You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. (Does anyone else remember Hee Haw?)

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me!

Things happen in 3's, they say.

And we've all heard of Murphy's law.

All I know is YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

 Six weeks ago, I underwent a partial shoulder replacement.  My recovery has been normal so far.  The pain I have is to be expected, and I wear my sling most of the time, even sleep in it, and I go to physical therapy. (# 1)

During this time, my mom was in the ER and hospitalized twice , had major surgery, and is now in rehab. I can't drive, so my DH has been taking me to see her(So thankful for him).  Six days before my sling was scheduled to come off (which is now tomorrow), and wouldn't you know it?  Bet you can't guess! 

 My ankle rolled, and I broke my foot!  So, we ended up going to the ER for me. DH had to get a wheelchair to get me down there (remember we were at the hospital already).  Some of the nurses even recognized me. (You can't miss the girl in the sling, right?) (# 2) Can you say embarrassing?

So yes, now I'm in a boot AND a sling!  I have what is called a Jones fracture.  If my bones stay aligned, I will need a boot for about six weeks.  If they are displaced, I will need surgery, as if I haven't had enough of those! To top it off, I have cough and cold symptoms (# 3) which I probably picked up at the hospital.🙄

I hope and pray we all get through this!

Have a great week!  And don't forget to visit my friends at Happy Tuesday and  Random Tuesday Thoughts.

Random and Happy Tuesday

 

My daughter's surgery went well.  She went through it with bravery and grace.  The doctor showed us a photo of her thyroidd gland. The left side was considerably larger than the right, and we could actually see what the cancer was doing to her thyroid.  Eye-opening!  Check your neck! They found hers when she had a case of tonsilitis.

 My botched surgery re-do is today, and I'm not feeling all that brave  Last time I ended up with a hole punctured into my uterus.  A different doctor is doing my surgery and I'm having it done at a different place as well.  But I'm still nervous.

My sweet father-in-law passed away a week ago, and my mom has been in the hospital one day short of a week.  Our family needs some good mojo!  I'm trying not to whine and complain.  We just need a break!

In other news, country singer Jason Aldean cut his Connecticut concert short due to "heat exhaustion."  He then admitted he'd been out playing golf all day.  I'm sure it gets hot on stage, but the high temperature in Connecticut Sunday was only 85 degrees at 3PM.  High temp here near Houston today was 101 with a heat index of 108.  Methinks there is more to the story.

How about we just get happy with some funnies?

I wonder if that was me in my family...

Have a great week!  Visit Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday,

Bad News, Good News, and a Happy 4th

Happy Independence Day here in the USA!  Although we may not all get along or agree, it's good to be free in so many ways:  Thoughts, actions, words.

Words I never thought I would have to say:

My daughter has cancer.

She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last week shortly after her 27th birthday.  Finding it was a lucky fluke.  She had tonsilitis and went to her PCP.  The PCP was concerned with a lump she felt in the throat (it's small, 1.77 cm, but it's there.  That's a little less than 3/4 of an inch, which, when you think about your throat, doesn't seem small). Other than the lump, which she was not aware of, she is asymptomatic.  She went through an ultrasound and a needle biopsy as a "precaution."

The good news is that it is operable.  They caught it early, so we are praying for all of it to be removed with no lingering cancer cells.  Her surgery is less than two weeks away.  She will be on medication for the rest of her life, but that beats having cancer!

I have what my orthopedic doctor thinks is a partial rotator cuff tear in my shoulder, but I have to get my "female" issues under control before I can think about doing anything for my shoulder other than a cortisone shot.  But it hurts all the time.

The good news is my botched surgery is finally rescheduled for later this month - with a different doctor and different practice.  What a mess!  I am putting my faith in the new doctor, and I hope it all goes in a routine manner.  

My car that broke down on the overpass is still in the shop, and we still don't know what's happening with it.  It's been there since June 14!  Some good news - we got a new car!  

And these are just some of the Days of My Life.  Speaking of Days of Our Lives, it has been on TV for 58 seasons!  That's slightly older than I am!  I've never watched it, though.  I was an ABC soap opera watcher back in the day. How about you?

This was me, way back when, right down to the two babies (twins, in our case).

Soaps. stories, tele-novellas.  Doesn't matter what you call them! And speaking of
tele-novelas, have you ever watched Jane the Virgin?  Hilarious! (Once you 
get used to the tele-novela style narration.  Great satire!)

One reason I don't get on Facebook much anymore!

And last, but not least, sort of on the same theme...

Have a great week!  Visit Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday for more fun!

The Long Goodbye

 This post is not sunshine and roses.  It's about dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.  Proceed knowing that.

 The summer solstice, which was just yesterday, is a loooong day.  Did you know they call Alzheimer's (and other dementia-related diseases) the long goodbye?  Here's why:

1. The grieving process begins when your loved one (my mom) is diagnosed with a form of dementia such as Alzheimer's Disease, Lewy Body, or Frontotemporal Dementia (among others).  It is a long process.

2. The disease is irreversible and only gets worse.  No one gets better, and no one survives.

3.  The person suffering with dementia does not retain the basic parts of their personality.  It changes.  The person you knew and loved is long gone by the time death comes.  Definitely true of my mother.

4.  Not only does memory suffer, but cognitive skills in general decline. Daily conversation dwindles away.

5.  Friends and family become strangers to the person suffering dementia.  She loses recognition.

6.  The physical body declines.

7.  The person is changing right before your eyes.

8.  Role reversal is difficult.  You may be caring for the person who used to take care of you as I am.

9.  The person affected with Alzheimer's gets to a point where they can no longer use reason.

10.  Those with Alzheimer's forget their pasts.  They come to a point where they don't recognize their own children or grandchildren.

11. The affected individual cannot read, follow a TV show, or do many of the things she once did.

12. A person with dementia may say things that are socially unacceptable and may even insult you.

13.  Dementia and Alzheimer's cause a person to lose the ability to speak, walk, and even eat.  

This is not meant to depress you, but to be aware that someone like me whose mom is suffering with the disease needs your help whether or not they ask for it, but most of all, they need your compassion. This long goodbye constantly weighs heavily on their mind as they are in a perpetual state of mourning.  This is my situation now with my mom.

I am linking to Thursday Thirteen.

Sleep

 

Sleep.  Peaceful, restorative, blissful sleep.  I have no idea what that is!  It is elusive, meaning I have difficulty falling asleep, and even when I do sleep, it's often fitful leaving me groggy in the morning.  I'm technically not an expert, but I have done a lot of research on how to achieve restful sleep.  Not all of them work for me, but here we go.

1.  Routine.  Going to bed and waking up at approximately the same time every day.  This one is difficult for me.  I'd love to hear your story if it's worked for you.

2.  Decreased Exposure to Blue Light.  Blue light, the kind that you're exposed to on electronics like your phone or computer, supposedly mimics daytime light which prevents your body from producing melatonin.  Wearing blue light blocking glasses at night is supposed to help, but I haven't tried them.  Have you?

3.  Meditation or relaxation.  There are a dozen or so apps out there to help with meditation.  I downloaded one and used it once.  I know.  If I don't use it, how will I know if it works or not?

4.  Quiet.  The noises in your home or outside your windows could possibly keep you awake.  I have a white noise machine that prevents those noises from interfering with my sleep, and I do think it helps.

5.  Temperature.  It's difficult to sleep if you're too hot.  My husband turns the AC way down at night, so my room is always cool.

6.  Dark.  I used to like a nightlight on, and there was a time when I slept with the TV on every night, but as I've gotten older, I need a dark room to sleep well.  My daughter has used a sleep mask for years.

7.  Exercise.  Just don't exercise too late in the day.  Exercise gives you an initial burst of alertness and energy, but it also contributes to more restful sleep.  Kind of ironic.

8.  No naps.  Self-explanatory.  This one is sometimes difficult for me.

9.  Aromatherapy.  Lavender is said to induce relaxation, particularly when the essential oil is diffused into the room.  There is a variety of lavender products available:  lotions, bubble bath, body spray, pillow mist.  Other essential oils can aid in relaxation such as bergamot, chamomile, and cedarwood.

10. Melatonin supplements.  Melatonin is a hormone the body produces that helps control your sleep-wake cycle. These can be taken in tablet form, melts, or chewables.  

11. Reduce caffeine intake.  I try to limit myself to one soda's worth of caffeine a day, and I try not to have any past the afternoon.  I think it helps.

12. No eating or watching TV in bed.  Use the bed for sleep (and if this were a different kind of blog... well, you know.)

13. Medication.  According to drugs.com, there are about 74 medications that are used to aid with sleeping, some over-the-counter, some prescription.  The ones I know of are Ambien, Lunesta, Diphenhydramine, and Sonota, but clearly, I haven't experienced all of them.

I hope you get a good night's sleep tonight, but if you're awake and need something to do, visit Thursday Thirteen for more fun lists!

Random and Happy Tuesday

 

Hello all!  About the time you are reading this, I am probably going into surgery.  Recently, my sister was diagnosed and treated for uterine cancer, so this is especially nerve-wracking for me.  I know my situation may be different, but I also know that the odds were ever in her favor (Hunger Games reference) as they are mine.  She was one of the 3% who actually develop uterine cancer.  There is a 5% chance my polyp is cancerous, 95% that it's not.

Anyway, I tend to get pretty nervous about IVs.  Anyone else look away when they get their blood drawn.  An IV is worse, if you ask me.  I have passed out a number of times after being connected to an IV and almost go into a panic attack.  I can think of at least four times that this has happened.  Does anyone else have Vasovagal Syncope?

So that is as happy and random it gets today, not including the funnies!  Here we go!

This is good advice:

I love a good play on words!

Clever!

And last, but not least...

Have a great week!

Link up and/or visit Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday for some more laughs!

Happy Random Tuesday

Hey everyone!  I hope your week is off to a great start!  Yesterday was pretty busy for me.  This time next week, I will be having surgery on my female parts.  I am praying I don't have the same issues as my sister did, but at this point, it looks like it's benign.  We'll know for sure soon.

Happy Tax Day!  Wait... there's nothing happy about taxes!  Our daughter is an accountant, so she is preparing our return.  I've got a cute gift and thank you card waiting for her!

Everyone around my area complains about our post office on Next Door. (I think all Next Door is for is complaining, which is why I rarely look at it).  Apparently, our post office is awful.  I hadn't experienced any issues... until today.  I decided to give my small business some legitimacy by opening a post office box which I was able to fill out and pay for online.  I still had to go in to get the keys and file the paperwork, and while I was there, I planned to get two money orders for my DBA application with the county. (Money orders-that's a whole 'nother conversation, but our county government will not take a check, debit or credit card, or cash.)

There was a line 7 or 8 people deep when I got there.  I've never seen it like that!  And they were so inefficient.  One lady who came out to see if anyone just needed to drop off, but when she tried to help a customer, she had no idea what to do!  One of the other clerks (there were only two) kept having to stop helping her customer to help the employee.  When it was finally my turn, the clerk was very confused about how to complete my transaction, but she figured it out.  And I was planning to buy my money orders, but she said I would have to wait for the other clerk.  I ended up going to the bank instead.  The whole ordeal was a comedy of errors.

I certainly don't mean to offend anyone who works for the post office.  This particular branch just has a bad reputation, and I got to find out firsthand why.  There was a woman there with an appointment to get a passport, and she was still there waiting for someone to help her when I left.

Moving along...

I suppose this is true!

Working with the public is not easy!

The Flintstones was my favorite cartoon growing up.

And last, but not least...

Have a great week!

Visit Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday for more fun!