Beware! People Wear Medical ID

This month is an opportunity to make people aware that there are those in the community who wear medical jewellery for many different reasons. Including food allergies, allergies to medication, diabetics, those with epilepsy and other medical conditions they need to alert people. I know of some parents of children with Autism and Asperger's  Spectrum Disorder who purchase ID items for their children so they have the peace of mind knowing that their child has identification and contact information of them when they can't be with them.

I wear medical jewellery I purchased for Emergency ID Australia, because I am unable to have to Codeine administrative due to other medications, In my case alerting someone not to give me codeine is life and death if I am given enough codeine it can result in death.

I am also an epileptic if someone notices me having a seizure and the look for a medical bracelet or necklace then it tells them I have epilepsy and that is highly likely the reason for my seizure. People can have a seizure for other medical reasons such as extremely high fevers or brain tumours so it is helpful for medical personal to know I am a epileptic before trying to work out the cause of a seizure. However my jewellery also provides access to identification and emergency contacts through a 24hr member emergency call centre. Medical personal can call the phone number on my bracelet or necklace and give the operator my membership no. so my medical emergency information given. I have given the company details which I consider vital in an emergency situation including contact information for my next of kin.

As I have shared in my case my medical jewellery has potential to save my life. But imagine if you were in an accident and your personal ID was lost maybe burnt in a car the pull out of just before it busted into flames if can take precious time to identify you. Emergency ID jewellery gives you retrievable ID within minutes. That leaves you with something to think about!

However, because our medical jewellery is designed to look attractive we need to make people aware that people wear medical jewellery and train them to look for it on people needing medical assistance, especially emergency personal, paramedics and hospital ED staff. Wearing medical jewellery alone will not help save our lives it needs to be located.

I am fortunate as I use a wheelchair and was able to put stickers (provided by Emergency ID Australia) on either armrest of my wheelchair. Stickers may be on wallets, handbages, laptop cases, USB or even Emergency ID may be on kids shoe laces. We as a community need become aware of the valuable tools and there potential to save lives.

So BEWARE AND SHOW YOU CARE. If you have read this post it is my prayer that you share it with everyone you know. You may just help save someone's life someday.

On the right tab are the details to the medical jewellery company I used if your interest is purchasing medical ID for yourself.  Click on the ad as I've linked it to their website for you.

       

Outer Beauty Vs Inner Beauty

"Don't choose the one who is beautiful to the world, 

but rather choose the one that makes your world beautiful" 

Chongetch Tumbir

In today's society we are so consumed by appearances. We read the fashion magazines, look at the fashion shows in Pairs and New York, line up for plastic surgery, follow fab diets, buy the right clothes and style our houses. But often inside we feel empty.

As women we are consumed by meeting the expectations and needs of others. Such as our partners and children, that we forget to nurture our interselves. We forget we are more than physical beings.        

It is the people were spend our time with who shape our lives. If we are spending our time with people seeking outer beauty that will be our focus. However, if we choose to spend time with people who invest time in our our inner beauty we will shine form the inside out.

The choice is yours!

Reflections on having epilepsy

There’s a story in the Bible where Jesus heals a man’s son by driving out demons which were throwing the boy on to flames of fire (you can read this in Matthew 17: 14 - 20). It is assumed it look as though the boy was having an epileptic seizures. The message of story is not about healing or Jesus driving out demons to relieve the son of his condition, rather a father’s compassion for his child and his father his father's faith in Jesus' ability to make his son well again.

There is another story in the bible where people are trying to trick Jesus. They ask him teacher who sinned first? What they actually what to know can a child be born with a disability without someone committing a sin or the child’s parents being unceremonially clean. Jesus answered neither the man nor his parents had sinned.

It saddens me that I encounter many Christian who believe that sickness and infirmities are the work of the evil one. People still cast out demons and evil spirits today. I’ve had many `demons’ cast out and apparent filling of the Holy Spirit is the only way to ensure they can’t gain a foot hold. So if a condition is not being caused by demons, as we are assuming their already been casted out, like in the second story it must be cause by unconfessed sin.

Lately I’ve being feeling a little bit ‘marked’ by my epilepsy, unfortunately it’s been coming from people who are trained to help me live with my condition. I experience complex partial seizures, I am fortunate to have warning allowing me to either let people I am with know or get in a safe position if I am by myself. Some people appear as though their waiting to have a seizure. If I don’t do something taxing I won’t have one interesting theory. Others want a big sign on the back of my wheelchair rather than my necklace which is largely unnoticed. It is hard to comprehend that such a common medical condition still has a strong stigma attached.

As a result of a few people wanting to treat me as though I was made of china, my mind wonders back to a time when I was undiagnosed and because I didn’t lose consciousness the ‘turns’ as the were called at the time were not thought to be epileptic. During summer I would have many turns at church. I was visiting a charismatic church one day and was sitting in an area where know one knew me, when I had a seizure. There in the middle of a service people stood praying for my healing in the name of Jesus while I continued to fit. Strangely no one called an ambulance to assist.

It often hurts that people I should be able turn to for support, seem to have many misconceptions about epilepsy. As a Christian I can always count on Jesus. He has always been my rock, personally I don’t think Satin or the emery had any involvement  during the period before my diagnoses, but if the emery did, God allowed it to be. Just as he ultimately had protective hedge around Job and future blessings for him, and I believe he has a protective edge around me.

I am told when someone has a combination of Cerebral Palsy and epilepsy, it is almost impossible to control seizures. However, I rest in peace in the knowledge, that like Job I don’t see the big picture, but because Job’s story was recorded in the Bible I am assured of God’s protection.

I look forward with eager anticipation to the day I meet Jesus face to face and he totally restores my body.  

As wise woman once told me God created her and He doesn’t create junk. So I guess that leaves me just as broken as the next person.                 

By Jesus Stripes We are Healed

"But he was wounded for our transgressions,

 he was bruised for our iniquities;

 the chastisement of our peace was upon him; 

and with his stripes we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

I believe Isaiah 53:5 is on of the most misquoted and misinterpreted bible verse amongst those who attend Pentecostal churches today. Isaiah 53 is describing to torture that Jesus Christ endured on his walk towards Calgary. What kept Jesus walking despite the humiliation, pain and exhaustion (remember Jesus because too weak to carry his cross) was his unconditional love for us.

He loved us so much that even when it was becoming physically impossible he continued on his journey towards the cross. Not because of any laws he had broken, but because you and I had broken the laws and not kept his commandments. The Scriptures tells us, we are like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way. Jesus’ road to the cross was all about restoring us to right relationship with God.

His last words were ‘it is finished’. His work on earth was completed and could not be added too. Yet today so many Christians want to add to his perfectly completed work. They see the evidence of us living in a fallen world, pain, sickness, crime and natural disasters. Some chose to see this as Satin’s on going work.

Satin was defeated on the cross by Christ. Jesus said, it was finished! Not go forth and complete the work I have done. The way I see it is Jesus restored us to right relationship with our heavenly Father, but the physical restoration of our bodies and the earth can only be done through a total replacement. The kingdom in all its fullness is yet to come and Jesus himself told us he will return to bring in His new Kingdom, where every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Right this minute millions around the world deny his very existence and worship false gods, which is a far cry form where every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  . Perfection, that is  a world void of suffering requires total submission to Jesus. However there are many Christians to day clam that as believers we should be free of sickness and decease. Quoting the last part of Isaiah 53:5 with his stripes we are (physically) healed’

I know this from my own personal experience. As some who has multiple disabilities and suffers chronic illness, there is never a shortage of people praying for and claiming my healing and yet I sit here struggling to type aware of all my physical limitations. I have confessed all unconfessed sins, had demons driven out, blood tires cut and family cruses broken. Sadly some chose to hang their heads in shame, because I act like I’m not healed.

Still others have said, I am healed I just need to claim that otherwise I am calling God a liar. Sadly I believe these people have missed the sacrificial love spoken about in this verse. The beauty of this verse is it tells me about the few short hours Jesus experienced many if not all of the limitations I now face. I serve a God who know how I physical feel, because for a few short hours in history he chose to carry the sins of the world on his shoulders.

I believe the true meaning and beauty of this verse is God of the universe identify with me and reading this verse allows me to fully identify with him. Through his stripes I was restore into right relationship with him for eternity. I am healed indeed!      

I Count! You Count!

Have you read my words at the to of the page. 'Online' Expresses who I am and how I present myself online. You to have a choice how you present yourself online. 'The good, the bad, and the ugly'. Debbie's discussions are my opportunity to express my views through the written word. They say 'The Pen is mightier that the sword'. Due to my disabilities I often feel unheard, under valued and unworthy. But today I want to say, YOU COUNT AND SO DO I! You have one vote and I have one vote, both count equally. It is time in Australia everybody had access to the same quality of life, however sadly if you have a disability or care for someone with a disability;  come from a non English speaking background or are an Indigenous Australia access to essential services such as health care and support services are hard to obtain.