WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR FEBRUARY 2017

Becca – Sweetie, sounds like you have experienced your first ‘migraine’ headache. Sure hope this is not going to be a pattern for you. I have them and I feel like my head is going to explode; or that ‘if’ it did … I’d have to feel better.

I’ll have to look for that soap. Sounds like a charm. I like coconut oil; but, then I almost want to take a shower to get it off me before getting on my chair or in the bed.

I’ve had a bad headache most all evening. Want to go to bed, and, hopefully fall asleep quickly.

Kate – California has been ‘slammed’ with bad weather. Seems like part of it is going to just slide into the Pacific Ocean. The Oroville, CA damn looks like if they get any more rain, it will surely break; and, 8 towns downstream will be wiped out. They’ve been having mandatory evacuations, then called if off, then put it back on. I don’t think if I had left the first time that I would have gone back.

I can remember years ago, an earthen damn that blocked up the Flint River (in GA) broke after a stalled hurricane in the area. The Lake Blackshear … a huge lake formed by this damn, was emptied as it flooded areas south of town. It was considered to be a 500-year flood as there had not been a flood as bad in the 100+ years since they had been keeping records. We ended up staying with my sister in Miami for an extra week because there was no way to get across the Flint River as all road had been closed, except for local traffic. When he called and said they had opened the bridge over Lake Blackshear, we came home. The water under the bridge came right up to the bottom of the roadway. One week, to the day, we had to go to Macon and rode over the same bridge and the lake was totally empty. That was a shock. Louis told the boys that it would be a ‘good time’ to go mark all the places with markers for good fishing holes. I don’t know how long it took them to fix the dam; but, they did it with concrete this time.

They were showing roads with water running over them, that no car or truck could have made it across without being swept downstream.

DJ - The owner of the salon I have been going to, died a few weeks back. In fact, the very day I had been there getting my hair cut by one of the other cosmetologists. He had been in an Atlanta area hospital waiting for a ‘lung transplant’. His wife has been in a nursing home for the past 2 years after ‘swerving to try to miss a deer’. That is one thing that Louis and the boys had drilled into my head, ‘don’t swear to try to miss a deer’.

We had Spicy Bean Soup that I had put up in the freezer; it was definitely better the 2nd time around.

Joyce – I hope you sister will improve soon.

Karen – She looks so small being held. Looked a lot bigger in the incubator picture. Looks like a ‘proud, but stunned daddy’.

Tracie – I can remember reading MD’s records when they did them by hand. Believe me, that was not always easy when you are looking for any kind of error. I can remember checking the ‘tiny’ boxes for where they wrote in dosages of medication; and, saw something that just did not ‘look’ right; so I copied it, enlarged it, did it again, … about 10x times; and then we could see that he had put a decimal point in the wrong place. Instead of putting down .25mg of a medication; he had put down 2.5mg … and it 'killed the man just as surely as if he had put a shotgun to his head'. That’s scary. I know they are human; but, I was surprised that the nurse did not ‘ask’ him about it, since he had been on the medication for over a week. But, that is like one transferring me to another facility and putting down in the records that I was on ‘insulin’ … when I am not 'diabetic'. The only time they gave me insulin is right after they had flushed my kidneys to get the ‘extra’ Lithium that had built up in my body, out of it. She had not given me any 'insulin' herself; so I will never understand why she put that in the discharge summary (which she had dictated and had had transcribed 2 full days before transferring me). I now ‘question’ my MDs a lot more than I used to, like “what are you Rx’ing for me; and ‘why’ …?”

Pip – If Cracker gets anything with ‘stuffing’ she is gonna ‘kill’ it and take the stuffing out; so now all the gets are canvas toys; if they have streamers, she is gonna chew them off. Right now I have a flattened squirrel and she had chewed the squeaker out of one end of it. I think I am going to do what my DOGD does, give her a plastic bottle and see how long that lasts. Not keep the top on it either. Watching her closely to make sure she doesn’t choke on it.

Lenora

Good morning all. I treated myself today. For as long as I can remember my husband has made a special Sunday breakfast, usually pancakes, but occasionally an omelet. For the last month, I gave that up. Today, I managed to work in two of his pancakes with a little butter and a little syrup. (I used to slather them in both). He teased me when I got out a measuring spoon for the syrup! I can't do this too often because I had to give up other more nutritious food, but it sure was good for the soul.

Janetr: I am very happy for you that your grandson has returned to rehab. I hope it sticks this time.

Becca: So sorry about your migraine headache. Do you ever try lying in the dark and listening to soothing music; I was having headaches for a while and listened to Deuter's Reiki Healing. It helped a lot.

Lenora: loved the jokes.

Charleen: You definitely have a green thumb.

- Leigh in France

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101

Good morning everyone,
Janet great news about your grandson
Sherry, thanks for the info, I will have a look at the video. Have you seen Food Inc? It is on Netflix, you might enjoy this. Hope you feel better.

Wishing everyone a great day!



Sarah, Ontario

Sherry hope you continue to feel better. A book that speaks the same message in a more spiritual way is Mutant Message from Down Under by Marlo Morgan. It is fiction but the message what it means to be steward of the earth is strong and to respect the earth. Unfortunately for human kind we tend to rush into new technologies without fully understanding the consequences for the changes they create.

Silent Spring is another story that calls to attention the effect of modern living on the environment. DDT was curtailed partly because of her book. Rachel Carson who wrote the book died of cancer. The use of DDT did much to eradicate disease like yellow fever and malaria but the cost to the environment was too high.

Margaret

Sherry, Welcome back – we missed you! Hope things are going well for you in the Gorge!

Pip, I am curious - have you always been this active and fit or did you decide at some point to make some changes? Either way, you go girl! Admire your ability to stick to it and make it a priority!

Rita, glad things are moving along for you and your brother will help monitor the mail. One less thing to be concerned about. Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun stops once you get on the road!

I haven’t seen “An Inconvenient Truth” but I bet it’s on Netflix. I did start to watch “Food, Inc” but I had to turn it off. Being raised a farm girl where we literally did raise all of our own meat in very humane ways and a huge organic garden…. Maybe that’s why it’s getting harder for me to eat meat. Plus I am very concerned about the use of glysophates (round-up) in the food supply and we do what we can to avoid it.

The Master Gardener group I belong to has a fund-raiser selling thousands of tomatoes each year. Several years ago, the organization bought a big truck load of nice compost for the members to use to pot up their tomatoes. We growers found many of the tomatoes failed to thrive or grew very twisted and stunted, on the verge of dying. The coordinator sent in a soil sample to be tested, turns out it had teensy traces of glysophates and 2,4D. How does this happen? Cattle eat hay and feed which were sprayed with these weed killers and it goes through their systems. Their manure is added to compost. These chemicals are supposed to “break down”. Evidently, they don’t completely or quickly. And there was enough in that soil to cause problems. We MG’s learned first- hand about “Killer Compost” that year.

On another note, it’s amazing so many of you working in IT and/or in hospitals/medical field. Just think, when we were growing up – this field of employment didn’t exist. These are good skills to have – but I can just imagine the stress and pressure of implementing new software.

The clinic where we often go – Providence – has it set up with a “patient portal” which is very slick. The only problem is human error – I took a look at my records – it showed I was on meds that I’d never taken and took several requests to have them removed, and it did not update the state immunization database. Geeze, even Safeway did that when we got our pneumonia shots! Not so Providence. Maybe they do now but the DPT's we had several years ago aren't showing up.

It’s nice the docs can see our weight and BP throughout the years but their staff needs to make an effort to ensure the meds and immunization info is accurate.

I now keep a huge three ring binder for us with copies of all our information including immunizations, blood test results, surgeries, etc. that I take along. It's probably a good idea for all patients to go into their "portal" and double check the information is accurate. Just because you tell the medical assistant of changes or corrections that need to be made doesn't guarantee it will be done in my experience.

Last, this "low sugar" eating seems to be working well. I'm still getting a fair amount of carbs but 95% of them are from natural sources - still no candy, cookies, cakes, chips, beer, etc. And I'm not craving them at all. I love not feeling bloated.

Will close for now. Those of you with DH's and other family members recovering from surgeries and other illnesses, best wishes for speedy and complete recoveries. Love the animal photos, little people, funny stuff - please keep sharing.

Lanette
SW WA State

Good morning Ladies!
Been mia for a bit, just really busy. Went to NJ to see my mother in the nursing home this past weekend. She is 90, has dementia and the last time I saw her in October she was totally non responsive. We found out later it was because she was suffering from c-dif, and infection rampant in nursing homes. She was much better this time, able to walk and talk. Unfortunately the dementia leaves her confused and upset because she doesn't know where she is and is so afraid her family is abandoning her. She doesn't remember any visits or phone calls from myself of my sister. When I show her pictures of her and I on a prior visit she accuses me of lying to her. So difficult. We never had a stellar relationship, she was never easy to deal with.

I am happy to report that I made it there and back with no car issues! Some of you may remember that the last 2 visits did not go well. The last visit resulted in me getting caught in a flash flood in a rental car, the car was totaled, and the prior visit I had to be towed from NJ to MA (hence the rental for the last visit). I have a newer car now and it performed with no issues. I was able to successfully dodge the 2 snowstorms and make it there and back safely. Whew! When I make this trip I spend a couple of hours with my mother then drive 120 miles south to spend the rest of the weekend with my BFF. We have been friends since we were 10 and it gives me a chance to decompress. Although we ate very sensiblely and went to the gym on Sunday morning, a lot of wine was consumed. I am fortunate that she is on the same eating and exercise program that I am. She doesn't need to lose weight, just maintain and I didn't realize how tough that is for a woman who is 4'11" and size 2. She is my Fitbit friend and we do challenges every day. I would not have been this successful without her constant love and support. One of the best NSV was when I was able to fit (comfortably) into her Yoga pants after I was caught in the flood with no dry clothes!

I had lost 5.5 lbs so far this year as of just before the Super Bowl. It was easy because I had no social events (my downfall). Then came the Super Bowl and a few more social events, like this past weekend, and I knew I had gained some back, although I didn't step on the scale because I didn't want to see the actual number.I went right back on my program this past Tuesday after I got home and am thrilled to report that as of this morning I am at my pre Super Bowl weight. I am going to prep food today for the week because I know work will be very challenging this week and I won't have time to cook, or even think about what to eat when I get home from work. I am 8 lbs. away from my next goal and those size 4 pants are hanging outside me closet door to remind me.

I have come to realize that I must remain on this program for the rest of my life. I so easily gain weight when I indulge and if I don't make a conscious effort of get it off right away it will just pile back on. But I have fortunately come up with meals that I thoroughly enjoy and don't see it as a restriction or diet, just a more mindful way of eating that works for me. I try to get exercise every day, but unfortunately my lower back and hips are so painful in the morning that some mornings I cannot roll over to get out of bed. The pain does ease up after awhile which is good.i have tried taking Aleve if I wake up earlier than I need to but this doesn't seem to help much, but I soldier on. I have lost 40 lbs. (a 5 gallon jug of water or the average human leg). My goal right now is 2 lbs. less than a bale of hay.

My muddled mind cannot remember to respond to you individually but you are all in my thoughts.

My prayers go out to all those facing health issues, I can't remember all, except for precious Olivia.
Hugs to those facing family issues.
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your lives, I enjoy them so much.
Love the jokes, a laugh always makes the day better.
I'm cheering all of those who have victories, scale and NSV.
Kudos to all who have found peace and balance in their lives. I think that is what we are all striving for, I know I am.
Last, but certainly not least, accept my deepest gratitude for being there for me. I could never have done it without you.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Chris in MA where the 2 feet of snow is melting