The Golden Years

December of 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of my sister Christine and her husband Larry, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the surprise party her 7 children put on for them. It was wonderful to see them all again and awesome to see them renew their vows, I didn't get to attend their wedding so this was a fantastic treat.

New lease on life

Most of my medical test results were good, it has led me to a new way of living. I have set goals for myself, they include quitting smoking, losing weight and walking more. By next October I intend to be a non-smoker and walk in the Susan Koman walk, it will be both for myself and to assist others that have many more medical problems than I have.

Misconceptions

It is so easy to look at something you see once or twice a year and make a judgement call on it. Perhaps you visit someone on extremely rare occasions and they have a roomer that pays $400 a month, you might seem to think they took this poor old lady in as a show of friendship. You may expect that person to perform duties to repay the kindness, such as answer the door even if they aren't home or if they are ill and in bed. It is easy to misconstrue what you see as what others want you to see or think, it isn't always so easy to face the facts that without that lazy old lady perhaps your loved one wouldn't have had a home for the last year or if they did they wouldn't be out shopping all the time.
Perhaps it should be taken into account that the old lady is 20 year older than your loved one and has a bedroom and bath for her $400 a month. Perhaps you should take into consideration that unlike you not everyone is perfect, that perhaps with age hearing has gotten worse or the pain pills make the old lady sleep.
Then again that would mean taking off the rose colored glasses that paint the world in such a pretty way. I am writing this because I am so angry I will surely explode without getting it out. Do not ever judge what you haven't investigated and no I don't mean just listen to one side of the issue I mean talk to both sides before making rude statements on a national page.

Life is complicated but wonderful

Memorial Day of 2011 was a traumatic day for me, I went into the emergency room with severe neck shoulder and back pain on the left side. I drove the 8 or 10 miles, parked and walked to the door, went in and asked security where I go to sign in, he said to the clipboard and pointed. I headed toward it and this lady came running over and took my arm and said she would help me, she sat me down hooked up the blood pressure cuff and then said "Come on we are going to the back", she guided me to a room and called for an EKG Stat. They wired me up and took the readings then I was told to go back to the waiting room and they would call me over to register me.
I went out sat down and my name was called, I went to the window to sign all the paperwork and just sat down when the first lady came running back out and said "Cheryl come with me". We went to the ICU Heart center of the ER, by this time I still hadn't done any of the paperwork and tried to tell them I had no insurance, they hooked me up to a heart monitor, started an IV, slapped a nitro patch on me and ran around like crazy people then gave me morphine.
Heck after the morphine I was ready to go home, of course that didn't happen, Then all heck broke loose, I got so hot I felt like I was burning up. I asked for a cold towel and next thing I knew they were putting cold clothes all over me, bringing in more doctors, nurses, cardiologists, and I think even the cleaning crew. They took off the nitro patch and gave me Benedryl and in a short while I was doing better, by this time I was getting scared and unsure I'd ever get out of there.
They did a chest and abdominal cat scan and took me back to the ICU where I was never alone even though they had a monitor right there. I guess that is when it dawned on me that I'm not so young or physically fit as I once was, my thoughts dealt with what would happen to my poor cats, would I ever see my daughter and son and two beautiful granddaughters again, would I ever smell the rain or flowers, hear the birds sing.
After about 11 hours they told me I had not had a heart attack and the heart was doing well, but... believe me a but is something you don't want to hear from a doctor. They found an aortic aneurism, it is low and below all the vital organs and small so they would only have to watch it to be sure it doesn't get worse.
Well I was supposed to be released the next morning and that didn't happen, nor did I get out that afternoon or evening then they said they had found another spot on a blood vessel that they are not sure of. If it is another aneurism it is in a more dangerous spot, but they would redo the cat scan and see if it or the other one had changed in about 6 weeks.
Believe me when I got home all I wanted to do was smell the flowers, hear the birds sing and enjoy my time here on earth, nothing will make you enjoy your meager life more than a good scare. I am so grateful for everyone and everything in my life, there have been bad times, there have been good times, I plan to only concentrate on the good times and forget the bad. I am going to make the most of life and enjoy every second I have. Love you all

Loss of a dear Uncle

It seems as I age I tend to lose more of those I love, yesterday a dear Uncle passed away. Uncle Will was a great guy and there are many childhood memories that bring a smile to my face of him. He had a look that scared the pee out of me, but I can't recall ever getting that look unless it was deserved, not to say I ever deserved it lol. At this passing my heart is filled with pain and sadness for Aunt Gen and the kids, I am grateful they had the years and memories with him that they have.

In the later years of my life it hasn't been possible for me to travel back to Omaha to see the family as I would have liked to, but they are always in my heart and mind. I have tried to stay in touch with them though I know I have been failed to do that at times, hopefully they understand and know my heart and thoughts are with them.

Hopefully Uncle Will is resting in peace and watching over all of us with a smile on his face and that twinkle in his eyes. You will be missed.