Patient Safety

I have been an active patient for the last 10 years due to baby-making and infertility, have seen 3 different doctors, gone to 6 different facilities involved with testing, multiple nurses, technicians, pharmacists, etc., and while my physical health has not been harmed, I feel like I have sometimes been dealt with in a careless manner by my healthcare system. I was in a very vulnerable position, as are all patients dealing with a medical problem, and when extra care was needed I hardly got any at all, fixing my physical 'problem' was the main concern, emotional and mental care were hardly a consideration, and neither was the fact that I may want to participate, have questions, make decisions, yada yaya.

That is why I am really excited by the mission of my new employer, Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety! We are committed to helping improve patient safety within the system, AND also empower patients to be engaged in their own healthcare. We have a lot of resources that can help you with self-advocacy, providing information about; your rights, how to ask questions, how to be informed, how to take part in decision-making, and more.  All of which I could have really used when dealing with multiple doctors, facilities, etc.

If you, or someone you love, have felt frustrated as a patient, whether related to fertility or not, or you just want to proactively be informed, a great place to start is www.safetoask.ca!
‪#‎safetoask‬ ‪#‎patientsafety‬ ‪#‎healthCARE‬

Infertility Interviews

Over the next few months I am reaching out into the Fertility-Challenged community and conducting interviews in the hopes of bringing some 'me too' stories to women who may feel all alone in their journey through deferred motherhood, and all that comes with it; delays, doctors, diagnosis, depression, etc. Any story is welcome, just because it's not the typical story (there is no typical story) don't underestimate the value of your story, because somewhere, someone just may need to hear your exact struggle, because it is also theirs.

If you would be interested in joining my interview series, please leave a comment with a contact address and I will be in touch. I would love to hear from you!

Gratitude

I learned the lesson 30 months ago that gratitude is an extremely powerful thing. I can say with certainty it was the first step to the joyful place I am in life today, but I had a moment where I first had to make a choice.

As part of my ministry at Church, I led women through healing principles and in late 2012 one of those principles was gratitude. The lesson material was great, but it was all head knowledge. Not that I didn’t have moments of gratitude but it was an attitude not a way of life. I decided I wanted to increase my gratitude so I took on one of the materials suggestions, to start a daily gratitude journal. I figured I would start January 1^st and try it out for one year. After a few weeks I was really enjoying it and noticing I was even more positive than usual.

Then.

Day 23

I had a miscarriage.

My furthest along to date, even Sean had suspected , and even though I couldn’t bring myself to test yet, we were enjoying sharing new plans. And that evening we shared tears instead. As I got into bed that night I looked at my gratitude journal sitting there and contemplated. Do I write something today of all days?! And the thought that flooded my mind was how grateful I was that this time I finally had Sean to share the grief with, and that even at our lowest point we had managed to find laughter together. And so that’s what I wrote.

The next day we had our small group.  We had built a family with these people yet at first we weren’t sure we could share immediately, still so raw, but God had other plans, He had one of our friends sing a song that included the lyrics “When my world is shaking, heaven stands, When my heart is breaking I never leave your hands.” Considering the name of my personal blog is ‘Lori in HIS hands’, I knew that was our cue to open up. And we were of course overwhelmed by the love poured out over us.  And so that night I again looked at my gratitude journal and thought, how can I not be grateful for the love God showed us through our friends.

Then the next evening we served at our ministry, and again wondered if we should try to  hide our raw pain. Only a few minutes with our community of leaders, whom  we purported to have an honest and transparent relationship with, and we decided to open up about our grief. We hadn’t always had safe people in Church to share with, and we were about to test the waters with our deepest hurt. And we were not disappointed. Once again, we were overwhelmed by the care people took with our wounds, how they hugged when they had no words, and the words of ‘me too’ poured out from unexpected places. And then the band played ‘It Is Well’ that night, an unexpected shift from the usual songs they played. And so again that night I looked at my gratitude journal and realized the very ministry that encouraged my keeping it has now proved the value in it so profoundly and I wrote in it that night.

And after that I didn’t even have to question each night if I would write, I just continued to find reasons in the coming days, weeks and months, no matter how hard it got. And today, 30 months later, I am still writing in my gratitude journal.

And through my gratefulness, joy has found me.