Weekly Check-In Oct 21-27, 2007
 

Hi Everyone..How about those Red Sox?..:Scoop deVille..:D..Great game tonight though!

My brother went in for a follow up prostate exam a week ago Friday..The Dr said he would call if his PSA was above 4..It was 9 last visit and he had to go for a biopsy, which was negative..The Dr hasnt called, and last time he called the very next day when he got the lab results, so this is good!

Ive had a cold coming on that just wont come..My throat has been a bit scratchy the past few days, and I probably shouldnt have gone out fishing yesterday, but I did..I didnt feel that good this morning, but not bad enough to keep me from going to my other support group meeting..We had a Rep from TEVA, and a Neuro give a talk about Azelect..I resiged from PAN but was asked to stay on the local APDA board, and I agreed..Im going to be on the website committee, and told the board that I will gladly help the next candidate for PAN Coordinator get started when they find someone intersted in the position

The weather has been gettintg a little bit cooler, but it is still phenominal for the end of October

How was your week?

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...erider-jpg.jpg


"Nothin' like a good piece o' hickory"

Frosty in the AM; But sunny otherwise
 

Hi Steve,

Glad to her your brother is OK. My husband is at that age where he is running to the can more frequently too.

Now that I am in the senior category, I find I have to rely less and less on my husband for help. He too is having aging problems, and, has spent most of his adult years caring for a cranky old broad with PD. I find myself worrying about him more and more. He had his gall bladder taken out a while back. His eating habits are nasty; his family hails from Scandinavia and he likes no vegetables and eats lots of take out. I'm in a position of having to accept it. Nagging only makes him dig his heels in deeper.

So now I have turned from caretakee to caretaker. I sometimes take it personnaly that he would rather eat fatty high cholesteral and sleep alot than eat healthy foods and walk. He has been such a good husband and deserves to choose how he wants to go.

My life may have been limited, but it looks like I will outlive my carepartner. I can't help but feel a little jealous that he can choose the options to pursue to have good health, but understand that living with me can be tiresome.


Vicky

report
 

Steve, would recommend you call the physician's office to check on your brother's report. I am sure it does not happen often, but errors in reporting do occur..madelyn

Despite....
 

depressing marital and family problems, I feel like a million bucks since I got my new car. I didn't think that I would drive again, but have found out that it's been much eisier than I thought. I bought a Toyota 4-Runner, deep metalic blue in color, and it rides like a chariot from the Gods. I am so happy to be able to just get dressed and out of the house. And I can walk fine with my cane. I get more tired as I get out, but just go home for a nap and i'm ready to go again. The newfound independance has me almost giddy. I can go to the supermarket and pick up my favorite foods (lobsters, smoked salmon,French bread, and then stop by the liquor store and pick up any of a hundred different kind of beers, aaahhh Gaaaaad, I'm in heaven again as when I rarely got out , I was confined to accepting drinking just Miller lite, a fate worse than death:D:D:D.
I have been taking some of my kids for a ride, the younger one who doesn't drive , i take him out to eat and buy him lots of stuff. I don't feel like a useless shut-in anymore. It's gonna be a great winter. I think i'll buy me a plough to put in front of it:eek:. After a lifetime of scraping and saving I'm finally getting my "boy's toys" that every man dreams about. I do feel a bit guilty of the low gas mileage, putting extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, maybe I'll turn my research efforts towards cutting greenhouse gases:cool: G'day to all, may your God lift up your heart. cs

Fun stuff
 

cs,

advice you didn't ask for......don't let the kids take it over...

paula

Family stories
 

I'm writing down my family history for my children and grandchildren since I'm the only one who has heard all the stories and remembered them. I'll share this terrible story with you, and make you happy you were not born in 1905, and make you feel like a good parent. The little boy, Viggo in this story was my father, and the story is true. My grandfather believed that when it says in the Bible, 'Den man elsker tugter man' (those you love you discipline) it meant beat your kids if you love them.

Viggo was a very sweet boy, and a very good boy. He was so quiet that his father almost forgot about him now and then, and when he did notice him, he said he was sure he must need some discipline, no little boy was so well behaved that he didn’t need discipline, and it had been a while since the last time he’d hit him, so he surely had some punishment coming for something or other.
It made Viggo so sad and so depressed that he was punished even though he had done nothing to deserve it, that when he was five years old, he decided to drown himself. The house was close to the beach, and Viggo walked over the dune in front of the house and across the sand of the beach. He was just beginning to crawl into the water, thinking he’d drown faster if he crawled, when his father caught him by the scruff of the neck and asked him what he thought he was up to.
“I’m going to drown myself” said Viggo.
“So, you want to drown yourself?” asked his father.
“Yes” said Viggo.
“I’ll teach you drowning” said his father. He dragged Viggo back home with him, pumped up a bucket full of cold well water, and said, “Now we’ll see if you want to drown yourself.”
He ducked Viggo’s head into the water in the bucket, pulled him out and said, “That’s how it feels, do you still want to drown yourself?”
“Yes!” said Viggo, and his father ducked Viggo’s head into the bucket again. His father asked again, and Viggo said yes again. This went on for some time, but his father had to give up at last, Viggo said yes every time.

Viggo hated his father, and tried to stay out of his way as much as he could. His dream as a little boy was to grow very big and tall and beat his father soundly. He did grow to be a tall man, but he lost his desire to beat up his father.

My father also grew up to be a wonderful and fun father.

And with this jolly childhood story, I greet you all this week.
Hugs all around.

birte

Just got home from my first ever Colonoscopy. One of those "because of your age" (59 in five weeks) things as my gastro put it. Why am I telling you this...no particular reason...not a fun topic.

What I appreciated about it:

• No one asked me if I was nervous...tremor
• They actually knew ahead of time...read my record I am sure...that I had PD
• Were sensitive to me when I had a hard time turning on my side...much like not being albe to turn over in bed
• Gave me a never before used wheelchair ride to the door/pickup area. (New ambulatory surgical center...just opened recently)

But alas, I did come out with one more dx to add to my list. Fortunately it was not a horrible one...diverticulitis...just what I need to add to my ever lengthing gastic dx's...decades of acid reflux, 2006 dx of bile reflux (from small intestine), hiatal hernia, lactose intolerance for a few years now...goodness :thud:

I find it both a bit off-putting and reassuring that the local hospital network is going paper-less. First, it means that what you see is what you get...record-wize. But what happens when the system crashes one day and your records can't be obtained.

My Internest has already shipped all the "old" paper records to storage. She sits next to the monitor as she goes over things with me.

This new Ambulatory Surgery office is so paperless that when I registered I didn't sign paper, I signed a electronic screen...yikes.

Just how many of us have non-motor gastro issues? And how many began before the PD dx?

Winter is upon the NE USA. Hard freeze last night and mega frost this morning.

And since I can't leave without my graphics. Here you go!! Like it or not...LOL

For those who enjoy Halloween. My 9 yr old granddaughter has already checked in with the grandmothers to ensure that we will be on duty on the front porch to hand out candy while mom and dad take her and her brothers Trick or Treating.

Caroline
 

Hi Caroline,

My Father-in-Law has diverticulitis. Has had it for many years. I wish my husband could get his colinoscopy sooner than next March. I suspect he has something similiar. Sometimes their is more blood than stool in the toilet. He keeps attributing it to hemmroids, but I can't beleive that can be the reason.

Sorry for your additional ailment. It is not only painful, it is an embarrasing topic to discuss. It is not the least bit funny.

Peace to you,
Vicky

this week
 

Birte - what a sad story - but what a wonderful man your father was!!

Ol'cs - GOOD FOR YOU!! Woo Hoo! Sounds like that new car is just what you needed! Enjoy!

Carolyn - That proceedure is one that I'll be having in January - yes - I'm at that age as well.

Steve & Vicky - Enjoy that fall weather - the leaves turning colors was my favorite time of year. I miss that in the Arizona desert.

As for me, my arm is out of the sling and I'm going to physical therapy. New x-rays this week, and then back to the doctor for a final check on my arm.

Best to all! :p

hello
 

Hello Everyone

Hope you are all doin well
Nice to know that there are people
out there who understand exactly how
I feel because they are going through
the same thing I am.

It's been fun chatting w/some of you on
YOPA.

Mary Frances

First, baseball = zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, I'm sorry, is the season over yet? :D

Caroline - Your first colonoscopy? Woohoo! So exciting! Ughhh... (Sorry to hear about the resulting issue though.) Ah, getting older is so much fun! :eek:

Out here, the "California Snow" has quit falling for now. All the ash and soot from the fires has created quite a mess, and the fires have been devastating to say the least. We're lucky in that we live in an area where all we really have to do is deal with the "Snow" and breathing issues. Thankfully our house wasn't in danger like so many others. As selfish and egotistical as Southern California can be, it was great to see so many people come together to help those in need. Gives you hope in humanity.

Came home from the PDF 50th Anniversary Symposium in New York a little more educated and a lot sicker! My first flight from NY to Dallas was full of people 75 and older, all of whom were sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and hacking the entire way. The flight attendant told me "we're screwed" since the cabin was a flying germ lab.

Then my flight from Dallas to home, I sat next to a couple who just returned from Europe who were sick as well. By the time I got off the plane, I wasn't feeling all that well and the next day it hit my like a ton of bricks! I was sick for a week and since I'm a PD person, I can't take 99% of the cold and flu remedies out there, so I suffered through it. It was brutal and good lord did it make me more stiff and rigid. I made the tin man look like an Olympic gymnast! I was teaching one of my college classes and one of my students, who is an EMT, told me that I looked like I was going to pass out and that maybe I should sit down. And she was right! :eek:

But I'm feeling better finally and can get back into the swing of things. Can't believe the holidays are right around the corner. Time sure flies...

Have a good week everyone!

Todd, see this is what I like about the train...NYC to Harrisbut after PDF 50th for me...everyone can sit alone. Every two seats on the aisle is occupied by one person...no close contact.

Yes, Baseball season is officially over...zzzzzzz for me too!

Have they begun to venture a guess as to the long-term inpact of all the particulates that have been inhaled by the millions of people; e.g. x10 normal for rubber, metals, paint, etc.? Not to mention the other air issues it caused. I can only assume it will be worse that 9/11 impact on health, which of course is still being argued...ridiculous.

Baseball!!
 

I LIKE baseball - really enjoy going to the Diamondback games (we only go once a month during the season). But I've grown to hate baseball on TV - all that SPITTING. Every camera shot is someone spitting. What's with that?! It spoils it for me. At the stadium you're too far away to see them spit ... :eek:

Which is probably why I still like going to the ballpark.

Hello Jean
 

My son is headed your way in his big Volvo truck to deliver a load. He is in South Dakota sleeping now, but he will be headed you way sometime early in the morning.

I too enjoy watching baseball. In Minnesota we have a secondary league called the St. Paul Saints, which is more popular than the Minneapolis twins. (Bye-Bye Torey Hunter.)

The Saints really put on a show. They open the game with their pet pig mascot. It is an outdoor stadium by a railroad track. Between innings they play games with the kids in the crowd. An example: Have a child put is forehead on the bat and circle it several times and then watch them try to run the bases.

Their is a woman who sits in the stands and gives haircuts to fans watching the game. The players are very approachable and love to give the kids autographs. Is is truly a "Field of Dreams." Went to a game once and met Jackie Christianson there.

Vicky