Tag: #medical

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Free falling through fear

April 5, 2019 emyminzel

Fear of the unknown is something a lot of people have in common. When we are not certain of what the future holds in store for us, we worry that it could be bad instead of hoping for the best. This worry doesn’t help in any way, in fact, it hinders our attitude and squashes hope. If you think about it. How and what we think can affect the direction of our unknown path because our choices may be conservative instead of anticipative.

My life path has been altered recently and I feel am at a point where I need to choose what direction I am going to take. I believe that once I chose the path, I will focus all my time and energy there. I will not waste energy thinking about what could have happened had I chosen differently. Tormenting myself with unproven thinking or that I might have made the ‘wrong’ decision, would be the worst thing I could do to myself.

I believe in trusting my intuition, listening to my inner knowing and the feelings that guide my heart. When both paths call to me for different reasons, I recognize that one of them feels better than the other. Yet both pull me for very different reasons. I have been working on visualizing what I want my future to look like, as an experiment, to pull more information out of my subconscious mind. The inner me knows which path would be the best one to follow!

Quieting the worry in my mind is proving difficult and hindering me from hearing the guidance I so desperately seek. I think it is because of my fear of the unknown, that I am standing directly in my own way of the information and guidance I look for. I have been making lists of pros and cons. I have worried about every little thing that I could possibly think of and then again, maybe that’s just because that’s how I am.

All this, much ado about nothing, has led me to feel like giving up. I just do not know which path to take! So here I stand. One foot on each, but not going anywhere. Do you know what is the most uncomfortable feeling to me? Stagnation! Not making progress and stuck in limbo spinning my wheels but going anywhere. This feeling is much like slow and persistent torment for this girl.

But you know what? I believe that was exactly the purpose of this divinely guided exercise. I have finally gotten to the point where I am willing to surrender to my Creator. I am ready to relinquish the control, that I don’t have anyway, and free fall into the trust of the Higher Power.

Of course, I have free will and I am not planning on quitting my job or responsibilities. However, when it comes to my dreams and goals, I surrender these different paths to the heavens and trust that I will know what I need to make the best decision when the time is right. Maybe I am just feeling stuck because it is just not time yet. Maybe this is a period of reflection, rest and recuperation that is for my greatest good?

Instead of wasting time and energy on what I do not know, I am choosing to focus on what I do and let the Universe take care of the rest. Trusting the unknown and letting go of fear, is not easy for me, but it is what I must do for my own good. Living in fear, worrying about what is not even here yet, is damaging to my spirit and my approach to life. Which is just not me! Normally, I am full of hutzpah!

I am brave and a bold dreamer who does not take no for an answer. This bravery does not mean I am not scared, it means I do it anyway. So why is it that this phase in my life is any different? It is not. It means that I must trust life to get me where I am supposed to go because that is what has always happened. Most of my fears in the past have been unfounded and only served to inhibit me from expressing my true self. Not cool man.

After this self-realization has hit me, I am determined to let go of my fear of anything at all. I am going to wake up every morning knowing that I am a divine expression of spirit and that my actions are always guided for my highest and greatest good. If by chance I fall on my face… so what?! It wouldn’t be the first time and was probably for my greatest good as well. I will get up, rub some dirt in it and try again in a different way.

I am choosing to trust myself and my inner guidance while allowing a free fall into the arms of my wonderful unknown future. The only way to do so is to let go of my fears and allow the guidance I seek to seep in. Fear urges us to put up a wall and resist change but Trust opens doors and facilitates growth. I don’t need Spirit to tell me that! I just need to allow myself to trust fall into the future and know that it will be even more magical than I could ever imagine. And so, it is.

Does this ring true to you? I’d love to hear how you defeat your fears!

Wishing you love and blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

*photo credit – Barefoot Five

It’s a miracle!

April 1, 2019March 31, 2019 emyminzel

My husband has Type 2 diabetes and it has had a huge effect on our lives in so many ways. His health is important, and he had been doing his best to manage his blood sugar through insulin injections. Over the years we have had the opportunity to see how diabetes changes his life, wellbeing and behavior. What I once thought was him being stubborn, or just plain moody, was really his disease affecting more than just his blood sugar. It was changing the man I married from the inside out and not in a good way.

This all changed for us this past year. We had an angel come into our lives and fit my husband with an insulin pump. Coincidence or divine intervention just happened to bring me a new friend who is a pharmacist. We had struck up a conversation that lead to the fact that she worked with diabetic patients and insulin pumps! She generously offered to see if she could help my husband and we jumped at the opportunity. At first, we were both nervous but excited! This machine oversees dispensing lifesaving medication in very specific doses! Do we dare trust a machine? We had a lot of questions but we’re hopeful.

My husband had been doing research on pumps for years but had all but resigned to the fact he was never going to get one, because his previous doctor had told him so. He was told insurance probably would not cover the pump that was over $8,000.00 not including all the accessories and medication. Since the climbing astronomic cost of insulin hits us every month, coupled with high deductibles, saving for a pump was out of the question. He had all but given up.

I am telling you this story because I just cannot get over the difference this insulin pump has made in my husband! Because he feels better, it has made a significant improvement in our lives together. Before we got married my husband was funny, witty and great company. Years after his diabetes diagnosis, he was still having trouble keeping his blood sugar numbers from skyrocketing and this affected nearly everything.

His health began to slowly decline along with his attitude about life and he just seemed to be sick and miserable more often than not. For years we lived this way, it’s not easy to feel like crap all the time and keep up with life; stress was through the roof and slowly this long term, hard to manage disease also worked a slow wedge into our relationship. Although we didn’t even see it until he got this insulin pump!

Just a month after being on the insulin pump, that allowed him to keep his blood sugar at more regular level rates, the miraculous difference in my husband’s behavior was like night and day! He was feeling better and feeling more in control of this disease. Because the pump lets him see for himself exactly what each food, he ate was doing to his blood sugar. The real time monitoring of his numbers keeps him on track and accountable, while being able to make the needed adjustments that he once did not understand.

My husband is a very smart person, he is great with numbers and conceptualizing what it is he needs to do to be healthy. But without this pump, he had no facts to go off for years! It was just trial and error over and over again and that just lead to frustrations, spikes and dips, anger and even feeling like giving up some days. The diabetes education he received when diagnosed was mediocre at best. After meeting our pharmacist friend/angel, ten years later, he has learned a great deal more of what he needed to stay healthy. I remember him even saying to me “I wish I would have known all of this when I was diagnosed ten years ago!”

I think to myself, how many other people are in this same situation, with just enough information to keep them alive but miserable and hemorrhaging from their bank accounts because of this? Diabetes affects a huge number of people! Are they all walking around with minimal information, feeling like crap because of what they don’t know? How is it that patients don’t qualify for a life-changing insulin pump because they can’t get through to insurance companies?

This makes me so darn mad, and so darn grateful, we have been lucky enough to meet this person who changed my husband’s life for the better in a very short amount of time! Because he can manage his blood sugar numbers better, he feels better! Because he feels better, he is happier, and his mood has improved immensely. I have the man I married back! This is lifesaving and life-changing stuff and I want to holler it from the mountain tops!

I don’t know how we go about changing this way of insurance companies who seem to play God with people, depriving patients of life improving technology. Is it because some doctors don’t know enough about the disease or because they don’t have time to deal with cantankerous insurance companies? Maybe that’s my anger talking but I think we need to start somehow and some way. I am doing so by sharing our story with you. If you have been denied, I would try and try again, if an insulin pump is something that you or a loved one needs.

From my heart to yours. Do not give up! It is worth the effort. This insulin pump was quite literally a miracle healing for my husband and our relationship. Because it happened slowly through the years, we did not see just how much it had taken a toll on just about everything in his life. Until he started feeling better, we had just gotten used to who he was; being sick and tired all the time. This is not who my husband is! I am beyond thankful I got him back.

My hope is that by sharing our story of how diabetes has affected my husband and our family, will help others in the same boat. I know you are out there, and I empathize with the life encompassing struggle. Don’t give up! I wish for you or your loved one to be blessed with a miracle too!

Wishing you love and blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Brave enough to be vulnerable –

March 1, 2019March 1, 2019 emyminzel

“There is no greater measure of courage than vulnerability.” Brene’ Brown, PhD

There are people who can mask their emotions under even the most stressful of situations. I call this ability a poker face and we all have worn it from time to time. We wear this unreadable expression when we want to keep our cards close to our chest and don’t want others to know our true feelings. We mask those emotions with a very neutral facial expression.

We cover our vulnerability. As humans we have become good at reading facial expressions, it’s a survival skill. A twitch of an eye, a tear or maniacal smirk can give us a warning when the situation is about to go in a negative direction. Just the opposite is true also; laughter and smiles can let us know it’s okay for us to be at ease.

Although humans share this planet and we all should be on the same team, we know this isn’t true, for everyone seems to separate themselves by their beliefs. Still others will use your vulnerability to manipulate you or use it against you. There are even some situations in which having a poker face is necessary for success; as a lawyer, a business person making deals, or even a politician.

Yet, even with all that, there are those who wear their hearts on their sleeves and everything they are thinking is as plain as the nose on their face. What I don’t understand is why showing our emotions is considered weak. As a woman, I swim in my emotions every minute of every day. I find them very useful actually. These emotions grow my strength.

If a sunrise makes my eyes tear up with gratitude for another day or if a Kleenex commercial makes me cry with sentiment, why is this considered fragile? If I am vulnerable enough to feel all these emotions, I am also strong enough to process them and use them to my benefit. Doesn’t feeling our emotions and willing to share them, make us stronger than those who chose to keep sentiment under lock and key? Emotions get things done; they make us act, move proverbial mountains and even change the world.

Being emotionally invested in an outcome, helps us to see alternate routes and options for solutions. Being passionately invested in the results makes me very creative in finding solutions. I don’t buy into the two choice only options always given to us as a society. False choices of having to choose between the right or the left, masculine/feminine, right/wrong, environmental preservation or economic growth… just doesn’t always fit the need.

Who decided it is the emotionless, poker faces of the world that get to choose what is right and wrong? I’m calling BS on how ‘strength’ is depicted. The way I see it, emotions, covered up by a neutral mask, only means you are not brave enough to show the world your real face.

It is our beliefs that separate us and make us give others the choice of my way or your way… when really, our world is full of options and solutions and hardly ever is there only two choices.

As American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge.”

I believe we are currently in a “times of challenge” part of our history. There are still so many people who think that maybe women are not ‘strong enough’ to lead because we are emotional beings. I disagree. To choose to wear your heart on your sleeve or your emotions all over your face, is brave and profoundly human. To show your vulnerability is to show your courage and what you stand for. It is those with the poker faces you should be wary of.

Emotion like this can even be seen in the little details of life. Like the strength of a mother who brings her 6-week-old newborn into the clinic for vaccinations. Knowing she is about to subjecting her infant to the pain of the injection. She too cries with her baby, as the shot is administered. Holding in her arms the embodiment of unconditional love. She knows this act is for a greater good and protection… There is the emotion of love streaming down her face. There is strength.

Strength has a face and it is not what Hollywood tells us. It is not a poker face or an angry face. It is in the emotion and courage to be brave no matter what. If society is going to heal, we need to change the way we view strength. Because if anyone knows how to heal, nurture and grow; it is a woman with the courage to be brave enough to show her strong emotions to all.

It’s our time to show up and be our true selves. Know it is okay to be vulnerable and that being true to ourselves is the greatest measure of courage.

“There is no greater measure of courage than vulnerability.” Brene’ Brown, Ph.D. from her book Rising Strong. It’s a great read and I highly recommend it!

*Picture take on the Mississippi River, my daughters first canoe ride. (She was scared but brave. I am so proud of her!)

Wishing you love and blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Will you hold my hand?

January 12, 2019January 12, 2019 emyminzel

Earlier this week, I had a minor surgery to remove a cyst in my neck. The procedure was performed in an operating room. As they wheeled me in, I saw a room full of stainless-steel equipment and nurses bundled up in their surgical garb and masks and remembered I was going to be fully awake for this procedure. The area numbed with Novocain before the doctor was to remove the growth with a scalpel.

Being awake, I made small talk with the nurses, who were very kind and chatted with me too. There was one nurse whose job it was to sit and keep me company, while monitoring my vital signs. I did not think I was nervous since I knew what was going to happen and how it was going to happen. Yet the moment they helped me on to the operating table I seem to have gotten cold feet. I wanted to run away!

When she strapped on the blood pressure cuff, my cover of small talk and cracking jokes was blown! My heartrate and blood pressure were through the roof! Even though I tried to play it cool, statistics showed my body was clearly in fight or flight mode. The nurse, in charge of my vitals, was a welcome distraction from the reality of a large incision being made to my body while awake.

When the doctor walked in, I chatted with her too. She’s become my favorite doctor and I feel very comfortable with her. In my head, I was trying to calm myself, by inducing my own meditative state of breathing deep and such. No luck, my body knew what was going to happen and even though my mind was very logical and factual, my blood pressure was not coming down.

It’s like my body knew trauma was coming and it was very scared. At that moment I knew I needed comfort. I looked at the nurse, who was right next to me the whole time, and asked her. “Will you please hold my hand?”

She obliged kindly and continued to hold my hand for the whole procedure. Doing her best to ask me questions and give me distractions from the doctor and scalpel working diligently behind me. Nurse W told me she was a seasoned nurse, working part-time until retirement. I could tell. She had calmness and caring demeanor only years of practice can produce. It made me feel like I could ask her to help me in the only way she could, by holding my hand.

Isn’t it funny how you can find comfort in a perfect stranger’s hand in a time of trauma, anxiety or extreme stress? Okay, maybe funny isn’t the word. It is quite a miracle and blessing that humans can form a connection so quickly in times of need. What is even more beautiful is the nurse who chose to make this her life path; to help strangers with kindness and compassion in very stressful moments.

Nurses, Doctors, Firemen, Police Officers, Caregivers, are often there for strangers on our most horrible or trying days. The men and women who stand with folks in their community to help them through it all, are very much a blessing to humanity. Not everyone is wired to be able to have a heart, so giving and open, to hold a stranger’s hand even on a regular day with no stress.

Do some people hold more compassion inside then others? I think so. But what I find is that even those of us who aren’t comfortable with unfamiliar people will still offer comfort in times of duress, even if they too are stressed. Is this a characteristic built into our DNA, to care for others when it is most needed? Is it an innate knowing that we are all connected by the spark of God, that brings us all to life? I do not know. But I’d like to think so.

What I do know is that I am very thankful for the nurse who held my hand that day. She kindly offered me comfort and did her best to divert my attention from the surgery happening while we talked. I cannot help but use this scenario as an analogy of life.

It is on our hardest, most challenging days, that we need others help us get through.

Unfortunately, these days aren’t always as obvious as being strapped to an operating table. Sometimes there are strangers walking past us in the grocery store or working in the cubicle right next to you; that are having one of the worst days of their lives. Inner trauma is just as painful as physical trauma, just in a different way.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all live heart-centered lives so that others would feel safe in asking; “Will you please hold my hand?” when they need it most?

Even if it is just for a short time, your compassion does make a difference. Kindness is a characteristic that we must practice to be good at. Seeing folks in our community as extended family, instead of strangers, is where we can start. Do unto others and such. Remember, even a kind stranger serving as a short distraction from pain (in any form) can make a huge difference in the world.

Thank you for reading my blog today.

May you find comfort and love all around you. May you have the chance to act as comfort and love to another.

Wishing you an abundance of blessings,

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister