Live your Life as if you were a pencil.

A PENCIL MAKER TOLD THE PENCIL 5 IMPORTANT LESSONS JUST BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE BOX :





1.) EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL ALWAYS LEAVE A MARK.



2.) YOU CAN ALWAYS CORRECT THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE.



3.) WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU.



4.) IN LIFE, YOU WILL UNDERGO PAINFUL SHARPENINGS,

WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE YOU BETTER.



5.) TO BE THE BEST PENCIL, YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE HELD AND GUIDED BY THE HAND THAT HOLDS YOU.





We all need to be constantly sharpened. This parable may encourage you to know that you are a special person, with unique God-given talents and abilities. Only you can fulfill the purpose which you were born to accomplish. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot be changed and, like the pencil, always remember that the most important part of who you are, is what's inside of you.

Today's gonna be a great day!

While this may be great lyrics for a song- The Blackeyed Peas just in case you haven't heard it on TV, I have gotten in the habit of telling myself this each and every morning. I am Blessed to wake up. I am Blessed to be out of the wheelchair. I am Blessed to be off oxygen. I am Blessed my kidneys work and no  more diet restrictions.
Let's face it... I'm Blessed.
Actually we are all Blessed to be alive and enjoying life's good moments and obstacles. It wasn't that long ago I was told (3 times) I was going to die. Those are words no one should have to hear, especially at 17, or 31, or 45 for that matter.
  I actually didn't hear it at 17, my parents did and told me later. So there wasn't much impact. I did know that my life was going to be shorter than most. So I justified it by telling my parents my philosophy:
"If I die old -no one remembers, BUT if I die young, no-one forgets."  This was merely a way for me to put this part of my life in perspective, and cover my nervousness.
 This death sentence was always pushed up each time I hit a new milestone. When I passed 20 it was pushed to 25, then to 30. I guess back then it was all the doctors had to go on. I remember mentioning to my Mom that turning 30 was difficult enough, geez do they have to put a death sentence on too?
   Of course there were hospital visits during all of this. After all, I was a boisterous young adult. Plus I was told to go out and live my life to the fullest. If I died, I was going to anyway. Good thought. I took all this in and did just that.
     Waiting for the first transplant didn't seem so bad. I had all this time to prepare for my impending departure. You might say I had consigned myself to the inevitable. NOW,the second was devastating. To say it was devastating is an understatement. To spend 9 years of total freedom, doing things I never dreamed of and then be told I had chronic rejection was enough. The disease and destruction was so fast I found myself wishing I still had Pulmonary Hypertension. After all, it was easier to deal with.  To be given soemthing so wonderful as breathing, set goals in life, achieve those goals and then .... You get the picture I'm sure.  Oxygen, wheelchairs, gasping for breath, total and utter defeating debilitation. This time was extremely difficult for  me to accept. I was NOT ready this time. Please don't take away what I've so recently learned to enjoy!
   This is the time when I began to find comfort in so many little things we take for granted. Sitting outside in the morning with a cup of coffee watching the breeze blow through the palms, a light rain on leaves, the calm of a glassy lake. I also began continual conversations with God. I've talked with God all my life, now we were best friends talking about everything. He convinced me to use my every ounce of energy and breath to get out of bed each morning. Take my meds. Eat-when I'd decided breathing was more important. God was my support system, my main support system. Most of my days were spent alone, so God was my only friend and He stopped by to visit all the time.  He taught me to look in the mirror every morning, see a face in pain, smile and say "It's gonna be a great day!"
 So with each new hip pain, knee pain, whatever new obstacle thrown in my path:  I still tell myself this every morning. It works.

By the way ...I still love the small wonders around me. Yes even the rain and cold.

HANDBOOK FOR 2010

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.  ( If only this were possible, I'd be financially broke)
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over-do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake than when you sleep.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past.
That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear & fades away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.....

Society:

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is; it will change...
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you wake up in the morning, thank GOD that you are alive. ( most definitely !)
39. Your inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Surprises our spouses do.

I got a phone call at 7:30AM Wednesday morning from Eric of the Herald Tribune.
My wonderful husband called and told them my story and how I'd be celebrating a half century on Sunday.
We set up an interivew time of 10:00. OMG!!! I taught class Tuesday night , the house was a wreck, and I was just making breakfast.
I finished breakfast, did dishes,  swept and mopped floors, showered, and walked the boys. I was just walking from the back yard when he arrived at 10:00. Talk about a whirlwind.

This is one of the best weekends of my life. Friday I celebrate 18 years with the first lung transplant and Sunday I flash forward to the big 5-0..
Yes I'm damned proud of each and every grey hair and wrinkle. I've earned them many times over!

Below is the article from the Trib..

Have a great day






Ernst: One living reason to donate your organs




By Eric Ernst





Published: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 6:26 p.m.

When she was 18 and undergoing a Navy physical, Bette Luksha-Gammell got the shock of her life.



"You'll never have children, and I'm surprised you're still walking," a doctor said. He later told her parents she probably wouldn't live past 20.



Unknown to her, Gammell had pulmonary hypertension, and her lungs and parts of her heart were three times normal size.



Following that news, a gradual decline left Gammell hooked to an oxygen tank for too much of her days.



Eighteen years ago, doctors transplanted two lungs into Gammell and sewed up a hole in her heart. In 2000, after her body rejected those organs, she received a single lung transplant in 2002. Then, about four years ago, she received a transplanted kidney after hers was damaged by the medicines she took for her lungs.



She now lives in North Port with her husband, Larry. On Sunday, she'll celebrate her 50th birthday.



Gammell may have lived a life of struggle and pain, but she doesn't ask, "Why me?"



"Never question God," she says. "You might not like the answer."



Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Gammell adjusted her goals and went to work for Disney cruise lines and as a baggage handler (no kidding) for Continental Airlines.



"I'm one of those people, I have to be doing something. I can't sit at home and collect a check every month," she says. "I'd love to be back at work, but I know the risk I take."



Gammell settles for teaching a wire jewelry class at the Cultural Center of Charlotte County.



She's also an advocate and ambassador for organ transplants. At Disney, she started a support group called Second Chance. She records her daily struggles at www.survivinganorgantransplant.blogspot.com. She writes letters with suggestions for Medicare reform.



And she has traveled across the country to talk with potential recipients filled with doubts, fears and conflicting emotions.



At 9 p.m. Sundays, she watches a new CBS television series, "Three Rivers," which follows the lives of organ donors, recipients and surgeons at a fictitious hospital in Pittsburgh.



Gammell calls the show the first national platform for organ donations.



"It certainly starts a conversation," says Jennifer Krause, public affairs manager for LifeLink Foundation.



The foundation, which arranges organ donations from Tampa Bay through Fort Myers, reported 584 transplants in its coverage area last year. Another 437 donors provided tissue for such uses as bone grafts and heart valves.



Gammell sees donors as the real heroes. "I try to do something, each day, to honor donor families," she says. "At the most grief-filled time of their lives, they gave up someone they loved to give life to someone that someone else loves."



To recipients and donors, she offers, by her own example, a simple creed: "You have all these issues, but you have to stay positive. Being positive keeps you alive, whether you've had a transplant or you're healthy."



To become an organ donor, register online at www.donatelifeflorida.org.





Eric Ernst's column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at eric.ernst@heraldtribune



.com or (941) 486-3073.

Patches

She wakes each day with a smile, feeling Blessed.
The everyday routine means she’s still alive.

She smiles and feels as cleansed as the earth with each rain.
After all, God is laughing at our antics so hard he’s crying.

Each morning she checks her temperature, heart rate, blood
Pressure, and weight.
And then again in the evening as well.
This is her daily routine.

She tests her blood sugar, takes her insulin and Aranesp.
She also takes 2 hands full of pills each morning.
Then another handful before bed.

She faces the normal daily obstacles we all do.
And a few extra thrown in to test her character.

She cooks, cleans, mops floors, and walks her little dogs.
She calls her family and worries about her parents.

She misses her husband terribly when he’s away.
He is her soul mate, the one true love of her life.

Most of the day is spent on the phone with insurance companies,
Hospitals, and doctor offices. If she isn’t sick,
She’s trying to straighten out another bill.

She had to give up her dream to be a psychologist,
But she volunteers helping others get their meds free.

She writes newsletters to inform other patients, runs a small website to inform and encourage.

She lives life to the fullest she possibly can.
She truly knows just how short it really is.

If not for surgeries, she’d have no scars on her body.
But the ones she has, she wears with pride.

After all she had to die to get them.

1991. A scar down the center of her chest. Open heart surgery and
A bi-lateral lung transplant.

2002. The scar circling her left shoulder on her back.
A single lung transplant.

2004. A scar stretching from under her right arm to below
Her elbow. Vascular surgery for dialysis.

2005. The scar on her right side stretching from her navel to
Her groin. A right kidney transplant.
A broken heart at losing her Daddy.

2006. Two separate scars. On her left shoulder a small scar hides
A box. A pacemaker.
Six tiny points on her right thigh.
Ablation therapy for AV reentrant Tachycardia.

And 3 weeks later she competed in the US Transplant Games.
The 5K no less.

2008. A new scar tops the old scar on her right arm.
Removal of the vein for dialysis-a blood clot.

She can remember many holidays in the hospital.
But she understands.

This is the cross she is given to bear.

With each new diagnosis, she laughs and says
“Just another day at the office.”

She is a career recipient.

She doesn’t worry about wrinkles.

She is the extreme makeover.

Her mission in life;
To make sure all the other candidates after her
Get the same chance she has.

She jokingly says she understands how Frankenstein felt.

She is the Patchwork Sister.