Positive Pregnancy Test in Men Detects Testicular Cancer

I learned something new and interesting today. Did you know if a man takes a home pregnancy test and it's positive that they should get checked for cancer? It's true! But don't run out and buy a pregnancy test quite yet!

Might be cancer. Might be babies. Hmmmm.

According to the American Cancer Society, most men won't have high enough levels of the hormone to show up on a pregnancy test. What does that mean? That means that a man can still have testicular cancer, pee on a pregnancy test, and have it come out negative. They also have a page explaining how to do a testicular self-exam.

But it blew me away that it IS possible to to detect testicular cancer through a pregnancy test. I first heard about this in the news last week. At first, I thought it was just another internet medical hoax/ bad internet medical advice. 

But, after doing some research, a pregnancy test CAN be positive if a man has testicular cancer because some tumors secrete the beta-HCG hormone. 

And that, my friends, was the interesting fact I learned this week! 

Behind the Scenes View of Cabinet Peaks Medical Center

Today I decided to take a walk to the new hospital in our town to take a tour. St John's Lutheran Hospital is getting replaced by the new hospital, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, on January 30, 2014. Because everyone is curious, they were giving tours today.

OOPS! Camera Died.
I didn't take my camera because the batteries died. Sorry about that, but I will try to get a few pictures for you all when I buy more batteries. I did find this picture on the St. John's Lutheran Hospital's website. I don't see a source for the picture though...

Source: sjlh.com history page
Doesn't that look nice!?

Cabinet Peaks Downstairs
We started out in the front lobby area in front of the Walk-in Clinic which will replace prompt care. It's for non-emergency care in case you can't get in to see the doctor that day.  They told us that the hospital was set up with healing in mind. Not sure what that meant, but okay! Cool! Sounds positive!

Then we went around the bottom floor past the cafeteria which will be open to the public. So, if you want to stop by the hospital cafeteria for lunch, you can! I won't, because of my allergies, but they said they have a new menu too. 

That's nice... I wasn't aware they had a menu at the old hospital. Actually, I wasn't aware they had a cafeteria either. Good to know! Hoping they have a lot of coffee there. I did see a coffee carafe section.

We saw the new lab area. That's where I was told that every area of the hospital has it's own waiting area. Cool. The old one has one for the ER and one for everyone else. That's all the waiting areas I know of. Then we headed to the ER staff area. Totally cool! Usually people won't see that area. That lead us out to the Trauma bays. It looks like there will be a lot more privacy with how the rooms are set up. That will be a nice change from St John's where there is little privacy when you are in the Trauma bay. 

We also got to walk through the "walk-in clinic" side and see the rooms there. They all look really nice. The nurses stations look more state of the art compared to St John's Lutheran Hospital. We saw the new helipad too. It's straight across from the emergency room entrance.

We got to see the MRI, x-ray, radiology areas too. They have a machine there were the doctors can see the x-ray right away. Nice. And then we went around to the other area... can't remember what it was though :)

We went upstairs on the new elevators. Those are nice. They work like an elevator is supposed to work. They aren't old and ancient and terrifying! The next part isn't in order... But these are the areas we viewed.

Cabinet Peaks Upstairs
Upstairs looks pretty nice. We got to see the new surgery area, the pre-op and post-op areas. No, I am not missing my oxford comma there. The pre-op and post-op areas are the same areas. No privacy really, except for curtains. The one we have now is pretty private. This one, I hope I never need surgery. That's not enough privacy for me. But it looks nice.

Appropriately placed next to the surgery area is the Chapel. No, I am not making a joke about SJLH poor quality care. I am just saying, if someone I loved was going into surgery, and it was bad, and I was a religious person... wouldn't it be nice to not have to walk across the building to get to a chapel? 

Or in my case, when my first son was dying (in a different hospital)... Down four floors, across the building, out the door, across the campus, into another building, up two floors, across the building and into the Chapel. Yes, having it right there is a nice touch. And it's close to patient rooms, ICU, Labor/Delivery, and other areas I would imagine you would want a Chapel. 

We also got to see the ICU. The rooms are nice and they look pretty private. They also have two isolation rooms. Just around the corner are the regular patient rooms, complete with a private shower/bathroom, a love-seat that turns into a bed, a flat screen TV, and a patient chair with a little table attached to the arm of the chair.

We saw the physical therapy department and a patient room that has a lift attached to the ceiling for patients that need to be lifted out of bed in a bariatric lift.

We saw the mammography center (I think that was downstairs) that has a private area for undressing so you don't have to walk down the hall in your hospital gown. I didn't know SJLH patients had to walk down the hall. I've never had to do that.

The Labor/Delivery/Recovery rooms look really nice. Two of them have a Jacuzzi tub in them. The nursery is rather small since they encourage Mom to keep their baby in the room with them. And there is a "mother's room" for women who need help with lactation. The views from those rooms are overlooking a field behind the hospital where deer gather often.

After that we headed down to the cafeteria where we could ask questions. I couldn't think of any except how are they with allergies? I've never been admitted to the hospital here so I didn't know how they handle multiple allergies. 

Apparently, if you have lots of allergies, they send the dietitian up to talk to you to find out what you CAN eat and try to accommodate your dietary needs. One guy made a joke of "Fly you to Kalispell?" Which I thought was funny, but I don't think the other guy did. Gave me a good chuckle though.

Overall- Nice.
I have to say, overall, the place looks really nice, well laid out, and much more inviting than St John's Lutheran Hospital. I just hope the care is better there. 

While I have heard a few stories from SJLH that leave a lot to be desired, I have noticed that their care there has improved a lot. Let's hope it keeps improving!  As of now, there is really only ONE emergency doctor I feel safe seeing. The other's have not impressed me much. 

But, I am still hopeful that they will give high quality care. I am waiting in eager anticipation! And at the same time, I am hoping I don't need to go to the Emergency Room... ever. 

Juicer Recipe Review: Sweet Potato Pie

With all this juicing, I wanted to find something sweet that tasted like a dessert to give me a feeling of being naughty. I found Sweet Potato Pie juice and it fits the bill perfectly!

The ingredients

• Apple
• Carrots
• Sweet Potato

Run all the ingredients through your juicer, stir and enjoy! 

By now, I started cheating by buying apple juice and just measuring out about 3/4 cup to 1 cup per apple in the recipe. It works! The recipe tastes the same as if I had juiced actual apples and it's cheaper for me than buying whole apples and juicing them.

My rating for this juice? 

I would give it 5 out of 5 stars. It is sweet and tastes like a dessert which is what I was looking for! And it's amazingly filling!

Have you tried this juice recipe? What did you think?

Tobacco Seminar! Surprisingly Positive!

Our local clinic is having a Tobacco Seminar held by two of the psychologists that work there. I decided to sign up and check it out because... why not! What is the worse they can do? Tell me not to smoke? Take my rolled cigarette away? Say "naughty naughty"? Tell me something I didn't know?

Instead, they were really positive and informative. I have a binder for all the information and I have homework too! They aren't telling us "You HAVE to quit smoking! It's bad for you!" They are saying, "We all know it's bad. Let's explore what triggers you to smoke." 

One of the most interesting things we did was go down a list of reason we LIKE to smoke and then went down a list of reasons we don't like to smoke. That actually surprised me. 

So this weekend I'll continue reading through the pages I have and documenting when I smoke, how I felt when I went to smoke, and what I was doing when I went to smoke.

So far, I see a few patterns. I smoke

• When I am around friends.
• When I am out of my house.
• When I get something done (a pat on the back of sorts)
• When I feel really stressed.

Why I smoke:

• When I started smoking, it was cool.
• I like the taste.
• It makes me feel better.

Reasons to Quit:

• The expense of smoking.
• The health risks.
• The smell.
• The added health care costs.
• I want to set a good example for my kids.
• Shortness of breath.
• My food will taste better.

While I can't post anything about the others in the class (confidential), I can post my experience and from my point of view. We meet every Tuesday, so I will update my personal experiences and personal point of view on Wednesday. 

Juice Recipe Review: Arthritis Soother

I've been dying to try this one but I just couldn't bring myself to drink something with asparagus juice in it. I finally got brave and made Arthritis Soother Juice. You can see the recipe here.

Arthritis Soother Ingredients

• Apple
• Asparagus (Actually, I like the taste of the juice!)
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Celery
• Olive Oil
• Parsley

Don't run the olive oil through your juicer! Put the olive oil in a glass, run everything else through the juicer and pour it into the glass. Stir and Enjoy!

My Review of Arthritis Soother

4.5 stars!

Freaking weird! I like the flavor and it does taste good. But the taste is bizarre. It has a taste that I know but can't describe and leaves an aftertaste that occasionally tastes like butterscotch... but not always. It's sweet but sometimes has a bitter bite to it... but not always. 

I have a second batch to drink today along with Sweet Potato Pie Juice which is a wonderful complimenting juice. I'll post that recipe tomorrow.

Celery Juice Pain Reliever?

A couple years ago, I hurt my back while working as a Nurse Assistant in a nursing home. The pain was unbearable. It felt like my back labor pains from when I delivered my youngest son. 

At first, the doctors gave me nothing for pain. Then they tried Tramadol for the pain which gave me horrendous migraines (pain level 9.5). When I went to the Pain Clinic, they put me on Vicoprofen (hydrocodone/ ibuprofen) which I didn't want to take. I don't like taking narcotics. 

One day I was hurting so bad I couldn't see straight and started looking for natural pain relief when I found a site that said 3 stalks of celery juiced would help with pain. I can't find the site anymore, but I wrote the pain relief recipe down in a notebook and tried it. I was absolutely desperate for some pain relief.




Does celery juice help with pain?


Yes! It really does! I drink a cup of 3 to 5 stalks of celery when I am in a lot of pain and helps a lot! Don't get me wrong... you won't be pain-free and skipping through a field of daisies, but you will feel a lot better. 

It usually brings my back pain down from a 7 or an 8 to 1 or a 2. After being in so much pain, I almost feel pain free.

Found on Mai Thankful Heart.
Best pain scale I have ever seen!

Juice Recipes has a celery juice recipe that adds honey called Sleepy Time. Which is what got me thinking about celery juice again.

What if I don't like celery juice?

Add an apple or some honey to your celery juice to sweeten it.

Add some carrots to help with the flavor. 

Or add apple and carrot for a totally different flavor. You hardly taste the celery. Here is the recipe I follow as a guide. Click here to see the recipe. 

I usually add more carrot because I LOVE carrots! But I also like the recipe as it is because I don't taste a lot of celery, it's a little sweet but not sugar high sweet.

Have you tried celery juice for pain? Did it help you?

Miles' Creation: Blackberry Mango Juice!

After so much vegetable juice, Miles and I decided to try some fruit juices. I let him pick the fruits and he decided on blackberries and mango.

Blackberry Mango Juice Ingredients

The name gives it away. No suspense there at all! Hmmm, I think we need to think of a better name for this juice. 

• 1 container of blackberries
• 1 mango

The name gave it away, didn't it?

Run them all through the juicer. Remove the mango pit first though. Stir it together and enjoy!

My rating for Blackberry Mango juice?

This one is a KEEPER! I never really liked mango before but, juice it with blackberries and it is awesome! The Blackberry Mango Juice is thick, kind of like a smoothie. 

I thought my other juice had a kick... but this one has a punch to it! It makes you pucker for a second there and then it's like OH YEA! That's what I'm talking about!

Juicer Recipe Review: Rainbow Blitz

After my last juice recipe, I was feeling quite good! I actually had a lot of energy. I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try something different. The Rainbow Blitz juice recipe looked interesting. You can see it by clicking here. I had to alter it for my allergies.

Rainbow Blitz Ingredients

This is the list of fruits and veggies in Rainbow Blitz. The red ones are the ones I am allergic to and had to substitute or leave out.

• Apple
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Ginger
• Lemon
• Pear
• Spinach

My Rainbow Blitz Alternative Ingredients

• Apple
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Lime
• Pear
• Kale

I was going to substitute garlic for ginger but I wasn't sure how well that would work. Instead, I just left it out.

Next I ran everything through my Black & Decker Juicer. There was a lot of juice! So much that I ended up putting it in my blender because it filled my 32 ounce mason jar all the way to the top and I couldn't stir it. Pouring it in the blender...

...allowed me to stir in together well and drink a cup of juice so I could pour it back into my mason jar.

My rating for Rainbow Blitz?

4.5 Stars!

I was oddly surprised that I really like the taste. I am more of a sweet-tooth kind of person. This juice has a bit of a tang to it with a little kick. Honestly, I really like this though! 

I wouldn't say 5 stars because I had to alter it and leave out one ingredient. But I will definitely be making this again!

Juicer Recipe Review: Fresh Start

Remember how I said yesterday that I was juicing this week? Well today I have a juice recipe to review! I found it on a website called Juice Recipes that I really like. The juice I made this morning is called Fresh Start. Click here to see the recipe.

So I gathered my supplies, plugged in the juicer and made my morning drink!

The recipe is pretty simple

• apples 
• celery 
• carrots
• Run them through a juicer 

See my beautiful display! All that juiced into a mason jar (with helpful measurement lines). The finished product was about 20 ounces or 2 and 1/2 cups.


I decided to rate juices on a 5 star system. Here is how the star system works.

• 1 star: Ew. Not drinking that ever again!
• 2 stars: I might be able to develop a taste for it. If I am broke and have only this juice to drink, I'll drink it.
• 3 stars: Not bad but not my favorite either. I'll probably make it again. Might alter it though.
• 4 stars: Hey, that's pretty good. I could drink this! I'll be making it again.
• 5 stars: OMG! This is DELICIOUS! I am keeping this recipe!

My rating for this juice? 

I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. It's good! I can drink this! Honestly, I didn't expect it to taste this good as I didn't think apples and celery would go too well together. But they do! And the carrots, mmmm, I love carrot juice!

Have you tried this juice recipe? What did you think?

I'll Be Juicing It Up This Week!

I started getting my teeth pulled in preparation for getting dentures or, hopefully, implants. There are some things I never really noticed until now. Like, my front teeth have always hurt. I didn't chew with them much before but I had back teeth to grind my food to my hearts content. With no back teeth to chew with, and an ora-antral fistula (Google that at your own risk) making eating a chore, I am really noticing the pain.

You see, I only have teeth on my left and on the bottom. So when I go to bite into something, I have to bite with my front teeth that are left, the ones that hurt. I also have a fistula (a hole going from my mouth to my sinus cavity) on the left top where my molar used to be. I can't bite down back there because it sends food up into my sinuses. I actually sneezed rice out my nose (It was totally awesome!) 

In fact, I was getting to the point where I hated eating because if it wasn't liquid, I was having serious issues with it. Anything that I had to chew made it feel like someone was taking a row of knives and ramming them into my lower jawline. Anything that was thicker than water would up into my sinus for me to sneeze out later, even yogurt! I could smell what I ate for hours afterward and my sinus was really starting to hurt.

But I have to eat! And I was seriously sick of drinking soup. Then I remembered I have a juicer. So I ran out and bought some fruit and vegetables.

We juiced most of the grapes too. Very good with green apple!

The first thing I juiced was straight up carrots. Nothing else. Just carrots, and the juice was glorious! I actually felt like I had some nutrition, because butter, chicken broth, and rice flour only goes far as far as nutrition goes.

I have been experimenting with some mixes and found a few recipes to try. So this week... I will be sharing my juicing love! AND comparing two juicers, mine and my friend's.

FINALLY, I feel awake enough to function again!

Question for you all! 

Don't worry about allergies when you answer this. 

What vegetable/ fruit, or combination of them, do you think would sound good as a juice? 

I actually juiced a pepper today! I will tell you about it tomorrow.

Reynaud's AKA Ice Cold Hands and Feet (and ears and nose)

At my annual check up at the doctors, I mentioned that my hands and feet are constantly freezing. I could be fine, nice and toasty, or feeling pretty okay but my hands and feet feel like it's this

My doctor said it's what is called Reynaud's Phenomenon or Reynaud's Disease. I heard of the term before from my friend, Amy. She mentioned it could be Reynaud's when I posted about how my hands were freezing.

What is Reynaud's Phenomenon (sounds better than "disease")?

The U.S. National Library of Medicine says Reynaud's is "a condition in which cold temperatures or strong emotions cause blood vessel spasms. This blocks blood flow to the fingers, toes, ears, and nose." I even found this nifty image to share with all of you that shows the blood vessels constricting and turning the fingers purple.

By NHLBI authors. via Wikimedia Commons

This last week with the cold front that came through causing Montana to have the coldest windchill on earth that day, not exaggerating!, and the stress in my life, made my hands and feet freeze! I wore gloves, soaked them in warm water, did exercises with them to get the blood pumping... and still my hands looked closer to the right hand picture. 

Everything I read said that it doesn't hurt. I would like to take a moment to say that this is

I don't know about the rest of you with Reynaud's Phenomenon, but my fingers and toes HURT SO BAD! They sting, they burn, they tingle... and then go numb. I am torn about the numb part. I'm happy my fingers don't hurt anymore, but I kind of need to be able to feel them to be able to work.

So in case you were wondering why I was absent this last week in blogging, this is why. Because I swayer to you, in a southern drawl, that my hands are turning to ice cubes as we speak.

I hate Reynaud's Phenomenon! 

I am fat and okay with that!

I was browsing the web looking for an idea to blog about that fits with “home, health, happiness, family, friendship, and fun”, when I found The Nearsighted Owl.

Her post that made me stop and smile has a picture of her naked, holding a drawing that makes it look like she is holding her chest cavity open. On the picture it says:

THERE IS NOT A THIN PERSON TRAPPED INSIDE OF ME!

I gave her a round of applause in my head. BRAVO you brave fat chick! I love it!

I love it because I have always been fat. People try to lecture me on how to lose weight, how to get thin, how to eat less and exercise more, and on and on…

1) I know how to lose weight, thankyouverymuch.

2) I don’t want to be “thin”. I want to be HEALTHY.

3) If I eat any less than I do, my body would kick into starvation mode!

4) I do exercise. Just because I am not jogging a marathon, or hiking up the sides of mountains, or lifting weights, or bench-pressing baby elephants, doesn’t mean that my exercise is less significant than yours.

I am fat. I always have been. I probably always will be. But, more importantly, I am happy with myself as I am. If you have an issue with my weight, that is your problem, not mine.

You can’t tell me you would love me if I weighed less, wore dress size [insert your desired number here], or anything else like that.

You all can love me at 300 pounds or not at all. It doesn’t matter to me. Why? Because I am not looking for outward approval. I am not living my life with the intent of getting every one else’s approval. I am happy with the skin I am in. You don’t have to live in my body. I DO! And that is all that matters to me.

Seeing this fat chick so proud of being who she is, made me feel even better about myself.

I don’t want to be some skinny girl that shoots into orbit in a stiff wind. I want to be myself. Extra weight and all. If I lose the weight, well, it’s not because I am trying. I was over that years ago!

Dotchi… happily 212 pounds and still eating cinnamon toast for breakfast.

Hearing Aids: I can HEAR again!

After the Epidural Steroid Injection, I noticed I can't hear for anything. I was feeling conversationally deaf. Guess what!? I am. Oh...

So I went to costco and had a hearing test done. I am conversationally deaf if there is background noise. Now I have hearing aids and I can hear again! I thought the speaker on my phone was going out... no, it's my ears.

Just for fun... Here are 5 things I am getting used to with having hearing aids!

1. The Expense of Hearing Aids. My they were pricey! Overall, the rest of the accessories that go with it aren't too horrible (like  Hearing Aid Batteries, cleaning wipes and Hearing Aid Cleaning Brushes  but trying to get used to the fact that I am going to have to pay to hear... well, that's a little weird! I used affiliate links to show you the items I bought for mine.
2. The NOISE! I forgot how much noise there was before. Now I am walking around going "What was that noise?" LOL
3. Hearing Aids in my Ear! I am not used to having anything in my ear. This is taking some getting used to but it isn't too bad. It tickles sometimes though LOL.
4. I don't need an interpreter.  Before I left the house, I would make sure I had one of my kids with me so they could translate when I just couldn't make out what the person was saying. Now, they don't need to be with me. They can still go, but I can have a conversation with these hearing aids.
5. Learning ASL is still fun :) My kids and I have been learning ASL and using it. It was getting a little stressful HAVING to learn ASL because we couldn't communicate verbally. Now we can learn ASL because we WANT to learn it, not because we HAVE to learn it. It's a lot more fun now!

Overall, I am very pleased with them. Although I don't keep them in all waking hours like the lady said to. That gets annoying and I end up with a headache. I have to give my ears a break every now and then. But the best part is I CAN HEAR!

My inflammatory markers are elevated, cough syrup anyone?

I got a call from the doctors office today. The CMA told me that my lab results show that my inflammatory markers are slightly elevated. I have no idea what that means. I guess I should have asked. I'll call tomorrow and ask. All I know is that I am still in a lot of pain. The Tramadol isn't helping at all. My back burns insanely and I have become a touch of a hermit because of it.

I don't go to the store if I can find any way to avoid it. I usually end up in tears by the time I am done. It's agony to walk through my house anymore, much less a whole grocery store. The most places I go are to the mail store (they bring my mail out to me), Nikky's house, and Town Pump. I have no life now. But I have to say, I have had fun crocheting!

I will have to post some of my crochet projects sometime. I am making about five blankets, a purse, matching crochet hook bag for my purse and matching slippers. I have a lot of time on my hands so I will have plenty of projects to do and complete! I also decided that since everyone is getting sick, it was time to make couch syrup. I love my homemade cough syrup!

So I went to Nikky's house and we made three batches of cough syrup. Cherry with onion, cherry without onion (for the onion allergic) and strawberry with onion. I have to say, I have never had a strawberry batch turn out like this before. We made two batches in one and somewhere along the way it went wrong. The finished product looked like blood and pus mixed with a little vomit and smelled like rancid garbage. My guess is that we used the wrong onion. The cherry syrup mix turned out wonderful! I ended up taking some last night and it works like I remember it to!

For the rest of today, I will be working on updating all my blogs, writing, posting recipes and working on my book. Today is just going to be a writing day! At the end of the day, I will start my very own herbal book! I am excited!!!

Bored? 13 Things to do while sittin’ on your bum.

     My dear friend had surgery the other day and now she is wheelchair/ walker bound for six weeks while her knee heels. She’s going to get bored so my boys and I sat down and made a list of fun things to do while you are on bed rest.
     The obvious is reading, computer (email, surfing), Sudoku, puzzles and stuff of that nature… but we thought of something fun that involves the computer… BLOG! So, dear friend (yes, we’re looking at you, Donna!) we want to see a blog about post-surgery knee healing! You can add your blog to the comments section and we’ll stalk y… er, follow you!

Interesting fact time! This blog started in March of 2003 after my hysterectomy. I was on bed rest and dying of boredom. Back then it was blogspot and was pretty basic. It has changed a lot over time, along with this blog. This blog started out as a journal, turned into a family updates blog, then a picture blog and is now my baby. I can’t get rid of it. It means too much to me.

After the obvious… 13 things you can do while sitting down…

1- Hand shadow show! Make up a story line and act it out with your fingers once it’s dark. I found it’s lots of fun to try and make different things. You can google hand shadows and see if you can find some lessons on how to make elaborate hand shadows. I want blogging details!
2- Drawing. Draw pictures of anything in the room. With six weeks of post surgery boredom, you could get really good at drawing. If you suck at drawing, you can make stick figure cartoons. I’ll see if I can find some of mine and post them for you all to giggle over. I want pictures!
3. Origami- The beautiful art of paper folding! You can make ornaments for your tree or make a million teeny paper swans to bury yourself under while you’re sitting there bored out of your skull.
4. Macramé and Hemp bracelets- Look up patterns for hemp jewelry and friendship bracelets. Start knotting your way to beautiful items (you can sell these on Etsy for a small profit if you’re really bored. The USPS will come straight to your door to pick up packages.)
5. Crochet or knit- IMO, crochet is a lot easier overall. If you don’t know how to crochet or knit, there are tutorials online and books that come with a kit that can teach you. Crochet and knit is fun, gives you something to occupy your time and you’ll have plenty of scarves, hats and other things to give away as presents!
6. Write short stories, write a novel or a children’s book (complete with illustrations)- What could be more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Writing a book! You can write short stories, write a novel or write a children’s book (complete with pictures!) and when you are through, you can cruise on over to Lulu.com, create your book and put it on the market.
7. Create a picture book on Lulu.com

• Go through those thousands of photos you have stored on your computer and make them the best by using Google Picasa to edit your pictures. You can add text, crop, adjust the brightness/ contrast, get rid of red eye and million more things! I love Picasa!
  
• Once you have a nice collection of photos, sort them by category, event, person… whatever.
  
• Go to Lulu.com and create a picture book. You can sell them, keep them private, make them as gifts for friends and family, etc… You can also make calendars!

8. Video blog your boring time. Getting bored? yet? Well, video blog about it! Sometimes I love to watch video blogs because you can see the facial expressions. You can also Skype me. I’d love to chat! Just call first. I don’t keep Skype running.
9. Help with meals- One thing I loved doing while I was healing from surgeries and I wasn’t allowed to do anything, was to help fix food. I would sit in my chair and my husband or kids would bring the food items to me to help make. Sandwiches, cookies, etc. You can help make a lot of things while sitting in your recliner. My favorite to make was stuffed shells. I could make the cheese filling, add it to the already cooked shells, layer it in the pan and get it all ready to bake, all while sitting down! PS, cover yourself with towels. It’s a lot easier to clean up that way.
10. Play sock basketball!- Have someone set a basket across the room after you’ve folded all the socks you can find.

To fold… Lay sock flat and roll up from the toe. Then tuck the whole thing into the opening by wrapping the opening around the ball. (I’ll try to post pics later)

Now start throwing! 1 point if it bounces off anything before landing in the basket. 2 points if it just flies right in like you know what your doing LOL.
11. Card games- Solitaire, pyramid, Kings corners… there are so many games you can play by yourself. Fluxx, Phase 10… There are so many more you can play with family and friends. Have everyone make a snack, make drinks (non-alcoholic!) and have a card playing night.
12. Journal your time with index cards- For each day you get one index card. The cards can be the small 3X5 cards or any bigger size that you want. Make sure they are lined.

1. On the blank side: Draw, paint, glue items on, tape on a favorite picture you found, write one word that defines the day, put down your favorite quote. Be creative! This side is to visually show everyone how your day went.
2. On the lined side: This is your journal. I like to do something simple like- “Today this made me happy”, “I was sad when…”, “5 things I did today”, “If I remember nothing else about today, I really want to remember…”, “My pet peeve for today”… the options are endless. You can use more than one or you can just do a little bit of journaling your day.
3. Keep the cards in a cute decorated box (another “sittin’ on my bum” activity!) Or you can put them in a 3-ring notebook in page protectors so you can flip through them when you are bored. 

13. Fill out your cards for the year! Talk about getting ahead of yourself! Get out your calendar for this year, fill in birthdays and Anniversaries in your calendar for next year, label all the major holidays… Now, have someone buy all the cards for next year (or make them!) and get them all ready. You can store them in shoe boxes by month or by holiday (or both). Now you are WAY ahead of yourself!

Now, if you are reading this list and you’ve thought of something to add… send me comment or email. I’m making a second list of 13 things to do while sittin’ on your bum! I’ll add your idea to the list along with your name (or as anonymous) and post it once I have 13 things!
Donna, you get better!
Everyone else, Blog on!
Dotchi Latham

Update on me...

Thought I''d take a moment to update everyone on my condition. If you don't know, I went to the doctor and they ordered and ultrasound. The Nurse Practitioner called me back and said there was a mass on my liver and said she was referring me for a CT Scan. I spent the next days in severe pain and she wouldn't give me anything for pain. She told me to go to the Emergency Room.

That's where this picks up... So I spent a few days quietly panicking inside and being brave on the outside. Didn''t want the kids to be scared. But inside I was going down my list of things to do before I die. Rewrite my will to make it current, write all my blogs and crap down with passwords so husband can go online and inform everyone, sell a lot of my stuff, etc. I actually broke down and cried one night. I mean, it could be a number of things (abscess, adhesions, benign tumor, cancer and a list of other things)... but the possibility was too much to think about. I researched each thing about mass on liver and how each condition was treated.

I reached the cancer section and there were two types. One was treated by removing it, the other you have about a year to live. So I convinced myself 1) I have a few symptoms but not that many 2) I've had this pain for years... I'd be long gone by now! and 3) It is most likely infection or adhesions. But it still worried me that MAYBE... what if this was cancer? What if I had one year left? It nagged at me!

Friday after consultation (which went fine BTW) I ate a burger and fries, had a soda and then headed to the ER at Balboa.

The took labs and had me sit in the hall (they were packed that night.) to watch me. They did a CT Scan with contrast and dye and then finally got me into a bed. They told me they couldn't' find a mass on my liver. They had several doctors look it over... none of them could find one. Then they said they would do an ultrasound of their own but would give me dalaudid first. It's a synthetic morphine. Luckily, I am not allergic to that. Being out of pain was super nice! Once I was higher than a kite, they wheeled me upstairs to the ultrasound and ran it. Everything looked good. No gall stones or anything.

Back downstairs the doctor came back in and told me I have an enlarged liver. It's freaking HUGE. You know where your kidney's are? Well, mine stops half way down my kidney. Not half way down to it... go halfway down your kidney, draw an imaginary line across it... mine stops there. It also goes over quite a bit onto my other side.

Knowing that I wasn't going to die was a relief. They sent me home with vicoden. I called a friend of mine in Libby and told him about what they said. He said that he suspected it was caused by something else and went down a small list of things and mentioned my duodenum. I said "Hey, I've had problems with that for years!'' He was like "REALLY??" and then explained how he suspected that may be it. If it was swelling shut all these times, it could really wreck havoc on my liver and other organs. He told me to try taking Zantac 150 since it is as good as the protonix that they won't give me here (but would give me in TN... and it really worked).

Yesterday husband ran out and bought some as soon as I told him this. We figured it couldn't' hurt to try and if all else failed I would be heartburn free :) I took the first one as soon as he got back. The sensation was bizaare! I ate and then laid on my left side and I could feel EVERYTHING working. My duodenum relaxed some and I could feel stuff sliding through it (gee, wonder why I was never hungry) and then my liver tensed up, it felt like someone was squeezing toothpaste through my liver into my stomache, then my liver relaxed. This went on for awhile amid very loud gurgles and bubbly weirdness.

Later last night I took another and it relaxed more. My stomache emptied all the way finally and I was STARVING! I swear I felt like eating everything on the boat. I ate a big meal (for me) and then went to bed with the same sensations.

I woke up and was able to eat breakfast first thing without puking. A miracle for me! I have been taking Zantac for 2 days now. I'll spare you the gross details of today, but lets just say it is working! I am not in agonizing pain anymore. It still hurts and I feel bloated above my stomache area, but it's slowly going away. The pain is more annoying than anything now. I still get nauseous and have to take the zofran. But if I eat gently (brown rice, fruit and steamed veggies) I do okay and feel almost no pain.

And all this time it was my duodenum! I am getting a new doctor... but that's a rant for another time. I won't be going back to the doctor until I have a military doctor!

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Neurologist Appointment

I went to the neurologist and he is scheduling an MRI. Have to go through TriWest to get it approved so it may take a bit. I also have a follow up on March 17. That is the day Hubby leaves for Indiana, but I made the appointment in the afternoon so the boys and I can ride the bus and get back before dark. Since we'll be in downtown, I am planning on making it a shopping trip day too. Officially, I have a concussion. Go me! But I seem to have knocked some sense through my thick skull in the process because I am becoming uber organized through all this. I have my notebook, I'm planning menus again, I am getting things organized and I am way better at remembering things because I write them down. No wonder I forgot so much before... And I am really in love with my sticky notes! I am going to buy stock in the company LOL. Off I go to eat breakfast so I take my medicines. They have me on prednisone to see if it helps with any of my head pain.

"B" Skipper

I am now a "B" Skipper! I passed my sailing class! WOOHOO! The written test was VERY hard! I need to work on trimming my sails too. But I am a "B" Skipper now! WOOHOO!

Splenda

I cut all splenda out of my diet. My memory is coming back now. I feel better too. My life isn't lived in the "here and now" and everything else is "yesterday". I can actually tell that there is time and it is passing. I don't sit there at night going "What did I do today? Where did today go? What happened?" I actually feel like I am living through a day again. I swayer I thought I was getting alzheimers disease or something. It was that bad. At times I would be driving and totally forget where I was, what road I was on, where I was going, why I was there. It's downright terrifying. It's like living a nightmare. And the best part... my joint pains have stopped. Not completely, but it doesn't feel like my joints are breaking. It doesn't feel like my bones are cracking when I walk. My gut doesn't feel like it's crawling off without me and backaches are going away. I feel alive again! No more splenda for me!!!

Live aboard waiting list

And now onto something fun... we're about 8 from the top of the live aboard slip list at one marina and the other will be opening up soon! We're so excited! It's getting close!!! I can't wait until we are living aboard ALL the time!