My Thoughts

After watching the national news this morning I feel compelled to comment on one of the lead stories. Pat Robertson, a well known evangelist, stated during his show, "700 Club", if your spouse has Alzheimers disease it is a cause for divorce. I could not disagree more with that statement which sent shock waves through the Christian and disability world.

When you marry part of the vows state, "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health forsakeing all others until death do us part." This indicates a long term, committed relationship, not until something goes wrong. Alzheimers is not an easy thing to go through, watching your loved one go down hill. In being transparent my family and I went through a loved one having dementia twenty years ago so, yes, I know what it is like. My mother didn't have Alzheimers in the classic sense. She had a condition known as "older age hydrocephalas" which had the same effect. We watched as she lost her mental faculties over a number of years until she collapsed, was finally diagnosed, and went non responsive for several months. This was a journey of a year and a half until she passed away. Did my father see this as a reason to leave her? Absolutely not!! He stood by her until the end. Yes, she was in a nursing home but it was because neither he nor I could care for her for several reasons. Not to get her out of the way. We made the decisions about her care, but Daddy made the arrangements.

It is not a large leap to see this could happen with disabled children or others. Rather then careing for them put them in an institution and sign away parental rights. It breaks my heart to read about parents aborting their children when they find the child will not be"normal".

In keeping with transparency, I am multiply disabled. I was born with Turners Syndrome, a form of dwarfism and have some of the complications it brings. I have severe hearing loss, glaucoma, diabetes and the list goes on. The list of medications I take is not short, but not as long as other, and some of them are not cheap. They keep me as healthy as possible and able to be with my grandchildren. I am thankful for my husband of thirty one years who has stood by me as these things have come along as we have grown older. There are times when my frustration about thing has gotten the best of me and I have snapped at him when it wasn't warranted. I apologize, but once out, like feathers in the wind, the words cannot be taken back. I am thankful for his patience over the years on many fronts.

Mr. Robertson, I pray you will rethink your position on this. Scripture states we are all "fearfullly and wonderfully made." We are "knit in our mothers womb". We are are precious in his sight and have contributions to make.

It Has Been An Interesting Week in My New Hometown

It is now midweek and time to assess the past few days. Things are starting to dry out a little from the rain which has been drenching parts of middle Tennessee. We had been watching the weather reports on Tropical Storm Lee as it came up through the Gulf of Mexico. The previous weekend of major Hurricane Irene had stayed far away from us but went over some relatives of ours. Thankfully they were spared any major damage and avoided injury. The rain started coming down in earnest on Sunday, really just pouring down. Our niece drove down from Kentucky in it so her trip took quite a bit longer than usual and boy, did her car get washed....free of charge. The temperatures crashed down into the seventies from the previous day high of near one hundred degrees. By the time the storms arrived it was now considered a Tropical Depression, but still packing somewhat of a wallop.

We had a great time with our niece, son, daughter in law, and grandchildren in spite of the fact we were not able to grill the hamburgers outside because of the weather. We enjoyed good conversation and were able to show our "new" house to Bethany. The only downer was the fact we ended up with water in the basement through the floor drain. We got out the mops and cleaned up deciding that if there were water in the morning we were calling the roto-rooter man inspite of the fact it would be a holiday, which usually means paying alot of extra money.

Sure enough there was water in the morning, Labor Day, so the Roto-Rooter man was called. He arrived several hours later and did clean the pipes but told us the problem was not in the house. It was the device attached to the house, known as a sewage pump, which is kind of like a giant garbage disposal. I guess it makes sure the "stuff", makes it from the house to the pipes down at the road. That made things the county's responsibility to fix. Therefore the bill for the Roto-Rooter mans service lower than it might have been. The man from the county was here and quickly fixed the problem on the pump. YAHOO!!! We shouldn't get a bill on that count. Hopefully we won't be dealing with water in the basement for a long time. He also told us the device on the outside of the house to tell us there is a problem with the pump isn't reliable. At least we know what to watch for now.

Tuesday came and it was time to go to the eye doctor to find out if the drops prescribed for my glaucoma are doing their job. I didn't have to take Ter to work so I could have the car because we still had the rental car from having the exhaust manifold on the TrailBlazer replaced. Not a cheap repair but still glad to have it done. That took a little off of me for the day. I left with what I thought was more than adequate time to make it to the doctor. Through several things, includeing a stop for gas, I ended up being about twenty minutes late. I was extremely thankful they still were able to work me in for the needed test. The results were good, the pressure in my eyes has come down nicely so my sight will be protected. I have lost some peripheral vision and see halos around lights but am very thankful the problem was found and is being controlled. The day ended with a trip to a neighboring town to look for a second vehicle which will make life so much easier. I will be able to take care of things while Ter is at work without the hassle of having to drive him to and pick him up from work. We looked at a couple of little pick up trucks and I think Ter's interest was piqued, which is good. It has been an interesting week so far and we will see what God brings for the rest of it.