Health & Wellness

Letters from a Paw Pal

admin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:32:48 -0600

I had never felt so low-down, guilty and inadequate in my life.

It seemed as if my car were being dragged along in the wake of the ambulance I was following. It was taking my friend Alice to a nursing home she had begged me to keep her out of earlier that morning.

Even though I was a nurse, there was no way I could care for her in my home or hers. Now in her eighties, Alice needed around-the-clock specialized care. She was connected to a respirator by a tracheostomy tube and fed through a stomach tube.

Healthy Goodies

jbloustein — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:03:05 -0600

I maneuvered the grocery cart down the aisle with one hand, nestling my 22-month-old son, Alexander, on my hip with the other.

That’s when I saw it: a box of cake mix, with a picture of a luscious chocolate slice smothered in gooey frosting. For a moment my imagination took off. Alexander would turn two soon, and this would make an awesome birthday cake! I could just see him smashing the cake into his mouth on his big day, family and friends snapping photos.

Quilt of Many Promises

admin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:29:04 -0600

The handmade quilt that hangs on a wall in our home tells a special story. On it 12 Bible verses are stitched in clear delicate lines on raw linen. Surrounding them is a pattern of hunter green and burgundy.

In Sickness and in Health

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:41:00 -0600

Swoosh. The trees shot by in a blur on the upper reaches of the Easter Bowl, one of my favorite runs at the Santa Fe Ski Basin, in northern New Mexico.

The wind stung my cheeks and beneath me my skis felt like they were barely in contact with the snow. I pulled up my poles and tucked my body tight. The Easter Bowl was a tough, exhilarating run and the slope in front of me was mercifully free of the beginner and intermediate crowds I knew I'd hit when I got halfway down the mountain. It was just me and a field of moguls and powder, the way I liked it.

Christmas Will Find You

jbloustein — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:47:15 -0600

Christmas Eve I woke up early for our big family dinner.

Dozens of relatives were due to arrive in a matter of hours, and of course there was lots to do. I went to the kitchen to put in the turkey. But first I took a deep breath.

I had a special Christmas request I didn’t want to forget. A prayer not so much for me and our guests, but for my teenage son, Darryl. Please, God, I asked, let us spend Christmas at home, and not in the hospital.

Mass Transplant Saves 13 Lives

batch — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:05:05 -0600

The holiday season is a time of faith and hope. A time when people reflect on what they're most grateful for.

Now thanks to a record-setting transplant initiative, 13 kidney patients will have something else to be thankful for, according to CNN.

Paired donation programs, which pairs one donor/recipient group with another, created a large mix-and-match effort that resulted in over a dozen people getting a new lease on life, and providing an interesting story.

Did God Really Give Me Justice?

admin — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:12:00 -0500

An early dream of mine was to be a college baseball coach, and it came true. Then Michelle walked into my life. We married, settled in Pennsylvania where we met, and I concentrated on teaching. We had two boys and a girl. Today I know there's no better dream than family. I believe this more than ever since the arrival of our fourth child, my son Justice.

The Indomitable Dee Murphy

admin — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 09:25:00 -0500

Dee Murphy died on September 5, 2009 at age 89. She donated her body to the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences for medical research.

Her daughter shared, “She loved the military and military medicine that, even in death, she is still giving to them.”

We celebrate the life of Mrs. Dee Murphy.

-----

Recently, a military chaplain called and told me GUIDEPOSTS ought to do a story about an 85-year-old volunteer at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, named Dee Murphy.

One-to-One

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:00:00 -0600

I'm part of the supportive care program at St. Vincent's Hospital here in New York City. It's a kind of buddy system created by Sister Patrice Murphy to make sure people with AIDS get the help and care they need outside the hospital. I volunteered for the program through my church.

6-Year-Old Becomes an Advocate for Preemies

batch — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:05:07 -0600

When little Joshua Hoffman was born more than four months before he was due, his family was terrified for his health and his future.

He weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces, and most of his organs were underdeveloped.

"My husband Lee and I couldn't be more terrified, and I was positive that after just 24 hours I had no tears left," Melanie Hoffman says, recalling the first hours after Joshua was born.