Running out of sick days ??

"You're going to run out of sick days ,..lol" my sister wrote on MSN. Well, no, not really. Because here I am again. It's a Tuesday (my Monday) and this is the first day I had have to call in sick for the week. My husband and I both felt sick on Thursday near choir time, only I showed symptoms first. Sore throat and then sinuses clogged and you know the rest... I went to work on Saturday and spent the next 2 days in bed, my "weekend". And I convince "husband" to stay home. Not because I'm selfish or lonely, but he started to loose his voice as a result of his sore throat.

On Saturday, I came home wiped. I wasn't feeling so great, and I'm covering the whole building. The last thing I did before I left was counsel a family about the death of a 30 something year old male. His wife was just lost. Their whole families were showing up and she was just beside herself. I felt so bad for all of them, the mother, his wife... and the fact that I wasn't in Winnipeg for a family funeral didn't help either. They wanted to know what was next. So I had to tell them about funeral process and hospital policy,etc. Then I went home and hugged my husband (after scolding him for doing nothing all day because he too was sick, but I went to work, and he didn't even make supper ...) and told him I have no idea what life would be like without him. To lose someone when they are young... But to loose someone too soon. I don't know what is worse. So running out of sick days... no. Even if I did, I'd rather take care of myself so that I can take care of my husband as well as look after my patients and those I met in the course of my day.

Pictures from Niagara Falls

Poems from conference/workshops

When Someone Deeply Listens to You

When someone deeply listens to you

it is like holding out a dented can you have had since childhood

and watching it fill up with cold fresh water.

When it balances on the top of the rim

you’re understood.

When it overflows and touches your skin

you are loved.

When someone deeply listens to you

the room where you stay starts a new life

and the place where you wrote your first poem

begins to blows in your mind’s eye.

It’s as if gold has been discovered.

When someone deeply listens to you

your bare feet are on the earth

and the beloved land that seemed distant

is now at home within you.

-- John Fox

Essentially asks and answers the question, “what do we need from each other?” -- To be heard.

Love After Love

The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at our own door, in your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again

the stranger who was yourself.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

-- Derek Walcott

CAPPE Conference

February 8, 2007.

Wednesday

I have been in Niagara Falls for the past few days. I am attending the annual national conference for CAPPE. It has been very cold since we got here. Luckily we have a rental car for the week and a beautiful view of the Falls from our window. (Pictures to follow later) People tease us that since we are newly weds, we likely don’t care what view we have. This morning, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and left my husband in bed while I went off to the beginning of my day, starting with breakfast meetings. Oh joy oh bliss. Sure it was all you can eat, but come on!! 7 am... Are you nuts? By the end of the day we are tired and some are tired when they get up and can’t wait for the coffee to begin.

I have been a member of CAPPE for 10 years and have not been a single conference until this year. I figured I should since I am now the co-chair for the planning committee for the 2008 conference to be held in Victoria, BC in April. For some reason, CAPPE has had their conferences in February. But really who wants to fly in February? The blizzards, the air fare sucks, the traffic/delays. So we have proposed a theme centered on gardens as it will be Spring. I have met my last supervisor, the first mentor in chaplaincy, a college classmate from my second year of Bible College, another from my masters’ years, and a former co-worker since being here. It is so cool!! Talk about networking!!

This morning we heard a plenary speaker talk about “circles of trust” where one is asked open questions about a situation you describe. You are free to answer or remain silent. This was described further in the first workshop I had. Then in the afternoon, the workshop was about interfaith communications in pastoral care. I had thought it would be a bit more informative versus reflective. Tomorrow the plenary speaker and my first workshop of the day are BOTH in French, with translations available. As I have a tendency to read lips, I may not get much out of this one. Who knows?

But for now, I am tired and will watch TV with the hubby and try not to fall asleep during the shows.

February 11, 2007

Yesterday was a LOONNG day. I got up at 6 a.m. for a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting with the “steering committee” of this conference to assist us in our planning for next year’s conference. It was very helpful and informative. Some of their pitfalls won’t apply to our conference because we have hired a conference planning company called VenueWest who will take care of details like budget, registration, computers, etc. After this meeting, our day had a workshop and then the final keynote/plenary speaker who spoke about the importance of theological reflection for the focusing of our work. To assist with the “why” of our work. Do we love our job? Why do we do what we do? What is going on with specific case scenario?

After lunch, the conference had a worship session, final AGM and then ended with a banquet where we award certificates, etc. I skipped out during lunch for Sweetie and I to drive 2 hours to a town out side of Kitchener (which I pronounce “kitch’ner, for some reason… must be the Maritimer in me) where I met his mother’s sister and family. 6 kids!! I haven’t seen 6 kids in a family in a while. It was a good visit. I was tired though as the day had started early and I hadn’t taken my contact lenses out. We got back to the hotel at midnite and couldn’t find parking in the lot, so Sweetie parked on the side… in unofficial spot, and we went to bed.

Now after breakfast, we will drive 3 hours the other direction towards Belleville, where we will meet up with 2 of my college friends and hubby, who are from Ottawa. We figured Belleville is midway for both groups.

We’ll see how it goes.

Of course, there will be pictures for this.

Church vs State ??

Church vs. State? This was the article in the paper the other day about the "battle over the 4 remaing sextuptets". The parents are Jehovah's Witness who are refusing blood products for their children as per their religious belief. I don't think this is an article about Church and State, but rather it is an ethical question. We believe the right of people to choose, we believe in the right of people to believe something. But the problem comes when our belief or understanding is in conflict with what we understand as being right and wrong. Ethics is essentially about morals, and conduct -- doing what is right. There are so many factors though that get in the way of what is right or wrong. The question is.. are we doing harm to a person by doing a treatment or withholding?

Various people have opinions on the issue. The BC government has even stepped in to provide the refused medical treatment and the latest article in the paper says that the parents need to prove that the medical treatment/blood is not warranted for the survival of the children. Not sure what to think sometimes..

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/070118birth

Church vs State: Battle over surviving sextuplets (Vancouver Sun)

The province has forced at least two of the Lower Mainland's four surviving sextuplets to have blood transfusions as a life-saving measure, over the objections of their Jehovah's Witnesses parents.

"[B]ecause we choose alternative medical treatments to blood transfusions, we have been stripped of our parental rights and have been labelled unfit," he said.

However, at least two of three children taken into the province's custody on the weekend have received blood transfusions, a medical procedure opposed by Jehovah's Witnesses as it offends their religious beliefs.

At a hastily called press conference Wednesday, Children and Family Development Minister Tom Christensen would not comment specifically about the case, but said the ministry is obliged to ensure children receive appropriate medical care.
"Any time that we find that there's a child in need of protection for any reason, including the need for medical treatment, the ministry will look at the situation and determine whether there's action we need to take to ensure that the child is protected," he told reporters at the B.C. legislature.
Christensen said the ministry listens closely to advice from physicians and seizes children only as a last resort.

Excerpt from transcript.. words of parents:

We absolutely refused each and every time abortion was offered as an option. Life is precious and a gift from the Creator, Jehovah God. As Jehovah's Witnesses we believe that to have aborted any of our sextuplets would be a profound disregard for life and violation of God's law recorded in Biblical passages such as Exodus 21:22-23 and Psalms 127:3.
In the last two weeks of [my wife's] pregnancy, she was hospitalized at B.C.'s Women's and Children's Hospital.
The neonatologists, Dr. Albersheim and Dr. Lupton, asked us to decide whether we wanted our sextuplets resuscitated on birth. Without resuscitation the babies would die. They explained that one-half of babies born at 24 or 25 weeks gestation die before being discharged from the hospital. They also told us that of the babies that do survive, many will have severe life-long handicap.
The doctors told us they support parents' decisions not to resuscitate children born so premature. We told the doctors we wanted our sextuplets to be resuscitated.
Now, just three weeks later, because we choose alternative medical treatments to blood transfusions, we have been stripped of our parental rights and have been labelled unfit. Without any hearing, the Ministry of Child and Family Development acquired a treatment order over [baby 3] on Friday afternoon, January 26, 2007. The judge refused to give us any opportunity to testify, present expert evidence, or cross-examine the doctors. The judge did not even hear from the doctors or the social worker.
What makes this even more unfair is that our lawyer had written the Ministry the day before stating that if the Director intended to take any action concerning our children then we insisted on a fair hearing. ...
We want the best medical care for our children and want them to live.
We have consented to all required treatment and have asked the doctors to more actively employ available alternatives to blood transfusions. We will not, however, consent to blood transfusions.

BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS
Why some people refuse to have them:
- Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons. According to the website www.watchtower.com, Jehovah's Witnesses view life as God's gift represented by blood. They believe the Bible's command that Christians must "abstain from blood." (Acts 15:28, 29).
- In 2001, 16-year-old Bethany Hughes of Calgary made headlines nationwide after refusing to undergo blood transfusions because of her strong Jehovah's Witnesses faith. Hughes died in September 2002, of leukemia after an unsuccessful court battle to refuse 38 transfusions.
- In 2003, 20-year-old Candice Unland of Morinville, Alta. tried unsuccessfully to challenge legislation that says a patient 18 years or older has the right to refuse a transfusion. Unland argued that a mature 16-year-old, such as Hughes, should also have the same right. The case was rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada.
- In 2005, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled against the right of a 14-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Vernon to refuse life-saving blood transfusions. The girl was suffering from a potentially fatal form of bone cancer. In her ruling, Justice Mary Boyd said the rights of a "mature minor" to make her own medical choices do not supercede the authority of the courts in British Columbia to protect her life and safety.