Daily Ponderings

About 15 years ago, my uncle called my mom to ask if we wanted a dog. We had lost our first dog shortly before then to an illness. I never even thought we'd end up with another dog, considering I was so shocked when my mom brought home the first one. Anyway, my uncle said this dog was already a year old, and the people who had her couldn't really take care of her (which ended up being that they didn't want her anymore). My uncle and his family drove this little dog 3 hours to get to our house, and I think we all fell in love. The dog's original name was Maggie. My sisters and I didn't like it, so after much debating, we renamed her Shelby (after a character from our favorite "sistore" movie, Steel Magnolias).  Shelby as a puppy, we didn't have her this little, but this is what she looked like!! Soo stinkin' cute! Shelby had to get used to her name, of course. And, of course, that took some time. Also, of course, we would get her confused b...

Here are some of the pics I took at the aquarium last week! Side note: I'm getting really frustrated with my the camera on my phone. I think it's partly my fault, since I've dropped it way too many times lately. But, some of my pictures look fine as thumbnails, until you enlarge them, and then realize it's corrupted and doesn't look anything like whatever you just took. I had to delete a whole bunch of pics from the aquarium since they just looked like nothing. UGH!! I can't wait to get a new phone in a few months! Anyway, these were some of my favorites!  I wasn't sure if these guys were alive. I mean, they didn't move at all! My dad said he did see the first alligator blink, though!! lol  Angelfish! We used to have these when I was a little kid! I loved them!  These are lobsters in the ceiling! There was a little girl in the same area as us, and when she saw the lobsters, she said, "Look mommy, spiders!" They really do kinda l...

My trip to Cleveland to go for my appts went well! I saw my cardiologist on Wednesday afternoon, after my echo was done. My cardio is always late for appts. Unless you're the first one of the day, you're fine! But my appt was at 4pm, and we didn't see him until after 5. Sometimes the waiting can be irritating, BUT, I absolutelly love him and he will stay with you to discuss things in detail for as long as you want. This is why his appts run so behind every day! Anyway, my echo results were very good! My heart is not enlarged at all, which is awesome! While the pressures in my heart are still estimated to be very high, my cardio said that for me, he's not really sure that matters at all. Being an Eisenmenger patient, my body has adjusted to living this way for so long, and the pressures aren't going to really get better no matter what meds I'm on. But I'm functioning pretty well, my exercise capacity has been good this year, and that's what counts the mos...

The past three years, I've been going to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio to see my cardiologist and PH specialist. Usually I can see both of them on the same day, and usually it's been a Monday, so my parents' and I would just travel to Ohio on the Sunday before, and stay overnight. This year didn't quite work out that way. When appts were being scheduled, I wasn't able to see both doctors on the same day in May. In fact, I would be able to see one of them one week, and the other one two weeks later. Ummmm, no way I was going to travel twice to Cleveland! So I asked the scheduler (a very very nice woman!) about June. She was able to get appts two days apart. Those two days are tomorrow and Thursday, so I'll be leaving in the morning with my dad! My cardiologist appt is tomorrow, along with a lovely echo. Shouldn't be too bad, the wait just might be long! Thursday will be my dreaded 6 minute walk (I really hate that test), and then a visit with my PH doc. And I ...

It's been a pretty lazy Saturday today so far. I got up around 9, but didn't actually get out of bed for like half an hour. When I finally rolled out of bed, I threw frozen chicken breasts into the crock pot after I used a rub on them, and topped them with half a bottle of Jack Daniel's hickory smoke bbq sauce. The smell in my apartment is driving me nuts!! In another several hours, I'll have some awesome pulled chicken. K. is coming over for dinner! Last night, I hung out with one of my friends. She's going through a hard time right now, and so I decided to help her out with my company and booze. She enjoyed it, and so did I! So tonight I'll be hanging out with K. And tomorrow I'll be hanging out with my two best friends from high school (one of them being the friend who needed booze). So pretty much the theme for this weekend is: hanging out!! Yesterday, during the day, I hung out with my mom. Well, we went on an excursion to Walmart. I bought some stu...

Two weeks from today, by this time in the afternoon, I should be at the airport. In FLORIDA, not up here in Buffalo! I will have HOPEFULLY survived the plane trip with flying colors!! lol I'm finding it hard to believe that the PH conference is almost here!!! I've been slowly trying to prepare for it. The first thing I set aside a couple weeks ago was pajamas. Of all things! Well, eventually I've gotten a lot of my bathroom stuff ready, like shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste, lotions, etc. Last week I started getting my meds together. Today I called to make sure all the oxygen stuff is really actually arranged, and after a callback, I found out that I'll be able to use liquid at both hotels! That makes me so happy!! I also got a couple outfits together. It's hard to know what to wear! I mean, it's Florida at almost the end of June. Today it's currently 83, and high humidity. For all I know, 2 weeks from now it might be in the 90s! However, despite the heat out...