I would like to take a moment to say I am sorry. I am sure I have offended someone this week and I will probably offend someone again before the week is through. As most people with chronic illness know the change of the season is hard and not only that, I had to get another rheumatologist, which means sometimes it is hard to get the first refill of meds done properly and I have missed my dose of methotrexate for this week. This drug helps keep inflammation down in my body. I have been taking it for about 7 years with success and this was not the week to skip a dose. After faxing from my pharmacy, a failed email from my client portal, I believe I have had success with a phone call today, so my dose for next Sunday should be ready. I have hope. I am holding onto that because that is what you do when you are chronic.<
This morning I have slept through til the afternoon and woken up swollen, sore and grumpy. I try to be conscientious of others but sometimes I just want to say what I am thinking. Sometimes it is healthy to just vent a little. I always try to make sure people know I am just venting or having a rant so they know I don’t live in a bad mood all the time and maybe this is just a moment where I am struggling a little bit. I know I share this world with lots of people and we all have our needs.
I know how to handle my pain. I am good at it. I think my biggest struggle is the pain of others that is hard. My weekly visits with my sister, Jamie Holloway, have been nice. I can’t say it isn’t hard to travel to see her every week and that it doesn’t exhaust me, but I am glad to have time with her. I am glad to help her with her foot care. I am glad to bring a meal that she doesn’t have to think about. I am glad to give her sister a little bit of a reprieve. I love to hear Karen making Vicki laugh or seeing them do a project together that Vicki couldn’t do alone. Vicki has had so much to do over the last month and a half to help Jamie during this last bout of illness. I know Jamie is not a normal sick person. She ebbs and flows. She gets tired of being sick and checks out a bit; if you don’t know this, it may seem like she is letting go, but really she is just finding more courage to keep fighting. I never realized how lucky I was that I can disassociate my pain until I realized that Jamie cannot, and being an empath, I could feel the assault not only on her body on Sunday, while her bandages were being changed, which is very, very painful to her, but also the assault to her spirit it is; It was like being punched on her insides to be near her.
For Jamie, the weather change, including high pollen counts is terrible. As much as she loves nature and flowers, the pollen makes so much mucus, she can hardly keep up. Currently, our nation has a shortage of albuterol. Jamie relies on daily nebulizer treatments to help keep her already narrow airways clear and all she has to use is saline solution. It isn’t enough. Foods make more mucus, certain foods are worse than others, but all food makes mucus in our bodies in order to keep our airways moist but Jamie’s throat is more narrow than the average person’s and she can’t keep up without her nebulizer treatments. She is constantly coughing up balls of mucus and eating even the simplest food can cause her to throw up. It is making getting nutrition very hard. All because pharmaceutical companies don’t make enough money by producing albuterol. Plus with the pain meds she takes to be able to handle bandage changes she is having other digestive issues because pain meds cause constipation.
I hate, more than anything, to see Jamie suffer! There should be laws that force pharmaceutical companies to produce all the medications we need in this country. Isn’t the United States one of the most influential and stable countries in the world? Why aren’t we taking care of all our people?
Then…it is time to start thinking about the next presidential election. I am so torn about this. I like the platform, mostly, that President Biden stands on, but he is too old. He can’t remember what is talking about much of the time and he needs to retire. He would be a great mentor for someone younger. I don’t want to hear about Bernie Sanders either. If you are old enough to be my grandfather, I will not vote for you in the next election. I am very disappointed in the options that the Democratic Party is putting forward. It looks like the only other people running for the Democrats are Marianne Williamson and Robert F Kennedy Jr. I love Williamson as an author and inspiring mentor, but I don’t see her as a president and after reading a few articles about Kennedy, I think he is not a wise choice.
As for the Republican Party, for some reason Donald Trump is still thinking he should be president again and I just can’t go there. I know many love him but out of a man’s mouth comes the thoughts in his heart…that is what the bible says and many times I have heard nothing but evil out of Trump’s heart. I can’t do it. I haven’t had a chance to read about Larry Elder…but he and Trump are both old enough to be my grandfather so there is the rule I already listed. There is a guy named Vivek Ramaswamy that is running. He is pleasant to look at and I enjoying listening to him speak but when I read articles about him, he thinks Trump is too conservative. And now I have to read more about the US Department of Education because I need to understand why so many Republicans hate it…Vivek said it would be his first duty (even though it is unconstitutional) to disband the US Department of Education if he won.
However there is a saving grace here. One of my wife, Karen G Clemenson’s, clients told me about a woman named Nikki Haley. Every time I take a moment to read about her I am impressed. Although she worked for Trump, she also stood up to him. I like that. She is an United States citizen born to Indian emigrants, raised in South Carolina. I just ordered her book. I am so ready for a woman President. I usually don’t care about gender when it comes to people but it would be so nice to have a female in the Presidential Office; I have never been impressed with Kamala Harris…
I believe in people, not parties. This is why, if you are wondering, I would look at everyone running for president. What I do know is I want something new. I am tired of the status quo. I don’t want the same old white guy who has been in politics forever to do basically the same thing the last guy did before him. I want someone with energy and gusto. Actually I was hoping Pete Buttigieg would run but he wont run if Biden is running. I love that Buttigieg is a war veteran; we haven’t had a president that was a war veteran since George H.W. Bush. I also like that even though his is a Democrat, he is a moderate one so he can hear both sides. I like that he pauses before he answers questions and he answers questions intelligently and as though he has been thinking about that question for a long time. I love that he is younger than me, married and a father. All of these traits help me get over the fact that he is a white man…I also love Stacy Abrams but she apparently is running for governor of Georgia right now. She must have important things to do for the people there. All of this helps me see Nikki Haley more clearly in my future…so far…
I don’t have anything against white people, I just like the idea of letting some diversity and perspective change.
If you are still with me…You are at trooper! Thank you for listening to my thoughts. I didn’t really have a big point to make. I just wanted to vent a little and explain the big things in my head. I hope you are blessed.
~
Feel free to leave your comments below!
My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fall again. But I am forgiven.
For anyone reading this that isn’t a Christian, unapologetically, I am a Christian, but I believe there is room for lots of beliefs and religions in the world. It is not my intent to offend people with different beliefs than I have and I would be open to open-minded conversations with no goals of changing anyone’s mind, but sharing information.
If you are interested in becoming a Christian…Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.
If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this:
Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world.
I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me.
I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.
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