Hard memories and moving ahead
I talked to Amy Mitchell today. Her 3-year-old son, Paxten, died of leukemia five days after Mike died. We talked about the flashbacks and the short-term memory loss.
“How are you dealing with that?”
“Dealing with what?”
We’re moving through parallel grief. Good days and bad, anger and acceptance, laughter and tears.
Paxten is riding a purple dragon and Mike is hanging out with his aunt and grandfather, maybe playing guitar alongside Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Amy has a terrible fear of losing her 9-month-old daughter and I understand it completely. I worry about Danny a lot more than I used to.
It was good to talk to Amy to compare notes and share our grief. Paxten was a beautiful boy.
I did get some good news today: one of the TV stations in Savannah wants to do a story in advance of the rally next month. I can tell Mike’s story and maybe get more people out to tell their stories. The more faces we put on this issue, the better. One face after another after another after another … people who were loved and who died before they should have because of a broken health care system. One tragic story after another, one grieving family after another. There are 200,000 out there in the last eight years alone.
We can change things, one story at a time.
Tags: Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
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