Maybe because I've fought with this for so much of my life or because post stroke I had so much trouble figuring it out and what I learned might help other survivors, I'm "stuck" on this topic. Maybe ( maybe?) I need to rework it myself lately. But I want to illustrate what I've been trying to say.
I had a friend who tried to get me to see but all I could see was what I could "do" when asked who I was. I bet that's something most of us would do. I never could grasp what she was asking me
I wrote about expected snow but the next morning I woke up, went outside to assess the situation and sure enough, I was the only flake out there but tonight it's snowing.
A few years ago we had that blizzard but some of the kids in our neighborhood were too young to remember and some weren't even born. Just a few doors down are three little girls, sweet as can be and really nice parents--a young couple who actually spend time with the kids instead of letting them run wild.
Our house sits
I have done very similar lists before as this one and I can' begin to tell you how hard it was to do the first time I did it. Very seldom is it acceptable by society standards to think on ourselves this deeply and we don't. Most of us have never thought about what we need, rather we're taught to take what we get and do our best with it, I also can't tell you how worth it it is to put forth the effort to answer these questions for yourself even if you don't share them with anyone else.
This
I'm not a big TV or Movie watcher so finding 50 favorite movies might be tough but here goes
1. Steel Magnolias
2. Fried Green Tomatoes
3.The Color Purple
4. Bucket List
5 Weird Science
6 Footloose
7 Nobody's Child
8 A Beautiful Mind
9 Good Will Hunting
10 Men in Black
11 Ghost
12 Lord of the Rings Trilogy
13 Gremlins
14 White Christmas
15 Miracle on 34th Street
16 It's a Wonderful Life
17 Ladyhawke
18 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
17 Die Hard
18 Lethal Weapon
19 Terms o
I could just be countin' my chickens before they're hatched but the weather man says we're in line for two to six inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow night. First of all, Just about any Marylander would roll their eyes at even bothering to give six inches a second thought and the rest of them would laugh at me for giving a second thought to what the weatherman says!
Still, I was living in Houston Texas when I had my stroke, and last Winter in Maryland was unseasonably warm. I have
I am from fishin’ poles and barefeet, from Crisco Shortening and cast iron skillets.
I am from the one of four little houses on the corner built by ship crews where Captains and thir crews stayed while “docked” and affectionately and appropriately called “The Captains’ Houses”.
I am from the bamboo and Cat Tails waving in the breeze of our river neighborhood.
I am from Sunday Nights watching The Wonderful World of Disney, making pizza and “industrial” bath to usher in the new school week. I
I'm bored and lonely but I have nothing to blog about so I was looking at the blog challenges in the blog forum. I thought they looked challenging but fun! I'm working on one of the tougher ones but I'll put this one out there while I work on the other. I might do them all! Anyone want to join me?
This one was a lot easier before stroke but a challenge is supposed to be challenging, right?
1. I'm thoughtful/considerate
2. I'm resilient
3. I'm spiritual
4. I'm a good friend
5.
In my world, coffee is one of the major food groups. Imagine my displeasure when my expensive, gourmet coffee maker bought the farm a week before Christmas and of course since Christmas broke the bank, I waited until Jan. 1st to order a new one. I've been getting by in the meantime with instant. I remember a time that instant coffee tasted like something you could use for chemical warfare and even I admit, it has improved over time. Now it only tastes like someone wrung their dirty, sweaty s
I think I told the story of "cane golf". Basically my grand daughters were afraid of my cane at first and upset because they though it was hurting me so to get them over it I taught them to turn it upside down and hit their ball like golf--I lost my cane for the next four hours! This year before even opening what I got them this year they informed me they wanted canes for Christmas so they could play cane golf at home. Who the heck would ever think to get a 6 year old and 4 year old a cane???
My Aunt called this morning saying she was going to the store and would pick me up. That was good because I was running low on a few things. Once at the store the first person I saw was my high school music teacher. Aside from school we worked together a few times at weddings as she played the piano and I sang so we were kind of "close". Today was a wobbly day and she looked at my cane and limp and asked what had I done to myself this time. I had a habit of being a bit accident prone and she l
Those three little words took me on a trip yesterday that helped me see what I'm grateful for--one of the things anyway.
My room is an old sun porch that was built onto the house for my grandmother after her stroke--to get her away from my grandfather, so HE said. lol Anyway, it's very, very small but has huge windows nearly from floor to ceiling. Yesterday, while sitting at my desk I hear from just outside my window a little three year old voice stating emphatically, "I be back!". Then I
Most of us rely heavily on our reasoning or thinking--Afterall, we're pretty darn smart! But sometimes we're just flat out wrong and it is in these times that we just don't do ourselves any favors---especially when our thinking includes the word never. And we convince ourselves that we will never do this thing or the other thing when we really don't know. We convince ourselves that our loved ones are tired of us and we have nothing to offer them--and we're wrong many times. We tell ourselves w
One of the hardest things about blogging is deciding what you want to accomplish with your blog. Another hard thing is admitting when it's just not working out and that happened to me. Stroke left my emotions in a whirlwind and I thought using my blog to fuss and fume in was much better than unleashing my venom on people in 3-d--whether they deserve it or not! But the sad truth is, this just ain't gittin' it! It only serves to convince me of what others have known all along...I sound like a l
I feel like a fool and am so ashamed. I'm angry. I feel I have deceived you, though I believed what I was told.
I went in and the doctor came in and asked why I came and I thought I was in for a case of bad communication. I soon found out it was far more than that.
The good news is I don't have MRSA. The bad news is I don't have MRSA! I asked how this could be and got the standard look and the doctor changed the subject. Next question, then why do I feel so sick? I got the same blan
Do you ever wonder if doctors are making this up as they go along? And don't you just love it when one doctor gives you a lecture for following the directions of another doctor he disagrees with? I do! Just once I'd like to find two doctors who agree---sure would make it easier on us!
Monday morning I went to have a cyst drained, actually two cysts that had grown together into one big nasty cyst. As usual, the doctor drained it, took a culture and wrote me a prescription for antibiotic for
I'm starting to feel a bit better. Just a bit. But I've always hated sitting still or staying in bed. I can finally eat a few things although they still make me feel a bit urpy. At least something's staying down. Still a bit weak but not as bad as before. So yesterday I took that to mean I could do more again....well, not quite right! Still, I'm glad I feel better even a bit.
I will still need blood tests to be sure the antibiotics keep it in control but so far so good, IF I can be a goo
All in two years there has been three strokes, a heart attack, quadruple bypass, lupus, MS and now MRSA. I've had it before but the infection was contained in the cyst and really wasn't a big deal...at least I didn't think so. This time it's in the bloodstream and I feel like crap!
I am nauseous, my joints ache (that could be the Lupus), my muscles ache (maybe the MS) my head feels like it could explode, I alternate from shivering and drenching wet from sweating.
I'll be fine. It seems to
I have had my share of Emotional Lability and then some but I know what annoys me, what I believe and want for my own life, can make good decisions for myself and I'm not a child who needs to be told what to do and think and I'm not brain dead. I'm sick of controlling know-it-alls telling me what I need to do, where I need to go, what I should say and do, what I should think, who I should react and interact with and how!
I realized a couple weeks ago that Emotional Lability or not I've done pr
Mason,my grandson, was born yesterday. 6 lbs, 9 oz. His mom says she can't take him seriously when he "cries", IF he cries because he just quietly squeaks and whines not even loud enough to wake her up. But mostly he doesn't cry at all.
To say the least, Dad doesn't do well with change nor does he seem to "get" why he can't still do what he could do when I was 5.
Dad grew up in this house with NO privacy. Privacy was for "outsiders", not family. There are doors on the bathroom and bedrooms, of course, but they must just be for show because most of them won't even close anymore and if they do, knocking or waiting for the door to be opened again is only optional.
Last summer I thought the heat and humidity would kill me beca
Nah, caregivers aren't going to find dressing tips for their recipients. But its how an old friend referred to the act of trying to "dress" others in the qualities we thought they should have...and getting stressed out when they just wouldn't wear what we laid out for them. It often starts with the question "is it so much to ask?" And progresses on with a reasonable expectation, but then we do ourselves further harm by giving up on our own needs, or by getting stressed because things aren't as
Have you ever noticed that pain medicine always wears off an hour before you can take your next dose....ohhhh FUN! I spent a good portion of my morning in the ER getting a cyst removed. I have a condition called hydradenitis supprativa. Sounds like a soupy little Italian sports car. I wish it was as fun.
Basically I have over active sweat glands that get clogged and infected and cause huge, inflamed and SORE cysts that need to be lanced. A few years ago I had one that developed into MR
I will not be defeated by a 100 item list!
I have attempted this list three times.
As a Tomboy and my father's "first son", I was the first girl in my county to be on the boy's baseball team.
I wrecked my brother's mini bike and my leg. He wouldn't speak to me for a week because I got dirt on his foot peg. Tough audience, I'll tell ya.
I was in ninth grade before anyone figured out I couldn't multiply or divide. Mr Newton and Mrs Hollis made me stay after school one whole year and
I started singing in church at 3 years old. I sang in front of two thousand people at age 16, last minute stand in for the minister's wife who was rushed to the hospital.
I had two days to learn the songs for the performance. The minister's wife played the bass too and I was asked to stand in for that too. Thankfully, musically I had an amazing memory and talent for picking things up naturally. They thought I played bass because I played guitar--I didn't play bass but by the time we perform
One thing that always got me through and that I lost at just the time I needed it most was a huge amount of "coping skills". As cruel as stroke is, it seemed that much more so that through my deficits I lost almost all of them. I felt like a sitting duck in the middle of hunting season.
One thing I used to do was have baking/cooking "frenzies". Somehow it just got me out of whatever funk I was in--not to mention could have fed a small army. I gave the baked goods to neighbors and froze t
