Saturday, November 10, 2012

2 New (to me) TV Programs

I want to tell you about 2 TV programs that I discovered recently on networks I had never heard of. They each have live discussions with blogs and some interesting hosts which sometime make me scratch my head. (That would be David)

Jennifer Granholm has a program that is dead right politically liberal, called The War Room  She has had some of the best guests who caught my attention, straight out of the box.  She's a smart, cut-to-the chase, woman who left public service and joined Current TV.  She also has some smart guests.

My second choice is the david-pakman-show.  He's a young man who does not look like a TV host.  He looks too young.  I watched him one morning around 2:00AM and he is very good.  He can ask a question which doesn't "feel" loaded and the guests walks themselves into  corners occasionally. He has a lot of "breaks" in the program for various contributors to comment in.  Right now I cannot remember any of the contributors, but they're also very interesting.

If you get bored with network TV or Cable TV in general, take a walk thru FStv (Free Speech) or Current TV owned in part by Al gore.

Catch you later,

Jane

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

18 Hours to the Presidency

Tomorrow is the last day to vote for the presidency.  I have a lot of questions, and some hesitation in listening to the results.  I am afraid that I will jinx the outcome.

One poll states that Romney is ahead by 3.  The next says that Obama is ahead by 3.  I think we need fewer pollsters and more voters.

The "Sandy" hurricane has put a crimp on whomever would vote in New England.  My heart goes out to them, those who have lost everything.  What a terrifying thing it is to entertain the idea that I, who am somewhat of a packrat, might lose everything dear to me.

They're in my prayers.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Our World is Looking Up

My husband, George, had a bad problem when we had a record heat wave and the power was out for a week or so.  He simply couldn't get a deep breath and felt doomed.  And had an icy sweat.

That sweat galvanized me because I know that an icy sweat means that there is a coronary issue.  I finally talked him into ER the next day and his doctor felt he should have further appointments with a coronary specialist.

He went to Kentucky (from Summersville, WV) to have a heart cath and consult done.  Our nephew works in a few hospitals from WV to Ky to Oh, and he's a heart cath specialist along with a few other specialties.  His name is Steve.

George's cath took approximately 10 minutes when his doctor made half an entry into our waiting room and said, George?  We said yes.  He said he needs to have a triple bypass and I'll talk with you later.

We were shocked.  We is my sister in law, Ernie, and her husband Kenneth.  We're next door neighbors and Steve is their eldest son.

At any rate, George duly had the bypass a week later.  The hospital had made arrangements with one of their extensions called Hospitality House.  It's a free place to stay for people who live a long distance away and it's for the family of patients in extended stay admissions to the hospital.   There is a TV room, a kitchen and of course your room to sleep in.  No food allowed up there and no TV in rooms.  It was perfect.  Like a very lean hotel which is sparkling clean.

I was there at least 5 days and it was a good place to rest in.  They provide an envelope for you if you want to leave money.  I did.

In George's hospital room, it was a 1 person room.  There was a small padded bench and I spent some days resting on it with a blanket.  George was hot and couldn't cool off.  Probably it was the fact that circulation was better.   The leg veins they wanted to use were too clogged so they used two from his chest and an artery from his left arm.

Anyway, that took care of August.  When it was time for George to come home, he surprised me by asking Steve if he could go home with him. George knew he could not tolerate the long drive home.  (They live close to Kentucky) So Steve and Linda, his wife, took him home with them.  Linda asked her son if George could use his room and Austin said yes.  He stayed there for 3 weeks and  it was a deal made in heaven.  Both are RNs, tho Steve is a specialist, so there was no fear to leave George there.

They walked him 2 or 3 times a day, fed him well, got him fresh fruit all of the time and helped with other needs.  They were wonderful.  When George was nearing time to come home, Linda drove him around on short jaunts like McDonald's and ice cream parlors where he had a huge banana split. :-)  And they brought him home after his doctor's appointment 3 weeks later.

George is doing a remarkable job of rehabbing.  He has Cardio workouts which tire him just enough to help his heart heal.

I am so happy with King's Daughters Hospital in Kentucky and his 2 attending physicians.  I can't begin to tell you.


Friday, July 16, 2010

Our Oldest friend, Jim.

I developed oral cancer and we had to move away from our best friends Jim and Carol so I could seek treatment in West Virginia. I had great success from a young doctor and so far no recurrence but that's another story.

Last year, Jim was diagnosed with cancer. Below is his story.

Jim has been fighting death for a year + some. He had a terrible back ache and his sinuses were killing him, he said.

The doctors said, It's not your sinuses you know, nor is it your back. It's cancer of the kidney, liver, lung and pancreas. You may have two days up to possibly a week to live - that is without treatment. You may have up to possibly a year if you choose treatment consisting of chemo and radiation. You must also quit smoking and you may not have any beer if you choose to have treatment.

Jim didn't even think it over for a moment. He said, I have things to do. I will have the chemo. I will not have another cigarette. I won't have any beer, tho that will be a very hard thing to stick to.

So he had a couple of rounds of chemo and radiation. Or perhaps it only seemed like a couple.
Maybe it was only one. I cannot remember. The cancer spread to his spine. He was in great pain from it. He began on pain patches and his pain pills were increased. He spent a lot of time in no man's land dozing, fighting with demons and giving nothing to those demons from nowhere.

He had shots to build up his blood, iron shots, shots for this, shots for that and shots for the other thing. He received blood a few times when he looked like a walking ghost and felt worse. He became dependent upon oxygen and it was a gasp to walk two feet.

They drew litres of fluid from his lungs countless times because he could not breathe. He did not complain about this either really. He lost his good head of hair and had to wear a knit watch cap to keep from being cold. He complained about that a little. I sent him a West Virginia Mountaineer watch cap. He's from WV and we now live there.

Jim who had always been a very modest man, had to rely upon his very modest wife of forty three years, to help him into the shower and to wash his back and shoulders and hair. Modesty changed a little in direction, but never has left this man.

The smell and thought of food made this man of great appetite, sick to his stomach, so he changed his diet. It didn't help. He who had been a life long cold man became too hot. The air conditioner ran constantly. He kept a fan aimed at him around the clock. He nearly froze Carol.

On top of all of these problems, he developed an itchy sore spot on his leg. It didn't look like anything they'd ever seen before. They treated it with an over the counter antibiotic cream or something and it cleared right up - for a day or so - and then he broke out in shingles from his knee, all the way up his leg and thigh to his hip around the back, to the inside of his thigh and up towards his belly and around to his back. He complained about that!!

He was a very miserable man for a while. After the shingles began to clear up approximately a month later, their leaving gave him a damaged nerve which caused him a great deal of pain. He complained about that a little bit, too.

Slowly, Jim emerged from his nowhere land. Summer came around and he felt a bit better. He wanted to work in his yard and the doctor told him to do what he felt like he could do. The doctor didn't know Jim!! His tumors had not grown in size, some had reduced a little so if he was not on the mend, at least he had not lost ground.

Jim was all for that and so were the rest of us. He mowed his yard on a riding mower. It felt good to get out there. He didn't realize that having radiation therapy weakened his bones. He could have a fracture simply by bending over and here he was out on a lawn rider mowing his green grass lumpy, bumpy, hard clay Ohio ground he loved.

Jim liked to play cards on the internet. He was very good at it and when we lived next to him, my husband played there with him. They had some GOOD times. Sometimes they played the horse races. They had good times there, too.

It did not dawn on us that the doctors had SAID he had maybe a year and he'd already HAD it, and he was ALREADY living on borrowed time. We all knew he was dying..had known it for a year or more, but we never knew he would actually DIE. We'd forgotten that the day to pay would get here.

On Labor Day, Jim came out of the bathroom and looked a little odd and his dear wife said, what's wrong, dear? Jim said, you'd better call our neice. You're going to need her to help get me to the hospital I think. With that he flopped down on the sofa. Jim simply doesn't flop.

Carol duly called their neice, Hazel. She came, took one look at Jim who by that time had slid off the sofa onto the floor and said, we need to get 911. We cannot get you up, Jim. We'd drop you and you might break an arm or hip or whatever. I'm calling them now. And much against Jim's will, she called 911. And Jim then in the ambulance he had a stroke instead of at home with only the women to help him. Thank God for all of the little favors.

After more than 24 hours in the hospital, and more scans, xrays and tests, it was discovered that the ugly cancer that had been stopped, had begun its path of ugly growth once more. It had followed the easiest path of all - up the spine, thru the neck and into the brain. Jim's metered sand is running down thru the hourglass once more.

He cannot remember exactly what happened last Monday though everyone has tried to explain it to him. When he asked the first time if he were dying, he was told NO!! - Don't be silly! After the second time, he was told no. I suggested that if he asked again, people might say, "what do you think, Jim? Do you think you are?" and if he says yes, they might respond with, I honestly don't know. That's something only God knows and maybe you think. And to leave it alone. But with that answer, he said then I want my shoes. I want to go home...and that just isn't possible. O my God.

Our thought is this: IF Jim leaves this hospice facility, he will not be re-admitted. It is against all rules. (who made these rules?) He will still be under hospice care at home. That will consist of 3 hospice aide visits for bathing, or whatever the patient wants and a nurse visit approximately every 2 weeks to see if a medicine adjustment is necessary. That is the best that hospice can do. They're stretched rather thin. I have walked that lonesome road with my mother. Had it not had my sister, I don't know what we would have done. Mother weighed only 68 pounds and we were able to handle her. JUST.

As it happens, all the worry that he would get his shoes and go home was in vain. Carol took his shoes to him. He walked around the grounds outside on the hospice hospital but only managed a few minutes at a time. He goes to the porch, the kitchen and around there.

One time, the nurses were a little frantic when they thought he had actually left. As it turned out, he hadn't. He was with the family down in the kitchen. *whew* Big grin.

Byron came to see Jim for the first time since his admission and said, you'd never know that Jim is sick. He doesn't LOOK sick. He doesn't sound sick. Are you sure he is dying? Is HE sure he's dying? They told Byron, if you're here daily, you can see that he's wandering. He needs to rest very often and he will tell you that he needs to rest - very unlike Jim who is the living word of humble and welcoming. Never has been rude in his life. Not really being rude now. But he knows he must conserve himself.

The nurses there sat down with Jim and Carol. They told Jim that while they don't know when he will die, and the doctors don't know when he will die, they know that Jim must conserve what energy he has to live every day to the fullest that he is able, to enjoy the life that he has now for as long as he wants. Jim seemed to understand then that it's his time to do as he wants for as long as he can.

Where'd the time go?

Mercy! :-) I love that word. lol It conjures up someone wanting to not swear, someone begging for mercy, or a loved one's name, Mercy!!! haha. I love it.
Anyway, where DID the time go?

If I'd blogged about all that has happened it might be an interesting blog. To me anyway. Or the family. Not sure about anyone else.

E. has been trying hard for 3 years to lose her mind and this spring she finally succeeded. What a grand mess. She swore that someone was following her every move. It was almost dangerous to let her drive. The car who was trailing her, passed her and then was watching her from in front of her. It's a scary proposition.

Our newest baby, Riley, learned to walk. She never did get the hang of crawling. She sort of learned to crab it. One leg was always straight out - no knee touching there, and from there into an upright, straight ahead walk.

She has this way of lowering her brow in a frown and frowning her lips and chin if she doesn't know you. She has a "glowering" look she casts upon you as if to frighten you away until she knows you a little better. Then all is well.

Perhaps 3 months after Riley learned to walk, we had another baby born. This child is Gracie. We love the name and cannot wait to see what SHE teaches us. The name is the only game in town right now.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Only 7 reasons, BillP?

I wonder why only 7?

I have lots. Maybe it's only my imagination, but I truly believe that Windows 7 actually LEARNS.

It auto logs me off any more when I click shut down. No more of clicking "log off" or "restart" depending upon what I am doing. "Log off" and I'm gone. No delay. No hemming and hawing. I'm gone. That's all she wrote.  I love it.

In fact, I simply love 7.

The only little complaint I have with Windows 7 is that there's no native email client. I don't like that.

I've tried everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Nothing else works. Nada. Not Windows Live, tho that would be sweet if it were desktop. It would truly be sweet. My second choice, and it would be first if it were desktop is Google.... (are you listening Google?)

As for anything else, I've tried 'em all. Nothing is even in the far reaching stage. de nada, por nada, NADA, NADA~~!

Well, I could load my old OLD office. But it's probly so full of holes that it's got moths, if it would load, which with Windows 7's cleanliness is doubtful.

And did I mention that 7 is clean? It's fast and slick as a whistle. MAN it's fast. I absolutely love it. Or did I say that?

I'm getting redundant. And 7's smooth. I've turned off quite a few of the showy desktop items, but I can't turn Aero off completely - uh uh. I love flipping my cursor over the desktop and watching the windows snap open, snap shut, over the desktop, and snap open. SUWEEEET,  slowly lay it over the taskbar and see all windows in thumbs ahh...but I'm slobbering.

Trust me (and I don't like people who say trust me) if you missed the chance to try this for free, you have my sympathy. You really do.

And so it is.

O....and Happy Birthday to me.   :-)  9.24.09  63

JJ

Sunday, August 23, 2009

It Must Be Sunday....

......The cows are once more out and running like wild things - and we are once more getting our weekly exercise herding them back to pasture. This time they have been left without water. That is a terrible thing to do to an animal. We've connected the hoses for 500 or so feet and filled their container.

How can a man of God be that lazy? Not to feed nor water his helpless animals first? hmmm.. I must ponder on that for awhile. I confess to being bemused and ANGRY.

A PREACHER???


I'm very glad I saw no need to go to church to pray and so I stopped going at 18. I'm still very free to pray, thank God.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Meanness

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Delores left to be with Earl

It was very unexpected and it shocked us. It has been a very long, LONG time since last she saw him. We will miss her greatly. Even though she has been ill over the past two or three years, she never failed to have a warm " come IN! Come in! Come in and sit down! I was just fixing something to eat. Your timing is perfect", followed by a big hug and "what have you been doing, hon?"

She had bad times and sad times and missed her "Earl" but she loved to laugh about little things they'd done. She'd sniff a little, wipe a tear and then laugh. She'd ask me if I still miss Jim, and of course I'd say "yes, always". You never get over the hurt - Just like she and Earl.

We had the "remember whens" as in remembering when we'd gone scooty pootin' down to Troy to ride the kids' rides in the park across from the Troy Police station at 3:00 in the morning because we felt safe there. 5 or 6 grown women after work at 3:00AM riding the go-round and laughing like maniacs. We had fun, we did.

Well, it's enough to know that we had her in our lives and she'll remain a very big part of the rest of my life. She shaped my life. She was the most influential person I've ever known.

I never dreamed just how mean people can be - to their children, neighbors, spouses, and to people they've never met.

I saw, in the news, that a mother killed her week old baby by sawing off it's head. Voices told her to do it. She also did far worse that I won't mention here. Heaven help us.

A son shot to death his father and tells us he's crazy as he spelled out every step he is going to take in his Columbine twisted mind. He's crazy like a rabid fox. He also intended to kill students in his school, both boys and girls, because if he looked at either one, they'd know. Know what?
That he was crazy? or that he liked their looks or body? Who knows?

Men & women in Charleston, WV literally running over, with their vehicle, men who owed them money/drugs. Killed them for $300.00 or for drugs. What is the world coming to?

A father beat his year old child to death with his hands. Another father let his child die on the floor while he prayed for her diabetes riddled body to heal itself. They'd not been to the doctor because they don't believe in medicine and they did not know that she had diabetes. So she died of a very treatable illness.

I don't understand. Maybe, at 70, I am too old for this world. I didn't used to think that. In fact, I still don't realize that I am 70 unless things hurt, but that is neither here nor there. I simply don't understand this world I am in.

Delores &  Earl Morgan, together again.