February Missions............

February is the month when I get all my medical stuff taken care of.

I am still harboring the cold and luckily, today was my doctor's appointment for what is now called, "The Medicare Well Check."  Two pages of stupid questions to answer, one of which was; "Do you suffer from any sexual dysfunctions?"  With choices of :Often", "Sometimes", I decided to be a smart a** and in large letters wrote, "NA".  HAH!  Got my weight, blood pressure checked, and all meds renewed and then the doc came in all aglow about my blood work.

I decided to throw him a curve, because I love to do that.

"These blood tests don't really show you much, do they?

"Well......."

"I mean, they wouldn't show if I had a cancer cell growing somewhere.  They wouldn't show if I had congestive heart failure.  Not just these normal CBC tests.  You would run a more specific blood test then.  Right?"

"True, but we have found a certain significance if someone were starting to have a kidney failure, on the kidney function blood work."

"SO--do I have to go through this torture twice a year?"

"Okay--in your case, these blood tests show nothing--that's true, and you probably only need them once a year--unless you start feeling unwell...something like that."

"I have a couple of questions I need to ask, so you gotta give me more than five minutes."

"I always give you half an hour, Judy....although most of the time we don't need that long."  He smiled.

"Okay--I still have this cold,  Can you check my throat?  It's still sore."  So he did and it was red and inflamed.

"I can give you something to help that, if you will take it."

"Okay.  Now--in August your office girls said I was too old to get the preventative low-dose CT scan of my lungs.  I called Medicare and they told me, "once a year, between the ages of 55-77, for ex smokers, or current smokers, who have smoked at least a pack a day for 30 years."

"How old are you?"

"Seventy-seven."

"I thought the cut off was seventy-five."

"I know you did...that's why I called Medicare."

"Okay, when will you be seventy-eight?"

"In June, so I'd like the referral paper work so I can get it done now."

"Okay.  Anything else?"

"Yes, I also need a referral paper so I can start physical therapy on my neck and shoulder.  I have put it off way too long."

"Okay.  Got it.  Anything else?"

"Yes.  Do you use those new Colo-Guard hemaoccult testers?"

"How long has it been since you've had a colonoscopy?"

"Never and I'm not going to start now.  Those testers come in the mail and you mail the sample back to the lab.  They test the DNA for cancer cells.  I'm all into DNA testing."

"Okay.  I'll fill out the form and you'll get it in the mail.

"Anything else?"

"Yes--do I need a mammogram every year.  Last year they told me I am at very low risk assessment."

"You don't need to get one ever again--unless you want too.  You don't need PAP tests anymore either."

"Good because I haven't had one of those since I turned seventy."

"You're doing great!  Anything else?"  

"Yes--can I still come in every six months instead of the four month check-in you like for your......what do you call us?  Oh yes......seasoned citizens?"

He laughed.  "Yes.  Six months for you, but you have to promise...if you have a problem...get in here."

"Okay.  I promise."

"Yeah, I bet.  You'd wait three months to see if it went away and then you'd come crawling in here and expect me to cure you.  By the way, I noticed your tremors seem to be worse.  In both hands now?"

"Yes."

" Do they interfere with your normal daily functions?"

"Yes.  I have a hard time brushing my teeth.  I have a hard time moving the computer mouse and getting the cursor in the right spot.  I have a hard time eating with a spoon, a hard time doing my crochet or cross stitch, and a hard time writing anything."

"I can give you something to help that.  Inderal."

"Okay, let me think about it.  That's also used for high blood pressure, isn't it?  A beta blocker?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm on a beta blocker now and sometimes my blood pressure gets too low as it is and I have dizzy spells, so.............I think I'll wait on that."

"Okay.  I'll get a script for your throat.  Prednisone.  That will get you well quickly."

"Wait...wait...that's a steroid and I don't like them---they aren't good for my heart."

"You are only going to take it for five days.  That inflammation isn't good for your throat either!"

"Okay."
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So I stopped and got my Prednisone--ARGGH--he said to spread the three pills out over the day, taken after a meal and not to take it too late or it would hinder my sleep and "Be sure you take all fifteen pills, even if you start to feel better."

Other then the CT scan, the colon cancer stool sample and starting PT, my February medical needs are taken care off.  

So--I am healthy as a horse ( my father's ancestors are credited for my good genes) healthy as a horse, but still when I talk--I still sound like a horse--a hoarse horse.  

I'll see how good these dang steroids work!!!

February Miseries..........

It's gray, rainy and foggy today.  Exactly like my mood!  I am having to push myself to get anything done.

Last Monday, at my cousin's memorial service, a couple of people were, "fighting a cold", when I asked how they were doing.  It should have been no surprise to me when I woke up Wednesday morning, sneezing, runny nose and a scratchiness to my throat.  I haven't had a cold in six years and I was just bragging about it to one of those very cousins, last Monday.  I shoulda known better!!

By Thursday, I had laryngitis and no voice.  Red, sore throat.  I Vicksed, and I took Coricidan, and Flonased, to no avail.  Friday and Saturday, the same.  I felt worse on Sunday than I had on Thursday.

I had an appointment today (Tuesday) to run up to the doctor's office ( 6 miles away) to get my blood drawn before my yearly appointment on this Thursday.  I had heard a weather report that freezing rain was expected, so instead, I had the doc's office fax over my blood draw request to the little hospital just a half mile from here.  I went at 10:00 yesterday morning.

The nurse in my doctor's office uses a butterfly needle for the blood draw.  No such nonsense up at the little hospital.  They use the BIG needle that sucks the blood outta your arm.  Yes, it is quicker to get 3 vials filled up, but every time the nurse leaned over to get a new vial to pop on the needle, she also leaned the needle further into my vein.  So, within a couple of hours on getting home, the spot was still bleeding, and the bruise had started marching up toward my bicep and down toward my forearm.  Plus, my whole upper arm ached.

However, within those couple of hours, I signed into my Patient Portal and there were the results of my blood work.  I find it seriously funny, when I used to ask, "When will I know the results," they used to answer, "You doctor will have them in three days."  In reality, the results have gone to the lab, been centrifuged and posted on the network computer within 2 hours.  Why the three day answer?  Because that's how long it takes the doctor to get around to look in his computer to see them.

In actuality, my doctor will read them just before he walks into my exam room on Thursday.  THUS--the reason I get them, go over them, record them in my Excel spreadsheet and compare them to last years, BEFORE I go to my appointment.  If there are any major changes, I want to know so I can ask the doc about it.

Now last year, he said I had the blood work of a 55 year old.  This years results are nearly the same with my bad cholesterol being one point lower.  Does that make me a 54 year old?  HAH!!!
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You may think all this makes me obsessive about my health.  Not so.  It's just that I don't exactly trust any doctor, so over these many years, I have researched every med prescribed to me.  Researched every procedure done to me.  All of that seems to bring a certain comfort and less stress to me.  To see the report before the doctor does.  I want no surprises!!!

I even watched a video of a hip replacement surgery BEFORE I had mine.  I wouldn't suggest you do that because it is a pretty ugly surgery; bone fragments flying around the operating room, the leg totally disconnected from the body, except by tissue and skin, but for some reason, knowing what was going to happen, made me feel a lot better.  Plus, afterwards, it made me aware of WHY that hip hurt so damn much and I knew, my pain wasn't unusual.  LOL

Besides all that, I think every one needs to be their own advocate and ask questions, like, "Is this test really necessary," and I feel so dismayed when I have asked people like Pearl or Dar, "Which med do you take for high blood pressure?" and they answer, "The pink one."  ARGGH!!!
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Today, I am feeling a bit better from the cold.  My throat only hurts on my left tonsil, my runny nose is drying up and I have my voice back--well kinda.    My living room looks like a total mess, but I have my big long folding table up in there, as I am laying out long pedigrees to take to be printed on long sheets of landscape paper at the print shop.  Maybe tomorrow I will take them.  Not today, in the rain.

Then I can put them into the genealogy books (2) and get those bound.  2 more books to print.  One with an extra generation added, so that will mean another set of pedigrees to be created, put together and printed.  

This work is probably the only reason I have gotten through this cold without totally giving up and just going to bed.  LOL  A nice distraction.
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I watched the first half of the Super Bowl.  My favorite part was George H. W. and Mrs. Bush for the coin toss.  I love those two.  I HAVE to watch "Mercy Street". "Victoria" and "The 6 Wives of Henry VIII" on PBS, so I missed the best part of the Super Bowl--the ending.  Oh well--I didn't really care who won, so it's not to matter.  I am happy these shows are on PBS on Sunday night because I have missed watching "Downton Abbey".

Collections.....

Debbie, over at All About Purple, blogged about her massive collection of Sea Glass.  I had asked her about it a week ago, so I was tickled to pieces to see her post.  I have 3 pieces of sea glass--that's it.

Living in Michigan, we are surrounded by the 5 fresh water Great Lakes.  We occasionally find a piece of sea...or lake glass I suppose it would be called, but mostly, on our lake shores we find rocks!  Interesting rocks.  I have collections of different kinds of rocks, gathered here in Michigan, and from every State I have visited.  My favorites are the heart-shaped rocks I have found.

all kinds of stones 

I found this while looking for info on our State rock--the Petoskey Stone.  I had no idea that at one time Michigan was located near the equator!  Apparently I have forgotten everything I ever learned in college Geology I and II, about Continental Drift.

"Well before dinosaurs roamed the earth, over 350 million years ago during the Devonian period, the land we know as Michigan was located near the equator. Covered by a warm, shallow, saltwater sea, the colonial coral hexagonaria percarinata thrived with other marine life in tropical reefs. The earth’s plates moved and pushed Michigan north to the 45th parallel and above sea level, which created dry land formations. More recently, about two million years ago, glacial action scraped the earth and spread the fossils across the northern Lower Peninsula, depositing major concentrations in the Petoskey area. The prehistoric fossil, unique to the Traverse Group rock strata, is called the Petoskey Stone and is Michigan’s official state stone."

I have Petoskey stones--many, many, collected by the Lake Michigan (west) side of the State.  

One week, in 1985, I was having a very difficult time in my life.  Newly divorced 10 months before, and dumped by my first "rebound" boyfriend, I packed up my station wagon and headed to Lake Huron (east) side of the State.  As I drove along the shore-line, I saw some little cabins, built on the sand, about 100 feet from the Lake.  I stopped and rented one for four days.

Let me tell you--it was tiny.  Probably 200 sq. ft, bed, two kitchen chairs, small table and a bathroom.  It was perfect.  I unloaded my stuff and then walked along that shore-line for a mile or so--looking down, always looking down for any interesting rocks or the occasional shell I might find.

There was a full moon that night and around midnight, I walked out to the shore-line.  I was crying and so distraught.  I looked up and the light from the moon shimmered on the water.  It looked like I could walk on the path of that light right up into Heaven.

I took one step into the water, then another.  Following that path of light across that big Lake.

I do not remember anything after that.   I woke up the next morning, naked in the cottage bed, with a pile of my wet clothes on the floor.  

What had happened?  Had I tried to drown myself?  I can't swim and yet, there lay the evidence that I had been in water up to my neck.  I felt shaky.

I jumped into some dry clothes and walked out to the spot where I had been that night.  The sun was shining so brightly and a nice warm breeze.  I tried to remember the night before.  I remember starting to walk into the big Lake, but...............nothing else.

I looked down at the rocks along the water's edge and saw what I thought was a Petoskey Stone.  Couldn't be--they are found on the other side of the State, many water miles away.  I reached down and picked it up.  Oh My God!  It was!

 It is only as big as my thumb nail.  I carry it in my coin purse, these last 32 years, because that little stone showed me that if it could somehow travel from Lake Michigan, up the shore-line, under the Mackinaw Bridge and down the Lake Huron shore-line to exactly where I was standing?  All things are possible!!

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February--or, dark and dreary in the North.

While January always has felt like a new time, a time to get inside chores done and clean up the house, February has always felt like drab, dark and dreary to me.  "The longest month of the year," my Mother used to proclaim.  Usually not enough clean, white snow to cover the dead gardens/lawns and not enough sun to brighten up the dark spaces.

February used to be a much dreaded month for me.  Not so anymore.  I don't know why.  My sister is still affected by it.  Is it my Ott Daylight lamp I sit under while I stitch?  Or is it, that at this age, time goes by so fast that by the time I realize it's February, March is knocking at the door?
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I finally got all the ham sliced and packaged and frozen from the half ham Karen gave me for Christmas.  Sunday, I put that bone in the Crock Pot.  Monday, I added the cabbage, onions, carrots and potatoes.  I enjoyed a nice dish of boiled dinner for supper.  I have frozen the rest.  8 plastic snap-tight containers.

I also attended a Memorial Service for my cousin's husband on Monday.  It was lovely.  I have never been to a Memorial service and it seemed different than a regular funeral.  Better, more relaxed than a funeral.  Perhaps because the deceased person is not reclining in a casket at the back/front of the room?

Each of his children got up and talked about memories of their Dad, and a lot of the grandchildren did also.  It lasted a long time--over two hours--with lots of songs too.  But, I was so engaged that I didn't even get fidgety.  Which is unusual for me.

I want lots of music at my funeral too.  I have a song picked out for a duet to sing, and 3 songs for the people to sing.

The first song we sang at the Memorial service was, "Jesus Loves Me."  I just might add that to my funeral.  
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Not too much else going on.  Creating pedigrees for genealogy.  Making copies of a book for other family members.  Running up to town to get new inkjet cartridges, the usual household chores and...
I am really having fun with this cross stitch.  It is going to be just the right size for over the back door.

January 27th. Already?

I found it!!!  It was less expensive than the ones on other sites, but still with shipping and taxes, it came to $30.00  Isn't it cute?  It's going to be so much fun to do.  I love the little turtle!!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday.  I was foggy headed in the morning and then I had a wondrous phone call with a blog buddy, going over genealogy books for her siblings, and then I spent the rest of the day working on that--before I forgot what we discussed.

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This morning, got up late again--9:20--it is so dismal outside.  We haven't seen the sun for days and days!!!  Worked some more on the genealogies--editing and re-doing pedigree charts.

I watched my Soap, which was rudely interrupted by the President, and some old lady from England.  It's a fact, there is nothing on TV at 2:00 EST, so why don't they wait until then and not 1:30 to have a President press conference?  ARGGH.  It's Friday.  There always is a cliff hanger on my Soap on Fridays.

At 2:00, I ran up to Walmart--to get my prescriptions, which I was supposed to pick up yesterday.  I was paying $2.50 for my generic meds and $6.50 for my blood thinner.  The prices today?  $3.30 for the generics and $8.25 for the blood thinner.  I haven't purchased any in 3 months and the pharmacist told me the prices rose January 1st--along with most of our health insurance.  My health insurance tripled!!!  Luckily, because I am low income, I did get a subsidy that pays for part of it, but it still doubled.  ARGGH!!

  I didn't need to get too much in the grocery department. I cashed in my coins from the coin jug at the CoinStar machine.  They keep 10.9% for using the machine.  I should have rolled them and taken them to the bank, or Meijer where they only take 5%.  

I just looked at my Walmart receipt.   I spent $22.00 on wild bird seed!!  Some with peanuts and berries in, some with nuts and sunflower seeds for the Woodpeckers, Cardinals and Nut Hatches.  A suet cake for the Woodpeckers.  I spent $4.00 on cat food.  I got myself a pencil sharpener--47 cents and a pouch of Tuna--$2.42.  It's a fact that the animals around here eat better than I do.  LOL

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My daughter Karen, gave me half a ham for Christmas.  That thing was big as a cow!!!  I finally have all the ham sliced off and frozen in packages for sandwiches and today, I crock-potted the bone and the meat on it all day.  I have a nice broth, I also have 2 potatoes, carrots, 2 onions and a small cabbage to add and crock-pot those tomorrow.

I did this a couple weeks ago with just the ham and it tasted so good.  It seems I must have been craving ham for a long time because I've been eating on that hog since Christmas and I'm still not sick of it. :-)

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Went to a funeral Tuesday and have another one on Monday.  My cousin's husband died last night.  "Death comes in Three's?"  I wonder who will be next.  YIKES!!!

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Have a great weekend.  

It was a fine day---yesterday

This is the Noah's Ark stamped cross stitch kit I want.  So if you see it anywhere, please let me know.
Right now, it's $38.50 on jet.com and I would rather pay in the 20-25 dollar range.

Remember me telling you about the genealogy I did for the young lady named Sam?  A freebie because I knew she couldn't afford any of it.

I dated her Dad when I first moved here.  I don't know why.  He and I had polar opposite lifestyles.   He went to bed at 4:00am and got up at 2:00pm.  He sat at his computer 10 hours a day.

When I went to spend weekends, I sat and cross stitched or crocheted and watched TV, while he sat, with his back to me and computed.  He had two bulletin boards he ran on the computer, so he was involved in conversations.

At midnight, he'd get ready to go to the bar for his nightly drink and then have breakfast afterwards.  I went with him--why?  I didn't drink, but they had Karoke and I loved listening to Karoke.  Some of those singers were waaaaaaaay good.

Every other weekend, his 10 year old daughter Samantha, came to visit him.  The poor kid sat in her room all day and watched TV--waiting for Dad to wake up at 2:00 and take her out for lunch.

That became my role.  I'd take her to breakfast and shopping, or to the park--sometimes I even brought her home with me for the weekend and we'd go to Karen or Jennifer's where she could play with the babies.

That little girl was rather strange.  She had no table manners, laying her head on her arm, while she scooped the food off the plate into her mouth--with her fingers.

No matter what, she never, ever said Please or Thank You.

I tried my best, not in a nagging way, but by example and having her visit my grandkids, to learn to act properly.  I got her Dad, who never had been to the Mackinaw Bridge to take us up for a weekend.  We spent 4 days in the Upper Peninsula and had a great time.  Then I made a memory book of the photos for Sam.  Once, while shopping, she saw a book about manners for young kids.  She wanted it, so I got it for her.

That Sunday afternoon, when we took Sam home and toted her stuff inside, she showed her mother the book.  Some of her mother's friends were there and I felt uncomfortable as it was.

Her mother looked at the book and threw it at me.  "My girl don't need no book 'bout manners!"  I picked it up off the floor and retreated to the truck.  Sam would just have the book at her Dad's to read, I guess.

Her Mother hated me!  She was 36 when Sam was born, Sam's Dad was 50.  They never married or even lived together.  He really was never sure Sam was his, but he sent child support and had her in his Will.


The only thing I missed about that relationship when he ended it, was not seeing Sam.
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Okay, so here we are 12 years later.  Sam's mother died January 7th.  They couldn't afford a funeral and they had to have the money up front, so it took that long to have a visitation.  2 hours at the funeral home, no funeral, private family burial, dark brown wooden casket.

I decided to drive in to the funeral home.  It was only a 20 minute drive.  I walked in and stood kind of at the back and she must have seen me and she came right over and walked right into my arms!  This amazed me because the 2 years I knew her, she hated to be hugged.

Then she pulled back a little bit and said, "Chris, Judy's here." and a handsome young came hurrying over and grabbed me in a bear hug.  Apparently she had mentioned something about me to him, her husband, over the years.  I got to meet her two little girls, the 4 year-old, reached out to shake my hand.  "I heered 'bout you from my Momma."  Hm-mm.  Then I heard someone squeal, "Judy!" and Sam's BFF since kindergarten came rushing over and we were in a huge three-way hug.  She had spent some of those weekends with us.  Now they are 24 with babies of their own, instead of the dolls we used to play with.

Sam had to greet other people so I went to sit down and then---in the back corner, I spotted people I knew.  Sam's Dad's siblings!  His sister came running up to me and led me back to the group.  These are some of the nicest people I have ever known and thought of them as part of my family for those 2 years he and I dated.  I got to meet a new sister-in-law, as one of the brother's had been a widower.

"Judy, I've heard so much about you!  Annie showed me that beautiful Dream Fairy picture you cross stitched for her.  It is beautiful.  You are just awesome!"

Okay, so I could have spent all afternoon with that group. LOL
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As I started to leave I wanted to say good-bye to Sam and give her some money, so I asked if she could step out in the hall for a moment.  I hugged her long and hard and she sort of melted into my arms.  I said, "Give me your paw, Little One."  and I tucked a hundred dollar into her palm..."Just in case," I said.  "Just in case."

She didn't say Thank You--I didn't expect it, but she did say, "Would you make one of those family things for Chris?  I want to give it to his mother for her birthday."  That was the first she even mentioned the genealogy I had done.  I hadn't heard if she had received it not.

"Sure," I said.  "Just e-mail me his parent's name and grand parents, if you know the information."

"Okay.  I will."  We hugged again.

"Bye, bye Sam,  I love you.

"Bye", she said.

When I got in my car and started home, I realized---I hadn't even gone up to look into the casket.  Oh well--that wasn't why I had gone there yesterday anyway.
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10:30 Wednesday night--I just received this e-mail from Pammie:
"Just got the greatest call from Cindy regarding Marks  test results. PSA is at 5...which is good. All scans came back good. Cancer is-in docs words "at bay"

Praise be to God!!!"

==============

Indeed!  Praise be to God.

Projects

I don't know if I mentioned it before.  I have 9 grandchildren.  I decided 5 years ago to cross stitch a baby quilt for each one of them to have for their 1st child.  When finished, I wash them, iron them, let them hang for a day to completely dry and then pack them in tissue paper, put in a large zippered bag, (like drapes or curtains come in) and into a large plastic storage box.  I figure I'll be long gone by the time the last grandchild marries and births, but at least there will be a gift for their baby from the Great Grandma.  They can choose whichever one they want.

 #1

#2--this one is for my grandson Marcus, if he keeps

dating and marries that cute little farm girl, Morgan.

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7--this is the one I gave to grand daughter Helene,

for Della.

#8

I need to do one more.  I know the one I want to do.  It is another Noah's Ark one, but it is expensive.  I search E-Bay every now and then and also check the Salvation Army store.  When Dar worked at the SA, one like I wanted came in and she grabbed it.  She showed it to me and I asked her if I could buy it from her.

She said, "Oh. No.  I'm going to make this one."

"I didn't know you cross stitched."

"I haven't in years, but one day, I will again.  I do lovely work."

That was 4 years ago.  She doesn't have the patience to sit and cross stitch.  I doubt she will ever make that quilt.  She has no expected grand babies or great grand babies.  

So I just keep looking.  These are stamped cross stitch, so I kind of "sew" them rather than do the "punch" method.  I don't want any stitches to show on the back of the quilt, so I move the needle between the layers.

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Della is 3 months old today.