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Sunday, 08 November 2009

  • Nickles for a Rant


    I have a coin rolling toy. Its mechanical parts long since corroded and ignored. No this large, cylindrical, gray, piece of plastic takes up precious space on my corner desk. I love the toy.

    One by one, I faithfully place the coins into a small opening at the top. Each coin I drop rolls along its short track to drop with a unique sound into its tight little sleeve. There is a little bit of excitement when a sleeve fills up and the coins tumble over the edge.

    Quarters and pennies fill up fast. Dimes are not too difficult to acquire either. But nickels seem to be the forgotten coin. My bag of coin wrappers holds no papers to hold quarters, no papers to hold pennies, there are two for dimes and twelve, yes one dozen, for nickels. There are just no need for nickels in my world.

    Think about it. When we make change, just how necessary is a nickel. I need it to make $.05, for $.15 and for $.30. After that, I don't need it. In the cash drawer at work, I get change for nickels the least.

    While the penny was once touted as the unnecessary coin, I now submit the nickel for this distinction. Sorry Mr. Jefferson, it's not personal and you still grace the two dollar bill. Now if I could only find something to so with all the extra coin sleeves.



Wednesday, 04 November 2009

  • Mothers Try Too Hard

    Mother's love us and only want to look out for us. So it should really come as NO surprise to find this e-mail, from my sweet mother, yesterday. After all, this is important information that all women should know, and it could possibly save a life, even mine. However, Mommy's making me feel old.



     
    A NURSE'S
    HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE
     
    I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I have ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!

    FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

    I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read.

    Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack?

    You know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest and dropping to the floor that we see in the movies?
    Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

    "I had a heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was sitting all snugly and warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life', all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

    A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable.  You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach.  This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 PM.

    After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).

    This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws.  AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we?  I said aloud to myself and the cat, 'Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack'!

    I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead.  I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else ... But, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.

    I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics .... I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws..  I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts.  She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.
    I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance.  He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and his partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed two side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.
     
    I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was all ready to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints.
     
    1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act).  It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Mallox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up ... which doesn't happen.  My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before.  It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

    2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an aspirin.  Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!  Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the road.  Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.  Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics.  He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved!  The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP.  Your Dr. will be notified later.

    3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count.  Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure).  MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there.  Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.  Let's be careful and be aware.  The more we know the better chance we could survive.
     
    Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail?  Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand."
    A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.

    **Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male and female) you care about!**
     

    If I can get 10 people to read this post, I will have passed it on. Help me out just a little bit and think about giving me a rec.

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

  • Tomorrow


    Tomorrow is my anniversary. No, not a Xanga anniversary! This is much better than that. Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. My 14th wedding anniversary.

    I should be a little more generous and admit that the day also belongs to the blonde boy who held my hand and said, "I will marry you."

    We got married at this time, because our school would close campus the weekend of Halloween. You see, for years and years the university students would take to the streets and hold a party. These unsanctioned parties and partyers would eventually turn destructive with both public and private property being destroyed. 

    The university made a few feeble attempts to control the crowds, but this was a party school and by golly we were going to party. In the end, the university closed its campus for the weekend of Halloween and shortened its fall Thanksgiving break.

    This provided me with a prime, four-day weekend in 1995 to get married. I don't have a picture of the event scanned into the computer so you will just have to take my words for it.

    Happy Anniversary J
    I Love You

Saturday, 17 October 2009

  • Giving Mood


    I have been in a giving mood recently. Walking through the grocery store there was a display for Breast Cancer Awareness. They were selling pink reusable bag, 10 for $10. When they asked me to buy one, I said yes. In the parking lot, a man asked me for a couple of dollars. I gave him one. Yesterday, a grassroots food program held a potluck dinner. I brought food and ate other peoples food. I donated money.  I even bought a raffle ticket for the 50/50 draw. When I left, they had done the drawing yet, so I gave my tickets to they lady in charge and told her if they pull my ticket they could keep the prize money.

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

  • 7 Things I Learned While Without Internet for 10 Days


    #2 - I cook way too much. Not only do I have a job as a prep cook, this past week I cooked at home a lot. In my defense, it is fall and I had tomatoes, pears, and zucchini to process. I just have no excuse for all the things I made with tomatoes, pears, and zucchini.

    #3 - My dog can demand a lot of attention. I am sure this was a fact before my Internet setback, it just became noticeable recently.

    #4 - A television gem. Classic Arts Showcase. It is a television program that is on in the overnight hours of Friday and Saturday on our local ABC affiliate. It is snippets of visual performances: music, dance, theater, art, video, etc. It is just indescribable the clips this program presents.

    #5 - I became highly uninformed. With a return to a broad news source, I realized I only knew about half of what was going on in the world. Of that sampling of news, I seemed to know only half of the details. Television, radio and newspapers have let me down.

    #6 - Bills online are not necessarily a good thing. It's my own fault really. I need to buy a notebook. There is very limited access to computers in this area. Plenty of Wifi, just no computer.

    #7 - I did not miss it as much as I thought I would. I love my Internet. My morning session is a pleasant ritual. But the 10 days went by smoothly, without noticeable withdrawal.



    #1 I am very happy to have Internet access again.

    Currently
    The Black Parade
    By My Chemical Romance
    see related

amygwen

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