Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Holidays Upon Us - Feeling Lousy - But trying to "Put on a Happy Face"

Just about every one of us know this dilemma. We try our best to make the holidays a special time of year. Whether it be the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays, or the others during the year; none of us want to "ruin" our family and friends holiday season.

So, we often put on that "Happy Face", and try to hide behind the mask of pain, fatigue, stiffness, swelling, and all of the other horrid issues we put up with physically, mentally and emotionally during the year and especially during the holidays.

I am headed out for now to have my pain pump refilled, so I shall finish this later this evening. But, I do want to say I pray everyone will have a safe, Happy and a reprieve from illness for the holidays.....

Rhia

Have a Wonderful Holiday!  

 

 

SECOND PART!!!!!!!!

As promised I am "here", just a bit later than I thought I would be. It has already been one helluva week. Between 2 days of doctors appointments, getting ready for whatever kind of Thanksgiving we are having (not in a bad way, just seems thing keep getting changed around), the entire ordeal about Jim, the accident, all of the ongoing and going and going about doctors for him that either are just NOT accessible, OR they are total jerks and quacks. Talk about some "scheming". I found out quite a bit more on this whole thing of getting things taken care of with doctors that are NOT on the up and up. 

Speaking of... the up and up.... Something happened today while I was at my pain doctors office in Dallas having the pain pump refilled. Of course it is NO secret that I have been in an insurmountable over 5 to 7 days of unrelenting pain. I of course mentioned it to him, and thought he might take the "hint" to either up the pain med in my pump (which can be done) OR just allow me to take my "breakthrough" medication a bit closer together, at least until I am over this damned hump of pain. It is just insanity and it is driving me over the insanity brink for sure. I did get a huge shot of Solu-Medrol yesterday while I was at my PCP office for a recheck. After telling him and then I asked about going to the corticosteroid injection at the office, and then a 14 day step down dose of prednisone, he said yes, most certainly we can try... thus we did. I seemed to have been a bit better this morning. I was able to stand on my feet almost without wincing in pain. But, as the day wore on, between the drive to Dallas, not getting to really eat, then going through the entire refill crap, and of course driving home... Then a "hog for punishment"... I decide to go out after getting home, and do a bit of my "coupon/sales" shopping, which I knew was probably a mistake and really stupid honestly. It was already almost 4pm, I was exhausted in every way from mental, physical, emotional... you name it... but I did manage to make my way down to our local Dollar General and pick up a few things that were "crazy" on sale. By the time I got home, I was just totally wiped. I had to let CVS and Wal-Greens go until maybe tomorrow, and I may try for Family Dollar, but I am not so sure yet. 

I will NOT shop on Thanksgiving, sorry but I think that stinks to the high heavens, that anyone in retail makes employees work on a major holiday!!! If everyone does not get what they need by Wednesday, then they can just do without it for one day!!!! It irks me to the ends of the Earth that they open those stores on a holiday like this one. Anyway, of course "people" will go, and if they come, of course that is money in their pockets, so open they are.

And you can certainly forget me getting out on "Pitch Black Friday"... I am pretty "hair brained" at times, but being out at 2am in the morning to shop, is just not what I call "fun"... Now IF we were headed for WINSTAR, now that I WOULD GET UP FOR! :):):)

Plus in all honesty, I don't have a huge family to buy for anymore... and sometimes it has become easier as the kids have grown up, and like my daughter, has a family of her own, to just send them money, and let them get what they want, need, and like. I swore when I saw my parents do that, I would NEVER ... I always believed in getting a present for everyone... that is partly what made the holiday, Christmas. But, as I have aged, and the kids grow so quickly, it now makes sense as to why my parents, and their parents did it. 

I really should be writing some words of wisdom for those of you who are looking and searching for "answers" in how to "survive and thrive" during the holidays. I am speaking of course at the moment about those of us with chronic illnesses, and chronic pain... from the autoimmune diseases, to chronic pain, migraines, CFS, FM, and the entire gamut of these that cause us grief most every day of our lives. I think I have truly discovered why I love to make a trip to the casino every once in a while. It is because once I step into those doors, until I step out and get in the car to come home, "illness" flies out the door, and stays out until I leave. It is the people, the noise, the lights, and most of all, your mind or for me, my mind is "clear" for a while. I am NOT thinking about medications, doctors, tests, prescriptions, pharmacies, people that are just plain stupid, lazy and don't give a damned that don't need to be in the business of health care at all, if they DO NOT LIKE PEOPLE!!!  I hear it and see it constantly... they either just don't give a damned about us as patients, or they don't really want to be there, ... but I see it more and more from all walks of what the medical profession is supposed to be... greed, laziness, no training, not doing their jobs, and we do it for them... it just makes my blood boil, when I hear that "tone" on the phone. You know, that one on the other end who could care less about my needs as a patient and what THEY should BE doing and they DON'T!!!! 

Anyway, so to step into that huge building that has NOT ONE WINDOW in it... NO CLOCKS, and every kind of sound, feeling, sight, and emotion rolls into those slot machines while I am there... so it is not really the "gambling"... Lord knows I DO NOT have "gambling money"... but it is the get a way from it all. Even if it is just Sunday, and we don't stay the night, still it is a rest from the daily mess. I should "coin" that phrase, "It is a rest, from the daily mess." to put it lightly.

So, for me, honestly, I am in so much pain, even as I type this I am wondering why the hell I am!!! My wrists, fingers, elbows, shoulders and neck hurt so badly all I want to do is sit in the floor and cry, cry, cry, cry.... but then I would have a Migraine, thus that is not a help, maybe a release, but certainly not a cure.

I have "lots" of advise about how to "help" your holiday run smoother, but everyone has their own way to handle it. Some just say NO... some stay home, some go out to eat, or to a movie, or to the casino... for some it is being alone and for others it is being with family and/or friends. For some it is "giving" of oneself, and serving at a homeless center, or church to others not as fortunate as many of us. So, you have to "dig deeper" within yourself to figure out "how to survive the holidays". 

Lately, I will say for me, I have been extremely fortunate, and found some incredibly super bargains on a few outfits, a pair of shoes, some leg warmers I found today, and also racked up some savings on some new eye shadow, mascara, eye liner and I even bought some "false lashes".. but it has been years since I tried to put them on, so I have not braved it yet. So, for me, between reading some really great "beauty" tips, especially those that are truly inexpensive etc... and get a few clothes for a tiny bit of nothing... (I've probably spent about 50.00 on ALL of it)!!!! Between "mega-markdowns", super sales, cashing in on coupons, I got a pair of 80.00 shoes for like 10.00, bought about 7 or 8 tops for about 15.00 or so, makeup around 10.00 leg warmers 2.00!!, plus a few other odds and ends... but I have not spent hardly anything for all of it! So, that has kind of been a "new release" for me... finding ways to have "nice" stuff, without breaking the bank... the better the bargain, the happier I am honestly. So, when things are too much to bear, I open up an email from Total Beauty, or a couple of others I get newsletters from... and even do a great deal of DIY, skin, hands, feet, nail treatments... gosh sometimes we do not realize how many things we already have in our home that work great on skin, hair, nails and so on... so I look for those, and give them a try... if they suck... they suck... if not I am not out anything... 

Okay well, it is midnight, and it's been forever since I've stayed up late like this to write... I am hoping it will help me, and if we are lucky, maybe you might get a kick out of reading it....

Happy Thanksgiving, Rhia, Jim and the family











Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thankful... Grateful... Blessed... A Holiday for Reflection...

What Will You Reflect Upon this Holiday Season...



Well, as superficial as this is to be a morning to be thankful for so much. Right now I am very thankful my new I MAC came in yesterday afternoon very late may I say.  LOL! I sat here on pins and needles all day long, listening for the FEDEX truck. Of course I must have been the very last stop on his delivery schedule. It was almost 4pm before I finally heard that truck from down the street! I had hoped all day long that my computer was not sitting in a broken down truck, or got left in Hutchins accidentally at the hub and so forth. Well, my fears were squelched because it arrived safe and sound. Gosh, thankful?! I am thankful for so many things in my life. My husband, my family, friends, as horrible as my health seems at times, I am still up right walking, and bless people's heart I still can speak, some probably think too much!  I am much like most of us. It is purest "human nature" to fuss, gripe, whine, moan and groan. Whether it is about family, spouses, kids, finances, jobs, bills, health and healthcare for sure, and the list is endless of things that tend to grate our nerves. But, today is one day to reflect upon the many, many blessings we have in health, family, homes, kids, and in life. As I said a moment ago in a post, it is a cliche' to say, "It could be so much worse". Well, yes, in our heart's, even though there are days our minds don't quite follow, we know it could be a great deal worse. As we open our newspapers, or look at our favorite news reader; perhaps listen to the "nightly news", all around us is much, much worse. Some of it almost too terrible to even speak of. We have seen it so much, heard it so much, talked about it so much, from politics, to foreign nations, from job loss, to the horror in our nation from human willing to hurt others like themselves, that we truly have become complacent to it. Or, I don't think so much as we've become "complacent", for myself I just almost don't want to "stomach" more of the same. There seems to be very little to no "good news". We don't hear about the puppy saved down the street, or how a town completely rebuilt itself after a flood, fire or some horrific incident. Oh, we hear about the horrific incident all right. In fact to me that is the main problem ALL we HEAR and SEE are the "bad" things happening around the globe. I've questioned that numerous times, whatever happened to "good" news? My husband answers because "good" news doesn't sell. For the most part, people want the "blood, guts, and horror". Take a look at all of our movies, our television shows, the games that our kids and that some of us as grown ups play on our latest video's boxes. Is there much good anymore? What happened to "Pac Man or Woman"? What happened to "Mario"? What happened to "Pretty Woman", or "City of Angels"? Look around and yes there is violence, horror, man kind against their own, floods, droughts, fires, loss... a great sense of loss... and no one knows more about loss that each and every family with military folks. Those people know loss. Even though they may not physically have someone they "lose" as far as that route of eternity. Yet, they suffer "loss" from all sense of direction, when they come home from what they have had to endure, see, hear and do. So, as you spend time today with family, with friends, with just your spouse, or possibly maybe just yourself... let's try to reflect upon all of the true goodness we do have. Even though it "could" go away tomorrow, try in the next days ahead to "hold onto" those good thoughts. The world CAN be a better place. Just look around, and you might just see something good right at your own door step. Happy Thanksgiving, and I am very Happy to have my family, and my "online" family! Be blessed, Be safe, and please ..... Don't get too sick on all of the fantastic food!  Rhia                                                                                                           

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thanks for, A Few Thoughts, & To Your and Yours....

I'm just "stringing" a couple of posts together from FB right now. As you shall see below fingers crossed my new computer is coming today. But, as you know that is an ALL DAY affair setting it up, getting my desk back in order, transferring my files onto it from the external drive and hoping I have not lost anything.... So, I shall post a couple of things I wrote in FB the past two days, and in the morning I hope to be ready to "shine" and "scream"... well my computer to "scream" with speed, LOL, not me!!!!

So here are the posts, and I wish you a wondrous holiday... be safe and hopefully as I said in one of these "flare and as pain-free" as possible... Rhia



I just thought of one thing that I was reminded of with it being Thanksgiving Week! Some of us will be with family, friends, some home with our pets. Some of us will be right here with out online friends and family. I am Thankful for the fact that I am so far NOT lying in the hospital as I was when I was 15. I spend 7 days during Thanksgiving holidays in High School having my right knee completely cut open and the meniscus taken out. I was in traction with my leg in a huge heavy cast that was from my bed as far as it could come up in my leg to my toes. I was in that thing 3 MONTHS! Then spend a very long time getting my muscles back to where they did not look like toothpicks. So, that day, my Dad, bless his soul, came to Dallas, and forgo his turkey dinner with Mom and all the family so I wouldn't be alone while I ate mine from that hospital bed. Right now as that memory floods over me, that was THE BEST Thanksgiving of my life! And right now I miss my Dad more than anyone could ever know. He would be 91 if he were still here with us.... May all of you find that one thing you are so Thankful for.... Be Blessed, Be Safe, and Know you are LOVED! 


I've had a couple of really BUMMED days! My computer that was supposed to be here yesterday didn't make it. FEDX had not updated anything on their site until later yesterday evening. So, all day I had no clue even where it was in the delivery. It left Sacramento on Friday, and after that all it said was it was to be delivered on the 26th. I am already SO aggravated with this old laptop. I just can't do much of anything on it. It is SO SLOW, it is worse that "dial up" days I think! So, that had really thrown my schedule off. I wanted to get Thanksgiving "Cards" online out, but I have all of my cards for Xmas to make out. Plus I have NOT even BEGAN my annual Christmas Letter. I have been sending a letter in with out Xmas cards now for years. I made it a tradition a long time ago. I don't believe I've missed very many.  But I don't really even have any "software" on this old thing to do it on. We wiped this drive fairly clean and began using this computer for our music. We had Garage Band on it, and did our clips, and all of our recording and so forth on here. Then Jim can bring it in and send it to his computer where he can actually put it all together for a song. So, things like "pages"(which is like Word) and so on have been off of here for a long time. And the music files have made it very slow, but we don't want to lose any of those. Thus, we cleaned everything off we could, and set this one up temporarily for me until mine can get here. FINALLY fairly late in the evening, yesterday, FEDEX, updated their website. My computer is in HUTCHINS!!!! (YEAH!!!) So, that means it is just down the "street" from me well almost, but it has arrived at the local hub and should be out for delivery TODAY!!!! Thank Goodness! I got up yesterday and was just not about to sit at this thing and be able to not do a thing productive! So, I made my "annual" fruitcake, did some cleaning, and watched some Xmas movies last night with my two puppies... Now if the computer gets here today, then that means all day getting it set up, my desk back in order and things have way back to whatever normal is around here. My thoughts and prayers are with ALL of YOU! 

 Please be safe! I realize many may be traveling or have family traveling and weather is very bad in many places around the nation. Enjoy family and friends, have a very warm, loving and hopefully flare and pain free as much as possible holiday! And Eat a little bit of everything!!!!! We are taking Mom over to Waxahachie tomorrow to a huge buffet over there for dinner (more like brunch).  So we don't have far to travel and right now our weather as far as traveling right here is good. May all of you be blessed and overflowing with all of the things we should be thankful of. Later in the day, whenever FEDEX delivers my new computer, (I think I am still in shock) LOL!!! I'll probably be away for a bit while we set it up. But I will be "screaming" with speed when the new one is here and ready!!! WOOOOHOOOO!! I can finally catch up hopefully! 



Monday, November 25, 2013

"Hectic Home" for the AAI Holidays???!!!



"Hectic Holidays For All of Us in a Foggy Brain Haze!"


ONE HECK OF A TYPICAL MONDAY MORNING! 50 plus things to do and I don't know where to begin first! With this being a holiday weekend, which for us as far as the "day" itself, is not all that much trouble. We are taking Mom and going over to Waxahachie to eat at the buffet there at Ryans'... and more than likely we are headed to Winstar for XMAS!!!! I have a new coupons for 2 nights if we wanted to stay in their NEWEST 500 room HOTEL!! I hear it is fabulous! ;) Of course that is a while away. That will depend on weather how all of us feel etc. If we do we can't go but 1 night. I would not leave my dogs but for one night alone. They already have separation anxiety if just one of us leaves for an hour. So one night with us gone is about all they can handle. Even at that it is gotten to where we have to keep them only in our kitchen. We started having issues about a year ago with them peeing where they are not supposed to. Both of both have been house broken for years and years. But, something went on with them a while ago, that every once in a while for no reason one of them will pee in the floor, like behind our sofa etc. I have tried everything, but they get better. Like now this past few weeks has been so much better. But sometimes they will start it and do that for weeks, and then they seem to stop again. So we just don't just in leaving them if we are both gone for an entire day or so with the run of the house anymore. We did for a very long time, until this issue came along. IN fact they have gotten a bit older and I hate going off even over night without one os us here. But, they are always very safe and my kitchen area is huge! So, they are not just crammed in a tiny spot. They have lots of room in my kitchen. Anyway, enough of my moaning and groaning... then either I am having a flare start, or I am just too stressed. I am just on overwhelm.. and I know all of us are. The holidays are an incredibly stressful time for everyone! Then when you are chronically ill, with Autoimmune Arthritic  illnesses such as RA, Lupus, Sjogren's, plus the other hundreds of these diseases & that includes those with chronic pain on top of the entire ordeal,  it puts our "stress" into a whole new category!!!  Then add on how your entire "schedule" gets all turned upside down. For instance, I have a "set" time everyday that I take my medications and eat something for "breakfast". Well that is after the 1ST ONE with all of the pills, as my husband says. Then I also have a set time or day of the week that I clean, mop, sweep, even water my plants, and so forth. Well, this past couple of weeks from all of the "added and unexpected stuff" as in weather change so dramatically, Mom and a medication issue, my computer crapping out on me, Jim and his shoulder still not well, I am not feeling ll that well myself, and the list of "extra and unexpected" just just hindering the "regular" one. Then I had gotten blown out of the water with the holidays so quickly upon us! I haven't written my annual "Christmas Letter", there is fudge to make;  fruitcake that needs to be made early so it takes up all of the flavors. That doesn't include the other one of many things I am just now thinking of, which is we usually make "goodies" that we either put in a basket or a decorative tin. WE take those on Christmas Eve to our close neighbors (about 6 homes) and have made that one of our traditions for Christmas! Then I JUST remembered (another THING forgotten due to my COMPUTER crapping out) is our ANNUAL Sleigh Bell by Wallace we order every year. Since the first Christmas we were together we started buying these sliver and gold sleigh bells made by Wallace Silversmith's. In fact last yesterday we "celebrated" 10 YEARS of them! In fact they added a little note inside the one last year about they saw the we had ordered from them every year.  Actually a store in Kent WA that we found the first Xmas called Silver Superstore. That year it was so late and almost Christmas by the time we found them, that we got the very last one they had for that year. So, now they email me about 2 months ahead of time as a reminder. Well, until a moment ago, I had forgotten that I had not ordered it yet. Som I just told Jim while we were standing on the front porch I needed to come in and order it before they rub out. Low and Behold in my inbox, there was a reminder for me so I would not forget to order it!!! Now call that "ESP" or not... anyway I sure as hack just ordered it! :) If we do NOTHING else we made a promise that we would ALWAYS get our Sleigh Bell no matter what. :)

So, as I make out my TO DO LISTS, and the LISTS to "remind" me about my lists... and that list to make sure I don't forget about all of the other lists... I realize that in "reality" I am going to have to take one breath at a time, do ONE thing at a time, and also "step" into these moments to know there is no way I can do it all. Either I need to "cut" some things down smaller, or less, possibly try to NOT do some things, and then NOT feel "guilty" because I could not do it all.

As much as I sure as heck (like EACH of you) want to think I am "super human" especially with all of my "bionic" parts, one would think I was Super Human... I am admit I'm not... no longer can I do it all, be it all, make EVERYONE happy all the time, and be able to go on and not stop to find out I am just worn to nothing and come into a huge flare. Which I fear I am having now. Between sudden cracks in the corners of my mouth, my throat soar, and feeling just out of it... I feel as if I am definitely 'flaring" .
So I remind YOU! PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOU FIRST!!!! I know, I know, we hear it constantly... but if we don't we honestly not of help to anyone if we make ourselves ill. So, some times as difficult as it is to say NO... that two letter word needs to be a GRAND word in our vocabulary.


I close for now in saying, that we are super at all the things we DO get done! We are NOT a disappointment if we aren't able to do it all.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Holidays and Autoimmune Arthritic Illnesses

After bringing up the subject of "holidays and Christmas" when I posted about sending card to the troops, it also again this year made me stop and try to figure out how we "do" the holidays this year. It seems to of course be an annual question now. Used to we always did the exact same thing. My husband and I cooked the entire gamut of a holiday meal. From sweet potatoes, to turkey with home made cornbread stuffing, we did it all "A to Z". So, our first several years together, even though it was just the two of us, our one pup back then Tazzy, and our two cats (who have now passed away, D-Link and Lightening) it was a spread of food, fit for any King! :)

As we moved to California, the day before Thanksgiving there, I had an accidental run in with one of our cats - Lightening. Actually not a "bad" something he did, but our landlady had some guys working on the windows. We were in a upstairs, 2nd story tiny apartment. My husband had just left for work and I heard one of the cats "crying". So, I went to see what was wrong and he was barely hanging on outside the bedroom window. He had gotten on the ledge and it had the screen off of it, so he slipped. Well of course instinct to me said help him, but what did not dawn on me, as that he was totally flipped out. So, as soon as I went to grab him, he bit down into my hand so hard that it pierced all the way through the skin under my thumb. I had several very deep wounds. He had seen it was me and he let go. Bless his heart he was scared about almost falling, and he realized he had hurt me. I was screaming to the top of my lungs, and crying, and calling his name…. so of course he knew I was hurt also. Blood was going everywhere. I grabbed a small towel and wrapped it around my hand. Then called my husband, who of course had a brand new job, that he had just began only about 3 weeks before that… it was a nightmare. He did turn around and come back home. We did not even know where the nearest hospital was there in San Pedro. We have just not been there long enough to know where anything was other than the market, and a few stores on the main road. I knew I needed a tetanus shot, and possibly antibiotics, plus the pain was so intense, I cannot explain how badly it hurt. Any kind of animal bite is extremely painful and since these were very deep gashes it was a nightmare.
Anyway, we already had most of what we needed to cook with and our neighbors had gotten to know us a bit. They were not going anywhere and we had asked them to come over, but since that happened we went to tell them it was off.  So, they came over and helped my husband cook!! It was so nice!!

Now just a few years later, neither of us "feel" physically like cooking that huge of meal in the about past three years. After promising not to succumb to "old" age, or getting "too lazy" to cook for the holidays. But, I guess I have had to "admit" to myself and to everyone there is just no way I can take all of that on… We have to freeze most of it, which is fine depending on what it is, or make my Mom keep some, or give it to the neighbors.

These illnesses change each of our lives in so many ways, in each and every day. Even the smallest of tasks that we used to be able to do without blinking an eye, now become some kind of monumental feat… including dinner for a large family. Just another one of the many, many ways Autoimmune Arthritis "hits" us in the gut with a hard punch at times. It was a horrid reminder over the weekend before when  i took Mom to the Casino. I never gave a 2nd thought to wearing my black patent platform pumps with this very long skirt (maxi-skirt) as I guess they still call them. Yet, as the day wore on, I knew that would be my last time wearing those heels for any length of time. Just to go to church, or something for an hour or so, or if I am going to be sitting down a lot, will be only time I'm ever able to walk in them. Those hours and hours and hours…. and probably about 8 to 10 MILES by the time you walk from one side around to the other and then back and forth again… you definitely get a work-out!

Even that…I was able before to have no problem getting to be checked in, bags to the room, parked and all done. Not anymore, just doing the Huge Hotel walk in itself, and getting around to the elevators that are several turns around from the check in/reservation desk. Then I was the one that did all of the parking, and walking, and then walking and picking Mom up at the door… I am now trying to resolve myself to the fact that some things I will still be able to do, but I must make a very "detailed"plan so I will not wear myself out before I can even have fun.

So, with every turn, around every corner… from the mountain top you trip and side down, only to crawl back up scraping your knees… still to shout Victory when again you reach the top… to when the oceans tides seem to want to blow you into the vastness or when the soft sands of hope caress your feet…. all can just "never" be… So, Accept and Rejoice in what you CAN do, and allow those things you CANNOT do, to be swept into the oceans of where you never have to worry over them again….