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Every Day is Precious: Godliness motivates gift of cleanliness
By ROB PAYNE
For Williamson A.M.
I'm all about function. If you don't want people to use the hand towels in the powder room, why hang them on the towel rod next to the sink? If that silverware is so good, why do you have to polish it all the time? If you pay extra to have hardwood floors, why cover them with throw rugs?
And I'm not a slob. It just looks that way.
It seems that every time medical supplies are delivered to the house, I have been right in the middle of doing something being functional. I usually can make time to be friendly to the person delivering, but it's been tough making time to put the supplies where they belong. I've been just putting them on the floor in the sunroom. The sunroom is close to the room where Marcy is, close to where I use the supplies. And most of the sunroom is just out of Marcy's sight, so she doesn't tell me to clean it up.
After one look at our sunroom, Michele tactfully asked if she could bring a few of her nurses in to help us get organized. Michele runs Lee Medical and when it was determined that Marcy needed a PICC line two years ago, Michele's name was the only name anyone mentioned.
If you are fortunate enough not to have to have known what a PICC line is, here goes. PICC is an acronym for peripherally inserted central catheter. It is a small plastic tube that is surgically inserted in a vein usually in the arm that runs from that insertion site, inside the vein, almost to the heart. Once inserted, one can give a patient medicines intravenously without having to stick with a needle. It can stay in for months, saving quite a bit of pain.
We were told Michele is the best. We weren't told she directs a small group of angels on earth. We learned that about Michele first- hand.
When Marcy needed a new PICC line last November, we were out of state trying an experimental treatment. Not knowing whom to call while out of state, we called Michele and she talked us through how to interview PICC people in Pennsylvania. She also said she would be glad to send someone to change the dressing on the PICC line once we got home.
Michele's offer to help organize the sunroom, tactful as it was, made me a little defensive. ''What? You have a problem with this? It took me months to create this mess,'' I said.
But organizing was the right thing to do. The nurses brought their own shelves, they put everything where you could see it at a glance, and they found things I didn't know I had. And one of the best parts of their visit is that they are trained in trach maintenance. They told me to leave for a couple of hours, that they could watch Marcy for me.
I took the kids to Laser Chase to get some exercise and to be totally humiliated Matthew more than doubled my score. We had a lot of fun some playtime together that we hadn't been able to make in a long, long while. I saw how they have grown since the last time we played and laughed together that much. I realized that I need to do a little better job of creating more of these moments even if we just stay at home.
If you know a family in need, keep your eye open for something you can help organize for them. It may just help them get their life back in order.
Every Day Is Precious is a column to remind us to treat everyone we see today as if it could be the last time we see them. It is written by Rob Payne, whose wife, Marcy, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in August 2000. For more ways to help others, to find more about Marcy, or to receive e-mail updates on her condition, visit www.EveryDayIsPrecious.com. If you have helped someone without being asked, or know of someone who has, share it with others. Send to rob@everydayisprecious.com or to Every Day Is Precious, 2051 Harvington Drive, Franklin, TN 37069.
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