THANKSGIVING, 2012

Can't believe that I got sick AGAIN while visiting one of my sons on a holiday.  I had pain under my shoulder blade on the Monday morning before Thanksgiving so went to the Emergency Room at about 3:30 a.m.  The ER doctor x-rayed me and did blood tests and couldn't find any problems so his decision was that I had pleurisy.  I doubted the correctness of that diagnosis, but took the prescriptions, had them filled and took them as directed.  He had told me to check with my primary care doctor - that would have been Dr. McHarney-Brown -- but she had been asked to leave Kymera which she did at the end of October.  I saw a doctor who was filling in for her who rushed into the room and announced that I had arthritis and to just have someone rub arthritis cream on my back and I'd be okay.  She never bothered to look at my back or even touch me!  I doubted this diagnosis even more as I'd had arthritis pain and knew it was nothing like this. 

It was actually a relief when I saw the evidence of shingles on my chest on Thanksgiving evening.  John and Vicky took me to the ER which was just a couple of blocks from John's house.  That doctor immediately recognized that it was clear evidence of shingles -- even though I'd had a shingles shot a few years prior to this.  I was able to get the prescriptions filled at an all-night CVS and began taking them immediately - except for the pain medication as I continued to take the Hydrocodone that had been prescribed by the doctor in Carlsbad.   When we returned to Carlsbad, I got an appointment with the doctor I'd seen at the Kymera facility.  She said the medicine was what I should be taking and did give me another prescription for the Neurontin as she said I should continue taking it.  She also told me to "find another doctor" as Kymera had not been able to find a doctor to take Dr. McHarney-Brown's place.  Vanessa McGee, a Physician's Assistant at Dr. Perkowski's office had been highly recommended to me, so I had my medical records transferred to her.  I saw her on Monday, December 2, and she told me to continue on the same meds - but also told me to take the Acyclovir  for another 10 days and gave me a prescription for that and, also, a steroid - Prednisone for 9 days.
Along with these medications and those that I had been taking, I am taking at least one pill almost every hour for a total of more than 20 pills a day!  The pain has stopped everywhere except in my breast.  It was so painful last night that I had to take a pain pill at 9:30 p.m. and then again at 3:30 a.m.  I've taken just one Advil today as the pain is not bad during the daytime -- just gets bad about the time the sun goes down.  Strange!!!  Just hope all this medication works and that it is the end of the "Holiday Syndrome" for me.

The Shyest Girl in Town

If you've never been shy, you don't know how lucky you are!  I first remember being shy in the first grade.  Luckily I had a wonderful teacher, Miss Duke, who tried to help me overcome it.  She held me on her lap when I was embarrassed because I couldn't do the arithmetic problems on the blackboard. Once I was too shy to ask permission to go to the restroom and wet clothes resulted - that was really bad.  I skipped lunch and sat outside on the playground so my skirt would dry and when the kids would ask why my dress was wet, I told them I'd spilled water on it.  My Music teacher, Miss Schultz, persecuted me because I wouldn't sing loud enough for her to hear and I think that may be why I've never felt comfortable trying to sing.  In high school I was the only girl in the small consolidated school I attended who didn't play basketball -- and that was because of my shyness too.  I didn't want anyone to see my knobby knees or see how clumsy I was at sports.  The school superintendent, Clyde Eoff, was an ogre and he gave me a hard time because I wouldn't suit up.  One time they didn't even have enough players to have a sub and when a player was injured, they had to play with only four girls so I wasn't very popular with the coach.

The shyness continued on through high school and into college and was getting worse instead of better.  Speech class was the worst of all and it was a required class so I had no choice about taking it.  I had a half-time job working in the English department and also worked for my speech teacher.  He, too, had a problem with turning red (or blushing) when he talked, so he was most sympathetic with me and I even made an A in speech.

When I went to work at IMC, I was in awe of my boss, Dick Kerner, and would turn red whenever I talked to him.  He was from the big city of Chicago and I'm sure thought I was the biggest hick he'd ever seen - he'd laugh at me for saying "po-lice" and my other Oklahoma miscues.  There would always be someone who would call attention to my red face when I was embarrassed and that made it much worse.

I've been trying to remember just when I stopped being so shy and when I stopped blushing when I'd talk to certain people -- but, thankfully, it did finally go away for the most part.  Occasionally when I'm feeling inadequate or intimidated, it will reoccur and it brings back all those old feelings of shyness that I had for so long!

No Birthday Party

Could hardly wait for our sorority's Christmas Party - which just happened to be on my birthday.  We were to have barbeque from the Red Chimney, along with vegetables, salads, and desserts provided b the members.  I'd made a Carrot Cake and two sugar-free Millionaire pies.  Bob got dressed up in his red & blue checked shirt and red vest (that I had made) and I wore my red velveteen blazer with a Christmas tree pin, a white sweater and black pants.  We left a little early so we could get a good parking place as it was cold and snowy and we didn't want to have to walk through the snow.  I drove; it wasn't very far - just to the Landsun Clubhouse and it appeared that we were the first ones there.  Then we realized that the lights were not on so began to suspect that something was wrong.  Luckily I'd taken my cell phone with me so I called my friend, Audrey, who was to bring the barbecue.  I asked if the party had been called off and she was surprised that no one had called to let me know.  So -- home we went and I knew that my birthday dinner was going to be leftover meatloaf or Chicken Noodle soup!  We were not too upset; it wasn't a good night to be out and we were afraid that it was going to get worse as it had snowed off and on all day.  Bob watched a football game and I read "The Partner" on my Kindle Fire.   I froze the desserts I'd made so hope they will be good if we reschedule the party to later this month.

The Big 80

This is the last day that I'll be 79
years old; tomorrow is my 80th birthday!  I approach it with a little sadness - I can tell that a lot of younger people just don't want to be around us "old people."  I'm guilty of that too -- just today I was impatient with a lady in her 90's who wanted to monopolize the conversation in our group.  I realize now that she is probably just lonely and, after spending most of her time alone, wanted to talk and share the events in her life.  She told of her son's illness, her money problems, tsk'd about the younger generation's failings, etc.  Hope I can remember to "keep my mouth shut" when I get that age (when I see people's eyes glazing over).
        This is my 80th "birthday picture."  Told you that there would be more wrinkles, gray hair, etc. (see former post on my 75th birthday).    I've already received lots of great birthday gifts - Bob gave me a Kindle Fire and John, Mary, Jeff, Scott & Vicky gave me everything I needed to redo my bathroom from animal prints to birds.  It turned out to be beautiful with Canton Blue bath and hand towels, washcloths, bath mat, bath rug, and a beautiful bird painting.  Cheers me up just to step in there.  Everything matches the cheerful 'teal' color. 
       Our sorority is having our Christmas Dinner tomorrow night, so that will be my birthday celebration too.  Bob invited me to go to the Stevens today for lunch but I chose to stay home and eat left-over meatloaf, potatoes and black-eyed peas.  It was delicious!  I then spent all afternoon making a carrot cake and two sugar-free pies for the sorority dinner.  I'd also made Macademia Nut cookies and brownies to take to Sunday School this morning so felt like I'd lived in the kitchen this weekend.
       I'm looking forward to Christmas music programs at our next two Tuesday Bible Studies and then our church's Christmas Cantata will be this weekend.  Last year's cantata was great; I could have attended all three.
         It is already getting very cold here and I'm already wishing for summer.  Thought I'd never say that after having such a miserable summer; especially when our heat pump went out and we spent 3 days with no air conditioning in 110 degree heat.
         Wonder if I'll still be around in 5 more years to post my "85th" ?

November

I love this time of year! The pear tree's leaves are falling and it's fun to walk through the back yard in the red, gold, brown and green leaves. Bob hates raking them, tho.

Who would have thought that freshly washed windows, inside and out, would make the house look so nice. It all started when I was dusting the plantation shutters and saw spider webs in-between the double panes. The back windows are hard to open so had to call Bob to help me. After washing those (all six sides of the glass) just had to do the rest of them. The 2 front windows are easy to wash as they 'fold in' and you can wash the inside and outside without going outside. Bob did the big picture window in the living room and I did the kitchen window. Walked around the rest of the day looking at my clean, sparkling windows with the sunshine pouring in! I thought about what a simple thing like having clean windows can bring so much pleasure. Guess cleanliness IS next to godliness!

We're looking forward to our trip to Tulsa next Tuesday. Especially special will my my early "80th Birthday" dinner with Scott, Vicky, Jeff and G'Pa. Then we'll enjoy seeing Taylor when he gets home from KU and then Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with Wanda, Mike and Edwina. We always enjoy being with our kids and grandkids. I'm not looking forward to flying, tho. I've written about that before and dread the long lines and pat downs, etc.

I'm making Italian Vegetable Stew and cornbread tonight and then we'll watch the Oklahoma-Baylor game (if we can get it here). Always enjoy good football games!

Something New

I bought a new Dell Inspiron computer this week and had my "computer
 guy," Paul Derby,  set it up for me. (I paid him $100 for all his work on that.)  Wouldn't you know - my printer/scanner/copier wouldn't work with it, so I had to buy a new one.  I had to install it myself and that was a problem too as they didn't list a HP Deskjet 2050 so I could just click on the name and install it.  Finally muddled through.  I had noticed that Windows 7 wasn't listed on my flash drives, so also bought an 8 GP flash drive.  Then I learned that I should back up with at least a 9 GB flash drive.  Walmart didn't have a 9 GB and the next size up was a 16 GB for around $40.  Mary told me I might as well get the small drive that plugs in to the computer and I could back up everything.  Then I got a message from McAfee that I needed to renew that protection and if I did that today could save $30.  That only cost around $60 or so.  I tell Bob that this compares to when he got Babe for a few dollars to the shelter; that was just the beginning as we've spent thousands on her since.
          I struggled at first as I didn't know anything about Windows 7 and the e-mail addresses only had the last names for some reason.  Had to go back and type in the first names for everyone.  Took a long time to find my blog and get it up -- and then I couldn't remember my password so I could post something new.  Also, I had Paul put Word Perfect on instead of getting Word and had a problem getting my money program on as it has been discontinued.  I'd backed it up so just reinstalled it but keep getting a message that it will disappear after a month or so.  I just hope this computer lasts as long as I'm able to remember how to use one as I'd have to think a long time about ever getting another one!

Birthdays

Today, 50 years ago, August 2, 1961, our daughter, Diana Jean, was born. She was a month premature and weighed just a little over 4 pounds. I remember how beautiful she was, with dark, curly hair and a pretty face. She had to stay in the hospital nursery for two and a half weeks and, in those days, they wouldn't even let you touch or hold the babies. Sometimes when I'd go to look at her through the glass, they wouldn't even open the curtains for me and I'd leave crying. We got to bring her home when she weighed 5 lbs. I'd only had experience with boys and had to learn how to take care of little girls. She hated bath time and would cry the whole time. John started first grade around the end of August and, because I didn't have anyone to leave Diana Jean, took her with me to Sunset School to get John enrolled. I learned later that a virus was going around and both John and Diana Jean caught it. She was sick all of the Labor Day weekend and had a high temperature. I took her to the doctor on Friday and he wasn't very concerned; just gave her a shot and told me to bring her back the next Tuesday. She was fussy and crying on Monday night but finally went to sleep around midnight. I put her in the little bassinet next to our bed and went to sleep myself. When I woke the next morning, the first thing I did was check on her and to my horror, found that she had stopped breathing sometime in the night. We called the ambulance and they tried to resuccitate her but had no luck. Bob went with them to the hospital, leaving me at home with John (6 years old) and Scott (2 & 1/2). I walked the floor, crying all the time as I had no hope that she would be okay. Dr. Miner came back home with Bob and sat with me at the kitchen table. He blamed himself, saying he should have put her in the hospital when he saw her the week before. He and another doctor did an autopsy and found that she had the Coxsackie Virus and pneumonia which overwhelmed her and caused her death. I can remember being at the cemetery surrounded by friends and family and the hot sun bearing down on all of us and how hard it was to get through the service. It takes a long time to get over losing someone you love and you wonder "why" it had to happen. Eventually the bad memories go away and you have only the good and sweet memories of your little one. Today I realized that President Obama was born near the same day (he was born on August 4, 1961) as Diana Jean and is the same age as she would have been - 50. How different all our lives would have been had she lived and he had not!!!