Womens World
Trees, Home & Memories
By Jean Borgia
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I was raised in the country in upstate New York. We had a big tree that turned vibrant colors, orange, red, and yellow. Each year the colors would be different. It lit up our entire front yard, we called it the great pumpkin.
There was a special Crispness in the air, an earthy smell, the smell of autumn, of dry grass and leaves. I remember the country fairs everyone would show off there best produce from their summer gardens.
There is such a simple joy and nostalgia that comes over me when Ithink of it. All the years, the battles, the victories all melt away into a time when I was a young girl. That old tree, still standing, reminds me of all the dreams I had. Those dreams never leave us. They nourish us, if we let them.
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GETTING AHEAD
By Jean M. Borgia
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Once in a while, during a drive around town, have you ever noticed how angry and in a hurry some people are? I have, tooting their horns because you didn't go fast enough.
All to get ahead, only to end up at the next red light with you again. Now how far did they really get?
They run red lights, roll through stop signs, while glaring at you, as if you did something wrong. How happy are these people? Do you think they like their lives or themselves?
There is an old chinese saying, “people wear masks to try and hide their true identity and by doing so actually reveal it”. So while they cut you off, honking, glaring and gesticulating, understand they are really telling you volumes about how unhappy they really are.
When driving I've noticed many things, After a rain, often the clouds break, a ray of sunlight comes through and in the distance a beautiful rainbow is formed, sometimes even a double rainbow. Do you think the angry driver saw it? Probably not.
We should take more time to notice the rainbows. Life is as beautiful as you feel inside.
Ninety percent of people are very unhappy with their jobs. They feel that they must stay with it because .... It’s a job. Always afraid to open a new door. When you awaken are happy to go to work? Do you look forward to it....Not just a paycheck? I have chosen Nursing as my profession, specializing in obstetrics.
Taking care of other people, to help them feel better even if it’s just a gentle touch. To help them recover from surgery, all of this is very rewarding in itself. To help a new life come into the world and to be part of the whole labor process is unbelievably rewarding. To see the faces of new parents as that little one takes its first breath. Regardless of whether it is their first or their sixth. The look is always the same look of love, happiness and concern that everything is alright as they count fingers and toes.
Often tears of happiness and fast phone calls to relatives who are pacing somewhere by a phone to hear the great news.
In my career, I had an opportunity to work with an infertility doctor in his his office. I saw many couples who were so anxious to hear that joyous cry themselves.
I believe it gives you a whole different outlook. My most rewarding experience was when one couple I worked with in the office came in to deliver their baby. I had remembered them from my short time helping in the office. I had the opportunity to be their labor nurse and see their child delivered. What a great feeling, I will never forget that experience. The smiles and the tears on their faces. The cry of a new baby and the expression of love on the parents faces. That is what my job is all about .
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I Can't Believe You Made It !If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's,60's or 70's.
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Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
(Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. Our parents knew that all the neighbors would watch out for all the kids.
No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight... we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 500 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... The teams actually kept score and the winning team was allowed to be excited and the losing team learned to be good sports about it and learned that, in life - sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade..... Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
Almost no one went to "pre-school" and when we graduated high school we all knew how to read, use proper grammar and do basic math. We all learned how to count out change without a calculator to tell us the amount. The worst problems in school were tardiness and chewing gum in class.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that!
If you misbehaved - your parents spanked you and no one arrested them for doing that! We also learned that when a parent said "No" - they actually meant that and our lives would not be ruined forever by being denied every little thing we wanted at any given moment. New toys were received on birthdays and holidays..... not on every trip to the store. Parents gave us gifts out of love....not out of guilt.
This generation has produced some of the best risk takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
And you're one of them. Congratulations!
Source: anonymous
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A NURSING CAREER
By Jean Borgia
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| There's a Nursing shortage in this country.
Taking care of other people, helping them feel better even if it’s just a gentle touch. To help them recover from surgery, all of this is very rewarding in itself. To help a new life come into the world and to be part of the whole labor process is unbelievably rewarding. To see the faces of new parents as that little one takes its first breath. Regardless of whether it is their first or their sixth. The look is always the same look of love, happiness and concern that everything is alright as they count fingers and toes.
Often tears of happiness and fast phone calls to relatives who are pacing somewhere by a phone to hear the great news.
In my career, I had an opportunity to work with an infertility doctor in his his office. I saw many couples who were so anxious to hear that joyous cry themselves.
I believe it gives you a whole different outlook. One couple I worked with in the office came in to deliver their baby. I had remembered them from my short time helping in the office. I had the opportunity to be their labor nurse and see their child delivered. What a great feeling, I will never forget that experience. The smiles and the
tears on their faces. The cry of a new baby and the expression of love on the parents faces.
There's a Nursing shortage that is becoming critical but there is never a shortage of rewards one enjoys as a Nurse.
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Hormone Replacement Therapy: Know The Facts
By David I. Lubetkin, MD, FACOG, For the Palm Beach Times
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Hormone (Estrogen) Replacement Therapy offers a post menopausal woman protection against osteoporosis and heart disease, while at the same time providing relief of the hot flashes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, insomnia and depression that often accompany this "change of life". When I bring up the subject of hormone replacement therapy with my post-menopausal patients, many embrace the subject, while others look at me as if I've just offered them poison. Much of the skepticism about estrogen therapy is based on false information. I hope to dispel some of these myths in this column.
The most common concern expressed about estrogen replacement therapy is a fear of breast cancer. Most current scientific literature indicates that estrogen therapy does not cause breast cancer. However, if a woman had a small, undetected breast cancer and used estrogen, the therapy could accelerate its growth. Therefore, it is imperative that a woman has a screening mammogram before starting the treatment, and yearly mammograms during the therapy. The importance of self breast examination cannot be over emphasized.
Many of my patients are also concerned about getting a menstrual cycle while on hormone replacement therapy. There are two ways to give hormone replacement therapy, cyclic and continuous. Cyclic therapy mimics a woman's menstrual cycle, and a woman might get a menstrual period using this method. Continuous therapy consists of taking equal dosages of estrogen and progesterone every day of the month. The theoretical benefit to this method is that it should prevent a woman from getting a period. However, during the first year of using this method up to 60% of women will bleed. 80% of these patients will never bleed again, if they continue the therapy past one year.
Another common question deals with the length of therapy. Studies have shown that the preservation of bone density caused by estrogen rapidly deteriorates after a woman stops using hormone replacement therapy. Therefore, I recommend estrogen as a lifelong treatment for my patients.
There are many questions that remain to be answered about hormone replacement therapy. As research continues into this new millennium and newer estrogen’s are discovered and studied, I hope that many of the fears that surround estrogen are replaced with knowledge and understanding of how to keep post menopausal women active and healthy. I encourage you to ask your doctor if estrogen might be appropriate for you. Get the facts and make an educated decision about your future.
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