Again?

I'm not so sure I like the path I'm traveling.  I used to think how ridiculous and sad it was when you'd overhear a group of "seniors" at a restaurant, a party or anywhere for that matter.  All they would be talking about is their health. What went "in", what came "out", how long it took, when their next Dr''s appt. was, how poorly they slept, how expensive their medications were and on and on and on. As I left the morning breakfast club, I thought about our discussions... runny noses, stuffed up heads, lousy night's sleep etc.... I think we only skipped over to sports one time..ONE TIME.... that's a travesty and a very bad sign indeed.  This is the beginning of March Madness, not Medical Madness.  I'm even finding myself reading the Dr's advice column in the morning paper...that's even more depressing than the obituaries.  There was, however; and interesting article about hospitals leaning toward opening ER's just for "Graying Patients."  What a novel idea!  They have them geared toward children, why not seniors.  We definitely have a unique set of aches and pains and sometime we often aren't really adept at describing them.  Modern ER's are set up for car accidents and GSW's (gun shots) not incontinence and "help I've fallen" incidents.  The article stated that older people are not just wrinkly adults"..I resemble that remark :-)   Seniors already make up 17 million ER visits a year and 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 or older by 2030. Some of the nurturing ideas in place in these new Senior ER's include, doors that separate beds rather than curtains... this cuts down noise which lessens confusion.  Nurses carry "pocket talkers" (amplifiers that hook to headphones for the hard of hearing). Mattresses are thicker and often recliners are used in place of hospital beds.All the forms are in larger fonts and a pharmacist is on staff to check for interactions with existing medications. Every single patient is assessed for depression or dementia.  Either of these conditions can feign physical problems..often by forgetting or confusing meds. already being taken or not remembering symptoms and when they occur.
Money is always the excuse for not treating well, today's "long in the tooth" generation but I have yet to see any correlation between funding and compassion.  Some of these new Senior ER's are just an extension of a hospital's regular ER and may only contain room for a few patients....but it's a start.
Now I'm off to Walden Place to take Mom to her physical.  I do have a newly forming patience in the last few days and a whole lot of but for the grace of God go I !!

It's official

It's official.... We're OLD!  When the hell did that happen and why didn't anybody warn us?  Lee never took a pill ( albeit a rogue Tylenol) for 60 years.  Now, I fill a cup in his dressing room with 2 morning pills and keep the suppertime pill by the stove (mostly to remind me to remind him).  I may have to rethink the evening pill as our stove is used just a hair more than the vacuum cleaner..  At least the blood thinner isn't the age old warfarin.(coumadin).. AKA- RAT POISON.  That always freaked me out just a bit.  This new med is called PRA-DAX-AN.... and that's how I have it spelled out on the refrigerator so I can learn to pronounce it correctly.  Another sign of "getting old"...posting words randomly around the house in syllables so you can remember how to pronounce them...(that in itself is making me sick).  Old marker number two: we traded in the salt container for a new one containing 33% less sodium.  This may take a bit of time.  Actually, Lee's BP is great.. Even through last week's "cluster", his BP stayed calmly in the normal range of the 120's over the 70's... of course, his heart rate was way over 100 and in A-fib. Old reason number three: the sentiment factor!  The girls in the family are liking this one though.  We all get kisses good-bye now and a few more phone calls during the day. Thumbs up on that one. Number four:  I stopped complaining this week about the cost of our health insurance.  If health insurance is a mortgage on our dilapidated bodies....I might look into William Shatner's idea of a reverse mortgage.  It was interesting though to get an approval letter YESTERDAY for Lee's nuclear stress test Friday... last Friday!  There are many more old age quips that I could share but I'll save them for another post.. (and I've already forgotten what I was going to say).
We have another Dr's appt. on Thursday to go over all of last week's tests.  We already know he passed some and failed others. Now to assess whether he needs further "education" or possibly a tutor:-)  Regardless, we've both learned a few good lessons.  The hourglass has much less sand at the top, every day is a gift, tell those you love that you indeed do, remember that your friends can often be more important than you realized and absolutely NEVER take anything for granted.  Holy Shit.... I AM old!

The Heart "Beat"

Maybe I'll have to change my blog name to the "Heart Beat".....People always enjoy reading the Police Beat and the Hollywood Beat but I'm thinking this will be way less entertaining.  I can tell you, I'm not entertained in the least.
I never liked the phrase "do you want the good news first or the bad?"  I like it even less in a Dr's office. Yesterday was Meet your Cardiologist Day.  We liked him a lot.  He trudged up more history than even we knew we knew.  When you come from a family of 8, there's a lot to go over. Thankfully, it was all in the physical area and we stayed clear of any mental malfunctions. (jk family).  I was quite amazed at how many different things can be gleaned from different parts of your anatomy.  Strange questions like, "have you always not had hair on your feet?" (WTH)...or "Do you have trouble sleeping or find it necessary to sleep in certain positions?" ( does sleeping on your stomach with your feet in the air count?).  Anyway... the echogram showed he is still in A-fib.... but the sonogram showed it was a boy....crap, I keep getting those sonogram comments mixed up.  His heart appeared healthy with a teeny weeny dribble from the mitro valve...That didn't seem to alarm either the technician or the Dr. so I guess I won't be alarmed either.  It appears the onset was just this week.  I guess that's good.  He's scheduled for a nuclear stress test tomorrow...(hoping we get a glowing report). He'll then spend the week-end attached to a holter monitor that will measure everything.  I'm wondering how that will go when he heads to the gun club for Sunday shooting... Doc said, go about your normal routine.  I was quite pleased when Lee asked the Dr's  "help" with the smoking.  He'll give him the patch next week...he wanted to get him through a week of blood thinners before tapering the nicotine.  If the heart doesn't jump back into natural rhythm by itself, he may need a jolt and he doesn't want a clot thrown in the process....Me too...... or as Bailee would say, "Me four cuz I'm not two".....

So, as Paul Harvey would have said... "there's the rest of the story".. at least for now...I'm hoping all gets synced by itself.  If only it was as easy as synching my new iPhone to the computer.  Those things I can handle...these...not so much!

Give me back last week-end

Story # 1
Holy crap... I want a do-over.  After guiltily relishing my wasted week-end, I want it back.  Monday brought us a snow day (at least for a few morning hours) and a picturesque, new 13 inches of snow.  Lee was home at noon, nestled in his chair, covered with a blanket and "not feeling good!"  Figuring he had one of the well traveled bugs floating around the area, I stayed clear.  Suppertime arrived and it was our Monday w/ Bailee.  She asked Papa if he was hungry and he joined us for dinner.  Watching him push his food around his plate, he finally admitted that he had some chest pain..WTH....only had them ALL DAY!!!!!!!!! even when he woke up...That's only 12 hours of chest pain.. no big deal, unless of course you'd like to live!!!  Having Bailee on board, our friend Chip whisked him off to the ER.  Long story short... blood enzymes showed no heart damage but his ticker had/has no set rhythm... it would go from 80-100 to 150 to 90..... Finally sent him home w/ Cardizem and baby aspirin prescribed accompanied by a cardiologist appt. this afternoon.....to be continued.....
Story # 2

Jess, Bailee, Lee and I were having lunch yesterday a bit after noon. BOOM!!!!!!! I was sure all the snow had just left the entire roof... Jess looked out and there's a car at the end of our driveway, backwards, smoking and crunched. I looked and saw a school bus crossways in the road and front end in the ditch.  Jess called it in to 911 and proceeded to run to see if anyone was injured. Not a pretty scene. EMT's and the law arrived and quickly draped the vehicle. Not a good sign.  The rest of the day, 7 hours to be exact, involved, many police cars, firetrucks, investigators, the road closed, a hearse and heavy hearts.  I still don't know the exact circumstances.  Speculation is high but I actually thought each vehicle was coming from the opposite direction so CSI most likely won't be calling me for a guest appearance.  I did get a few photos (human nature kicked in) and they were on the 11 p.m. news as well as the local website www.cnycentral.com.

Today is cardiologist visit. After yesterday's tragedy, we'll count our blessings that we're around to make the appt.  Each day is definitely a gift....how we use it, is totally up to us... one of the few things we have control over:-)

Wasted Week-end ??

A wasted week-end?  Well I did have a couple more bloody marys Friday night than I usually do but I wouldn't say I was wasted! We had a good meal shared with great company so our time wasn't wasted either.  Now, if only I could say the same for Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday began with breakfast, as always, then home.  It wasn't really cold or snowy but I had misplaced my ambition and obviously didn't even have the ambition to look for it. So, I went down to the H.U.T., popped a nice batch of popcorn, smothered it with real butter and salt, somehow found the knowledge to turn on the TV and the surround sound (it's more complicated than it sounds and usually Jess is my theater manager), I snuggled in a recliner and watched Secretariat... Great movie!
When it was over, I wandered upstairs, noticed that Lee was actually home and had napped and was now snacking...We watched a red-tailed hawk for awhile and a nice doe feeding in the back yard. Always best to watch the deer with Lee.  I keep my eye on his trigger finger and if it starts to get jumpy, I extol the virtues of living in this beautiful, rural paradise with it's exquisite wildlife and he settles back down. Anyway.. neither of us was hungry as he had snacked and I could barely climb the stairs as my feet were sloshing in butter.  He decided to clean a gun ( I think that has some therapeutic affect on him) and I decided ... what the hell, I'll watch another movie. Due Date had a few funny parts but pretty much was a waste...unless you count the part where I sauntered over to the candy counter (no one was around to see me) and rifled a box of whoppers.) I had climbed the stairs another couple of times and had definitely worked off the butter and salt. yeah right... Well that killed another 2 hours. Lee had excused himself to the Betty Blue and I then took in some TV upstairs. As I laid in bed later than night, I couldn't muster one bit of merit in anything I had done that day.. Oh well.  There was always tomorrow...............................

Six thirty Sunday morning and there was a virtual lake across the road , complete with floating ducks and geese and even some green grass around the EIEIO compound.  A bit later the man cave filled up with some local gun enthusiasts. They were enjoying Sunday morning bloody marys. Always a good idea before they load their guns and go to the gun club for some Sabbath shooting...WTH? Anyway, I joined a friend for breakfast at the local eatery and then home for .... another snowstorm... over a foot to be exact.  Too nasty to go outside and to lazy to shovel.  It was the day of rest wasn't it?  So, rest I did and I must admit, I am VERY good at it.  I watched all the past week's tivo'd shows, a sporting event and then an interesting movie on Lifetime, The Amanda Knox story... quite enlightening !  Due to my impeccable timing, I had just enough time to warm some homemade bread (Thanks Kim), smother it in butter and return to my recliner for the premier of "Secret Millionaire" (a new, favorite, feel good show) and the Apprentice. I love the Apprentice! This season looks like it will be full of wackos, wannabes and usedtobes...3 of my favorite  TV food groups!

So, there you have it. 48 hours of unadulterated, wasted time. It doesn't happen often but I am shamelessly guilty.

Is Knowledge really power?

I will never win a Pulitzer, an Oscar or a Nobel Peace prize but on the other hand, I'll never be in contention for East Podunk person of the year either.  I'm content knowing that I know a lot about a little but often not much about anything.  I can hold my own most nights during Jeopardy, Cash Cab and even Wheel of Fortune but sometimes have to look up a state capital or check the dictionary for a correct spelling. Maybe knowing my limitations or even knowing where to find the answers is knowledge in itself.  The hardest part of knowledge is knowing that with it, does not come power.  No matter what we do or how well we do it, some things are entirely out of our control. Every night I repeat the Lord's Prayer.I understand the words and I emphasize "deliver us from evil" with gusto.  I end with a litany of "God Bless's" which, in itself, scares me silly.  The names I continue to add to my list panics me more each night. I guess each of us prays in their own way and actually saying the words isn't mandatory. I've decided of late that a shorter prayer is more conducive to my personal beliefs. The Serenity prayer pretty much wraps it up for me.
           God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the power to change                              the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
  (And to all my pals...NO! I didn't learn that at my last AA meeting :-)
And to close.. I think there's an enlightening difference between intelligence and knowledge and  knowledge and wisdom. Few people possess all three!


and p.s....this is still my very favorite quote.... Being in church, doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car!

All's right again....

Last night was Grandma and Papa night with Miss B. ( Jess has a night class) We love to read together and last night....SHE read to ME.. I was amazed,  If she didn't know a word by sight, she sounded it out.  I think her skills have been heightened by the past few years of speech therapy.  Her therapist, Angela has been sounding and blending words with her since she began.  She even told me last night that when you see PH together it's the fffff sound...I know, brag was a good ole dog!! Anyway, Papa and B have a game they play she's dubbed, "Flashlight Hunters".  They turn off all the lights, grab their flashlights and hunt for treasure. So, Papa's "bring home vacation gift" was a package set of a small flashlight and a headband with a miner style headlamp... it's light can be red or white.  I'm not quite sure what the treasure is they're hunting for... I'm thinking it would be way different for a 60 yr. old than for a 4 yr. old.  Soon, I may end up hiding some candy...........and some scotch:-)

Speaking of grands.. here's my new, very favorite story!

Grandmas

I was out walking with my Grandson.
He picked up something off of the ground and  started to put it in his mouth.
I took the item away from him and I asked him not to do that. "'Why?" my Grandson asked.
"Because it's been on the ground; you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs," I replied.
At this point, my Grandson looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Grandma, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart."
I was thinking quickly and said to him, "all Grandmas know stuff. It's on the Grandma Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Grandma."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but he was evidently pondering this new information.
"Oh....I get it! he beamed, So if you don't pass the test you have to be the Grandpa".
"Exactly," I replied with a big smile on my face.
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