Hand Therapy......No pain No gain

Once again I am back in hand therapy for my contracted hands and am excited to report that I am showing "slight" improvement! Now by "slight" I just mean baby steps.....but I'll take it!!!



My therapy is being done at Mercy Rehab Services....next to Mercy Hospital and my primary therapist is Ilia.


The therapy itself involves pulling, stretching, pulling, pushing, more stretching.....and at times when certain nerves are involved it can REALLY hurt! But like my title of the blog says....."No pain...No gain". I am learning to endure it....keep my mind off from it when it's being done....and just stay focused on tolerating the manipulation so that I can improve!


It actually is quite alot like parenting:) When your kids are growing up there is alot of pulling, pushing, (shoving), stretching....and occasional manipulation....but always staying focused on God's direction for our lives and seeking to improve ourselves for His glory!


My scleroderma is stable and it does not appear to be worsening! I continue to do what my body tolerates....and get lots of rest. In February I will be featured on the cover of the "Scerloderma Voice" magazine. Woo Hoo.....I would have never believed I could be a "Cover Girl"!! LOL....not your typical one that's for sure! In addition there will be an article about my journey with scleroderma and my personal story on how I am managing this life change. I was very excited about this opportunity....and look forward to sharing the issue with you:)

A Wonderful Start to 2010

On New Year's Day we had the joy of getting together at our home with ALL of Ken's brothers and sisters. We see each other quite often during the course of the year.....but normally we are missing one or two.

Pat and Dave "Winter" in Florida...but we were so excited they could be here this new year! Tom and Deb live in Kalamazoo, Dick and Carol, Les and Jeanne are all close to Mesick...and you know where Ken and I live!!!.

Pictured to the left are all of us "Sister-in-laws".

We feel so blessed to not only be related....but to share a deep friendship...and the privilege of being "sister's in Christ". We all get along so well...and count it a joy to be able to call on each other with any prayer needs we may have.

This is the "whole" crew!!

The last time we were all together was for our niece Elizabeth's wedding in June 2009.

During our visit on January 1st, we watched some old movies of the family from the 1960's! It was fun reminiscing and especially seeing Keith and Wanda.

The "original" 25 cents.

Five Nichols.....get it???

We were joined during the day be Tom and Deb's daughter Emily and her two daughters, our son Joel, and our son Jason(Emily) and their four children.

As always, we had lots to eat, and treasured every moment we could spend together!

I praise God for the blessing of family!
I thank Him for the love and friendship our
extended family enjoys......and look forward to many more special times here on Earth.

Last time I counted, if we were ever all to be together with our kids and their families...there would be "54" of us!! But I am hopeful we can do that sometime in 2010!!

Last Saturday we had a fun time visiting with Ken's sister and brother-in-law (Jeanne and Les) and also his cousin Rebecca and Darryl. Rebecca is the daughter of Rufus Yount who is Wanda's brother,

I love this time of year because we have so many special moments with family! New Year's Day we will be getting together at our home with all of Ken's brothers and sisters and their spouses!!! It's been quite a while since we were ALL at the same place at the same time!!!

Mom is home now and slowly recuperating....Linda was there for a couple of days and I will be visiting Wednesday afternoon. We are very thankful for the care she is getting and the home health nurses that visit!

Update on Lois

Mom is home from the hospital. She had a procedure done on Sunday night to drain about 1 liter of fluid from her lung. She is pretty exhausted from the whole ordeal.
My sister Linda is there helping out....I am so thankful she could be there!!!!

Evidently when Mom had chemotherapy and radiation it caused scarring in the lungs.
This....and complications of congestive heart failure are linked to the lungs being compromised.

Currently she is on oxygen to help her breathe...and she has visiting nurses and physical therapists who come to their house. Dad does as much as he can to help, and they have
many friends who stop over with meals.

A card or short phone call is always appreciated!

Onekama on Christmas Day

Christmas Day we went to Onekama to spend time with my folks and my sister Linda and her family. It was a precious visit....kind of quiet...and very enjoyable.

We had a great dinner that was prepared Dad and Mom's very good friend Donna (Erickson) Schimke. As always...we had plenty to eat....and had lots of yummy desserts. We had fun watching Dad open their new coffee maker! Their old coffee maker used to take over an hour!!!!!LOL....so they really appreciated the new one!!! Fast coffee!!! Woo Hoo~!

Sunday was not so good of a day.....Mom ended up having to go to the hospital because of difficulty breathing. Once again she is having problems with fluid in her lungs. This is associated with congestive heart failure.....and hopefully her doctor will be able to resolve the issue. Tonight (Sunday) she had a procedure done to drain the fluid...around 1 liter...from her lung. She is resting comfortably now but they did leave a drain in this time to "just make sure".

Mom is using oxygen at the present time to assist her breathing....it has proven to be helpful.

My sister Linda was able to be with our parents today and was at the hospital in time to be there for Mom's procedure. I am so grateful for that! We will go up Monday if needed....

Linda will call with an update in the morning....so I'll post more later.

Tonight I wrestle with changes in life......the frailty of life......getting older....declining health...

I have a hard time watching a strong woman like our Mom struggle with these turn of events....the compression fractures....her breathing....the fluid build up...

Our Dad is completely by her side through it all!!! They are inseparable.....He even insisted on taking her to the hospital this morning to make sure she got there okay!! Now we weren't so sure if that was such a good idea or not.....but today the roads were fine. I suppose it's hard to tell an 86 year old man when to and when not to drive!!!

Thank you once again for your love and prayers on behalf of our family.....

Love to you all....