Post-Surgery Recovery Meditation—Part 1

I’m so glad the doctor wanted me to have light anesthesia for the three-hour surgery. I don’t think I could have knowingly reclined in the chair that long, with him cutting and scraping tissue from the roof of my mouth, using it to make new gum tissue in front of my four bottom teeth. Every once-in-a-while he’d talk to me, and I’d respond. And every once-in-a-while the pain and pressure were severe enough to make me shift around and moan a little. But he said I was a model patient and everything went perfectly. Thank you, Lord!

Post-surgery prescription—

Recovery usually comes with a winding path, and this recovery was no different.

I knew I was going to have lay low—very low—during recovery. I wasn’t allowed to do any strenuous exercise or activity (I finally found out that their definition for “strenuous” was doing anything that raised my blood pressure. (!) I couldn’t bend over—too much pressure on the surgical site and blood flow into the area. I wasn’t to brush my teeth (ach!), or eat hot foods, or chew on anything hard. Since I don’t do well with aspirin or ibuprofen, he sent me home with several packets of the narcotic Vicodin and a prescription for more. I also got a handful of ibuprofen packets, just in case, but I decided to stick to my liquid child ibuprofen, in small amounts.

Dealing with physical post-op pain—

Even though I don’t like taking pain meds, I did take them. People who take their pain meds to stay on top of the pain, rather than waiting for it to ramp up and get out of control, recover better. And I wanted to recover. And sleep enhances healing. And pain meds encourage sleep.

So I tried to follow his instructions to the letter and then some. I alternated acetaminophen and ibuprofen to manage the pain. I used the little ice gel pack (I got my ice!), ten minutes on and ten off, unless I was sleeping, which ended up happening a lot. I stuck to cold liquid foods the first day. (Cold beef broth is surprisingly tasty when it’s one of only several foods you can take in.) Then came the cold cottage cheese, buckets of cold mac and cheese. Then a little goat yogurt. Even though I was allowed to “chew” on soft foods, I didn’t the first week. When I finally did get around to chewing on really soft chicken and quinoa, it was a catastrophe. So away went the chicken and quinoa.

Dealing with the day-to-day recovery—

And so it went. I wasn’t allowed to pull my lip down to inspect his handiwork, but I had to gently swab diluted hydrogen peroxide on the area twice a day, and I could feel the patchwork quilt he’d sewed into the roof of my mouth. Everything I did revolved around what I needed to do to heal. And, for the most part, that ended up being my meditation.

It made all of the difference in the world having a caretaker to rely on. My precious husband stayed home to work and to see to my needs the first week. “Don’t worry about doing anything. You just had major surgery. You need to focus on recovering,” he kept saying. And that made all of the difference in the world too. Knowing I didn’t have to worry about meeting any deadlines, returning any emails, or making sure things got done. (I did text a lot, which was nice since I couldn’t chat on the phone.)

The positive emotional, physical and spiritual effects—

And after the first week of pain and the pallid skin color that comes with illness, I noticed something. The healthy color started returning to my face. I actually looked healthier than I have in some time. The worry lines started softening along with some of my “older looking” features. My eyes looked brighter, happier, even though I didn’t wear a smear of makeup for three weeks.

While lying in bed one day, I realized how happy I was to be able to focus on one thing, and feel stress-free while doing it. I realized how miserable and worn down physically, emotionally and spiritually I can become on just a day-to-day basis, with an over-scheduled and over-committed life. I realized just how much life, and the way we choose to live it, can drain you of energy, happiness and joy.

Recovery comparisons—

All of this made me think of a friend who battled breast cancer some years ago, a young mom of four.

Her husband—a worship leader—had gotten a job at another church, and we didn’t see much of one another, although I knew she was battling cancer. When my husband and I were out to dinner one night, we ran into her. She was going through chemo, had lost her beautiful mane of dark brown silky hair and was wearing a dark brown wig cut into a cute bob.

But her face looked strained and her body exhausted. Way beyond the look of suffering a cancer patient normally shows when undergoing chemo. When I learned she was still working at the bookstore during her treatments, I asked why. Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes looked sad when she responded. “I have to. To keep my medical insurance.”

I felt horrible for her. My friend couldn’t lean into her treatment or cancer recovery, meditate on it, and focus on victory because she had to work. She had to drag herself out of bed everyday to put in her hours just so she could keep getting the treatment she needed. Not only did she have the stress of severe sickness weighing on her heart and chewing away at her body, she had the emotional and physical stress of maintaining a daily work grind.

My friend finished her treatment, had breast reconstruction and seemed to be doing well. Until the cancer returned, and she passed away. She worked through all of it, and I often wonder: How would she have done if she’d been able to focus completely on her health and recovery? If other burdens had not weighed down her heart, soul and body.

I’ve had other friends who’ve battled cancer in much the same way. Although they didn’t have to work, they lived as though they did. Determined to make sure life went on as usual during an unusual time, they pushed and exercised, and tried to muscle through the treatment. And none of the people I’m talking about survived. They may have seemed to be doing okay, but then the cancer returned or metastasized beyond treatment. The one friend told me she returned to cycling training as quickly as she could in order to get the chemo out of her body.

Now I haven’t done any research on it, but I’m wondering if that kind of approach typically leads to that kind of ending. I know it’s important to do things you love and maintain social contact, and family connection during a time of illness, I wonder if, in our haste to pursue normal or not let anything change our course, we don’t deliberately lean into and meditate on healing as much as we should. Nobody likes pain or problems, and we tend to fight and run from them with all of our being. But maybe leaning into them, meditating on them, and embracing them is the best prescription.

There really is a lot to be learned in the course of an illness and recovery. Maybe wrapping our arms wide around it and working to extract everything we can from the event is the best thing we can do to enhance healing.

To consider—

What are you going through right now that you’d be better off leaning into?

NEXT WEEK I’ll talk about several things I learned and took action to correct—to enhance my physical, emotional and spiritual health now, and in the future!

If you join me this Wednesday for Workout Wednesdays, I’ll give you a brief overview of what went right and what went wrong in the exercise department during my initial recovery.

Until then,

Don’t miss a single meditation opportunity in your life!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Pre-Surgery Preparation: Prayer and Meditation

I’m having surgery tomorrow morning. Early. Check in time is 6:45 AM, with surgery scheduled for 7:00. I’m not looking forward to it, but who ever really looks forward to having surgery. I’m worried. Okay, more than a little anxious about the pain, since the type of surgery I’m having is rumored to be excruciating.

In an effort to keep my teeth decay-free during this horrid two and a half years of wearing braces, I’ve overzealously brushed and flossed and managed to severely damage the gums around my bottom four front teeth. Because of the gum recession, the bone density of the roots on two of the teeth has already decreased to such a dangerously low point that I am at risk of losing the teeth. Ugh!

Surgery preparations—

Of course there is a mile-long list of things I must do and must not do prior to the procedure. Like: stop all anti-inflammatory meds (like Advil, ibuprofen, etc.) four days prior to surgery so my blood clotting capability isn’t affected; and no concentrated caffeine drinks, like Red Bull. (No problem there.) No strenuous exercise 24 hours before surgery (I should have asked him to define “strenuous.”) And stop food and water intake six hours before.

The process—

He’ll be carving out tissue from the roof of my mouth and making new gum out of it to cover up the exposed roots. To enhance healing, he’ll be drawing my blood and mixing the platelets and stem cells with tissue and applying that to the wound. I won’t be able to apply ice packs anywhere near the surgery site (ice is always my pain treatment go-to) because any pressure to the surgical site can undo the delicate tissue. So much for the hoped-for ice.

Recovery time is six weeks, with the first several days off-limits to chewing, sucking liquids through a straw, (the vacuum can undo the sutures and tissue), or tooth brushing in that area. (I don’t think I’m going to attempt to brush any tooth in my mouth those first several days!) Room temperature liquids and swishing with water will be the norm.

Along with a lot of pain.

And that’s what I’m preparing the most for.

Meditating for mental (and physical) success—

The last thing I want to do is go into the morning exhausted and mentally overwhelmed. So I needed to spend today (the day before surgery) in mental and spiritual preparation for this three-hour, anesthesia-blessed procedure. I’m laying low, resting, doing some last-minute tidying up around the house so I can recover in a clean, dust-free environment.

And I’m spending a lot of time praying.

I’m asking God to prepare my body and mind for this, and to respond well, and joyfully. After all, my concern led to questioning the condition of my teeth, and two dentists recommending the best oral surgeon in town, a guy who uses the latest and greatest procedures to maximize success. And I managed to get this done before being surprised—like when my two front teeth might have ended up in a crisp apple I had just ripped into.

I’m thanking God for going ahead of me to prepare the procedure room, every last bit of equipment and the doctor and his assistant for the surgery. I’m requesting that God guides the doctor’s hands, and the assistant’s. I’m praying the procedure will go better than expected, and faster, with accelerated healing.

I’m also doing a lot of deep breathing exercise because that has the potential to decrease my stress and agitation and improve my immune system. (It’s the breathing in yoga exercises that makes that activity so successful health-wise.) Adding some light stretching will help, since I’ll be stuck in that chair for so long.

And I’m playing some of my favorite praise and worship songs, both high energy and low, to remind myself of God’s presence and promises and to increase my sense of awareness and presence—the state of mind and body posture one assumes when facing intimidating or stressful circumstances.

Overall goal—

In a nutshell, I’m focusing. And I’ll be leaning into the recovery. Resting as much as I need, or my body dictates. Setting aside other distractions. Maintaining a sense of peace and quiet amidst lots (or as much as possible) of smiles and laughter, even if they have to be internal. Doing a lot of general reading, which is a favorite activity I never have enough time for. I’m really looking forward to that!

And I’ll be spending a lot of time with my dogs, gazing into their eyes. Studies have shown that people holding gazes with their dogs showed increases in different hormones, like oxytocin, which is a feel-good hormone. Letting them give you pooch smooches also helps, but I won’t be able to allow them to do that. Too much risk to the graft.

It’s not going to be easy, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe it as fun. But if everything goes according to plan, it won’t have to be as scary or painful or disrupting emotionally, physically or spiritually as it could be.

Reader request—

I would appreciate your prayers. At this point, I’m planning to be away from the blog for two weeks, so please check back around July 9 for the next Mediation Mondays installment.

Until then, thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers, and be thinking about how you can lighten your mental and physical load through planned and structured meditation!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo Copyright Desiring God

Worldview: Can You Put Your Faith Into a Logical Explanation?

Were you able to answer last week’s worldview questions—

What’s your worldview?
Why do you believe what you believe?
Who’s had the greatest influence in your life, and why?

Perhaps you were able to write down what you believe in several sentences, even though you might not have been able to put a title to the worldview philosophy it fell under.

But I’m going to guess that answering Why you believe what you do might be tougher to answer.

A story of worldview failure and the lifelong negative effects—

I once asked a friend why she’d become an atheist, and she revealed to me that one day in Sunday School class, when she was a little girl, she asked her Sunday school teacher: “Why do you believe that? How do you know that’s true?” The answer she received from her Sunday school teacher was less than affirming, or confirming, and it would have a lasting, dramatic affect on my friend’s life and faith.

What was the teacher’s answer?

“I just know it’s true.” That’s it. No defense, no apologetics, no explanation to satisfy the thoughtful curiosity of a very inquisitive child. (My friend would go on to become an investigative journalist). My friend claims she was so frustrated and disgusted that she lost all faith in God or Christianity, because, as far as she could see, even her teacher didn’t know why she believed what she professed to believe. Thirty years later, my friend still had a tone of disdain in her voice for that teacher, who definitely let this seeking little girl down. With a thud.

What’s the moral of that story?

The Apostle Peter provides it in his first personal letters to Christian believers. The Amplified Bible gives a great, thoughtful rendering—

“But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:25).

The CEV version gives it to us short and sweet:

“Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope.”

But many of us can’t put our faith into a logical explanation. Or we use a lot of Christian-speak that flies right over the head of unbelievers. They end up looking at us with glazed eyeballs, no closer to the truth than they were before asking us. Or, worse yet, they wind up moving farther away from a life-saving faith!

Because we’re not always ready to give an answer to someone when they ask us about our hope. We can’t give a logical defense for our beliefs. And you can imagine what that leaves them thinking about those beliefs and us.

Throughout history there have been a lot of thinkers and writers whose beliefs and teachings have had a profound impact on us. When they philosophized about life, their thoughts usually centered on God and His existence, or non-existence. Their beliefs have colored our world without us being aware of it.

When my friend didn’t get the answer she was seeking, she sought knowledge elsewhere. These thinkers colored her worldview and shaped her beliefs. They provided—what seemed to her—to be cogent answers to life’s big questions. And these thoughts have been guiding her life and decisions for decades.

Next week—

We’ll begin looking at 19 of the most well known thinkers and philosophers of all time and will specifically explore what these men thought about God in human history. Your knowledge of their thoughts, conclusions, and how they intersect, or diverge from, God’s word is important for living a true, well-balanced life.

But let me leave you with several questions to ponder before I sign off:

How would you have answered my friend? When she was little? Now—as an adult?
Have you taken Peter’s instructions to heart? Are you ready to give anyone who asks a logical explanation for your faith when they ask about it?

Thanks for joining me! I’d love it if you’d take a moment to make a comment! And please share this post with a friend you think might be interested in the topic. Maybe someone you’d love to enjoy a philosophical discussion with!

Until next week,

may you always be ready to logically explain your faith and hope—in much joy, gentleness and thanksgiving!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photos courtesy of Google Images

What Are the 3 Fundamental Questions of Life? (And How Would You Answer Them?)

Have you ever asked yourself the three key questions that confront the mystery of your existence? The major questions philosophy students usually dig into. Like:

Who am I?
Why am I here?
What’s the meaning of life

Worldview

How you answer those questions depends upon your worldview, the lens through which you look to answer life’s big questions, make life decisions, and respond to socio-political issues. Worldview is your particular philosophy of life.

Your worldview is the template upon which you live your life.

Why ask those questions?

Asking those questions and grinding out the answers to them helps you focus on how you view life and function in it. If you’re secure in your answers, you have a firm template upon which to live your life well, live it balanced, and live it intentionally.

Surprisingly, though, most people cannot tell you what they believe, and their beliefs may waffle every day. Because they’re not firm in their beliefs and understanding of them, they vacillate. As my husband, the engineer, likes to say (with flowing, side-to-side arm movements to punctuate his statement), they flow back and forth like sea kelp—whatever direction the water or tide happens to be going, they follow.

It’s not a particularly pleasant or effective way to live life, following the crowd or most popular view. Living life that way gets frustrating and exhausting.

The deadly question

But then we encounter a tougher question: Why do you believe what you believe?

Even fewer people can answer that question and stumble all over their answer. Their “why” may be that they read it in some new book, or they’ve acquired someone else’s opinion about life and claimed it as their own. Or they’ve assembled such a hodge podge of ideas they end up with something akin to a worldview smorgasbord.

Answering the big questions

Let’s take a brief look at how you might initially answer the philosophical questions.

Who am I?

This really goes beyond the idea of “finding yourself,” which often doesn’t give you a firm, useful answer you can do anything constructive with. People trying to “find themselves” are usually floating around, trying and tasting everything life has to offer. While they might enjoy something for a time, they usually get bored and move onto something else. They have life Attention Deficit Disorder.

Maybe you answer it by saying: I’m a daughter or son, a sister or brother, a wife or husband, a mother or father. Or you could qualify your training or profession and answer: I’m a teacher, doctor, or housekeeper. Or choose the physical aspects of your life by noting you’re an invalid or athlete. And you could claim several of those identities simultaneously. With each identity comes different expectations and responsibilities.

Why am I here?

Sadly, many people have difficulty answering the Why because they think they’ve been arbitrarily plunked down on earth at this time in history, rather than being fearfully, wonderfully, and deliberately made for this particular time. Knowing and believing there is a point to your life will be the foundation for life having the meaning you desire it to have.

What is the meaning of life?

Your answer might go all different directions. But let’s take the example of the writers of the Westminster Catechism, who wrestled with this way back in the year A.D. 1647. Because they had a distinctive Christian worldview, they reworded the question as “What is the chief end of man?” which sort of rolls all three questions into one. And the answer they arrived at?

“To know God and enjoy Him forever.”

A six-word sentence packed with meaning and purpose. If we unpack it, we get more questions.

But we’re not going to unpack it today. Before we unpack it, we need to become philosophy—and archeology—students. We need to get an overview of all of life’s major world views (philosophies) and see where we fit into them. Then we need to dig in further to establish our beliefs. To further build a strong, balanced life foundation.

For the week

I invite you to spend some time meditating on those questions this week. How would you answer them? And why would you answer them the way you do? And if you feel like sharing, I’d love to know what your answers are! Just head over to the “Blog” page and leave a comment.

Next week Monday we’ll embark on Worldview 101. I promise it won’t be dry and boring!

Thanks for joining me for this Meditation Monday. I hope to see you Wednesday for the health and fitness post!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Welcome to Free-for-All Fridays!

Becoming What You Read, Watch and Hear—It’s All About Worldview

What will you be reading, watching and listening to this weekend? What magazines do you subscribe to? What Book of the Month Club or Goodreads selections do you make? What television shows, or movies, are on your must-watch list?

Does it matter?

I proclaim a resounding “Yes!” It does matter. Very much.

What you read, watch and listen to are just as vital as the spiritual and physical components of a well-balanced life. Why? There are several reasons.

The brain functions like a big camera with permanent film and cataloging capacity. The images you show it are imprinted on the brain. And those images can produce chemicals that cause mood changes, stimulation, and brain chemical alterations. That’s one reason pornography is so insidious and addictive. The images get imprinted and can flashback at any time. And, if responded to, can cause the need for more and more stimulation. Like a drug.

Along the same lines, the brain also functions like a big memory bank for words and music. Music is a powerful one that can alter brain chemistry at the moment of listening. That memory is stored. When the music is heard again, sometime later, those chemicals are dumped into the system again, and the reaction is repeated. That’s one of the reasons music can trigger so many past memories and emotional reactions (like melancholy). Scientists know that repeated, methodical drumming and pounding can change the brain, for the worse. That kind of music really is brain-deadening.

Reading triggers complex thoughts and brain chemical reactions too. What woman hasn’t read a revealing romance novel without having some kind of physical and emotional response during the sex scenes? One thing leads to another, and soon she’s lamenting how her husband isn’t as manly or romantic as the character. Then resentment might creep in, resentment severe enough to affect how she treats her spouse.

In many ways, because women are so word and speech-oriented, I don’t think romance novels or graphic erotica novels are much different for women than pornography is for men, who are visually oriented. Women can replay that detailed, written sex scene in their minds and get the same chemical response as when they first read it.

Taking stock of spent time and how you’re feeding yourself—

Don’t think twice about spending $10 of your hard-earned money to watch an hour and a half of a lame movie, or one rife with sex scenes that would have garnered an X rating thirty years ago? If so, have you ever considered that you’re really just paying someone (the theater, and production company) to be a legal voyeur? A Peeping Tom? If you sneaked a look into someone’s bedroom while they were enjoying intimate relations, you’d be arrested. Why do we think it’s okay, and gratifying, to pay to do it? And sit there with a bunch of strangers watching at the same time?

How many hours do you waste reading magazines about famous people? What they’re doing, how they’re living and treating themselves and one another? Why do we care so much, anyway? Are we that bored with our own lives? Are we trying to live vicariously through them, keep up with them, be like them?

Really why it all matters—

The core reason all this matters is because everything you read, watch or listen to shapes your worldview. And your worldview specifically affects how you live your life—the decisions you make, the way you interpret life and world events. (If you’re unfamiliar with what worldview is, you’ll want to keep reading my blog because we’ll be getting into that specifically in a Meditation Mondays post this month.)

There’s a reason the Apostle Paul wrote:

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9, NKJV).

I LOVE how Eugene Peterson puts this in The Message.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work into his most excellent harmonies.”

Sadly, I think one of our greatest problems is that we’ve compromised so much with our lives, given others way too much of our precious, priceless time. We have become so willing to allow ourselves to be fed ugly, worst, un-praiseworthy things that we’ve become immune to the ugly and forgotten what the beautiful is.

Weekend Challenge

Make a deliberate, conscious decision to be really selective about what you read, watch and listen to this weekend. Try turning off the political radio talk shows and turn on some good music.
Better yet, shut off your phone, television and radio and go outside to listen to and watch nature. It’s amazingly entertaining and invigorating. Good for brain, emotional, physical and spiritual health.
Close the magazines and do the above. Don’t even ruffle through the ones at the store checkout lane.
Start counting the hours you read this kind of stuff, in print or on line. You may be surprised at how much of your precious time it steals.

A final word

Before I sign off, I’d like to leave you with a quote from the author Annie Dillard, found in her book The Writing Life.

“The writer…is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know” (page 68).

Isn’t that true for all of us, no matter what our profession or status. We will know what we have learned, and we will write what we’ve read about.

Choose the best, and watch your life change for the better!

Have a great, inspiring weekend!

Leave a comment on the blog page and let me know how you spent it.

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).