Pat Hawks

I really haven't given up on Every Monday Matters, I've just fell a bit behind. I was going to catch up yesterday, but I've been really sick.
Bad sick.

See, Sunday night I was going to give one of Dr. Warner's cats (Mercury) a bath, but he decided he'd rather bite my shoulder.
Now, I've had my fair share of animal bites, but this was by far the worst. He sunk his teeth right into me.
I'm talking his gums, my skin.

So, not only has my shoulder been hurting, but yesterday I couldn't keep down any food, or even water (if you know what I mean).

I really do hate cats.

My buddy (and former boss) Brent is dealing with a case of poison ivy.

This is something I'm all too familiar with.

I get poison ivy a lot.
And I've taken a lot of medicine for it.

Antihistamine and Prednisone.

Prednisone is a nice little steroid that makes the stupid rash heal faster.
I usually take 50mg for a few days, then go down to 30mg for a few more days, and finish up with 10mg for a few days.

50mg is a pretty high dose, but my doctor tells me it's really important to get a blast of prednisone in my system.
I hope I'm not violating any laws by going into so much detail about my prescription information.

In a way (a very twisted, convoluted sort of way) prednisone is like Jesus.

Everybody starts with a real strong blast of Jesus when they first become a Christian, but over time we tend to wean off of... well, Jesus.

What if we didn't just take prednisone when we had poison ivy?
lack stools, bone pain (fracture), "coffee-ground" vomit, easy bruising/bleeding, heartburn, increased thirst and urination, irregular/fast/pounding heartbeat, menstrual period changes, mental/mood changes, muscle weakness/pain, persistent weight gain, puffy face, seizures, signs of infection, slow-healing wounds, stomach/abdominal pain, swelling of the feet/ankles, thinning skin, trouble breathing, unusual hair growth, unusual skin growths, vision changes... this is where the analogy really breaks down, I guess.

What if we didn't just go to Jesus when it was convenient?

I have recently discovered that I am getting older at the alarming rate of one year every year.

I think my favorite birthday memory was from a couple years ago when I was working at Riverside. My parents were coming up to visit and said that they'd take me, and anybody else who wanted to come, out to dinner.
Those Riverside YMTs love the free food.
So I invited Jon, Will, Brian, Crystal, and everyone else on the team to come party with my family. Everybody said they may or may not come (I gave them four or five days notice).

Sure enough, my family ended up waiting for 20 minutes and none of the YMTs showed up.
Shows how much they love me

But, to top it off, the next morning Jon said to me "Hey Rick, we all went out for steak last night. We were going to tell you, but didn't know where you went."
I told him I was at my birthday party with my parents, and he said he must have forgotten all about it.
What great friends I have

But I can't get too mad at them.
I'm sure it had something to do with me trying to set the camp on fire earlier that week.