A "Seedy" Stress Reliever

Since those frightening moments of Monday morning I've found that my mind has been in high gear as I try to figure out how this happened and what I need to do to make it better. I have to "watch" for suspicious symptoms all day and at night too. Which means my daughter has her own "camp" cot set up in our bedroom. Needless to say, I'm not sleeping well and neither is she. Stress has hit "Garden Girl" and Mom quite hard.

But I know I'm not the only one who deals with stress on a daily basis. Some very healthy people head straight for the gym to work(out) their stress away. Some very intellectual people head straight for a book to read their stress away. Some very talkative people keep dialing phone numbers until they've talked their stress away. But Gardeners are not normal people. What others feel are more household chores gardeners relish as the best type of stress reliever. Why?

1. Sunlight. The news is constantly reporting both the benefits and the dangers of being in the sun. However, nothing feels better than feeling the sun warm your skin as you tidy a garden bed filled with the fragrant blooms.


2. Sense of Accomplishment. One of the best stress relievers is feeling as though you've accomplished something. Creating a beautiful garden bed where once there was nothing is an excellent way to do just that.


3. Connect with Nature. As we live our normal lives with cell phones, computers, automatic doors that don't seem to open for us we all encounter stress. Nature provides us the opportunity to disconnect from the world and tune into a quieter part of ourselves and our environment.


4. Exercise. Only someone who has never weeded flower beds for hours on end believes that gardening is easy. Lifting, bending, stretching, digging, planting, raking. All of these vigorous activities get the blood pumping and can give the same benefits to a stressed out gardener as going to an "actual" gym. And the garden smells a lot better!
   

So, my dear "Garden Girl" daughter and I are planning to de-stress ourselves by planting our seeds together first thing Saturday morning. Last Sunday I received a call from my local Ace Hardware store. This was unusual but a happy surprise. The manager called to say that they were holding a one day only sale and were randomly contacting some of their Ace Rewards Members. We had nothing urgent planned for our Sunday so we gathered the tribe and went into town. Upon entering I realized that the store was prepping for spring! And there among their goodies were seeds...marked for the one day only sale...10 for $1.00! So instead of hemming and hawing over which I could afford I let my two girls pick out the pretty ones. Apparently we're going to have a lot of pink and purple flowers in our whiskey barrels this year. They chose:

• African Daisy ~ Mixed colors


• Alyssum ~ Rosie O'Day


• CandyTuft ~ Dwarf Fairy Mix


• Cosmos ~ Sea Shells Mixed Colors


• Larkspur ~ Giant Imerial Mix


• Phlox ~ Dwarf Beauty Mix


• Portulaca ~ Moss Rose (Pelleted)


• Snapdragon ~ Dwarf Magic Carpet


• Sweet Pea ~ Royal Family Mix


• Sweet William ~ Extra Dwarf Mixed

They had so much fun...and I got a real bargain on my annuals. What could be better? Thanks Ace, and our wonderful manager who decided upon entering the store to have the one day sale!

The Day My Heart Stopped...& Where I've Been

It was a typical Monday Morning in our household. Except that my it was the first day back to school after a week's worth of vacation. As usual I woke up my son and then went in to wake up my sleepyhead daughter. She lumbered into the bathroom (where she gets dressed in the morning so that we don't wake up her little sister) and everything seemed quite normal. Although, groggy would be an understatement. Shortly after I left her I heard her thump into something. I rolled my eyes and smiled because she's just so clutzy it's almost comical. "Are you okay" In a cheerful sing song voice she answered, "Yeah, I'm fine." Within just a few more seconds I heard a second thump. I decided to go back upstairs. I called to her and she didn't answer me. I'm not worried, just a little annoyed at having to go up and down the stairs so many times and it's barely even 6:15 am! I opened the bathroom door and found her in a full seizure on the floor. Luckily, I've been First Aid/CPR but still My heart just stopped. I went into action as I could hear her choking in an attempt to breathe. Her seizure lasted at least 2 minutes although it seemed like hours!




We live in such a remote area that the ambulance arrived 15 minutes after my husband's 911 call. And it took another 45 minutes after that to get her in a calm enough state to travel. She was suffering from what they call a Post-Ictal state. She was highly agitated and fearful. Repetively screaming when seeing anyone she didn't "know" prior to the seizure. It was a very tense, and alarmingly scary event for our family as there has never been a history of seizures with our children or any of our close relatives. So we were caught completely off guard. Although, I'm not sure anyone is ever prepared to see their child in such a horrible state.


We did get the the ER about 1 1/2 hours after the seizure (45 minutes at the house before she was calm enough to travel and 45 minute drive). The ER ran several tests. The CT Scan came back clear but her EKG was inconclusive. Their diagnoses was that she fainted, hit her head causing a concussion (and a beautiful black eye) and the concussion caused the seizure. She was released from the ER within 4 hours of her arrival. I was less than convinced that they had investigated her symptoms enough. So I immediately called our Family Doctor and he saw her Tuesday. After a very thorough check over (we were in his office nearly 2 hours) he concluded that she is hypoglycemic. After reading more about it I agree...wholeheartedly. She still needs follow up testing because she shows signs of having "partial" seizures previously. So we are being scheduled for an EEG and another EKG.


My greenhouse stands empty as I now find it hard to not be within arm's reach of my daughter. For the time being (at the request of the doctor) she sleeps on a camp cot in our bedroom so we can monitor her. It's been a very stressful and very frightening time for our family and suddenly the seeds I bought but have yet to plant just don't seem as important. But as she recovers she seems interested in helping me plant them so...Maybe if we have a chance today. If not...the seeds will wait. I have more important things to do:

1. Stare at my oldest daughter.


2. Thank God that she's okay.


3. Hug my son.


4. Thank God he's okay.


5. Chase my little daughter.


6. Thank God she's okay.
   

A lot to do and only one day to do it! Ofcourse, I can (and will) try again tomorrow.