Fr. Steve’s recovery continues slowly but surely; right now, the need for sleep and rest is great.
Monday, June 14, 2010
No news is good news!
Fr. Steve’s recovery continues slowly but surely; right now, the need for sleep and rest is great. All the prayers and concern friends continue to shower upon Fr. Steve are deeply appreciated; we all look forward to his full recovery!
After a doctor visit this morning, blood tests show Fr. Steve is stabilizing. Of course, this is wonderful news.
While Fr. Steve heals and looks forward to a busy fall, St. Joseph’s campus is bustling with lots of fun summer activities. From our day camp projects to our student work opportunities, there’s rarely a dull moment …
Of course, lately, our weather has also ensured there’s rarely a dry moment!
Here’s to a wonderful week and continued progress on many levels.
Author: St. Joseph's Indian School
At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future.
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So glad to get the news..and know that progress is being made..!
A little R&R is not such a bad thing…and you gotta get ready for that Pow Wow…!
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were you, Father Steve…!
Our prayers surround you…every day…
Just sit still and let God do His work…!
What a Special Guy you are..!
Love and Hugs.
Mia and Bob
FR.Steve,
Our prayers are continuing for a complete recovery.Hang in there-we’re not as young as we used to be! Consider this your purgatory.God bless you abundantly!
The Brennan’s
I really like to read everyone’s replies to Fr. Steve. I put on a big pot of black coffee and go travelin’ on this website. I love the pictures, and I share the site with other people in Seattle.
I have been dealing with my own pain issues again. Not too bad, but persistent. There have been times when I have hurt, woken up, and laid there thinking,”I know this is really going to hurt when I put my feet on the floor.” Sir, you be braver than me. Put your feet on the floor a whole lot easier than me. And I get up and smile(sort of)and I tell myself that’s it’s not so bad and pour myself a cup of coffee. If it hurts for several days, I have to tell the Docs, but if it’s not persistent, I keep it to myself. I probably did something to myself while working. The body has to strengthen.
I was taught a mind-trick about pain–about not dwelling on the issues. Here goes:
Imagine a pain rating scale from 0-10. 0– doesn’t hurt at all. 10–you are confined to bed.8—hurts quite a bit and you must be medication conscious and do what the docs prescribed.5 and 6– the pain is persistent,and you ask yourself what you are going to do that cuts yourself some slack. You rearrange your schedule, do two important things instead of five,and go to bed early. The point is to assign yourself a number that has meaning to you and what you are going to do about it. Instead of dwelling on pain symptoms in the mind, constantly running down a mental list of what’s wrong, you free up the mind to heal instead. You assign the problem a number, you acknowledge it, and you move on to what you are going to do about it. I was taught the mind and body hear all the negative things we think and all our comments and internal noise about it, and that makes them slower to do something positive like heal.Negativity diverts your energies from the important positive things. We called this trick,”surfing the pain”. In treatment, we called ourselves surfers, we called our bodies surfboards, and our pain was the wave we rode on. We love the ocean out here. It was impossible to get mad at this analogy. We stayed with the board/body
despite how we felt, and eventually all of us got back into the mainstream again, back into our lives. Anyone, can “surf”. Doesn’t matter who you are or your background.
Find ways to acknowledge the pain, but don’t dwell on it or what is wrong all the time. Eat two desserts.Sit outside. Listen to music. Let a child read to you. I know this is a part of life that you are really good at. Leave it with God. Sing rather than be afraid. Pray rather than be angry.
Hold as many positive things close to your heart as you can. You already do this well.
Long letter… I have been a 4-5 lately. I didn’t want to write and be hypocritical or write about something that I don’t practice. I floated lately. I job hunted and made dinner and read library books about South Dakota. Went to bed early. I gardened. I tried to make my family happy with little things, and I walked around outside when I needed to be by myself and hide some feelings from other people. I turned the computer off and put the cell phone on silent. That’s surfing… You surf,too. I know you do.
Next month is Pow-Wow,right near my house.
I think it will be a good one. Aren’t they all? I only see some people once a year, and this year, I know more people.
I’m a 3 today. I caught a child’s cold.
I will be asleep by 8:30.
Take care. Your blog inspires me to keep trying.
Arian
I recieved the news of your condition when I was scared and depressed the night before my breast cancer surgery. This was the last thing we needed as my husband in the construction business, had been out of work for over ayear due to the recession. We are now both back to work swamped with late bills due to medical bills and lack of income but there are so many people worse off than we are. We had to let our car go back because we could not afford the payments but we still have our home. The radiation gave me thyroid disease so I am now dealing with that, atrial fibrilation and breast cancer, supposedly in remission and the miracle is I FEEL GREAT!! I am praying for the same for you Father Steve. You have been a great insperation to me. When we get back on out feet financially I will be sending a donation to the school because we LOVE you and what you all have done for those beautiful children. I pray everyday for that reservation and all of the beautiful souls that I hope to meet someday either here on earth or in heaven. Sincerely, Lyn Collina
Dear Friend of Father Steve:
You can place your home payments credit cards and other bills in something called hardship. Call each company and ask them for the information and the hardship department to help you. It does not hurt your credit but helps you. Teri
Dear Father Steve,
My prayers are with you. Still working on getting a company to back me on my CD.
I still have intentions on helping the school if it all comes together.
I hope you have safe travel and grow very strong very fast, Teri