I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Thanks girls - I'm sure he'll be fine. He has gained weight so that's good.

Freezing here (our version of cold) about 50F - we even put the heater on last night. Nice to cuddle up in bed - 2 blankets on now.

Hi Friends,

I am so irritated and agitated today.  My dear friend got some really bad news yesterday about her cancer treatment.  It's not working and she's going to have to start Abraxane in another week.  She was on Faslodex for five months and it didn't do squat for her mets.  I'm in such a state of anger and fear.

Good news though .. just got off the phone with our Ann, and it was lovely to visit with her for a few minutes.  I sure miss all the gals I met in Canada last year.  Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face.

I got my card in the mail to Blue this morning.  I hope she can feel all the love.

I have been fighting with ticks lately.  Sunday, I had three on me, and yesterday I had one stuck on my belly.  The damn thing left a big welt when I pulled it off.  I know I'm getting them from walking the dogs in the fields.  Ann suggested wearing a little cat flea and tick collar as a bracelet.  I thought that was a great idea!  It might just work since I can't put Frontline on the back of my neck.

Hope everyone is having a good day,

Bren

You could try tick collars on your ankles. I think the buggers climb up. I'm an absolute tick magnet. One year, my Mom and I walked through a weedy field and when we left the field, I was walking along the road picking crawling ticks off of me. Eighteen!!! And found three more under my clothes when I got inside and stripped. *sigh* Hate those damned things.

Earlier this year, my Mom, who lives alone, but about 3 blocks from my sister, found a tick attached in the middle of her back where she couldn't reach it. So she trotted down the road so my sister could remove it for her.

Just to add to the anxiety, don't forget MICE can carry those damn ticks too....my basement is FULL of them, the mice that is.

How do you remove a tick?  I've never had a tick on me, as they don't seem to be here in the northwest (at least not on the Seattle side of the mountains).  But we're planning on traveling some of the east coast next year and I'd like to know what to do to prevent (and remove) the little buggers.  We don't need any more health problems!

thanks! we always keep rubbing alcohol around! 

I hate ticks. Absolutely hate 'em. (I would italicize that sentence, but the "Italics" formatting wasn't working earlier today.)  We're lucky that, even though we're rife with all sorts of nasty critters here (snakes and chiggers being at the top of that list), we don't have all that many ticks. The ticks we do have, apparently don't carry Lyme Disease.  I read somewhere that they carry another, similar type of infection, but I didn't want to hear about it so I stopped reading.

Marple is right -- you want to be sure to get the whole tick if you pull it out. The mouthparts are embedded under the skin, and if you leave those, the site can get a nasty infection.  Oh, and if you do pull a tick, try not to squeeze it, or else it will urp its stomach contents into your body, and that's bad.  I do just grasp 'em gently with fingers and pull slowly.  Don't jerk.  A slow, steady pull usually gets them to release their hold.  The ticks I've met aren't impressed with alcohol, nail polish, hot match heads, ... they're tough little monsters.

Hey, has anybody heard from Scoot lately?  Her profile page says she was last "seen" today, but she hasn't posted in quite awhile.

This new formatting is a hoot.  Mostly I read the Boards on Safari, because with Firefox I can't access all the nice, new features -- like the navigation bars and the drop-down menu etc.  But, I can't post from Safari -- my posts trigger up error messages when I submit them.  So I have to keep 2 browsers open when I'm on the BCO Boards:  Safari for reading and navigating the site; and Firefox if I want to post anything. Such fun.

We are visiting my MIL.  She's doing better, having been released from the hospital and under the watchful 24/7 care of her home aides until we arrived this week.  But, down deep I suspect she has had a small stroke.  (I should say "another" small stroke, the first having been 2 years ago.)  Her home care aide said she was dragging her left foot -- couldn't support weight on it -- after her "incident" last week when she fell sideways on the commode and hit her head against the wall.  (She couldn't figure out how to get up and go into the bedroom -- the home care aide found her on the commode when she arrived at her regular time 2 hours later.)

Even now, a week+ later, she favors her left leg when walking and I think slurs her speech a tiny bit.  When I watch her speak or smile, the left side of her face is just slightly "off".  Not quite symmetrical.  She denies all of it, and everybody else thinks I'm nuts; and there's nothing that can be done at this point anyway. Her PCP ordered a follow-up CT scan today to see if there was anything notable going on in there that wasn't seen on the CT taken in the ER last week.  They were looking for subdural hematoma because she knocked her head on the wall.  I am thinking mini-strokes.

But, I'm not a doctor, and I don't even play one on TV. <sigh>  We're headed home tomorrow/Friday.  Hope for the best, but plan for the worst?  Not in dh's family, I'm afraid.  One thing they do not do (not publicly, at least) is worry.

otter

Scoot had an involuntary dismount but she is much better.  Will let her give ya'll the details.

Can't feel sorry for ticks. It is just not in my nature.

DH has to drive the cat to the vet dentist an hour away bring him home and four hours later drive right back to where he was for us to go on a retreat. He also has to pack and is whining. I am a mean heartless woman (my words not his) I will not pack for him. I am almost packed.

The computer will not go with me, just the Nook, so I won't post. The Nook always gives me a security warning for BCO. The one time it didn't it kept telling me my password was wrong. Then I went home and used he same password to log in on the laptop. Ticks are not the only bugs around here.

Hey there happy people!



I am hunkering down as my body repairs a pelvic fracture. No worries - it will heal and I will be fine. Its just extremely painful - I don't recommend having one!



The good news is that I am on the mend and improving a little each day.



I will be back soon!



HurtinScoot

OMG, Scoot!  I figured I knew what Jancie meant when she said you'd had an "involuntary dismount."  I had a few of those myself in a previous life, fortunately not breaking anything -- just bruising my body and my pride.  (My horse thought it was pretty funny. Me, not so much.)

Or, maybe Jancie was speaking metaphorically...  Anyway, ow! ow! owwww!   Gentle hugs to you.  (((Scootaloo)))

otter

((((Scoot)))) Glad you are mending.

Card to Blue going out today. I didn't have enough stamps for Canada. 

Mary 

Blue's card from me is on it's way.  I hope getting 'happy mail' will somehow help to cheer up her days.  I miss her here although I don't post much on this thread I do read it.

Hugs to all.