Talking Heals

[enna]

Thank you, kind people. Here is something I found that reminded me of all of us. I really do not have a special box that I take these things from - they just seem to be here when we need them. I believe in this message.

Today I am dealing with a hearing loss that we hope is temporary. I am just on way too much medicine.

When I was in college (many, many years ago) I took synchonized swimming for two years and ended up with a mastoid infection that left me with partial hearing in one ear that cannot be corrected with a hearing aid. Today, after several weeks on some of these medications, I have now lost almost all my hearing in the other ear! Hopefully, this will be short termed or I'm going off all medication! My hearing is not something I want to or will lose.

And my dear sweet Benji is having his own troubles with the seizure medicine he is on - this is breaking my heart. The vet said to give him one more week to see if he adjusts to the phenobarb. My heart is heavy right now. Anne

[kayc]

Oh my dear Anne, I hope you get your hearing back and this is temporary. Also Benji, I hope his problem abates...do keep us posted on how he does after the one week is up...

[MartyT]

Oh dear Anne ~ I am so, so sorry to learn this awful news about your hearing, and about Benji's response to his meds. You both are in our hearts and prayers ~ big time. Do keep us informed . . . ♥

[HAP]

Dear Anne,

I like your memes very much, but this one is extra special.

I hope all will be well with both you and Benji. You are in my heart and in my thoughts.

Peace,

Harry

[enna]

Thank you for your acts of kindness. Your responses make me feel heard. I have always been an optimist so I don't think that when "bumps" in the road come my way that I need to panic. I have had quite a number of the "bumps" these past months. I am grateful for this forum and for those of you who are hearing me. We are all on a journey that we did ask to be on and that has made us connected. I am amazed at the resiliency of so very many of you. My strength has come from listening to you.

Benji is my greatest concern right now. Since we really do not know his history, I'm hanging on to hope that his little body will adjust to the medicine he is on and live a long life. I can not imagine that if it be not the case why he would have been brought into my life at this time. He is the sweetest, funniest little dog. And so smart...of course, I'm prejudice -

Kay, you give it to that boss of yours - remember our talk...like Harry, I don't want to offend anyone - but I know how to lay it on...

Harry, take care of your feet - I'm working on organizing a walk-a-thon for your Jane here in Goodyear/Lithcfield Park - more on that later.

Debbie - you are always in my thoughts - I hope you are doing all right - talking does heal.

fae - we are wind spirits moving across this earth and hoping to make a difference. I love your nattering.

Jan - England is not that far away - we have been connected for many months. Remember, we are soul sisters.

Karen and Arlene, I walk with you as you bravely move through this grief journey.

My dear Shannon & Mary you are always in my prayers. I hold you close. I call on my God without shame and ask Him to heal if that be His intention for us.

Mary (the royal one), I love your sensitivity to all of us here. You really do hear us. I like getting lost - I find it an adventure.

There is always a chance of omitting someone and that is not my intention - I honor all of you who are brave enough to be here. Namaste.

My dear Mary, I will always be watching you. Thank you for your sharing with me on this journey. You are wise and all-knowing. I will not say anything else because I don't want you to say, "I don't get it." You are dear to so many of us. We all hold you in our prayers this week.

Marty, thank you for moderating this forum. I have traveled with you now for over a year and I feel honored to be here. •♥• ♥

[feralfae]

Dear Anne,

I sent a PM, but wanted to just

*<Fling Fairy Dust>*

Remember, you are surrounded by Angels. I am glad you are asking for all assistance possible.

I hope Benji is getting better already. I am worried about him as well.

May tomorrow go better for you, dear heart.

*<twinkles>*

fae

[Wifflesnook]

Dear Anne, my soul mate, I'm thinking of you and little Benji. Keep going (as if you need that advice, you are tough!)

[MartyT]

Thank you for your lovely comment, dear Anne, but I hope you know that we are the ones who are honored by your presence here. ♥

[mfh]

I started today on my smart phone, moved to iPad and now on my laptop I can enlarge the font and see better. the testing strains my eyes and leaves me blurred for a while...and having no glasses...I am typing and I see all the mistakes I made on the post I just made on "eyes" but not going back to correct...

Anne, you have had more than bumps on this road. You have had sink holes, mountains, quicksand and more and you have done it all with grace under fire. I have watched you walk through all this and talked with you probably once a week perhaps and I KNOW first hand that grace under fire hardly states how you have handled all this. I honor how you have handled life and death, sickness, confusion, fear, Benji's trials, and more. Keep on keeping on...and I know you will. I also know that this hearing loss is just gigantic. I can only relate to that from the frustration I feel when my ears and hearing aids fail me....in a loud restaurant, hearing aids or not, I try to read lips and miss a lot of the conversation. Other times I hear fine however which is not your privilege right now. But not being able to hear your doorbell, etc. I will need to know what the ENT says tomorrow. Jim is right there with you....as you go through all this and believe me I know his physical presence and his arms around you, his hand in your hand as you discuss with doctors is really what you want. Sobbing in his arms would be such a gift....as you and I discussed way back...sobbing in someone's arms which is now a rare rare event...believe me if we ever find ourselves in the same room....you can sob in my arms anytime. All of you can.... I hope that ENT has some solutions tomorrow. Peace to your heart.

Mary

[kayc]

I think the last time I sobbed in anyone's arms it was my daughter's, as I'd just figured out my cull of a husband John had left me for another woman and we were done...it was Thanksgiving. Now I see my tears were wasted! It's indeed a rare thing to be able to have anyone hold you are care! I'm so glad Chris has kids that care, and one who will visit him every Monday night, that's great!

Harry, I hope you have one of those things you fill with water and put your feet in and set it to massage, they're great for soothing worn out feet at the end of the day. George bought me one, and it's gotten it's use since I got Neuropathy! I keep walking regardless of pain or numbness, as my doctor told me to, and any stimulation or soothing it can bring is a plus!

Anne, I do think this is probably harder on you than it is on Benji...if you can get through this, he surely will. I'm just so glad you have each other! He is such a wonderful little delight, I can see how you fell in love with him!

Mary, you're in my prayers all day today...I'm glad you're not proofing your posts, it's not necessary, type by feel and don't worry about the mistakes! Do keep us up on how it's going.

fae, thank you for the fairy dust you always scatter about us. Sometimes I feel this place is hallowed ground!

I love each of you!

And Jan, you're in my thoughts too, and Karen, Arlene, and so many more that don't post but do read...Deborah, Mary Linda, Walt, Evelyn, Dusky...

[MartyT]

Well said, dear Kay. Well said. ♥

[HAP]

Dear friends,

I am taking care of my feet. The blisters are shrinking. One of my students--who is an athletic trainer--says I should lance them and drain them but I prefer to let them collapse on their own if I can. The weekend will be time enough to decide that. Kay, I wish I had such a machine but while my mouth contains more porcelain and amalgam than enamel, I have no dentures yet.

Anne, your heart is too generous for words. But you need to look out for your health and Benji's more than anything else just now. Your words here and elsewhere have great value in lifting spirits.

Mary, you dominate all our thoughts today--though Mary's news about Shannon and QMary's news about her own eyes do get a word in edgewise. I'd love for all the news today and tomorrow to be positive on all the many medical fronts. Against the trials so many of you have faced lately, my blisters are meaningless twaddle.

This is, indeed, sacred ground--made sacred by the love we spill out to each other here every day. This place is drenched in it. Any place of healing needs to be--but this place is truly and especially blessed.

Be well, all of you.

Peace,

Harry

[kayc]

Having worked for a doctor's office, I know doctors tell you NOT to pop blisters...their being intact keeps them sterile inside and free from infection. Once popped, you need to use antiseptic and bandaids to protect them.

[HAP]

Dear Kay,

That is what I always heard, too, which is why I don't like to pop them. My student claims they heal faster and you can get back to full workouts faster her way--and my running friends concur. But I am staying old fashioned, I've decided. There is still fluid in them but they don't hurt when I walk on them--at least not around the house and yard. I haven't done any serious walking on them--and won't for at least a few days yet.

Peace,

Harry

[HAP]

Dear friends,

I had a good cry about 4:30 this morning. I had a dream in which I had forgotten to call Jane about something. I woke up ready to reach for the phone as though I had just been napping--then realized there was no one to call and it was the middle of the night. It was like she had just died all over again. I have not felt that awful and alone in a long time. I cried myself back to sleep--something I have never actually done before.

As others have pointed out, you just never know when or how a tsunami is going to hit--or how big it is going to be or how long it will last. This one seems to have come out of nowhere, been huge, and then vanished in the night. I still feel a twinge of it--but nothing like it was in that hour just before dawn.

Peace,

Harry

[enna]

Oh Harry, I am so sorry that you had that ever so real dream for those moments during the night. We indeed do have those moments and I am coming to the realization that talking really does heal.

I think we are all so tuned in to what’s going on with our friends here on the forum and outside that our own emotions are coming to the surface and playing tricks on us. It is good to cry and then we move through to another chapter or page!

We are all growing from the experiences we hear about what’s going on in one another’s lives.

I think we become more compassionate and less angry at what life has dwelt us when we allow ourselves to really hear what another person is saying.

I hear the care and concern given to others and to me as we deal with our lives as they are today.

Someone else could say this much better than I’m doing but my point is simple. We love and care for those we have gotten to know and that is a real positive. So maybe this should be on the thread you started.

Anne

[HAP]

Dear Anne,

"Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased." This is the motto of a fictional bar in upstate New York created in the writings of Spyder Robinson. It is also the best description I have of this place we all visit with some frequency.

People in the 1980s decided Robinson could not be entirely making up the place--that he must be a regular visitor--so they went looking for it. Some claim to have found it in various places other than upstate New York. We seem to have found it here. I wonder sometimes if Marty's actual last name isn't Callahan.

The stories are science fiction and collected in a volume called Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon. The original story appeared in Analog in the 1970s and is called "Fivesight." The collection was required summer reading for all my newspaper editors.

Peace,

Harry

[kayc]

Harry,

It's no wonder you felt your tsunami, with your anniversary approaching and the discontent/frustration you are feeling over your achieving your goals. I didn't continue counting anniversaries after George died...if I had, it would have been truly hard for me to go through what should have been our tenth anniversary...a milestone we didn't get to make. I'd truly wanted to have a long life with him.

I agree with Robinson...perhaps that's one reason I'm here.

[enna]

So, I'm off to find "Fivesight" and to read Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon if I can find them. And I agree with Kay, Robinson's motto is one followed here. You could be right about Marty not being upfront with us about her last name... but I don't know - Marty connected with Saloon just doesn't sound right.

[feralfae]

Harry,

I am smiling. One of the private fora I visit occasionally has Saloon as a part of its name, and is inhabited by the greatest bunch of people. It is the S.......H Saloon, a nice sibilance for the place.

The friends there rallied a lot of medical expertise for us. They still send cards to me occasionally. They all loved Doug tremendously.

Yes, this is most certainly another Saloon as well.

*<twinkles>*

fae

[HAP]

Dear Kay,

I will observe this one because it was an important one to us. Our plan was to renew our vows every 12 years. I will move my wedding ring to my right hand that day because that seems the appropriate moment to do so. I may observe next year, which would have been our 25th--the one Jane said we would not reach without counting in dog years.

Peace,

Harry

[kayc]

"he one Jane said we would not reach without counting in dog years."

That is so sad!

[enna]

I should be posting this on the positive thread but I have not caught up with all the posts since this morning and I wanted to share some good news also. We seem to be riding a wave of good news so here is mine:

I bring good news tonight to our circle of fire. I am now hearing better than I was a few hours ago. DX is acute otitis media. He vacuumed out most of the infection. Blah blah blah - I’ll be on antibiotics for ten days and then go back to see him. After that he’ll schedule hearing tests. It would have been nice if I could have been seen three weeks ago and perhaps I would not have had to worry about all the medicines I’m on for other things.

That is water over the dam now. I shall be listening to music tonight and thanking my ENT doctor for this small miracle.

[srm]

Anne,

Wonderful news. I can not imagine all of the many emotions you were trying to keep in check as hearing declined. What a wonderful relief you must have now. I am very happy. Listen to lots of music, have some wine and chocolate. I heard you like that. Celebrate!

Sue

[feralfae]

Dear Anne,

Oh, wonderful news!

I hope you have fudge to enjoy, and I know you have some wine.

Best of all, you have music. And you are hearing again. I am smiling and nodding my head, dear heart. Such a relief for you and us all. Good reports today are a true gift for all our spirits. Thank you.

*<twinkles>*

fae