summer update

I can't believe its already one week into July! I hope that everyone's summer is going well. In my case, the last month or so has had many surprises and because of them, many of my plans have had to change. In my last post I mentioned that I was about to start a summer program where I would be working one-on-one with a nurse in order to improve my skills and work on my organization and prioritization...well that didn't end up doing through for a few reasons. About a week before this program was to start I woke up one morning with a pinched neck nerve that caused pain, tingling down my right arm, and a decreased range of motion of my neck. I was on bedrest for a few days, took as much tylenol and ibuprofen I could around the clock and decided to give Day 1 a try. Long story short, I made it to the end of the 12 hour shift, but barely. The whole time I kept thinking how nice and convenient it would be to simply crawl into one of the hospital beds and be taken care of. The next day I went to my doctor and she informed me that I needed to rest as much as possible until my pain was lessened and that I should start physical therapy. Thus ended my summer nursing program.

Now, I have nothing against physical therapy, but up until this point in my life I considered myself to be pretty healthy overall. I didn't exercise as much as I should or eat quite as many veggies as "they" recommend, but I had only ever had a few serious illnesses and only had the flu about 3 times my whole life. But when the words "physical therapy" came from my doctor's mouth, internally a little voice inside my head said "yep, you are now old." Now let me say that I know people of many different ages go to physical therapy for a variety of reasons, but for some reason I never thought that I would have to see a PT unless perhaps I broke a bone or maybe once 30 more years years had passed (which still isn't old...I know). But: I am now a physical therapy patient and am glad of it! My PT is great and hopefully within a few months I'll be back to my "old" self again. ;)

In the meantime, I am doing 4 exercises that have been "recommended" for me, I have a prescription for a muscle relaxer, I am going to my chiropractor more frequently again, and I started going to a massage therapist. All of these things are wonderful and I am finding it extremely interest being the "patient." I think all of this will help me be a more caring and patient nurse. It is very hard to remember to do everything every professional tells you to do when you are seeing multiple specialists! The one major drawback to all of the above mentioned things is that they cost...a lot. Hence the other reason I had to drop said summer nursing program! But the Lord is providing beautifully. I am amazed.

So...I still hope to take the nursing state board test sometime this summer and see if I can get my LPN license, but my priority for the next few months is now becoming healthy again so that come fall (when school starts again), I can dive in full force!

On an entirely different note, the Lord has, as many of you know, led me to search for a church closer to home. I had previously been attending a wonderful church in Estacada, but it was time to follow the Spirit's prompting and search elsewhere. I have visited a few churches over the last month or so, and I think I may have found my new church home! This excites and frightens me for so many reasons, but I am trying to listen closely to the Holy Spirit to follow His lead. I miss my friends in Estacada very much and so part of me is very hesitant to latch on to something right away, but I'll just have to wait and see over the next month or so as to the Spirit's leading.

The thing that amazes and overwhelms me the most about this new church is that every single person I have met there is so welcoming and genuine and open. I have now attended two Sunday services and on each occasion people within my age group (!!!) have invited me to several outings and get-togethers. [side note: this is amazing because it is one thing I have never found in a church that I have fallen in love with. I find that many Christians my age are not in the same place as I am in regard to having hunger for true teaching from the Bible or who have quite the same values as I do]. But these people do! I spent the 4th of July with them and had the time of my life (but I forgot my camera...so I have no pictures. sorry). They invited me to several more things over the summer and already extended an invitation to me to join their Bible study in the fall if I decide that this church is where I should be! This all makes me very excited, but as I said, I am still hesitant to jump into something hastily. So I am being cautious and just taking it day by day. We shall see what the Lord leads me to!

Anyway, in a nutshell that's my summer so far. Sorry for such a long post after a month of silence. Sometimes I find it hard to decide what to write on here and what to save for my journal, but eventually I hope to get the hang of it! As I said in the beginning of this post, I hope you are all having a fabulous summer making wonderful memories. God Bless!

In Christ,
Carrie