OT: May Chit Chat

[Cherie]

We are currently at 55 degrees at 11PM. It may well be a night to sleep with the windows open.

Saw my nephrologist who is the doc who has been managing my BP for the past two years. No real change and within an acceptable range for the past 6 months now. On only 1 BP med instead of three and at the lowest dose of that and still keeping BP under 140/80. That is more than acceptable at this age.

I miss my Mom. This was the second Mother's Day since she died and I am still picking up the phone to call her periodically.

[Sunshine]

I don’t think that ever goes away Cherie. The bond seems eternal.

[stillstANNding]

Cherie, I often picked up the phone to call my sister, Eileen, after she died and I often tell Peter that I want to tell Joy something. I think with my mother - well I can't imagine.

Good on the BP!

It was 55 here last night, too, and we did sleep w the windows open.

ANN

[Jeanie Z]

:)Yesterday I took Lacy at 8 AM to the vet (Jim's vet 40 miles away) for her to have her teeth cleaned. It was raining really hard all day and strong winds. I managed to get her in during a slower rain. I stayed up there. I ate breakfast at a restaurant.

Then I went to a thrift store and I bought Andy a pair of shoes and a blouse for me. Then I went to get my nails done at a shop there during a rain break.

At 2 I was back at vet's to get Lacy. She did good and had no extractions or gum problems only tarter. We went out the door and down the overhang to where my van was and the bottom fell out again. Lacy was shaking so I put her in my lap and we sat against the wall for about 45 minutes waiting for the rain to ease up.

When it did we got on the turnpike which is the quickest way home and about 5 miles down we began zero to 5 miles an hour for 40 minutes. I needed to pee so it was a long 40 minutes. Lacy shook the whole time. As soon as we got home she hid until the rain and thunder stopped.

Today I am so tired. I slept until 1 and will go take a nap. I need to grocery shop but I will get by with stuff I have until I have more energy. I hope y'all all had a nice Mother's Day. I got cards from both sons and flowers and coffee and doughnuts from Andy. I miss my Mother. Jeanie :)

[Howie]

When I was building Pinky, I would get something major done, or a certain part would come in, and I would think about calling my dad to tell him, and then realize he was gone. Once the grieving is done, and you get back to living your life, it's hard to cut contact with someone who has always been a part of your life.

[nuthatch]

Prices are going up and up! Dh just returned from errands. He reports diesel is $4.09 a gallon now, up 10 cents a gallon from last week! Stopped at Trader Joe's for a gallon of milk, a basket of cherries and some onions, $15! Prices are so out of control these days!

Cherries aren't very sweet yet. Not worth the price.

[Catdancer]

My brother died in 2003. I still find myself wanting to call him to tell him about something..

Quiet around here. TC away, the elderly kids sleeping all day... Got a lot of papers field away (you know, all those receipts and related stuff...so much for a paperless society). Friends stopped by with sub sandwiches for lunch (and cleaned the litter boxes for me, and adjusted some settings on my air pressure bed). My house is cool -- we have central air, and it's running. I think I got all my "adult" work done for now..so tomorrow I can play all day with my dollhouses. Well, of course, gotta feed the kids during the day -- morning breakfast with medicines for 3; mid-morning "snack" with pills for on, a liquid med for the other; afternoon "snack" with pill for one; evening dinner with meds for all 3. That alone keeps me busy! :)

Otherwise, all is well.....

My alternate air pressure bed was malfunctioning. This is the second time this has happened, so when my friends came by, I told him how to fix it...crawl under the bed, tightened up the connection on the pump. It worked. I'll sleep better tonight not working about the bed sinking too far (losing air).

[Howie]

Anyone willing to clean your litter boxes is a true friend.

I use the clumping litter, and have one cat now, but two litter boxes, so I just clean them every other day.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

For all of you, who are struggling with heat and humidity, I send you cool sea breezes, clear blue skies, and temperatures in the mid-70s. We’re enjoying it now, because we figure we’ll be in for another scorching summer, and of course, the wildfires.

Cherie ~

That’s a very good BP! And only one med instead of three is excellent!

In my experience and research on grief, I’ve learned that the second year after a loved one passes is often more difficult than the first year. The first year, we’re in shock, and our grief is raw, but we have to busy ourselves with tending to our loved one’s affairs and coping with all of the “Firsts” ~ holidays, birthdays, other special occasions.

The second year, reality hits us, and now we have to learn to live with our grief and move forward.

When our physical connection with our loved ones is strong and close, and we’ve shared many years together, their physical absence creates a void in our world. For a moment, we forget, and we reach for the phone, or we think about sharing something with our loved one. Those are the moments, when we miss them the most and feel our loss deeply.

To all, who are grieving, I pray for your peace and comfort, and that you feel your loved ones’ presence very near you, especially at those times, when their physical absence is so painful.

ANN ~

I’m so sorry for your losses. Just know that you have many friends here, who are loving and supporting you.

jeanie ~

What a long and eventful day for you!

Just a reminder that Instacart serves your area, so you can buy your groceries on line and have them delivered. I just had a bunch of groceries delivered today, and it is such a relief for me to not have to go to the store. I’ve been having groceries delivered from various stores for months, and I’m really pleased with the service. Something for you to consider. As I said before, you can stay in your jammies all day!

Cat ~

Wow! You are a very busy gal! It sounds like you’re running a Cat Clinic. How lucky your fur babies are to have such a devoted Mom. I hope you get time to work on your dollhouses. They are really incredible.

What is the brand of your alternating low pressure air mattress? Jonathan has an Invacare. We’ve had it repaired once, and I fear the pump going out, so we’re looking at getting him a backup.

Does your pump have a filter? We’ve found that keeping that clean and replacing it often helps to keep the pump running smoothly. But the pump is heavy! I’ve done it by myself a few times, precariously. But usually Jim (or now our friend, John) lifts and holds the pump, while I replace the filter on the back of it.

If your pump fails or your mattress gets a leak (we’ve had many for Jon, and they’ve all done one or the other or both), what is your back up plan? Can you get a replacement immediately?

I’m so glad your friend repaired it for you. I worry about your susceptibility to wounds, and I know how important the mattress is to preventing them.

Sorry everyone ~ had a lot to say, obviously!

Love & Light,



Rose

[Cherie]

Thanks all for the responses on missing loved ones. It helps.

We have an appointment at the end of June with a Neurologist who works with memory and aging for David. He will likely have a spinal tap to see if there are tau proteins in his spinal fluid and then be entered into a clinical trial where he will probably have a PET scan or functional MRI since the results of his neuro-psych testing showed below average on executive functioning and short term memory. He is good with all of this because "they say it's not Alzheimer's". There is also hope of some arm of a trial that will offer retraining techniques.

I have just filed a claim with our travel insurance from the cruise in April after Celebrity cruise lines could not find my missing jewelry. I did not fully unpacked till we had been home a little over a week so did not realize immediately that my jewelry box was not in my luggage. It had the pearls and matching earrings in it that David had given me for our 10th anniversary (43rd coming up in a couple of weeks). It had my mother's wedding band. there were multi-colored turquoise earrings that I had recently received from my aunt's estate. gold chains. diamond and sapphire earrings and pendant. I am sick about the wedding band because it appears that it will not find its way home.

[stillstANNding]

Sorry to hear about the precious jewelery, Cherie. I hope it is found.

ANN

[Catdancer]

I'm sorry you lost your jewelry. It probably is not likely that it will make it's way home.

[Virginia]

Cherie, loosing pieces of jewelry is bad, but loosing irreplaceable heirlooms is worse. Sorry.

Howie, hope you are enjoying the rain. We have had on and off heavy showers today, but after they come the rain comes out. They have been heavy enough that I hear them on my skylight which I enjoy. I like rainy days. I am just weird I guess.

[Cherie]

I'm sorry you lost your jewelry. It probably is not likely that it will make it's way home.

My thinking too. The Cruise line was looking for the box it was in and any contents. They were not and would not look for individual pieces.

[Virginia]

As far as grief goes I am so grateful that when I unexpectedly lost my Mother in her 60s, I had my husband to try and help see me through it. I thought it was by far the worse think that a person could possibly face. But then I faced something even worse when I lost my husband, and I had to do it totally alone, but really no one could do it for me anyway. I think I was worse off the 2nd year than the first because reality was beginning to set in. I read a lot about grief during both these episodes in my life, and some times I remember reading something where I would see myself on every page. The one thing that I remember reading in most every book I read was that while you think you are going backwards that is part of the process and you are actually moving forward. I tried to hold on to that, but most times I didn't think I could.

We are all so much stronger than we think we are.