Healing

About two months ago I took a bad fall, thought I'd broken my wrist, but it was "only" torn ligaments in my wrist.  I wore a splint, took serious painkillers, spent sleepless nights, but today the splint was removed and I have my hand back.  It took two months of healing, two months that I admit I didn't pass patiently, but incredibilly, the ligaments wove themselves back together without too much effort on my part.  How does the body do that?  And does our brain heal itself in the same way?  There is so little we know about healing.  So, we are very foolish to limit ouraelves to doctors and hospitals.  We need to trust ourrselves more, too.  The doctor initially said the x-ray showed no broken bones, which turned out to be true, but he did litttle more until I saw another practitioner about the pain and swelling.  That P.A. did help with appropriate meds, and encouraged me to go back to the first doctor.  With that encouragement, I did (I am usually in such awe of doctors that I won't question their judgement) and the degree of swelling persuaded him to order an MRI, which revealed badly torn ligaments.  That called for a more extensive splint for a longer time period.  Healing takes time, but it also takes patience, and willingness to look for what is really wrong.
I think this applies very strongly to our mental health, too.  I have felt lethargic, mentally slow.  A certain amount of depression,  too, but I have been afraid, I think, to examine these feelings too closely.  Can I heal without doing so>  Can I do the examination on my own, or do I need family, professionals, friends?  I haven't been able to just push myself to DO something.  Am I lazy?  If that is the answer, then why?  What makes the brain slow down?  Are there times when I feel more energetic?  This reminds me of when I was first diagnosed with MS, and took a class about MS fatigue.  Maybe I need to revisit the lessons learned in that class:
1.  Rest when you need to.
2.  Find the times when you feel energetic, and use those periods.
3.  Don't blame yourself for being fatigued; it is the number 1  complaint of 80% of those who have MS.
4.  Accept yourself the way you are, the symptoms your MS causes. 
5.  Do what you can, but build in some alternating rest periods, because you know you will need them. 
6.  Find ways of doing things that take less energy, like keep all your writing supplies in one  place if you are a writer, or, better yet, keep duplicate sets of supplies where you will ned them, so you don't have to spend time collecting your tools.
7.  Accept help from others, and don't be afraid to say no to demands from others, because you can't do everything.
No, I haven't  finished to exploration necessary to heal, but I HAVE begun the exploration.  And I will heal.

Taking care

Moms take care of evryone, don't they?  And it is so comforting to know as you take care of your brood, that YOUR mom is there to take care of you.  I became a new grandm in October 2010, a month after Mom had a stroke, from which she died two months later.  I had so many questions about how to be a good grandmother.  Of course, I had her example of some thirty years to use as an example, but until you are in the same situation, you don't knpw what questions you will have, what will be important to remember.  How very much I have wanted to talk to Mom these last two years, to ask her how she did it, and what I should be doing differently.  I have needed some mothering, some reassurance and si=ome pointers.  I'm so glad Mom was around as long as she was to give me such a strong example to follow.  I just wish I could be mothered one ore day.

Independence Day

Tomorrow we again celebrate the birth of our country.  Set  aside the quibbles about whether July 4 is the right day, or 1776 is the right year.  Set aside the Native American issue, the columbus issue, the Civil War issues--they are small potatoes, really.  The celebration is certainly warranted just for the fact that this government has held together another year, despite recession, political differences that seem to grow more divisive every day, federal deficits and political wrangling.  The structure of the government has held, and has been shown to be a viable form of government, "of the people, for the people, and by the people."  It shall not perish from the earth.