Daily Ponderings

Today was a nice Thanksgiving, spent with my family. It seemed to be very low-key, which was just fine with me. I spent all afternoon yesterday making my strawberry banana bread, and my pecan pie, so I just relaxed this morning for awhile before getting dressed and going to my parents' house. I got over there a little after 1pm, and helped make some of the items we were eating for dinner. My mom bought a turkey breast since it was only my parents, Joanie and I eating dinner. We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing (not homemade this year), green bean casserole, corn, and cranberry sauce. It was very yummy! I felt like I overate, even though I really didn't take too much. We cleaned up, and watched some tv and then Mandy called us to say they were home and we could come over for dessert. Mandy's was nice, too. We had pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cheesecake pie, and lemon meringue pie. It was quite tasty! My niece kept making requests for Shake Your Booty, which I have on my...

I woke up tired, as usual, but I was determined to actually do a few things out and about before I had to host chat this afternoon. I finally got myself dressed and ready to go around noonish. First stop was the credit union. I chatted with Joanie for a few minutes. We compared arm soreness that we both were still experiencing from playing Wii games on Sunday! After I left, I mailed a few things at the post office, and then went to a Dollar General closer to my house. It was so incredibly nice out! We had an odd warm day, and the sun was out, and it just felt good. I got home, and hosted chat for about an hour. Seemed like people were busy today, but it is the holiday season, so it's understandable! After that, I noticed my sister, Joan, in front of my house with a rake. Then my dad showed up with a rake and a lawnmower. I thought to myself "Well this should be entertaining!" So I went out there with my coat on, and decided to hang out and get more fresh air! It still w...

I have felt so exhausted lately. Friday, I tried exercising, and felt so tired after that I had to rest. I didn't even walk 1o minutes. I tried exercising on Saturday, too, but felt the same way. Sunday I kind of felt odd, but didn't do anything about it. Sunday night, I felt so worn out and felt like a cold was coming at any moment. I piled on the extra vitamin C, acidophilus, and Tylenol. I had some tea, too, since I was rather cold despite all my layers. I also ate some honey and lemon. I went to bed with 3 pillows, just so if I did get sick, nothing would go into my lungs. This morning I woke up feeling ok, still wondering if I was going to get something. But I kept up with the same routine as last night, and as of now, I have no cold. I'll got some rest this afternoon, and I think that helped, too. But I'll keep it up! I just don't want to get sick. I haven't had a head cold in a little over 2 years. Which is BEYOND unbelievable because I grew up having at...

I saw my gyn today. Well, really the nurse practitioner (who I just love!). She changed the pill I've been on, and it will hopefully help me with future issues I've been having. I sure hope so! I've been miserable on the pill I've been on, so I'm looking for a definite change! I also have to get bloodwork done tomorrow, to see if I'm anemic after all this. Hopefully that'll come out fine. I'm now off to take a nap, because I came home a little while ago. I went to Mandy's house on the way home, and stayed for a couple hours. It was nice! The kids are toooooo cute!! I'm beat, though, and just relieved that I don't have kids because they certainly can poop you out!!

I just haven't felt peppy lately, and it's driving me nuts. I was too tired earlier today, and I hadn't done anything! While in PH chat, though, I wasn't the only one who was dragging, so I guess that's good. I layed down for a nap around 3:30, and slept for an hour. It did help some, but I'm going to bed in a bit. I'm trying my best to do things around the house during the day, but I just get so tired, that I end up just taking a nap for a little while. I'm hoping this changes soon! My weekend was alright. I went to Mandy's with Joan, and played with my niece for awhile. I was tired when I got home, but didn't really nap. I just relaxed and watched a movie in the evening, and enjoyed my nice used couch!! It's sooo comfy! Sunday, I went to church, and had my parents over for lunch. I made homemade chicken and barley soup on Saturday night, so I had plenty to share! I worked on a necklace later on, and then had to lay down. It's a never-en...

*I have sent the following to friends and family for PH Awareness Month! I wanted to post it here, too!* Do you know what November is? The month of Thanksgiving. Yes, but.................. The month of Veterans Day. Yes, but................................... Did you know that November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month? Do you know what Pulmonary Hypertension is? Pulmonary Hypertension is a disease where the blood vessels in your lungs constrict and make it harder for your heart to pump blood into your lungs to get oxygen. This causes the right side of the heart to enlarge and overwork. Do you know the warning signs of PH? Shortness of breath, chest pain, extreme fatigue, being light-headed, fainting. Did you know that PH is hard to diagnose? Many of the symptoms of PH can mimic other ailments and diseases. Did you know there are many reasons for one to have PH? Some people may never find out why they have this disease. Others have it because of a congenital heart condit...

Sometimes the most unexpected things can make a person so wonderfully happy. I had two instances today in which I experienced unexpected events, and it has just made me smile for most of the day and evening! The first occurred during my outing to several stores. The weather in Niagara Falls today was mostly wet, raining on and off. When I left one of the stores I had gone to, the sun was peeking out in one section of all the dark gray clouds. I turned into the parking lot to head to another store, when I looked out the window to my left. I had to hit the brakes. There in the sky was a huge arching rainbow. It was just such a wonderful feeling to see it, since it's been I don't know how long since I had seen one last. I find rainbows so magical and mystifying, even though there is science and logic to their existence. I took a couple pictures with my camera phone. Even though I'm sure someone who would see the pictures would say why did you take a picture of an empty storefr...

I don't usually post pictures of my niece and nephew. But I wanted to post this pic of my niece, because you can't see her face. I just think it's so funny, a tiger on a Sit-n-Spin! My last post has highly irritated me, by the way. Blogger, for some reason, stopped letting me do paragraphs. So near the middle to the end, it looked like I wrote one huge paragraph. I tried fixing it 6 times, but to no avail. Please, I am an English major, I know about paragraphs. So I'm sorry if it seems all jumbled, but it's not my fault!!

It's been an up and down week. I started out fairly good, able to walk on the treadmill several times earlier in the week. That's always a plus! Sometimes I do ok, sometimes I just have to stop. I'm definitely not walking like I did after I started Tracleer. Back then I could walk up to 2 miles at a time. Now I'm lucky if I get to half a mile. It's very disappointing, but I guess just trying to keep walking is what counts. Halloween was a busy day, and I wasn't home very much. I went down to my parents' for lunch, and Mandy and Ron brought the kids over. OH MY GOSH, they were adorable! My niece was a tiger, and she got her ROAR down pat! My nephew was a giraffe, and it was just funny seeing the giraffe strapped in a car seat. lol After lunch, when the tired and cranky giraffe and tiger had had it, Mandy and Ron left, and I went back home to do a few things and rest. I was going back down to my parents' to pass out candy, and then leaving afterward to go ...

I usually don't mind cooking. Sometimes I put no effort into it, because I just don't feel like it. But there are times I really do surprise myself. I woke up from a nap this afternoon wondering what to have for dinner. I decided to have leftovers from the other night: marinated chicken, brown rice, and peas. Then I thought, I really need to make the yellow squash and zucchini I have, so I decided to sautee them in olive oil, and add the peas and rice to it, and mix it up. Then I thought, why not cut the chicken up into small pieces and throw it in there? So I did! Lastly, I realized I had a can of Italian flavor canned tomatoes, and I thought, hey I'll throw that in! My goodness, it was such a yummy meal! I only had a small serving of it, and I'm still stuffed. I have to say I'm quite proud of myself. And of course, it made so much that I can have it again for lunch and dinner for 2 days probably. I didn't even use a recipe! I can't say the same for my spli...

I can't believe it's Saturday already. Where did this week go? It seemed to start out sooooo slow at first. Monday was such a long day. Twelve hours at a hospital is just not fun, not to mention it was a gorgeous day that I missed, too! Tuesday, I was back there again with my mom. But the good thing was, we brought my dad home. :) He's doing pretty good, just in a little pain and discomfort with the catheter. This coming Thursday can't some soon enough for him. He gets it out then, and I'm sure he's counting down the hours!! Wednesday I went to my sister's house, and played with my niece. I hadn't seen them in awhile. The kids are just so cute. And spending time with Mandy is always fun. I am proud of her. I never thought she'd be the first to be a mommy out of the 4 of us, but she's done such a great job so far. She loves those kids more than anything, and I admire her for her strength. Thursday was chore day. I didn't do too badly. I washed...

This is going to be brief, since I'm exhausted from being at the hospital for 12 hours. My dad's surgery went well! There was a slight complication in the beginning, that his doctor almost didn't think he'd be able to continue. But, his doctor persisted, and overcame the obstacle, and the rest of the surgery went smoothly! It took almost 5 hours, and around 9pm we got to see him. He was still rather groggy, so we didn't stay too long with him. But I am so relieved that everything went well. We will go back tomorrow morning, most likely, and my dad can come home around 2pm. So right now, I'm off to bed!! Thanks for the prayers out there, I know they have helped my dad through this surgery!

This October flew by, and although there are still several days left, I'm rather relieved. I don't usually like when the months fly by, but this month was just so busy for me. Between going back to Cleveland in the beginning on the month, to three weekends in a row with major plans, I'm wiped! This weekend was my support group meeting, and it went really well. I had two UB students come talk about diet and nutrition. I had given them the PHA's website so they could learn more about pulmonary hypertension, and I was very impressed with how much of their talk incorporated appropriate ideas for PHers. I learned quite a bit, and the PHers who came to the meeting were great and asked alot of questions. It definitely went well! Tomorrow, my dad is going to Roswell Park Cancer Institute for surgery. He discovered a couple years ago that he has prostate cancer. The doctors took a wait-and-see approach in treating it, and while the cancer is still not at a high risk point, the d...

Once again, it's that time of month for dear Judi's Artsy Essay Contest! Please see the rules and regulations for this month here . I entered a couple month's ago when Judi decided to revive this wonderful contest, and decided I'd like to give it a shot this month! Here goes! My Ideal Day My ideal day would start out at 7am to get ready for work, instead of getting up to take a pill. My ideal day would be going to work as a teacher, instead of wondering if I'd feel well enough to do anything for that day. My ideal day would be working out at a gym, instead of hoping to have enough energy to just walk for 6 minutes on the treadmill at home. My ideal day would be to freely walk about around my home and in public, instead of being tethered to a plastic tube going into my nose, providing oxygen to keep me going. My ideal day would be remembering meeting times with friends or family, instead of keeping track of the 8 different times I need to take a pill or vitamin in ...

Today is the wedding I've been planning on going to for like months! My sister, Lisa's, best friend is getting married. Kat has had her wedding planned out for months, and she's been looking forward to it. Lisa flew into town on Thursday, and her husband got here yesterday. Lisa's been pretty busy since Thursday! We haven't seen much of her, but that's to be expected. The wedding is at 2pm, and the reception is at 5pm. So I'm just trying to get as much rest as I can so I can make it all day. The weather is so much cooler than it should be this time of year. Which is kind of funny, because just last weekend it was so much warmer than it is for this time of year. I wish the weekends could have been switched around! Anyway, that's my Saturday. Started off with a flu shot at 9am, so I am hoping I won't be in pain later on. That might not be fun!

I don't know where the energy came from today, but I have accomplished quite a bit. Even despite feeling a little blah. My sister and her husband are coming into town this weekend for a wedding that my whole family has been invited to. Lisa is in the wedding, since it's her best friend from high school getting married. So, I needed to clean up around here before they were coming! Well, I needed to clean period, but they were just motivation! So from about 11am-2:30pm, I did the following: -cleaned the bathroom -vacuumed: thank goodness for the removal of carpets this summer from my place, because vacuuming takes far less time and effort to do now! -hung up a couple pictures, and hit my thumb with the hammer AGAIN -cleaned the glass table and mirrors -hung up Halloween decorations, including those fake spider webs, which now makes it look like I've never cleaned! haha! So, I guess maybe the Revatio is kicking in?? I don't know! I think what helped me along was the fact ...

I got all ready for a huge flea market that I signed up for today this week. I was so excited! I was hoping to sell at least one or two of my jewelry items or tealight lamps. My mom came over and got me around 8:30am. We packed the van with stuff (she had also some miscellaneous items she wanted to get rid of), and headed to the place where the flea market was supposed to be. It was nice and sunny, and I was prepared to have a nice afternoon! We got to the place, and there were a ton of people setting up their tables. I found my table after trekking all over looking for it, and I started setting up my items. My mom made several trips to the van to bring all of her stuff, and eventually we got things situated. People started coming, and it was nice! About 45 minutes later, ominous clouds started hovering above us. I thought, geesh, it isn't supposed to rain today. I saw the weather report at least 4 times for Saturday, and there was no rain involved. So I thought we should be alrigh...

I got back from Cleveland last night around 7:30pm EST. It was a long day, with some interesting results. Not exactly terrible news, but not news I was expecting to really hear either. First of all, I had an echo. Now I've never had an echo done by a man before. I was a little concerned about it, but the guy was very nice! His name was George, and he was from Romania. George was quite entertained by my last name, which means "hurry up" in German. So he did the echo, and he was very good at it. I've had some techs who I've wanted to slap because they were pressing so hard, it hurt like crazy. He told me if he was pressing too hard, to let him know. But he wasn't! I hope that George is around the next time I need to have an echo done! My bloodwork was next, and that went just fine. I didn't have to wait in the long line I saw when I passed by on my way to get the echo done. There were like 25 people in line then, it was nuts!! After having some soup for lunc...

I'm leaving for Cleveland in a couple hours. I have appts tomorrow with my PH doctor, including an echo and 6 minute walk (blah! lol). I'm still feeling short of breath, although it's starting to calm down a bit. I've been tired the past week, but I've also been doing alot, too. I've got so much on my mind for October, that I'm starting to stress. I have felt a few heart palpitations, especially yesterday. Today's been good so far. So I'm glad I'm going to Cleveland. Hopefully Dr. Gildea will finally put me on the full dose of Revatio. And then I can really see if it'll help me! The ice cream truck just drove by. I'm sorry, but I think it's time to give it up for the season!!! Sorry, had to vent. lol Well I must get something to eat, and maybe take a little nap before leaving soon. I'll post results of my appointment soon!

My weekend went by quick, and it wasn't all that exciting. It was basically relaxing, and not doing much. I mean really, I don't think I did anything truly productive. I talked to a few friends for awhile. On my NEW PHONE. hehe I added almost 300 songs to my phone yesterday, and that took me quite awhile! So I guess I did do something! lol Today I've been pretty busy, and it's such a difference from over the weekend. I am preparing for an upcoming PH support group meeting next month. I'm having a couple student speakers talk about diet and nutrition, and I think it'll be a good turnout. So this morning, I called a representative for Gilead, a pharmaceutical company that distributes the newest FDA approved treatment for PH, which is Letairis . He is actually a local person! And he knows so many of the doctors and hospitals in this area who are diagnosing and treating PH patients. I had a great conversation with him. He is willing to attend my meeting, and also pr...