Charles' Blog

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About this blog

What you find here are the musings and ramblings detailing the trials, tribulations, and issues faced by me

Entries in this blog

Out of Disaster, Happiness can sometimes occur

This blog was set invisible by Steve Mallory after the blogger left the site.   ----------------------------------------------------------     I was looking at one of the news websites and saw a story that really intrigued me. It was a story about a couple that had to evacuated to Mississippi. They were scheduled to have gotten married in New Orleans just hours prior to when Hurricane Katrina was to land.   The bride and her fiancee were part of 3000 refugees at the Mississippi Colis

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New Orleans, the next Ground Zero

I sit here watching the coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I see a city going under, literally, for the third or fourth time. I see a city built under sea level that has gambled many times it could make another time not make it.   I see people who feel they have no hope take matters into their own hands and things get real bad real fast. Instead of everyone joining together, everyone starts going for themselves.   Where will it end???   When will it end?

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Marriage is about sharing

Those of you who are married remember that portion of the marriage vows, "...in sickness and in health...".   Shortly after my wife and I got married, my wife was the one who had health issues.   Since November 2004, I have been the patient primarily.   I must say I have been a worse patient than she has ever been. All of these mini strokes have affected the ability of my brain to conduct business. I used to have a very sharp mind. Now it is very dull. Now my wife has to carry the

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Bees may not have a mob but Yellow Jackets do

I saw hostMichael's Blog entry yesterday asking the question whether Bees had a mob or not?   The other night, I think it was Friday, I went outside and my wife wanted to show me something. What she wanted to show me was that there were tens, no there were hundreds, no were thousands, no there were MILLIONS of Yellow Jackets that had decided that my house would be a nice home for the Yellow Jacket family.   What the Yellow Jacket family didn't realize is that I had some bug spray left ove

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My what a month it has been

The month of August has not been good to me. It started off well enough. On August 3, I was about to leave for work when I felt a dizzy spell.   I decided that me driving with a dizzy spell was not a good thing so I called in sick. Later on in the morning (about 9am), I started feeling dizzy, couldn't concentrate, felt disoriented, and felt a tingling sensation in the top of my head.   I knew that these were not normal symptoms so my wife and I went to the ER. When I got to the ER, t

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Vacations

For the last 5 days, my wife has been in Denver on vacation visiting a group of online friends she has made over the last 8 years.   I need to give you a little bit of history. For the last 7 years, these friends have all gotten together at various points of the country every year. The location has ranged from Arlington, VA to Campobello, SC to the Jersey Shore to this years location Denver, CO.   This is the first time that my wife and I have been apart since we have been married. She

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Pushing Myself

The past few days I have been pushing myself mentally at work. The reason I have been doing this I have been under Medical Restrictions since I started back to work back in March. One of these restrictions was I could not work overtime. So I had to find other ways to push myself.   When I went back to work, I found my work responsibilities had changed. At first, I was very upset. I was very good at what I did. I had done this for 14 years now.   Now what I do involves a lot of datab

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Well I did it!!!

Today I did something I never thought I would do. I started the process of turning in my employer in for violating my rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.   What my employer did went way beyond the bounds of stupid. In my opinion (I am not a lawyer however, so don't quote me.) this was almost criminal.   Let me give you a little background first. I had gotten my neurologist to sign off on the paperwork for a temporary Handicapped Parking Placard because I was having diffi

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Pilot to Bombardier

When I got to work this morning, I was greeted by an interesting site. I saw before hundreds, if not thousands, of seagulls. The place where I work is located on beautiful Lake Erie which leads to the abundance of the seagulls otherwise known as rats with wings.   When I got out of the car and got turned around, I saw something but it didn

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Press 1 for English, 2 for...

You know what I reallllllllly dislike. I know you dislike it too. Admit it. Dealing with those damn automated telephone menu systems.   "Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish, 3 for Serbian, 4 for Hindu, 5 for Eskimo."   "Enter your 25 digit account number and pray you don't misenter something and press the pound sign."   "The 17th digit was entered of your account number was entered incorrectly. You will now be redirected to the 17th circle of hell. Enter your 25 digit account nu

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Is that the best you can do???

I was watching the news today about the horrible tragedy in London with the bombings. They were talking to a reporter and he had a very interesting and quite unexpected response.   Want to know what it was?   "Is that the best you can do???"   I do pass along my condolences to those who were affected by the attacks carried out by those cowards in London. The people killed and wounded did nothing to you.   Anyway, I am digressing again.   I guess I have one message for those who

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The more things change, the more they stay the sam

When I went back to work from medical leave, my management (those people who have my "best interests" at heart) decided I needed to be doing something different. At first I was very frustrasted and upset. After all, this is what I had done for 15 years of my life for these idiots who knew nothing to do this to me.   The new duties I have now I grew into and enjoy looking back on it but I digress. I won't bother telling you what my new duties are now or what my old duties were. There are o

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I'm MultiTasking and I can't get up!!!

In the time since I last posted here, much has happened.   I went back to work. I was told by my supervisor my job responsibilities were changed. At first I was not happy, all right down right very upset but upon further review I found I like doing what I am doing now.   One thing I found I can't do any more is doing multiple tasks at the same time. You know the famous management buzzword known as "Multitasking". I can't do it anymore since my stroke last November.   You give me

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Fatigue

This was a draft entry from back in March 2005 I published 7/2/2005. Charles   Today, I was find in the morning until early afternoon. Then a fatigue attack set in while we were traveling to Toledo. I was smart enough to get a scooter at Kroger so that wasn't a problem.   We made it home and I put up the frozen products and sat down.   About 1 1/2 hours later the fatigue went away.

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Questions were not answered

This entry was a draft entry from back in March 2005 I published today. Charles. 7/2/2005   Well, I saw the Neuro. He basically didn't do anything. He isn't going to do any more testing. He released me to go back to work.   He reviewed the MRI which was performed. He didn't say he saw anything. I saw the radiologist report for the mri. It listed "Possible Multiple Sclerosis" as a condition.   Liz asked him about MS. Actually she asked him more specifically asked him about demy

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Will questions be answered?

I got the MRI done this past Saturday. The appointment with my Neuro is next Friday. Will questions be answered? More specifically. Will the right questions be answered? Did I have a Stroke? Did I suffer Migraine Headaches? Did I suffer something worse?   Charles Ramsey

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Speed Limits and other things

Well, today I turn a speed limit. That's 45 for those of you who don't know. This is my first birthday after having my stroke (or whatever it is I had). I don't know why but I am really excited about this birthday. I think the reason is I have a reason possibly to be retired from my present employer. It isn't so much the employer is so bad but the stress that goes with working there is so much worse than any place I have ever worked before. I also never realized how much stress could affec

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My life in a fog

My head is in a fog right now. I am not sure if it is stoke related (or migraine related) or if it is related to the change in blood pressure medication I had a couple of days ago.   All I know is that this has to stop. I can't live this way.   Maybe it will someday.   Charles Ramsey

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It takes me twice as long

I paid bills this morning. Normally, this is a very quick matter and only takes about half an hour or so.   This morning it took forever. I was having trouble concentrating which did not help any. I was having trouble seeing because I do not have my new glasses yet.   Am I making excuses here?????   The good news is the bills are finally paid and I still have my sanity (I think).   Charles Ramsey

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Medications

I started a new Blood Pressure medication yesterday. Today I am feeling a little funny. I really don't know how to describe it. I am not dizzy like I was before I had my stroke but I still feel different.   I was looking at the information sheet that the pharmacy gave me and they told me that dizziness and lightheadedness were to be expected as my body was getting adjusted to this medication.   I just have one question. Why do I have to feel dizzy and lightheaded because of a medicat

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I "love" snow

Well, it snowed today. I guess that is not unexpected considering it is winter and I do live in Michigan.   Today wasn't too bad from a snow perspective (only about 6 inches of snow). I pulled out the snowthrower and cleared the snow. That wasn't too bad.   I came inside and warmed up. I started watching the race on TV and next thing I know it is 5:00pm.   I have no idea where that two hours went. I didn't think I was tired but I guess I was. I have been tired a lot lately. I gue

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What is it about Saturday

Today seemed like any other Saturday. I woke up this morning full of energy. My wife and I went out and ran some errands. But at about 1:30pm, I felt like all of the energy I had had left my body. It was all I could do to even move. At first, I thought I needed something to eat and that would make things better again.   Liz and I went and ate. It didn't work. I still had no energy.   We made it back home and I had to sleep for awhile. I felt better after that.   I don't know wh

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Doctor Visits Part 2

There was one Doctor Visit I forgot to mention that occurred Thursday. I went to visit our Dentist to drop off a payment we owed. I found him looking through the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. He took it upon himself to review this issue to see if it was something that would be displayed in his waiting room.   Somehow, I don't think this magazine will be displayed in his waiting room.   Charles Ramsey

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Doctor Visits

Yesterday, I went to get my Eyes checked. It had been two years since they had been last checked and the doctor who did that exam deciced he needed to "change careers" quite suddenly.   I mentioned this to the new Optical Doc who told me, "Oh yes. He and I trained together. Great guy!!!!" I was really feeling good about things at this point.   After all, It's ONLY my eyesight!!!!!!!!   So we get through the exam and they give me my prescription for my new glasses with bifocals.

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Getting prepared for Neuro appointment tomorrow

You may have seen earlier entries about the doctor I saw at the Cleveland Clinic I lovingly refer to as Dr. FeelGood.   I spent some time really looking over his report today in preparation for the follow up appointment I have with my neuro tomorrow.   What I found was quite sobering. While I admit I was a bit miffed that he said I didn't have a stroke as a diagnosis, he mentioned some things (unlikely but theoretically possible) I am pretty concerned about.   Among the " 'exotic' diag

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