Sue I'm sorry your feeling so unwell and your family is giving you troubles. That was a few days ago so I'm hoping things are brighter.
Melody as for supplements I take that magnesium too and for me I see little change but a lady I know felt it really relieved for her. SHe swears by them. Does anyone take glucosamine msn here? I do and is suppose to sooth ache joints. Also don't forget about eating food rich in pottasium.

Rafi:

Oh my god, did that bring me back in time. I was 18 when these things came out. It was not well received by the general public. It was a novelty thing. They cost something like $1.99 (this was when I made $65 a week salary). But of course I had to buy them.

I remember people bought them so they would not get any tan lines.

I bought a pair. I remember thinking. "Oh my god, it looks like I'm walking barefoot." The instructions said "these can be re-used over and over, the adhesive will keep on working". They did not. So I dumped them.

But if you have a foot problem and you can't stand having anything on the tops of your feet, these would be perfect. Especially for around the house. It's like slippers with no top.

The only drawback is, let's say you want to go out for a walk and it' summer time, it's nice and warm, so you just attach these topless things to the bottom of your feet, and you go outside.

Do you have any idea, that if I did this, how many of my neighbors would walk up to me and say "oh my god, how can you go outside on the sidewalk with no shoes on?" Then I would just lift up my foot and go "oh yeah??, take a look, topless sandals". I would pay to see the look on their faces.

The only reason I don't get myself a pair of these is that I remember wearing them when I was younger, and when I went outside (I didn't care what people thought in those days), the shoe kept getting unstuck to the bottom of my foot, and I would have to stop dead in my tracks, press my weight on the feet and they would re-stick.

Tell me Rafi, have they improved the making of these topless things?? Have you tried them, and is the adhesive nowadays a better working adhesive? These sound like something all of us PN'ers who don't want anything on the toes, well these sound great (for the house I mean). I would hesitate to go anywhere wearing these outside because I'd be afraid of banging my feet, or my toes or having something fall on my toes. But for around the house, my god, these sound better than slippers.

Let me know. $10 is nothing these days if these things work.

And kudos to you for designing your own shoes. You are brilliant.

I hooked up something yesterday myself. See, I have problems with arthritic hands. I can't pick up anything heavy, or any glass.

So I don't buy soda bottles (even though they are plastic, I might drop them).

So what does a person do when they want a cold drink and they don't want to be taking out a big heavy pitcher of stuff in the fridge. We also don't drink anything carbonated so we don't buy soda in cans.

So what did I do?? I found an old 2 gallon dispenser of PUR water . I used to use it with the PUR water filters. Haven't used this thing in years. It was on the top of one of my cabinets.

I took it down. Washed it and said to myself "now, if water can go in this, why can't my Cranberry Pomegranate Drink stuff go in this"?? What I've been doing is making a big pitcher of the 4C Cranberry Pomegranate drink (kind of like Crysal Lite but without the nutrasweet). This stuff has splenda, is full of anti-oxidants, has no carbonation and I love it. But when you have to make pitcher after pitcher, well it's hard on the hands.

So, this PUR water dispense system has a spigot. So I made up a big batch of the cranberry pomegranate drink, I poured the whole thing into the spigot dispense system. Alan put it in the fridge. It's very long and narrow, so it doesn't take up any width. It just nicely sits on the left side inside of my fridge.

So whenever Alan or I want a glass of this drink during the day, we just go to the refrigerator, take a cup, put it directly under the spigot thing, pull back the spigot (think Beer at a bar when the bartender takes a glass and puts beer into it), so the liquid goes into the cup, you release the spigot thing, you have your glass of ice cold whatever you are drinking, and I close the fridge. No more heavy pitchers coming in and out of the refrigerator. No more mixing up pitchers every other day. This thing will hold and dispense 2 to 3 days of this drink.

Best thing I ever thought of. Alan goes "now why didn't we think of this a long time ago"????. Takes up no more than 5 inches of width and it's long so it goes all the way into the back of the refrigerator. I'm going to take a picture so you know what I'm talking about.





So any of you guys who have the challenges of arthritis in your hands and some days it's hard to even open your hands, you just buy a dispenser with a spigot, fill it up with your favorite beverage, put it in the fridge and you're good to go. I know me, I'll have this in my fridge for the rest of my existence. Makes life a whole lot easier. I mean, who has the hand strength to be picking up pitchers of soda, or drink mixes and your hands hurt, and you might even drop stuff.

Just wanted to share.

Melody (the inventor), lol

Mel,

Talk about old-timey stuff . . . well, your solution (i know, bad pun) is great. As for the "new" topless sandals . . . the good news is that the adhesive has been much improved. The bad news . . . the adhesive has been much improved. When I first put on a new pair, it feels like something is permanently sewn into my feet. Of course, a lot of that is probably just my PN making it feel that way.

When new, I am not really able to wear them too long. With repeated use, the adhesive does get less sticky . . . feels better, but then they have trouble staying on. You just soap 'em up a little bit, rinse and let 'em dry . . . and the stickiness comes back pretty good.

rafi

Wow, the adhesive is that good huh?? I would never put them on Alan's feet, because his skin is so delicate and thin, I don't even like to use band-aids on them. It's like when I bandage the ulcer, and I put a clean gauze and then secure it with a regular Band-Aid brand band aid.

When I pull that thing off in the morning, well, it has stuck to his skin. I am looking into gentle adhesive bandages. That should be a bit better.

He goes back to his podiatrist on Thursday and we are still waiting to hear from the wound treatment center. His insurance told us that each time Alan goes to a wound treatment center, if it's billed as a clinic visit (and most of them do this), then Alan's co-pay is $50.00. Alan almost went nuts when he heard this. It seems that if it's billed through the hospital, then there's no co-pay. So naturally, we are trying to see if it can go through that way.

Boy, $50 a pop, and sometimes you have to go 3 times a week!!!. When you are on Social Security, well, that is not going to fly, believe me!!!

Melody

Are ya there ,are you already snoring,no reason,just wanted to say hi.

I love crystal light my nutritionist hates it for me. That and Diet Dew. I like that container very nice. You do have quite a mind. I like the pink lemonade though in the to go bottles of course are more expensive. Target had a good sale on them. For those shoes or even crocks what about support. That is why I wear walking shoes for enough bottom cushion and ankle support. Maybe everyone is different but I have even been wearing walking shoes in the house lately to support my legs better. Melody does your husband every post on here. Cause he seems like he has a lot going on too. Your a good caretaker but I hope you get some yourself.

My husband would never post on this board. I suspect he also has Aspergers Disorder. All it does it, it makes you not a social butterfly, like I am. It's a spectrum. My son has it. He's very high functioning, brilliant but a loner and a compulsive gambler.

My husband is very shy, a loner, but a hard working, very loyal person. He is just not comfortable being around lots of people (unless he knows them of course, then he thinks he's at the comedy club and tells jokes). But to post here, well he has never wanted to. He tells me 'Melody, go and ask Mrs. Doubtfire, this, or go and post on the boards."

Also, because he can't type, well, it would take him 1 hour to do what I just did in 10 seconds. I've been clocked at 145 words a minute and I won typing contests. So he just leaves it up to me to come on these boards. I love it. He does read the messages sometimes though.

And forget about me wearing my new crocks.

I bought a green pair and a hot pink pair. Different design. Little smaller in the toe box. It left me with all kinds of nicks and cuts on the tops of my toes. I now am all boo-boos, (no problem, they are already healing, I've become an expert on wound care because I take care of Alan), but I'm not putting on those crocks again, until I put a piece of moleskin underneat the toe box so when I slip my tootsies into them, they will not hit the top of the toe box.

So I'm off to by my Buffalo Chicken sausages at Shopright.

You take care,
Melody