Tag Archives: family

Create A Summer 2019 Bucket List

I didn’t know eleven year olds have Summer 2019 Bucket Lists, but apparently my eleven year old does! Horse back riding lessons was number one on her list. Finishing her math book from 2018 is high on my list for her, but it is not on her bucket list. Planting the garden was high on our list, but getting parts of the house painted and the garage cleaned are things not high on her or my bucket lists. Unfortunately, they are necessary evils, and should be on the Bucket List-or something.

My daughter saying she had a bucket list got me thinking about my own, and what I hoped to accomplish before the new school year starts in September. As most of my readers know, I spent most of the 2018-2019 homeschool year either beyond ill with very large vestibular acoustic neuroma, a benign brain tumor, and its symptoms, or recovering from the surgery that kicked that brain tumor to the curb but left me with lingering gait imbalance and right sided deafness. Finishing vestibular therapy was high on MY bucket list for spring 2019, and I did do that. Now I need to get my house back in order, organize for the next school year, finish what we couldn’t finish, and do…all the things…and relax with my family and do fun things is definitely a priority. Especially now. I don’t take being granted a “second chance” lightly.

Since I was Creating a Summer 2019 Bucket List for myself, I created a printable for readers to use as well.

Summer 2019 Bucket List printable, free printable, Lilla Rose, home based business, blogging for direct sales

Find your Summer 2019 Bucket List free printable here.

Meanwhile, the Summer Reading Incentives for Kids and one for adults are going on in events on my Facebook page. You can grab reading trackers for both of those there too.

Here is my bucket list!

organizing, organizational list, Lilla Rose, LoveLeavingLegacy, 20 Summer 2019 Bucket List, Things to do, self care, family business

But wait! I need more space!

I need more space on my Bucket List tracker! I have more things I want to do! For instance, I’d like go kayaking, organize freezer meals for the fall school co-op schedule, and go to the zoo and aquarium. There are things I must do like soft tissue mobilization therapy and facial neuromuscular retraining so maybe by the fall I can be done with that too, and I’ll have a semblance of normalcy regained back into our lives! A lot of what is on a Bucket List is self care, isn’t it?

Tell me what is on your Summer 2019 Bucket List! Come over to my Facebook page, look for this post, and share a photo of your list in the comments! 

Blessings,

Deb

Restoration, Renewal, & Hope: The Difference A Month Makes

Taken just five days after brain surgery, December 4, 2018

The scars on my forehead are gradually disappearing.

Forehead scars fading, January 3, 2019

My 8 inch-ish C-shaped incision behind my ear where a piece of bone was removed for surgery and then replaced with titanium screws is also healing. The muscles and nerves there do cause me some discomfort, and I’m having to be sure I’m moving and stretching by turning my head often enough to avoid creating strictures.

I need to keep my head on straight! Literally.

The hair behind my ear was clean shaven for the incision during surgery. The neurosurgeon left a layer of hair that adequately covers that scar. He shouldn’t quit his day job, but it’s clear he is good at what he does do! The good news is that my hair in that area is already an inch long. We’ll see what I do for a hair style once everything is healed, hair grows long enough, and I can return to my actual hair stylist. That is our friend’s, Michael at Identities in Kalamazoo, area of expertise.

I’m nearly off all pain medication. I’ve been off steroids for about 10-14 days. I am definitely thinking more clearly now that I don’t have a tumor, am not on steroids, and I’m going off pain medication. I’m finding myself less tired during the day too.

I’ve walked up to 3300 steps out on the road in front of our house with my bright red walker. There is one small hill that I call “you won’t own me” that does get my heart rate up and kicks my rear. Last year at this time I would not have even considered it a hill to be conquered. In doing my walking, I have put myself in great shape for the vestibular physical therapy I’m doing at Core Balance in Kalamazoo three times/week, an hour each time. And boy, let me tell you I leave there with rubber legs. I work hard. They are encouraging me to do as much as can at home, and that includes walking, grocery shopping, housework and homeschooling, but nothing that involves ladders.

I’m sleeping, and that is HUGE. It’s an incredible gift.

I still have facial droop and numbness. I still can’t blink my right eye, and if I’m not careful, could actually sleep with one eye open. I CAN drink with a straw and eat on my right side, although I have to be careful not to bite myself. I have hope that this will result in full facial functioning in coming weeks or months. While I was at Walmart the other day, I forgot that I need a straw to drink . I took a swig of Sprite and spilled it all down my front at the checkout. That is embarrassing, and frankly, this is part of a grief process that I am going through. Even though the people that love me aren’t noticing some of my limitations, I do. And they can’t be minimized to me. I don’t like scaring children when I try to smile at them, and can only do what looks like a grimace. Strangers can just be rude, and that is hard to take.

Keep your big girl pants on, Deb.

That’s harder to embrace than I realized it would be. And, often, my family receives the impact of my impatience, anger, and demoralized feelings. So here I am on January 3rd, trying to keep up the good fight and to keep faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)

January 3rd, the difference a month makes: forehead scars are lightening, less tired looking, inflammation reducing, same attempt at smiling.

Clinging to Restoration, Renewal, and Hope in 2019,

Deb

Update, Entrepreneurship, And A Visit From The Flexi Founder

In his wisdom. my son Andrew said “Mom. Thursday was hard. It was really hard seeing you so impaired. You were so swollen and swelling at we watched into the night on Thursday. Even I had to cry. But don’t delete these photos. On bad days you are going to need them. You will have come so far and you will need to know just how far that is.”
Even though we have one, Lydia is unable to view my “scar” photo. My right ear and neck are very swollen. Today I am very dizzy, having finished both OT and PT, and waiting a bed placement at Mary Free Bed in patient rehab for up to two weeks . This is what is next on my agenda. This is over 40 minutes from my family, and a big sacrifice for everyone. I need to get well. Staff here at Bronson is so good about anticipating my needs, and at home things are “reactive.” Just how much stress the family is all going to be under is significant to me! I need to go rest well where needs are less stressful to the prepared staff.

Yesterday an awesome surprise came in the form of our CEO and flexi founder, John Dorsey. I had had been up many hours in the night very sick, and I had literally been “allowed and encouraged” to sleep. No one at the hospital knew John was coming or the significance of the fact for my family. They would have managed differently if they’d known.

My kids got Entrepreneurship 101 from one of the best on Monday afternoon. They got to eat lunch with John Dorsey, founder of Lilla Rose, and talk the future of the company. That he invested in my family, in my children, in their crisis means so much to me!

Thank you, John! Seeing our situation as a “Unit” and not just me with a difficult thing to overcome means much.

Lydia, John Dorsey, and Andrew

Peter and John Dorsey

So today: A little more healing. Vulnerable, raw, tired, dizzy, loss of some modesty, loss of my “control freakishness”, memory loss. I will count all loss gain in a few weeks.
Preparation for more future. That describes my day.

12/04/2018, 9:30 AM, Post breakfast, post shower where they let me wear real clothes! And using a walker because I’m a Fall Risk…

I’m in a good place!

 

Blessings,

Deb