A Conference Talk given by Elder Patrick Kearon, of the Seventy, to the Priesthood of our Church, has once again, spoken to my heart. In his talk he tells a story, to which I have a very personal connection.
He says:
"As a seven-year-old boy living in the Arabian Peninsula, I was consistently told by my parents to always wear my shoes, and I understood why. I knew that shoes would protect my feet against the many threats to be found in the desert, such as snakes, scorpions, and thorns. One morning after a night’s camping in the desert, I wanted to go exploring, but I did not want to bother with putting on my shoes. I rationalized that I was only going for a little wander and I would stay close by the camp. So instead of shoes, I wore flip-flops. I told myself that flip-flops were shoes—of a sort. And anyway, what could possibly happen?
As I walked along the cool sand—in my flip-flops—I felt something like a thorn going into the arch of my foot. I looked down and saw not a thorn but a scorpion. As my mind registered the scorpion and I realized what had just happened, the pain of the sting began to rise from my foot and up my leg. I grabbed the top of my leg to try and stop the searing pain from moving farther, and I cried out for help. My parents came running from the camp.
As my father battered the scorpion with a shovel, an adult friend who was camping with us heroically tried to suck the venom from my foot. At this moment I thought that I was going to die. I sobbed while my parents loaded me into a car and set off across the desert at high speed toward the nearest hospital, which was over two hours away. The pain all through my leg was excruciating, and for that entire journey, I assumed that I was dying.
When we finally reached the hospital, however, the doctor was able to assure us that only small infants and the severely malnourished are threatened by the sting of that type of scorpion. He administered an anesthetic, which numbed my leg and took away any sensation of pain. Within 24 hours I no longer had any effects from the sting of the scorpion. But I had learned a powerful lesson."
I too, learned a powerful lesson, early Thursday morning, as I sat on the cold hard floor of the bathroom, throwing up my most recently taken lithium. I had been advised to daily drink a lot of water when taking lithium. 10-12 glasses of water, instead of the normal 8-10. This is because Lithium works right away, and then has to be filtered through your kidneys. If there is not enough water in your system, well, now I know what happens.
It all started so innocently, like with Elder Kearon. I have been on lithium before, for six months even, and never really needed to increase my water intake and I had been fine. This time was different. I was on a different type of lithium: easkalith, that is a time release. Because of the change in medicine and weather I had been feeling sick in the mornings and not eaten anything that morning or for the previous week in the mornings. As I got out of the car, to go to the Pumpkin Patch for Asher's Preschool Field Trip, I noticed my water bottle in the cup holder. I felt a strong sense of urgency that I should take the water with me. I mistakenly thought to myself "No one else is carrying water bottles. I won't either." Therein laid my mistake. No one else had not eaten breakfast or was on lithium. No one else knew they needed more water than normal. The decision to not take my water bottle caused me to be nauseous the rest of the day, cranky to my children and to throw up my lithium in the middle of the night. And awaken my poor sleep deprived husband to take care of my sick self.
Elder Kearon ends his talk with this clear, beautiful statement "Not one of you has thrown away your last chance. You can change, you can come back, you can claim mercy. Come unto the only One who can heal, and you will find peace. " I am so glad for the Atonement of Christ, which allows me to repent on a daily basis and improve. I am thankful for the chance to do better today.
From now on, I'll be toting this kind of bottle of water around. I learned my lesson. The hard way.
This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.
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