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I tried to add a description with the pic..but it did not allow me too. Here are the girls and I on Christmas Eve at my brothers. Notice...my blonde Danni...has gone dark! I guess I am the "odd man" out! lol
The next pic is of Danni, Alise (who dressed as Santa...Sexy Santa as they called her, since Dad was just too tired this year) and my lovely niece Sarah, who is our doctor (dermatologist...my botox girl!).
The next one is of my sister Ann, hubby Sam and my newest nephew..Soren, who just turned 2. They live in California. THESE MAY BE OUT OF ORDER...SORRY! LOL
My dad and Alise on Christmas Eve.
Danni and her honey Adam....LOVE him!!!
And lastly...a pic from the great concert from last summer (not sure if I shared this already). Adam had bought Danni for her 25th b'day, 4 tkts to see Billy Joel and Elton John. This was last July in Chicago. Me, Danni, Adam and his sister Khai. Great night.
I still have to get some current pics of my sweet 5 yr old Matthew, and one of me and Tom...the total man of my dreams!
Love to all...sorry about all the large pics!
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oh my....some are cut off...maybe I can resize them.....sigh.......lol
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Much better!!
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sorry girls....you all know, that I am not that proficient on the PC!
This is more like it! Gosh this took me awhile! This is my nephew and my sister Ann.
I almost forgot....ULLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO GREAT TO SEE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I MISS SUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VAL......I MISS YOU TOO!
NANCY......THINKING OF YOU SWEETIE...HOPE THINGS ARE GOING WELL WITH YOUR RECOVERY!
I MUST GET ON FACEBOOK.....SEEMS TO BE THE PLACE TO HANG OUT! LOL
XOXO
LISA
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Congrats Lisa! You did it!!! Good work. Yes, check out Facebook. It's easy to upload photos there.
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everyone send me their facebook name or contact...or whatever you call it.
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BLOODY SNOWING AGAIN !!!!!!!!!! So FECING tired of it!!!! Yesterday we had a balmy 2 degrees centigrade and the ice looked melty and a bit sad. Now we have about 4 inches of fresh snow and it is incessant. The trees look lovely and the roads will be scary.
My darling Whisper cat is still MIA too, probably locked in someone's garden shed. Printing off some flyers to put through letterboxes. Oh the FECING joys!!! Poor guy will be so cold ... Again,pleading for all you animal lovers out there, positive vibes for the auld moggie to find his way home. THANX xxx
Must go - Sis is taking me up to my Aunties while she gets Indian Head Massaged, then we are off for the High Tea (I am getting a wee bittie tired of the High Tea now to be brutal, but it is light and nice) I'm just bored and sick of things just now ... hate being feeble.
Now got 11 minutes to go before the door gets flung open and "ARE YOU READDDDDYYYYY?" whispered at massive decibels because every second counts ......
Have a good day peeps. Love lots xxxx
Nettie
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Hi everyone! Have been too disorganised/busy etc to log in here lately but just had a quick skim of the more recent posts.
Nancy - praying for a very successful recon for you and straightforward recovery.
Ulla! - so great to hear from you!
Nettie - I'm praying for your dear Whisper. I do hope he comes back soon. My little cat was gone for a month. She was stuck under an old house and I think she survived on rats. It's such a horrible worry when a loved pet goes missing.
Sheila - thinking of you and your precarious employment situation. I hope something better turns up. You are a strong woman - it won't be easy but you will get through this. I wish I could send you some warm weather!
Lisa - great to see you're on fb now! Love the pics!
Cathi, Wren, Barbe, Judie, EWB, Val and UB, Karen, Mouse, everyone - love to you all,
Jane oxoxoxxo
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Oh Nettie! Still no furbaby?? I am sending good vibes over to help her find her way home....
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Netti, I too am 'So FECING tired of ' all the snow. We had accumulation of 6 -8 inches from Friday night into Saturday afternoon, Tuesday morning freezing rain, this morning no precipation but freezing temps that froze the melting snow on the roads, the ground is still white this morning and guess what they are calling for on Friday/Saturday, MORE SNOW!!!! They won't guess how much this weekend yet but I am sure that they will make guesses by Thursday.
Monday night I got home and my neighbor's friend was helping her by shoveling out her driveway, but he parked his truck directly opposite my driveway (he was shoveling some of the snow into the back of his truck to give him more weight/traction). He could have parked his truck on the other side of her drive and not blocked anyone. My driveway is an uphill grade that is narrow with a block wall on the right side of the drive and a grass bank on the other side. After the road is plowed, I get the usual 'hump' of road scrape at the bottom. If my wheels aren't almost straight when I hit the 'hump', I can't make it up the driveway. I attempted to go up my drive but with my wheels still turned, slid the front passenger side corner of my bumper into the block wall. I managed to back up into the street (without hitting his truck) and made another run up the drive and made it. No major damage to my car, just need the bumper sanded off and repainted but boy was I upset. I walked back down the drive and asked him nicely to move his truck. Don hasn't seen the damage yet but he was more interested in my safety than the front bumper.
Sheila
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Hi, everyone! A quick hello to say I'm home. Recovery looks good. I have few complaints but some unexpected post-op aches and pains. At least unexpected to me like my aching back. and I get tired so-o-o much more quickly. But, everyday is better then the day before, which is a sure sign that I will be feeling almost normal at some point, lol. We all know about "the new, normal."
My surgery was long, almost 14 hours, and that hit my body hard. I had some swelling in my arms that had me concerned about permanent lymphadema, but that seems to have resolved itself. My left middle finger is numb at the tip and down one side to the point where there is a red mark. No one seems to know what that is about. My back feels like I weeded five acres. That's partly from the long hours on the table and partly from how I have to walk bent over a bit. It's a strain.
Dr. Smith repaired my umbilical hernia (from my pregnancies) and that makes my abdomen even tighter than expected. Now ladies, I'm not thinner...or even really "flatter" right now. But I have the potential for being flatter there than I did before. It will take some future dieting or liposuction to smooth that area to the point that it changes my body visibly. Right now, with the post-op swelling, I don't look very different. Except I now have breasts again. Which I'm getting to like.
OK, typing this much has wiped me out. I'll be back later!
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Nancy! So good to hear from you!! Did you stay at the ritzy-titzy place (pun intended)?
Your body always swells after surgery, it's a survival reaction. You done good!
You may just be pleasantly surprised how flat your belly does go....As for your back after the surgery, how the heck do the surgeons do it! 14 hours!
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barbe, no stayed in a regular semi-private room. Except that my roomie liked it warmer than I did, it was OK. The food was awful, but I wasn't interested in eating very much. I didn't even bother renting a tv...I was in ICU for two days and was really out of it there, Then in a reg room for 2-1/2 days. Time was strange. It went by slowly without much to do, but I was too tired to concentrate on anything on TV. The important thing was I got home in time for the season premiere of LOST, lol.
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Lisa great pics, sooooooooooooo glad to see you on FB.
Nancy good to hear from you, rest well, don't over due.
Geeeeeeee Shelia, you sure have your share of crap thus far. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO Our Florida weather has been so off this winter, so much cold, rain and clouds. But much better than snow.
Nettie praying your furbaby makes it home SOON!!!!!! And please don't worry your head over me, while I am not kicking quite as high as I used to, I'm still kicking, Taking one delima at a time -LOL
Loe to you all. XOXOXOXOXOXO
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Global warming my ass....
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Nancy - so good to see you - glad you are on the mend and home. Rest up!!
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So glad to hear all went well, Nancy. After a 14-hour surgery you can expect extra aches and pains. The fatigue is likely related to the general anesthsia. Even for a one or two hour procedure the "hangover" from a general takes a couple of weeks to fully resolve.
Nettie, I am thinking constantly about Whisper and sending continual hope. Cats can be amazing.
I wish they would call it climate change instead of global warming. Things are topsy turvey. Last year we had snow and cold. This winter has been unusually mild...some days setting records for warm temps.
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Hello wonderful girlies
It's 5.50 in the morning here is snowy Scotland - another sleepless night, I was trying to drift off and remembered that wee Teddi was out (she insisted) heard a strange wee mew (not like any of the cats) opened the door and in strolled Teddi with her big brother Whisper. Tweedledum and Tweedledumer. He's limping badly and in a state of shock. He's quiet - and he is a noisy cat (even talks in his sleep - so funny), but he's had a bit of tuna and it'll be the vets first thing tomorrow morning. I am crying with relief and hope he hasn't broken his leg.
Thank you all, I am sure that, as Judie said, you prayed him home. He's grounded forever natch!
Nancy, so relieved that you checked in. Sorry you are in pain, but that was a marathon operation session. I had an op to repair my shoulder that lasted 5 1/2 hours and I thought THAT was bad. I learned a really good technique for coping with pain. Get a great memory foam mattress, then get youself into a pain free position by 'moving away' fraction by fraction from the pain site then breath very deeply and don't move a muscle. I would wake up because I was stiff rather than in pain. Try it. I used the same techniques during my surgeries last year. How wonderful that you now have boobs again. I see a BIG shop in your near future ......
My dears, I can't wait to let everyone know about my wee cat and to get him checked out. No sleep for Nettie tonight ...
Oh can I ask for a bit of advice? I am still really, really fatigues and throwing up a lot. Should I ask my onci for a short course of Dex steroids? They made me feel great during Tax. Anything to get me back to normal (I know, the 'new' normal)
Love you guys. Tons
Nettie xxxxx
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Welcome home Whisper!!!
Nettie, you must be quite delerious with joy and sick with worry all at the same time. Years ago I had a similar experience. Our cat disappeared and was gone for days, perhaps it was a week or so. I was a registered nurse and was at work when I heard a STAT page over the hospital system. I was terrified. I called the desk and was connected with my daughter who was about 10 years of age. She was hysterical. Dabs (the cat) had appeared on the back steps, badly cut up and near death. I rushed home and took her to the vet. One leg was split open with muscle hanging out. It looked hopeless. As they cleaned her up, more and more cuts were found. The vet said this type of damage occurrs when a cat climbs up into the engine compartment of a car or truck recently driven and still warm. They fall asleep and don't awaken in time to escape when someone gets in the car and starts it up. The fan catches the poor napping feline. They rarely survive. But, of course, our Dabs was tough. She survived, but they told us her leg would never be right. Hah! Within a month she was jumping to the top of the bookcase where she was fed (to protect her food from the resident dog) as if nothing had happened. She ended up living a long and healthy life.
As to advice, I can't help specifically, but I do think you should ask your onc if there is anything more you can do. He may indeed advise steroids. Don't suffer more that you must!
Big, happy hugs,
Judie
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Dear Nettie - I'm so relieved and happy that Whisper has come home. So sorry to hear his leg is injured though. Please let us know what the vet says. xxx
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Nancy! So good to hear from you. What a long surgery - no wonder you are stiff and sore! All my best wishes to you for a quick recovery. xxx
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I like that the younger cat "led" the older one home! Too sweet...it rips your heart out to see a pet sick, though.. Keep us posted as you know.
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Hi Barbe, great to see your lovely face!
My sis came up with my niece who wanted to be a vet and is studying zoo-ology. She doesnt think the leg is broken and thought it best to leave it for a day to let the auld sweetie de-stress.Plus he was starving and ate, so they couldn't knock him out!! Right now, he's on my couch enveloped in my goose down quilt, on 2 furry hot water bottles and has just had lemon sole!! By tomorrow, he'll be up to getting prodded etc. Yeah Barbe, his wee sister did go out to fetch him home. They love each other, they cuddle up and give each other full body massages -and she is his image, just half his size. A bit like Me and mini-me from Austin Powers!
Thanks again guys. Great to be among animal lovers who empathise. Will try to post a pic if he gets a "stookie" - Scottish for a plaster cast!
Looking forward to a great weekend now. We are all meeting up, all we girls diagnosed last year, on Saturday and for the first time most of us will be able to attend (there have always been some of us too sick, hosp appointments etc). Now we will be well enough for a total blast. Mucho vino I predict will be gargled. Oh can you spare a wee prayer for my friend Shiela? Her cancer is secondary and she has just has 5 of 9 (yes 9 tax) She has now got 3 blood clots in her arm, face and neck and is in hosp, spitting mad that she won't make it on Saturday. The clots seem to be under control but is scary, so they are not letting her out till they have disipated. She is a great girl and has had an awful time on Tax, so prayers and vibes. They really do work.
Downloaded the Nomination form for the National Honours for the oncy staff nurse I so love and admire. Process seems simple enough but is prolonged - at least 12 - months. Aslo need to get Martin's details and he cannot be informed. Also need to get the support of all the other folk who think just the world of him as well ...
Have the best weekend guys, Do loads of fun things, spend money on fripperies, cuddle your furbabies and your old men. Oh the snow is melting now. Thick fall last night........ Thank god the old cat is not out in it .....
Nettie xxx
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Oh Nettie, I'm so glad your sweet kitty came back home! I hope his leg heals quickly. We worry so much about our dear fur babies, don't we? Our old-timer, Buddy, is getting quite old and has some minor health issues. I hope he lives long enough to enjoy the five acres our new house sits on. I know our youngster, Rusty, will be in seventh heaven! So many rabbits and squirrels to chase!
Hugs to all,
Karen
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Nettie, glad your furbaby came home, I guess little sister had to go out and drag him back home.
Sheila
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Nettie, I'm sitting here, amazed after reading about your kitties. What a big heart that little one must have! I hope the big brother appreciates what his little sis did for him. And I hope it turns out his leg is not broken.
Sheila, I've been meaning to add my good wishes for your mother's recovery, and hope that your job is saved, at least if the move wouldn't be a greater hardship.
I'm on the mend...weary and sore still, but gaining strength. At times I can't believe I did this part voluntarily to myself. And paid for the privilege! The bills are yet to come, but I suspect (with the number of doctors who stopped by as consultants) that I will be seeing them start pouring in soon.
I have a follow up appointment tomorrow. Last drain was supposed to come out then but it came out this morning as I got out of bed. It had actually stopped suctioning last night, so my BIL was going to call the PS this morning and ask if it was OK if he removed it, but the point became moot as I rolled out of bed. My belly is very tight and very swollen...at least I hope it's just swelling. I look about six months pregnant. I didn't have this much upper ab before, so it's hard to tell how much it will change over the next few months.
Now, writing this much has me wiped out, and I have just enough time for a nap before dinner.
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Oh Nancy
It will be worth it. You know the memory of pain and discomfort fades like snow in June.
I probably mis-explained the pain control technique. It was "taught" to me by a chiropractor when I ruptured the disc at the base of my spine. I suppose it's s type of meditation, but it works for me (and helped my sis when she had that hellish fall. She's well on the mend BTW. Arnica and arnica bath soaks have helped. That and the reflexology and Indian Head massages she gets twice weekly)
First things is a really comfortable surface. Then very deep breathing while you mentally locate the source of the pain, or the worst site of the pain. Then you move - physically move - minutely away from it. Kinda like the micromovements you get done to you at rads. You will find that the pain goes or 'cools down'. Keep breathing really deeply and slowly counting or chanting (like praying) mentally. Don't laugh but I mentally recitied the Hail Mary! Like we did when we learned it by rote when we were infants. Got to number 2 or 3 and I was asleep. After about 2 hours, I woke up (bit stiff) got up, rearraged my pillows (I was too much in pain to turn in my sleep) and repeated the process. Sorry if this is vague Nancy, but pain killers don't do well with me (I was always scared in case I was sick in my sleep) and I found this to be more effective. Sis did the whole process listening to a buddist mediation tape. It also works if you find a bath helpful as long as you bath is shallow. God bless on your recovery.
Thank god cost is not an issue here for treatment, even the cosmetic part of the whole thing. I might need to have the "good boob" -the one that didn't try to kill me reduced, as her naughty sister might shrink due to the amount of rads. Looking down at my cleavage, the damage doesn't seem too bad, a wee crater the size of a big walnut. Seems almost trivial considering .... but I will get the recon. I do hope that you are not faced with huge costs. Surely if more treatment was needed than oriiginally anticiated that is not your fault and your insurance should meet it? Mind you, when I have needed to claim insurance (once for a flood to my home and once for a bag which was stolen) I was taken aback that my very comprehensive insurance has exclusions.... Best of luck sweetie! And it will be worth it.
Take care Nancy, so relieved you are feeling well enough to keep in touch.
Hugs and stuff to EVERYONE and have a great weekend.
xxxxNettiexxxxx
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Nettie, one of the problems with US health insurance is that most have a network of doctors that participate in a particular plan. Patients pick a single plan, usually through their employer. Drs can participate in many plans to appeal to a broader spectrum of patients. When you have the time, you look through the network list of your plan to find a participating specialist.
But if it's an emergency or if you are in the hospital, the choice is often taken away from you. And they send all kinds of levels of drs in to check you out, so it's not just an attending doctor who gets to bill for services. There may be a few others who stop in with him as he's making rounds, and if they write up a report, they get to bill, too. Fellows, residents, interns...I had them all stop by.
If they are "participating" in my health plan, I'm pretty much covered. If they are not, then my plan covers a much smaller portion of their fee.
The interesting thing is that my plan and the hospital group I had surgery at are still in negotiation over a new contract whcih expired 12/31/09. I'm in a kind of limbo as to whether my insurance will cover me at in-netrwork or out-of-network rates.
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Holy crap! I'd put a "DO NOT ENTER" sign on my door....
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One thing, if they are directly employed by the hospital (interns and residents, usually...sometimes a higher level like a "hospitalist"), then their services are usually covered by the general hospital fees. Since this hospital is also a teaching hospital, there were rounds and rounds of drs and different levels coming by, some with specific interest in my case (such and the infectious disease specialist and his group of residents and interns who came in to look at a pink area they were concerned about). You know they are there for your well-being (and this dr did save me from a PICC line and an extra day in hospital), so you don't want to shoo them out, or even say, "Do you participate in my health insurance plan?"
I guess I'm used to it all. It's the only system I've known.
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