2011 My Kindness Project for the International Kindness Project Day

"To help one person is to help the world." -- Joanne Cacciatore

Wednesday, July 27th is International Kindness Project Day started by the MISS Foundation. What is that...You ask?
It's a Kindness Revolution! Everyone is invited to participate with us, doing simple acts of kindness in the memory of a loved one or if you're lucky enough not to have one, feel free to do it in Jack's name! This is something we as bereaved parents do often in memory of our kids who have died.

My very first Random Act of Kindness was very simple. I went through the Wendy's drive-thru expecting to buy a $5 gift card or certificate but they didn't have them anymore. I had several cars in front of me so I was near the ordering menu for about 15 minutes. I was feeling kind of silly, since this wasn't going as planned. While I sat there with my window down, there was delivery guy hauling food in and out of the back door. He had his son with him, he looked about 4 or 5 years old who was playing around the bushes. When the delivery guy was finished he grabbed his crates and said, "Come on Jack, time to go." I started crying, it was confirmation that Jack was with me and I would do this Act of Kindness no matter how silly or embarrassed I was. When I finally got to the window, I handed the girl a $5 bill and asked her to put my $5 towards the guy's order behind me. She looked at me funny and asked, "What?" I told her that I was doing a Random Act of Kindness in memory of my son Jack and I wanted to donate $5 to the order for the guy behind me in line. She still looked a little confused but took the $5 and the Kindness Card that said, "This Random Act of Kindness...Done in Loving Memory of Jack Kendrick Johnson. As I drove away I saw her hand the card to the man and "explain" what I had done. Driving through the parking lot my tears were blinding me and I had to pull over but I didn't want the guy to follow me so I wiped them away with my shirt and headed home. My heart was so heavy with love for Jack, my tears were full of pain and sorrow, but I felt so good because I knew Jack was with me at that moment.

When I found out the MISS Foundation was going to start the International Kindness Project Day for July 27th, I knew immediately what project I wanted to do. I've technically been planning this for years now. As a Bereaved Parent, we lost the future we saw with Jack. We pictured him starting Kindergarten, riding a bike, swimming, playing soccer or baseball or basketball or maybe even football, but definitely Frisbee golf! Starting Middle School, High School, first dates, falling in love, Graduation, College, getting Engaged and eventually Married. A few months after Jack died, I decided when he's 5th birthday arrives I wanted to donate 5 Backpacks filled with supplies to 5 kids starting kindergarten that might not be able to afford them.

Due to our current situation, we can't afford 5 backpacks filled with supplies, but we can afford One. That One will be picked out just as if it were for Jack and will will fill it with all the supplies and maybe some extras. I will photograph and Vlog the entire project to share with everyone!

The other 4 backpacks is where I NEED YOU! So my dearest Friends and Family....would you be willing to help me with this Kindness project for Kindness Day as well as Jack's 5th Birthday coming in August? If you don't want to buy the items and ship them to me because of the shipping cost, you can DONATE to my PayPal and I will photograph what your money purchased!

Kindergarten Supply List

1 Backpack, large enough to hold a 2 pocket folder, no wheels please!

12 #2 Pencils

1 Box of 8 Jumbo Crayons

1 Box of 64 Crayons

3 Glue Sticks

1 Box of Tissues

1 Pink Eraser

1 Box of 8-10 Broad Tip Markers (can be washable)

1 Pair of Fiskar Scissors

1 Pencil Case

1 Wide Ruled Spiral Bound Notebook

3 Pocket Folders

1 Bottle of White/Elmers Glue

1 Personal size Bottle of Hand Sanitizer

Extras:

Colored Tissue Paper

Cotton Balls

Craft Sticks

Paper Plates/Paper Cups

Paper Towels

Card Stock (any color)

Band-Aids

Scotch Tape

Play Doh

Play Ground Balls

Colored Paper

Puzzles

Package Zip Lock bags(snack, sandwich, quart or gallon size)

If you would like to ship supplies to me, email me joeycjohnson@gmail.com and I will provide you with my address and please have everything shipped no later then July 22nd so I receive it on time to deliver them on July 27th!. If you would like to DONATE money for me to purchase the supplies and backpacks, my PayPal DONATE button is on the right of the page and I'll see if I can post one right below or above this post. Or CLICK HERE!

THANK YOU ALL in advance for whatever you are able to do to help me honor Jack for his 5th Birthday!

7/13/11 UPDATE: I've already received 4 donations via PayPal and went on my first shopping trip a few days ago! I will post those photos soon! I've had a few people want to donate and asked how much it would cost for a filled backpack so I priced it out and it ranged between $35-$40. However, I will accept whatever you are willing to donate!

7/17/11 UPDATE: So I've been a little busy shopping for school supplies, here's a sneak peak of the backpacks and supplies I've bought with the donations so far! It's not too late to donate! But I am going on LIVE TV this Wednesday and need to have all 5 complete! So HURRY quick! Thanks again!

THANK YOU!

Auntie Juli
Grandma Debbie
♥ Kyndal's mom Cori
♥ Evan's parents Deb & Derek

Portrait of a Bereaved Mother

The Progression

"Jory...I think you need to take me to the hospital."

After a hellaciously HOT and Sweaty day of No Power due to the Mesa SRP Transformer explosion, last night only got worse.

Our power was restored shortly after 7pm (5 hours without power) and I was starving and didn't want to heat up our house even more by cooking so I went to Famous Daves to pick up dinner. I ate my favorite, the Cajun Chicken sandwich with no bun and corn on the cob. About 45 minutes after dinner I took some of my vitamins and Jory went to bed because he had to wake up at 4 am for work. I started to feel like my bra was getting tight and I was struggling to breath. This same thing happened the 2nd day of loading for my round 2 on my HCG VLCD, I was driving home from picking up fatty foods to eat and I thought I was having a heart attack. That episode didn't last very long though, maybe 30 minutes, so I figured this was the same thing and it would go away soon. I did my best to get comfortable but the pain and constricting moved to my back and shoulders. I eventually laid on my stomach on the couch and it seemed to lessen the pain. I even fell asleep shortly but because I was laying in such an awkward position, my right shoulder was killing me so I got up. Thinking I was feeling better I went out to smoke and I did feel semi-ok. But when I came back inside and sat on the couch, the pain came back 10-fold! This time I couldn't find a comfortable position, sitting, laying or standing. I didn't know what was going on, was this a heart attack? Was this really bad indigestion or heart burn? Should I take a Vicodin for the pain? Would that kill me if this is a heart attack or something to do with my heart? I looked for heart burn/acid reflux pills but couldn't find any. I started getting really scared because it had been 2 hours already.

•Rapid weight loss diets significantly increase the risk for gallstones• SUPER AWESOME!

•Steady, severe pain in the upper abdomen that increases rapidly and lasts from 30 minutes to several hours
•Pain in the back between the shoulder blades
•Pain under the right shoulder
•Recurring intolerance of fatty foods
•Belching
•Gas
•Indigestion?
The following symptoms are indication that you should seek immediate medical attention:
•Sweating
•Chills

When it got to the point I was struggling to breath, was sweating and had the chills, couldn't sit, stand or lay down to get comfortable, I finally decided I might need to go to the hospital. I walked in the bedroom (at midnight) climbed on the bed next to Jory, the fan was on and it felt good so I moved around to see if I could get comfortable, NOPE.

"Jory"
He moved his face in my direction and made a noise so I knew he was a little awake.
"I think you need to take me to the hospital"
What? Are you serious?
"Yes, I'm sorry"
He jumped up, heart attack induced. What's wrong?
"I don't know, everything from the waist up hurts, mostly my back and I can't breath or get comfortable." I began to roll around on the bed, trying different positions with pillows because the pain at this point was nearing unbearable. How the hell was I going to stand the car ride to Banner Desert 20 minutes away? I rolled one more time on my left side with a pillow under my torso, a strange position to see I'm sure.
Jory walks from the closet to the bathroom. How long have you been feeling this way?
"About 2 hours now." Within a few minutes of saying this and finding that awkward position on my left side, it's as if someone flipped a switch and the pain was gone. But I didn't know if it would come back so I didn't dare move and continued to let Jory get dressed.

When he was all ready to go, he came in and started asking me more detailed questions, when it started, how it started, what if felt like because it sounded like the same pains he experienced with his gallstones. As I explained what happened and how I was feeling I realized the pain wasn't coming back and I didn't want to move. Feeling horrible that I woke him up and scared him to death I was embarrassed to tell him I didn't think we still needed to go to the hospital.

While deciding what to do and not wanting to waste Jory's sleeping time, he had to get ready for work in 4 hours, I changed positions. The pain never came back, my right shoulder still hurt but was more of an ache. Jory told me more about his gallbladder pains and how most likely that is what I experienced.  So we decided not to go to the hospital, instead I'd call my doctor in the morning and see if I can get in to see him and unfortunately probably have to get my gallbladder out.

This morning I started researching gallstones and gallbladders and found the symptoms above but more importantly:

"The most common serious side effect seen with VeryLowCalorieDiets is gallstone formation. Gallstones, which frequently develop in obese people (especially women), are even more common during rapid weight loss. The reason for this may be that rapid weight loss appears to decrease the gallbladder's ability to contract bile. But, it is unclear whether VLCDs directly cause gallstones or whether the amount of weight loss is responsible for the formation of gallstones."

After researching all this, I found out I had a Gallbladder Attack However, I may not have to get my gallbladder out! I might just need to take a pill, Actigall or simply avoid fatty foods, which I'm doing anyway. I believe it was the fried onion strings on my chicken that caused this gallbladder attack.

I left a voicemail for my doctor, I'm already set to do blood tests next week, so I'm going to ask him to add the gallstone blood test to it and then when I see him the next week, if he wants to check with his ultrasound machine, that would be kool. But I would hope and prefer not to get my gallbladder out. From all those in my family that had theirs out (all in the same damn year) I've heard they've continued to have issues after eating now, so what's the point?

YES, I realize I just WebMD Diagnosed myself and I won't know For Sure what happened until I confirm it with my doctor, but I've never WebMD Diagnosed myself wrong before, SO...