WOMEN AGES 50 + FOR JANUARY 2019

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

Oh, to be small enough to sit in my cup of coffee and be warm and caffeinated... a girl can dream. Tired today, but sending hugs to all! No big boys tonight; which means I may or may not be in bed by 7:30 or so. KJ

bwcetc wrote: »

Machka ... you will appreciate this ... spent nearly three hours yesterday speaking with nurses/people involved in my son's move about his medical needs. These people rarely see people like my son and they automatically made assumptions based on his physical disabilities. While my son had a grand time setting them straight ... it just saddened me. For 32 years I've fought stereotypes in regards to my son and it would appear we have not progressed in our thinking at all.

Beth near Buffalo who also has no interest in haggis

Yes ... I know.

I thought we had made progress with one of the people dealing with my husband's case, then I hadn't heard from her for a while which was great. But this week she resurfaced, and was talking about things from back in October.

In my husband's case, I see progress on a month by month basis now. I don't notice it daily, and don't usually notice it weekly, but if I look at things from one month to the next, there's improvement.

Between October and now, we've had at least 3 months. In that time he's gone from having full-time 24-hour care to no care during the day while I'm at work. He had done a massive amount of gardening on his own. He has cycled distances up to 40 km and has jogged a 5 km event. His vocabulary has progressed. His outlook on things has improved ... I could go on. He's not back to "normal" but a lot has happened in the past 3 months.

And there I was on the phone with this girl almost audibly rolling my eyes as she made suggestions applicable to my 'October' husband rather than my 'January' husband.

Even then she was off the mark because she has a go-to bag of tricks. "This is what I usually do" she tells me ... and then lists the 3 or 4 things she does when she has to deal with someone injured in a workplace incident. The person with the sprained ankle, strained back, broken arm, severe brain injury ... same little bag of tricks for all. One size fits all. I guess it's just easier for her that way.


M in Oz

Felicia: DH is also a celiac. We are always on the lookout for ingredients that are on his forbidden list. He’s found good gluten-free beer. The brand name is Omission and there are two versions, Pale Ale and Lager. He likes both. I am not an alcohol drinker anymore. I do better without it. :ohwell:

Tracey in Edmonton: We have had the paramedics come to our place a few times in the past when DH was having trouble. They took him to the hospital when he broke his arm, and also came to the house and treated an insulin reaction caused by low blood sugar. They’re wonderful. Three cheers for your daughter's fiance! He is in a valuable profession

Heather: Sending good wishes for your DH. I hope he feels better soon.

Rori: You type very well one handed. I hope your splint comes off and the trigger thumb has healed. :flowerforyou:

Rebecca: Your DH has a terrific sense of humor. :laugh:

Machka: I love the Theodore Roosevelt quotation. Sorry to hear about the bush fires. We had smoke from wildfires when Eastern Oregon, Canada, Montana were on fire a couple of years ago, but not so much from the recent California fires. It is great to hear that your DH is doing so well. I’m sorry that his former care giver is so far out of touch with his reality. I’m guessing she can’t begin to imagine how far he has progressed. :noway:


Sending warm thoughts to all who are in the arctic weather patterns. I hope you can stay warm and safe.

Katla in Beautiful NW Oregon

Well, I was all set up to go to my dance class and do as much as I could when ...........my back went out!
The house was feeling cold (frost) so I was feeling the radiators, which were cool. Swearing at the boiler. Worrying that I'd have to call out an engineer. I reset the thermostat and the boiler came on. Bending down to check the hot water was coming through I twinged my back and then could hardly move. Grrrrrrrrrr! :sad: I had everything in my bag to go out of the door! So.... I couldn't go. Took Ibuprofen. Moving very gingerly now. I'm sure it's just a muscle spasm because of the cold and I was tense, but it is so annoying on top of the virus and poor DH still suffering. He is so weak still. I think I can detect a marginal improvement, but it's going to take him a while to get over this. He is normally such a fit man.

The good news is, as I was confined to the couch, I managed to do some of the change of addresses I've been putting off. Then, as I was just going back into the website to check everything was OK , it shut me out for too many tries. It was their link I used. Grrrrrrrrrr! They had put a period after the user name in their link, I realised afterwards. I'm locked out until tomorrow. Why do they make these things so b....y difficult. I would much rather have paper sent out to me so I can file it. This way I have to use my old, steam laptop, which is very temperamental and hates printing. :sad: I used to have such an easy system. They just want to save money by making us do the work. And use our ink.

Love Heather UK xxxxxxx