Tune-In Tuesday: June 13

Perspective is everything. That's what I've been mulling over this past week. Perspective. This time last year, I was still wearing a wig and walking with a walker. This year, I've got my own hair and no matter how hard it may seem at times, I'm walking on my own two feet.

However, I haven't been walking the best this past week. I broke my "no falls" streak on Saturday. I didn't injure myself except a little scrape, but it's so frustrating. My dad says that, at times, I drive too fast. I was thinking about that today and if I do drive fast, I think it may all circle back to the fact that I can't walk fast so I have to make up for it somewhere. But truly, in all honesty, I do drive safely and the speed limit.

Today, I literally left work for an appointment, 5 minutes earlier than I had normally planned to, just so that I could build in walking time to my car. And you know what? I needed that time!! It took me 6 minutes to get there. This may not seem like a lot of time to some, but if you knew where I parked in relationship to my desk, you'd think it was! I just want to go fast!!! I want to walk fast, run fast...all of it. :)

I did turn the electricity in my device down after my fall. It was set at 4 and now it's at 3.70. It's better, but I'm still not quite "there" just yet.

I take medication (along with the deep brain stimulation) to control my movements. It's actually a Parkinson's drug. I'm always super diligent about making sure I never run out of medication or get myself in a bind, that is - until this week. I picked up all of my prescriptions on June 9 - except for this one Parkinson's drug. It was delayed because I had run out of refills and the pharmacy had called my doctor and was awaiting a return call to say they could fill it. The pharmacy tech asked if I had enough of the medication to last me until they heard back from the doctor. I said yes. It turns out I did have enough until last night. Last night I started to panic. I realized that I never heard back from the pharmacy and I had one dose for the night, but only half a dose for today. So this morning, I frantically called the pharmacy. They said that they had not heard back from the doctor and said I could try giving him a call. So I did, and to make a long story short (after leaving them a message and slightly panicking), the doctor called in a new prescription and I now have the drug. Talk about stressful. I'm going to try to never run out of medicine again. The pharmacy was going to give me a three day supply, but I panicked wondering if the doctor was out on vacation and I wouldn't be able to get more than three days. But in the end, God worked it all out!

This past week, I celebrated a birthday. Actually, my birthday was just yesterday, June 12. My younger brother, Stanton and I share a birthday. I'm the type of person who LOVES celebrating birthdays. I know some people don't like celebrating them and for the life of me, I don't know why. I mean yes, we get older, but isn't that the point?! I mean, yes, getting older is messy. We have problems we never had when we were younger. Our bodies deteriorate more. BUT, again, it's all about perspective!! Birthdays should be a time to celebrate every scar - for every scar tells a story. We should celebrate that God gave us another day to wake up and be alive. We should celebrate our wrinkles and age spots and gray hair, because we've lived and continue to live. Perspective changes everything!! Plus, I love, love, love gifts. I'm just being real. The more presents the better - ha! :)

One birthday surprise was that my youngest brother, Steven came into town. He lives and works in Alabama now, but he came to celebrate with me! As he announced to our other brothers, "25% of the Elseroad siblings think I'm the best brother." Haha. He does know how to make my day!!

I have to give a shout-out to my sister-in-law, Aubrey and my other brothers, because they celebrated me well. I got spoiled with Chinese food and my favorite birthday cake (yellow cake with chocolate frosting) and presents. I'm one blessed girl!!

At work, my friend and co-worker, Debbie made me cupcakes (again, yellow cake with chocolate frosting!) and all my co-workers showered me with love. Again, I'm blessed!

So this past week had its ups and downs, but that's just life. We have to take the bad with the good. But even when bad comes, it's all about perspective. Sometimes bad isn't really bad after all, it's just another life lesson to learn. I've always known and continue to proclaim, God's Got This!!