Thursday, March 21, 2013

I love to crochet and I have been doing quite a bit of it the last year or so, you know, to keep me busy and out of the pool halls. Anyway, I am not really crazy about knitting although I know how as I find it kind of hard. But there is a neck warmer that I have been dying to knit for myself for years, but wanted a specific wool for it and just never got around to buying it for myself. Well, I got some perfect wool recently for the project and so I am going for it...ugh. So, there I sat yesterday, sweating and wearing out my arms because I always cast the first row on way too tight. NIA hubby was watching t.v. when I suddenly cried out that I needed vice grips, an anvil, and a bazooka. He didn't bother to get me the items I asked for, for some unknown reason, but I did manage to finally get through the dreaded first row. So far so good, but I really don't remember my mother-in-law going through this when she knitted.
This morning I had to be up early for some tests on my heart. It was a stress test, but because I am unable to do the treadmill, they stress your heart chemically. When I went in they gave me an I.V. and then put the medicine in to stress my heart. Suddenly I felt terrible, and had a lot of pressure on my chest. I was also pretty sure I was going to be sick. They assured me this was normal, and  for the next 5 or 10 minutes I felt like I was going to die. It was awful. They then gave me another shot and miraculously, it all suddenly went away and I felt fine. Geez, glad that's done as it really sucked. Then I had to go and have something to eat and went for more pictures but it was easy.  Tomorrow morning I must go for some follow up pictures and then I should get the results on Friday. I'll keep you posted on that.
Holly showed me something very interesting today and I think it would be worthwhile for people to read about this amazing lady who did so much and never really received the acknowledgement she truly deserved. So, if you have the time, please go to http://www.irenasendler.org/ and learn about an exceptional lady.
Take care,

Saturday, March 09, 2013

March Madness and Other Observations..

I am one of those old fogies that regularly uses the Internet but have no idea of how it actually works.  Since I have two young adult children who are used to all this tech stuff, I periodically ask them if they know how it works and where is all this info actually stored.  It sounds like they are trying to tell me that it is basically stored in the air! What? So, of course, me being a Tory...my mind goes there. (Where no Tory has gone before). Anyway, some afternoons when I'm in repose in my living room there is a wonderful shaft of sunlight that comes through my window. As I watch, there is often a piece of dust or pet hair that floats through the light. Or is it?? Could it actually be that e-mail that I've been waiting for from E-bay regarding my emergency spanx order? Did I just sneeze because my nose was jammed with spam, just as my in-box is?? Now I hear my girls talking about how they are filling the 'clouds' with this stuff. When it rains will we all be sifting through the puddles looking for e-mails we didn't receive? (like my love letter from Brad Pitt that must have gotten lost in someones nose.) I really still don't quite get the concept and it really boggles my mind that someone does. However, I'm glad I don't have to understand it to use it, because I do love it.
I am about to reveal a secret about myself that only my family knows...I love watching MMA. What a great job to be able to  punch people in the face and get paid for it   to express yourself in such a physical way. What do you mean I have anger issues?
Just in case I have a lapse in writing on here, let me assure you, I really have a good excuse for the next little while.  My health proves to be more challenging by the second. Next month, I go and have surgery to have a tube installed in my belly to accommodate dialysis as my kidney's are nearly done. NIA hubby is going to see if he is a match for a doner and if it will be safe for him to donate. If not I will be placed on a waiting list for a doner.  The kidney problems are a result of a lifetime of diabetes which I never really took seriously in my younger days. I sure am paying for it now. I have retinopathy which could make me blind, however there is a treatment, which I am taking now, (needles in the eyeballs....ewwww) that seem to be working and will keep blindness away for a good while. However, I have a bunch of cataracts that are going to be removed by surgery this month. And now, something new and exciting that I learned last week from my Endocrinologist....heart problem. Angina, to be specific, so last Wednesday I spent the day going to med appointments all day. The first thing in the morning I had a heart ultrasound, then I rushed to a mammogram at the local hospital and then Holly had to drive me about an hour away to a big hospital in Ottawa so a surgeon could check out the site of my operation for the dialysis tube. It was such a long day for me, because A) I have fybro myalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome and B) the angina causes extreme fatigue.
And besides all that, I have such extreme nerve damage in my feet and legs, from the diabetes, I am unable to walk very well.  As of late, i use a wheelchair every chance I can or I just don't go.
Now, do not feel sorry for me. I know it sound like a lot, but I'm doing fine. My life is not the same as it used to be, but I'm still enjoying it. I am a homebody anyway, so I have several hobbies that keep me busy and happy. And my family makes my life so easy, they really do. I am so blessed to have them. Anyway, as you can see, I will be busy for awhile because once they give me my dialysis tube, I must spend a week in Ottawa for training on how to do home dialysis. I stay at a hotel at night but spend the best part of the day learning to do my own dialysis. And of course, my Dr. said that if they find more than one artery blocked, I will have to go for bypass surgery a.s.a.p. I am really trying to be careful to not have a heart attack and damage my heart before they fix it. And I was kind of hoping that bypass was day surgery and I could go home after, but she informed me that I would be in I.C.U. for 5 days!!! Are they crazy?? I was seriously thinking me and the surgeon...my bathtub...I'll hand him the instruments...no? That is the worst part of the whole thing...I hate the hospital with a passion. I feel so uncomfortable not sleeping at my own house. I don't even go and sleep at family's houses. I remember a few months ago, I had built up so much water in my body, when I got a cold I found one afternoon that I couldn't breath. I thought I was just congested from the cold, but the next afternoon, I really couldn't breath (which makes it so hard to smoke...lol) and NIA hubby called an ambulance. Very embarrassing...Anyway, sure enough, I had water in my lungs. They kept me at the local hospital for a few days, but I had a bunch of stuff wrong with me and needed a blood transfusion. Finally, they sent me by ambulance to the hospital in Ottawa. After they got me settled and I was alone, I actually started to cry. I just wanted to go home. What a baby. Being sick constantly doesn't really bother me, I take it in stride, but I would love to have to never have to go to the hospital again. That is why, unless I'm sure I'm dying, I never go to the E.R. for anything as they always keep me for some reason or another. Ugh!
Anyway, onward and upward as they say. But in spite of all this, I am really looking forward to summer this year. I am going to spend most of it sitting on a dock on the St. Laurence River with my fishing pole. It is the most relaxing way to spend time and it's not strenuous. All I need is my tackle box and a lovely hat. That's what I call a perfect day!
Take Care,