Turning Lemons into Lemonade
When Life gives lemons, what do you do?
Turn them to lemonade, refreshing and new.
Squeeze out some sunshine, sweeten with cheer,
Together we’ll face what comes this year.
With stories and tips to brighten each day,
Let’s add sweetness to Life along the way!
Post #1 - Turning Lemons into Lemonade - November 28, 2024
Welcome:
Welcome to Linda’s Lemon-Aide for Life!
This is my very first blog.
And, I can’t think of a better day to start a blog than on Thanksgiving Day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Introduction:
By way of introduction, here are some facts about me.
I was born in Malad, Idaho. I lived in Malad until I graduated from high school.
This year our graduating class celebrated our 50 year reunion. (If you do the math, you’ll know how old I am now.)
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Brigham Young University.
Then, I went on an 18 month mission to Taipei, Taiwan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I returned home from my mission and I taught first grade for one year in Moreland, Idaho and I lived in a nearby town called Blackfoot.
The following year, I got a job teaching elementary school in Sandy, Utah for Jordan School District.
I was married to Dave Sherwood in the Jordan River Temple in South Jordan, Utah in 1982.
During the next nine years, I had two miscarriages, one son, two miscarriages, and then two more sons.
David, Mike, and Justin are great sons. I am so thankful for them.
I became a stay-at-home mom in 1986, almost a year after our first son was born.
Then, I did a pre-school from our home for several years and then we did Foster Care for a three year old girl and a newborn baby for almost a year until my second son was born.
Dave and I were married for 27 years.
He had a lot of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) problems due to his military service in Vietnam.
Our family provided 24/7 care in our home for my mother-in-law for three years until she passed away at 90 years old on Thanksgiving Day in 2008.
I completed an online master’s degree in Distance Education in 2009 with the University of Maryland University College.
Dave and I were divorced in 2009.
After my divorce, my youngest son and I moved to Maryland.
I continued to go to school part time to work on a doctorate degree in Maryland while I worked full time as a background investigations for the United States government.
Five years later, we moved back to Utah and I began teaching elementary school in Jordan School District, again.
In 2015, I was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. I had a double mastectomy, chemo treatments, radiation, four additional surgeries related to the breast cancer, and I have been taking daily chemo pills for nine years.
Currently, this is my 17th year teaching elementary school.
During our Back to School Night, this is the information that I gave to my students and their parents.
Fun Facts about Me
I love to fly in an airplane to see new places.
My favorite trips have been to Taiwan, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and England.
My favorite foods are pizza, ice cream, and dark chocolate.
My favorite drinks are lemonade and hot chocolate.
I like pizza so much that I even like eating cold pizza for breakfast.
My favorite flowers are sunflowers and daisies.
My favorite animal is a panda bear.
I do not like mice or spiders or being cold.
My favorite children’s books are any books by Dr. Seuss, Tedd Arnold, Dav Pilkey, Arnold Lobel, and Mo Williams.
And, now you know a few things about me.
Post #1 - Turning Lemons into Lemonade - November 28, 2024
Since it’s Thanksgiving Day, I want to share with you something I am thankful for today.
I am thankful that God does not give me everything I ask for when I pray to Him.
Due to a series of unfortunate events (lemons) that happened a few days before Thanksgiving, I managed to cause myself to have a severe asthma attack. Instead of using the self-cleaning feature on my oven and having it cause my smoke detectors to go on and off, I decided to clean my oven using an oven spray. I hadn’t deep cleaned my oven in several years and I was determined to have a clean oven for Thanksgiving. The oven spray advertised in big letters right on the spray can that it was “fume free” and “safe to use without gloves”. Perfect, right? Wrong!
The oven spray immediately caused me to have problems breathing and coughing (lemons). But, I ignored the symptoms and let the oven spray continue to work for the next few hours and then I wiped out the oven.
I assumed the symptoms of not being able to breathe very well and a continuous cough would just go away within a day or two. I assumed incorrectly.
As a first grade teacher, it’s very challenging to teach and talk and cough, all at the same time. I was grateful when it was the end of the school day on Tuesday and the beginning of our Thanksgiving Break from school.
The day before Thanksgiving, my symptoms got so bad that I finally decided to go to an InstaCare medical center for treatment. I thought the asthma had triggered bronchitis or pneumonia. I felt terrible!
I knew if I could get a doctor to give me an antibiotic and a strong cough medicine with codeine, I would get better soon.
I have been going to that InstaCare for ten years. There has only been one doctor who treated me on one occasion that I really didn’t like. It was such a frustrating experience that I never forgot it.
He hardly spent any time with me at my appointment. He spent the whole time lecturing me about how antibiotics are being over prescribed by doctors and he went on and on and on about the dangers of having codeine in cough medicine.
He wouldn’t prescribe me any medications. I was so upset with him. So, I spent all that money on an appointment with him and it was all for nothing.
So, the next day, I took some time off work and I scheduled an appointment at the clinic where my primary care doctor works. Then, I was able to get what I needed to help me get better.
Before I left to go to InstaCare, I prayed and begged God not to let me get that awful doctor.
While I was driving to InstaCare and when I was sitting in the waiting room, I was constantly saying silent prayers in my mind.
My prayers were mostly, “Please, don’t let me get that awful doctor who won’t prescribe me any medications.”
Finally, I was admitted back to a private treatment room for patients.
You guessed it.
The doctor I didn’t like came into the room (lemon). I was so upset.
He immediately started lecturing me about antibiotics and the hazards of becoming resistant to antibiotics. He also went off on his tangent about doctor’s over prescribing cough medicines especially ones with codeine.
I mentioned to him that this all started with the fumes from an oven cleaner.
I also mentioned to him that my dad had passed away ten years ago from a chemical induced pneumonia.
The doctor then proceeded to give me a lot of really good information about asthma and how to manage it more effectively.
He told me that if asthma isn’t controlled and treated, especially for people in my age group, it can lead to additional medical conditions, like pneumonia and MRSA, a staph infection that is highly resistant to antibiotics and those conditions can be fatal. I did not know that.
He told me that I would not get better until I got the asthma under control. He told me that antibiotics and the codeine cough medicine could make my asthma worse. Then, he lectured me for a while on doing a better job keeping my asthma under control.
He had me do X-rays to make sure the oven cleaner hadn’t caused permanent damage to my lungs. Fortunately, the X-rays came back normal.
He had me do a breathing treatment with medications in it for about 15 minutes. That really helped me breathe a lot better.
He game me a large dose of a steroid called Prednisone. Then, he ordered me a seven day prescription for the steroid to help with my asthma. He also ordered me a new inhaler and told me to use it on a regular basis until my asthma symptoms cleared up.
My appointment lasted over an hour.
I know the things I learned from this doctor are going to be a game changer with how I move forward in a more positive direction with my health issues (lemonade).
I am so grateful God heard my prayers and did not answer them the way I wanted them answered (lemonade).
What are the chances that I would get that doctor when I had only seen him one other time in ten years (lemonade)?
That was no coincidence (lemonade).
A friend once told me that whenever she finds herself being surprised and saying “What a coincidence!” she has learned to say, “There is no such thing as a coincidence. That was God’s hand in my life.”