Looking For The Positives

[kayc]

Melina,

We're glad you survived it and are doing so well, and personally, I think $300 is worth a widow card! Have you got your dog back yet and how's it going with her?

[mfh]

Oh, Metteline, I am so glad the worst is over...and congratulations on pulling the widow card....a great time to use it. I used it just once so far when a cop stopped me for speeding (fog that I was in)....and i burst into tears when I rolled the window down. Good for you. $300 for a taxi is outrageous.

I remember the armpit pain when I was on crutches for 10 weeks...broke my ankle playing racquetball...the winning point that I knew I should not try...but I won! I put foam on the padding that is already there. Hopping feels scary in case you fall. I remember not being able to get a cup of coffee from kitchen to living room...as i was alone then.

Is the dog home? I am glad you have minimal pain. You might have more later when the drugs wear off...but it won't last long probably.

I think it is about 2am there...probably not a good time to call

Peace to you and congratulations....a HUGE obstacle faced and crossed. It IS huge!!!!!

Mary

[HAP]

Dear Melina,

Good for you. Glad the card finally worked.

Peace,

Harry

[HAP]

Dear friends,

Sometimes, to quote Kermit, it ain't easy being green. Busy several days on many different fronts.

The good news is I have the bedroom at the finishing touches stage: new curtains, blinds and bed spread all installed. But the guest room is now a disaster as I moved stuff in there to get the craft room ready to paint--a job that is still not done.

But the weather is glorious, the daffodils are in bloom, and my legs are beginning to get back in shape.

Peace,

Harry

[melina]

Marty, thanks for the link. I was on that site for a while, but I found it too confusing to follow - there were so many people and so many groups. But I too can see myself sitting alone in a house with just animals for company, like Mr. Squirrel mentioned there. That only they undertand my need to avoid sunlight.

Thanks for well wishes everyone. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this over with. Yet at the same time a little scared. I have no excuse now to avoid getting out there and doing things. At least when my knee heals properly.

My dog stayed with the kennel guy next door, and he brought her home yesterday evening. The next few days he'll be walking her for me, along with a pack of other kennel dogs. Like me, she's kind of a loner - a "family only" dog, and will probably hate having to walk with a bunch of big dogs. But on the other hand, it might be good for her to be more social.

Now I'm not sure if I'm talking about the dog or me.

Harry - my daffodils are in bloom as well - along with the crocuses. I planted all these bulbs the first autumn I was alone - after my husband died in August. I just wanted to see something alive. Now there's a quilt of color in the flower bed and across the lawn. So I'm glad I had the presence of mind to plant them.

Melina

[Queeniemary]

Glad to hear surgery went well Melina, and that you are home safe and sound. Love it that you played the widow card, and it worked!! I never used crutches, I used a walker and then a cane, so I never had the problem with sore armpits, sorry you are having that problem. You will be better every day.

Thinking of you

Mary (Queeniemary) in Arkansas

[mfh]

This is the Dubai Fountain, where there are 6600 lights, 25 projectors, and 902 ft long, and the water shoots up 490 ft into theair, (like a 50 story building) and it cost about $800 million dollars to build.

And it is playing in an amazing way "I will always love you" which we all know is true.

Pretty positive

[MartyT]

Well, Mary, that one certainly left me in a puddle of tears. Thank you for sharing ♥

[mfh]

Yes, puddles here also. A friend sent it to me...knowing I would sob...and that it was ok to sob. I had my laptop docked at my big layout monitor so the music and video took over the office.

And Bentley came running at the sound of my tears... loss, for you-for me-all of us really never goes away. I know that. what really got me was the two lights going in opposite directions at the end.

Peace, Mary

[kayc]

Melina,

I'm thanking God for the guy next door to you for helping with your dog!

Mary,

Thank you for sharing that, it's almost more than I can take...

[HAP]

Dear friends,

Another tough day at the office, but I'll post about that elsewhere.

It was too nice here to stay inside all day so I spent the morning staining a bench I bought for the entryway a while back. That went quickly so I decided to take the chair Jane and I bought some years ago for the kitchen phone and stain it as well. it was something we kept meaning to do and never got to. I'll put coats of poly in both tomorrow if the weather holds.

I continued to clean out the craft room. I am about two-thirds of the way to being able to wash the walls in there. Maybe I can finish that tomorrow--but it is proving as emotionally difficult as I expected.

I ran a captain meeting for Relay for Life tonight. We have close to double the teams we had to this point last year and may have broken $20,000 tonight--again, way ahead of last year's numbers.

Peace,

Harry

[HAP]

Friends,

First, Melina, glad the surgery went well. As one who sometimes battles knee issues--I have arthritis in both--I know how debilitating pain can be both physically and emotionally. Hopefully the decrease in physical pain will help with the emotional pain. Glad your neighbor is good with the dog.

On the positive front here, I finished the bench and the chair yesterday. Nice to see I have not lost my touch--if I do say so myself. Spent part of this morning at the dentist getting the root canal finally finished off. The women in the office tell me they all plan to join WWJ for the local Relay for Life in June.

I hope to finish emptying the craft room today and getting the walls washed and prepped for painting--but with temps flirting with 80F other temptations may win out.

Not sure if this qualifies as a positive, but I got the draft of my new will today and it does what I want it to do.

Peace,

Harry

[Anne E]

When I read about all the things you all are doing, I feel like a big slacker. Haven't decided if I am just taking a very, very long time to catch the crud that is going around here or just am having a really bad allergy time. Who knows?

Anyway, in spite of how crummy I feel, I have FINISHED KNITTING THE FINAL SQUARE FOR MY SAMPLER AFGHAN!

It feels so good to have the squares completed. I still have some little pieces to sew on a few of the squares, but the bulk of the knitting is done.

It's bitter sweet. I know Dick would be proud of me and I long to be able to show the project to him. He always looked at me with such pride in his eyes and gave me such a lovely hug when I felt good about accomplishing something. I miss that a whole, whole bunch. It's just not the same when I share the accomplishment with people.

Anne

[MartyT]

We all understand, Anne ~ but still, we do share in the pride and joy you feel in bringing your afghan project to completion. Hurrah for you! When will we see pictures?

[Anne E]

Trust me! It will be months and months! I have a friend from Kansas who is coming to spend time with me this August. She is going to arrange the squares, then I will sew them together, THEN knit the border on the thing. I will try to post pictures of some of the squares for now!

Thank you for the Hurrah!!

Anne

[kayc]

Can't wait to see your finished project, Anne!

This has been a horrid week, starting with losing my electricity and then my dog injuring himself. An emergency trip to the vet (130 miles) and I was told to keep his paw clean and dry. Ha! He escaped twice in the next two days, running in snow and muck! He chewed off the boot they gave him because the Elizabethan collar they sold us didn't work...he can bring his paw right to his mouth to chew the dressing off...and does. I'm keeping him on antibiotics and changing his dressing frequently. Have had no water, no bathroom facilities, no cooking, and all of my food in the refrig. and freezer going bad. To top it off, the roads made going to work prohibitive so I lost wages as well.

Now for my positive:

My electricity just came back on! I am doing laundry, cleaning, doing dishes, swapping storage water, etc. and am about to change the dog's dressing again. My son and his fiance are coming up tonight (tomorrow is his birthday) and my daughter and son-in-law tomorrow night. I know I'll be in for a ton of work on Monday as my work piles up when I'm gone...can't wait for things to get back to "normal"...whatever that is!

[Anne E]

KayC.....What a terrible week! Glad to see that you have somewhat recovered and are looking forward to the kids. At the very least, they can help you keep an eye on that dog Hope things get back to "normal" quickly!

Anne

[HAP]

Dear friends,

Today is the $24 in 24 hours Challenge for the Greater Fall River Relay For Life. So far today, our Walking with Jane team has raised nearly $1600.

I finished painting the last room today.

Peace,

Harry

[HAP]

Dear friends,

So I go to the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk Pacesetter Brunch this morning. I can't find anyone on my team--other than one person I met the rest just once--so I am looking for a semi-empty table to sit at. I find one,ask politely if I can join them.

I eat and we fall into conversation. "Why do you walk?" leads to my talking about Jane and how she was told she had IBS .The woman sitting next to me says she has had that for years--what is this NET that looks like IBS but isn't.? I dig in my bag and hand her the pamphlet WWJ has for just this type of occasion. she skims through the symptoms and says, "I've got all of this." She says she wants to get tested--who at Dana-Farber works on this stuff? I tell her about Jennifer Chan and Matt Kulke. She turns to the head of the development office, who I think is just making the rounds of the tables, and says "Can you make a few calls so I can see Dr. Kulke?" The guy takes down the information.

When she sits back down, the guy from DFCI sits down with us and says to her husband--"of course I am sitting with you..."

I say to her she should see her primary care guy to get the test done because there is often a six week wait to see Kulke.

She says, "My husband is X from Y--he's the one who got Y to (be a major)sponsor the Marathon Walk.

I realize I have accidentally sat down to breakfast with one of the single most influential guys in the room--and his wife is going to be checking out our website and be tested for NET.

And people say the universe runs on coincidence. There were over 80 tables in that room--close to 1000 people. And I sit there.

Welcome to my life.

Peace,

Harry

[Anne E]

Awkward! Took the three dogs to the dog park as a reward for allowing me to watch the Kansas University Jayhawks beat UNC to advance to the FINAL FOUR of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Mr. Peterson, the Boston Terrier owned by my son, attacked a strange dog who run up to me to say howdy. When I looked up to see the owners of the poor dog coming, I recognized them as a lovely couple from church! No blood was drawn, no dogs hurt, the other dog was much bigger than Pete, and could have cleaned his clock. Happily, they thought the whole episode was funny. Mr. Peterson, really?

The nice lady told me she has a Boston as a child and that they are terribly protective of their loved ones. Pete Loves Me!

[Anne E]

WOW! That is totally awesome. I don't understand all the abbreviations, but totally get the significance! Great News!

Anne

[HAP]

Dear Anne,

Sometimes I forget.

Quick glossary

--DFCI is the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. It is arguably the leading cancer treatment and research facility in the country. The Jimmy Fund is their fundraising arm. Jane was treated at DFCI

--NET is neuroendocrine tumor cancer--the form of cancer that killed my wife. It is very hard to diagnose and was/is still considered fairly rare--though increasingly the evidence is otherwise.

--IBS is Irritable Bowel Syndrome, a meaningless diagnosis that really means "there is something wrong with your digestive tract that is causing you serious pain/discomfort, but we do not know what it is."

--WWJ is my shorthand for Walking with Jane, the organization I am putting together to fund awareness and research about NET. The website is walkingwithjane.org.

Hope this helps.

Peace,

Harry

[Anne E]

Thank you for the assistance and yes, it does help. Giving you an "Atta Boy" for the work you are doing in memory of your beloved wife.

Dick, my husband, had a relatively rare condition also, Primary Ciliary Dyskenesia, which causes deformation, clumping or paralysis of the cilia in the body. As a result, he developed bronchiatcesis, chronic infection in his lungs. The non working cilia didn't allow his lungs to be cleared of debris, the condition is pretty similar in some ways to CF, Cystic Fibrosis, with the thickening of mucus and the inability to clear it from the lungs. The chronic infection resulted in lung reduction surgeries. loss of lung capacity and eventually the need for lung transplants. The condition is also called Kratigers, in that form, internal organs are turned around, the heart is on the left side and so on.

While we were in St. Louis waiting for transplants, Dick met a young may with the Kratigers. He was the only person Dick ever met with the condition. They really enjoyed talking to each other. The man, Nate, has had two transplants and seems to be doing well right now.

This condition is not found alot in the US, it seems to be more common in Nordic countries like Denmark, that is where the bulk of research on the condition is being done. The condition is easier to control with the antibiotics available now which helps lessen lung scaring and thus lung function loss.

OK, way more information than you every wanted to know, but what the heck. I'm pretty passionate about taking care of lungs. Knowledge is power!

Anne

[HAP]

Dear Anne,

No. I understand perfectly. And medicine has become my new avocation--particularly orphan diseases like your husband's. Eventually, I want to find a way to bring all these lost diseases to light and get them solved.

Peace,

Harry

[Anne E]

Harry, Won't that be a wonder day when all these nasty things are no longer a death sentence? I pray for that day and for people like you who are working so hard to make that dream a reality.

God Bless You!

Anne