WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR AUGUST 2016

Cheri, so glad you made it safely to the big star state. I remember one move where the Uhaul trailer got a flat tire. In the middle of New Mexico. Uhauls do not have spare tires, so I had to sit in the car while my former husband hitched a ride to town (this was before cell phones) to call Uhaul, and then wait hours for them to actually show up and change it. So I was a bit concerned for you!
miriamwithcats

Cheri congrats on making it to the new place. Once all your belongings get there you will feel even better. At some point it has got to cool down (right??) so you can get out and explore by walking the neighborhood. NYKAREN

Cheri: Three cheers for making it to your new residence in Texas. When your things catch up with you, you'll turn the new house into home, sweet home. Katla in Beautiful NW Oregon

Cheri - so glad you made it safe and sound. Thanks for checking in Michele in NC

Thanks to everyone with well wishes for my move to the BIG State of Texas. I know all of you were in my heart through the whole process. Tomorrow morning the moving van shows up with our goods. The hubs went to work today and thoroughly loved being a part of the Texas A&M Mays Business School Career Service Center team. He has tomorrow off to help with the movers then again on Friday for the BMV stuff we have to complete. I will be busy setting up our household. I'm going lean with this as it is a rental for a year and I don't relish having to pack yet again in a year from now. Also, we are on this journey of simplifying our lifestyle so it will be a good test as to what we can live without. If we don't miss it in this coming year it will not be going with us to our next home.

I was aware that it was hot down this way but not prepared for the feel of that hotness. We lived in South Florida for 11 years and I thought that was hot! It will take some getting used to for sure.

Will read back through the posts when I can. Wishing all in need of prayers and those deserving of kudos the best of my heart!

Cheri
CSB (College Station/Bryan), TX

Katla, ECT stands for ElectoConvulsive Therapy. It is a form of treatment for depression, also called shock treatment. It was developed back when there were no medications available for depression (pre 1958 when the first one, imipramine, was OKed for depression). People had observed that after someone had a seizure, they would be free from depression for a while, so they developed a machine that induces seizures. At first the electrodes placed on the scalp were bilateral, on both sides, but now we know it works well with them on just one side, unilateral, and it has less negative effects. And at first, they did not use muscle relaxer medication, so people would sometimes break bones from the seizure. And because it was not pleasant, it was often used as punishment in institutions. (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) I read one chart of a woman that had over 200 treatments in a 6 month period! THAT is why some are against it completely. But done properly now, it is safe, even for elderly with heart conditions. BUT and it is a big BUT, it causes memory loss, sometimes permanent memory loss. The people I know who say it is the only thing that works, say that they can live with the memory loss but their depression was so bad, they weren't sure they could live with the depression. One even jokes that since his childhood was so abusive, he would just as soon forget it! It seems that one of the biggest areas of memory loss are names. A face will seem familiar but they cannot remember the name. I already have that trouble and I haven't ever had ECT. Anyway, in my opinion, it is still a viable treatment for some people, but should not be used rashly. I would consider it.

MRSGLT sounds like you weathered the stressful day beautifully. Don't forgot how powerful you are in the choices you make.

Thanks everyone for the colleague advice. I will absolutely refer to your wisdom. I am spending the day tomorrow in one of my schools to start setting up. Hoping to make some headway there and tomorrow shouldn't be too hot and humid.

NYKAREN

Happy August Everyone...
August goals...keep doing what I am doing and do not let the struggles of life get me off track. I have a tendency to let everyday life turn to emotional eating. Have to keep that in check. Get back on my bike and ride like the wind. It is freeing to me. I am 56 years young and hope to stay that way for a long time!
Blessings

Lisa in AL

Kim from N. California – One thing I do when we go out is to pre-track my food; then take a ‘guess’ at what I will eat depending on where we go. I’ll usually skip lunch and supper because we go out about 4:30-5:00pm. Generally, I will go over my CI and most of the time I have already done my exercise for the day or will do more the next day. I’m already taking in less than the recommended amount for maintaining under a MD ordered/ supervised diet plan. When I started it, I was ‘hungry’; but, that went away in about 2 weeks. Now I am eating a lot more ‘real’ food and my protein shakes are for the morning meal, sometimes middle-of-the-day meal and I have a protein bar with my coffee at night.

I know that my DOGD has to be taking in more calories than she needs to, if she is expecting to ‘lose’ weight; but, she is so ‘tender-hearted’ that to say anything about her weight makes her cry. But, when we took them on vacation last week; I noticed that she could put the ‘food away’ and ‘ate a lot of the wrong types of food’. Maybe we need to find a place where she’d have to order something with less calories. But, then DH would do something like buy a dozen of donuts from Dunkin Donuts. That’s when I want to ‘ring his neck’.

Eat more protein when you are exercising more and definitely drink more water/fluids. It is recommended that you drink 64 ounces a day; or 8 8oz cups of water; but, being outside you need to drink more of that or make sure that you replace your ‘electrolytes’ (drinking something like Gator Aid (but make sure you track the calories) if you go that way.

Ideas of extra protein: Boiled Eggs, 4 oz. of some sort of meat or fish, cheese, tofu (if you like it) beans, lentils, yogurt, nuts, peanut butter, popcorn, brown rice, and seeds. I’ll buy ‘string cheese’ or “Baby Bells”, then I can control how much cheese I eat. Leave me to slicing a bar of block cheese … I am probably going to put the ‘cut’ piece back in the refrigerator and eat the rest of the block. Every time, I finish a block of cheese, and put it on the grocery list ... he calls me the "Rat". I love cheese; especially 'white' cheese because it won't upset my tummy as much as 'aged cheese'. I am pretty good at eyeballing an ounce of block cheese; it is about 5 slices.

I also weigh my food if I am at home and eating there.


Margaret – I know that I should not be drinking caffeine/coffee; but, it doesn’t bother me, especially with the water I drink between breakfast and my evening snack.


Melaniemeto… - I call it ‘waking up on the “green side” of the grass'! Dying is sort of taking a ‘dirt nap’.

But, when the time comes to take a ‘dirt nap’ (or be turned into ashes, and dust to dust) … I will be in a ‘better place’. When I am … there’ll be so many things to look at, I hope I get a paint brush, paints, and canvases when I ‘go there’. If I have only 5 tubes to have at any given time; it'll be red, yellow, blue, black & white. You can make most colors out of those.


Cheri – When our boys were young; I had traded places with DOS (front seat to back) so that I could nurse DYS on the way to DH’s parents, towing a boat on a trailer. I heard Louis say, “Hang on!” I looked up and saw the wheel/tire bounce in the lane beside us, into the median, in the lanes headed north and over to the other side of the Interstate. Traffic was heavy as it was a holiday weekend. DH was ‘white-knuckling’ the steering wheel, I was watching the wheel (that had come off the boat trailer), so that when we were finally able to pull over into the emergency lane; I could tell him about where to find it. It went off at a 45° angle and missed everything that could have hit it. I was so thankful that nobody got hurt. Have no idea how that happened because he always checked the lug nuts on the wheels on trailer and car before leaving on a trip. Now we can ‘laugh about it’. Had first had a 'flat tire' ... we had to leave the boat and trailer there and go find a new tire ... going several exits down; and, then having to come back up several hours.

HOT is HOT; DRY HOT is just as HOT as HUMID HOT! Like FL or right before it rains in GA. The rain is welcomed every afternoon ... even if it goes around us; it cools off significantly. It’s like opening up an oven door when you open the door of the house. Takes my breath away!


Miriam – I had ECT (3x) when I was first diagnosed as being Bipolar (in my early 40's); but, I never knew of a time that I was depressed. I do remember before each time, I was highly sedated and I don’t remember the procedure other than to be loaded into a van and leaving the hospital to go somewhere else. My swings have always been like ‘skating across a pond’ and jumping up like doing a ‘jump and twirl’; (when I become 'manic') then coming back to hit the ice again (like skating again) is when I feel more normal. I've never, ever been 'textbook therapeutic' on any medication I have taken. Just about 'any' time that my Thyroid meds are changed; my Bipolar meds have to be 'closely' watched to make sure it doesn't 'whack them out' again. They have to go on 'how I feel' more than anything. I prefer to be just one step towards the 'manic' side. Only once since, have I had a severe case of depression and was hospitalized for it. It was caused by my medications getting 'whacked out'; because another medication had been changed. Other than the time I was Lithium Toxic and spent 3 weeks in the ICU having non-stop seizures. Because they could not get my Lithium level down, the MD told DH that the ‘only’ option they had would be to ‘flush my kidneys’ and he wasn’t ‘sure that I would even survive the procedure’. But DH was so upset about my seizures he said he ‘knew that I would have wanted him to do anything that needed to be done’ to save my life. I have a good long-term memory bank of my childhood (even the bad parts); but, sometimes I can walk into the kitchen and not remember ‘why’. I can make 3 trips from the den to the kitchen and maybe I will remember 'why' by the last time (or if DH asked when I am going to bring him something when he realizes I haven't brought it to him yet). Sometimes it might take nearly an hour, and, it hits me. I will admit that my short-term memory bank has been greatly affected; but, I think more because of the "Lithium Toxicity" I went through. Sometimes I will be out and have that ‘deer in the headlights look’ if someone comes up and just starts talking to me. It’s a very weird feeling to have something said about something I had said or done and I don’t remember it. Occasionally, I will just 'smile' and go along with it. I had that same look on my face when a former HS classmate of mine, stopped her car at my parents driveway and ran over to talk to me. She finally realized that I did not even recognize her. Looked nothing like she did in HS. I don't think I would agree to have it done again, however; not agree to the ECT. But, at that time "Lithium" was the 'drug of choice' by MD's to give to Bipolar (manic-depression) patients. Seroquel works great for me; plus Geodon, and Clonazepam. I take Dilantin and Lamictal for my seizures. Besides having a Medic Alert necklace; I have ordered a bracelet per EMT's suggestion. That is where they look first. I keep a 'medical history' and 'list of medications' in my pocketbook, in my car; and, in my DH's truck. I have a bag (soft ice cooler) where I keep my medications. Rarely end up taking them to anybody other than when I go to PsycheMD.

Lenora

Leonora- Cracker sounds like my girls. They took on the coyotes once. Now when we hear the coyotes, the girls come in! Both were a little banged up, but my guess based on the blood on them, the coyotes got the worst of it!

Heather - such a cute picture!

Kay- Congratulations! I love the leggings! I also have a couple of pairs from LuLaRue. I LOVE them!

Kylia

I love that there is so much support on this thread! I will try to keep up! I am at Lenora's 21 things to know. Have to head to bed, so will check in again in morning and try to catch up.

Did meet step, water, and calories today!!!!!

Until tomorrow!

Kylia