Thank you to everybody who left comments or sent e-mails in response to yesterday’s blog. You help me reaffirm to myself that it’s okay to be selfish and put ourselves first once in a while. Terry and I are both the type who always want to please others, but we are discovering that, just as several of you wrote us, we have to take care of ourselves first and if that means being selfish once in a while, that’s what we will do.
Yesterday was a very scary day for us as Terry woke up feeling even worse, and seemed to be going further and further downhill all day. We still don’t know if the problem is a simple cold or the flu or if it is related to her recent medical procedures. I do believe that whatever it is, the problem was exacerbated by sheer exhaustion.
For the week or two leading up to our Yuma rally we were both getting by on four or five hours of sleep a night. During rally week, Terry is lucky if she gets four hours a night. More often than not it’s closer to three. Once we finally finish with door prizes, or the pizza party, or whatever evening activities we have and shoo everybody out the door and clean up a little bit it’s usually well after 10 PM, and sometimes closer to 11. Then we have to grab something to eat, take care of whatever needs to be done to get ready for the next day’s activities, answer e-mails and take care of our business, which doesn’t stop for rally week. Finally, sometime after 1 AM, we fall into bed. Then Terry is up again before 5 AM to get the coffee started and get things ready for morning coffee and donuts. And then we’re both on the go all day long.
Obviously, we need to make some changes. We have a lot of hard-working volunteers who are always willing to pitch in and lend a hand at the rallies, but there are some tasks that we need to handle ourselves. I’m not sure what the answer is, but we’re going to do some real hard thinking and soul-searching about our schedule. To be honest, this has scared the hell out of us and been a real wake-up call.
After two weeks of really flaky and unreliable Verizon internet service at the Pima County Fairgrounds RV Park, I was really hoping that once we moved to an RV park in town we would have a better signal and better service. Yeah right! We have a strong 4G signal on the MiFi and our older 3G air card, but both are just as flaky and unreliable as everywhere else we have been. Yesterday we actually switched over to the campground’s Wi-Fi signal just to be able to stay online.
We didn’t do much yesterday except rest, make some calls to doctors about Terry’s illness, and try to recharge our batteries. I think it did us both a lot of good, and by bedtime Terry seemed a lot more animated and said she was feeling a bit more comfortable than she has in days. We’re hoping things will be even better today.
Thought For The Day – There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Definitely get some rest and keep a close eye on Terry. If her intestines are still unhappy she should be taking some probiotic supplements to get her intestinal flora and fauna back in order. PB8 is a nice probiotic supplement and can be found in many stores. If there is a Super Supplement around try them since they have the best prices. Yogurt has some probiotic but the pills have more.
Hey, Nick.
Keep doing what y’all are doing, so that your next news to us will be the GOOD news that you both continue to mend and have truly begun to feel like your old selves, yet again. You two are special to a LOT of us out here in The InterTubes, so please continue to grow stronger, and let us know when you have crossed back into good health.
We love ya.
Get better.
Be healthy.
Please.
You often hear reports from the print and internet tabloids that some performer or another had to be hospitalized for “exhaustion and dehydration”. I would say that your high falutin’ lifestyle of the past few weeks makes you or Miss Terry (or both) eligible for a diagnosis of over performance. So … do what the rest of the stars do. Retreat to your BelAir mansion (motor home), have your publicist cancel your appointments and screen your calls (Bad Nick) and take a rest cure. Try Tiny’s Saloon & Steakhouse on Tuesday or Thursday (west on Ajo Way, next to McDonalds) for a great Steakburger. Just get there early … hard to find a seat between 5:30 & 7 PM.
Both my wife and I caught the terrible cold that is going around Apache Junction. It took me two weeks to shake it and I was well rested. My wife ended up with pneumonia! and took even longer to get over hers. There have been reports of at least four people in our park with pneumonia after this cold. If Terry’s cough continues then you need to get her into an Urgent Care clinic.
Definitely rethink your “career” responsibilities and how you fulfill them. Yes, we are your “clients” via your rallies, blog, newspaper, etc. BUT, more importantly, we are your friends who want you to be around and healthy for many years. Would we love you less if you didn’t blog everyday? Or your newspaper was a few stories shorter? Or we had fewer door prizes at your rallies? I don’t think so!
Schedule in more time for R & R; eat healthy, sleep more, “”just” relax more, and we’ll continue to see ya down the road!
It seems to me that if the rallies make you that exhausted and sick, that you ought to quit doing them.
Hydration, Hydration, Hydration. . .get some extra electrolytes, potassium, vitamin C powder stirred into a glass of water. . .just do it! No caffeine until you are feeling better. . .seriously. . .lessons I learned from carrying mail in the Gulf Coast heat and humidty. . .
Both you and Terry need to learn to delegate some of the resposibilties to those you know and trust for the rallies. Short of sounding like a broken record you need to get more sleep because that is your body’s natural way that it heals itself. Most Doctors will tell you that when your not feeling well and your body says it’s time for a nap listen to it.
As far as the other problem intestinally more fruits and vegtebales is a good natural way of helping not only nutricien but weight as well.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It’s about time.
We are both very worried about Terry, please take her to urgent care to see what is going on. Glad to hear that you are trying to take it easy, be sure like everyone else commented get hydrated. I know both of you are workaholics, but sometimes you must just stop and not do anything. We love you guys and worry about you. Please, Please take care of yourselves and stop worrying about your rally for now.
Maybe a start to the solution is only do door prizes every other night. Do less of them as already mentioned. It’s not a crime if everyone doesn’t win something. Also, maybe think about eliminating vendors from winning door prizes as they are seldom there anyway. After all, employees at store “X” aren’t eligible for their promotions…….this would speed things up a bit.
Water, water water……………..
Another RVer who thought he had the flu turned out to have an appendix that needed removing. Please, ask the doctors to consider everything.
Much as we would miss the rallies, I agree with Judy Bell. Cut them out if they make you sick. Or cut down to just one a year. And let someone else get up at 5AM to start the coffee! We’d miss you two even more than we’d miss the rallies, the books, the newspaper, and the blogs. We worry about the two of you.
This is just some bad bad stuff, I have been sick with it a month. Nothing the doctor’s could do for it until it turned in to a sinus infection. Rest is the best thing for it. Just when you think you might be able to do a little something It will zap you right back down.
Please take the time you need to get better. I worry about the two of you and if anything happened to you two who would I lose Mex train too?
Love you guys
As much as I enjoy reading your daily blog, take some time off. You know you can’t burn the candle on both ends forever. Get the well soon.
What everyone else said times two! We read your blog posts every day, and we consider you a part of our extended family. However, you would not offend us at all if you took a week off from everthing! We would like to keep you both around, healthy, for as long as possible. I run two businesses and do a lot of freelancing, and I know what I’m talking about. Burnout is not just being tired of working. It can kill you if you’re not careful. We all need time off–take it, please!
You two are more important to thousands of people than you can possibly imagine. Most of us want you to do whatever is necessary to get well and stay healthy. Many of the above comments include some good advice. I just want you both to know how much we care about you. Make whatever changes you feel are necessary and make them for your own sake, not for us.
Nick,
As a writer I shouldn’t need to tell you that “taking care of yourself” is not “being selfish”. The two are worlds apart, but acquaintances and users love to make you think that not doing what they want you to do is being selfish.
I spent 25 years in ministry and I have to tell you that there’s an old adage among pastors that you can’t draw water out of a dry well. If you let yourself go, do not take care of all the needs you have, whether physical, emotional, medical, spiritual, etc., it won’t be long before you have nothing to share and then you truly have let down those whom you feel are dependent upon you.
The times when any of us really “has” to do certain things aren’t all that frequent. We often make our own deadlines and then struggle to fulfill them, or even complain about the burden we have placed ourselves under.
I came across this the other day, and you might enjoy it.
If I had my life to live over again — it was written by an 85 yr old and I have to tell ya, she spoke to me, that’s for sure.
Take care of one another.
Peter
It sounds like you definitely need a break. And Terry may need a doctor. Pull the plug on the phone and the computer for a few days and just sleep.
http://travelinglongdogs.blogspot.com
It is not selfish to think of yourselves. It is prudent – and something more people should do. We all love you and Miss Terry – if you were not able to post to your blog once in a while, I would feel something is missing from my life.
It is selfish of me to tell you to – take care, rest easy (for as long as you BOTH need). Hope Miss Terry is feeling better today!