Things Neglected

So I went to get an MRI on Friday. I have a small adenoma that sits on my pituitary and it needs to be monitored with blood work and on-going MRI’s.  I’ve known about it since 2004 and have done a really poor job of keep up with it. You would think that when someone has something that could potentially grow in their brain they would check on that…right…..wrong. Not when you are fundraising, maintaining supporters, keeping house, training for the field and taking care of your children. Or so my list of excuses go.

As I think about that, it’s really not wise at all. It’s exactly the opposite of wise. If I’m not healthy and taking care of myself then our family will suffer. Admittedly, Ian and I have both neglected a lot of things over the past year and a half. It’s only natural when you pick up an extra full time endeavor like fundraising that things fall off of your plate whether you intend them to or not.

At my appointment on Friday the technician asked me when I’d had the last MRI and where I had it. I had no clue. I was trying to remember how many children I had when I had it done because that would at least give me a window of time. I explained to her where it was that I’d had it done most recently but I could not remember the name of the facility. She mentioned 3 such facilities in the area and still I drew a blank. It was not until Ian looked it up on google maps that we figured out the name of it.

As a family,  we’ve been going to lots of doctors appointments to get ready to leave because we want to have a very clear picture of our bill of health before going to a place where we won’t be able to fully communicate with doctors without a translator for quite some time. Thankfully my MRI came back clear and I have a prescription that I need to take to manage the adenoma and my blood levels.

Now that Ian is completely working from home for our ministry work, this has opened up time for us to take care of some of these neglected things while still maintaining our ministry pursuits. We are incredibly thankful for this time. We are running around like crazy between dentists, and various medical doctors, pediatricians and the like. But this is important, it cannot be neglected.

Now that we’ve been given this gift of time, we are spending lots of it these days thinking through how to build in important preventative maintenance into our lives to maintain not only our physical health but our emotional and spiritual health as well. We are trying hard to create boundaries so that we don’t get so far beyond our capacity and bust because nobody wins in those situations.

Tonight we are meeting with a friend of our who is an excellent organizer. She has volunteered to help us think through all of our ministry functions and divvy those out in a healthy and sustainable way so that things like MRI’s don’t get neglected again.

How about you? Do you have personal boundaries and ways to make sure that important goals and guidelines are built in so that they aren’t neglected?

 

 

4 Replies to “Things Neglected”

  1. First I’m so thankful to learn that your MRI came back fine. Boundaries, oh man, that is such a tough subject, especially when balancing so many things and trying to remember that we are called to serve one another. I’ve learned that adopting the slogan “that really doesn’t work for me”really helps keep things in perspective and remind myself as you said, I have to be well to give my best self away.

  2. I am glad that you are healthy!!!!! Please take care of yourself. My hubby laughs at for me for these things but I am a planner and I always make us yearly physicals for body, eyes, hearing, etc. I learned that not being around for my family is not what God has planned so I really want you to keep track of everyone’s doctor visits. I did some extra doctor visits before leaving the states as I wanted the most up to date medical history in case we got sick. Be Blessed.

  3. I make the appointments while I am still at the Doctor’s office, bc if I don’t, I won’t do it!

  4. Yikes – so glad your health is good! Take care of yourself, friend! Yep, that’s why I’m making an expensive investment into my health right now with a new workout routine and eating plan – I figure pay now or pay later (with medical costs). Preventative health care is definitely superior… Here’s to better health for both of us! 🙂

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