Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2018-52

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IN THIS ISSUE

• In this Heroic Story, Irene Harvalias tells of an acquaintance´s kindness
• Kate Brookfield sends a comprehensive New Year´s wish
• Caregivers who look after ailing family members need help
• Barbara Wear forwards a story of a skiing accident
• Sites are suggested by Carol Hansen, Catherine Nesbitt, and Judith English

Irene Harvalias of New Westminster, BC, tells this story:

UNDER HIS WING

In the early 1980´s, my mother was diagnosed with Parkinson´s disease. A few months later my stepfather passed away. Ma´s condition was already becoming debilitating, and now she was heartbroken by the loss of her beloved husband.

My husband and I lived in British Columbia, Canada, and Ma lived thousands of miles away in her native Greece. We begged her to come visit us for Christmas, so she could be with her three grandchildren who adored her, and meet our friends. She agreed to make her first trip to Canada, and we were overjoyed.

My husband worked for Canadian Pacific Airlines at the time. He was in Greece on business, so he was able to pick her up and accompany her on her flights to British Columbia. We had a wonderful Christmas, and even took her to a neurologist here who changed her medication. We were delighted to see her condition improve right away.

Many of our friends met Ma and loved her instantly, including Max, a casual acquaintance who worked with my husband at CP Air.

When the time came for Ma to go back home to Greece, she would have to travel on her own. She had to fly to Amsterdam and change planes for Athens. We were concerned for her, but there seemed to be no other choice.

Then Max told us HE was going to Amsterdam the very same day. He promised to take her under his wing for the plane change and anything else she might need. Our relief was immense. We hugged and kissed tearfully and handed her over to Max. After Ma got home, we talked on the phone and heard the story of her journey.

When her flight landed in Amsterdam, the plane from Athens hadn´t arrived yet, because there was a big storm in Athens. Ma would have to wait until her plane arrived and hope that her flight to Athens would not be canceled. This is where Max took over.

He sat her down and went around the airport making inquiries about the flight´s arrival and departure times. He stayed with Ma, missing his own flight out of Amsterdam, until her plane arrived many hours later. He stayed by her side until he had her safely on board. Hers was the last plane to land in Athens that day because of the storm. Max had to spend the night in Amsterdam.

Although my darling Ma has been gone for many years now, I´m still amazed at the goodness of this man. Max did so much for my mother and for us, even though he was only our acquaintance. I don´t know how many people would have done what Max did; I´ll never forget his kindness.

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Kate Brookfield sends these

NEW YEAR´S WISHES

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-enterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber, and the tax people at Revenue Canada.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count, and your mortgage interest not rise.

May New Year´s Eve find you seated around the table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner; may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching; and may your cheque book and your budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.

And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God´s love in every sunset, every flower´s unfolding petals, every baby´s smile, every lover´s kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.

WHO CARES FOR THE CAREGIVER?

Taking care of a close family member with a chronic illness is deeply stressful, not least on an emotional level. That should go without saying. Yet, too often, the everyday physical and practical demands of caregiving can push that psychological distress aside. It is all too easily overlooked, neglected not only by the caregivers themselves, but also by society at large.

However, new evidence from recent studies is drawing well-deserved attention to the emotional needs of caregivers, by documenting the prevalence of their distress. For instance, researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have found that nearly one third of caregivers who are nursing terminally ill loved ones at home suffer from depression.

Other research conducted in Great Britain found that about one in four family caregivers meets the clinical criteria for anxiety. Still another study, conducted at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, showed that people caring for family members with dementia experience a prolonged period of stress and depression. After the death of their loved one, rates of depression among caregivers decline within three months, significantly so within a year. Many caregivers report that the death was a relief to them and, they believed, to the patient.

It is natural to be depressed or anxious when you´re placed in a role that requires a tremendous amount of attention and effort, seven days a week. The work can be rewarding, but it´s also physically and emotionally gruelling. A patient´s behaviour (aggression, delirium, or dementia) and symptoms (for example, vomiting or choking) can be frightening and can easily make a caregiver feel helpless. Many caregivers feel added stress because the demands of caregiving have forced them to stop working or shorten their hours. This can create a financial burden and can be isolating.

Other factors found to increase distress as a caregiver should come as no surprise: living with the person for whom you are providing care, having a poor relationship with that person, and being in poor physical health yourself.

Depression and anxiety can also affect your ability to provide good care. You may forget to administer medications on time or find it difficult to perform necessary tasks. Research suggests that depressed caregivers are more likely to place loved ones in a nursing home than caregivers who are not depressed.

Minimizing stress

Depression and anxiety are not inevitable accompaniments to caregiving. There are ways to combat them and to ensure that the person you love receives the care he or she needs, while you also have time to nurture yourself.

One step that has helped many caregivers is to join a support group. Ask for referrals to support groups for caregivers at your doctor´s office or hospital, or search the net for organizations in your area.

Barbara Wear forwarded this story from a New Orleans´ paper by Gloria Abrahamson Mohall Farmer:

SO HOW´D YOU BREAK YOUR ARM?

A friend just got back from a holiday ski trip to Utah with the kind of story that warms the cockles of anybody´s heart.

Conditions were perfect. Twelve below, no feeling in the toes, basic numbness all over, "tell me when we´re having fun" kind of day.

One of the women in the group complained to her husband that she was in dire need of a restroom. He told her not to worry, that he was sure there was relief waiting at the top of the lift in the form of a powder room for female skiers in distress. He was wrong, of course, and the pain did not go away.

If you´ve ever had nature hit its panic button in you, then you know that a temperature of 12 below zero doesn´t help matters. So, with time running out, the woman weighed her options.

Her husband, picking up on the intensity of the pain, suggested that since she was wearing an all-white ski outfit, she should go off into the woods. No-one would even notice, he assured her. The white will provide more than adequate camouflage. So she headed for the tree line, began disrobing, and proceeded to do her thing. If you´ve ever parked on the side of a slope, then you know there is a right way and wrong way to set up your skis so you don´t move. Yup, you got it. She had them positioned the wrong way.

Steep slopes are not forgiving, even during embarrassing moments. Without warning, the woman found herself skiing backward, out of control, racing through the trees, somehow missing all of them, and into another slope. Her derriere and the reverse side were still bare, her pants down around her knees, and she was picking up speed all the while.

She continued on backwards, totally out of control, creating an unusual vista for the other skiers.

The woman skied, if you define that verb loosely, back under the lift and finally collided violently with a pylon. The bad news was that she broke her arm and was unable to pull up her ski pants. At long last her husband arrived, put an end to her nudie show, then went to the base of the mountain and summoned the ski patrol, who transported her to a hospital.

In the emergency room she was regrouping when a man with an obviously broken leg was put in the bed next to hers. "So, how´d you break your leg?" she asked, making small talk.

"It was the darndest thing you ever saw," he said. "I was riding up this ski lift, and suddenly I couldn´t believe my eyes. There was this crazy woman skiing backward out-of-control down the mountain with her bare bottom hanging out of her clothes and pants down around her knees.

"I leaned over to get a better look and I guess I didn´t realize how far I´d moved. I fell out of the lift.

"So, how´d you break your arm?"

SUGGESTED SITES

Carol Hansen forwards this link to a video of a 240-year-old doll that can write and fill a pen with ink. It is a forerunner of today´s automated projects:

Catherine Nesbitt sends the URL for David Attenborough´s What a Wonderful World, a BBC production:

Judith English forwards this link to an article about pockets in women´s clothing, which are nearly 50 per cent smaller than men´s pockets, which is cited by industry experts as evidence of patriarchy:

Judith also suggests this site for the story of a Mexican girl who sent a letter to Santa attached to a balloon, which was found and answered across the border:

Mike Yeager´s post about a concert to aid Vets in Tacoma is an interesting read, especially for people who remember older singers like Joe Walsh, Don Henley, James Taylor, Christ Stapleton, and Ringo:

The best of the year from People Are Awesome. Their energy and expertise exhaust me, just watching:

A huge cave has been located in BC´s Wells Gray Provincial Park. It is 330 feel in length and almost 200 feet across - wide enough to accommodate the Statue of Liberty:

From the Good News Network comes this video of a magician performing magic tricks for bewildered shelter dogs in hopes of getting them adopted: