THANK YOU!

Over the past five months, I have come a long ways, even though some days have been frustrating. I would like to thank my family and friends who sent me encouraging emails or left a message at my blog concerning my improved walking. I truly appreciate the uplifting comments, but I cannot take credit for doing as well as I am, because as my blog title suggests, "Walking With God By My Side", I could not have done anything without God's grace and His encouragement to keep believing that I will get better and stronger. God gets all the Glory!

I am richly blessed to have a wonderful family and I treasure them dearly, because they have helped me in so many ways. Besides God and my faith helping me, my Dad, Alvin; Mom, Joann; brothers, Bob, Russ and Rick; sister, Ruth; in-laws Gary and Barb; niece, Abby; and nephews, David, Alex and Max; have all helped me a lot when I needed them over the years. Thank you all so much!

Since Dad was the oldest of five brothers and one sister and Mom grew up as the youngest of five sisters and one brother, I had a lot of aunts, uncles ans cousins, who have always been genuinely kind and caring. Since I am not very outgoing, it's difficult for me to approach people. When it came to family gatherings, I have always appreciated it when my aunts, uncles and cousins would visit with me. In fact, one of my favorite things to do when I was a child, was visiting my relatives, but since my early teens, getting out became more difficult, so that is why I became more shy and reclusive.

I also didn't have a lot of friends over the years, however, with the friends I do have, they have been very supportive and caring.

I am fortunate to have Dianne, a friend and neighbor, who has been helping me since November 2005 via Carestar's home health care waiver program. Dianne is an early bird, getting up as early as 4:30 AM, so by the time she comes in at 7:00 AM, I'm usually still tired and not in a real chipper mood, especially if I've had a restless night. On three of the five days that Dianne helps me four hours, she prepares food in the kitchen, so I can sleep. After an hour or two of resting, I'm ready to get cleaned up and dressed for the day.

I also really enjoy visiting with Mary Ann and Diana, who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to stop by and visit me every few weeks while I've been recuperating.

I've known Mary Ann since the mid 80's when Mom and I had the health food co-op. We enjoy talking about our faith and a variety of other subjects and the time goes by too quickly when we're together. Mary Ann is a lot of fun to be around, because we laugh a lot when we're together. Hopefully, next summer when I'm able to get around better, we would like to get out and do some "fun" things together. Mary Ann's, Dad, Alfons, who is 94, and stepmother, Lois, who is 88, also live next door to me.

I met Diana for the first time around November 2009 when she helped me as an aide from Comprehensive Health Network in Greenville. Diana actually knew me many years earlier from Darke County Right to Life when I helped with the newsletter. We never met back then, but she still remembered me. Diana also makes me laugh a lot and has helped me get out of some bad moods. She knows when I'm in a funk, because she'll scowl and grumble at me, which always makes me smile and laugh. As a nurses aide for many years, Diana has been gifted with a true passion for helping others and also enjoys sharing her faith in God.

Our parish priest, Father David Zink, is an outstanding and joyful man of God to be around and has been an absolute blessing in my life with his weekly visits of bringing me Holy Communion. The qualities which Father Zink exhibits include, kindness, gentleness, understanding, a deep knowledge of our Catholic faith and knowing more about the Saints than anyone I have ever met. He also has an amazing singing voice, his sense of humor is refreshing and I really like to hear him laugh. He's very busy taking care of two parishes; St. Louis in North Star and St. Nicholas in Osgood, so I don't get a chance to spend a lot of time with him, but when he does visit, I enjoy them a lot.

Even though North Star is fairly small with a population of about 400, every time I take a walk, someone always says hello. My neighbors are very kind-hearted and care for each other a lot. It's a wonderful community to live in and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to raise a family.

Other people in my life who have really boosted my morale and encouraged me the past two years have been the following:

My foot surgeons, Dr. Thomas Lee and Dr. William DeCarbo, from Orthopedic Foot & Ankle, have used their expert medical knowledge and amazing surgical skills, to give me back my ability to walk more normal, and for that I am very grateful.

Vicki Binkley, my case manager from Carestar, has worked diligently on my behalf, making sure I have all my medical needs met.

The nurses from Comprehensive Health Network: Glenna, Lil, Linda, Melissa, Charlotte, Lynn, Stephanie, Gail, Joan, Sharon, Kathy and Tracy, have all been very professional, kind and caring when it came to changing the foot dressings and helping me deal with other stressful health problems related to my recovery.

Teresa and Shawn were two other aides who also helped me from Comprehensive Health Network.

Since I was not able to walk from April 6th to late June, Spirit Medical Transport from Greenville, took me to Dr. DeCarbo's appointments in Westerville, as well as transporting me home from the hospital. The EMT's were very professional and caring and always treated me with the utmost kindness and respect.

To anyone whom I did not mention, just know that I also appreciate your thoughtfulness. Thank you, again!!!