THANKING YOUR WAY
TO BETTER HEALTH
Journal of Healing – April 9, 2003

By Mary Koch

People who remind themselves daily of what they are grateful for are likely to improve both their mental and physical health, according to research published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

In that case, Sharon Kay Rodgers should be one of the healthiest people in Helena, Mont., where she lives.

Perhaps it takes losing just about everything to make you grateful for what you have left. That's Sharon's theory, anyway. Unexpected and crippling ill health abruptly ended Sharon's 27-year nursing career before she turned 50.

As a registered nurse, Sharon worked for a number of years in Okanogan County and finally as a pediatric/psychiatric nurse at Shodair Children's Hospital in Helena.

"I never thought I would be on the receiving end of health care," she says. But just after her 49th birthday in 1999, fluttering in her chest and shortness of breath sent her to a cardiologist. She learned she had suffered a "silent" heart attack. Ultimately she was diagnosed with degenerative arthritis, which keeps her in a wheelchair, and hypoxemia, which requires her to be on oxygen.

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IT TOOK 14 months before she won the battle to get Social Security disability benefits.

"The struggle to survive without a paycheck and no insurance for that 14-month period was very humbling," she reflects. "I feel that my first-hand experience with real poverty allows me to fully appreciate all that I have today."

Sharon e-mailed me her list of blessings. They include her 24-year-old daughter and caregiver, Sarah; her computer, which was given to her; her disability check; her medical care through public health aid for the "medically indigent," etc. Sharon's list of blessings is a lesson in perspectives.

While some would lament about the paperwork required for medical assistance, Sharon exclaims "all 16 of my prescriptions are free! I only have to come in monthly and do the required paperwork."

While some would bemoan having to scrape by on a monthly disability check, Sharon is thankful hers is "way over average ($1,154 a month) because I worked full-time for so long!"

While some would complain about the tedium of shopping in discount stores (I plead guilty here), Sharon rejoices that "just getting out and shopping at Wal-Mart is a red letter day for me."

While most of us would chafe at the restrictions of a wheelchair, Sharon (who is still making payments on hers) rejoices that her apartment is fully accessible and that the wheelchair even serves as a free pass to her local movie theater.

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IF THERE'S SUCH a thing as an optimism gene, Sharon may have inherited it from her mother, Maydene Ewer. We've known Sharon's mother for years. With her many friends, we were saddened and concerned when Maydene suffered a stroke in 1997. Yet Maydene continues an aggressive physical therapy regimen, taking "whatever the therapists dish out," says Sharon.

"My mother has never been as mentally sharp as she is right now," Sharon boasts. Maydene lives at the Apple Springs assisted living residence in Omak and requires a wheelchair.

Think of it – both mom and daughter in wheelchairs. Sad, right? Not from Sharon's perspective. "My 71-year-old mother is my hero!" she declared. As for her own daughter, on whom she is dependent, "God gave her a sweet, sweet spirit and a heart of pure gold."