I've been wanting to move out of here since I graduated high school, but
I never had the money to do it. My father and I have both brought up
the issue of second hand smoke, but my mother's attitude is, "That's too
bad." She didn't say it that way, but that's the attitude.

Now, follow me on this: she tells me that I can't live on my own because
I "can't take care of myself". She tells me that I can't live by myself
because "something might happen." So, I've lived with my parents for
40 years and something is happening: I'm suffocating-literally!
Oh, and all these medical conditions that make it "impossible" for me
to live by myself are hereditary.

The problem with public transportation is that I don't live near a bus
stop-I'd have to be driven to one. I don't see any volunteers in this
house.

When I have a shunt failure, there are certain signs, but they can be
misdiagnosed-when I had the shunt failure last year, they thought it
was a stomach virus (because of the nausea and vomitting), until they
did some tests. Also, back in '94, when my shunt failed, the signs were
totally different. That's when my vision problems started, for example,
and my seizures increased. I'm not sure if Life Alert would work for me
or not. I think I'm going to mention Life Alert to the Hydro board and
see what they think. Thanks!