Finding Joy in the Journey

 

The caregiver's life often offers precious little opportunity for respite and interaction with others. The pandemic has made this especially challenging, since infection control involves social distancing when your loved one is vulnerable to illness. This isolates us from the usual activities and support systems we employ to help us survive and thrive in our circumstances. 

Caregivers are resourceful, though. 

We're adept at adapting to change.

At our house, we learned to make home our vacation destination. Before our son Kevin's spinal cord injury in 1997, we loved our frequent family trips, and we especially enjoyed the National Parks. One of my husband's favorite places to visit was Yellowstone National Park. 

When we became full-time caregivers, our traveling stopped. We adapted by opening our home to friends and family. Over the years, we hosted many barbecues, dinners, holiday celebrations, and themed birthday parties. If we couldn't go have fun, we brought the fun to us.

Then a pandemic hit town and my back gave out. Life drastically changed for us in the last few years. Our outside activities now mostly consist of grocery and take-out runs. Trips are not an option. I can't even throw myself into my gardening like I used to. 

But life has to be more than survival. 

Last year, feeling nostalgic for our old haunts, I invited my husband along on a "roadtrip" through the National Parks as we work together on puzzles of our favorite haunts. He liked the idea, so we set up a cozy corner of our living room with a rustic table, stools, and warm Edison lights. 

Kevin loved the idea and surprised us with a beautiful hardcover coffee table book of the National Parks to enrich our journey. Since then, this corner has become our ticket to relive some of our happiest family memories as we travel from park to park and city to city. Whether it's hiking around Glacier Park, admiring the Redwoods, or watching Old Faithful spew, we can enjoy the beauty of our world without leaving the comfort of our living room. 

When we're not on a trip, the corner serves as a place to "eat out" or play a game of checkers. What we do isn't as important as the moments we spend together. 

A bonus is the small effort we have to expend in the process. We're always tired. With an inviting corner waiting for us, we're more likely to take advantage of the chance to take a small break together. We also have a couple of tables and chairs in our favorite spots outside to share coffee and "break time," if the weather permits. We discovered that a table under the large trellis on the back deck served as a pleasant outdoor "cafe" where we shared dessert or a plate of cheese and crackers. Often we only had time for a cup of coffee. 

The important thing, we learned, is to make the world stop for a moment, so we can just be...alive. Together.

When things are going well, it's easy to take the small joys for granted. When life is hard, it's crucial to find the joy where we live.

Maybe puzzles and board games aren't your thing. What could you do to bring more joy into your caregiving experience? What could you change to make your world a more welcome place to live?

If you've already been doing this for some time, we'd love to hear your ideas. What has worked for you? 

 

Keep Yourself and Your Family Safe from Salmonella

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently completed an investigation into the spread of salmonella from backyard poultry. This year, salmonella sickened 1,135 people in forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Nearly three hundred people were hospitalized, and two lost their lives. 

In recent years, having a backyard barnyard has become increasingly popular. Chickens, especially, are pets for many families. As fun as it can be to have chickens, ducks, turkeys, and even songbirds in your yard, it's important to remember that they harbor germs like salmonella. 

Salmonella causes fever, cramps, diarrhea (including bloody diarrhea), vomiting and dehydration. Although most people recover after five to seven days, some require hospitalization.  The elderly and those with a lowered immune system may be especially vulnerable. 

People get it by handling or snuggling with the poultry and then ingesting the germs. Below are a few pointers to staying healthy as you enjoy your backyard barnyard:

Do not let poultry into the home.

Resist the urge to kiss your pet hen.

Supervise children around the poultry and teach them safe handling of their pets.

Have a special pair of shoes to wear into the coop or pen. 

Wash you hands after holding poultry. 

Sanitize pet areas and feeders regularly.

Handle eggs safely. 

You can find more information on safe handling of poultry here:

https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-21/index.html

Leaked Internal CDC Document Uncovers New Worries

On July 30, 2021, The Washington Post reported a leaked internal CDC presentation that described troubling news about vaccination and the new Delta coronavirus variant. The document included information gleaned from sources and outbreak studies, including one from a recent outbreak in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. 

It was discovered about 75% of the Delta cases in that cluster occurred in previously vaccinated individuals. Those who had been vaccinated were found to carry a similar amount of viral load as the unvaccinated and capable of spreading the disease as easily. This prompted the recent CDC reversal of previous guidance releasing vaccinated people from wearing a mask indoors. 

Currently, an estimated 35,000 vaccinated people develop symptomatic infections of COVID-19 in America each week.

The study concluded the Delta variant is very contagious and possibly more deadly than the previous strains. Cases among the vaccinated are considered as contagious as those in unvaccinated individuals. It is still believed the risk of infection and death to be lower in those who are vaccinated.

The presentation offered the consideration of such strategies such as vaccine mandates for health care providers and universal masking to mitigate the resurgence of the disease.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/cdc-breakthrough-infections/94390e3a-5e45-44a5-ac40-2744e4e25f2e

Incomparable

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." 2 Corinthians 4:7

               God can use broken instruments to make incomparable music.

                                                      - Joni Eareckson Tada 

In A Place of Healing, quadriplegic artist and disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada tells a story about famed violinist Yitzhak Perlman.
Disabled at a young age by polio, Perlman made a point of coming onstage by himself with the use of crutches and braces. 

At a concert in 1995, he made his usual painful entrance onto the stage. During his performance, a string broke on his violin. 

An awkward silence fell over the hall. Perlman could not simply walk off the stage for a few moments and replace the string. He stopped, closed his eyes, and thought for a moment. Then he motioned for the conductor to begin again. 

The virtuoso played the entire piece minus one string. He masterfully rewrote the score as he went, innovating with the strings to coax new sounds from his disabled violin. 

The performance was incredible. When it ended, the awestruck audience erupted into thunderous applause. 

Perlman answered their appreciation with these words: "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left." 

My son Kevin dreamed of being a musician from an early age. At age thirteen, he had his own electric guitar. By nineteen, he played on the church worship team and was saving money to attend a discipleship training school that specialized in music ministry. He was playing guitar for a youth ministry outreach in Canada when he broke his neck. 

His fight for life was hard and long. As he recuperated from his injury, we began to realize the depth of the loss he had suffered. Initially paralyzed from the neck down, he eventually regained some feeling and movement in all parts of his body. 

But it wasn't enough for a normal life. Today he can do some things for himself but remains mostly disabled. The tracheostomy tube in his throat makes it hard for him to speak loud enough to be heard. 

Gone forever is his ability to sing and to play an instrument for God. I grieved especially hard over that loss. Many times I questioned God's decision to let that happen. 

I understand better now. 

Each day Kevin awakens to serve his God in trust and surrender. He has created a popular website featuring Christian music that probably reaches more people with the gospel than he would have ever reached with his guitar. 

It's a new score - a powerful performance. Sweet music, indeed. 

Do you ever feel you are broken beyond repair? Has life beaten you up, thrown you down, and threatened to steal the song God put in your heart? 

It's no problem for God. He's a creative genius. He knows exactly how to take what's left of our lives and use them to display His incomparable song of grace. 

In fact, the greatness of His power is magnified when played out on broken instruments. There's no danger someone will think we made the music ourselves, no doubt the Master is in the hall. 

All He asks is that we offer ourselves and prepare to be awestruck. The song of praise we hear will be incomparable. 

Master, I hear the music you play through our broken lives. 

There is no doubt who is in the hall. 

The grace, beauty, and power You display are incomparable. 

Once again, I offer my life to you. Amen.

Excerpted from Out from the Shadows: 31 Devotions for the Weary Caregiver by Pam Thorson. 

The Virus with a Personality

 

Who Is Corona?

2020 was a tumultuous year, no doubt. The COVID-19 virus, officially known as SARS-CoV-2,  dominated the world stage in a big way. It killed half a million people in the United States alone, ravaged untold lives, and reshaped society. Many Americans have either had the virus, lost a loved one to it, or known someone who's been ill. The pandemic destroyed jobs, businesses, homes, schools, and friendships. Around the world, nations grappled with its vast effects.

A force this powerful has, understandably, elicited strong emotions in our culture as we fight to understand and defeat this threat in 2021. 

SARS-CoV-2 is now such a part of our lives that we have made it into a sentient being, endowing it with our own perspectives, fears, and personal worldview. The tendency to attach human traits to inanimate objects and animals is called personification. With COVID-19, we've remade a virus into our own image. 

How is COVID-19 human?

Sometimes it's polite.

A popular Christian speaker who flies a lot notes that the virus is very polite. That makes it possible, according to the airlines, for passengers to remove their masks while they eat. This assumes that the virus understands our need for sustenance and will keep proper distance in the cramped quarters of an airplane.

Oddly, this virus doesn't extend the same courtesy to those eating in a restaurant.

It respects boundaries and can do math.

By now, most of us are familiar with the designations on the floor marking out a six-foot space between you and the next person in line. At outdoor events, chairs are carefully spaced with that same six-foot bubble for you to enter. That's because the virus clearly understands its boundaries. It especially cringes when it sees a folding chair placed within a carefully drawn circle. It may be able to span oceans, but it knows a six-foot barrier when it sees it. Beware, though, because it can clearly measure and lurks just beyond that magic number.

It's a political animal.

Normally, it isn't a great idea to rub shoulders with a lot of strangers during a pandemic. You don't know where they've been and what they're incubating. But we learned in 2020 if you have a protest or political rally to attend, know that you have the blessing of COVID-19. It loves a righteous cause. If you are sincere enough, it will pass you by to find some dispassionate dude to infect. 

It hates churches.

Just don't try to attend church. COVID-19 is a Godless infiltrator, and the only answer is to shutter the doors and arrest or fine any group trying to worship together. 

It's a different story if you own a liquor store. Then the magical 6-foot rule applies, because unlike spiritual refreshment, booze is essential. 

It loves sports.

It loves sports so much, it ensures that on the field (floor, ring, bowling lane), participants can spit, yell, jump, hug, and hit each other with impunity. But the moment the big game is over, the virus is waiting to pounce. So hurry and get that mask back on.

It's a closet homeschooler and family man.

Give it some credit here. COVID-19 accomplished what generations of passionate home educators' associations couldn't: force people to find out what their kids are learning. Throw in a year of coerced togetherness, and we understand why the virus is keeping the liquor stores open. 

It knows we are trying to kill it.

Recently, scientists announced the virus is mutating, something viruses regularly do. Scientists explain this evolution is the virus' response to masks and handwashing. 

Wait.

Are they suggesting that the virus knows we're attempting to kill it and is changing its makeup to outwit us?

Depending on your background, politics, religion or lack thereof, COVID-19 subscribes to one or more of the following ideologies:

Socialist propaganda. COVID-19 wants world domination, which it has nearly accomplished.

Right-wing propaganda. COVID-19 wants world domination, which it has nearly accomplished.

Racist propaganda. It hates some people more than others.

Ageist. See above.

Media propaganda. The virus has a great public relations program to keep people cognizant of its ability to help them mold society. 

Mask haters international. The virus laughs at those foolish enough to incorporate a device used by medical professionals for decades to inhibit the spread of disease. Anyone spotted using one is labeled a liberal socialist sheep. In fact, COVID-19 has convinced some people they will actually get sicker by wearing a mask. This explains why doctors and nurses always look so tired and ill.

Mask lovers anonymous. The virus loves it when people don the mask, constantly adjust it all day with dirty hands, roll it up into their jeans pocket, and toss it on the kitchen counter to use the next day. Let the people think the mask is magical. Germs will not stick to it, just like wearing the same pair of gloves through a store keeps germs from sticking to our hands.

The Truth Is...

The pandemic has profoundly impacted our society. It has revealed our inadequacies, prejudices, and intolerance. It has also lifted up the best in us, reminding us of what is, and is not, important. The greatest thing we can learn from the virus is that life is a precious and fragile gift. 

Never take it for granted.

Look at that. COVID-19 is a teacher, too.