December 5, 2024 • 37 mins
Imagine walking alongside someone with the strength to face a brain tumor diagnosis, heart attacks, and stroke-like symptoms. Today, we’re honored to have Diana Derringer join us, sharing her transformative journey as a caregiver, filled with resilience, adaptability, and wisdom. As Diana recounts the complexities of managing memory issues and fatigue, you’ll be moved by the reality of what it means to find a new normal after each health crisis. Her narrative is a testament to the power of a strong support system and the remarkable ability to continuously adjust and thrive despite life’s challenges.
Laughter and joy are not typically associated with caregiving, but Diana’s experience suggests otherwise. She reveals how hope and humor can be as healing as medicine, offering an uplifting perspective on the caregiver’s path. From performing CPR to witnessing the light-hearted moments that hint at recovery, Diana’s stories highlight the importance of choosing happiness even during the toughest times. It’s a powerful reminder that, even in the grief of caregiving, there is a place for positivity, laughter, and an unwavering human spirit.
In a compelling reflection on life’s ebb and flow, we delve into how caregiving can unexpectedly enrich our lives. Diana shares how opening their home to international students became a new mission field and now the Lord has broadened her impact worldwide through her writing. Join us for these stories of hope and inspiration and discover how embracing change can lead to contentment and a profound sense of purpose.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to a Season of Caring podcast.
As the year draws to a close,it's time for reflection and
gratitude.
December has become a cherishedmonth for us to look back and
celebrate the conversations thatresonated most with you, our
listeners.
This year we've cultivated aspecial collection of our most
listened to podcasts, bringingthem to you week by week as
(00:23):
encore presentations.
These episodes are not justconversations, they are
heart-to-heart connections thathave inspired, challenged and
comforted us.
Enjoy this year's fourth mostlistened to podcast with special
guest Diana Derringer.
Diana is an award-winning writerand author of Beyond Bethlehem
(00:44):
and Calvary, 12 dramas forChristmas, easter and more.
Shares hope and joy throughmore than 1,200 devotions,
articles, dramas, bible studies,planning guides and poems Over
70 publications.
She also writes radio dramasand questions about life,
television programs for Christin the World Ministries and
shares weekly blog posts onwords, wit and wisdom, life
(01:08):
lessons from English expressions.
Diana speaks at churches,schools and community events and
has taught workshops for theKentucky Christian Writers
Conference.
Her adventures as a socialworker, adjunct professor and
youth Bible study teacher,friendship family for
international universitystudents and caregiver for her
(01:28):
husband supply a constant flowof writing ideas.
Connect with Diana atdianadaringercom and on social
media.
Welcome, diana, it's great tohave you here today.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Thank you, Raina.
It's great to be with you.
I appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, we're all about caregiving, and I know part of
your writing comes in play withcaregiving for your husband, so
tell us a little bit about himand what that looks like for you
guys.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
My caregiving began in 2004 when he was diagnosed
with a malignant brain tumor,and at that time the caregiving
was primarily because he washaving memory issues and a lot
of fatigue.
When he first started havingsymptoms, it was extreme fatigue
and memory things, you know,that were a little bit beyond
(02:17):
what's normal when you'remiddle-aged.
And he also would have just areal brief episode, just a few
seconds, where he would turnwhite and break out in sweat on
his forehead and would have alittle difficulty talking.
In fact, if he tried to talk atthat time, it just came out as
(02:38):
gibberish.
And we saw a doctor and thedoctor thought maybe it was just
a medication that needed to beadjusted.
But about three months later myhusband said something's not
right.
I don't know what it is, but Iintend to find out.
And so he went to our familydoctor that we had gone to for
(03:01):
years and said I don't want youpoking and probing, I just want
you to listen.
And he did.
He listened and within a coupleof weeks he had had a series of
tests and a surgical biopsy andwas diagnosed with stage three
anaplastic astrocytoma, stagethree anaplastic gastrocytoma,
(03:31):
and at that time his prognosiswas about three to five years,
so he was having oralchemotherapy.
Timidar had just come outshortly before that, and so that
was a blessing.
So he took five pills everymonth and medication to keep
from getting nauseous ornauseated during that time and
on the other days around themedication.
(03:54):
Then we could still continue asomewhat normal lifestyle.
Then, in 2009, he suffered aheart attack.
We had had some internationaluniversity students with us and
we were doing some cleanup.
(04:14):
After they left, I was changingbeds on one side of the house,
he was changing beds on theother, and I heard him fall hard
.
And when I get to our bathroom,he's lying face down in a pool
of blood and I call 911.
Wow, yeah, yeah.
(04:34):
And they said don't move himunless he stops breathing.
Well, eventually I had to movehis head.
I had to lift his head out ofthe blood because he had fallen
and his head hit the shower doorhandle, which was metal, and
then came down on this step intothe shower, and so I left him
(05:00):
there as long as I could, and soI left him there as long as I
could, but eventually I had toraise his head up so that he
wouldn't breathe in all of thatblood.
And just a few seconds before Iheard the sirens coming, he
stopped breathing oh, wow, yeah.
After that episode.
Then, of course, his level ofcare increased again.
(05:23):
Then, of course, his level ofcare increased again and then,
in 2020, he started having a lotof stroke-like symptoms again
and eventually, one day Irealized that it looked like he
was actually having a stroke.
So 911 again and they flew himto an out-of-town hospital and,
(05:48):
after a series of tests forabout two days, they said he had
not had a new stroke, but hewas having seizures that did not
manifest like the seizures thatI recognized and that, plus a
(06:09):
urinary tract infection a fewmonths before, resulted in those
symptoms.
So they increased hismedication and he was better
almost instantly.
But with each new, a new levelof care.
And so in the last three years,after another episode with
(06:30):
having to adjust just hischolesterol medication because
he suddenly became allergic tothat, and so at this point he is
on a walker and his memory hasgotten progressively worse, but
it's still amazingly goodconsidering all he's been
(06:52):
through.
So we've had, you know, thosethree miracles, but with each
one, with each episode, has comea new level of care.
So we're now at a situationwhere if I'm going to be away
from home then I have to getsomebody to come in and for the
recording today in the eventthat he needs something.
(07:15):
You know, I didn't want to haveto hop up and interrupt the
recording, so I have somebodystaying with him now.
But in the last few months hehas stabilized and so that's
been a good thing.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I always say we're in a season of caring, but it does
change.
There are times, there arepeaks where we're in crisis and
then there are times where wehave to make that adjustment, to
find our new normal, you know,find those people that are the
right fit for the support thatwe need at that point.
And, as you mentioned, the 24hour care looks different now
(07:53):
than it did before, so it's soimportant to be able to be fluid
with that.
But it's such a hard thingbecause it's really not our
nature.
We like routine and so having todeal with these new challenges
can be so hard.
Yes, well, it sounds like we'rethankful that he is in a point
where he's kind of stabilizingand you guys are finding your
(08:15):
new normal.
It can be such a challenge tobe able to find that.
Share a favorite caregivingstory with us.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Actually I have two stories that are favorites and I
have a hard time choosingbetween the two.
Both are related to a littlebit of what I just shared with
you.
The first, when he wasdiagnosed with a malignant brain
tumor, his prognosis was threeto five years.
After about three years he wentinto remission.
(08:45):
They continued his chemotherapypills for another six months
but he was still in remission.
So they took him off and hecontinued, and so every time we
would go to the neurosurgeonwith new MRI results and
(09:07):
bringing him up to date on howthings were.
Even he was amazed.
At least twice the neurosurgeonlooked at us and he would say
how are you doing that Seriously, how are you doing that?
And he was such fun to visitanyway.
I mean, he stayed so busy, Iknow, and he had this really
(09:30):
wild, unruly hair and sometimesit would get really long, and so
one of our favorite things todo on our way to visit that
doctor and of course you knowyou can be a little apprehensive
when you're going for a newreport and so our fun thing was
(09:50):
we wonder if he's had a haircut.
But he was a great doctor, andso that was one of our favorite
stories.
The second relates to the 2009episode when he had to fall,
with the severe brain injury,the heart attack and the stroke.
(10:10):
We don't know which happenedfirst, but it was almost
simultaneous for all three ofthem.
But when they put him on arespirator they thought, when
they took him off the next day,that he would die.
But he tracked motion and soundwith his eyes.
(10:32):
He squeezed our hands inresponse to questions, you know.
He was able to breathe on hisown.
They reduced the oxygen alittle bit at first, and then
the doctor said let's just seewhat he does with it off.
And we did.
And so he turned around and hesays well, looks like we have us
(10:57):
a miracle.
And I remember my nephew.
I was standing between mynephew and my sister when they
were doing this in the room andI remember, when all of this was
going on, my nephew, who waslike this big bear of a man and
I'm this little shrimp and hejust gives me this big bear hug.
(11:18):
And it's like you know he'sgoing to make this and of course
they thought at first he wouldprobably not be able to move his
right side, not be able to walk, not be able to talk, probably
have no mental abilities, andtwo days later he's sitting up
(11:39):
talking.
Now, his memory was pretty muchshot at that time, both short
and long term.
But he's sitting up talking andlaughing and our sister-in-law,
who is a speech therapist, toldme later.
She said you have no idea howsignificant it is that he's
(11:59):
joking.
So, anyway, when the doctor camein a couple days later and he
said, can he move his right side?
My husband had heard us talking, I know, because he had started
exercising that arm and thatleg and doing all these things.
(12:21):
And so he said, can he move hisarm at all?
And I said yeah, and so he justwaves it around.
And then he said, well, can hemove his right leg?
And I hold my hand out and Isay kick my hand.
And he almost had it up thathigh and so wow the doctor
(12:42):
turned around and he looked atthe nurse and he said get him in
therapy now.
And you know, his injury was sobad he had this horrible cut on
his head.
They hadn't even done anythingbut just kind of put a little
bandage over that.
So they cleaned him up andstarted doing things fast at
(13:07):
this point and the cardiologistwho had seen him initially and
had been gone that weekend andwhen he came back and you know
he talked to them at the nurse'sstation, he talked to me and
then he charted in his notes thevery technical medical term wow
(13:28):
.
And it was a wow moment.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, they probably still talk about him at the
hospital.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
honestly, yes, yes, occasionally, occasionally, you
know, and he was in threedifferent hospitals during that
episode.
In fact, we spent Christmas andNew Year in a rehabilitation
hospital, our third hospital,and in all three hospitals he
was called the miracle man.
The EMS people referred to himas the miracle man, and when we
(14:03):
went for surgery in thein-between hospital, this one
nurse comes in and she said Ijust want to touch him, I want a
little bit of whatever he has,and so, yeah, yeah, so we have
lots of good stories.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So I bet, as a caregiver, that was ups and
downs.
I mean, I can't even imaginehow difficult for you from
having to do CPR on him tohearing that they don't expect
him to make it and then havinghim recover like that that's
amazing.
I'm sure that was hard.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, this whole caregiving thing has been a
series of ups and downs andseveral times I referred to it
as it's sort of like riding aroller coaster in the middle of
a storm.
You know, if you're on a rollercoaster and a storm pops up,
you have no choice.
You ride it out till you get tothe end and there's nothing you
(14:59):
can do about that.
However, you know, if that wereto happen, or when it does
happen, you got some people thatjust crouch in fear and you've
got others that are screamingtheir lungs out and others that
fuss about.
You know why don't they get usoff this thing?
You know, do something.
And then you've got a fewpeople that look around at the
(15:26):
majesty of that storm and thebeauty.
You know my husband are sort ofweird.
We like to watch storms roll inand so you can look around and
you can see, you know, thepositives in the midst of all of
this craziness.
So you know caregiving's likethat we have highs, like our
(15:50):
miracles.
You know my husband, after hisfirst diagnosis he kind of
withdrew for a couple of daysand while I was doing all the
busy work and he came out and hesaid God, now I've had a little
talk and everything's going tobe okay.
He wasn't saying I know I'mgoing to live, I know this is
(16:10):
going to be easy.
But he's saying God's going toride this out with us, no matter
what happens.
Through all of our ups anddowns, god is with us.
And so when we have good days,we enjoy those.
When we plummet into the depthsof despair, we have to remember
that God's in charge and eventhough it's tough right now,
(16:35):
he's going to be with us throughit all and He'll carry us when
we can't go any longer.
And so we choose, and so wechoose are.
Are we going to stay stuck inanger or despair or all of the
stages of grief?
And when you're in caregiving,you're grieving.
(16:56):
You know it's grieving is for alot more than you are and so
it's okay to have those feelings, it's okay to be angry, it's
okay to have those feelings,it's okay to be angry, it's okay
to be in despair, it's okay tofeel all of those emotions that
God gives us, but we just don'twant to get stuck in them, so we
(17:17):
choose.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yes, and you choose over.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
and over and over, again, over and over.
Do we choose despair or do wechoose joy?
Yeah, and we chose joy.
Yeah, not every day, you know,we don't look real joyful every
day, but we choose joy.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That's right, and we choose hope, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Because of our Savior .
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Perfectly said.
Wow, is that not so importantto grasp?
Choose joy.
We're going to have grief.
We're going to experience thedifficult things of caregiving,
but we always have a choice.
I want to offer you a littlemore information about a
resource that I have availablecalled Finding Peace in Grief.
(18:05):
I have available called FindingPeace in Grief.
It's a resource forbrokenhearted caregivers and it
really is an opportunity to takea look at how grief might be
impacting you right now in themiddle of your caregiving season
.
Jill has gone through thiscourse and this is what she said
.
I highly recommend investing inReina's program on grief as a
(18:25):
gift for yourself.
I know it will help you andencourage you to.
Raina's program provided mewith readings as well as videos
from other experts.
Each person seemed to knowexactly how I was feeling and
validated my emotional journey.
I found this programemotionally valuable and I was
(18:45):
able to go through it at my ownpace.
This program is available forlisteners for just $37.
I really really encourage youto take a look at this program.
Caregiving is full of challenges, changes and more heartache
than we even imagine as we gothrough the process, but we
(19:05):
don't like to talk about that.
Grief Learning to understandgrief, how it impacts our brain,
how it breaks our heart, how toprocess that grief in order to
be able to heal, even in themiddle of the season.
It really can make such adifference for you.
I want to encourage you tolearn more about finding peace
(19:26):
in grief.
Visit the websiteaseasonofcaringcom.
Slash peace in grief.
I know that you will find thiscourse to be really helpful.
The content is presented incaregiver conversations that are
just frank conversations aboutgrief with caregivers just like
you.
I have video teachings thatinclude information of various
(19:47):
kinds of grief, how griefimpacts your body and your brain
, as well as those processingtools, and then also articles
that you can read.
So a variety of different waysfor you to be able to take in
this information and just beginto process it.
This caregiving thing is tough,but you can choose.
You can choose to have hope andhealing even in the middle of
(20:11):
the grief and pain.
I encourage you to take thetime to check out this course
for just $37.
Again, aseasonofcaringcom.
Slash peace in grief.
Now let's go back to ourconversation with Diana.
So what would be one thing thatyou would share that surprised
you most about caregiving?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I think it's the emotional upheaval and just
every day, every day isdifferent, and some days you're
in the depths of despair andsome days you're just, you know
it's just hard, it's just reallyhard.
And knowing how to adjust eachday because you're in the middle
(20:57):
of doing all of the physicalthings that your loved one needs
.
You're also dealing with yourloved one's emotions and your
own.
You're dealing with all of theresponsibilities, the medical
stuff and the insurance stuffand just getting the supplies
that you need, and juggling allof the different caregivers and
(21:23):
and it's hard, it's really hard.
It is.
And nobody understands that.
One lady that does caregivingwas saying the other day that
nobody really understands untilthey've been there and each
person's situation is different.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
So we have to learn to adjust that.
You know, life will never bethe same, and that's not all bad
.
You know, in addition to themany things that you give up,
you also gain, and so you gain agreater appreciation for each
(22:05):
day, a greater appreciation forlife and for God's promises,
both in this life and for thelife to come.
So your life forever changes,but that's not necessarily it
does.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I agree.
I think that is something wedon't hear enough of and it's
something that I hear from thepeople that reach out from the
podcast.
I don't have a lot of you thatreach out.
I'd love to hear from more ofyou but that how much this helps
them to know I'm not the onlyone, because it's so isolating,
(23:08):
no-transcript the Lord.
And for us to be able to behonest with each other and just
say we don't have the answers,we just love you and we remind
you that God loves you too, eventhough this is hard and even
though this isn't what youthought it would be.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yes, it's important to recognize that we can't do it
on our own forever.
And so, yes, you know, ifinitially you have a lot of
people that are coming in andhelping and responding and all,
and then, when things are sortof stable, you get into this
(23:48):
routine and sometimes you haveto learn to reach out and to say
I need this.
It's hard sometimes for peopleeven to say yes when people
offer help.
We like to be independent.
We like to do things on our ownfor help.
We like to be independent.
(24:08):
We like to do things on our own.
But I've learned over the yearsthat how easy it had maybe not
easy, but it's become easier tosay yes, thank you, I would
appreciate that.
And when this offer is not madeand you see the need, then I've
learned that I need to reachout to a few people that I feel
comfortable doing so and saythis is going on.
(24:31):
Can you pray for it?
Can you come?
Can you help me?
I know when in 2020, whenever myhusband we thought had another
stroke and they had flown him anhour and a half away and so I
was going to be driving to getthere and I thought I don't
(24:51):
trust myself driving right now.
So up to that point, I had beenable to leave home for short
periods of time and he could beokay on his own, be okay on his
own, and so I was going for awalk, and then this young lady
(25:11):
had asked if she and I could doa mentoring kind of thing.
So I was serving as her mentorand then we would have prayer
time together.
So I called her when thishappened and I said are you free
?
And I said are you free, and ifso, could you drive me to
Lexington?
And she said, sure, and she did.
She was there within minutes.
(25:36):
And so we have to learn to reachout and to allow people, to
give them the opportunity tohelp us.
If we enjoy caring for otherpeople, then we know how good
that makes us feel.
So we want to be sure thatwe're not robbing other people
of the blessing of helping us.
A friend asked can we pick upsomething for you for dinner
(26:00):
once or twice a week?
You know, cooking is one of myleast favorite things to do, but
I do it so we don't starve todeath.
And so I said, yes, that wouldbe wonderful.
And you know he's still doingit.
He's still doing it, and morethan just one day.
That's amazing it is.
(26:21):
It is so it's great to havefriends.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
So, diana, your stories you've been able to just
share with us where God showedup for you over and over again.
But is there one more that youwant to share, where it just
really stands out, where heshowed up for you.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Oh, absolutely Throughout all of this.
You know you lose so much andyet it's amazing when we give
God the little threads ofeverything that's going on in
our lives.
It's amazing to see how God canweave all that together in ways
(26:59):
that we would never haveexpected and would probably
never have experienced otherwise.
When I retired from social work, one of my major goals was to
do more international missiontrips.
International missions is mypassion and I loved traveling to
(27:23):
other places and sharing God'slove, especially in areas where
there wasn't a lot of that goingon.
But when my husband wasdiagnosed with a malignant brain
tumor, not only did he lose hisposition as a manager at the
(27:47):
store, but I also lost theability to do international
mission trips anymore.
But God yeah.
Just the Christmas before, afriend of ours from church asked
if we would be interested intaking an international
university student into our homeduring Christmas break.
Supposed to be with us forabout two weeks, she ended up
(28:11):
staying six weeks and it waswonderful.
We loved our time with her andshe started inviting other
friends in to come visit with usand to eat with us.
God has a sense of humor.
We spent most of our time inthe kitchen cooking, eating and
going shopping for groceries.
In the kitchen cooking, eatingand going shopping for groceries
(28:33):
.
And so, even after she leftthen more students.
It just became our thing to dowas to serve as a friendship
family to internationaluniversity students, and our
maximum number was one summer.
They said can we bring all thestudents from Taiwan?
I said sure, and they keptcoming back with well, now we
have this many.
It's like that's okay.
We have this many, that's okay.
We have 39.
That's okay.
(28:57):
So our house is not that big,but we had 39 students from
Taiwan to eat with us one nightand I learned, you know, it's
much harder to cook for 39 thanit is for six or eight.
So, anyway, so we began doingthat and it was like
international ministry from home, because we had students from
(29:19):
all over the world and a lot ofthem had little or no background
in knowledge about Jesus, goingto church, nothing, and so we
just loved on them and thenwould gradually get permission.
You know, we would ask abouttheir beliefs and then request
(29:43):
permission to share our beliefs,and so God just blessed in
amazing ways.
So I thought maybe all thoseinternational mission trips was
just preparation for this.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
God brought them to you.
That is so amazing and so likehim, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
But then after the 2009 episode, then we had to
start cutting back a little biton that and so my heart was
breaking again.
I mean, we didn't cut backcompletely at that point, but we
were cutting back.
But, god, at a KentuckyChristian Writers Conference, I
(30:20):
learned about Christ of theWorld Ministries and how they
were doing radio dramas thatwere translated into multiple
languages, broadcasts all aroundthe world and a lot into areas
with great restrictions.
Missionaries are not allowed,public sharing of your faith in
(30:41):
some areas not allowed, and so Istarted writing radio dramas
for them, and that's nowincreased to question and answer
television programs as well,and you don't get a lot of
feedback from the people thatyou write for, but occasionally
(31:02):
they would get feedback.
And so this one lady from Indiawrote in and she was thanking
the people with the ministry inIndia for the radio dramas and
said, as a result, she and allof her family, including her
sister who was dying with cancer, had become Christians, and she
(31:26):
said she wanted to thank themfor the radio drama series
Knowing the One True God.
I still get chills.
I wrote the series Knowing theOne True God, so I told my
husband.
I said I just realized that I'mreaching more people through my
(31:51):
writing than I could have in alifetime of short-term mission
trips.
So, yeah, a lot of things thatwe could do in the past we can
no longer do, but a lot ofthings that we never did in the
past we're now doing.
And his story, the miracles Godhas worked in my husband's life
(32:17):
, have become stories that we'veshared with so many people.
So God's still at work.
My husband may not be able towork in public employment, but
he's still making a differencein this world.
God's still making a differencethrough him.
So, you know, it's just amatter of waiting and seeing
(32:42):
what God's doing next.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I think that's so true because as caregivers, we
often can stay focused on whatwe can't do anymore.
But God has so many things wenever even dreamed of For me.
I don't enjoy writing, but I'man author.
I mean God brought thatopportunity for me to share our
story and for me to be able towrite it in a way that only my
(33:10):
voice can share and reachcertain people.
And it's just.
It's one of those things that Ialways say I never even knew to
dream of this, much less to askfor it Right.
So I love that about what we canhave planned for us and we just
have to keep looking and keepasking for what we can do and
(33:31):
not be focused, like you said,in the middle of the roller
coaster, be focused on what wecan't, but what do we have and
how can we use that?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
That's amazing, right ?
Yes, just look up and you know,in awe at what God can do, what
God is doing and what he willdo.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, definitely.
So we have one last thing.
What's one little thing you'dlike to share with fellow
caregivers, whether it be at thebeginning of their caregiving
or if they're in the thick ofyears of it?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I'd like for people to know, first of all, what we
just shared that God can takethe hardest things and can use
them and can bless us in spiteof them.
A very, very practical thingthat I'd like for people to
realize is expect that you'regoing to lose sleep, most likely
(34:22):
.
You know sleep loss was one ofthe hardest things for me to
deal with, and so take care ofyourself.
We get so wrapped up in caringfor the other person, and so if
you lose a lot of sleep at night, you may have to take a nap
during the day if the personyou're caring for is asleep.
(34:44):
It's so tempting and to do allthis work that you still haven't
finished, but sometimes yourbody is just saying give me a
break, slow down and take careof yourself.
Take care of yourself.
Do stretches.
Your muscles get tight duringthe day.
(35:04):
Stretch those muscles a littlebit, but don't forget to care
for yourself.
You can't care for others ifyou get down.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
So important.
We say it a lot, but it'sbecause it is so important.
I think sometimes people feellike, oh, keep hearing, take
care of myself, take care ofmyself but it's because we've
been there and we know it isweighing on you and your health
and if you don't pay attentionto it and I think sleep is one
of those things, because so manypeople are worriers they lose
(35:38):
sleep or they wake up in themiddle of the night and can't go
back to sleep it is soimportant to really watch that,
because we're finding more andmore research on how many things
sleep impacts.
We're finding more and moreresearch on how many things
sleep impacts.
So I think that is importantand there's lots of great
resources out there to help yoube able to get back to sleep, to
be able to get those patternsand rhythms in life where you
(35:59):
can establish your sleep.
So I think that's a greatreminder.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today, diana.
It's been wonderful to hearjust how God has blessed you
guys.
I love how your story justtells us the difficult things at
the same time as acknowledgingthat God's been right in the
middle of it with the blessings.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
So thank you, thank you.
I have enjoyed sharing with youand I appreciate the
opportunity.
And for anyone that islistening or watching, just know
that you have people prayingfor you that you don't even know
.
I have a writer friend inMississippi and she has started
doing little reels every weekand she always ends with I'm
(36:39):
praying for you, and so justknow that you're not alone.
God is there.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yes, so important.
Thank you again.
You can find more of Diana'swritings at dianadaringercom,
and you can also find a link toher site and all of her socials
on the show notes page.
So we would love for you tostay connected with her and be
able to enjoy her work.
Thank you for joining us todayfor Stories of Hope with Diana.
A Season of Caring podcast hasbeen created to share stories of
(37:09):
hope for living content, lovingwell and caring without regrets
.
If you have legal, financial ormedical questions, be sure to
consult your local professionalsand take heart in your Season
of Caring.
Welcome to a Season of Caring podcast.
As the year draws to a close,it's time for reflection and
gratitude.
December has become a cherishedmonth for us to look back and
celebrate the conversations thatresonated most with you, our
listeners.
This year we've cultivated aspecial collection of our most
listened to podcasts, bringingthem to you week by week as
(00:23):
encore presentations.
These episodes are not justconversations, they are
heart-to-heart connections thathave inspired, challenged and
comforted us.
Enjoy this year's fourth mostlistened to podcast with special
guest Diana Derringer.
Diana is an award-winning writerand author of Beyond Bethlehem
(00:44):
and Calvary, 12 dramas forChristmas, easter and more.
Shares hope and joy throughmore than 1,200 devotions,
articles, dramas, bible studies,planning guides and poems Over
70 publications.
She also writes radio dramasand questions about life,
television programs for Christin the World Ministries and
shares weekly blog posts onwords, wit and wisdom, life
(01:08):
lessons from English expressions.
Diana speaks at churches,schools and community events and
has taught workshops for theKentucky Christian Writers
Conference.
Her adventures as a socialworker, adjunct professor and
youth Bible study teacher,friendship family for
international universitystudents and caregiver for her
(01:28):
husband supply a constant flowof writing ideas.
Connect with Diana atdianadaringercom and on social
media.
Welcome, diana, it's great tohave you here today.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Thank you, Raina.
It's great to be with you.
I appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, we're all about caregiving, and I know part of
your writing comes in play withcaregiving for your husband, so
tell us a little bit about himand what that looks like for you
guys.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
My caregiving began in 2004 when he was diagnosed
with a malignant brain tumor,and at that time the caregiving
was primarily because he washaving memory issues and a lot
of fatigue.
When he first started havingsymptoms, it was extreme fatigue
and memory things, you know,that were a little bit beyond
(02:17):
what's normal when you'remiddle-aged.
And he also would have just areal brief episode, just a few
seconds, where he would turnwhite and break out in sweat on
his forehead and would have alittle difficulty talking.
In fact, if he tried to talk atthat time, it just came out as
(02:38):
gibberish.
And we saw a doctor and thedoctor thought maybe it was just
a medication that needed to beadjusted.
But about three months later myhusband said something's not
right.
I don't know what it is, but Iintend to find out.
And so he went to our familydoctor that we had gone to for
(03:01):
years and said I don't want youpoking and probing, I just want
you to listen.
And he did.
He listened and within a coupleof weeks he had had a series of
tests and a surgical biopsy andwas diagnosed with stage three
anaplastic astrocytoma, stagethree anaplastic gastrocytoma,
(03:31):
and at that time his prognosiswas about three to five years,
so he was having oralchemotherapy.
Timidar had just come outshortly before that, and so that
was a blessing.
So he took five pills everymonth and medication to keep
from getting nauseous ornauseated during that time and
on the other days around themedication.
(03:54):
Then we could still continue asomewhat normal lifestyle.
Then, in 2009, he suffered aheart attack.
We had had some internationaluniversity students with us and
we were doing some cleanup.
(04:14):
After they left, I was changingbeds on one side of the house,
he was changing beds on theother, and I heard him fall hard
.
And when I get to our bathroom,he's lying face down in a pool
of blood and I call 911.
Wow, yeah, yeah.
(04:34):
And they said don't move himunless he stops breathing.
Well, eventually I had to movehis head.
I had to lift his head out ofthe blood because he had fallen
and his head hit the shower doorhandle, which was metal, and
then came down on this step intothe shower, and so I left him
(05:00):
there as long as I could, and soI left him there as long as I
could, but eventually I had toraise his head up so that he
wouldn't breathe in all of thatblood.
And just a few seconds before Iheard the sirens coming, he
stopped breathing oh, wow, yeah.
After that episode.
Then, of course, his level ofcare increased again.
(05:23):
Then, of course, his level ofcare increased again and then,
in 2020, he started having a lotof stroke-like symptoms again
and eventually, one day Irealized that it looked like he
was actually having a stroke.
So 911 again and they flew himto an out-of-town hospital and,
(05:48):
after a series of tests forabout two days, they said he had
not had a new stroke, but hewas having seizures that did not
manifest like the seizures thatI recognized and that, plus a
(06:09):
urinary tract infection a fewmonths before, resulted in those
symptoms.
So they increased hismedication and he was better
almost instantly.
But with each new, a new levelof care.
And so in the last three years,after another episode with
(06:30):
having to adjust just hischolesterol medication because
he suddenly became allergic tothat, and so at this point he is
on a walker and his memory hasgotten progressively worse, but
it's still amazingly goodconsidering all he's been
(06:52):
through.
So we've had, you know, thosethree miracles, but with each
one, with each episode, has comea new level of care.
So we're now at a situationwhere if I'm going to be away
from home then I have to getsomebody to come in and for the
recording today in the eventthat he needs something.
(07:15):
You know, I didn't want to haveto hop up and interrupt the
recording, so I have somebodystaying with him now.
But in the last few months hehas stabilized and so that's
been a good thing.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I always say we're in a season of caring, but it does
change.
There are times, there arepeaks where we're in crisis and
then there are times where wehave to make that adjustment, to
find our new normal, you know,find those people that are the
right fit for the support thatwe need at that point.
And, as you mentioned, the 24hour care looks different now
(07:53):
than it did before, so it's soimportant to be able to be fluid
with that.
But it's such a hard thingbecause it's really not our
nature.
We like routine and so having todeal with these new challenges
can be so hard.
Yes, well, it sounds like we'rethankful that he is in a point
where he's kind of stabilizingand you guys are finding your
(08:15):
new normal.
It can be such a challenge tobe able to find that.
Share a favorite caregivingstory with us.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Actually I have two stories that are favorites and I
have a hard time choosingbetween the two.
Both are related to a littlebit of what I just shared with
you.
The first, when he wasdiagnosed with a malignant brain
tumor, his prognosis was threeto five years.
After about three years he wentinto remission.
(08:45):
They continued his chemotherapypills for another six months
but he was still in remission.
So they took him off and hecontinued, and so every time we
would go to the neurosurgeonwith new MRI results and
(09:07):
bringing him up to date on howthings were.
Even he was amazed.
At least twice the neurosurgeonlooked at us and he would say
how are you doing that Seriously, how are you doing that?
And he was such fun to visitanyway.
I mean, he stayed so busy, Iknow, and he had this really
(09:30):
wild, unruly hair and sometimesit would get really long, and so
one of our favorite things todo on our way to visit that
doctor and of course you knowyou can be a little apprehensive
when you're going for a newreport and so our fun thing was
(09:50):
we wonder if he's had a haircut.
But he was a great doctor, andso that was one of our favorite
stories.
The second relates to the 2009episode when he had to fall,
with the severe brain injury,the heart attack and the stroke.
(10:10):
We don't know which happenedfirst, but it was almost
simultaneous for all three ofthem.
But when they put him on arespirator they thought, when
they took him off the next day,that he would die.
But he tracked motion and soundwith his eyes.
(10:32):
He squeezed our hands inresponse to questions, you know.
He was able to breathe on hisown.
They reduced the oxygen alittle bit at first, and then
the doctor said let's just seewhat he does with it off.
And we did.
And so he turned around and hesays well, looks like we have us
(10:57):
a miracle.
And I remember my nephew.
I was standing between mynephew and my sister when they
were doing this in the room andI remember, when all of this was
going on, my nephew, who waslike this big bear of a man and
I'm this little shrimp and hejust gives me this big bear hug.
(11:18):
And it's like you know he'sgoing to make this and of course
they thought at first he wouldprobably not be able to move his
right side, not be able to walk, not be able to talk, probably
have no mental abilities, andtwo days later he's sitting up
(11:39):
talking.
Now, his memory was pretty muchshot at that time, both short
and long term.
But he's sitting up talking andlaughing and our sister-in-law,
who is a speech therapist, toldme later.
She said you have no idea howsignificant it is that he's
(11:59):
joking.
So, anyway, when the doctor camein a couple days later and he
said, can he move his right side?
My husband had heard us talking, I know, because he had started
exercising that arm and thatleg and doing all these things.
(12:21):
And so he said, can he move hisarm at all?
And I said yeah, and so he justwaves it around.
And then he said, well, can hemove his right leg?
And I hold my hand out and Isay kick my hand.
And he almost had it up thathigh and so wow the doctor
(12:42):
turned around and he looked atthe nurse and he said get him in
therapy now.
And you know, his injury was sobad he had this horrible cut on
his head.
They hadn't even done anythingbut just kind of put a little
bandage over that.
So they cleaned him up andstarted doing things fast at
(13:07):
this point and the cardiologistwho had seen him initially and
had been gone that weekend andwhen he came back and you know
he talked to them at the nurse'sstation, he talked to me and
then he charted in his notes thevery technical medical term wow
(13:28):
.
And it was a wow moment.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, they probably still talk about him at the
hospital.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
honestly, yes, yes, occasionally, occasionally, you
know, and he was in threedifferent hospitals during that
episode.
In fact, we spent Christmas andNew Year in a rehabilitation
hospital, our third hospital,and in all three hospitals he
was called the miracle man.
The EMS people referred to himas the miracle man, and when we
(14:03):
went for surgery in thein-between hospital, this one
nurse comes in and she said Ijust want to touch him, I want a
little bit of whatever he has,and so, yeah, yeah, so we have
lots of good stories.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So I bet, as a caregiver, that was ups and
downs.
I mean, I can't even imaginehow difficult for you from
having to do CPR on him tohearing that they don't expect
him to make it and then havinghim recover like that that's
amazing.
I'm sure that was hard.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, this whole caregiving thing has been a
series of ups and downs andseveral times I referred to it
as it's sort of like riding aroller coaster in the middle of
a storm.
You know, if you're on a rollercoaster and a storm pops up,
you have no choice.
You ride it out till you get tothe end and there's nothing you
(14:59):
can do about that.
However, you know, if that wereto happen, or when it does
happen, you got some people thatjust crouch in fear and you've
got others that are screamingtheir lungs out and others that
fuss about.
You know why don't they get usoff this thing?
You know, do something.
And then you've got a fewpeople that look around at the
(15:26):
majesty of that storm and thebeauty.
You know my husband are sort ofweird.
We like to watch storms roll inand so you can look around and
you can see, you know, thepositives in the midst of all of
this craziness.
So you know caregiving's likethat we have highs, like our
(15:50):
miracles.
You know my husband, after hisfirst diagnosis he kind of
withdrew for a couple of daysand while I was doing all the
busy work and he came out and hesaid God, now I've had a little
talk and everything's going tobe okay.
He wasn't saying I know I'mgoing to live, I know this is
(16:10):
going to be easy.
But he's saying God's going toride this out with us, no matter
what happens.
Through all of our ups anddowns, god is with us.
And so when we have good days,we enjoy those.
When we plummet into the depthsof despair, we have to remember
that God's in charge and eventhough it's tough right now,
(16:35):
he's going to be with us throughit all and He'll carry us when
we can't go any longer.
And so we choose, and so wechoose are.
Are we going to stay stuck inanger or despair or all of the
stages of grief?
And when you're in caregiving,you're grieving.
(16:56):
You know it's grieving is for alot more than you are and so
it's okay to have those feelings, it's okay to be angry, it's
okay to have those feelings,it's okay to be angry, it's okay
to be in despair, it's okay tofeel all of those emotions that
God gives us, but we just don'twant to get stuck in them, so we
(17:17):
choose.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yes, and you choose over.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
and over and over, again, over and over.
Do we choose despair or do wechoose joy?
Yeah, and we chose joy.
Yeah, not every day, you know,we don't look real joyful every
day, but we choose joy.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That's right, and we choose hope, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Because of our Savior .
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Perfectly said.
Wow, is that not so importantto grasp?
Choose joy.
We're going to have grief.
We're going to experience thedifficult things of caregiving,
but we always have a choice.
I want to offer you a littlemore information about a
resource that I have availablecalled Finding Peace in Grief.
(18:05):
I have available called FindingPeace in Grief.
It's a resource forbrokenhearted caregivers and it
really is an opportunity to takea look at how grief might be
impacting you right now in themiddle of your caregiving season
.
Jill has gone through thiscourse and this is what she said
.
I highly recommend investing inReina's program on grief as a
(18:25):
gift for yourself.
I know it will help you andencourage you to.
Raina's program provided mewith readings as well as videos
from other experts.
Each person seemed to knowexactly how I was feeling and
validated my emotional journey.
I found this programemotionally valuable and I was
(18:45):
able to go through it at my ownpace.
This program is available forlisteners for just $37.
I really really encourage youto take a look at this program.
Caregiving is full of challenges, changes and more heartache
than we even imagine as we gothrough the process, but we
(19:05):
don't like to talk about that.
Grief Learning to understandgrief, how it impacts our brain,
how it breaks our heart, how toprocess that grief in order to
be able to heal, even in themiddle of the season.
It really can make such adifference for you.
I want to encourage you tolearn more about finding peace
(19:26):
in grief.
Visit the websiteaseasonofcaringcom.
Slash peace in grief.
I know that you will find thiscourse to be really helpful.
The content is presented incaregiver conversations that are
just frank conversations aboutgrief with caregivers just like
you.
I have video teachings thatinclude information of various
(19:47):
kinds of grief, how griefimpacts your body and your brain
, as well as those processingtools, and then also articles
that you can read.
So a variety of different waysfor you to be able to take in
this information and just beginto process it.
This caregiving thing is tough,but you can choose.
You can choose to have hope andhealing even in the middle of
(20:11):
the grief and pain.
I encourage you to take thetime to check out this course
for just $37.
Again, aseasonofcaringcom.
Slash peace in grief.
Now let's go back to ourconversation with Diana.
So what would be one thing thatyou would share that surprised
you most about caregiving?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I think it's the emotional upheaval and just
every day, every day isdifferent, and some days you're
in the depths of despair andsome days you're just, you know
it's just hard, it's just reallyhard.
And knowing how to adjust eachday because you're in the middle
(20:57):
of doing all of the physicalthings that your loved one needs
.
You're also dealing with yourloved one's emotions and your
own.
You're dealing with all of theresponsibilities, the medical
stuff and the insurance stuffand just getting the supplies
that you need, and juggling allof the different caregivers and
(21:23):
and it's hard, it's really hard.
It is.
And nobody understands that.
One lady that does caregivingwas saying the other day that
nobody really understands untilthey've been there and each
person's situation is different.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
So we have to learn to adjust that.
You know, life will never bethe same, and that's not all bad
.
You know, in addition to themany things that you give up,
you also gain, and so you gain agreater appreciation for each
(22:05):
day, a greater appreciation forlife and for God's promises,
both in this life and for thelife to come.
So your life forever changes,but that's not necessarily it
does.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I agree.
I think that is something wedon't hear enough of and it's
something that I hear from thepeople that reach out from the
podcast.
I don't have a lot of you thatreach out.
I'd love to hear from more ofyou but that how much this helps
them to know I'm not the onlyone, because it's so isolating,
(23:08):
no-transcript the Lord.
And for us to be able to behonest with each other and just
say we don't have the answers,we just love you and we remind
you that God loves you too, eventhough this is hard and even
though this isn't what youthought it would be.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yes, it's important to recognize that we can't do it
on our own forever.
And so, yes, you know, ifinitially you have a lot of
people that are coming in andhelping and responding and all,
and then, when things are sortof stable, you get into this
(23:48):
routine and sometimes you haveto learn to reach out and to say
I need this.
It's hard sometimes for peopleeven to say yes when people
offer help.
We like to be independent.
We like to do things on our ownfor help.
We like to be independent.
(24:08):
We like to do things on our own.
But I've learned over the yearsthat how easy it had maybe not
easy, but it's become easier tosay yes, thank you, I would
appreciate that.
And when this offer is not madeand you see the need, then I've
learned that I need to reachout to a few people that I feel
comfortable doing so and saythis is going on.
(24:31):
Can you pray for it?
Can you come?
Can you help me?
I know when in 2020, whenever myhusband we thought had another
stroke and they had flown him anhour and a half away and so I
was going to be driving to getthere and I thought I don't
(24:51):
trust myself driving right now.
So up to that point, I had beenable to leave home for short
periods of time and he could beokay on his own, be okay on his
own, and so I was going for awalk, and then this young lady
(25:11):
had asked if she and I could doa mentoring kind of thing.
So I was serving as her mentorand then we would have prayer
time together.
So I called her when thishappened and I said are you free
?
And I said are you free, and ifso, could you drive me to
Lexington?
And she said, sure, and she did.
She was there within minutes.
(25:36):
And so we have to learn to reachout and to allow people, to
give them the opportunity tohelp us.
If we enjoy caring for otherpeople, then we know how good
that makes us feel.
So we want to be sure thatwe're not robbing other people
of the blessing of helping us.
A friend asked can we pick upsomething for you for dinner
(26:00):
once or twice a week?
You know, cooking is one of myleast favorite things to do, but
I do it so we don't starve todeath.
And so I said, yes, that wouldbe wonderful.
And you know he's still doingit.
He's still doing it, and morethan just one day.
That's amazing it is.
(26:21):
It is so it's great to havefriends.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
So, diana, your stories you've been able to just
share with us where God showedup for you over and over again.
But is there one more that youwant to share, where it just
really stands out, where heshowed up for you.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Oh, absolutely Throughout all of this.
You know you lose so much andyet it's amazing when we give
God the little threads ofeverything that's going on in
our lives.
It's amazing to see how God canweave all that together in ways
(26:59):
that we would never haveexpected and would probably
never have experienced otherwise.
When I retired from social work, one of my major goals was to
do more international missiontrips.
International missions is mypassion and I loved traveling to
(27:23):
other places and sharing God'slove, especially in areas where
there wasn't a lot of that goingon.
But when my husband wasdiagnosed with a malignant brain
tumor, not only did he lose hisposition as a manager at the
(27:47):
store, but I also lost theability to do international
mission trips anymore.
But God yeah.
Just the Christmas before, afriend of ours from church asked
if we would be interested intaking an international
university student into our homeduring Christmas break.
Supposed to be with us forabout two weeks, she ended up
(28:11):
staying six weeks and it waswonderful.
We loved our time with her andshe started inviting other
friends in to come visit with usand to eat with us.
God has a sense of humor.
We spent most of our time inthe kitchen cooking, eating and
going shopping for groceries.
In the kitchen cooking, eatingand going shopping for groceries
(28:33):
.
And so, even after she leftthen more students.
It just became our thing to dowas to serve as a friendship
family to internationaluniversity students, and our
maximum number was one summer.
They said can we bring all thestudents from Taiwan?
I said sure, and they keptcoming back with well, now we
have this many.
It's like that's okay.
We have this many, that's okay.
We have 39.
That's okay.
(28:57):
So our house is not that big,but we had 39 students from
Taiwan to eat with us one nightand I learned, you know, it's
much harder to cook for 39 thanit is for six or eight.
So, anyway, so we began doingthat and it was like
international ministry from home, because we had students from
(29:19):
all over the world and a lot ofthem had little or no background
in knowledge about Jesus, goingto church, nothing, and so we
just loved on them and thenwould gradually get permission.
You know, we would ask abouttheir beliefs and then request
(29:43):
permission to share our beliefs,and so God just blessed in
amazing ways.
So I thought maybe all thoseinternational mission trips was
just preparation for this.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
God brought them to you.
That is so amazing and so likehim, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
But then after the 2009 episode, then we had to
start cutting back a little biton that and so my heart was
breaking again.
I mean, we didn't cut backcompletely at that point, but we
were cutting back.
But, god, at a KentuckyChristian Writers Conference, I
(30:20):
learned about Christ of theWorld Ministries and how they
were doing radio dramas thatwere translated into multiple
languages, broadcasts all aroundthe world and a lot into areas
with great restrictions.
Missionaries are not allowed,public sharing of your faith in
(30:41):
some areas not allowed, and so Istarted writing radio dramas
for them, and that's nowincreased to question and answer
television programs as well,and you don't get a lot of
feedback from the people thatyou write for, but occasionally
(31:02):
they would get feedback.
And so this one lady from Indiawrote in and she was thanking
the people with the ministry inIndia for the radio dramas and
said, as a result, she and allof her family, including her
sister who was dying with cancer, had become Christians, and she
(31:26):
said she wanted to thank themfor the radio drama series
Knowing the One True God.
I still get chills.
I wrote the series Knowing theOne True God, so I told my
husband.
I said I just realized that I'mreaching more people through my
(31:51):
writing than I could have in alifetime of short-term mission
trips.
So, yeah, a lot of things thatwe could do in the past we can
no longer do, but a lot ofthings that we never did in the
past we're now doing.
And his story, the miracles Godhas worked in my husband's life
(32:17):
, have become stories that we'veshared with so many people.
So God's still at work.
My husband may not be able towork in public employment, but
he's still making a differencein this world.
God's still making a differencethrough him.
So, you know, it's just amatter of waiting and seeing
(32:42):
what God's doing next.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I think that's so true because as caregivers, we
often can stay focused on whatwe can't do anymore.
But God has so many things wenever even dreamed of For me.
I don't enjoy writing, but I'man author.
I mean God brought thatopportunity for me to share our
story and for me to be able towrite it in a way that only my
(33:10):
voice can share and reachcertain people.
And it's just.
It's one of those things that Ialways say I never even knew to
dream of this, much less to askfor it Right.
So I love that about what we canhave planned for us and we just
have to keep looking and keepasking for what we can do and
(33:31):
not be focused, like you said,in the middle of the roller
coaster, be focused on what wecan't, but what do we have and
how can we use that?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
That's amazing, right ?
Yes, just look up and you know,in awe at what God can do, what
God is doing and what he willdo.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, definitely.
So we have one last thing.
What's one little thing you'dlike to share with fellow
caregivers, whether it be at thebeginning of their caregiving
or if they're in the thick ofyears of it?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I'd like for people to know, first of all, what we
just shared that God can takethe hardest things and can use
them and can bless us in spiteof them.
A very, very practical thingthat I'd like for people to
realize is expect that you'regoing to lose sleep, most likely
(34:22):
.
You know sleep loss was one ofthe hardest things for me to
deal with, and so take care ofyourself.
We get so wrapped up in caringfor the other person, and so if
you lose a lot of sleep at night, you may have to take a nap
during the day if the personyou're caring for is asleep.
(34:44):
It's so tempting and to do allthis work that you still haven't
finished, but sometimes yourbody is just saying give me a
break, slow down and take careof yourself.
Take care of yourself.
Do stretches.
Your muscles get tight duringthe day.
(35:04):
Stretch those muscles a littlebit, but don't forget to care
for yourself.
You can't care for others ifyou get down.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
So important.
We say it a lot, but it'sbecause it is so important.
I think sometimes people feellike, oh, keep hearing, take
care of myself, take care ofmyself but it's because we've
been there and we know it isweighing on you and your health
and if you don't pay attentionto it and I think sleep is one
of those things, because so manypeople are worriers they lose
(35:38):
sleep or they wake up in themiddle of the night and can't go
back to sleep it is soimportant to really watch that,
because we're finding more andmore research on how many things
sleep impacts.
We're finding more and moreresearch on how many things
sleep impacts.
So I think that is importantand there's lots of great
resources out there to help yoube able to get back to sleep, to
be able to get those patternsand rhythms in life where you
(35:59):
can establish your sleep.
So I think that's a greatreminder.
Thank you so much for beingwith us today, diana.
It's been wonderful to hearjust how God has blessed you
guys.
I love how your story justtells us the difficult things at
the same time as acknowledgingthat God's been right in the
middle of it with the blessings.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
So thank you, thank you.
I have enjoyed sharing with youand I appreciate the
opportunity.
And for anyone that islistening or watching, just know
that you have people prayingfor you that you don't even know
.
I have a writer friend inMississippi and she has started
doing little reels every weekand she always ends with I'm
(36:39):
praying for you, and so justknow that you're not alone.
God is there.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yes, so important.
Thank you again.
You can find more of Diana'swritings at dianadaringercom,
and you can also find a link toher site and all of her socials
on the show notes page.
So we would love for you tostay connected with her and be
able to enjoy her work.
Thank you for joining us todayfor Stories of Hope with Diana.
A Season of Caring podcast hasbeen created to share stories of
(37:09):
hope for living content, lovingwell and caring without regrets
.
If you have legal, financial ormedical questions, be sure to
consult your local professionalsand take heart in your Season
of Caring.
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