May chit-chat

[Cat Dancer]

I have four cats. Cindy and her "baby", Cassie. Cindy is 14, Cassie 12-1/2. And then Tuffy, a male, also 12, and TabbyGrey, also a male, 11. For awhile there, they were the sole reason I got outta bed some mornings -- they want their breakfast, and they want it NOW (usually around 4:30 a.m..) :)

[agate]

They obviously have you well trained.

[Parsi]

Cat, nice to see you. I hope you can get those sores under control. Definitely not pleasant.
Although I could use to lose weight, I don't envy you those esophageal spasms. Is there a difference in occurrence between eating solid food and soft?

Jeanie, sorry to hear you're having trouble with pain control.
It must be good to see our friend again and know that she is fine.

[renee]

MS walk today. Six of us did about 4.5 miles.
Brisk weather, some rain and wind.
Nice flat trail. much in wooded areas.
I had volunteered before but never did the walk.
I rolled the whole thing myself and felt GREAT afterwards.
Proceeded to eat everything in sight.

That's fun, too.

I had forgotten about finding odd things off the road.
For instance a pair of mens heavy work shoes placed side by side
and royal blue basketball knee length pants next to them. Hunh?
Funky.

Found an outdoor market we didn't know existed.
We have a date next year.

[Lazarus]

Hi Cat,

I seem to be doing OK on techfidera. No side effects that I know of. No real change that I could note, either. I'm still weaker than I was before the exacerbation (last April!, already), but given my age (67), probably not unusual. I've lost maybe 40 pounds, maybe more: 4 jean sizes smaller, and probably close to 5. Hard to buy clothes...don't really know what size I am, anymore, and keep having to send things back as "too large". Don't want to buy too much until the weight stabilizes, or I'll have another closet full of clothes that don't fit. Goodwill was happy to see me with 3 boxes of stuff, not knowing that I sent another 2 boxes to my chubby sister in law and niece... I just don't have an appetite, and when I do eat, end up with esophageal spasms, so end up losing a lot of what I've just eaten. After that, I really am not hungry! Anyway, having to adjust to my new size, too, is a challenge.

Anyway..I read the forum regularly, but don't have much to add. Take care, everyone.[/QUOTE]


Wow Cat...I usually do not read the chit chat thread but did and found your post. I never met anyone else with weight loss and esophageal spasms....I have lost 45 pounds and have had to piece together what is happening to me. Now, when I am working very hard I recognize what is happening. The throat things have rolled right into the other 4,000 symptoms I have. I drink Ensure when I am worried about not getting proper nutrients. My weight loss has stabilized now. I sort of miss my old fat self although I also enjoy being able to buy clothes without effort.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi everyone. Cat and Linda I wish I could give you 50 lbs. I know I'd be more able to ambulate if I was lighter.

My son Andy's wife Jamie (48) is in the hospital. She had rectal cancer and had a colostomy, chemo and radiation which burned a lot of her insides. Now she has an intestinal blockage and nothing is going into her bag. They are trying one more thing to unblock her today and if that does not work she will have surgery.

My pain has not lessened any. I was hoping it was a strain or something that would improve on its own, but it might be MS pain.

My 103 year old friend went back to the rehab today but began having chest pains and was taken back to a different hospital, weird.

I'm thankful I have faith because life is no fun right now. Please keep me in your prayers and you are all in mine. Jeanie :)

[nuthatch]

Oh Jeanie, you need a break!! Prayers and hugs for you!

[SalpalSally]

There is nothing like being lonely for a man around the house. Huh Jeanie?
You don't necessarily want another one, but you are lonely for the one you had.
Big Sigh!!

[nuthatch]

sHugs to you too, Sally.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi everyone. Sally I do miss David but you are right that I am not looking for another man.

MY DIL had her surgery today to unblock her colon and they removed scar tissue near her colostomy stoma. It went well.

I went to bed about midnight last night and did not get up to stay up until 1 PM today. I felt tired and a little woozy when I get up to the bathroom. I am getting better at listening to my body.

I went to see Thelma (103 year old friend) yesterday and she can't work the nurse call button so she was laying in a wet bed. She might be transferred back to the rehab today but I have not heard anything yet. She can use the call button there and is more active there too.

I decided to have a permanent yesterday and took pictures of the way I use to have my hair in a long perm. My hair dresser insisted I let her layer cut it for that. After cutting it she decided I had plenty of natural curl and to wait on the perm and instead colored my roots. Well my hair looks awful with spikey ends sticking out all over and only waves not curls. I hate it.

I am going to the beauty supply and get the kind of perm my old hair dresser used to use on me and get my new hair dresser to put it in next week. In the meantime I look unkempt. At least I don't have any things scheduled where I need to look decent.

We are having so many robberies and home breakins in our area. I am so happy I got the alarm system put in. Take care everyone. Jeanie :)

[stillstANNding]

Jeanie, glad things went well w your DIL.

Sorry about the hair problem. All of us have been there more than once.

It is good of you to worry about and visit Thelma. In my day, we would give a patient that couldn't work the push buttons a hand bell. Try to tell them that!

Feel better,
ANN

[agate]

Hair! That sounds like a very tiring hair experience, Jeanie.

I don't like to admit how lazy I am but if this information can be strictly among ourselves, I used to get perms regularly but stopped when MS had been with me for a couple of years--back around 1982.

Never tried any color. People just have to put up with me without technicolor.

Even professional haircuts have usually been to much for me to think about. I'd have to get there and back, and it could be an all-day project just to get a haircut that takes 10 minutes.

Except for a few times when I treated myself to a "real" haircut, I've been whacking at my own hair. (It's all done with mirrors.)

Reaching around isn't so easy, and seeing what I'm doing isn't either.

A woman is starting to come to this building to do hair and nails. I used her once for a hair trim and hope she'll come back regularly. I just spoke with her today and she sounded as if she might not have enough customers to keep this going.

Since I don't have to travel anywhere and her price isn't skyhigh, she'd be a big problem-solver for me.

I do have a wig that I used to wear after swimming days when I was going swimming once a week, but it's been sitting unused on a shelf for many years.

Wigs are a solution as long as nobody says anything about my hair, and then I might tell them it's a wig. Once that cat is out of the bag, anyone could just pull it off as a prank....

[SalpalSally]

I've done my own hair for 40 yrs. I used to do a wonderful job, but
lately it's brush, wash and fluff dry. I don't even curl it anymore. It
has a bit of a natural wave, so I fluff N dry..No color..LOL!

[Jeanie Z]

:) My hair dresser goes to people's homes that live near her shop. You might try calling any salons near you and see if they do that. I wish I had just left my pony tail alone. Now I need some curl for it to grow out.

If my hair would turn white I would not color it but it is grey. I'm still liking the hearing aids I got. I'm surprised how many things in my house make a noise that I never heard before, like the 4 air filters. Also noises my van makes when it is opening the ramp, etc. I did not realize how many times I had to have people repeat what they said.

Years ago I did cut my own hair when I was mad with my ex husband and it was really awful looking. As long as I can get someone else to do it I will. Jeanie :)

[NanMacan]

I have a woman from a local salon who comes to my house to cut my hair. My husband actually asked the woman at the front desk of the salon if they knew of anyone that would come over and cut my hair, and that's how I found her.

Turns out she does it on her day off for a lot of elderly/home-bound people in the area. I never would have asked. My husband says I need to open my mouth more. I told him "careful what you wish for" :)