and connect with people who can answer questions or help you in other ways if needed:
http://www.aimatmelanoma.org/en/index.html Aim at Melanoma
http://www.melanoma.org/ Melanoma Research Foundation
http://www.cancer.gov/ National Cancer Institute
I've got a new friend from France who connected with me through the Melanoma Research Foundation. This age of the Internet is wonderful for that and for dispensing information. She's in her 30s and my prayers are with her. Melanoma, like all cancers, doesn't care what country you live in either. Like all cancers, it just doesn't care. Period.
Don't buy the hype that tanned equals youthful. Don't buy the hype that tanned equals sexy. Don't buy the hype that you're going to live forever. We're in a culture that's death-denying and forever-young-espousing. Don't buy it and don't kill yourself in the process. Be smart.
This has been my Public Service Announcement. If you have read this far and learned something...
I am grateful.
Since posting this I've opened the Melanoma Prayer Center and Melanoma Grief Chapel on Facebook. See upper right side of blog for links. They are for spiritual and educational support. ALSO, the more I have learned since writing this, the more I am convinced we have got to stop calling this "skin cancer" and am leading my own little one-woman crusade against that term being applied to melanoma. I've blogged about that so please do a search here on the blog site. Thank you!
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