Words from the Heart

I just finished reading about the bush fires in Australia . Some of them have been started by people, who, after they were put out, went back to start them over again. The death toll is now ( at 7:38 p.m. on 1-9-09) over 200. Hospitals, state of the art hospitals, have run out of morphine. I cannot begin to imagine the horror of that. For those who have never experienced what it is like to be around a burn victim, let me share a quick memory... When I was around nine years old my brother, Timothy, (not yet seven years old) fell off a roof, ruptured his stomach and spleen, and broke his arm and leg. The doctors were not sure he would live. One of the nurses, feeling that a visit from his "big" sister might help him, convinced my Mom to sneak me into the hospital. (Back then, children under 18 were not allowed into the hospital as visitors.) I went and saw my brother. His tiny body hooked up to a labyrinth of tubes and held down by a full-body cast. I remember how tiny h...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. With two sisters, four daughters, one step-daughter and two granddaughters (a third due in January), not to mention my Mom and Mother-in-Love, I am surrounded by wonderful women without leaving home! Needless to say, the topic of mammaries comes up often. All kidding aside, I have always talked frankly with my girls about caring for their bodies. This included self breast exams and, once they got to the age, yearly mammograms. We have all been blessed. Too many of our loved ones and acquaintances have not been as lucky. Sunday at church we were asked to pray for a young mother of four who just found out she has aggressive breast cancer. It breaks my heart every time I hear about another woman struggling to survive this disease. Martha Weinman Lear wrote in Heartsounds , "Women agonize...over cancer; we take as a personal threat the lump in every friend's breast." http://www.amazon.com/Heartsounds-Martha-weinman-lear/dp/067...