Hi everyone.....
As I laid in bed this morning I tried to think of how any one of us would handle putting our life on hold, actually leaving everyone around us and going thousands of miles away to change our life with the hope of being able to add some years of health and vitality but knowing we would have to go through the depths of pain and suffering, (hell, so to speak) to come out ahead.  I believe we don't know how strong we could be until we had to be strong......there really is no other choice, but "Give Up".
As Tami and I went on our walk, we entered a parking lot here on the side of the Lodge and as we were close to the dumpsters, we looked down and there was a pretty little petunia growing up through the crack in the blacktop.  It had three bright pink blooms on it and it was thriving, bright and green and pink......Of course we thought of the old adage........"Bloom where you're planted" and in essence, that is what Tami is trying to do minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day.  The process is slow and hardly measureable, but I look at her and her struggle to bloom here and thrive and I'm really amazed at her heart and soul to press forward and do everything she can to improve.  There are 9 bottles of medication by her bed, some on an "as needed" basis.  I know that the side-effects can become a stress also, let alone dealing with a whole new set of plumbing.  I don't believe any of us can comprehend the magnitude of the mountain she is climbing..Oh, she knows she is not climbing alone by any means......she has seen countless others climbing right here in the Lodge.....from the early twenties to the mid eighties....She knows they are climbing their individual mountains along side of her.....I think that is what makes it bearable....To not give up, try to lift the others that are struggling around you and hang on tight.  I have seen that every day and the human spirit becomes stronger, more polished and more refined.  Some of us get tired of the grind and normal living, while a young girl of 22 is hoping that by January she might be able to live a more normal life, because with leukemia, she can't do many things that are normal.   We also know that everyone who is reading this climbs their own mountains every day.....just differently..... I hope we all can be more able to enjoy the "Normals" of life as we climb.....and "Bloom where we're Planted." (Didn't mean to be preachy by any means, just sharing the thoughts of my heart today.)
Love, Judy