Words to Live By

Last night, David and I attended a lecture by Virginia Hinckley Pearce, daughter of President Gordon B. Hinckley and Marjorie Pay Hinckley. Her lecture was part of a series of lectures, "Women of Conviction," sponsored by the Church History Library. Sister Pearce is a wonderful speaker and the perfect person to give a lecture on her mother. She is wonderfully upbeat and she reminds me of her mother, with her ease in speaking with any audience and her cute sense of humor.

Sister Pearce said that it was hard to narrow down what to say about her mother, but she settled on three themes that reflect the essence of her mother:

Be Content with Yourself and Your Life

Sister Hinckley was content with her life and herself and that led to her always having gratitude in her heart and expressing it often. She was "thrilled" with her life much of the time. She never had a feeling of entitlement, a theme that is being talked about a lot these days and which ensnares many of today's youth and society. She had a practical approach to life and she was known for doing whatever was needed with a cheerful heart. She met life with optimism, was not a complainer, and she had a wonderful sense of humor. She was once asked, "What is the key to a happy marriage?" and she replied, without missing a beat, "Lower your expectations!"

Encourage Others

When you are content with yourself, you can reach out and encourage others and appreciate others. She always found those whom she knew and and those she met, around the world and in many different situations, to be so interesting and she learned from them, encouraged them, and appreciated them. She did what she could and didn't deride herself for what she didn't do. She knew that encouragement touched and entered hearts and made people better.

Consecrate Yourself to the Kingdom

Whatever her situation, the situation of her family, or that of her husband and herself, she joyfully embraced the situation and did all that she could to build the kingdom of God and uplift His children. She jokingly said, "It is ridiculously exhausting to be a member of the true church!" But, she loved every minute! Her whole life was lived to be "one more voice to declare that God lives and this is His work!"

The lecture was so refreshing and uplifting! These truly are great words to live by! Here is a favorite quote by Sister Hinckley that expresses the theme of her life and how she did arrive at the pearly gates! Click on the quote to enlarge it and enjoy more words to live by . . . .

Stood Up

A postscript to the last post, "Back to the Books!" . . . I was supposed to teach the Prenatal Class for LDS Family Services on Saturday (they are held every 2 months). I was doing it solo since both of the other R.N.'s were busy. Since I didn't know exactly who would show up and how far along they were in their pregnancies, I prepared for teaching about the first half of pregnancy/nutrition, etc. and the second half of pregnancy/labor and delivery/postpartum, etc. It was a lot of preparation!

Three birth mothers were signed up and two others were expected. I was there early and got set up and the caseworker who has responsibility for the prenatal class was there early, as well. Then, we waited, and we waited, and we waited. None of the birth mothers showed up! After waiting 45 minutes, we gave it up. The caseworker told me that one of the hardest things about working with birth mothers is that they are predominantly teenagers and they are less than responsible.

Maybe they were all extra-tired on a late Saturday morning, maybe it's summer and a class is not on their summer radar screens, maybe they just forgot. Oh,well . . . The best part of a disappointing situation is that I'm prepared for the next class, whichever segment they want me to teach!

Back to the Books!

Yesterday, I had the exciting experience of attending a prenatal classs for birth mothers at the LDS Family Services office in Centerville. After working with the agency for 3 1/2 years as Church Service Missionaries, it has been hard to leave such a wonderful calling. I had told our supervisor that I would love to be involved with the prenatal class, but he indicated that there was not an opening at the time. But, a couple of weeks ago, I got a call saying that they had lost a nurse and would like for me to be involved. I was really excited!

At the class, there were 2 birth mothers, both 16, one who came with an aunt and one who came with her best friend. One was 7 months along and placing her baby boy and the other was 4 months along and undecided at this time on whether to keep or place her baby boy. Since both were past their first trimester, the lesson focused on labor, birth, and postpartum.

The nurse who taught the class was so cute and she did a great job. When I met her, we both thought we knew each other. It turns out that she was a friend from high school of my daughter,Julie. She has not been able to have children and she has adopted two children through LDS Family Services and has been a volunteer for years, in various capacities. The atmosphere was very friendly and casual and lunch was served, so it made a very comfortable experience for the birth mothers. A cute adoption case worker was there, so she participated, and I was able to make a few comments, as well.

I am excited about this opportunity to teach and to serve. It will be a fun experience, but I'm afraid I am going to have to do some studying about obstetrics. My experience has been in Allergy and Urology and it has been a lot of years since my OB/Peds classes and rotations at the hospital. The manual for the class is wonderful! It is very comprehensive, with lots of pictures, illustrations, and diagrams and it is very understandable for the birth mothers.I've also pulled out my book from nursing school and I have a copy of The Mayo Clinic Complete Book of Pregnancy. It would be great if I could attend a labor and delivery sometime. Maybe I will have the opportunity with one of the birth mothers, if they need a support person during labor and delivery. The other part of the assignment involves attending the birth parent support group one or two times a month, to be on hand for questions that may come up and to encourage attendance for the prenatal classes, which are held every other month.

I guess I'm official since they had me listed on the card that they handed out to the birth mothers. Now I'm on-call for questions and issues so I'm serious about getting back to the books and learning so that I can be prepared!

It's Good News!

(Hopefully, the same could be said of all nurses!)

Yesterday, I went for my stress echocardiogram and, while my diagnosis remains the same, everything looks really good. Dr. Fowles said that the results were even better than he expected and he expects me to do really well with the condition. He showed me on the echo images exactly where the thickening is and said that it is in the best possible place it could be and not obstructing the blood flow into the aorta. The stress test did not change things- no arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), no worsening of the flow with exercise, and it ruled out two more serious conditions. He cleared me for exercise, saying that I would not have a sudden cardiac arrest because of my condition. He said I couldn't run or train for any marathons, half-marathons, etc., (Sorry, I can’t run a Wasatch Back!) but I can run a 5K if I stay within the bounds he has set: heart rate no higher than 120 and stay hydrated. He went over the history of how the pericarditis had initially brought me in but was unrelated to the hypertrophy, and he showed me the labs that showed dramatic improvement with treatment for the pericarditis. He also reported that the month-long cardiac monitoring showed no abnormalities, as well. So, it’s all good!

It is crazy to think that I am now a cardiac patient and I am now on Dr. Fowles’ "radar screen." He says that he will follow me closely- check-ups every 6 months and yearly re-evaluations with echos and stress tests. His biggest caution was against dehydration. He emphasized that I would be in big trouble if I became dehydrated. He wants me to “drink enough to pee every hour!” That will be hard since I have never been good at drinking water, but I’ve gotten better since my last appointment and his instructions then.

So, it is a big relief to finally have some definitive data and “a plan.” However, I cannot deny nor forget the absolute peace and calm that I have felt from the very beginning of this experience. What a tender mercy of the Lord! I have felt that I have been in His hands, no matter what the outcome. While I have prayed for the blessing of healing if it be the Lord’s will, I have also felt ok with a “but if not” outcome. I have been blessed by the prayers of my family (What a tender experience to hear my grandsons praying for my heart!) and friends; having my name on the prayer rolls of a number of temples; and having been anointed by my son, joined by my son-in-law, and blessed through the holy Melchizedek Priesthood, by my husband. It is true that my heart is literally enlarged, but it has been enlarged, as well, with gratitude for my many blessings!

Time Out!

My daughters are all busy moms, right smack in the middle of raising our 12 grandchildren. Each of them have 4 busy, amazing kids. As in most families, on occasion, the kids get a little challenged and need a some personal time out for their own good and for the good of the mom and the family. What's true for kids is true for moms, as well- sometimes in the midst of busy, challenging lives it's good for some personal time out for the good of the mom and the family. So, that's just what happened last weekend. My daughters came from Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and I came from Salt Lake to enjoy a time out experience in Seattle.

The whole idea started "cooking" back in November when I attended Time Out For Women in Salt Lake with friends. As I looked around, I saw so many moms with their daughters. Having experienced many BYU Education Weeks and BYU Women's Conferences, I had always hoped that someday I would be able to attend a Women's Conference or Education Week with my daughters, but having a baby in tow is problematic. But, at TOFW, there were lots of nursing mothers in the group. I sat there and thought, "We could do this!" I checked the locations for TOFW and found one in Seattle.Perfect! So, for Christmas, I gave my daughters an experience rather than a tangible gift. Each received an invitation to Time Out for Women as her gift. Judging from one daughter's reaction (She was visiting us at Christmas.), it was a pretty exciting gift. She had tears in her eyes as she read her invitation. We have all been excited for 4 months and it really did happen- last weekend! Of course, lots of arrangements had to be made and, it never could have happened without the help of our awesome sons-in-laws and cooperative kids. I owe a huge "THANKS!!" to husbands/dads, Lance, Brad, Tom, and husband/grandpa, David. THEY made it happen!

Emily had the great idea of going up on Thursday instead of Friday morning, so we met Julie and Amy for lunch at an Italian restaurant, before Amy got a new "do" for her birthday and, later, Emily got a new look at the Olson "salon," while I taught my daughters and granddaughters how to make organza flowers, just for fun.
Friday morning, Amy had a "gig" at Julie's daughter's first grade class doing a dramatic re-telling of "The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs." Amy was famous for her rendition in her younger years. What a fun flashback for all of us and the first graders loved the story and the popcorn we brought for the show.

We met my sister, Jennifer, for lunch at a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant in the Asian district of Seattle. The food was incredible, as well as beautiful,and it was so fun for Jennifer to visit with all my daughters at one time. What a GREAT memory!! After lunch, the girls and I went shopping at our favorite spot in Seattle- Goodwill. A trip to Goodwill to do school clothes shoppping was always a highlight of our summer trips to Seattle, so this was a trip down memory lane, plus Emily really scored this trip. We used our Marriott rewards points to stay in downtown Seattle- very convenient for the TOFW events Friday night and Saturday. After the session on Friday, we went to the hotel for a chocolate fix and surprised each other with Mothers' Day gifts.
Though the best part of the weekend was just being together, the TOFW events were great. The speakers were wonderful and the music was fun- Saturday especially, since none of us are big fans of the Friday night music guy. We all took away significant thoughts and impressions and we all were "recharged" and ready to go back home and implement things that we learned into our real lives. The theme of the conference was "Choose to Become," based on the scripture in Mark 9:23, "All things are possible to him that believeth." Each speaker took a different "take" on the theme. Michael Wilcox was one of my favorites and he spoke about learning and knowing as the key to becoming. He recently lost his wife and he shared some tender thoughts and told us that the only question that the Lord has answered about his wife's experience in the Spirit World is about what she is doing. He has gotten a definitive answer- "She is learning." She is doing more of what she was doing on the earth- learning and becoming. My other most favorite speaker was Emily Freeman, who challenged us to choose to become closer to the Lord; choose to become His. She wove Mosiah 5:12 and Isaiah 49 together, speaking of taking upon us the name of Christ and having His name written always in our hearts and never forgetting the promise that the Lord will never forget us, for we are graven upon the palms of His hands.

The whole weekend was non-stop fun and full of great experiences with my daughters. Here we are enjoying another great meal, this time at the Seattle Art Museum Cafe, during our lunch break on Saturday. Notice that Amy's Jack was having a great time, as well. He was awesome!It was great that the weekend was so close to Mother's Day, as well. It was the best gift I could have ever given them AND myself. We all agreed that it was an awesome "time out" experience and that we'd love to do it again. Yeah for TOFW!

I Know That My Redeemer Lives!

All of our children and grandchildren live out of state and do not have immediate access to the LDS Church News which arrives in our home each Saturday morning. Yesterday, the front page of the Church News had the First Presidency Easter Message.

For my children and grandchildren and other loved ones who won't see this Easter message from our Prophets, here are their beautiful words for this Easter season:

Among the most cherished thoughts and writings in this world is the divine statement of truth: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

This precious Son, our Lord and Savior, atoned for the sins of all mankind. That memorable night in Gethsemane His suffering was so great, His anguish so consuming that He pleaded, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Later, on the cruel cross, He died that we might live, and live everlastingly. Resurrection morning was preceded by pain, by suffering in accordance with the divine plan of God. Before Easter, there had to be a cross. The world has witnessed no greater gift, nor has it known more lasting love.

The message of Easter is that the Savior lives! And because He lives all shall indeed live again. This knowledge provides the peace for loved ones of those who have passed on, "Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: 'I know that my Redeemer lives!'"

Thomas S. Monson
Henry B. Eyring
Dieter F. Uchtdorf

You Never Know . . .

. . . when life will take you down a path that you didn’t plan on. But then, that’s what this life is all about- unexpected detours and challenges to face and overcome or endure well. That’s part of The Great Plan of Happiness and I, for one, am so grateful for Our Heavenly Father’s Plan! For the most part, I have had a blessed life, with occasional and assorted challenges, so it is about time, I guess, for a little stretching and growing.

So, what is this all about? Here’s a little history. . . In February, during the middle of NAEP testing, I came down with a viral flu-like illness with the usual chills, fever, aches, and cough. When I started having chest pain along with it, I knew something else was going on. I couldn’t lie down, because the pain on the right side of my chest was so severe. Thank goodness for an awesome primary care doctor who figured out what was going on. (May I say that I was NOT impressed with the urgent care doctor I saw first.) I was diagnosed with acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart that was caused by the viral infection. I was put on high dose ibuprofen and it was quite a miracle drug. Within a day or two, I was so much better. I am still on it for another couple of weeks to completely get rid of the inflammation. In addition to the frequent blood tests, I was sent for an EKG (which was normal) and an echocardiogram. A couple of days after the echo, I read my results on my laptop at home and I was dumbfounded! The echo showed that I have “severe left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction.” The translation is that the muscle in the bottom chamber of the heart on the left side is severely enlarged. It is doing ok in pumping blood from the heart, but when the heart relaxes so that it can fill with blood returning to the heart, it can’t relax and fill correctly because the muscle is thickened and stiff so less blood can come into the chamber. When I read the report, I was in shock thinking, “How could this have happened? I have been doing everything right- exercising, eating a low-fat diet, keeping my weight down, and my blood pressure has been well-controlled for years.” And yet, I had an overwhelming feeling “This is a tender mercy of the Lord!” I had the echocardiogram for an unrelated problem and this is what was found. The key here is that it was found! Not on an autopsy report! Seemingly young healthy people do die unexpectedly, especially after exercise, and this condition can be a reason for their deaths.

My primary care doctor wanted to see me ASAP. He said that he just couldn’t understand it since I live such a healthy lifestyle and I am young (as opposed to OLD!) In fact, he said that it looked like the report was for a person in their 70’s or 80’s. In the words of my doctor, “This is very troubling.” So, he referred me to a cardiologist. Since they were booking out 4 months, my doctor called down and said I needed to be seen right away. I did have to wait 3 ½ weeks and that was long enough! In the meantime, my doctor told me to stop exercising completely until I could see the cardiologist. Even with the wait, I continued to feel that the whole situation was a tender mercy. I have not felt panicked or “freaked out,” but I have felt calm. A couple of weeks ago, we went to the temple and during the session, a prayer that was given asked for peace and calm for any who were in the session and needed a special blessing. The tears came as I recognized another tender mercy. I acknowledge the hand of the Lord in my life at this time and it is a great blessing to have this feeling of calm and peace.

David and I met with the cardiologist last Monday. I went into the appointment thinking that it would be all bad news. However, the cardiologist was very upbeat. He told me up front that it was his job to help me get better. We spent about an hour with him and he was very thorough in taking my health history, my family medical history, and in his examination. All along the way, he kept saying “This is good,” in response to my answers to questions and information given, listening to my heart and looking at my EKG, and looking at results of various medical tests. In other words, I have a number of good things going for me, even though the diagnosis is not good. He even said that there is a promising new medication that can actually reverse the hypertrophy, when added to a medication that I have been taking for years. So, here’s the plan for the next month or so: I am to wear a heart monitor 24/7 for the next month. I went the next day to the hospital to get instructions and to get hooked up for the first time. I will be monitored constantly at Intermountain Medical Center and at some other location in the U.S. My cardiologist will be able to monitor me during the month, as well, and if anything shows up, he will be in touch. If I have any heart symptoms, I simply touch a button on the cell phone transmitter and then call an emergency number. At the end of the month, I will have a stress echocardiogram with the cardiologist right there and we’ll see how everything looks then. In the meantime, I am able to do some minimal exercise (the key word is minimal!). It really makes me laugh. On the treadmill, I can advance from 0-4% grade over time and 1.5-3.5 mph over time. I have to do a 10 minute warm-up (how do you warm up with those parameters?!?) and I can exercise for an hour at a time. I’ve done it a couple of days so far and it is crazy slow and dumb, but I will be a compliant patient!

My bottom line is that I will do everything I can to work with the cardiologist to get this condition figured out and to overcome this challenge. I’m also working with my Heavenly Father on the situation, as well, and I appreciate the tender mercies which I have felt all along the way. I know of his love and I look on this as an opportunity to grow spiritually and come closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. I appreciate all the prayers of and family and friends and I thank all who have put my name on temple prayer rolls. I surely couldn’t do this without the support and love of family, friends, and, especially, from my greatest supporter and cheerleader, my husband David.

I love the poem by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken.” The two last lines are especially meaningful to me as I head down a path that I wouldn’t necessarily have wanted to take: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

I end as I began, “You never know when life will take you down a path that you didn’t plan on.” I now find myself on the path “less traveled by,” not by my choice, for I probably would have taken the path that was easier and more well-traveled. I trust, however, with this opportunity to stretch and grow, I will be able to say, in time, “that has made all the difference.”