I have had two good men in my life. They are not without short comings, but they were there for me and would do anything for me. Most people would say I should not have chosen who I did, but who are they to know what is in my heart?
I have four wonderful daughters and three wonderful daughters-in-laws. They are so talented. I could not have asked for more
I have three wonderful sons. Hard working and dedicated and good family men. I also have have four great sons-in-laws. They are very good to me. They are great to be with.
I am not the mother I should have been. I have tried at least but failed miserably at times.
I am very proud of my kids. They have succedeed in life despite their parenting.
Nobody should judge another unelss you have walked in their shoes. I am guilty of this at times.
I have very few friends and it's because I am a loner and do not really want friends. Getting together with friends once or twice a year is enough for me.
I am not spiritual enough. I am a die hard skeptic. But I do try to see the good in all things. I know there is a higher power.
I have lots of regrets. But I have made it through some very stressful times. I have not given up where others would have.
I went back to school and furthered my education and got a good job when I was almost 50.
I like perfection but have long ago found out that sweating the small stuff can be hard on your health.
I have always had low self-esteem. I wish I had more confidance in myself.
I have had bad health for most of my life but I have a lot to be thankful for because I am still here and compared to many, my health has been great.
Sometimes I try to please too many people and then I need to realize that I cannot always please everyone.
I am glad I was born when I was. I got to experience so many things that young people today will never experience.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Lastest News: Nothing New Really
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| Copperton Utah Bingham Utah |
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| Narrowest Town in America |
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| Open Pit Copper Mine in Bingham Canyon |
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| Kathy and Randy at the Mine |
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| Me and Kathy at the Mine |
Not much else is new. Still waiting for warmer weather. By the time the snow melts, it will probably be time to snow again. I am seriously thinking of spending the winter in a warmer place but it is hard when you have a home to maintain as well. I did get another great grandchild. Her name is Miriam Elizabeth Riehle courtesy of JJ and his wife Samantha. We plan to attend Peter's wedding in Montana in May and visit Tammy in June and then possibly visit Jennifer in the Fall. We want to go camping in the summer and the summer just isn't long enough to do all we want to. Hoping maybe I can get to see Marty and his family too sometime.
I am still having pain issues and I am going to see a specialist. Hopefully something can be done. Life is not much fun when pain is on your agenda every day.
We did take a trip to Bingham Canyon mine. It's part of Kennecott's open pit mine. Years ago, the town of Bingham was a very narrow town of one mile long and a a block wide. The town does not exist anymore however. It was taken over by the mine in 1971.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
ACNES Abdominal Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome
http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/sum02/acnes.html
After months of pain and numerous medical tests that were totally unnecessary, the only other diagnosis found is Abdominal Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome. Which is a pinched nerve somewhere in the spine or ribs which can come and go depending on if it is aggravated or moved by posture etc. Unfortunately, normal x-rays cannot see it so a DR who is familiar with the condition needs to inject lidocaine into the spot where the pain is concentrated the most. I kept trying to tell them where the pain started but they just assumed it was gallbladder or liver problems and had me tested.
One top of this condition, I do have spinal arthritis which may be contributing to the pressure on the nerve. And I also have pressure that cause my arms and shoulders to spasm and burn. I do have a crooked spine and humpback and round shoulders which cause my spine to curve inward. Randy had it with his hip for years and it was not taken care of until his hip surgery and no DR even thought what it might be. Even young people can have this problem.
So I need to find a DR who can treat this but in the mean time my DR wants me to have more tests and an MRI which I don't think will do any good. (I already had one of my brain and I guess I still have a brain.)I think I will have to go to a pain specialist. The pain can be very bad and if feels like you are dying. But after all the tests I have, I am perfectly healthy except for the nerve entrapment. All I know is maybe that's what my mother had with all her pain. They say it's quite a common condition but it seems most Dr's don't know much about it. My DR finally said that I probably have it but he has no answer on what to do next. So I have to learn to live with the pain and I never know whether it will be here tomorrow or gone for a few days. So very discouraging. I hope I can find a DR who knows had to treat it. That is all I can say.
On top of this problem, Randy got bit by Wellington and it become infected. We are contemplating letting him go as well as a couple of other cats. Wellington is a good cat but not with Randy's white female. He stalks her all the time and when Randy tried to get him away, he bit Randy. Too many cats with too many different personalities. Gimli and March and Blue do OK but the others all have their problems. So we may just have to let some go.
After months of pain and numerous medical tests that were totally unnecessary, the only other diagnosis found is Abdominal Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome. Which is a pinched nerve somewhere in the spine or ribs which can come and go depending on if it is aggravated or moved by posture etc. Unfortunately, normal x-rays cannot see it so a DR who is familiar with the condition needs to inject lidocaine into the spot where the pain is concentrated the most. I kept trying to tell them where the pain started but they just assumed it was gallbladder or liver problems and had me tested.
One top of this condition, I do have spinal arthritis which may be contributing to the pressure on the nerve. And I also have pressure that cause my arms and shoulders to spasm and burn. I do have a crooked spine and humpback and round shoulders which cause my spine to curve inward. Randy had it with his hip for years and it was not taken care of until his hip surgery and no DR even thought what it might be. Even young people can have this problem.
So I need to find a DR who can treat this but in the mean time my DR wants me to have more tests and an MRI which I don't think will do any good. (I already had one of my brain and I guess I still have a brain.)I think I will have to go to a pain specialist. The pain can be very bad and if feels like you are dying. But after all the tests I have, I am perfectly healthy except for the nerve entrapment. All I know is maybe that's what my mother had with all her pain. They say it's quite a common condition but it seems most Dr's don't know much about it. My DR finally said that I probably have it but he has no answer on what to do next. So I have to learn to live with the pain and I never know whether it will be here tomorrow or gone for a few days. So very discouraging. I hope I can find a DR who knows had to treat it. That is all I can say.
On top of this problem, Randy got bit by Wellington and it become infected. We are contemplating letting him go as well as a couple of other cats. Wellington is a good cat but not with Randy's white female. He stalks her all the time and when Randy tried to get him away, he bit Randy. Too many cats with too many different personalities. Gimli and March and Blue do OK but the others all have their problems. So we may just have to let some go.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Waiting...for better health and better Weather
It has been a very long hard winter and I don't think it is over yet. So there is really nothing new. Randy is recovering nicely and I have been fighting pain for several months. I have been tired and dizzy with bad pain in my upper stomach and a pain that runs up my shoulders and neck and down both my arms and hands. After numerous tests, I find out it is because of my spine pressing on nerves. I have really bad arthritis and the shape of my spine has caused these nerves to be pinched. It has been some of the worse pain I have ever had. Just like a lighted match burning me. At least I do not have anything wrong internally and my colitis has burned itself out and I probably won't have it ever again. So because of the dizziness I may have nerves pressing on blood vessels so now I have to have another MRI on my cervical spine. So if you ever get a weird pain and they cannot find what it is, it could be your spine. What I have is called Intercostal Neuralgia Syndrome. Some days I feel really good and others are terrible but I am on some medication that is supposed to help with nerve pain. We did manage to go to St George for Randy's birthday and even though I was sick most of the time, it was still nice to get out. We went home the long way through Hwy 89 and I saw a lot of old truck and cars which made me think of my boys, Marty and Matt. They just love old cars and trucks.
I hope I feel better soon. Maybe we will still be able to do some camping if the snow melts in the mountains before it starts snowing again. We also plan to visit Tammy this summer if things work out and go to Peter's wedding in Montana the last of May. I would also like to visit Jennifer and Marty during the summer. It's too bad we have such long winters spent cooped up and then we have to try to do everything when the weather is good and the time goes by too fast.
I am sorry that I have been sick and not been very good at communicating with all of my family. I am glad to hear that I will soon have two more great grandchildren. Anyway, here's wishing everyone a very happy Spring and Summer and know I am thinking of all of you always.
I
I hope I feel better soon. Maybe we will still be able to do some camping if the snow melts in the mountains before it starts snowing again. We also plan to visit Tammy this summer if things work out and go to Peter's wedding in Montana the last of May. I would also like to visit Jennifer and Marty during the summer. It's too bad we have such long winters spent cooped up and then we have to try to do everything when the weather is good and the time goes by too fast.
I am sorry that I have been sick and not been very good at communicating with all of my family. I am glad to hear that I will soon have two more great grandchildren. Anyway, here's wishing everyone a very happy Spring and Summer and know I am thinking of all of you always.
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| Randy at Carmel Junction for his Birthday Our trip to St George |
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Cabin Fever, Sick of Snow!
Well bloggers, it's been a while. Just not much news. I am tired of winter, snow and cold. I wonder if Spring will ever come. We are doing OK. I have been feeling a little better and Randy is too. Although he still tires easily. This it to be expected because he went through two major surgeries in a week's time. Randy gave up coffee cold turkey because caffeine does cause the heart to beat faster and irregular. We may not camp this year, at least not until later in the summer. We want to go visit Jennifer and Tammy and go to Peter's wedding in May. So it depends on our health and we are hoping gasoline does not go above $4.00 a gallon.
I almost lost my Jennifer. She went in for minor same day surgery and ended up almost bleeding to death because they nicked an artery. She had to be rushed b;y ambulance to another hospital. She kept blacking out. Her body filled up with blood and fluid and she gained over 30 pounds. She had most of her blood replaced and had a really hard time and all of us were very scared. Robert was so worried and now he is helping her get her strength back. He and the kids have been really good to her. She is still really tired but we pray she will be fine soon. I think she should take legal action. I know with this bad experience she will be hesitant to see a DR again but I hope she will if she needs and does not let this scare her if she needs medical care. Just remember to tell those we love that we care about them, we just never know how much longer they will be with us. Life is precious and can be gone in an instant.
Well Randy is having a birthday on Sunday and if all goes well, we are going to St George for a couple of days. Hope the weather will be better. Hoping all of you have a wonderful Spring, (if Spring ever gets here) and be healthy and happy.
On the news front, I did get another little great grandson. Michael and Brooke have a little boy, Ryan Opfar. Born Dec 2010. They also got married. So I wish them congratulations. I hope I see them someday when the time is right.
I almost lost my Jennifer. She went in for minor same day surgery and ended up almost bleeding to death because they nicked an artery. She had to be rushed b;y ambulance to another hospital. She kept blacking out. Her body filled up with blood and fluid and she gained over 30 pounds. She had most of her blood replaced and had a really hard time and all of us were very scared. Robert was so worried and now he is helping her get her strength back. He and the kids have been really good to her. She is still really tired but we pray she will be fine soon. I think she should take legal action. I know with this bad experience she will be hesitant to see a DR again but I hope she will if she needs and does not let this scare her if she needs medical care. Just remember to tell those we love that we care about them, we just never know how much longer they will be with us. Life is precious and can be gone in an instant.
Well Randy is having a birthday on Sunday and if all goes well, we are going to St George for a couple of days. Hope the weather will be better. Hoping all of you have a wonderful Spring, (if Spring ever gets here) and be healthy and happy.
On the news front, I did get another little great grandson. Michael and Brooke have a little boy, Ryan Opfar. Born Dec 2010. They also got married. So I wish them congratulations. I hope I see them someday when the time is right.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
What a January!
My, we have been through a lot lately. Randy went in for hip surgery and came out with hip and heart surgery. When he was in the hospital for his surgery, the nurse said his heart was doing weird things. He had many tests done on it and found out some of his arteries were blocked. He could have dropped dead at any time. So he had a 6 by-pass heart operation as well as his hip operation. I have been really stressed. Having lost Alex. I was doing a deja vu.
Randy came through both surgeries fine. There is a long recovery time however. The thing that scared me the most was that he had a couple of hypoglycemic attacks. Those can be very serious. It's when your insulin levels get too low. You can go into shock. The DR had told him to give himself an insulin shot in the morning and at night and taking it at night lowered his insulin to very low levels. He had cold sweats, his body temp was only 95 and he was shaking all over and could not get warm. Luckily the home health nurse came and they finally got him better. He had to drink hot water, Ensure and pile on a lot of blankets. He was actually very irritated and slurring his words. That was a close call! Now he does not take his insulin at night and that is not happening. I sure had to live in a really hot house for a couple of days when he was so cold. He is on medication to keep his heart rate good and his hip no longer hurts. They had found an impingement in his hip joint as well as arthritis. Of course, he is still weak but getting stronger every day. I have had to be Randy's nurse for a while and I can tell you it is hard work. Those medical people deserve a medal for all they do. They work 12+ hour shifts and are so dedicated. I also appreciate having the home health people who come and do heart and hip therapy. We are blessed to have these options with our Medicare and I know people think we spend too much on government medical programs, but we would not have been able to do without these programs. The hospital alone was over 200,00K. We only had to pay $1200.
I have been more tired than I have ever been in my life. I have had a bad winter with my fibromyalgia. Now it actually feels like my MS may be coming back. I am really dizzy, extremely tired and weak. Hopefully it is just stress and is caused by all the things that have been going on. I do go to the DR tomorrow and get things checked out.
I would like to thank those in my family who have helped. Tina for sitting with me during the surgery, Monica and Jay for visiting Randy and giving him moral support and especially for John and Kathy who have helped me with the cats and the house cleaning. And for Tammy, Matt and Jennifer who have called me and given me moral support. I hope things will be back to normal soon and I do appreciate everyone. I also am thankful Randy's sister who lives very far away but she has called and given her support. And also Randy's friends in California and Arizona.
There may be no camping this summer but we will still do road trips I am sure. Randy has to be careful of his hip until everything heals up well and camping is maybe a little too much physical work for him this year. Bless all of you and thanks you for offering to help me in these tough times.
Randy came through both surgeries fine. There is a long recovery time however. The thing that scared me the most was that he had a couple of hypoglycemic attacks. Those can be very serious. It's when your insulin levels get too low. You can go into shock. The DR had told him to give himself an insulin shot in the morning and at night and taking it at night lowered his insulin to very low levels. He had cold sweats, his body temp was only 95 and he was shaking all over and could not get warm. Luckily the home health nurse came and they finally got him better. He had to drink hot water, Ensure and pile on a lot of blankets. He was actually very irritated and slurring his words. That was a close call! Now he does not take his insulin at night and that is not happening. I sure had to live in a really hot house for a couple of days when he was so cold. He is on medication to keep his heart rate good and his hip no longer hurts. They had found an impingement in his hip joint as well as arthritis. Of course, he is still weak but getting stronger every day. I have had to be Randy's nurse for a while and I can tell you it is hard work. Those medical people deserve a medal for all they do. They work 12+ hour shifts and are so dedicated. I also appreciate having the home health people who come and do heart and hip therapy. We are blessed to have these options with our Medicare and I know people think we spend too much on government medical programs, but we would not have been able to do without these programs. The hospital alone was over 200,00K. We only had to pay $1200.
I have been more tired than I have ever been in my life. I have had a bad winter with my fibromyalgia. Now it actually feels like my MS may be coming back. I am really dizzy, extremely tired and weak. Hopefully it is just stress and is caused by all the things that have been going on. I do go to the DR tomorrow and get things checked out.
I would like to thank those in my family who have helped. Tina for sitting with me during the surgery, Monica and Jay for visiting Randy and giving him moral support and especially for John and Kathy who have helped me with the cats and the house cleaning. And for Tammy, Matt and Jennifer who have called me and given me moral support. I hope things will be back to normal soon and I do appreciate everyone. I also am thankful Randy's sister who lives very far away but she has called and given her support. And also Randy's friends in California and Arizona.
There may be no camping this summer but we will still do road trips I am sure. Randy has to be careful of his hip until everything heals up well and camping is maybe a little too much physical work for him this year. Bless all of you and thanks you for offering to help me in these tough times.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
My Cute Grandchildren
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| Felicia with Keira Such a Happy Giggly Little Girl! |
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| Brandon, Me, Felicia and Keira |
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| Chevy Such a Handsome Young Man! Kids Grow up Way too Fast |
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| Contessa and Little Kennedy Such Pretty Blue Eyes and Such A Great Big Smile! |
In Sickness and in Health
Randy is in the hospital. He had to have a complete hip replacement. He has been in pain for ages. They also found a femur acetabulum impingement. Something was pinched between the ball and socket of his left hip. That was one reason for all that pain. I hated to have him go through surgery. After all I went through with Alex, I never wanted to have to go through that again. But to find one of the causes of his pain, I guess I am glad he went through it. Also, they found a problem with his heart. It is an irregular beat. So the echocardiagram showed something wrong and he has to have a heart stress test tomorrow to find out more. If things check out OK, then he will go to the convalescent home for a few days. If not, then I do not know exactly when he will be released. He is walking and eating now. He is just really tired at this point.
He has no pain and he did have a fever but it is gone now. His blood sugars are really high which the hospital did not really seem concerned about. They said after surgery, the hormones of the body take time to adjust. I guess with all these complications, it is good that he had surgery anyway because they found another problem for his pain and they were able to find something with his heart and I am hoping they can do something about that if needed.
As for me, I had a rough time last week with upper stomach pain. They tested my gall bladder and did not find anything but want to do more tests. I myself believe it was pancreatitis brought on by a bad reaction to a drug I had been taking for a couple of months. I started noticing upper stomach fullness, pain and gas when I first started the drug and it finally got so bad that I was doubled over with it. If I ate anything, it was 10 times worse. I have been off the drug for several days now and I have no more stomach pain but I am going to see the DR to have my pancreas and other organs checked out. That drug I took did say that some people get pancreatitis while on it. So it's no fun to get old. Wish we could get new bodies that did not give us so much trouble.
He has no pain and he did have a fever but it is gone now. His blood sugars are really high which the hospital did not really seem concerned about. They said after surgery, the hormones of the body take time to adjust. I guess with all these complications, it is good that he had surgery anyway because they found another problem for his pain and they were able to find something with his heart and I am hoping they can do something about that if needed.
As for me, I had a rough time last week with upper stomach pain. They tested my gall bladder and did not find anything but want to do more tests. I myself believe it was pancreatitis brought on by a bad reaction to a drug I had been taking for a couple of months. I started noticing upper stomach fullness, pain and gas when I first started the drug and it finally got so bad that I was doubled over with it. If I ate anything, it was 10 times worse. I have been off the drug for several days now and I have no more stomach pain but I am going to see the DR to have my pancreas and other organs checked out. That drug I took did say that some people get pancreatitis while on it. So it's no fun to get old. Wish we could get new bodies that did not give us so much trouble.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
January News
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| Randy and I at The Red Lobster My Birthday 2011 |
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| Randy and I at Mimi's My Birthday 2011 |
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| Tina and Kipp at Red Lobster My Birthday 2011 |
The holidays are over and I can't say I am sad about that. The holidays get to be a little bit much with all those commercials over and over etc. Glad to get back to normal. It has been a very hard winter with lots of snow and a lot of COLD. Everyday from now on, gets closer to summer. YAY!! Winter is so gloomy. I have ordered me a warm light to bring the sunshine in on these cold winter days.
Next week Randy will have hip surgery. I hope it helps his pain and that he recovers quickly.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas 2010
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| Fireplace at Gia's Restaurant in Logan |
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| Matt's Christmas Tree 2010 |
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| Outside the Sherwood Hills Resort |
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| Sherwood Hills Resort |
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| Randy at the Dining Room in Sherwood Hills Resort |
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| Randy with our Waitress Sherwood Hills Resort |
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| Randy on Christmas Day in His New Cat Shirt From Tina and Kipp |
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| Gimli Enjoying Christmas He Wants to Be a Present |
Thanks to Jay and Monica for the wonderful time we had at the Bar J Wranglers. Their company was great and the show was so entertaining and fun. We enjoyed having dinner with Monica and Jay in Logan. We had a wonderful experience staying at the Sherwood Hills
Resort in Sardine Canyon. It was very snowy and the drive was difficult, but the experience made up for it all. It was a winter wonderland there. While I hate the grayness of winter, there are some things that winter brings that are beautiful.
I want to wish all a Very Happy New Year. I hope you had a good Christmas and that next year will bring you all the blessings you can possibly want.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Happy Holidays
Boy, time really flies these days. Seems like we just had Thanksgiving and Christmas. Needless to say, I am not prepared for Christmas yet. I do plan on having Thanksgiving here at my home with just Randy and John and Kathy.
One thing that is bad about the holidays, is that it's usually stormy and very hard to travel to visit family who live far away. Randy does not like to fly and I don't either especially now that they have their new security screening. Because of my knee replacement, I am always selected to get more security than others. I show them the card from my DR but they still have to screen me for a long time and pat me down all over. And now that they have this new screening going on, I will probably have to go through the scanner (they can see you naked) and also be patted down even more intensely. I am sorry, but do I look like a terrorist? Anyway, flying is expensive too. So unless we have a real global warming and fast, I don't think we will be going to visit anyone for the Holidays. No matter if I travel west to Seattle or east to Wisconsin or even Idaho, we would have to travel through mountains and storms to get there.
Maybe we should have a new tradition of having the Holidays in the summer. Ha Ha.
But I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.
Love, Mom
One thing that is bad about the holidays, is that it's usually stormy and very hard to travel to visit family who live far away. Randy does not like to fly and I don't either especially now that they have their new security screening. Because of my knee replacement, I am always selected to get more security than others. I show them the card from my DR but they still have to screen me for a long time and pat me down all over. And now that they have this new screening going on, I will probably have to go through the scanner (they can see you naked) and also be patted down even more intensely. I am sorry, but do I look like a terrorist? Anyway, flying is expensive too. So unless we have a real global warming and fast, I don't think we will be going to visit anyone for the Holidays. No matter if I travel west to Seattle or east to Wisconsin or even Idaho, we would have to travel through mountains and storms to get there.
Maybe we should have a new tradition of having the Holidays in the summer. Ha Ha.
But I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.
Love, Mom
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