A Lick And A Prayer

Okay. I sit down to type, lift up my prayer concerns first and burst into tears. I don't know how often we pray about things we could take action on ourselves but this time these are things I can do nothing about. Where to start?

My mom. She has noticed increasing shortness of breath over the summer. My mom is an all round martyr. She hates hospitals and doctors. She was the kind of mom who never went to bed when she was sick (but could pass out on the couch drunk). She survived breast cancer twice - once when she had 5 kids at home ages 13 to 3. In a time where there were no support groups, no counselling, nothing. The second time 17 years later. She told me once that if she ever got cancer again she would not be telling us. She said she was never going into a hospital again. She never talks about her health.

I have talked to her twice in the past two days. She is so short of breath that she had my dad make the bed and do his own cooking. She is talking about it and worried that she has emphysema. This is not the kind of talking my mom does about her health. There was a hint of booze in her voice Sunday night. She's been worried enough about her breathing that she quit smoking cold turkey about a month ago. She has an appointment to see the doc on Friday but I tried to encourage her to get to the doc asap. We'll see. My mom is only 67. ((((((Mom))))))

Oldest son has his vehicle stolen from the parking lot at work on Sunday afternoon. Someone drives it out as his buddy is driving in. Yesterday one of his coworkers saw it being driven around town. When he tried to stop them they tried to ram him. A short while later the police find his vehicle on fire. (((((Oldest son))))))

Only daughter has money worries that come with being a student trying to live on meager student loan and too much month. Wishing I could wave a magic wand and do something about it. (((((0nly daughter)))))

Yesterday we went to town and I used a scooter to get around Wal-mart. This was a reality I would rather have pretended didn't exist. We usually hold hands and visit as we shop. The aisles so crowded it wasn't possible to manouever down some of them. Shopping single file is no fun. Some days I have perspective and am able to take in stride my physical limitations. Other days I don't.

Okay. There are good things happening too. I don't want to end on a negative note. My husband found a doctor who is willing to be a sounding board and review all my medical stuff. He's thinking pulmonary fibrosis. The other really wonderful thing is that one of my posts, that I expanded and submitted, has been accepted to be published in a book about home schooling. How cool is that?!!