A Second Chance to Share a Smile

Before being released from the hospital I had to have my port, as well as a picc line de-accessed (basically a nurse had to remove the devices used for drawing blood as well as administering dyes for tests). Well the nurse, whom happened to be a male, proceeded to removed the line from my arm. While he was "working" I had a bunch of questions for him, due to some problems we ran into regarding my port. Anyway, after all that chatting, I let him leave without giving him a smile! Arrrggggh. I felt bad about it, but I let it go and moved on.

Well today, while at the hospital for my follow-up with my oncologist, whom should see but that very same nurse?! He was just standing there by the entrance/exit, almost as if he were waiting for me. It took me all of one second to remember who he was, but I am pretty sure he didn't remember me at all LOL (but that's OK he spent all of about 5 minutes with me). So, I reminded him that he was the one to remove my picc line and told him that I forgot to give him a smile. He smiled and said "oh that's OK", just as I was wielding my smile bag around to the front to show him the smile pins. By his reaction I could tell that he thought I was talking about a real smile, and not a pin! LOL. Anyway he happily chose one, one of my favorites I might add, and he flashed me a gorgeous smile! That was the icing on the cake for me.

I am very glad that I got another chance to give him a pin, and glad that I seized the opportunity this time. :)

A Smile Story from One of Our Readers

I love sharing my stories of my smile missions, and even more than that I love sharing stories from my readers of their smile missions! Here is one I received from a long time supporter of OSF. I hope it inspires you to look for moments in your life when you can make someone smile. :)

"Hello Friend,

I certainly hope you are feeling "smiley" today! Since you follow my blog, you know that my hubby has recently been in the hospital too. I thought I would share with you the opportunity I had to spread a smile while we were there.

The procedure B. had on Thursday was supposed to be an outpatient deal, and we assumed he would be going home that evening. However, there were some complications when he received too much IV fluid before and during the procedure. To remedy the situation he had to have an "emergency" inpatient dialysis session on Thursday night.

When he was taken to the dialysis room in the hospital, we were greeted, thankfully, by a familiar face. Cindy is one of the most knowledgeable nurses in the unit where B. receives his regular treatments, and she was on call that night. We learned that she had received the call after being home only an hour. She had already worked a 10 hour shift in the unit and now had to come back to do B.'s treatment. This meant she wouldn't be going back home again until after midnight. She is such an angel...even though she had to be exhausted, she kept a watchful eye on B. and helped him calm down after his frightful ordeal.

While making my way downstairs to get better cell phone reception, I remembered a gift "vending machine" in the lobby. In it was the cutest teddy bear with a t-shirt that said "Here's A Hug". I purchased it and added one of your smile tokens which I have had in my purse for waaay toooo long!! I took this happy little gift to Cindy when I went back up to say good night to Brian. She was so surprised, and definitely SMILED!! Just wanted to let you know that you were a part of her smile :) Actually you were the inspiration for the whole "mission"...so a big thank you from me to you. :)"

Thank you D.H. for sharing your story, but also for seizing the moment to make someone smile! That's what OSF is all about, and you've definitely got the spirit!

Turning a Frown Upside Down in the ER

Here is another great story I want to share with all of you. While I was still in the emergency room (waiting to be taken to my room) I heard crying coming from a room next to me. I knew it was a child but I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl. So, I asked my nurse the next time I saw her. She said it was a little boy (he had a broken arm and was waiting for his cast). I felt so bad for the little guy, and wanted to do something to make him smile. That's when I remembered the OSF stickers I designed a few months ago. They say "Caught Being Good!" on them and have a Smiley Face Sticker on top.

I always carry some with me, so I gave two to the nurse (I figured she could use the second one another time). I asked if she would give it to the little boy. She was so thrilled to do it, and I thought that was really cool. I didn't realize she was going to give it to him right then, but she did. To my delight all I heard was silence when she came out of his room. I asked her if he smiled. She said "oh yeah! and then he said "can I go now?" LOL. Awww, how cute was that?

It felt so good that I could be a part of changing that difficult situation into something more positive for him, and his family. Also seeing the nurse so eager to be part of my "smile mission" was awesome! I couldn't have done it without her. So a big thank you to my amazing nurse, who is now an "Honorary Smile Spreader"! :)

FREE Smiles - No Strings Really! :)

I promised to post a smile story from my recent stay in the hospital, and here it is.

This was my 4Th in patient stay at this hospital since I was diagnosed last August. Every time that I have been admitted I have brought smile pins, and other items, to spread smiles while I'm there. This time was no exception.

I had already given away several pins when I got a new nurse that came into my room and introduced herself. I could not quite put my finger on what was going on but there was something about the way she looked at and spoke to me that felt weird. I had never met this lady before so I couldn't understand what it could be. Anyway, I did NOT give her a smile pin during that first encounter because she was in and out in a flash, and the moment wasn't right.

A short while later she came back in (I don't remember what for) and just before she left I stopped her and asked "may I give you one of my smiles?" Her whole face lit up and she smiled effortlessly as she looked over the choices of pins. She picked one that she liked and put it on right away, but the story doesn't end there.

A little later on when she came in to go over a questionnaire with me, we had a chance to talk more. That's when I learned what was behind that "strange look" and attitude that I detected earlier. She told me that she had seen others wearing smile pins, and she thought that it would be necessary for her to come in to my room laughing, and smiling to "qualify" for one. That's not really her personality so she concluded that she would not get one. To her surprise I did give her one despite the very obvious lack of smiles on her part.

I really try to be non-judgemental when it comes to the pins, and other smile items, and to just share them with everyone I meet. I was very glad that in this particular case I did just that. I think it made a real impression on her. I also got to see that she was a very nice lady, and a wonderful nurse with a great life story. All that of came from a simple gesture of giving with no strings attached! :)

I was in the hospital, but I am home now.

Just wanted to post briefly to let you all know what was going on. To make a long story short. I had a heart attack. I know it sounds bad, but I am fine. No permanent damage and I should be fine. There was some good news too, some of my tumors, including the primary, have completely resolved ( in other words they're gone!), and the fluid filled sacs in my lungs (called pleural effusions) have cleared up too! That is pretty amazing when you consider that over a 1 liter of fluid was drained from one of the large effusions! I still have some tumors, but I am more hopeful than ever that they will be resolved too.

I have some sweet stories to share about my smile spreading while I was in the hospital. I will post that soon. Need to rest now. Just wanted to let you all know why I've been MIA (missing in action).

Hope you all are well and spreading smiles when and where you can. : )

Counts

I have a few types of "counts" that are a part of my everyday life. They being 1) blood counts (white and red). 2) Cross stitch counts with the stitched smile pins and 3) The count of the completed pins I've done toward my monthly goal of 100 pins.

The first one, blood counts (the white in particular), have been a cause of concern lately because mine are so low at the moment (at last check, Monday, they were .8 and they should be around 4.0). The danger of counts that low is the bodies inability to fight off infection. The simplest thing could be major for me. So, I am being a good patient and following orders by avoiding sick folks and staying away from crowds. The window of time when the counts are the lowest is just about up, so I am hoping I will be back to normal in no time.

Since I am pretty much on lock down right now I have had more time for stitching which is great. At this point, having personally stitched almost a thousand pins, I no longer have to "count stitches" per se BUT every once in a while I will miss or skip a stitch! You would think that at this point I would be able to stitch in the dark right? LOL. It just goes to show you that no matter how long you've been doing something you can always get better.

The last count that I deal with on the daily, the pin count (the total of pins I stitch for the month), is not quite where I would like it to be. Today is the 15Th, so half way through the month. I would love to have had half the count down. Guess I'll have to do more stitching and less typing and chatting on the computer LOL. On a positive note I did stitch 8 yesterday, so that shows that I can accomplish quite a bit when I get in the "zone."

Another up side (always have to find the good!) to my home bound time is that I've had a lot of time to just think, and allow new ideas and inspirations to come to me. I will be posting more about the ideas I have in mind in the near future. There is one idea in particular that I'm excited about because it really goes with this month's theme, and the Nice Notes Campaign. I will post about it separately either later this evening or tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day, spreading smiles yourself as well as being given reasons to smile. Thanks for sticking with me and there will be more to come later. :)

Angel Pins Proving to be Popular

Smile Angel Pin (blue)

I had to go in to see the Dr today. I haven't been feeling very well, and am still recovering from my chemotherapy last Thurs. I have all the strength of a wet noodle and I just feel ugh (physically that is). Thankfully I have my smile work to keep me smiling and feeling good on the inside. :) Anyway, while waiting to see the Dr I had a chance to talk with another patient. Actually she saw my smile bag (I don't leave home without it :) )



and said "OK, now I have to ask, what's up with the smiles?" I proceeded to explain what it was all about and asked if she needed a smile. She enthusiastically said "Yes! I would love to have a Smile." Well as I was showing her the different smiles that I had available, I also showed her the newest addition to the lineup - the Smile Angel pin. I was just showing it to her casually, I really didn't think she would want it. Well, that was it! Once she got a look at that pin (by the way it was pink on a sparkly pink background), it was a done deal. She opted for one of those instead of the "regular" Smileys. I didn't mind at all. I was thrilled to see that kind of response to it.

As if that weren't enough, there was a lovely older couple there,that I had the pleasure to meet. Apparently, my in-house Smile Spreader S. had already given them Smiley pins (they were both wearing them!), because they were having a really bad day (the wife in particular). She had already explained my mission to them, and since I was there she eagerly introduced me to them. The wife was a little more vocal than the hubby, and she was so excited about the pins. She wanted to get a closer look at the others I had in the bag. She was very pleased with them. As she looked she noticed the other Smile Angel pin I had in the bag, and sure enough that's the one she chose! I didn't have a blue, so she took the pink on pink/white striped background one.

Was this just a fluke or will the Angel Pins be a hit?

This Week's Task - It All Starts with YOU

Who doesn't love a great compliment, especially when its heartfelt and sincere? I know I do, and I want to spread the feeling, that one gets from a good compliment, around as much as possible this week. So, using the Smiley Face cards that I talked about a couple of days ago, I intend to genuinely compliment as many people as I am able from friends to strangers. I start the
compliment cards" off by writing the word YOU on the front cover of the card, and in the inside I will follow that up with the compliment. I will try to keep it at a sentence or less. I'm hoping that the recipients will enjoy them, and maybe keep them around to glance at at a later date when they might need a little pick me up.

This task should be pretty easy with the people that I know, but I am curious to see how it works out with strangers. Will I be able to come up with genuine and sincere compliments (and write it down) on the spot? OR will I get stumped? Well, I guess we shall soon find out! :)

If you'd like to join me with this week's task you can use any store bought note card, or even make your own. Just grab a sheet of plain card stock (white or colored, its up to you), determine the size you like, cut and fold and you're all set. Write "YOU..." (not the quotes though! LOL) on the outside and your compliment on the inside.Oh! and this might be a nice project to do with the kids in your life.

Making Dancers Smile Just for Fun

This photo, and story, was submitted by one of our master Smile Spreaders, A.O. She and some friends put together some cute little gift bags as a surprise to the competitive dancers at the studio where her daughter takes lessons. There was no special occasion for the gifts, other than that she wanted to make them smile! How nice is that? The bags were filled with note cards, picture frames, post its, silly bands etc. They were topped off with the OSF tags that say A Gift for YOU from Operation Smiley Face.

I just LOVE this type of thing, and I hope all of the recipients did too!

You Are Beautiful - The OSF Version

Having been a recent "recipient" of the You Are Beautiful project, I was inspired to do my own OSF version! Since I'm doing "Nice Notes" as my project this month, I decided to combine the two. I have thees cute smiley cards that I use all the time when sending out Happy Mail. Well, upon looking at one of the cards closely an idea struck me. So, I to pulled out my medium point Sharpie, and wrote the word "YOU" is some of the blank boxes on the front cover of the card (see 2nd card in photo below).

Then on the inside I finished with the "Are Beautiful" part of the phrase.
I'm not sure what happened to the 3rd photo I took, but it showed the back of the card, where I placed a big smiley sticker and the OSF blog address.

I am really excited to write up more of these and pass them out! I hope they will brighten someones day, the same way mine was when I saw that message. I will be doing this along with other note cards I have that will have other simple sayings, such as "Have a beautiful day!", "Smile, life is good!" etc.

I've already seen the impact that these simple notes have on people, and just thinking about it makes me smile. :)

Nice Notes Campaign - Will you join me?

In recent blog posts I've written about: starting new ripples of kindness with giving, receiving some great note cards as a donation that I wanted to use to brighten people's days, and about finding a smile-producing-message in a bathroom stall that simply said "You are Beautiful!" Taking inspiration from all of these things I set out yesterday (Monday, July 5Th) to spread smiles.

I knew I would be at the hospital/Dr's office to have my chemotherapy, so I chose to write notes to specific individuals (as opposed to random people, which I also intend to do this month) that I knew I would come into contact with.

Using some of the note cards I received, along with some I had on hand , I wrote notes to the recipients that were specific to them. I didn't want them all to say the same thing. I kept it simple, and basically wrote a compliment, or two, in each card. Something you might say in passing, except I wrote it in a card.

Starting with the front desk concierge director, this is the person that greets all patients and visitors and directs them to their destination within the hospital, I began handing out the hand written cards. I continued with the staff members in my Dr's office, as well as one of the Dr's (not my Dr, he wasn't in that day). I wrote in a total of 11 cards, and was able to personally hand out 8. The remaining cards were left for their recipients at their workstations.

The compliments ranged from "you dress beautifully", to "you give great hugs"! The response to the cards was incredible. About 1/2 of the people that received one told me that it made their day! Someone even said "you don't know how much I needed this today." That made me feel so good, because this was a "small" thing to do, yet it meant a lot to people. I am very glad I did it.

There is a lot of month left. That means more time to write more notes. Will you join me in the Nice Notes Campaign, and help me spread smiles by sending, or giving, a hand written note to someone this month? Pretty please? :)

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Wherever you may be, and however you choose to celebrate this day (and even if you dont), may you have reasons to smile this day.

You Are Beautiful!

When I have a chemotherapy treatment coming up, my guys and I try to do something fun right before, because it may take a while before I am up and about again after it's over. (I am having chemo on Tuesday. in case you were wondering. ;) ) So today we decided to go to our favorite movie theatre - the AMC 24 at Downtown Disney. We saw a total of 3 movies; Twilight, The Last Airbender, and Toy Story 3.

I thoroughly enjoyed our time together, and was looking forward to coming home to rest and relax a bit. Before leaving the theatre I made a pit stop to the little girl's room. I entered the first available stall, and when I closed the door I saw a handwritten message on the upper right (it was written on the door itself) that said "You Are Beautiful!" Awwwww. My heart melted, and I thought "oh how sweet!" Even though it was not written to me personally, it still made me smile and feel really good! I had heard of this type of thing (You Are Beautiful, Operation Beautiful), but I had not seen any of the signs or stickers in person before. What a beautiful thing! It was the cherry to top off a lovely day!

That experience put me on the receiving end of a random-act-of-kindness, which was really nice. It also gave me a little taste of what some of the people that have received Smile pins from me might feel. I have received some very nice notes from people telling me how much the smiles have meant to them, and how they've made them feel. However, before today I don't think I really understood, but I do now! I am inspired to to keep stitching away, as well as doing the other little projects that we do so that I can give even more people the feeling I got today. :)

THANK YOU to the person that had the presence of mind (and the courage) to write on that stall door. You did my heart good today, and you really made me smile.

100 Smileys a Month?

Last month I set a new goal for myself, to stitch 100 Smileys a month. I am committing to that for the rest of the year. Since I posted that some of my readers have asked "100 Smileys, are you sure about this?" My answer was "not really, but I won't know if I can do it unless I try." So, here I go. As of right now I have 6 down and 94 to go! Wish me luck! :)

Focus for July - Start Some RIPPLES!

Last month while at lunch with one of my smile spreaders, we talked alot about "ripples". How a small act of kindness starts a ripple of kindness, and you don't know how far it will reach. It thrills me to no end to think about how many people might be touched by one act of kindness. So this month I'm all about starting more ripples! Sometimes you get to see some of the ripples you create, but most of the time you may not. However, that's not the important thing. My goal is simply to start as many as I can with as many small act of kindnesses as I can perform.

OSF received some AWESOME note cards (from the same Smile Spreader mentioned above) and that gave m y first giving idea for the month! I think it would be wonderful to write nice notes in each of the cards, and leave them in the mailboxes of my neighbors, at restaurants (to the cashiers, servers etc.), and even give them to people randomly etc. This is just one idea, as I come up with others I will post them. If YOU have some great ideas please let me know. I'd LOVE to hear them. Post a comment here or send me an email to: OprtnSmileyFace@aol.com

So will any of you join me this month is starting some ripples of kindness? :)