Just Another Day In My Life **now open to replies**

This was originally posted not allowing replies, but I got several private notes and I thought I'd save folks a step or two.  PLEASE don't feel obligated to comment!

You probably already know about the kidney failure, but I don't think I've mentioned the anemia (low iron) due to iron deficience and B-12 deficiency.

Makes for some fun times.  Usually freezing when most folks are comfortable.  Tired to the point that I literally lay around all day in bed.  Unable to give blood in a blood drive. 

I've been giving myself Aranesp shots since August.  One every other week, in the abdomen.  (I thank God that I had a C-section because most of the time I can't feel more than a small pinch).

Well, sometimes it gets so low that I have to have iron infused directly into my blood stream.  Today was one of those days.  It's a 4-5 hour process that involves me having to take off work and check in to the day hospital.

They put the I.V. in my left arm (the right arm is off limits because of the dialysis access site **I am NOT on dialysis as of yet!!**) so that means if my veins decide to hide (today was a great vein day), they have to put it on the back of my hand or wrist (THAT SHIT HURTS!!!).

I then sit in a hospital bed for the next 4-5 hours and sleep, read or watch TV.  I wish I had a computer or one of ya'll would come sit with me.

Sounds like so much fun, huh?  Well, it was so much fun, I get to go for another treatment on Thursday.

What Are the Symptoms?

The symptoms of anemia vary according to the type of anemia, the underlying cause, and any underlying health problems. Anemia may be associated with other medical conditions such as hemorrhage, ulcers, menstrual problems or cancer -- and specific symptoms of those conditions may be noticed first.

The body also has a remarkable ability to compensate for early anemia. If your anemia is mild or developed over a long period of time, you may not notice any symptoms.

Symptoms common to many types of anemia include the following:

• Easy fatigue and loss of energy
• Unusually rapid heart beat, particularly with exercise
• Shortness of breath and headache, particularly with exercise
• Difficulty concentrating
• Dizziness
• Pale skin
• Leg cramps
• Insomnia

Other symptoms are associated with specific forms of anemia.

Anemia caused by iron deficiency:

• Hunger for strange substances such as paper, ice, or dirt (a condition called pica).
• Upward curvature of the nails referred to as koilonychias.
• Soreness of the mouth with cracks at the corners.

 

Anemia caused by vitamin B-12 deficiency:

• A tingling, "pins and needles" sensation in the hands or feet.
• Loss of sense of touch.
• A wobbly gait and difficulty walking.
• Clumsiness and stiffness of the arms and legs.
• Dementia
• Hallucinations, paranoia and schizophrenia.

 

Anemia caused by chronic lead poisoning:

• A blue-black line on the gums referred to as a lead line.
• Abdominal pain
• Constipation
• Vomiting

 

Anemia caused by chronic red blood cell destruction:

• Jaundice (yellow skin and eyes)
• Brown or red urine
• Leg ulcers
• Failure to thrive in infancy
• Symptoms of gallstones

 

Sickle cell anemia:

• Fatigue
• Susceptibility to infection
• Delayed growth and development in children
• Episodes of severe pain, especially in the joints, abdomen and limbs

 

Anemia caused by sudden red blood cell destruction:

• Abdominal pain
• Brown or red urine
• Jaundice (yellow skin)
• Small bruises under the skin
• Seizures
• Symptoms of kidney failure

 

Call Your Doctor If:

Call your doctor if you notice any of these signs or symptoms of anemia.

• Persistent fatigue, breathlessness, rapid heart rate, pale skin, or any other symptoms of anemia
• Poor diet or inadequate dietary intake of vitamins and minerals
• Very heavy menstrual periods
• Symptoms of an ulcer, gastritis, hemorrhoids, or colorectal cancer
• Concern about environmental exposure to lead
• A hereditary anemia runs in your family and you would like genetic counseling before having a child
• Women considering pregnancy -- your doctor will likely recommend that you begin taking supplements, especially folate, even before conception. These supplements benefit both mother and baby.

Yeah, I know you can't comment...I didn't want any comments.  I kinda didn't want to tell it, but if I can tell my story and help prevent someone else from having to go through as much, it's worth it.

The Weekend

How was yours?  Mine was was mostly uneventful as far as cookouts or what have you.  Plus, I haven't been feeling all that great, so I stuck around the house mostly.

I managed to miss a cousin's graduation party and I was supposed to drive the Mustang in a parade but it rained that morning.

I hung with my son's family for about an hour on Saturday.  On Sunday, I attended what's called a Throwback Reunion cookout.  A high school associate of mine started putting these together a few years ago.  It's kind of a homecoming get together, not limited to any graduating class or school.  Just a throwback to times past.

I saw a guy I went to DAY CARE with back in 1971 and we attended neighboring colleges in the late 80's (above) and my middle school crush from 1979 (below) *I think he's still fine and he's STILL with his high school sweetheart*.

It was great seeing some of these folks who I've not seen since I graduated high school (Class of '86) and some people I forgot about until I saw them.  It was nice getting together for a good reason and not a funeral.

Is there anything like this in your hometown?

Memorial day tributes to our Soldiers "2 Poems"

Link The day is about so much more than no work and BBQ.

I've had relatives who fought in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Shield, Desert Storm and one who has had assignments I may never know about.  For them and other servicemen and women, I'm grateful.

Received as a text

R. Kelly is gonna be singing heaven I need a hug, so Sadie get my new cell mate off my asss 'cause he thinks ain't nuthin wrong with a lil bump and grind while he sticks his key in his ignition and steps to the name of love.  He will have to change his name from R. Kelly to KY Kelly.

I hate to admit it but...

Ya girl is spoiled...I have to do everything 2 parents do at home, but at work I've got it made. 

I have a gorgeous storefront office in the downtown area.  My own private bathroom.

A fridge and microwave.

A television with a dvd player

An electric fireplace.

I sit behind this area here (you can see the top of my monitor)

This is what I see from my desk looking out.

 

I hope I find a husband to spoil me at home! (I'll be spoiling him too!)

Just Curious

How many of you actually know what your license plate says/numbers are?

I was at the hospital getting my labs done and when I was waiting for the valet to bring my car, I listened to people checking in at the desk.  I would say that probaby only 2% of the people actually knew what their plates were.  Everyone else had to go back and look.

Being that I have vanity plates, I know mine, but when my tags were all numbers, I was checking and double checking too.

Now I don't need to know what your plates say if you don't want to offer that info, but I'm just interested in knowing...

The Bestest Mother's Day Card I've Ever Gotten *edited*

I'm not real big on commercial holidays and I'd just as soon that folks don't go out and spend a ton of money on gifts for me (well, you can for Christmas and my birthday, lol), but the gifts that mean most to me (I appreciate them all) have some thought behind them.

If you read my Mother's Day post, you know I wasn't having the best day.  Well my son (the 10 year old) forgot to give me the card he made until the end of the day, but I wanted to share.

He put in some work too...

Of course it says Happy Mother's Day Mom.

 

Then I opened it and there were all these pictures.  *blank look*  So then he starts at the top.

That's a cd and music notes because you like music.
The think with the line through it was gonna be a brain, but I messed up and made it an orange, cuz you can't have oranges.
Then there's a present because you like to give people gifts.
You can't have orange juice either.
You work hard for your money.
(I love this one) You make a good key lime cake *hee hee*
You can't have french fries either
You're anemic
You love pineapple
You have good handwriting
You love to be on the computer
It's a brain cuz you're smart
And a heart because you love us

Then you have the thermostat in the middle.  It says 40 below zero because you're waaay cool!

 I was no more good!

I just wanted to share!

my mother’s day

*disclaimer*

This story may or may not change the way you think of me.  I can’t really be concerned with anyone who might judge me.  This is the way I felt and there’s nothing anyone can do to change it.  This is kinda long, so settle in...

 

My Mother’s Day began Saturday morning.  Since my mom is a minister, we celebrate most holidays on Saturday. Her church held a revival service on Saturday morning and my sons and I hopped on the highway to go (it’s in a different city).

 

On the way there,  I realize that I hadn’t checked my 10 year old’s outfit and he’ll do some crazy stuff sometimes.  Well, it looked like he’d played 4 football games in the jeans that he’d put on.

 

So I planned to hit WalMart and pick up some shorts or slacks so he’d be presentable.  We get there and lo and behold, WalMart’s moved and I haven’t a clue where to...So having seen a JC Penney, we went back and hit it.  Now church began at 11:00 and we didn’t even leave my city until 10:50 and it takes at least 20 -30 minutes to get to this other city, so that coupled with the fact that now we have to shop, I know I’m gonna have to hear it.  Well Penney’s had a helluva sale and I ended up buying 2 outfits each for the boys and I made my son change in the car.

 

We get to church and find that one of the ministers had car trouble and got there late and service was just starting.

 

It was a good service with 3 dynamic ministers and we had dinner at church.

Later in the day, my mother wanted to go out to eat since we rarely get to go anywhere as a family anymore and my sister and nephew, brother, mother and my sons ate and clowned like we used to do.

 

I came home and got in bed and slept until about 11 and was up talking to someone until about 6 am.

 

I woke up Sunday about noon and decided that I wasn’t going to do a durn thing except take my sons to see their grandmothers and I attempted to read for a bit when the boys started arguing.  After that crap went on back and forth for about 5 minutes, I decided to intervene.

 

Well that worked for all of 30 seconds before they were at it again.  Now I already woke up rather depressed.  Yes, I still get that way sometimes.  Deedles gets tired.  Tired of working.  Tired of parenting.  Tired of being the head of household.  Tired of being alone.  Tired of being sick.  Sometimes I just want to crawl into a hole and die. 

 

Yeah.

 

This particular day, I wanted to sign my kids over to someone and just walk away from my responsibilities.  Really.  The Mother’s Day wishes went right out the window with the arguments.  My youngest son had given me a homemade card with a bunch of pictures and my son gave me a hearty Happy Mother’s Day and then they denied me the only thing I asked for that day...peace.

 

I decided that I was going to take a book and go to my favorite getaway spot at the lake even though it was only 55 outside.

 

I told the boys they could go, but there would be no arguing, we’d go to Barnes and Noble and they could pick out a book within a certain price range (discount).

 

So what does my oldest do?  Picks out a temporary tattoo kit.  I ask him if he has money because first of all, it’s over the amount I’ve set.  Secondly, he didn’t ask if I’d be willing to pay for it, he just handed it to me like it was a no questions asked situation.

 

He gets MAJOR attitude and storms off.  So when we get to the car (he didn’t get anything) he gets quite an earful from me.  It pisses him off more that I refuse to drive off until I have said EVERYTHING I had to say.

 

I then proceed to tell him I will gladly buy him something to eat and take his ass home so I can make my trip to the lake.  By the time the food is purchased, he does a complete turnaround and says he wants to go to the lake.

 

We stop and get some cheap loaves of bread to feed the ducks and such and head on out.

 

We get there and there’s a gaggle of Canadian geese, like the one above and there are two goslings.  They’re fuzzy and almost have a greenish cast to them, but they’re cute.  

 

Evidently they eat differently than the older geese because they just kinda walk around while the adults grab every piece of bread they can.

 

Pretty soon we notice a hug crow hanging around. We figure he’s gonna try to get in on the bread feast too and we laugh when some of the adult geese chase him off.  Well he keeps coming back, so we sit and wait because we just know he’s gonna grab some.  Pretty soon he swoops down in between the geese and GRABS A GOSLING!!!!   He flies off and we’re hollering (like that’s gonna do something) and it goes up in a tree and flings it back and forth to kill it.  The stupid geese don’t even notice!  Then I start feeling bad because they’re still going after bread.  The crow then flies out of the tree and over to an open space where it begins to peck the gosling to death and it then flies over to some rocks and drops it and covers it with leaves.

 

The kids are not big National Geographic watchers like I am,  so they’re freaking out.  I explain to them that this is nature.  Everything eats something and its always the weaker ones that get got.  The old, the sick, the young.

 

While I’m explaining this to them, I’ll be damned if the crow doesn’t come back and start swooping for the other gosling!  I guess by that time, the geese realize there’s only one and they start to rush the crow every chance they get, but that proves to be futile when the crow succeeds in getting the second gosling.  

 

It does the same thing...takes it to the tree, then to an open area, kills it and buries it.  Then it goes back to the first one and starts to pluck it.  We’re watching it, stunned and the unthinkable happens.  It pecks the damn head off and flies right past the car with it hanging out of its mouth.  

 

I’ll spare you other details, but my oldest son gets sick instantly (cuz that’s what he does).  After that trauma we actually manage to have a decent time.

 

It came to me later that maybe God was trying to tell me that I’d better appreciate all aspects of being a parent because my children could be taken away in a flash, like the goslings.

 

That was my day...

Gas around the world

I got this info from Gummi Bare.  Dang, maybe I can get one of those Nigerian dudes to send me some gas! LOL

Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48
Norway Oslo $6.27
Italy Milan $5.96
Denmark Copenhagen $5.93
Belgium Brussels $5.91
Sweden Stockholm $5.80
United Kingdom London $5.79
Germany Frankfurt $5.57
France Paris $5.54
Portugal Lisbon $5.35
Hungary Budapest $4.94
Luxembourg $4.82
Croatia Zagreb $4.81
Ireland Dublin $4.78
Switzerland Geneva $4.74
Spain Madrid $4.55
Japan Tokyo $4.24
Czech Republic Prague $4.19
Romania Bucharest $4.09
Andorra $4.08
Estonia Tallinn $3.62
Bulgaria Sofia $3.52
Brazil Brasilia $3.12
Cuba Havana $3.03
Taiwan Taipei $2.84
Lebanon Beirut $2.63
South Africa Johannesburg $2.62
Nicaragua Managua $2.61
Panama Panama City $2.19
Russia Moscow $2.10
Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74
Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91
Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78
Egypt Cairo $0.65
Nigeria Lagos $0.38
Venezuela Caracas $0.12

What A Difference A Day Makes: Gas Prices

I normally fill my car up on the Saturday or Sunday of pay week and this week was no different, but I had hella errands to run because I missed a whole Friday due to some personal stuff.  By Sunday, I was down 1/2 tank of gas (ACK!), so on Monday evening, I decided to go ahead and fill up again at $3.57. 

Well, actually I was gonna wait another day because the prices here are different almost daily, but my son encouraged me to go ahead and do it because they occassionally have a trick up their sleeve and gank us.  (The day gas usually rises in on Wednesday and then constantly drops the rest of the week).  So I did *all the while in the back of my mind I'm thinking "What the hell does he know?"*

Well, I'm on the phone Tuesday afternoon with my .......not sure what to call him just yet, but I'm on the phone with MY  (cuz he makes me happy and he's romantical *damn I hate that stuck* and I love talking to him) *FOCUS DEE* ....and I notice the gas sign I just passed had a 9 on the end and I'm thinking, "Dang, you coulda held out for 3.49!". 

I get further down the road and can't believe that in one day's time it's jumped .22!

I've long suspected that we have some of the highest prices around.  We're downstate from Chicago and they're prices on everything should be higher because it's a bigger city, but we're almost always right i<-------->i (eye to eye, slow folks) with them and it pisses me off.

I think our gas was even higher than the DMV area yesterday!  Sheesh!

Do your prices jump like that?  What are you paying today?

 

And Go Barack!

Trickin it out

I was just on Bella's 360 page remembering the Big Wheel, but man oh man, when I graduated to my blue banana seat bike with the handle bars with the streamers and the little straws on the spokes, basket and horn? You couldn't tell me SHIT!!!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I had a playing card clothespinned to the frame so it would snap every time the spokes went over it.

**That's not my bike up there, but just one I found for visual purposes.  Tell me...how did you trick your bike out back in the day?

The Foolishness Infidelity Brings

I listen to stories that folks have of infidelity be it their parent(s), grandparent(s), friend(s) or themselves and there is really some bullshit out of the bunch.

I witnessed some yet again, firsthand at a  family get together this weekend.

Now the first reaction for folks with a cheating mate is usually some violent act, but you know your ish must be platinum plated, diamond encrusted or something for you to be a cheater and everyone involved works around it.

Case in point:  My cousin threw a 60th birthday party for her mama this weekend.  I went simply because I saw her the morning of and I'd told her that I would try and make it though I've been under the weather.

I get there and am talking to her daughter about some of the unfamiliar folks and I ask who did the catering.  She rattled off several famililar names and one I didn't recognize.  I asked who that person was.

Sitting down?  Ok, the birthday "girl" Ann (not using real names here) is married to Charles.  Charles' girlfriend's name is Barbara (even though Ann and Charles are still living together) and Barbara did the greens and candied yams.  *In my best Niecy Nash voice* What kinda foolishness is this?

I guess if you got it like that, but as a woman, I can tell you ain't none of that happenin up in my camp!  I'll be alone the remainder of my years before I settle for some shit like that!

*SMH* My family...