PHYSICAL PAIN MINIMIZES ACTIVISM

Our dear friends, Shelly and Jerry just left Shelly’s home made, veggie pate at our front door.

Though pain meds decrease my appetite, nothing alters my enjoyment of her pate—first of all, because it’s so delicious and—first of all, because it’s so healthy, suggesting that both reasons tie for first place.

Being home is the perfect place to recuperate from surgeries that proved deeply invasive.  In order to provide myself with a peaceful emotional environment, conducive to healing, layer by layer, I have sheltered myself from knowledge concerning whatever is taking place in the world beyond my front door.  Will and our sons continue to encourage me to minimize arousing frustration, which would run interference with energy directed at healing, by closing my eyes and ears to the fake news churned out, non stop, during The Republican Party’s presidential convention, and as long as physical pain continues to dial up from the inside out, my curiosity remains numb, so my family gets no argument from me.

Week by week, I find myself becoming more independent in terms of self care, and perhaps patio visits with dear friends, separated by our Arcadia door, are not as far off as they seem, right now, when social interaction with anyone other than Steven and Ravi seems to overwhelm my depleted level of energy.

Stay well, dear friends.  With patience intact, we’ll have lots to enjoy once my recovery from serious surgeries and our nation’s recovery from trump’s tyranny and threat of Covid have passed ...  and perhaps, before too long, true stories, which have layered up inside my head, will begin to ride out of my mind on gentle waves of intuitive thought once daily life feels as calm as a balmy day at the beach ... 🙋🏻‍♀️Annie

THE DAY WILL DAWN WHEN I AWAKEN PAIN FREE WITH POSITIVE ENERGY TO SPARE

Barry FaceTimes us, every evening.  And ever since Ray learned that my surgeries met with success, freeing me of cancer, his heartfelt, nine year old enthusiastic virtual hugs have come to mean more to me than I can convey.  Ray’s natural expressions of relief in the aftermath of my surgeries are actually palpable, and each time he bounds into the room, eager to connect via the internet, his million watt smile ignites my own.  And as brothers are known to react differently from each other, whenever ten year old Tony strolls by while we’re FaceTiming, I feel a quiet sense of his love emanating naturally from deep within his heart, as well.

The fact that I’ve felt unwell for two years makes me long to hurry each stage of my recovery, which doesn’t make sense as long as Covid separates us from each other—so perhaps what I’m really longing for is to awaken pain free and with energy to spare in a nation that’s no longer overrun with the criminal mentality that has continued to unleash the worst side of human nature, over these past three and a half years.

Time and again, I consciously remind myself that with Dr. Reardon and Dr. Chan at the helm in the OR, a huge personal miracle was granted to me in Houston, and once Biden and Harris are at the helm in D,C., the ills of our nation will begin to heal in stages just as is currently (and consistently) happening within my body, day by day by day by day ...
🙋🏻‍♀️Annie

REASONS TO SMILE CONTINUE TO ADD UP

As with most others who are maintaining quarantine, there’s not much new at my end.

Though this is proving to be a slow and painful recovery, I’m choosing to take it one day at a time for six reasons:
#1 Whatever choice do I have ...
#2. This attitude tames my frustration
#3. After close to a year of chemo miseries, I’m on the healing side of both surgeries.
#4. Every day sees me one day closer to feeling pain free, healthy and revitalized.
#5. It’s good to know that my spirit, being positively focused, leads my processor to push thoughts of pain aside in favor of brightening each day with thoughts of healing, layering up inside my mind.
#6 Every day conveys our nation closer to re-uniting our strengths on Nov. 3rd.

I hope you’re taking every precaution to stay well.  And if you choose to greet everyone you meet with a smartly masked smile, you’ll be counted amongst those who are empowered to turn frowns upside down😊
🙋🏻‍♀️❤️Annie

RIDDING THE OVAL OFFICE OF THE WORST LIAR—EVER

So what have you been up to, over this past week?  Thank goodness for the Democratic Convention—we’ve been listening to political speeches that actually make sense—which will not be true, this week, when trump and his cronies offer speeches airing nothing more than a series of lies based in dishonest distortions of the truth as perceived by a brain that’s clearly insane.

Having traveled on Saturday, pain on Sunday (in the aftermath of having been jostled during a bumpy flight), made it difficult to smile until Steven arrived with Ravi, whose sweet presence on a down day consistently serves as my spirit’s automatic pick-me-up.

Thank goodness, Monday felt quiet and peaceful, and though today was far from pain free, I chose to consciously focus my appreciation upon being—home.  And though the worst liar ever will be in The Oval Office for months to come, I’ll be recuperating in my own bed with my loved ones near by, and each time I acknowledge that change for the better as being within my control, my patience level, concerning national politics, will be more easily maintained whenever the impostor in the White House comes to mind ...

HAVING EXPERIENCED MIRACLE #1, LET’S SET OUR SIGHTS UPON MIRACLE #2

I am in awe of being home, cancer free, with the surgeries behind me as if a miracle that I’d wished for has actually been granted, because I’d placed my faith in the brilliance of a pair of surgeons, who developed this two step procedure, and because I believe in the power of love, which empowered my spirit to restrengthen and hold fast to the universal spirit, which is made up of every loving heart that reaches out to mine, most especially whenever the road toward healing feels so painful that instead of being rocky, I feel as if my pain meds are trying to dodge boulders that are being cast straight at the incisions, layered within my chest and back while I tell myself that just as I made it through several hospitalizations during nine months of chemo misery, which led toward my being a candidate for these surgeries, which were followed by time spent in intensive care where the slightest of movements stimulated injured nerves within the surgical field to rebel with agony while the rest of me focused upon feeling more grateful than ever to my husband and sons and extended family and friends for lifting my spirit with such consistency that, during weeks spent at the Airbnb, I found myself able to become a bit more independent, as the first stage of my recovery moved forward, one day at a time, though twice, my brain felt no need to ask for help, which proved a mistake when two of my first attempts to get out of bed by myself saw my walker just out of reach as I slipped to the floor, and then sported a smile while calling for help, because my gratitude at not having harmed myself was so great.

At any rate, these next few weeks in which injured nerves throughout my sternum in front and rib cage in back are less polite than I’d like when signaling me not to move a muscle (which proves counterproductive to healing, over the long run.) will pass, and soon my smile will not depend upon Ativan (which thank goodness is NOT addictive) when the pain, emanating from deep within my physical being, surmounts my pain meds’ ability to do more than take the edge off of the spiking nature of discomfort that accompanies the combination of heart/lung surgery, which literally saved my life.

Now, all that needs be done is to bear the pain of healing while awaiting miracle number two—that being turning so many states blue as to dump the trash talk that’s accumulated during trump’s take over of The Oval Office so as to shine the spotlight upon our need to clean up big bad lies that insist we send our beloved children to school, unmasked, while the Covid pandemic is still stealing lives, and just as two medical heros devised a procedure to successfully remove the cancerous tumor from my body, we’ll rely upon the mindful strengths inherent within Biden and Harris to send trump-the-thief and his gang of thugs packing before our nation sinks any deeper into the bottomless pit, which trump bestowed upon us in exchange for the swamp.

And now, having given the Ativan time to kick in, my walker and I and my pewter-colored flat top are about to walk up and down the length of my house, several times, back and forth, in hopes of strengthening unused muscles without jangling irritated nerves so much as to feel them rejecting my need to exercise all of me in hopes of speeding healing along.  Seriously, once vaccinated against Covid, my grandchildren and I have lots of fun awaiting, directly ahead ...

THERE’S NO GOOD TIME FOR MARY POPPINS TO RETIRE

Having slept through the night in our own bed, draws forth the word ‘peaceful’, a feeling that’s been absent for many weeks, beginning with the morning when we set out for Houston, and rather than peacefulness, courage filled every fiber of our beings.

Ever since Will, David and Steven walked into our house from the airport, yesterday, I’ve been totally in awe of finding myself on this side of the surgeries, and as I tend to take very long naps from which I awaken in pain, guess who has to muster the patience to wait until the next pain pill kicks in so as to react to whatever is happening, presently, as would a person who is satisfied with her lot in life?

As of now, the friend who dropped off balloons, yesterday, is planning to leave Bbq ribs at our front door, today.  And as soon as this post is a wrap, I’m aiming to figure out if my first Mary Poppin’s surprise was delivered to my niece’s four children, so they, working in tandem with me, cross country, can ease their mother through her chemo miseries, being that Deb was diagnosed with breast cancer, last week.

Strange, isn't it, to learn that two of my nieces on both sides of our family have been diagnosed with cancer (one breast—one kidney) within a matter of a couple of months?  I sure don’t know what to make of that ...
🙋🏻‍♀️Annie

FOOL ME TWICE?—NO WAY, mr. trump

People are terrified that trump is going to steal this election right from under our noses as was true four years ago when most of us were blindsided.  Having heard that very fear aired, time and again, here’s my take on what lies straight ahead:
 If we know that something of great value has been stolen in the past and if the thief has been named then under the laws of this nation, said thief is eventually jailed, most especially if that thieving liar tries to steal for personal gain, yet again.  And in order to sleep at night, that’s the belief in which I’ve chosen to place my faith🙋🏻‍♀️🇺🇸