Posts
All Comments
I'm always quick to rant and rave about something, so I'm going to post something wonderful for a change! This appeared in our local paper, The Bakersfield Californian, this morning and I wanted to pass it along to you.
"Last October Curtis Hartman had a double lung transplant at UCLA. I met Curtis through Nancy Chaffin, a woman with whom I work. He is a good father to 4-and 5-year old boys and a 14 year-old stepdaughter. Before he got sick, Curtis was a claims adjuster for Farmers Insurance. When I saw him, he was hurting. He and his wife, Mary, were in the process of losing their home. Curtis was dragging around an oxygen tank. He was trying to be cheerful, but when you're battling an auto-immune disease as well as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, life is not a barrel of laughs. His new lungs came from a 19-year-old male. Curitis is feeling better. The Hartmans are trying to get back on their feet. His wife, Mary, is a hairdresser at Concept Elite Salon on Stockdale Highway. A couple of days ago, a boy delivered a package to Mary. The package contained $1,000 in cash and more than $1,000 in gift cards for groceries, gas, etc. Inside was a typed note signed by "The Blessing Girls." The card read: 'Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. We hope this gift blesses you and causes you to give thanks to God for '...every good and perfect gift is from above...' James 1:17 With love, The Blessing Girls.'
Written by Herb Benham, staff columnist
It warms my heart to know that within my community there are people such as this, and no doubt, there are people like this in every town in the USA. May God bless "The Blessing Girls!"
It seems as though this year has been a year of change for lots of folks. My good friend has been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, having none of the risk factors associated with Hep C. She will have to be on Prednasone for a year. Sarge Charlie has been fighting Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, with much success, and now we're having a health scare.
After a whole year of waiting for hubman to be able to get Kaiser Permanente insurance (they told us we were a day late last year), he was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Since his layoff, 11/08, he's lost quite a bit of weight (30#), where I was expecting him to gain a ton from being inactive. As a parts guy he stayed in shape because of heavy lifting and being on his feet all day. But, there were other symptoms, such a being thirsty all of the time, and frequent visits to the loo. But both of us drink tons of water. It's very dry and dusty here, and during the cold weather, we have the heater on a lot. But I wasn't totally surprised by the diagnosis.
His blood glucose was 500 and it is supposed to be under 100 (70-90), so he's lucky the doc put him on meds and not insulin injections. Just one week of meds and no sugars, he's staying around 200+, and he obeys instructions to the max. Since he doesn't need to lose any more weight, I'm very conscious of what he can and can't have to eat. I'm just thankful that he's so eager to "get 'er done!" I have very little doubt, that within a few months time, he'll have it under control. That's just the kind of guy he is.
