Live from Music Row here in Nashville, Tennessee, this is Hope for the Caregiver, the nation's number one show for the family caregiver.
I am Peter Rosenberger, bringing you three decades of experience as a caregiver to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not. How do we do with it? We offer a well-lit path to safety where caregivers can take a knee, catch the breath, and start developing healthy strategies to live calmer and more productively and healthier and even more joyful in the midst of this journey. It can be done. It's not easy. It takes a lot of work, and it takes a team around you. It takes connecting with the community, and that's why we do the show. And we're so glad that you're a part of it. If you want to be a part of the show, you want to call the show 800-688-9522.
800-688-9522. You can follow along on Facebook Live if you want at Hope for the Caregiver on Facebook. Our Twitter handle is Hope4Caregiver. Our podcast is the Hope for the Caregiver podcast.
We've got a theme here going, and it's free. We put all the shows out there. Our YouTube channel is Hope for the Caregiver.
Everything we're doing is about strengthening that family caregiver, and our website is Hopeforthecaregiver.com. And we want you to be a part of this. We want you to engage. We are bringing a message to you. We're bringing information to you with great guests and all sorts of things to help you stay in a place of healthiness. You know, healthy caregivers make better caregivers. I've been doing this since Reagan. I'm on my sixth president as a caregiver, and I've learned some things through this journey. And so that's what this is all about here. I've got a new book that's coming out.
It's called Seven Caregiver Landmines. It hits bookstores this week. It's available at all the dot coms right now. But you'll be able to actually get it in bookstores this week, and I'm very excited about it. It's a great reference book, a little book that you can carry with you. It's a pocket-sized book.
It'll fit in your purse or whatever. When you go to the hospital, when you go into hospice or nursing homes or wherever, if you just want to just pick it up any page, you turn to any page, there's something right there that will help you. I promise you this.
I still tested it on me, and I'm still a caregiver through a medical nightmare. For those of you just now joining, who've never heard of the show before, you're listening across the Truth Network or the Salem Radio Network is distributing the show across the country. We're on from Alaska to Florida. And if you're just now joining, you know, a show for caregivers? Really?
Yeah, really. And I've been a caregiver for my wife, excuse me, it's that time in Tennessee through a medical nightmare that has blossomed up to now that I can count 80 surgeries and another 80, 90, 100 smaller procedures, at least 90 doctors. It's getting hard to count those. 12 different hospitals, seven different insurance companies, and well over now $10 million. And it just keeps going. Multiple amputations.
I mean, it doesn't have any sign of slowing down. And in that journey, I've learned a few things, pretty much all of it the hard way, but I have learned it and I'm the crash test dummy of caregivers. But this show is designed to help bring us together so we can build each other up, strengthen each other along the way. I don't need to be reminded on how to deal with doctors. Done it, got it. It's no big deal. I can show you that. We move on to the next topic. I don't need to be reminded on how to deal with insurance companies. Those aren't the landmines that I struggle with. And that's, that's in my new book. No, no, no, no. There are other things that we as caregivers need to learn how to deal with that can really hurt us.
They could bang us up pretty badly. And that's what we spend some time on this show talking about. And we need to be reminded of those things every single day because we forget things. Speaking of forgetting things, I need to introduce you to the producer of the show. He's the man you've come to know and love. He's the Baron of the born, the Sultan of the Sound, the Earl of Engineering, the man who put the word count into Florida recount.
He is the Count of Mighty Disco, John Butler, everyone. Look, I don't want to hear one thing about hanging chads or... I got a buddy of mine named Chad that's watching us right now. Oh, I'm sorry, Chad. That like, yeah, the 2000 election just ruined this country for you, I bet. All I know is they finally got it fixed and Al Gore is now president.
Okay, gotcha. I don't know anything. That's all we know.
All I know is that they got it fixed and I wish they could find my tax return. I am really stunned by how badly they get this down there. I mean, here in Tennessee, we got this thing...
It is the Australia of America. I mean... We got this thing nailed down here in Tennessee. I mean... Yeah, they find all the votes before the... Yeah, we got it. I was looking at other states that have even more people. They got it.
Did you hear anything like this from New York? We don't need to be so hard on Florida. Yeah, we do. No, they're... Yeah, they kind of earned this one. Okay, all right. They kind of earned this. Let's do family now. They're 0 for 2 here, okay?
And they need to get it together down there. I don't know what the problem is. How hard is it to count? You need to go down there. You are the count.
I am, actually. Again, though, I was told there would be no math, you know? My goodness, bless their hearts. There ain't a pill for what they got going on down there. But anyway, we got to get to a lot of things here. Jon, I've got something I want to go after. Yeah, you know, speaking of things that are on topic.
Yes. And that comes later on in the show. You'll hear that. But 800-688-9522, if you want to be on the show. The caregiver tip of the day.
Our caregiver tip of the day is one that I've been kind of stewing on a while. And I will swerve back into politics, but not for the reasons you think. Okay, good. Hold that dial. You ever watch public figures, particularly politicians, who get caught saying something, and then they come out and they say, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.
Oh, man. Don't you hate that? I do. One of the things I've learned as a caregiver, now you need to understand, I have a lot more experience at this than what I'm about to say than most of you ever will. And that's learning how to make apologies. I think you know I have a lot of experience at that. And I've learned over the years that you really, it's helpful to own it and to not try to in any way dress it up.
It is what it is. And if you say, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, then you're really not apologizing at all. I hate it when people do that to me. What do you mean you're sorry if you hurt my feelings? Did you say something offensive or not? You know what I'm saying? Does that track with you all? Because I've had that happen way too many times.
I've watched it with people get on television. I'm sorry if anybody was offended by what I said, whatever. No. Own what you say that is offensive. And I think we don't want people to do that to us, but I think sometimes we have to lead by example. And as caregivers, we don't need to own something that doesn't belong to us, but we do need to own our own stuff.
And that helps kind of diffuse a lot of things. Now, if you've got somebody in your life that you're taking care of with dementia, or they are struggling cognitively, they can't really do it, but you've done something that was wrong, you can own it between you and God then. If they can't process what you've done, you can still own it between you and God. Don't justify anything that we do that is hurtful, that is inappropriate. And I think if we do that, you'll find that it eases a lot of tension in our own life.
And it also sets the table of how people are going to treat us, of what we will accept and we will not accept. Because I could tell you that when I, in my many, many years of apologies to my wife, which there have been numerous, I have made, I have forgotten more apologies than most of you all will have to make. I was going to say, you've probably got a degree in this. I have apologized a lot and I will still, I will yet have to do it. But I noticed that with her, when I look at her and I say, you know what, this is on me.
I did this. There's no, I'm sorry but, I'm sorry if. There is, you know what, this is on me.
I own it. And I don't always get that right, but now I know where the road is, where the path is. And I think if we can do that in our own life, we'll train other people around us to do the same thing and we won't accept anything short of that.
Because I don't know about you, but I just can't take another politician going out on television and say, I'm sorry if anyone was offended by my offensive remarks. I mean, I just can't take that anymore. It just frustrates me. And I thought, okay, well, let's do something about it here as a group of caregivers. Let's go ahead and start owning our stuff. Now don't own more than is your stuff. Don't apologize for someone else. Don't apologize for other people's behavior. You don't own that. You only get your own thoughts, words and deeds.
Okay. So that's our caregiver tip of the day brought to you by Standing With Hope, standingwithhope.com. And that is the presenting sponsor of this show for the wounded and those who care for them. We have two programs, a prosthetic limb outreach to my wife's fellow amputees that she started many, many years ago in West Africa. And then this caregiver outreach to the family caregiver for the wounded and those who care for them. Standingwithhope.com. This is the time of year when you're thinking about an end of year gift or whatever, this is the place to do it.
You'll love what you see at this ministry. And also if you order stuff from Amazon, you can go to smile.amazon.com. Anything you ordered, you could direct it to Standing With Hope.
Amazon will give a portion of that Standing With Hope. Let's squeeze in a quick call to Stu in North Carolina. Stu? Hey Peter, I love the show.
I'm with a young man here who's about to go in for major knee surgery on Tuesday. His name is James. He's from Africa.
He's an amazing basketball player. We just want to call, he's hearing about you talking about all the share giving and your amazing testimony with your wife. James, say hi to Peter.
Hello James. When is the surgery? Tuesday. I'm sorry, when is the surgery? Tuesday. Tuesday, okay. Well, are you ready?
Yeah, I'm ready. Who's taking care of you after surgery? Stu. Well, then we really need to pray. Stu, are you up for this? Well, he's got it awesome. His mom, he's got some wonderful family. He's got a lot of support. But it's also one of those things where there's so many people that care about him, we don't want something to slip through the cracks. We don't want someone to think someone's taking care of him and helping with his therapy that's not. So we're going to get your advice on the best way to really kind of schedule this and make sure we really want to take care of him. Well, in my vast experiences as a caregiver post-surgery for my wife, it always helps to have a list of who's doing what and when they're doing it. Let's get a list. Get a list and then have one person be the holder of the list and the dispenser of the list information.
All right, get a list. James, all the best to you. Lord bless you.
Do this. We're going to just pray for you, believe that it's all going to come out just fine. And Stu, thanks for the call. Hey, this is Hope for the Caregiver. This is the nation's number one show for the family caregiver. We're glad you're with us. 800-688-9522.
We'll be right back with today's Senior Moment. Here's some great news. If you missed the deadline to sign up for health insurance or if you signed up for a plan you're not happy with, you still have a choice. MediShare is a health care sharing program.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians are part of this. It can save you a lot. Typical savings for a family is about 500 bucks a month. You can join MediShare anytime. It's easy to call and look into it.
There's no pressure at all. And man, what a difference it can make. 855-25-SHARE.
That's 855-25-SHARE. Have you ever struggled to trust God when lousy things happen to you? I'm Gracie Rosenberger and in 1983, I experienced a horrific car accident leading to 80 surgeries and both legs amputated. I questioned why God allowed something so brutal to happen to me.
But over time, my questions changed and I discovered courage to trust God. That understanding along with an appreciation for quality prosthetic limbs led me to establish Standing with Hope. For more than a dozen years, we've been working with the government of Ghana and West Africa, equipping and training local workers to build and maintain quality prosthetic limbs for their own people. On a regular basis, we purchase and ship equipment and supplies.
And with the help of inmates in a Tennessee prison, we also recycle parts from donated limbs. All of this is to point others to Christ, the source of my hope and strength. Please visit standingwithhope.com to learn more and participate in lifting others up. That's standingwithhope.com. I'm Gracie and I am standing with hope. Hey, welcome back to the show for caregivers about caregivers hosted by caregiver.
I am Peter Rosenberger bringing you three decades of experience to help you get right back to where you started from. Thank you for that count of mighty disco. I was jamming out. You are. Listen, 800-688-9522.
A lot to talk about today. Earlier, just last segment, we had our caregiver tip of the day, which is to own your own own apology. Don't don't try to say, I'm sorry if it hurts your feelings. I'm sorry if or I'm sorry but. Just don't qualify it.
Just own it. I read some article about the structure of an effective and heartfelt apology and a big part of it is it's heartfelt. Do you know what's inspired this caregiver tip of the day? What's that? Saturday Night Live last night. Oh. Did you see that?
I read an article about it this morning. Well, I thought, you know, Pete Davidson insulted. His name is Pete Davidson, right? I believe so. Somebody on staff at SNL.
They lost me at Bill Murray's. But it's a he really was a tasteless joke at the expense of a wounded vet who lost an eye. And then last night the guy came on the show.
Yeah. And Pete Davidson was the guy that got all the heat from it. But there were there are other writers and there are other people involved. They probably should have all owned it.
Yeah, there should have been a check on that. And it was, look, it's Pete did it. And the guy came on and he said, you know, we good, we good, you know, and they did it right there in front of everybody. And I thought, that's how you do it. He just owned it. He said, man, it was, you know, I'm sorry.
And unqualified. And that's how you do it. So anyway, that's I think if we start doing that ourselves, then we'll be able to better help others do it for us when we need them to and not accept anything short of that. Exactly. Don't accept it. Do not feel this need to make other people feel better about their mistakes. Let them own it because that's how they learn.
And just same thing with us. I got to own it. I got to feel it. I got to feel the weight of what I've done and hopefully learn from it. And like I said, I've got lots more experience in it and apologies that all of you all come by. Exactly. Well, and a big part of that, like what we're saying is from where you're starting on this, you're not starting the apology to say, hey, I want you to feel better about it. You're starting the apology from the position of honest contrition. I recognize that I have caused you pain.
Yep. And I want to make amends for that. The word I'm sorry has become a little bit diluted. But anyway, so I thought on Saturday Night Live, I thought, wow, that was good. That was very good. It was worth to read that. I didn't see it.
I just read about it too. But I thought, wow, that's good. Classy move.
All right. Let's go to today's Senior Moment. Today's Senior Moment is brought to you by Morning Point Senior Living and Memory Care Center, morningpoint.com.
And that's point with an E. And I want you to go to the website right now and just see how spectacular they are. I had a treat this week from Morning Point. They gave me a double chocolate cheesecake. I was able to have some of that.
What landmine is that? That was a double chocolate cheesecake landmine. And I thought, wow, the food at this place is really good. I'm just a little shout out because I had some of that double chocolate cheesecake and I was thinking, well, okay. Well, we had some culinary people on from them once. Yes, we did. And we talked about, they have a lot of farm to table stuff and well-fed people are happy people. Oh yeah. And you know, you can't just eat broccoli and nuts. And double chocolate cheesecake.
All the time. You have to have double chocolate cheesecake, but it was good. So I want to give a shout out to morningpoint.com, P-O-I-N-T-E. But today's senior moment was brought to you by them and inspired by Gracie because she gave me one today and she said, you need to do my, this is my, I got today's senior moment for you. And it is to, are you ready for this, John? Stay on message.
Now why would she tell you? Go figure. And I'm watching on Facebook live and I just saw little hearts going up on Facebook. Oh yeah. Stay on message. But you know, that is such a great piece of advice.
Gracie, thank you for that. Stay on message. And that's how we keep from getting out into the weeds and getting off track and getting pulled into things and arguments and conversations that just, we just don't need. Stay on message. What are you about? What are you here to accomplish?
What's going on? And one of the things I've really enjoyed about this show, John, in the now five and a half years we've been doing this, if you can believe that, is that we have stayed on message with this. We are here to strengthen the family caregiver. Now we will swerve into something else periodically, but not very often. Well, and a little bit of that, just like what we talk about, you know, taking care of yourself means you're, is ultimately taking care of the person, your loved one, is that you, if you're, if you're constantly, we can, we could read off text the entire show and it would be fine.
Yes. It would deliver the information. But we don't, in fact, when I first started doing the show, here at WLAC and now the show of course is gone national, but they said, don't ever script your show. And I looked at it and I said, well, that's not going to be a problem.
That's in the rear view mirror there, bud. But even though we don't script it, we stay on message. And that's today's senior moment. Can you stay on message for what you're about, what you're trying to do with your loved one, with your job, with whatever else is going on, but stay on message. Don't get pulled off into these sidebar areas that can really drag you down and clutter. You've got enough clutter going on in your life as a caregiver.
Let's reduce that and stay on point. Hey, listen, we'll be right back talking with author speaker, Jackie Shepherd. She's going to bring us some, some great Intel on dealing with the, the, the stress of the holiday season going into this and what it can do for us with flus and colds, all those kinds of things help us keep healthy. Don't go away. 800-688-9522. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is hope for the caregiver.
We'll be right back. Here's some great news. If you miss the deadline to sign up for health insurance, or if you signed up for a plan you're not happy with, you still have a choice. MediShare is a healthcare sharing program.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians are part of this. It can save you a lot. Typical savings for a family is about 500 bucks a month. You can join MediShare anytime. It's easy to call and look into it.
There's no pressure at all. And man, what a difference it can make. 855-25-SHARE.
That's 855-25-SHARE. Have you ever struggled to trust God when lousy things happened to you? I'm Gracie Rosenberger, and in 1983 I experienced a horrific car accident leading to 80 surgeries and both legs amputated. I questioned why God allowed something so brutal to happen to me.
But over time, my questions changed and I discovered courage to trust God. That understanding along with an appreciation for quality prosthetic limbs led me to establish Standing with Hope. For more than a dozen years, we've been working with the government of Ghana and West Africa, equipping and training local workers to build and maintain quality prosthetic limbs for their own people. On a regular basis, we purchase and ship equipment and supplies.
And with the help of inmates in a Tennessee prison, we also recycle parts from donated limbs. All of this is to point others to Christ, the source of my hope and strength. Please visit standingwithhope.com to learn more and participate in lifting others up. That's standingwithhope.com. I'm Gracie, and I am Standing with Hope. This is Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to have you with us.
800-688-9522. We're all about strengthening the family caregiver. We look at physically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, professionally, every way we can to help that caregiver stay strong. And we're going into a time of year where it's incredibly stressful for caregivers. The holidays are very stressful. I've told you over and over, my favorite holiday is Arbor Day.
You plant a tree, you water it, say a prayer, you walk away, leave it to God. You know what my favorite holiday is? You should know this. Halloween. April Fool's Day. But the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and Hanukkah and New Year's and everything, this pretty much is going to be rough all the way through until about after President's Day.
I usually say about epiphany is when... And I usually give up my New Year's resolutions for Lent. Hey! Hey! Okay. Don't quit your jade. But it's a stressful time for us. And so I've got a very good friend of mine, she's been on the show before, and I've just come to really rely on her insights and advice to share with us ways that we can push back against this.
The stress that we live as caregivers weaken us already. So Jackie Shepherd. Jackie, you with us? I'm here, Peter. Jackie's gone in from Kansas City, and she is the author of Silent Takeover, How the Body Hijacks the Mind.
And Jackie, you've spent a lifetime studying this and watching this and observing this in your own life. You were principal of a school. Yeah, you were principal of a school, weren't you? Well, worse than that, Peter, I was founder and director.
Oh, even worse. And so you watched the way students, the way their eating habits and everything else affected their ability to learn and so forth. And I thought, wow, the stress that happens with us as caregivers has got to affect us and weaken our ability to do a lot of things.
So talk about that a little bit. Well, Peter, I believe from just watching my friends who have been caregivers that they are under more stress than practically anyone. And that might include high school teachers, which is a pretty stressful life, because you're not just having to take care of someone you love, but you're also trying to take care of yourself so that you can take care of that person.
You're absolutely right. As we move into the holiday season, it just gets worse. From about Thanksgiving through New Year's is, for most people, the most stressful time of the year. I'm going to change the name of that song, by the way. It's the most stressful time of the year.
I mean, it is. It is a horrific ... Gracie and I are going to do something different. We'll talk about that another day. This Christmas, we're doing something for ourselves different to avoid some of that, because we try to cram surgeries into it. It's colder.
The traffic, everything about it is just nerve grating. And so you've spent so much time documenting all these things, what it does, and then you talk about the way we approach food, the way we approach life, everything else. Delve into that. Let's go deep into those waters. Okay.
Well, let's talk just a minute before I go, you know, Peter, you know me. Most of the teachings I do is on the body. Let me talk just a minute about the emotional stress that begins to put such a toll on our bodies that it affects everyone around us. And I think one of the reasons that holiday stress is so hard on us is because as we approach them, a lot of times it's with expectations. We can't meet everyone's expectations, and more than anything, we usually can't meet our own. Also, there are regrets, memories of past holidays, lost family members.
Good memories, yes, but also some pretty bad memories adding to that financial pressure. And then, how does this affect us? Well, most of us, as we move into the holiday season, we have times of great festivities which involves overeating. And that overeating, a lot of times, involves sugar.
So I'm going to take a minute to talk about that, and then I want to talk about some things that might help us. The reason that sugar is so bad for us—delicious, yes, I confess. If I could, I'd eat it.
I'd eat it all. The reason it's so bad for us is it actually makes our white blood cells—now, there are good guys, our soldiers in our body. The white blood cells are supposed to be out there killing germs and taking care of us. Eating sugar—for example, a liter of just any soda—will make our blood cells 40 percent less effective at killing germs. It also suppresses the immune system for five hours.
Now, that's a pretty long time, so you eat a piece of something really yummy—let's say it's a double chocolate cake. No, let's don't say that. Let's don't say that. Let's just—let's don't say that.
Let's say it's something else. And your immune system is suppressed for five hours. And how it does this, Peter, is it actually—that sugar blocks the receptors that vitamin C should be going in. And what does vitamin C do for us?
Its job is to destroy bacteria and viruses. It prevents scurvy. I know that. We don't want any scurvy up here, John. That's right.
And you have to watch out for that, you know. The more sugar that we eat, the less vitamin C we can utilize in our body. And Peter, one more thing on that note—and that includes fruit juice. And so many times people start their day with a big old glass of eight ounces of orange juice. Delicious.
True. Maybe it is organic. Maybe it's from good old Florida citrus.
Maybe they should have been working more in the citrus these last few months. But a third of orange juice, just a third of a cup of orange juice, depresses the immune system. So eat those oranges and eat those grapefruits instead of drinking the juice. So Peter, the emotional stress just contributes to all of our nutritional decisions. And in order to make good decisions, we have to recognize that we are body, soul, and spirit. And we also have to recognize that we probably can't do it now with just diet and exercise, especially caregivers. I cannot imagine how they can eat proper diets and get the exercise they need to be healthy.
So they're going to have to add other things for the health they need. That's one of the things you and I have talked about for a while. You put me on something that I've been doing for some time. I try to get away from a lot of prescription things. I've cut those out and watching all the things that I eat. And you've helped me do this a lot for about a year now, a little over a year, I guess.
And I have found some pretty good success with this. But what is it doing for me? I still don't quite know all the science on this thing. What is it doing for me? What am I accomplishing with this?
Am I rebuilding something or am I supplementing something or both? You're doing all of the above because it's like flipping a switch. Most of us know what dimmer switches are in a house. We also know what the fuse box is. So if you flip the fuse box, of course you're no longer alive. But that dimmer switch seems to get dimmer and dimmer as we age and as our bodies decline.
So the beautiful thing is that there are certain herbs and plants that at certain proportions, certain formulas, can turn that dimmer switch back to bright light. So the one that, Peter, that I recommended to you and that I recommend to everyone actually, well I would say almost everyone, is what we call an NRF2 cell activator. Very quickly, not a long science lesson here, cells communicate with cells. Damaged DNA signals I'm damaged. And when it signals that, the other cells are supposed to respond with what the damaged DNA needs to be repaired. It's also designed to upregulate survival genes so that they'll get in there and do their job. But the signaling pathway is this NRF2 activation. It's cell to cell.
And if that's not strong enough in your body, the good guys are not called to go get rid of the bad guys. So yes, the supplement that I recommended to you, it upregulates some extremely important things in your body. Probably number one, it upregulates glutathione. Now as we're moving into the cold season, clinical trials are showing that when you can upregulate glutathione, not necessarily take it but make your body make more. The stats are 25% of the people who were, well there was a clinical trial where people were actually injected with the flu virus. Those who had been able to upregulate the glutathione, only 25% of them got the flu. And the group that did not have the glutathione upregulation, 79% got it. There's actually another clinical trial that says if you can upregulate this little signaling pathway, getting that little trumpet blown in essence, the flu virus cannot live.
Doesn't mean you can't catch it, but it means it can't live. So the stress is damaging us, the environments with it, and then our diet, all these things are just compounding to work against us. And in the past when we've gone to any type of nutraceuticals or things like that, I've always looked at people that didn't shampoo their hair and wore Birkenstocks a lot that were into that. And now that's becoming a little bit more- Look, just tag me in the post next time.
Just tag me. But now that's becoming a little bit more mainstream in our society. We realize you know what, all these chemicals we've been putting in our bodies that pharmaceutical companies have been pumping at us and everything else are not really doing the work for us that we think they are, that we hope they are, that we're paying for them to do. And we end up creating more and more problems with this. And so I think there's an educated population of the society now that's saying, you know what, we're going to have to turn back to a little bit more natural things to start building up our bodies. This is what you've done with me.
And I'm not going to say that I'm smarter or anything else because I have too many people lined up that would disagree, but I have seen some real improvement in my life. And these, what are they, NRF, what do you call those? Nerf blockers or something? Well, the NRF too is such a long word you don't even want to hear it. But the letters are just, the scientific term is shortened and it's just a signaling pathway. But Oxford University says that this little pathway is the key to health and longevity. So you're feeling better because your cells are getting more and more production of enzymes back to the level of your youth.
We decline 10% every decade with the good guys. That's why aging actually occurs as well as chronic health. So if you can, in essence, by giving your body one little pill a day, cause your body to be able to make more of the things that you need to stay healthy physically and mentally and emotionally, then you're in a better position to help other people as well as yourself.
Well, this is what I have done. I don't like to talk about anything that I don't do myself, that I use myself as a guinea pig. And I've actually used Gracie on this one as a guinea pig, which is, that's even higher on the list.
And you know, the results speak. She's cutting a new record. She just got back from Africa. She's going on television. She does a lot of things.
She's being more and more active than she's been in the last decade. And the surgeries haven't necessarily stopped with her or the challenges because her body is so broken, but that's architecturally, internally and mentally what it's done for both of us. I'd like to say, John, I've improved mentally. Can I say that, John?
I have many, many lengthy logs and statistics on this. So, you know, but I think the overall wellbeing of this, and it's not, there's not, there's no kind of magic bullet, but I think there is a point where we're shoring up things for me as a caregiver with the stress that's on me, for Gracie with the stress that's on her with chronic pain. We've seen that with this particular path that you've taken us on, Jackie.
We're up against a hard break, Jackie. Hang on for that. Great news. If you missed the deadline to sign up for health insurance, or if you signed up for a plan you're not happy with, you still have a choice. MediShare is a healthcare sharing program.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians are part of this. It can save you a lot. Typical savings for families, about 500 bucks a month. You can join MediShare anytime. It's easy to call and look into it.
There's no pressure at all, and man, what a difference it can make. 855-25-SHARE. That's 855-25-SHARE. Have you ever struggled to trust God when lousy things happen to you? I'm Gracie Rosenberger, and in 1983, I experienced a horrific car accident leading to 80 surgeries and both legs amputated. I questioned why God allowed something so brutal to happen to me, but over time, my questions changed, and I discovered courage to trust God. That understanding, along with an appreciation for quality prosthetic limbs, led me to establish Standing with Hope. For more than a dozen years, we've been working with the government of Ghana and West Africa, equipping and training local workers to build and maintain quality prosthetic limbs for their own people.
On a regular basis, we purchase and ship equipment and supplies, and with the help of inmates in a Tennessee prison, we also recycle parts from donated limbs. All of this is to point others to Christ, the source of my hope and strength. Please visit standingwithhope.com to learn more and participate in lifting others up.
That's standingwithhope.com. I'm Gracie, and I am standing with hope. Welcome back to the show. For Caregivers About Caregivers, hosted by a caregiver, I am Peter Rosenberger, bringing you three decades of experience to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not. Part of that is learning what works for you, how to help shore that up. We just had a great conversation with Jackie Shepherd, author of Silent Takeover, how the body hijacks the mind.
Jackie, I had to cut you off real quick because we were going to a break. Tell me this. Best way to get in touch with us through this email, gettingstrongnowatoutlook.com. Is that correct?
That's right. Getting Strong Now. And I'm going to post this, by the way, on our podcast, and it's a free podcast we have. We'll put it out there on our social media pages as well, on Twitter, and our Facebook page is hopeforthecaregiver.com.
Just one more thing. We're just putting it out there for fellow caregivers to take advantage of. All I can tell you is, this is what I'm doing. And I've been a caregiver now for 30 something years through a pretty significant medical journey. And so this is what I'm doing. This is the results I'm getting.
I'm seeing better numbers for blood work, all that kind of stuff. And I'm pushing myself hard to be able to better equip myself for the journey. And Gracie's doing this for herself as well. With all of her stuff that's going on, just go take a look at standingwithhope.com and see the pictures of Gracie.
Judge for yourself. If it works for Gracie, it's going to be helpful to just about anybody. But Jackie, I want you to know how much I appreciate you coming on the show. And Sharon, we're going to have you back.
I'd love to. Thank you so much, Peter. Thanks for giving hope to so many people.
Well, thank you. And the book is called Silent Takeover, How the Body Hijacks the Mind. We've got to be smart against this. With the stress that we have and the things that we have in our lives, we've got to play smart as caregivers.
Hey, it's been a great show. There's more that you could see at standingwithhope.com. Get involved with what we're doing.
It's for the wounded and those who care for them. We started a prosthetic limb outreach and now we've expanded that to the family caregiver. And you can be a part of what's going on there with our prosthetic limb recycling. We're getting ready to ship over some more supplies to West Africa and they're waiting on them.
We're going to ship them hopefully this week or first of next, we'll get them in the air. And we recycled the parts for prosthetic limbs through a partnership we have with CoreCivic over in Nashville. And inmates at a prison that they run disassemble used prosthetic limbs so that we can take the parts like the knees, the feet, the pylon, the adapters, the connectors, sometimes even the screws.
And we'll ship all that over there. And then on site in Ghana, working with Ghana Health Service workers over there will then take those materials and we'll fabricate a brand new leg for those patients and use those recycled materials to help get them walking and leaping and praising God. It is an extraordinary ministry envisioned by my wife laying in a hospital bed following the amputation of her remaining leg.
She'd already lost her first one four years prior. Then here she is as a double amputee and she said, I'm going to put legs on my fellow amputees and we're going to tell them about Jesus. And that's what we do. So you can be a part of helping that at standingwithhope.com. We'll put this show out there. You can subscribe to the podcast out there, my new book, Seven Caregiver Landmines.
It's available in stores this week and all the dot coms. And John, guess what? What's that, buddy? I'll be with Mike Huckabee on Tuesday evening. We'll be taping the show and it'll be broadcast next weekend. Okay.
So by this time next week, and then last week I was on with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business News. That's great. You didn't see that, did you? No, I didn't. You should have. They told me they're going to give me five minutes. They gave me two. And then Steve Forbes challenged me.
You got to go see it. See how I did with a former presidential candidate. I sparred, John. But I think I did okay. Well, you both have great hair.
Yes, we do. And I didn't embarrass her or anything. Well, I think that threshold is mighty low. I was going to say. All right.
Listen, we're out of time. Hope for the Caregiver is more than just a show name. It is a conviction that you, me, we can all live as caregivers, a calmer, healthier, and even more joyful life.
Hope for the caregiver. That is our mission here. And we thank you for joining us. There's so much more at standingwithhope.com.
Would you just take advantage of it? Subscribe to the podcast. It's free. Get our newsletter. We send out all wonderful kinds of things out there. Gracie will write articles and so forth. Look at the blog.
There's music. There's books. We put it there. Would you take advantage of it and get involved in what we're doing? Be a part of this.
Standingwithhope.com. We'll see you next week. We've got lots to go next week as well. Today's a great day to start being healthy.
Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. This is Peter Rosenberg. We'll see you next week.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-21 21:33:41 / 2024-01-21 21:51:19 / 18