Vat a day!
First I had to take over for Helen at our Giant meeting. She really wanted to be there but she and Larry had to drive to Milton, PA, to celebrate her mom's 90-something birthday.
I barely slept last nite. Dunno if it was cuz I had such a stimulating time at last nite's poetry reading but I didn't get to sleep until about 3.
As usual, I watch videos on my laptop before bed. Watched a superlative documentary by the NY Times which followed the daily activities of an American platoon in Afghanistan. The viewer got to know a few of the soldiers and their families back home.
Extremely moving! You felt the terror these men feel. They are deeply called to serve their country. While watching, I thought to myself, How am I serving my country? And made up some dumbass reason.
The entire nite I was fighting the urge to go upstairs and eat a Kashi bar. What stopped me was my excrucating leg pain. Sometimes it comes in handy. Who knew?
At the Giant meeting we talked about many things, cabbages and kings.
We talked about psychotherapy.
One woman, in her 50s, has never benefited from a therapist. But she is confused. She thinks it's almost mandatory to see one cuz most people in our group do.
So she schedules an appt w/ a new therapist. The therapist, clearly impressed by "Anna's" ability to deal with life, says: Not all people need to see a therapist.
As I've often said, there is no national foundation for people with bipolar disorder, as there is, par example, for folks with diabetes.
Foot care is part of the many necessaries for folks w/diabetes.
Bipolar concerns, which could be answered by our National Association for Bipolar Disorder and Depression, include, How much alcohol can I drink while taking meds? What are early-warning signs that I'm getting manic or depressed? What are the meds a patient takes for mood disorders?
I learned all this thru the excellent psychiatrists I had down thru the years. In those days, the psychiatrists did the therapy.
I had an entire 50-60 minute appointment with the doctor and came out feeling good!!!
Irv Yalom, MD, father of group psychotherapyOne man in our group attends a wonderful men's group and has learned to express his concerns and emotions within that group.
Indeed many New Directioneers get their therapy from our group.
Your best helpers are your peers. Most important quality is common sense and the ability to have empathy.
This is why I LOVE being a therapist. Plus I'm bold and don't waste time. Everything we do in session - or group sessions such as the Giant - must go toward Helping the person get better.
A good therapist is an idea person. He or she wants to know as much about you as possible so she can come up with ideas to help you.
And, you gotta set goals.
Today I was in an MRI machine, quietly freaking out BANGBANGBANG BABABA BOONGBOONG and distracting myself by thinking of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow when I realized - BANGBANG - that I had no long-term goals.
The lack of goals is tremendously upsetting to me. What use is it being on the earth if you don't use your god-given abilities?
Does blogging count? Or writing articles for Patch.com? Or "a beautiful novel," as Sarah said, if I can't get it published. Yes, the Denver agent rejected it, but I got some new ideas on AgentQuery.com and will implement them over the weekend.
Ya know what? If I could just garden or clip my roses, I'd be earning my keep. Frolicking with the garden bacteria is strictly forbidden after a kidney transplant. I stroked some wild grasses in my garden today, then went inside and washed my hands.
Thing is, I am a wild grass and a flower too.
So this afternoon I met surgeon Guy Lee. He's Italian. Short. Cute. But since I only saw him for 45 seconds I can't remember what he looks like - ah, here he is -
and didn't ask him any questions. That will come later. When I begin to prepare for surgery.
Guy's office houses 20 surgeons. Here's their unusually-designed website. Yours truly LOVES the way they spell ORTHOPAEDIC. Why? It gives it a grandeur and a dignity that makes the patient believe the doctors know what they're doing.
I truly believe the back surgery will be as effective as the kidney transplant.
Coach Iris writes: (and yes, goggle screwed up again!)
ReplyDeleteAs always, your posts contain a lot to take in and I ma easily distracted. I don't think EVERYONE needs therapy. I do think goals are excellent to develop as long as one recognizes the need for flexibility as life and priorities change and as long as people don't beat themselves up for not achieving earlier goals. Of course if someone NEVER achieves set goals then some looking into that would be a good idea. You, though, accomplish more than the majority of people even if you (right now) don't have long term goals. Remember that you have had your health issues to deal with and still do and when in the thick of those, it is hard to find and develop new goals. Your main goal was/is stay alive and be as healthy as possible. That, to me, is one worth working at.
Good news that you can have the back surgury. What type is it? I know you want relief from the awful pain. Glad you got through the MRI. I am quite anxious about mine coming up next week . Any tips for getting through it? I don't even know how to be still for that long. Not good at that.
Will read poem and get back to cleaning up my disaster-area bedroom.
thanks so much for your thotful comment. the most important thing about getting an MRI is to develop a good relationship w/ the technician. my craig lawson was wonderful. i explained to him i was really scared. it always helps to verbalize your feelings. i asked him if i could get out if i was too uncomfortable and he said sure. important to know this.
ReplyDeleteof course we're not gonna, hopefully. they give you earplugs for the ferocious clanging. stick em deep in your ears.
craig told me that once i get inside - and brother, it's a long long way in - i can see out the back - a little lite at the end of the birth canal - oops, tunnel.
you may wanna go in there with some things to think about. i planned the rest of the day and also envisioned having my surgery.
when i asked, craig told me the whole thing would take 20 minutes. short, i thought. not so short when you're inside.
so get your thoughts out...maybe decide what poem to work on next.
Thanks for the tips. Sorry also for the typos and in next post for not seeing you had read the poem when you wrote the blog post.
ReplyDeleteThey are saying mine will take about an hour and don't know why and trying to get them to do my cervical and lumbar spine at same session as brain but don't know if they will.