March Reflections

 

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March has been an interesting month. After a few weeks of testing in February, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Some of my thoughts were not easy to share with others. I had to see two more specialists to find out and decide what I need to do. I have had a nurse navigator who has been wonderful about further explaining what the doctors have told us.

 

 Reading

 

I have been reading a book of meditations, entitled Strength Renewed by Shirley Corder. It is written especially for those going through breast cancer. She went through it in the late 1990s. She gives a scripture for each meditation and ties that scripture to a time in her journey through breast cancer. I finished reading it on March 29^th.

Some time ago, I started reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I got through the first two “books” but chose to put it down to concentrate on my review book, Flooded. I returned to A Tale of Two Cities after I preliminary-posted my book review. I found the twist toward the end of the story to be remarkably interesting.

 

 Second Covid Vaccination

 

We received our second COVDID-19 vaccinations on the first Saturday in March. I experienced intermittent chills, felt feverish, and had muscle aches. I stayed in on that Sunday. Someone told me that when we have those side effects, the vaccine is working.             

      

The Lenten Theme

 

I have learned quite a bit from exploring the theme, “God sees me.” I realize God gave me this theme because I would need to realize that He is always near to me. These past few months would have been more difficult for me, had I not known God and acknowledged His presence.           

           

Insomnia and Spring Forward

 

I, sometimes, deal with the inability to sleep at night. This is something I seem to take in spells. My husband has this same trait.

 

Several years ago, I realized I drank a lot of cola beverages. I chose to stop from having them in my home. (Root Beer does not have caffeine in it. I did not eliminate that from my diet for a while.) I had to give up chocolate and black tea (orange pekoe and pekoe). I went to herb and decaffeinated teas. I did find that a certain brand of hot chocolate mix was 99.9% caffeine-free. ( The two-word name rhymes.) I never liked coffee, when I tried to drink it early in my marriage, it bothered my stomach and robbed me of sleep.

 

When Indiana went on Daylight Savings Time, I had a difficult time getting used to it.

After a few years, I heard that we lose an hour’s sleep when our time springs forward. 

This year, I thought I would ‘beat the system’ I went to bed earlier than usual. My innards woke me after three and a half hours. I took care of that need and laid back down. I could not sleep.

 

I looked at the clock on my cellphone. It read 1:30 A.M. I had been awake for almost an hour. On a lark, I decided to see how long it took my clock to change to Daylight Savings Time. I became a clock watcher. That next half hour was slow in passing. At 1:59 A. M., the clock showed the change. It took about as long as it takes to batter an eyelash. I was amazed. For some strange reason, I was able to get back to sleep for a while.