Truth as I see it

                I sure would love to hear from some readers. Let me know how this post was received by you in the comments at the bottom. Thanks! September among other things, is Charcot Marie Tooth Awareness month . I have two tabs on the top of this page that can explain CMT and who discovered it. For this year I want to talk about what CMT is to me. CMT, I have had it all my life and yet it continues to present me with new challenges. I am 55 and I still try to ignore it and on a good day almost get away with it. When I over do it my joints ache and throb with pain. I have learned to adapt, evolved I suppose, in to a creature that is determined to be resilient. My arms are very weak now. I was trying to strengthen them but it only made things worse . My feet are turning in more and at night the pain from the calf muscles makes it hard to sleep. My body wants to curl in to a ball, it's tempt...

I have had too much going on physically. I am overwhelmed and I have been trying to be strong not just for me but for everyone else. Today during a therapy session I touched back to my childhood and revealed where it all started------- In a hospital getting poked and prodded. Having my privacy invaded and ignored. It started when I was being told " be a big girl, don't cry, be strong". It was my mothers voice.  My experience started in 1964 and that seems like a million years ago if you look at today's medical environments. There were visiting hours and lots of rules. There were wards rather than rooms and a very cold sterile environment. Procedures were not explained to me I was told what to do but not what to expect. When I was eight I had both an upper and lower GI. The x-ray attendant was unkind and impatient which resulted in quite a mess. It just gets worse but now the picture is painted. I think we all look for something we have control over in experiences...

I just started the book Choose Joy which is very popular right now. It is made from blog posts Sara Frankl wrote before she died of a disease that is ten times more horrendous than anything I have to deal with. That is intimidating. I have sometimes complained of the low numbers of Christian bloggers who keep it real when it comes to chronic illness and pain. I have prided myself on the many coping tools I use. I have grown in my faith and praise Jesus so much more than ever until I have a 10+ pain day and then where is my faith? I realized as I ended the first chapter it's not about comparisons. I am reminding myself of what I say in my post Worst thing   on my other blog but it applies here also. What ever your worst symptom or pain  level is or has been, it is your worst thing.  It is the place where hope is losing and fear charges in. It is full of doubt and confusion and I believe not from God. It is what we try so hard to stay away from. Sometimes a new sympto...

  Lord on days like today with sharp pain in my body, I wonder where you are? Most people have one illness or injury to deal with and for me you keep allowing  more. Yesterday was a beautiful day spent with my husband and on the island. Everything seemed perfect, but by the end of the day the pain in my hip/back started. I should look at yesterday as a gift I suppose but my desire is for many more days like that - many. Help my attitude Lord change my heart. When I start to question why it gets me in trouble emotionally. My upbringing included the Catholic church which at that time, focused a lot on the sins and suffering from them. I only went to Catholic church until I was about 13 but some of those messages get ingrained in to your psyche so deep that I catch my self asking for your forgiveness Lord when I am in pain or having difficulty. The truth is I am already forgiven and the price for my sins is paid though the conversations of prayer with you are al...

In my post Exhaustion on my other blog I prayed for God's help and for some reprieve from all that was coming at me. I surrendered to His will and desires. Then, my husband called with an injury at work! What! This is not an answer to prayer I thought. But maybe it was sort of. Having my husband home even with his hurt left hand was HUGE. He was there to help me get dressed, bathe, make food etc. and great company. I had been trying to get along by myself and that was a big part of the frustration I was feeling. Amazing how having more help and fewer struggles changed my attitude. This had made me think about my attitude in general and how it is fueled positively by less challenges and negatively by frustration something I need to be  more aware of in the future. I have had more PTSD triggering because of my arm but handled it a little easier with less exhaustion. I have been using my self talk and breathing - visualization exercises to keep me from the trauma an...