People who have not been entangled in abusive relationships often ask, “Why doesn’t she just leave?” By reading Trading Places, by Natalie Hutchison and Mary Turner Thomson, you begin to understand.
Natalie Hutchison was reproached as a child, ignored by her first husband, then physically abused by her second husband. Finally, she decided enough was enough. Natalie escaped the abuse, went back to work, started a business, and in 2006 won the Barclays Bank Trading Places award, given to individuals who overcome tremendous personal adversity to turn their lives around.
Natalie had health problems as an adolescent, and she tells how her parents reacted to her medical issues.You see the seeds of self-doubt being planted. This is how it starts. This is how some women become primed to be victims of abuse.
Then, Natalie tells her story and how she felt—and that, I believe, is the value of this story. It clearly illustrates the thought processes and emotional hooks experienced by the victims of domestic violence.
But this is a story with a happy ending. Natalie learns to trust herself, then makes a leap of faith to start her own business and rebuild her life. She leaves the pain behind to find joy and success.
Trading Places is available now in the Lovefraud Store.
Oxy:
I got the antibiotics !, but your right they won’t do anything till the swelling is gone and by the look of my head that will be in a month! Its Ok Oxy, I’ve had enough. I would prefer to die at this point in time.
It is all rubbish about “australias good health system” Oxy. If you saw our emegency unit here you would DIE of shock..its DISGUSTING! Its like something out of a horror film. And the whole dentist /doctor thing is ridiculous. Like everywhere, Its only a “good health system”, if you are rich.
The p nurse in emergency threw out all my papers, twice ( they “disappeared), because i complained that I had been there six hours and I said that she put the others that were in less danger, before me). There are lots of p nurses in Aussie Oxy..thats where we breed em. Serious.
I am not going into class this anymore this week. And if I die my youngest son gets the lot. i.e. all of my paintings of psychopaths…just what you want aye Oxy.. (there is nothing else left!).
All the Ps of the world have all of my belongings including my dogs scattered throughout three states of Oz, between them all. What a joke.
Dear Tilly,
Summer before last I caught a very bad tick borne fever, and was running a fever, felt like pounded dog do, no energy, and litterally couldn’t stand up to wash a small sink of dishes, and DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE I WAS DEATHLY ILL, I was in so much emotional pain, chaos etc. (you know the drill) and at the time, frankly I didn’t much care either if I lived or died, I was living in my little travel trailer, and you know, I finally got medical insurance and went to the doctor after two months. It is a wonder I didn’t die. 20% of the people who get this and are not treated die. 7% of those that DO get treatment die, and I was ONE sick puppy. But I am SO glad now, Tilly, that I didn’t die. SO VERY GLAD!!! I know things are difficult for you right now, and I am living on a very reduced budget for a retirement, because even if I had WANTED to work any more, I have enough short term memory that I would no longer be safe working where I took people’s lives in my hands. I HAD TO RETIRE, and so cut my income by 80%===but I do know how to live on the cheap and so do my kiddos.
Even here, medical care for those with insurance isn’t great, and people who are very low income or no income usually get fair care and those with out insurance get zippo unless they are bleeding.\
My son C’s new jjob’s insurance hasn’t kicked in yet, and I took him to the doctor today to have a suspicious BLACK MOLE that popped up on his foot, was $340 to have a dime sized piece of skin taken off, and if it is the BAD kind of skin cancer that can be fatal he will have NO insurance if he requires chemo etrc. because when his insurance kicks in a month, this will be a “preexisting” condition. But he showed it to me and I didn’t like the looks of it and neither did the dermotologist….because I am also her patient and a retred advanced practice nurse, I got him in before her “first” new patient appointment the last day of October. But this could not wait. Now we WAIT for results.
What I want is your living breathing body making smart cracks on LF for the rest of our lives, sweet cheeks! So you have to be ALIVE in order to do that.
I have had some pretty gnarly abscessed teeth and have had many of them rootcanaled, but if I get another one, and the price is too high, I will take the anitibiotics and then get it pulled.
BTW an ice pack on your face will help. Let me tell you the greatest and cheapest ice pack in the world! Get TWO one or two pound bags of GREEN PEAS (Frozen ones) and wrap it into a thin towel and put it on your face swelling, then when it gets soft, put it back iton the freezer, and take out the frozen one. then just change them out. Don’t let them get too soft and mushy. If they refreeze kind of in a chunk, though, just slap the bag donw on a flat counter and they will be like marbles again. amd ,mold to your face or whereever you need one.
The ice hellps the swelling go down and also helps some with the pain. If the tooth has a big cavity in it in US the pharmists sell some numbing medication to put on cotton and push down into the hole, then every so often you put a couple more drops on it.
Toothaches are one of the worst pain next to child birth I think. Take either tylenol or asprin (and you can take two tylenon and two hours later two asprin and then two hours later two more tylenon, and that way you can get better pain frelief. Try to lay with your head up a bit, and on the side where it is swollen put it up as well. Drink lots of liquics and rest easy and give yourself a break and try not to stress out!!! I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, as well as my son C until we get his biopsy results back in a few days. (((((hugs)))))
Tilly:
Your body is telling you something!!! Listen!
I wish strength for you to heal and move towards peace.
Stop looking at your current ‘position’ and focus on where you are heading, your future is bright, you need to seek the sun girl!
Every step of our lives is teaching us something…….gain strength from the lessons.
Take care of yourself.
XXOO
Dear Oxy,
Will keep you and your son C in mind and hope that he will be just fine, and have an unremarkable biopsy report.
All the Best,
Betty
OXY:
This hit’s close to home…..I am glad you got your son in……no amont of money is worth the wait…..there are options on the money/ins. side!!!
I will send good mojo your way! Please let us know.
Until then……stay busy and know your a special lady!
XXOO
Thankyou Oxy, I will pray for your son. I’m already doin “the peas thing” and i do have the morphine and nurafen plus and panadein forte and boy do they make you SICK! YUK, and all the while my head is gettin bigger. Your right i don’t have health insurance so i don’t have zip. But if i can put up with it unti 20th august i will have enough money to have it pulled.
Can you have the infected bone inside your gum pulled? Anyway i have made an appointment for 20 aug to have somethin pulled. Hope its not my leg.
I reckon God gave me this toothache to make me hate the ex p dentist even more.
Thanks Guys, I’ll take all the prayers we can get, for sure!
Tilly, if the abscess is a “normal” one, the antibiotics (and it may take a while) will get the swelling down and then when the tooth itself is pulled (or teeth if it is a huge one) the thing will heal up and that is the end of it. I have seen two cases where the abscess went down into the throat and thethroat started to swell and required drainage of the infection from through the neck—so watch for your neck swelling or getting stiff.
If the swelling in your jaw doesn’t start to get better in 4-5 days, or continues to get much bigger instead, go to the docs and you may need a change of antibiiotic. Sometimes there may come up a “gum boil” inside your mouith near the tooth and it may drain some nasty stuff so if it does, don’t be alarmed.
I just love the green pea frozen pack for facial especially ice packs. A plastic surgeon suggested that to his patients and I got the idea from him. For hot packs I have some bags of rice in little cloth bags, and I heat in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes and makes a great hot pack or a nice warm thing to take to bed with you on a cold night. A friend also makes one for heating up that has some other kind of seeds in it as well as some lavender and it is nice, too. She makes hers long and skinny where you can wrap it around your neck or ankle etc.
Hang on Tilly, sweetie, I think the two worst things in the world (above child birth) are ear ache and tooth ache, so just take care of YOU right now and try to keep your stress level as low as possible—the stress just craps out our immune system and makes us more apt to get infections, etc. etc. I know that’s easier said than done!!!! (((Tilly)))) and God bless.