Hey, all, I'm home and taking it easy today. I have managed to eat on the road for 3 weeks and stay the same size, so I count that as a good thing.

In fact, last night, on the way to my house, I grabbed a deli sandwich that I love but know better than to get it. The good news on that is it made me sick all night so we're even! LOL, must be nature's way of meting out justice!

Since I was up (chucking) half the night, and I'm pretty much just tired today, it was a lazy day around here and I aim to keep this pace awhile. Fortunately, I have no appetite and there is no food here anyway.

oh, sorry cindy. what a way to end the trip.
i'm glad you're home and taking it easy.
so, where's the next sojourn to?

i had my massage today and my muscles were a lot worse than last wk.
my legs were bad again and so was my back. i came home and slept so i feel better. i might take 2 amrix tonite and hope that will help.

i don't have any plans for the wk/e but i could do some errands like getting my car washed. i'm pretty wasted today from the pool yesterday but i expected that.

what are you guys doing for the holiday?

Meh, don't sweat it, Judy, it happens to everyone once in awhile. I figure that I got to eat something really bad on a free pass!

My weekend will be very quiet and mellow. I made it my mission to get home prior to the holiday weekend so I wouldn't get caught in the madness. I have to unpack, do laundry, take naps, put the car out of travel mode, get some groceries, and write in my journal. Woo hoo. That's about all the excitement I can handle for the next few days.

There's always a party or GTG around here and I might show up at a couple friends' for a bit.

Anyway, I'm really glad you're doing some water movement, isn't it just grand to be so free again in the water? I love it!

i've been having more episodes of my heart arrhythmia. 3 in the last wk.
i get short of breath and my ears hurt. my dr said i could up my dose of medication or try a holter monitor for 48 hrs. i chose the holter monitor because i'd like to identify what exactly the arrhythmia is instead of just throwing a med at it.

but, he said to stop the drug altogether tonite and i get hooked up next friday.
i hope nothing happens over the wk/e. if i get something before friday i can always go into the office for an EKG.

oh joy. always something going on.
otherwise all is stable and boring.

hope you're all doing well.
DM? how are you? are your headaches better?
sandy...how are you and jim? are his legs better?
sox...are you feeling better?

Judy, sorry about the heart and I am praying it's nothing to worry too much about.

Jim's legs are OK but the Botox is already wearing off. We're hoping as he gets more injections it will build up in his system. Stay tuned for that. Thanks for asking. His bumm is the problem right now. He has three abrasions that I am working hard to keep from becoming a bed sore. He can get on his side for some time but not the whole time without becoming a pretzel. I've been putting antibiotic cream and bandages on it to help from causing more friction. Any ideas on what else I could do? I don't want to use Duoderm because it seems to make things worse. Ugh. He has tried every mattress out there and it's becoming more and more obvious that it's friction from sliding. Every since they left him on that darn bedpan in the hospital he's had nothing but trouble since the area is now compromised.

I am hoping everyone is having a good holiday weekend. We're staying low. I've been moving rocks all weekend. The boys called in reinforcements from the fraternity to help yesterday. Here's a few pics of them. They worked very hard to get those rocks out from all around my house.

Hey, Sandy, I can empathize with Jim's butt just a bit. When mine gets to me, I kind of build up some pillows under the small of my back and under my thighs so it can rest with less contact.

It's like that hemorrhoid donut thingy concept. I'm wondering if you could set Jim up with some thick material, cut a hole in it for his butt region and have him lie on it for a few hours each day. Between that and the standing machine, he might get some relief.

Also, if any of his sheets or undergarments have synthetic materials in them, you might try pure cotton for awhile.

Finally, I have found more great uses for hand sanitizer gel, I swear by it, even for my pierced ears and my fat girl belly button! Beware, though, it smarts but good if the skin is raw!

Cindy those are great ideas! Thanks, I'll try that tonight!

advice i remember about donuts is to watch the skin on the donut as that can cause pressure.

is there any chance you could get an air mattress?
is there a wound/skin care nurse or program you could access?
and this is a long shot but hyperbaric oxygen chambers are supposed to help with healing.

i wonder about keeping it moist and covered as i thought keeping a wound clean and dry was more helpful.

but, i'm not an expert. anything on the internet about this?
i hope jim will come thru this ok. thanks for updating me on how you all are.

Judy, he's had every air mattress out there. The problem is the friction, dry skin, sliding in the bed, sweating, etc. It's healing from what I can tell, I've been changing the dressing twice a day. I have been putting a good cream the doctor prescribed on it too that helps protect the skin. He has a sheep skin cover and we think it may have made him hot and that caused it. I took that off and it seems to be healing faster now. He's using a ROHO air mattress that seems to be one of the better ones out there. He also has one on his chair and he loves it.

We tried the pillow thing too and it's good under the thigh area Cindy. He couldn't do the back though because it hurt. Stay tuned! Ahhhh, the life of spinal cord issues. Ugh.

Yeah, I wondered about that for him. What I meant before is to get a huge hunk of foam material or something similar on which his whole body can lie. Then cut out a patch where his butt could rest kind of suspended from pressure.

Judy will happily volunteer her Tempurpedic mattress for the experiment.

Then you can name it something cool and make your fortune.

Wonderbutt?

SweetCheeks?

Buttless Wonder? (that's what I call myself, for I have none)

Butt-on?

Your***Hole?

Rearview Manger?

BreezyBuns?

The possibilities are endless!!