Daily Ponderings

The last couple days have been really bad for me in terms of my PH symptoms. I still get shortness of breath (SOB), but it's not as often, and not terribly bothersome. But yesterday and today were awful. I didn't even have to be doing anything to be SOB. I'm thinking the weather is playing a big role, even though both days weren't too bad out. It was nice and sunny, a little cool out of the sun, but not really humid. So who knows?? All I know is that at K.'s yesterday, I kinda squashed his plans of going to the park nearby to walk a short trail to see if we could find any buck. I was having a hard time just walking around my apartment earlier, so I really wasn't sure what a walk outside was going to be like, and I didn't care to find out. He didn't seem to mind, just continued to work on some stuff that I knew he'd want to get done anyway. I'm hoping I didn't disappoint him, but if I did, he never said so. I got my flu shot yesterday mornin...

As I was driving home from pulmonary rehab today, I heard on one of the radio stations that it was National One-Hit Wonder Day! How funny, I've never heard of that before! So, I thought I would do a fun little post about artists who only had one major hit in their career. Now, there are soooooo many one-hit wonder hits that I decided to focus on the decade of music that I seem to absolutely love the most, and that is the 90s! I'm picking one song from each year of the 90s! Here we go! 1990: Biz Markie - Just A Friend I can't tell you how much I STILL love this song!! I have it on my Sony mp3 player, and when it comes on, I just sing along!! 1991: Mark Mark And The Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations This song brings me back to my high school days! 1992: Charles & Eddie - Would I Lie To You I'll be honest, I forgot that I used to love this song!! Had I not seen it on the list I found on the internet, I would still not realize who the heck sang this song. Quite ...

It's officially the season of Fall, and I'm officially sad. Don't get me wrong, there are things about Fall I actually do enjoy.  1.) I love the changing colors of the trees, especially when they are a gorgeous red, my favorite color! (I took these pics a couple years ago, the colors aren't changing quite that fast here yet! I was just using them for demonstration! lol) 2.) Fall means soup and stew season can begin!! It's so hard to eat a delicious bowl of hot soup when it's 80 degrees out! The crisp Fall temps make it much easier to create some sort of soup and enjoy it for dinners and lunches. Mmmmm, I'm wishing I had ingredients to make a pot right now!!! lol 3.) Fall also brings in the start of what I like to call, Bath Season. I'm usually so cold at night before I go to bed when the temps start to get chillier. I end up taking a bath before bed, so that I can warm up, get a bit sleepy, and then just crawl into bed all nice and...

About this time a year ago tonight, I was enjoying dinner with a man I had been chatting with for a couple  months online, and eventually on the phone. K. suggested meeting in person for a few weeks, and we finally did so September 19th. He was nice enough to say he'd come out my way, since he lives 30 minutes away. I waited for him outside the restaurant I suggested, and when I finally saw him walk around the corner, I felt rather at ease. It's funny, in the year since we've been dating, I don't think there's been any time that I haven't felt uncomfortable with him. I'm glad we met that night, and I'm even happier that he's been wanting to do things since. I haven't had too much luck with men, mainly because many are a bit intimidated with my health situation. I can understand that in some ways. Even K. hasn't been totally certain about it. I told him at one point that I can't tell anything about my future with my health since even _I_ d...

I hear so many people complain about getting older. Of course, I don't hear this from children or even teenagers. They seem oblivious to aging until they hit a certain point in their life when they realize that all they are doing is adding up the years. But the complaints about growing old sort of make me sad. Do people realize how blessed they are to actually BE older? Sure, I know aging isn't fun. The body loses physical abilities, the mind starts losing thoughts and words, aches and pains can become a frequent thing. I know this because I experience all of these things from time to time. I try not to complain too much, because I am THANKFUL for still being here. This past Monday (the 17th), I turned 37. This is such a blessing for me. I wasn't given much hope about my future when I was diagnosed at 9 months old with PH and congenital heart disease. The guess from the doctors was that I'd live anywhere from a couple years to maybe 50. I'll be quite honest, I thi...

It's been almost a month since I last posted. I thought of a great post a few weeks ago, and then just never got around to writing it. I'm not too sure what the heck's gotten into me, but I haven't felt like writing lately. But hopefully I'll get back into it soon!!

Summer is almost over, and it's making me really sad. I live for this time of year! I'm able to be outside much of the time (except for the really stupidly humid days which make me feel like I'm confined in a cold prison cell which is really my air conditioned apartment), and there are so many things to do! I've really enjoyed this summer so much, because I've done so many things with K. Oh, and I love summer because I can wear skirts and be barefoot almost all of the time!!! So it's depressing to me that it's coming to a close very shortly, and soon winter will be here. Although last winter was pretty mild compared to the standards for this area, winter is winter is winter, and I just don't like it one bit!! I'm hoping the winter weather will be tame again, because last winter actually allowed me to be out more than I thought I'd be. And I didn't have to wear long underwear on a constant basis!!! LOL!

K.'s birthday was last month, and I told him I wanted to take him on the Maid of the Mist ride down at the Falls. He mentioned months and months ago how he'd never been on it, and of course, the light bulb in my head went off! So Tuesday evening when were on the phone, I mentioned that the weather was going to be nice yesterday and then not so much the rest of the week. He decided to take a half day off of work, and came here so I could take him downtown. I was very excited! I have been on the Maid of the Mist ride twice, but the last time I was on it was 18 years ago! So I was excited for both of us to be going! I drove downtown and found a parking spot that was a bit of a walk from where we needed to go. I just didn't want to pay for the parking lots that surrounded so much of the area down there, and besides, I needed to walk! We got near the Observation Tower, which is where you have to go to take the long elevator down to the dock for the boat. Here are some views fr...

I just keep racking up the new experiences this summer! Flying on a plane, going to Florida, attending my first PHA conference, wandering Disney World, and also dealing with my first tropical storm was just the beginning! This past Sunday, I added another new thing to the list: jet skiing!!! No, that is not me, or K. above. lol I do have a picture with me on the jet ski, but K. hasn't sent it to me yet! When I get it, I'll share!  Anyway, it was such an awesome feeling!! We got the jet ski into the water, and I held onto it while K. parked the truck. When he got back, we climbed onto the jet ski, and before I knew it, we were taking off! I wasn't prepared for it! I wasn't sure how to feel at first, either. I thought maybe I felt a little seasick, but that lasted 2 seconds (THANK GOODNESS!!)! Then I felt like I was getting too winded, but nope! It was just WINDY! lol Then I realized I was just feeling a rushing experience! I was on the water, with a lot of other p...

Sooo, after the PHA conference last month, my phriend and her daughters and grand-daughter and I ventured on to Disney World! We were picked up at the Renaissance around 11am that Sunday, and off we went. It was a rather warm day, but wet and gloomy. I sat behind the driver, and soon we approached the Disney site. I took a picture of the entrance sign, which scared the poor driver because my flash went off and he thought it was lightning. Oops!! Soon we were at our hotel, All Disney Sports. There was a bit of an issue with checking in, and I also couldn't find out where my oxygen concentrator was located. After what seemed like forever, we were told where our rooms were, but only one of them was ready. So we headed to that one, and I was able to rest for awhile. Eventually the other room was ready, and I went down to it with my luggage. Then I had to go find the concentrator. I walked back to the main building, past the pool area. Which was flooded. I had worn my jeans and sn...