Another wonderful day in the neighborhood. Well, actually it was fine. Wifie spent the day doing stuff on Quicken. I surfed more than my fair share but I also did some investment stuff, went to the store & got stuff for dinner, vacuumed the house and did most of 3 loads of clothes (wifie did take some stuff out of one load of the dryer). We shared doing dinner. It was much better than yesterday.
I'm not going to make this into a rant about my wife because it is as much my fault as hers. Sometimes we start drinking wine and just don't stop in time. We are both very responsible and somehow manage to take care of our obligations but there are other times when we drink to excess. Yesterday was one of those times. After a productive morning, we went out by the pool at lunch and got blitzed. That was just what happened. Then, after a short nap, life resumed. It bothers us both but it keeps us sane and keeps us going.
Life in the fast lane, huh!
Friday, October 28, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
Good bye Wilma!
The Tampa Bay area was lucky again and Wilma went down and hurt folks in South Florida. Thanks, Cinn, for your good thoughts. It makes you feel a little guilty at your good luck when the hurricane goes and hurts others. The disaster relief donations must be getting tough to get. It seems like the whole summer has been one thing after another. (Yes, it's still summer down here!) One of my neighbors is a cop and he is going down south to help with the policing effort. After all, the cops down there have families to care for just like everyone else.
We are having a lot of trouble dealing with my mother-in-laws illness. Last December she was still driving around in her little truck, going to bingo and the dog track. Now she is on 5 liters of oxygen, has 8 or 10 prescriptions including 2 for pain relief, and has hospice coming to see her almost every day. She is considering quitting taking the newspaper because the Sunday paper is too heavy for her to lift! She and my wife are both depressed and, of course, it is catching just like the flu. I spend more and more time on the net escaping. I'm hoping that the hospice councilor can help with the depression. For me, I'm going to go exercise. That always makes me feel better.
Have a good one!
We are having a lot of trouble dealing with my mother-in-laws illness. Last December she was still driving around in her little truck, going to bingo and the dog track. Now she is on 5 liters of oxygen, has 8 or 10 prescriptions including 2 for pain relief, and has hospice coming to see her almost every day. She is considering quitting taking the newspaper because the Sunday paper is too heavy for her to lift! She and my wife are both depressed and, of course, it is catching just like the flu. I spend more and more time on the net escaping. I'm hoping that the hospice councilor can help with the depression. For me, I'm going to go exercise. That always makes me feel better.
Have a good one!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
All the news that's fit to print
Well, hell! I'm not sure how to say this so I'm just going to dump it out here. Yesterday my wife took her mother to the doctor and after hearing about her condition he said he was ready to write her a prescription for Hospice care. This is the pulmonary specialist that she's been seeing for about a year. He's the one who put her on oxygen; he's the one who has been boosting the amount of oxygen that she gets from the machine; he's completely familiar with her case and is basically saying he's done all he can so now she is beyond further assistance.
We just didn't know what to say; either my wife at the doctor's office or me when she told me about it. We were certainly flabbergasted. Speechless, in fact. If you aren't familiar with Hospice, it is an organization that provides comfort to those who are considered terminally ill. Usually Hospice gets involved when the person is considered to have six months to live. That is the idea anyway. They got involved with my mother when she suddenly lost 10 pounds in a week. She then continued to live for another two and a half years. But they did contribute substantially to her comfort. They have special chairs for the wheel chair bound; beds; lots of equipment; but also counselors to assist the patient and the patient's family and even some medical assistants to, say, give the patient a massage.
In this case, the doctor was not saying that he believes the MIL is going to die in six months but rather that there is nothing more he can do to help her so having help to be comfortable in her own home is the best that can be done for her. Like many elderly people, she has a whole raft of illnesses, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and severe osteoporosis being a couple of the more serious. She is getting to the point that drugs used to treat one condition aggravate a different one. Not a good situation.
So anyway, within a month of my mother's death, my MIL is a candidate for Hospice. Could be an interesting year!
We just didn't know what to say; either my wife at the doctor's office or me when she told me about it. We were certainly flabbergasted. Speechless, in fact. If you aren't familiar with Hospice, it is an organization that provides comfort to those who are considered terminally ill. Usually Hospice gets involved when the person is considered to have six months to live. That is the idea anyway. They got involved with my mother when she suddenly lost 10 pounds in a week. She then continued to live for another two and a half years. But they did contribute substantially to her comfort. They have special chairs for the wheel chair bound; beds; lots of equipment; but also counselors to assist the patient and the patient's family and even some medical assistants to, say, give the patient a massage.
In this case, the doctor was not saying that he believes the MIL is going to die in six months but rather that there is nothing more he can do to help her so having help to be comfortable in her own home is the best that can be done for her. Like many elderly people, she has a whole raft of illnesses, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and severe osteoporosis being a couple of the more serious. She is getting to the point that drugs used to treat one condition aggravate a different one. Not a good situation.
So anyway, within a month of my mother's death, my MIL is a candidate for Hospice. Could be an interesting year!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Asian Disaster
Today the news just keeps getting worse about the number of people killed in the earthquake in Pakistan. It makes our losses to Katrina and Rita seem small. Not that any loss of life is insignificant but 20,000 people! What a tragedy. Time to find more money for the Red Cross or some other relief effort.
All my good wishes and hopes go out to those poor people on this awful day.
All my good wishes and hopes go out to those poor people on this awful day.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
New Game
Heard of a new email tagging game today. Here's the email you receive: "Describe me in one word - just one.
Send it to me (only me), then forward this email to your friends and see how many strange things people think about you."
It's tough to describe someone in one word but kind of fun. Most of my life has been spent trying to think of MORE words to describe something. Adding MORE words to help reduce confusion and misunderstanding. Sometimes adding MORE just for it's own sake (unfortunately)! Needless to say I don't write haiku.
Things are a little tense around here because my wife is having a little trouble and will have a test on Friday. The doctor fears she might be afflicted with hemochromatosis. To quote from www.irondisorders.org; "hemochromatosis is an inherited condition of abnormal iron metabolism; it is not a blood disease. Individuals with hemochromatosis absorb too much iron from the diet. Iron cannot be excreted therefore the metal can reach toxic levels in tissues of major organs such as the liver, heart, pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and synovium (joints)." Needless to say, we are hoping that she doesn't have the disorder. Maybe next week we'll get some good news and can relax!
Later!
Send it to me (only me), then forward this email to your friends and see how many strange things people think about you."
It's tough to describe someone in one word but kind of fun. Most of my life has been spent trying to think of MORE words to describe something. Adding MORE words to help reduce confusion and misunderstanding. Sometimes adding MORE just for it's own sake (unfortunately)! Needless to say I don't write haiku.
Things are a little tense around here because my wife is having a little trouble and will have a test on Friday. The doctor fears she might be afflicted with hemochromatosis. To quote from www.irondisorders.org; "hemochromatosis is an inherited condition of abnormal iron metabolism; it is not a blood disease. Individuals with hemochromatosis absorb too much iron from the diet. Iron cannot be excreted therefore the metal can reach toxic levels in tissues of major organs such as the liver, heart, pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and synovium (joints)." Needless to say, we are hoping that she doesn't have the disorder. Maybe next week we'll get some good news and can relax!
Later!
Monday, October 03, 2005
Another day
Turned 57 yesterday. Not much of a milestone but they can't all be great. Anyway, this one really turned out great. My wife, Judie, got me a Canon PowerShot S2! A great gift; just what I wanted. Now I have to read all 100 pages of the instruction manual to figure the thing out. (Yes, I really am male and, yes, I'm reading the manual. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to more photographic adventures.
We had 2 couples over for dinner; both brought me booze. Must be my reputation. Anyway we had a good time. Everyone got a little sloshed and went home early; today being Monday.
Daughter is coming for her cat. The cat has been a real pleasure unlike my fears. It has hidden under a bed for most of it's visit but when you go in and play with it it's great. Very friendly and trusting. Nothing at all like her last cat which would walk across the room specifically to hit you with her claws. Guess we will have more cat sitting jobs in the future.
A quiet day; and we need a few after the last month. Wishing the same to all!
We had 2 couples over for dinner; both brought me booze. Must be my reputation. Anyway we had a good time. Everyone got a little sloshed and went home early; today being Monday.
Daughter is coming for her cat. The cat has been a real pleasure unlike my fears. It has hidden under a bed for most of it's visit but when you go in and play with it it's great. Very friendly and trusting. Nothing at all like her last cat which would walk across the room specifically to hit you with her claws. Guess we will have more cat sitting jobs in the future.
A quiet day; and we need a few after the last month. Wishing the same to all!
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