Who Inspires You?

Who inspires you?

So many people inspire me but, my Mom has been the most inspiring person for me in my lifetime. She’s not with us anymore, but her influence lives. If you’ve read, “Why Didn’t I Know That My Mom Was Deaf?” you know why she is that person for me.

My Dad was also an important influence as I wrote in, “My Dad Was Not The Perfect Dad.” I blame my mischievous nature on him. 🙂

And, if you’ve been following me for awhile, you know how highly I regard my siblings. I write about all 7 of them in, “No One Puts Baby In The Corner.” They’re all such remarkable humans.

So, who inspires you?

Inspire:  To influence or impel

And why?

Several months ago, Pastor John at First English Lutheran Church, delivered a sermon that I have mostly forgotten, (Oops, I shouldn’t have revealed that!).

I don’t remember what the sermon was about, or the scriptures that he covered, but I do remember him talking about that little jingle we would sing as children, contorting our hands into a church with all the people inside.

You’ll remember it ……. “Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people.”

As I stated, I don’t remember how it all fit into the sermon but I do remember him saying this is how you pray for others. Bear with me …..

• When you form your hands into the church, your thumbs represent the people closest to you. Pray for them first.
• Your index fingers (the steeple) represent the people in your life who inspire you, those whom you look up to, those who make you a better person. Pray for them next.
• Working towards the back, the next set of fingers are the middle fingers. They are the tallest and represent our leaders. ie: The President, our political representatives, world leaders, our local leaders, our Pastors and Priests, the Pope, our bosses, etc. Pray that their decisions are in our best interests.
• The ring fingers are next and they represent the weakest. Pray for the sick, homeless, those facing drug addiction & family turmoil.
• The last set of fingers are the pinkies and are reserved for our own special intentions.

Apparently, most Lutheran’s know of this inventive way to pray, however, I have never heard of it but have adopted it as my own. It covers just about everyone. Most nights, as I lay in bed, I practice this prayer regiment. It’s a soothing and calming way to end the day.

When I began doing this at night, my parents and siblings were always included in the inspiration part of the prayer and, just recently, I have added another.

“Who might that be, Katy?” ….. you might ask.

I’ve mentioned her in my blog posts before. It’s Poo’s sister, Patsy.

Patz has been extremely ill. We have watched this woman of 65, who has been active, engaged in her life and a college student, deteriorate to mostly, bedridden.

When I say active and engaged, that’s no exaggeration. She’s been a truck driver, been crushed between pallets, chops wood, builds elaborate garden structures, hauls wood, etc. You name, she might have done it. She’s the original “Bad A–.

Inspiring.

About 6 weeks ago, Patz thought she had the flu. After trying to fight the sickness at home for a few days, a trip to the ER confirmed the heart valve she had replaced almost 5 years ago was infected.

Our local hospital was confident they could successfully treat the Endocarditis with 6 weeks of intravenous antibiotics.

What’s the saying, Hindsight is 20/20?

Three weeks in the hospital, and one week in a rehab facility, we found the infection was not improving but, the valve continued to deteriorate as the infection “ate” away at it.

My SIL, Patz, called 911 at one o’clock in the morning from the rehab center (nursing home) and asked them to get her to the ER!

Inspiring.

For the past 6 weeks, every single day, we’ve watched Patz fight for her life. We have spent every spare minute with her. I heard her express a desire to “give up” many times. The word, “Hospice” was mentioned numerous times, as well. We kept encouraging her to keep fighting, and she did.

Knowing what we know now, I don’t know how she kept going.

One would think after 4 weeks of treatment, you would feel somewhat better, right? But, she was still feeling like “CRAP.” (Her words, not mine – I probably would have used some sort of offensive expletive.)

She had several weak moments but, she kept fighting.

I wish I could go back in time. My initial thought was that she should get a second evaluation from the hospital that did the valve replacement. But we all were convinced, by our own local professionals, that it could be successfully treated. Besides, they had done it before.

During this process, she wanted us with her to ask the questions, hear the answers, help navigate her health care and help her make some decisions.

As much as I’d like to take credit for her being alive, she didn’t need me to be her patient advocate. At the end of the day, she knows her body best and she’s alive because she made that 911 call.

Inspiring.

After that 911 call, (a call that made her instantly famous among our local hospital staff and every physician she has come in contact with since – it’s in the notes and they’ve all read them!), she was admitted to our local ICU and then, from there, transferred to one of the best heart facilities available to us in the area.

A nationally recognized heart surgeon, specializing in heart valve replacements, was her surgeon 5 years ago. We are fortunate he is still with the same facility and, even more fortunate to have him watch over her again.

Finally, we feel as if someone has given us the answers we were looking for. Answers as to why she wasn’t feeling even a smidge better in all that time, why her white blood cell count kept going up, why there was a spike in her temperature off and on, why the joint pain, chest pain, arm pain, etc. I could go on and on……

Treatment, we were told, was risky. Of course there were many complications that could arise, especially because we were referred so late in the game. There were no other options, she would die if they didn’t do surgery.

Another weak moment …….. she considered Hospice, yet again.

The surgeon said it best, ” You’re only 65. You still have a lot of life to live and if we don’t do something, you will die.” He continued on, ” I took good care of you last time and I will do it again, let’s do this!”

She had the infected mechanical heart valve and infected grafted aneurism in the aorta, replaced with a human heart valve and human aorta tissue donation.

American Transplant Foundation:  "On average, 20 people die each day from lack of available organs for transplant.  One deceased donor can save up to 8 lives through organ donation and can save and enhance more than 100 lives through the lifesaving and healing gift of tissue donation."

We are one week post surgery and she is doing remarkably well. Because she was so malnourished and dehydrated before surgery, even the surgeon admitted he was surprised she was still alive.

She is still very weak but, is eating again and gaining a bit more strength each day. It will no doubt be a long recovery process.

Her dream has been to get her Agriculture Certificate and eventually her degree ………… She’s only one class away from the certificate. 🙂

Inspiring.

“Never give up. You only get one life. Go for it!” – Richard E. Grant

xoxo, Katy