| The new hospital intubated Becky and started to treat her as if she had Strep B, and now the cultures have revealed that that is what she's got. Something the other hospital's doctors refused to even consider. She's been awake and asking for her mother, although it will still be a long road to recovery for her.
Thanks for everyone's prayers and good thoughts. Becky is hopefully past the worst of things. | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment   |
| A friend of mine has taken her daughter to the hospital. The daughter, Becky, is 4 years old and has asthma. She had a temp of 104, trouble breathing, was blue around the lips and the first hospital didn't really do right with her, and she's now been moved. They're not really sure what's making her sick, but she's been intubated to help with her breathing and they're doing all they can to bring her fever down. The mother and brother recently had Strep, so that's suspected, but as of right now they don't know if that's it or not.
So if you could include Becky in your prayers and thoughts, and her family, that would help a lot.
Thanks. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Wishing a very Happy Holiday season to all on my flist who celebrate one or more of the holidays that roll around this time of year. May the feelings of joy, hope, love and peace be with you all. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| I might not have complained about it here, but I DO complain about this annually - and that's the ignorance of radio stations, media and stores who seem to think that the 12 days of Christmas are the days leading up to Christmas. Not so. It's the 12 days between Christmas and Ephiphany (January 6th), the day the Magi arrived. In olden and not so olden days (when she was growing up in the 30s and 40s, my mother's family celebrated this way) it was the custom to go to church on Christmas Day and then exchange gifts on either 12th Night or on January 6th. This is still prevalent in many cultures, but here in the U.S. it was still being done as late as the 1940s.
In short, it's not even Christmas yet. It won't be Christmas until Christmas Day. It is the Christmas Season, or the Holidays, if you want to include Channukah, but Christmas isn't yet here - despite what the retailers want us to think. And the greeting card companies. And the Christian right-wingers who think that you're condemning them to Hell if you utter anything BUT Merry Christmas to them right now.
So, to all the people who put up their decorations and trees the day after Thanksgiving and then take them down before the end of the year - boo on you! You're missing out on the true Christmas season and bowing down at the altar of retailers everywhere who've got you conned into believing that Christmas starts with Thanksgiving Day. And while I'm not so much of a purist as to ignore Christmas since it's based on pagan customs and even the day itself was a pagan day of celebration, and I don't put up my tree or decorations on Christmas Eve, I do have a problem with putting things up and out on Thanksgiving Day itself - most especially when firstly, if you're using a live tree, then you've really got a fire hazard by Christmas Day, and secondly, if you take everything down before January 6th, then you're missing out on the majority of the Christmas Season itself.
End of rant. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| Mom saw the radiation oncologist yesterday, and came away from the visit in a much better state of mind. She was already determined to fight -- as she told the doctor, she doesn't like to fail, not even at something as simple as a card game (Lordy, how I know that! You know how sometimes a parent will let their young child win a game of checkers or something, to give them confidence? Not my Mom...when I won, it was because I was truly better than her!).
She really likes Dr. Moeller (I think that's the way it's spelled). He's English, with a wonderful accent. We knew going in that he was English, but it was a bit of a surprise when a black man walked into the exam room -- you think English, you tend to think white). The one bad thing is that it's not curable. The only way to cure lung cancer is to remove the lung where the cancer is, and they don't think she could handle the surgery and subsequent treatments -- being 76, diabetic, slight asthma, some blocked arteries...He did say that he was very confident that this was caught early enough to make containment and controlling it successful, and gave her a prognosis of 5 - 10 years of a full life post treatment. This was a relief to her because she doesn't want to die before George (he just turned 87). Of course, George could live a longer life...but...
She still has to see the chemo oncologist, and Dr. Freedman ( might be Freeman, I'm not sure yet) might decide that Mom can't handle both at the same time. If that's the case, then they'll do the chemo treatments first and then the radiation, but Dr. Moeller right now would prefer to do them both together. He's looking at 3 weeks of straight radiation, but said it could be anywhere from 3 - 6 weeks, with chemo once a week. Her appointment with Dr. Freedman is on Dec. 5th, and she's now got an appointment with another oncologist or a thyroid doctor (not sure which) on Nov 30th, and that's when they'll biopsy the thyroid to see if the suspected tumor there is benign or malignant. Dr. Moeller's exam still showed that there's no swelling around the throat, which is a good sign. And Mom hasn't been having any of the thyroid cancer symptoms, either. The only lung cancer symptom that she's had is a few weeks ago, she had a cough for a few days and brought up some red tinged mucous, and that's it -- which is another good sign.
Mom went to see her primary doctor, to see what was going on with the thyroid biopsy because Mom had thought that Dr. Lap was setting it up -- turned out that Dr. Lap thought the pulmonary doctor was going to set it up and he thought that Dr. Lap was going to set it up. In the end, it was Dr. Lap who set it up yesterday while Mom was in her office. When Mom was having the cough, she also had a regular visit with Dr. Lap, and Dr. Lap insisted on a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia -- Mom, of course, didn't want this, because she felt that in the past 12 months, she'd been exposed to too much radiation, but she went anyway, and that's now ended up being the test that saved her life. Unfortunately, Dr. Lap has now been thrown into the role of patient because her mammogram came back showing signs of a tumor. Hopefully, things will go well for her.
So, while we're approaching Thanksgiving with cancer present, there is a lot to be thankful for afterall. Mom's next appointment with the radiation oncologist is scheduled for right after her appointment with the chemo doctor -- a day or two later, I believe. And in that appointment, they'll do another CAT scan for the computer, so they can map out the radiation treatment and then treatment should start shortly after that -- we just won't know until Dec 5th if it will be both chemo and radiation or just the chemo, and we probably won't know until then what's going on with the thyroid -- but by that date, Mom will have a full picture of what's going on and will know just how to fight this. Dr. Moeller warned her that it wasn't going to be easy, that there would be some pretty low times and painful times. She told him that she's lived through burying her son, so she knows what it's like to go to Hell and back and has no doubts that she can face anything that happens as far as the side effects go. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| Title: Happy Birthday
Fandom: "ER"
Characters: John Carter
Prompt: Beginnings
Word Count: 511
Rating: G
Author's Notes: "ER" and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No infringement of their copyright is intended. This story was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and may be downloaded for your own pleasure. However this story may not be used, distributed or archived without the permission of the author. The movie "Guenevere" belongs to whoever made it (I can't recall right now who owns the right to the movie, sorry). No infringement of their copyright is intended.
This story is a crossover between the movie "Guenevere" and the show "ER", with the connection being that Noah Wyle is a co-star in each.
( Read more... ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Another storm one *g*
WAITING FOR THE STORM
The sky darkens quickly as storm clouds roll in.
Birds and animals have long ago sought shelter from the storm.
I alone remain outside, something inside me yearns to stay.
I hear a door and my sons join me on the steps, curious as to why I remain.
“Look at the sky.” I tell them, “See how beautiful the clouds are.”
Will they see the clouds as I do?
Will they see the beauty in a sky all dark grey and purple?
Will their hearts thrill when a bolt of lighting cuts across the darkness over their heads?
Will they listen with expectation for the roll of thunder?
“It’s pretty.”, they both say, nodding as they huddle close to me.
“Look, Mom, lightning!”, they eagerly point it out to me.
“Thunder! It scares me. Let’s go in.”, one says as he climbs into my lap.
Yes, they see the beauty, these sons of mine.
And someday, when thunder doesn’t scare them anymore,
they will want to sit outside and watch the storm come in.
I take a glance at the clouds that stir my soul with their dark grace,
then I lead my sons into the safe haven of home.
9/27/95
Cathy Roberts | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Background first -- my parents once owned a trailer on a bit of property adjacent to the Currituck Sound (in North Carolina). During the summer, we'd be there just about every weekend. My father used to say that there was nothing more soothing than falling asleep to the sound of rain falling on the metal roof of the trailer *g*.
One of my most vivid memories from down there was during a storm. From the window in the kitchen/dining area of the trailer, there was a great view of the sound, and on a clear day we could see all the way across the sound to the sand dunes on the other side (separating the sound from the ocean). During this particular storm, my parents and I were playing cards and I happened to have the seat that faced the window. I looked out of the window in time to see two bolts of lightning hit each other right above the water -- it shook the entire trailer and was awesome to witness.
And for a child/young teen confession -- the times when it would start to get cloudy, I'd love to go to this one lot in the trailer park and walk out over the rocks until I reached the end of them, which put me out past the land (probably not as far as my imagination put me *g*), and I'd imagine that I was back in the 1700s or 1800s, waiting for "my man" to come home from the sea. Quite melodramatic and romantic, it was (yes, I read too much *g*). There's no one storm that inspired this poem, but plenty of them helped to create it. It's been sitting on my hard drive for a long time now, and seeing Nolly's pictures of an angry ocean reminded me of it.
Anyway, enough background. Here's the poem:
Currituck Sound
The water sits, a gray slate
unbroken by land or man.
All that disturbs its surface
are white caps served up by the wind.
A shimmer, a change of hue,
see now in the distance the threatening clouds.
No longer do the white dunes give comfort across the way.
Feel the walls shake as
rain and thunder assail us.
The wind, racy and wild now
taps the roof to test my wakefulness.
The sound explodes as
millions of harsh rain drops invade its body.
There is no more gray now,
only white foam, churning in anger, in defeat.
A shimmer, a change of hue.
The clouds depart and the sun returns.
The sound is a mirror of blue.
Boats ease out now, all danger past.
Out of the distant mist, the white dunes
arise once more, a shield against the sea. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| You can blame my aunt for sending this to me:
Two hillbillies walk into a bar. While having a shot of whiskey, they talk about their moonshine operation. Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress.
One of the hillbillies looks at her and says "Kin ya swallar?"
The woman shakes her head no.
"Kin ya breathe?"
The woman begins to turn blue and shakes her head no.
The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up the back of her dress, yanks down her drawers and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue. The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm and the obstruction flies out of her mouth. As she begins to breathe again, the hillbilly walks slowly back to the bar.
His partner says, "Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver', but I ain't niver seen nobody do it!" | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| March...the month when I lost someone very dear to me. There are some days when it feels as if it were yesterday when I got the phone call about what he'd done. And some days when it does feel as if all of these years have passed. I had no idea that he was in trouble, because he never told me. And when I did find out, it was too late. I punished myself for a long time over that, thinking that I somehow should have known. It's taken me years to understand that I can't know what wasn't spoken about, or what he wanted hidden from me. And yet, just a few words can still make me feel guilty over not knowing something I was never told about. Most years, I cry on the day Kurt died, but not this year. This year the tears waited for today.
Anyway, this is a poem that I wrote for Kurt years after his death:
I sit and watch while clouds float by
Fast moving puffs of white illuminated in the dark sky.
On the radio the Chi-Lites ask “Have you seen her?”
Sadly reminding me of a friend long gone yet still so dear.
One who died by his own hands not so long ago.
I think of him often, mostly at night when the stars put on a show.
I remember a night, many years gone by
we had both been drinking and we lay back on the wet grass
to watch the starry lights blinking.
The promise of a young life never to be realized.
Promises he made to me, promises turned to lies.
There was no lie more painful, no lie so bold
As when I stood by his body limp, lifeless and cold.
As cold as the moon up in the dark sky
Playing hide and seek with clouds going by.
In a few nights the Earth will turn and the sky will be all black.
As is that corner of my heart that knows Kurt will not come back
And despite how much I still love him, I will forever hate him for leaving me. | | comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
| Not much to update, really, so I followed Mona and Tara's lead and took that English test. Didn't do too badly for someone who majored in History *g*:
English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 93% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 77% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| It's amazing the difference one letter can make when doing a google search. When the hubby had found the hunt club online, he typed exactly what was on the collar. Late this afternoon, I tried it with an "s" on the end -- and found a local number. Same club, they just have members all over.
Turns out that last Friday someone opened the door on the kennel and let all of the dogs loose. So far 3 have been found -- Missy, the one who found me in our driveway, and two others. Lord only knows where the rest are. Missy was still crying about her legs or hips hurting, and they're going to coddle her tonight to see if it's just soreness or a pulled muscle. She responded well to having a hot water bottle on the area and having it massaged. They also have a vet who will come out to them, so if she doesn't get better, then she'll be taken care of.
We had a warm day here, and she seemed to like being in the sun, so I took a risk that Herbie wouldn't bite her head off and I took her to the back yard. Herbie acts like she's from another galaxy and isn't sure what to do with her. It was funny to watch him watching (and avoiding) her :-)
I like happy endings! | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| We gained a houseguest late yesterday -- a pretty little hound dog. She's a hunting dog, judging by the tag on her collar that gives the name of a hunt club and telephone numbers where you can call if you found her. Only the area code has been changed -- luckily, this club is on the internet and the hubby got the correct area code. But, two different phone numbers and both are answering machines, and we haven't heard anything yet. She's all skin and bones, her paws are cracked in places, she's starving for food, water and companionship. Unfortunately, she isn't sure what to make of Herbie and Herbie isn't sure if he likes her at all. They were out in the yard together today and it was hilarious to watch him trying to sneak around behind her, looking at her from a distance. I took pictures of her, just in case they might be needed. I also think she might have a urinary tract infection, and her back legs are either sore or something else is going on because she couldn't really squat to pee. She's been drinking a LOT of water, but not peeing a lot. I figure that if we don't hear from them today, then tomorrow we can leave a message that we're taking her to the vet and then we'll send them the bill so they can reimburse us. Heck, maybe I should call a kennel and find out their rates, then charge this hunt club for boarding her.
I hate the concept of hunting with dogs, even more so because a lot of these people will leave the woods even if a dog or two hasn't returned with the others. God only knows how long she's been out there wandering around (we're close to a swamp that's open for hunting, and I suspect that's where she got lost in). I despite PETA, but this is one instance where I'm really tempted to call them and give them the name of the hunt club.
And I have no idea what we're going to do if these people never call back or come to get her. I guess I'll worry about that if it becomes an issue and not before. In the meantime, I'm trying to get her hunger sated without letting her gorge herself, and keeping my fingers crossed that she's not sick with an UTI or kidney/bladder infection. In the meantime, she's my "Little Lady" :-) | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| It's been a while since the last update, mainly because I've been too down in the dumps to even think about sitting down and putting it all in writing. Things are looking up, though, despite the rain that's falling outside *g*.
( Read more... ) | | comments: 12 comments or Leave a comment |
| My son is in driving school at the moment, and the class meets four nights a week. He's not at class tonight though because I wasn't stupid enough to go driving over icy roads to get him there. We had some snow today, but since our temps never got over 30, the snow on the roads has turned to ice. Police are urging people to stay off of the roads and in some areas the ice is so bad that the trucks with the sand and salt can't get on them to clear them.
Did the teacher cancel class? Heck no. Why let hazardous driving conditions get in the way of teaching teenagers how to be good and responsible drivers? | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Okay, I'm a stay at home Mom, so technically, I'm not paid period, but it would be nice to get something beneficial from being my eldest child's personal driver. I pick him up at school at 2 every day -- which really screws up my afternoon and schedule (mainly because I'm paranoid about leaving an appliance running when there's not anyone home). Now my child has started driving school -- 4 nights a week, from 6:30 to 8:10. The place is located far enough away to make it wasteful to drop him off, come home and then go get him. Which leaves me waiting in the car in the parking lot. There is a mall about ten minutes down the road, and a library somewhere near the mall, but I haven't checked them out yet.
Has hubby offered to drive the son one of the nights? Or to come and browse the mall with me? Nope. Then again, I haven't asked (I know that would be defense if I mentioned something).
And if I ask the child to do something and he doesn't do it, and I point out how I do all this hauling around of his butt, I get accused of using that to make him feel guilty. Well...yeah, I do. Because, yes I love my son, but you know what? I'm not the one who failed driver's ed at school (mostly because of a personality conflict with the teacher). I'm not the one who ignored the advice to check to see whether or not I passed driver's ed until it was too late to take it in school again. On the plus side for him, he did offer to pay the entire amount for the class, but we turned him down. It was enough that he offered. And he does wash his own clothes, which is a good skill to have (even if it wasn't one that Napoleon Dynamite listed *vbg*). But the good points really don't make up for the wear and tear on me as well as on my car.
I heard from an old friend today -- Fat Cat. Turns out she has a Live Journal account, too. I looked up her screen name and saw some familiar names on her friends list *g*. It seems that a lot of people I know are hooked up with LJ -- and that's always a good thing *vbg*! | | comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
| I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone on my flist best wishes for 2005. If 2004 sucked for you, then I hope and pray that 2005 is much, much better. If 2004 was good for you, then I still hope that 2005 is better *g*. And if 2004 was perfect for you, well, then I hope that things don't change *vbg*.
I've enjoyed reading all of your posts and look forward to reading more during the coming year, and I thank you for letting me be a part of your lives. You're a great bunch of people *g*. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Except for 4 years when I lived just outside of Washington, DC, I've lived in the same geographic area. And in all that time, I can only remember seeing a few flakes of snow in December (one of those was on a Christmas Eve. No accumulation, just flurries, but it was pretty exciting for me as a kid *g*).
All of that changed this year. Last Sunday night we had snow and ice. By Wednesday, it was in the 60s and all gone. And today I woke up to snow and ice. And it's still snowing. There's more than the 2-4 inches predicted out there, at least in my yard. My smaller trees (or maybe they're just large bushes) are bent over from the weight, the power has fluctuated once already, and I can't see out of the screened-in porch because the snow is clinging thickly to the screen. We don't usually get this kind of action until late January, early February.
So, one snowfall before winter officially hit and now another the weekend after winter started. Makes me wonder what the rest of winter will bring. Oh, and our forecast for later this week? 50s by Wednesday and in the 60s on Thursday (shakes head). It's o wonder I've got a cold *g*.
Anyway, Christmas was great. The weather itself wasn't bad -- cold and windy, not much sunshine, but not bad in comparison to the midwest, where people were still digging out from their storm. Dinner was good and hot, the company was fantastic and everyone went to bed happy. For all of those on my flist who celebrate Christmas, I hope it was a great one for you. For those who don't, I hope that you've had a great weekend. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
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pocacat!
![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/bears/cheerful.gif){kind=small}
thankful