A POSTCARD FROM THE SACRAMENTO ZOO

Last year my husband, son and I visited the Sacramento Zoo
This is a postcard I picked up then and wanted to share it
The animals there live a wonderful life.
Full of trees and visitors
and many other animals and birds
along with lots of squirrels that run from place to place
and monkeys that go from branch to branch in huge cages
It is a happy and fun place to visit
and we try to visit once a year

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.

IT SHOULD NOT HAVE COME TO THIS, BUT IT DID!!

I cannot believe that eating food has come to this.
First visit to my GI Dr last Thurs (Sept. 23)
after he did an emergency Endoscopy (tube down my throat with a camera)
(requested by my ER Dr)
My GI DR said I needed to do certain things or
I will have a feeding tube.
I have lost 15 pounds so far, in the last few weeks
Working hard to keep up my strength,
and avoid a feeding tube
and following my GI Drs instructions
Thank God for my husband, son and friends.
I have been eating this soup, so pureed it for lunch for a few days now
and it is working ok along with Ensure and water with Electrolytes
and the meds my GI Dr changed and added.
This is a little chicken broth, water,
cooked boneless skinless chicken breast,
carrots and rice
We already owned a mini puree machine, so one serving at a time
Dinner last night was steamed and skinned red potatoes
and boneless skinless chicken breast
with some of the water from steaming the potatoes then pureed (delicious)
Breakfast has been a small portion of Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal
Need to add some crushed Bran flakes, so will do that tomorrow.
I am so grateful for my family and friends
and it seems finally a Dr that is there to get me through this
On our own for this to come together until the Insurance approves a Nutritionist
One day at a time

THANKS TO MY GUYS

The wonderful things in life that mean so much
like how beautifully the roses from my husband opened

and this DVD from my son for my Birthday
Thank you to my guys
with much love from me

FAMILY PHOTO

Once again, it was set up the tripod and tell
my guys
it is photo time
(photo taken Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010)
It is hard to get us together as a family for photos,
but, I did it.
I only got 2 photos as that is all these guys would tolerate,
and have not colored my hair in too long
and since this was not planned
we wore what we had on
after getting back from having our haircuts.
Love and hugs to my guys for doing this
on my birthday weekend

MY BIRTHDAY

TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY
AND MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND
BROUGHT ME HOME TONIGHT
A DOZEN BEAUTIFUL ROSES
ONE WHICH I ACCIDENTALLY BROKE
ALONG WITH A MUSICAL TINKER BELL CARD

OSCAR - A PART OF OUR FAMILY SINCE ONE YEAR AGO TODAY

On this date one year ago, the grief of losing
our George was too much for me.
My husband suggested going to Petsmart to look.
There in his cage, the oldest cat there looked so sad.
Called his name and he lifted his head a little.
Pet his head through the cage.
My heart knew he had to come home with us.
Not making my decision right away,
we came home and I called the place
doing the adopting.
I called my friend and she said "Go for It"
Out the door we went
I gave up a new computer desk chair to get him
for my Birthday gift from my husband.
So glad I did.
Still have my old computer chair but got pillows for it to make it more comfortable.
In love with our wonderful cat Oscar who has given all of us much joy and love.

MY SON PRACTICING GOLF IN OUR BACKYARD

My son and a couple of friends have decided to start golfing
Beyond the challenge of learning, my son is left handed
It is impossible to find left handed clubs at the golf courses,
so here he is with one that he purchased and the thing he got to practice.
It is so nice to see him getting out and doing new things.

TESTING TO SEE WHY

I did not know one could suddenly suffer so much. Since my testing for seizures, I have had so many problems with burning from my mouth to my stomach. Last Friday I woke at noon from my nap with pain that I could barely handle in the pit of my stomach and up the center of my chest and severely nauseated. The only thing that I had done differently was take a teaspoon of prescribed by my Dr to coat my tummy in the morning, called Gaviscon. I called the advice nurse and she said to see a Dr. My Dr is on vacation, so I saw the one filling in for him with my husband. He had me lay down and barely touched the pit of my stomach and I screamed in pain. He and my husband helped me sit up and the pain radiated upwards. He said he had only known me for 10 minutes so wanted to give me Vicodin and I told him it makes me throw up so he prescribed what I could take, Darvocet a low dosage. Said if I was not planning to take it for the pain, to go to the ER. His MA got a wheel chair and got me to our car and we left for the ER. I started to black out at the ER, so they got me into a room right away. Tried to find a vein to hydrate me as I was severely dehydrated. I got a great ER Dr and he had the male nurse give me anti nausea medication and swallow some lidocane for the pain. He prior to this did an EKG because of the chest pain and that was fine. By this time, I was doing better but weak. He spoke with us and told us he had called a GI Dr and gave us his name and phone number to call on Monday morning. He said what he gave to me should hold me till Monday and I was already taking the same anti nausea medication at home and added the Maalox before and after my Cream of Wheat and water, so I was able to eat a bit of food. He said my bloodwork and urinalysis came back fine. He gave me literature on Gastroesophageal Reflux and said I needed to be scoped down my throat (Endoscopy) and to start working on getting it done Monday as they do not do it at the ER. Hoping when I have it that it will show what is going on and I have an easy road to recovery.