Hey all! Hope everyone had a good Mothers Day! Kay I will view wok wok pics in a few! Thanks!

Spent all Day Sat with my hubby and kids and four neighbor kids at the zoo then took them all to chili's for dinner. Then went to Toys r Us and bought an above ground pool for the summer and some other crap the kids didn't need but wanted! LOL

Mother's day went out and hubby bought me an antique Chest of Drawers and an electric hand sander with 8 attachments and all of the stuff I needed to refinish the chest and we worked together on that in the garage until almost 7pm while all the kids played then went in to turn on the TV and find out we had tornados rolling this way again so the kids had their dinner padded up in the closet watching portable DVD's they loved it! Alll the big stuff missed us though thank goodness!

Welcome home Barb!

Healing vibes to Jim!

Good morning all :) Coffee in hand and trying to wake up.

LOL, I'm a little slow this morning. Been staring at the screen for a little while trying to think of what to say. :Red eyes: Great indication of how this day might go.

Hope everyone has a great day today. :grouphug:

Think I'll hunt up some more coffee. :D

Good morning everyone!

Carolina - I agree with your little cheering smilies - Kay got a shower.:D

Kay - Glad you have running water now. Every time I see baby wipes I think of you.

Hi Barb - Welcome back. I hope that your vacation was nice and relaxing as well as helped your sinuses. Good luck at the neuros today.

Vonn - Hang in there. Something will work out for you. :hug:

Fin - I have mornings like that too. LOL.

Sandy - Sounds like you had the perfect Mother's Day - relaxing on the couch.

Renee - Sounds like you had a good Mother's Day too. Good luck with the chest of drawers. We want pictures when it is done.

Take care all of you in the "bad" weather zone. YIKES!

Hi everyone else.

Spent the weekend helping DBF and finishing up a painting I started a while ago. I have 1 more coat of finish to put on the painting. The dining room at DBF's rental, well . . . LOL. It's a work in progress. It's getting hot here and I certainly felt it this weekend. :mad: I hate the heat and what it does to me.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Hey all! Yesterday was nice, just chillin' on the couch with a roast in the oven. I got to talk with Renee and I think I was as excited for her and she was about her gift. lol

Today is "GET THAT DANG LAUNDRY DONE GIRL!" day. lol

Hope everyone is feeling better or getting meds they need to do so. Jim is going in tomorrow to drop off his specimen. Oh joy. His spasms are at their worse and his heel is hurting. We had to put the foot boot on last night so the heel wasn't touching the bed.

Got up this morning and went to local clinic for blood work. Then I drove an hour to Champaign/Urbana Il for neuro appointment. He spent half of the appointment looking up articles on the internet so he could read me stats on med's. GRRRRRR! He knew that I was already familar with the literature. He would ask me, "What do you know about this drug? ... Yes, that is correct. I felt like a med student." I told him I was not willing to try rituxan. He gave me a sad face. So what if there have been 26 PML deaths from it?:rolleyes:

Then he said he wanted me to get a MRI. It has been a little over a year since the last one. I think he could have told me that on the phone. Then he said if I do not show any new inflamation/active lesions I can get a MRI done every 6 months and stay off of any new treatment for now. Although he made it clear he is not happy with that decision. This is what they recommended as one option at the MS clinic I went to. If I do show new activity he wants me to try Imuran. They also suggested this. I said I would consider it.

I asked him about meds for fatigue, but he stated he does not prescribe stimulants. (I am not on an anti depressant, but he does not prescribe them either.) He also is not happy that my pcp has given me a script for a very low dose of clonazepam. I rarely take it, but I like to have it just in case my muscle spasms get too bad or I am really stressed out. He did agree that I could try taking baclofen every day and try increasing the dose to 2 times per day. I have only been taking 10mg on an occasional basis. I think I need a new neuro. When I switch my insurance in July from a HMO to an open access plan I think I am going switch my neuros to the ms center in St. Louis.

Treated myself to lunch at a Japanese restaurant after my appt and bought several books at Borders. Now I am exhausted.

Sorry to talk so much about myself. Hope you are all doing ok!!!:grouphug:

Any news about Frank?

Update: We all have colds Olivia has had one for the past two days now hubby and I both do and Dayton says his throat is starting to hurt...its not strep..hubby went to doc today. I think its this crazy weather here 80 for a week then 60 and raining. I am having the clonic spasms and nerve pain from my neck down to my butt,I had an appointment with Dayton at the endocrinologist because his doctor was concerned about his size (doc said he was fine!) But I cannot turn my head! So my neighbor Tim who is a house husband drove us and we had fun we have alot in common so we always have fun chatting! Came home to hubby curled up on the couch trying to die....sheesh men are such babies!

Sandy hope everything goes well with Jim I hate that he is in such pain I agree with what you said on the phone something has got to be done!

Barb- nothing liek a trip to the bookstore...I love it..my fav thing to do!

Jenn-two more days and counting!

Sandy, sorry to hear about Jim and the spasms. Hope he feels better soon.

Barb, At least the clinic and your doc are on similar pages as to the next step. Though I think it's weird he won't help with fatigue and such, at least he is trying by researching stuff.

Japanese food sounds great! Hope you had a nice lunch.

Renee, UGH! sorry to hear the cold virus has hit your house. Temps dropped here and both of us are snifiling.

TK, sorry to hear the heat's getting to ya. I'd send you some of my cold temps if I could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

yep. 2 days and counting. So many ideas and plans going through my head, I'm not quite sure what I'll do first - LOL

My hubby has a conference coming up next month. Thought I was going to be lonely that week until my dad called up and said they'd be traveling through here and was wondering if they could stop by. Hubby doesn't mind missing the in-laws, lol.

Need to figure out dinner here soon. OH, that's another thing I'm excited about. I'll have the energy to plan dinners again! I love cooking. Hubby is a good cook, but he doesn't like to do it as much as I do.

Alright rambled enough, lol

And I forgot to mention that like an idiot I agreed to dog sit for Tim starting Thursday for a big goofy untrained puppy that weighs 30 plus pounds! Now I will have 3 crazy dogs in the house!

Vonn,
LDN is Low Dose Naltrexone, and it is compounded by a compounding pharmacist for off label use to tx MS. No FDA approval or trails, but tons of annectdotal evidence that is has about the same efficacy and outcomes at slowing down the Monster as Copaxone...and it's taken by mouth, so no shots, few side effects and tons of symptom relief for most of us taking it. I swear by it and my doctors are starting to think the LDN crowd may just be onto something after all, LOL!!

Hope your job venture works out for you. I can't remember if your on disability, but if you think you can work full time, you go girl:D!! I am disabled, but the studio is sucking up more of my time than I can handle and I am tired. I am learning first hand just why I can't hold down a real job these days! I sure hope your up to it! Just don't wear yourself out, OK!!!

Carolyn:hug:

Lordy, I am TOOOOOOOO busy. I need a vacation for sure! My sister is flying me to FL to escourt my 12 year old nephew ( her grandson) down so he can spend his summer with "grammy". I'll be spending a week with her and it should be fun as long as there are no hurricanes on the horizon.

I worry about the storms down there. They got slammed with three big ones a few years ago and it was awful trying to outrun the storms. She lives on an island and they pull the drawbridge up so everyone has to evacuate when the storms hit. Otherwise it's pretty idyllic there on the ocean!

Carolyn :hug:

Renee, Yep, you win the crazy house award. :D Colds, dog-sitting. Hope you get a chance to rest.

Carolyn, hope your time at the island will be a good one and not stormy. Sounds like it could be fun.

~~~~~~

Woke up to sun today! After the gloominess, it's so bright outside. :cool: So sipping my coffee right now and trying to wake up.

Hope everyone has a great day today!

Hey all! Jim and I will be out today at the VA. The doctor and I spoke last night. We are thinking about having Jim go back on the macrobid, possibly bactrim, haven't decided yet. I told the doctor it's all on him since he's the specialist. haha Jim had a reaction to both meds but we were thinking that maybe at a low dose he'd do better? The reactions were thrush with bactrim and tummy issues with macrobid. We'll see.

After that, we have some shopping to do. See you tonight! Have a great day!

Hey all! Busy day today for me. I just wrote my list out of what needs to be done today. Lots of errands and housecleaning.

Hope everyone has a good day!

spring greetings ... suppose to get really nice out .. already 52 degrees at 10am!

well, I was told about another job web-search ... and found a few jobs - and one that I really, really like ... working for a monthly newspaper that is a non-profit because it prints out information (and website) for those with disabilities and informs them about what's out there for different programs, etc ..

it's for Assistant Editor: only 25 hrs per week ... and the pay is better than a 40 hr week job! .. .about $350-$500/wk depending on experience etc ... :Writting: actually was requesting those with disabilities apply!! how cool is that? here's the website if it's okay to post: http://www.accesspress.org/archive/2...this_issue.htm

then I could still work on my quilt program .. and get SSDI (if it would ever kick in) ..LOL

downside (maybe upside) ... would have to move to the Twin Cities area over in Minnesota . ... about 6 hrs from where I am .. (found out there are ALOT of quilt shops that way too!) - talk about a fresh start!

Spring is in the air here finally. There are buds on the trees and the grass is starting to turn green. We actually hit 70 in my backyard last weekend. The fun thing here is that we turn green overnight. The rains started a few days ago and with that in the next week or so one morning we will awaken to a sudden bloom. It's always an amazing thing to see here.

Work is good, but with school I have little time to visit with all of you. Miss our times together....just wanted to check in and say hi and :hug:'s

Since it's nice today, going to give my boss her painting. Supposed to rain the rest of the week (so they say), and I don't want it to get wet. Really hoping she likes it.

I posted a pic of it in the creative corner forum. This is only the third painting I have ever given away. I feel kinda sad giving it up, but that was my whole point in painting it - LOL.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vonn, that job sounds kinda cool. If it's on the up and up - go for it!!!!!!

GJ, I love your description of spring. Thanks for checking in.

Sandy, hope Jim's appointment goes well. Hope you both have a good time shopping.

TK, hope you get done what you need to.

Hi everyone!

Vonn -- Good luck in your job search!

Sandy -- Hope they figure out how to help Jim.

Renee -- You are a brave woman -- taking care of all of those dogs and dealing with a sick hubbie.

Carolyn -- did you neuro or pcp prescribe LDN?

Fin, Tk, and GJ -- :Wave-Hello:

Hope everyone is having a good day. It was supposed to be sunny here today, but it looks like it is going to storm. I hope these storms are not as bad as the ones over the weekend.

I want to go buy some flowers for outside, but I think maybe I better hold off on that until the weather is better.

My boss liked the painting, even before she realized I was the artist. I love surprising people. :)

Now thinking it's about dinner time 'cuz tummy is growling. Just need to pry hubby away from his work, LOL.

glad she liked it Finny...

and Barb, glad you had a good time.

and Carolyn, hope YOU have a GREAT time... we're prayin' for a slow hurricane season here as well...

[QUOTE=barb02;278593]Hi everyone!



Carolyn -- did you neuro or pcp prescribe LDN?

QUOTE]

My neuro RX my LDN and I get it from Skips Pharmacy. It's really inexpensive for a 3 month supply, abot $15.00 a month with the shipping included. Any doctor can RX it. Check with all your docs to see if any of them will RX it for you!

Carolyn :hug:

Hey all, sick as a dog here no pun intended since I am dogsitting! Hubby and Olivia are on the mend though. Sandy how did Jim's appt go? Just trying to take it easy today,have to take Dayton for his CT scan tonight though.

Renee, sorry to hear your not feeling well. :hug:

Kay, Really hoping for a slow hurricane season for ya too.

~~~~

Begging coffee to wake me up for my last day. Not feeling too hot this morning, but hoping it's just me waking up - LOL.

Hope everyone has a great day! :grouphug:

Hey Fin . . .It's your last day today! WHOO HOO! I hope you have an awesome last day.

Vonn - Hope the job works out for you. Is it something that can be done via the internet so that you can move where you want and work from home? That would be cool.

GJ - Glad you are starting to see some signs of spring coming. Thanks for popping in to say hi.

Barb - I wish I had some dirt to play in and plant. All I have is cement. Enjoy!

Kay - I checked out the Wok Wok thread last evening. Thanks for that. Your pictures are amazing and I really think that you have a calling there with that. Your "conversations" with Olivia would be enough to put that book together and get it published. Go for it! Think of all the smiles and excitement it would bring to not only little ones but adults as well.

Hi Carolyn - It is nice to see you posting more. How's the studio doing? Thanks for sharing the information about LDN with us. It sounds like a great option for those who don't tolerate the DMD's well.

Renee - Sorry you are all sick again. I hope you get through this quickly with out any MS issues popping up. Sending you a big cyber:hug:.

~~~
Today I am going to crack down and get that painting done for DBF. Canvas is stretched, primed and set for 24 hours, colors and design are finally settled in my head and now it is time to get cracking.

Oh and our weather, oh my word. I am not complaining here but Monday it was in the 90's and the heat was blazing, yesterday it was in the low 60's, windy, and cloudy - not the norm for this time of year. What is up with that? Crazy.

Man, I can't keep up with you all! lol We dropped off Jim's specimens and they took some blood. We wont know about the culture for three days. They better not lose it like they did before. He's feeling Ok though, no fever, just muscle spasms. I haven't given him his Beta shot for a few days because it makes the spasms worse. Once he gets on some antibiotics we'll start it back up.

The weather here is typical, wet and dreary. Seems the whole week will go like this. BUT, I came home and my dead tree was gone!!! I didn't even notice until Jim pointed it out. lol My yard looks huge now. lol

Gone? What do you mean gone? Where did it go? :confused:

I hope Jim starts feeling better soon and that the culture comes back negative. Wouldn't that be awesome!

LOL TK, it was a dead evergreen. I hired some tree guys to come and take it down. It's in a mulcher about now. lol

I can only dream his culture will come out clean. It would be nice but I am pretty sure it's going to come back with some crazy bacteria.

howdy howdy howdy .. (shark from Toy Story)

well, not sure about moving or the job(s) yet ..

going to put my business plan together for my non-profit: making quilts and things to bring warmth and comfort to others ...

and anything I make and sell - the $$ would go thru the business ... so I'm supporting myself and enjoying what I do .. AT MY OWN PACE! what do I have to lose? then I can paint, quilt and make things ... and do things when I want ... does this sound like I made up my mind?

right now - it would be getting the business funding to get this rolling ... I could even by a bigger trailer or find a house with garage to buy .. and pay off my debt .. just need a little miracle!

okay - off to school I go .. have a good day!

p.s. Tricia - are you posting your paintings to the creative corner section? if so, let us know! thanks!

I couldn't figure that one out. I was thinking tornado. I knew that some bratty kids did not come and steal it. LOL. But still to come home and you have a tree missing would be a shocker.

No. My photography skills are not that good especially when I have tremors. I did post some of them somewhere on this thread. But here are some. You have to use your imagination on some of them as they a little blurry. LOL. All of these were given away as gifts to family members.

The cross was done for one of my sisters for her birthday. As she didn't have a cross in her house and religion is so important to her, I designed and painted this one. The photo does not show all the fine details I did on the cross.

The "bubbles" was a thank you gift for my brother for letting us stay at his house for the weekend.

The flower was for my Mom for her birthday.

And the abstract kind of one (the blurriest one as DD18 took it and was in a pissy mood on Christmas) was a Christmas gift for another one of my brothers. (We pick names in our family and I got him. As kids we had to hand make the gifts and many of us still do that.)

Sandy, glad to hear the dead tree is gone, even though it changed your yard, lol. Hope Jim's results come back ok.

TK, Thanks for sharing the paintings. I like them. :) Just sitting here getting ready for my last day wondering what it will bring. Excited and sad at same time.

Vonn, you have a lot of ideas, it sounds like whatever you decide to could be cool.

~~~~~

Last day, and it's yucky outside - LOL. Seems to fit with everything that's going on. I'm hoping for a good last day, but I am in the insurance biz and one never knows what's gonna happen ;)

Just have to remember to take my ipod home. Hubby's been reminding me since last night, lol :D

Just returned from geting my hair cut. It is also a cold and dreay day here in Central Illinois. My allergies are driving me crazy this year.

I am going twith a few friends to see Maid of Honor this afternoon and then out to dinner.

Fin -- Happy last day of work!!! I am sure you will find more activities to fill up your time on good days.

Carolyn -- I do not think my neuro will prescribe LDN. He won't even prescribe anti depressants or stimulants to help with fatigue. I am going to talk to pcp about it. Would I have to stop taking baclofen and neurontin if I was on LDN?

TK -- I thought your paintings were cool. I have no artistic talent at all.

Sandy -- I know we keep asking you, but have you heard from Frank?

I haven't Barb. I am getting worried about him. I wish I had a number or last name to look them up. Maybe Deb will come in here and let us know but if something is going on I am sure this is the last place they are worried about. :(

I just looked at his profile and his last activity was at 12:12 today. Maybe he Pm'd someone?

howdy yall still in for day or so feel lousy, pnuemonia is better, chucky sucks bite and blows, and GI issues to, having dreaded kalinopskape (sp?)

still using my cell to chat, miss all of you, I hope u all had a beautiful mothers day

peace yall :yikes:

thanks

Good to hear from you Frank! We were getting nervous! Get your butt home soon. That's an order!

Thanks for checking in Frank - even though you feel so lousy! We were getting worried about you. I hope you get to feeling better real soon.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/k...raphics_02.gif

hi-ya, Frank!! like Sandy said - get home soon ... :)

already into week3 of school - staying with the assignments and postings - still at 100% for both so far!! whew!

I've posted some of my paintings earlier :Painter: .. here's a quilt (48x48) ... as soon as I get more on a CD, I'll post those .. and get to painting and calligraphy!

you know, Tricia - tremors are okay ... no need to be a perfectionist -and we are our own worse critics ... give yourself some room, no more pointing out boo-boos ... talk to yourself as if you were instructing a child ... it's amazing how rewarding you really can be to yourself! :Painting::You-Rock:

Yeah Frank! So glad to see you post. Hurry up and get better so you can get back home. Saying prayers for you (NOT for Chucky; just prayers he'll go away and stay away).

Vonn - Thanks for the pep talk. I am extremely modest in most aspects of my life. DD18 will be doing the photography for me as I want to create a good portfolio of the paintings. She will have to go visit my sister, brothers, and Mom in order to get better pics. LOL. All of them would love the visit anyhow.

Barb - You do so much! That is great. Have a great time at the movies. Oh, our allergy season this year is terrible. Zyrtec and Nasonex have become our new best friend. LOL.

colonoscopy... as in, scoping out your COLON.

:eek:

what else am I good for, but being the local SpellQueen ??

:D

GLAD, very glad to see ya Frank, and watch out for SPLINTERS from that tree trunk, dude!

:hug:

Frank, I have had 2 colonoscopies and I am scheduled for a 3rd on May 28th. My father had colon cancer and I have IBS so I have to have one every 5years. The prep is the worse part as I am sure you are learning today. They knock you out for the actual procedure so it is not bad. If you wake up during it (as I did) they can just give you more med. Hope the results turn out ok

Where is the sun???????????

Jim's doctor called. His blood work was fine and perfect as he put it. BUT, his UA looked terrible. He said the culture is showing too many bacteria to count and gram negative rods. He thinks there are two bugs and if they cannot be treated by oral antibiotics Jim will need to go in for IV meds. I asked about home therapy and he said that is fine but we have to go though an interview with the IV people, be counseled on how to take care of it and then to the pic clinic. Sheesh, when did the VA get so picky?

Anyway, Jim is very upset about this and the house is very tense right now. His doctor said maybe 7-10 days inpatient. :eek: :(

Frank? Move over.

Frank, sorry to hear you're still in for another day or so. Hope you get better soon.

Sandy, Sorry to hear about Jim. Hope they can do the IV at home.

:grouphug:

~~~~

Last day was BUSY. LOL. a fitting end I think. :)

Sitting here trying to come up with some kind of dinner idea while hubby is mumbling at a project he has for work. Need to scoure the cupboards for ideas soon.