My leukemia's back.

[LittleLakePhil]

God bless all of you.
I hope today is a good one. Seems asking for one good day at a time is the best we can do at times.

 

[Cynthia12]

Phil.. that's exactly what my husband tells people when they ask how he's doing. One day at a time. @Bunnylady ..back at you.

 

[wyoDreamer]

My prayers go out to all of you.

I see my Dad slipping away a little more every time I visit. But, sitting in the recliner all day watching TV is not the best way to keep your mind sharp... At least he still gets up and mows the lawn once a week, but he has arthritis in his hip so bad it is tough for him to walk too much.

On another note - We are going to a "cousins" party this evening. Not quite sure how I feel about it. My one cousin is a drunkard and I have never liked being around her, but my other cousin is a sweetheart and was always very nice. I guess that is called Tit-for-Tat. Their whole family are very outgoing and loud, I am fairly quiet and reserved. And to top it off, my DH is being quite the butthead about going "I always feel like an outsider and left out of the conversation. POUT POUT" I have told him if he didn't want to go, he didn't have to, but he insists on coming. At least my brother-in-law will be there so they will be able to keep each other company if I abandon my DH.

 

[Cynthia12]

The school called yesterday, and my granddaughter fell from the monkey bars. They sent her home with a sprained wrist. Dd took her to the ER. It's broken. Not a clean break either. The bone bent into a curve before breaking, so they couldn't put a cast on it. They're giving it a week to see if it will straighten back out, or they will have to go in surgically to fix, and set it. To add insult to injury, because they didn't put it in a waterproof cast, she can't go swimming. She was not happy about that.

Oh no. Poor baby. Sounds like this one may take some time. She likes to swim ey?

 

[ronott1]

I think I'm a clone! Drs, we know how to handle them. Don't mess with our kids! And now, don't mess with my hubby. I cancelled an appointment with the Neurologist he had. Won't get into why. Went to our PCP, told him I wanted him off those meds. My doc knows me. He says, if you aren't seeing a difference, then, ok. So ok, now he's also my Husband's Dr., since his PCP retired. A note here, my husband has declined quite a bit the past few months. Mostly making sentences..make sense. Repetition is happening a lot more. Asking about something several times. Now I'm worried about his handling finances. The bank tellers have a hard time understanding what he wants where transferred. Yep, I'm standing right beside him now when we go to the bank. Bless his heart, he says, I know what is in here..pointing to his head,..but it just won't come out the way I'm thinking it. It's so sad. He's still a sweetheart. Glad I'm not seeing the mean that some caregivers see. He's still doing mostly for himself. I do the driving now of course. We have fun listening to the oldies music. He likes that, and when the music starts, can sing most of the words. This illness is a mystery to say the least.

 

[Blooie]

We all need a Blooie on our side - maybe clones?? Then we could "Rent-a-Blooie"

Nah, I’ve learned a few things here in The Waiting Room, one of them being that we all take being ‘dismissed’ by the medical profession just so long before we let ‘em have it! My weapon of choice is sarcasm. Others use intelligent research, or persistence - whatever works. But eventually we either get through or get out and find a new doctor.

I think I'm a clone! Drs, we know how to handle them. Don't mess with our kids! And now, don't mess with my hubby. I cancelled an appointment with the Neurologist he had. Won't get into why. Went to our PCP, told him I wanted him off those meds. My doc knows me. He says, if you aren't seeing a difference, then, ok. So ok, now he's also my Husband's Dr., since his PCP retired. A note here, my husband has declined quite a bit the past few months. Mostly making sentences..make sense. Repetition is happening a lot more. Asking about something several times. Now I'm worried about his handling finances. The bank tellers have a hard time understanding what he wants where transferred. Yep, I'm standing right beside him now when we go to the bank. Bless his heart, he says, I know what is in here..pointing to his head,..but it just won't come out the way I'm thinking it. It's so sad. He's still a sweetheart. Glad I'm not seeing the mean that some caregivers see. He's still doing mostly for himself. I do the driving now of course. We have fun listening to the oldies music. He likes that, and when the music starts, can sing most of the words. This illness is a mystery to say the least.

When Tammy was on the dementia/Alzheimer’s pods at the Care Center, before they promoted her to Assisted Living, she used to refer to those two conditions as the “life thieves”. She’s had walkers thrown at her, been whacked across the back with a cane, and even had to be walked over to the ER twice for injuries she sustained. But she always maintained that those things were not done by people who were her residents - they were done by the “life thieves” lurking within them. Tam can’t sing a note, but for one of her ladies she learned several oldies and when she got her ready for bed, she’d start humming one of them. She said you could see the resident physically change - the almost perpetual scowl softened into a half-smile and she would start to sing softly with Tam’s humming. She said she learned that “triggers” went two ways - either calming or agitating, and learning who did what and when helped her treat each person differently. Sadly she couldn’t get that across to some of the newer CNAs who would go into a room and rigidly just get through the routine and get out as quickly as possible. I think Tammy would like working with you and your husband very much, Cynthia.

The school called yesterday, and my granddaughter fell from the monkey bars. They sent her home with a sprained wrist. Dd took her to the ER. It's broken. Not a clean break either. The bone bent into a curve before breaking, so they couldn't put a cast on it. They're giving it a week to see if it will straighten back out, or they will have to go in surgically to fix, and set it. To add insult to injury, because they didn't put it in a waterproof cast, she can't go swimming. She was not happy about that.

Do kids just wander around looking for ways to give adults grey hair? (Well, that was a stupid question, Diane - of course they do.) I think it’s in the official “How to Make Adults Get Old Before Their Time” handbook. Poor little one! I hope she heals quickly - that sounds like a nasty type of fracture, not that any of them are good. Give her a gentle hug from me, please.

@Cynthia12 You have my heartfelt sympathy. My husband's mother had Alzheimer's. Mercifully, she, too, was never mean or angry; she became more like a slightly sad, confused child. It's hard enough to watch someone you love slowly disappear with this disease, without being the target of anger that you don't deserve, and neither you nor they really understand.

My mother's funeral was at their church on Wednesday afternoon. My parents had reserved space at a veterans' cemetery, and since you wait on their convenience with the military, she was actually laid to rest yesterday (Thursday). The pastor of the church has leukemia, but he is determined to continue to serve as long as he is able. He is receiving transfusions about once every two weeks, so his energy level waxes and wanes. The day of Mom's funeral, he had had a graveside service for another member that morning, and the heat really took its toll on him. Standing in the pulpit to deliver Mom's eulogy took almost heroic effort on his part; none of us would have thought ill of him had he delivered it sitting, but he thought the world of Mom and he was like, "this is how it's supposed to be done; she deserves it." My father (who is a retired minister) read the commitment at the cemetery yesterday; it's a short service, and he told Madison "we aren't going to drag you out in the heat for that. You rest, you've done more than enough." God bless you,Madison.

God Bless you from me too, Madison.

Nothing going on here - aside from Kendra having gone 24+ hours without a seizure for the first time in 5 years! Maybe we’ve found the medication cocktail that will make a real difference!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Yay for Kendra! I pray that she will continue to make progress and have a wonderful life. I know your family will do everything in their power for that little girl. God Bless.

God Bless that minister.

We had one like that in our catholic church when my mother had cancer. When she was too sick to go to church, he would come to our house and hold "service" in our family room. Mom got to get dressed up and Grandma & Grandpa would come over to attend church with her. I know it really meant a lot to my Mom. She was his secretary for a long while until the cancer and he had become a close family friend. He cried during the funeral service.

A friend of mine has epilepsy and has recently had surgery to insert a "pacemaker" of sorts. It connects to the nerves in the back of her neck and sends out a small electric charge every 30 seconds or so that "interrupts" whatever it is that was causing her to have seizures. Not sure what she all went through before, as I have only known her casually for about a year, our husbands play golf together and we see each other once a week at the bar when we go for Friday Fish Fry. My friend was maxed out on medications and allowable dosages for those medications, so this was the last option for her. She says it has made a huge difference in her quality of life. It also allows her to actually sleep most of the night - instead of waking up every 15 minutes after an episode.

 

[Alaskan]

She says it has made a huge difference in her quality of life. It also allows her to actually sleep most of the night - instead of waking up every 15 minutes after an episode.

Duh!!!

I can not imagine how horrible that kind of torture would be!!!

I am very glad that she now can sleep!

 

[Blooie]

That would be Vagus Nerve Stimulator. They are in discussions of doing that now with Kendra, but it can take up to 2 years to see any results after implantation. I’m so glad that your friend has had a good outcome with it! Helps to hear that.

 

[getaclue]

I too add my voice, hoping Kendra continues making progress.

BTW, I agree that kids really look for ways to give adults gray hairs.