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FLYER99's Recent Blog Entries
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
On Christmas Day morning I went to visit my Mom in her special care home. When I got there she had just finished having her breakfast. The staff took her to the living room and she settled into a nice comfy chair by her favourite picture window. She was able to use her walker. Some days she has to be in a wheel chair.
I gave her a black and white plushy panda bear which she absolutely loved. Not only does she have dementia, she also has macular degeneration in her eyes and can't see except peripherally. We played with the bear (she loves bears) and it made her laugh (which made me laugh).
At noon, we had Christmas dinner in the kitchen. All 10 residents, the 3 staff and 2 guests (including me) enjoyed it very much. One of the resident's sons brought in the entire, catered dinner from our largest hotel. God Bless him, he does so much for all the residents there. He owns several businesses and is very well-to-do.
The dinner was awesome. We had turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, all sorts of veggies and for desert we had chocolate cheesecake. I must have put on all the weight I lost this fall - haha.
After dinner we went back to the living room and had a nice visit. I stayed for about another hour. The staff and the residents were going to sing Christmas songs later in the afternoon.
It took awhile when I first saw Mom that day for her to grasp who I was but all in all the day turned out wonderfully well. I feel so blessed that I was able to spend yet another Christmas with my Mom.
As I always say, please always take the time to hug your loved ones. It is the best thing you can ever do.
God Bless you all and have a Happy New Year!
Bob.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Sometimes I think God must be looking down on me and smiling. Yesterday I think he said, "I am going to give Bob a wonderful Christmas gift even though it is a wee bit early."
My Mom, who will be 95 next month, is in a special care home for dementia patients. She loves it there. There are only 10 residents in the home and 3 full-time staff to look after them. There are always home cooked meals and they have a wonderful time. God bless the staff as they are so good. Mom has been there now for four years.
This past year has been tough. Her dementia has really taken hold and she has become allergic to all antibiotics. If she gets an infection all they can do is make her as comfortable as possible and hope that her body fights it. That is no small feat as she is getting more frail all the time. When I visit now it takes her awhile to remember who I am, if she does at all. Sometimes I give her a kiss and a hug and leave, saddened and depressed, but I feel good knowing that maybe in some way I helped her a bit.
I used to just go out to her place and popped in unannounced. Now I call first to see how she is. I called yesterday morning around 11 am and she was just getting up, so I thought that I would make a little visit in the afternoon. To my amazement she was sitting in the living room and enjoying looking out the big picture window. She knew me right away, she even laughed and smiled. I spent a long time there and we all had hot chocolate and cookies.
It was a dreary day when I left my house but as Mom and I were sitting in the living room and looking out the picture window the sun came out from behind the clouds and the rays entered the room.
I think it was God saying to me, "Have a wonderful visit. I made this day especially for you and your Mom."
God Bless you, all my Spark friends, and please, please hug someone you love each and every day. You never know what the future holds.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
I was listening to a Joyce Meyer conference in which she states how our lives could change for the better with a little adjustment in our attitude.
Here are some interesting things she said:
Should you be grumpy because you had a hard time sleeping, think of the homeless family that has no bed to lie in.
Should you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair as there are people in the world for whom driving an automobile is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work, think of the man or woman who has been out of work for three months.
Should you despair over a troublesome relationship, think of the person who has never even known what it is like to love or to be loved.
Should you grieve over the fact that your boss denied your request to work four days a week and have a three day weekend, think of the woman in dire straits working twelve hours a day seven days a week for $10 a week just to feed her family in a third world country.
Should your car break down leaving you a mile away from assistance, think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you not get the parking place you wanted and you had to walk a couple of blocks and you complained, it's time for an attitude adjustment.
Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror, think of the cancer patient in chemotherapy who wishes she even had some hair to examine.
Should you find yourself discouraged because you can't decide what your life's calling is, be thankful as there are those who didn't even live long enough to get the opportunity to think about what their life's calling might be.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities remember things could be worse - you could be that person.
Here is an interesting question:
Is your problem really your problem or is it your attitude toward your problem that's your problem?
There are people in the world who have the exact same problem that you do but yet they are a lot happier than you are and there are people who have a much worse problem than you do and yet they are a lot happier than you are. It's not about the problem. It's about the way they decide to look at their problem.
Your attitude affects you and everyone around you, therefore:
Change your outlook and change your life!
Have a wonderful day!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Hi friends,
I just thought I would share this with you all.
My doctor and I have been watching my cholesterol over the past several years. I am what they call "pre-diabetic" if there is any such thing. So, he wants my cholesterol numbers to be lower that what they were creeping up to.
Since diet and exercise alone weren't working on getting the cholesterol numbers down, he placed me on a low dose of Crestor. Well, unfortunately I was one of the people that had the muscle weakness from it so we had to stop it.
However, it creeped up again at my last visit and so we decided to try an experiment. We decided to take just 1/4 of the lowest dose Crestor pill (a 5 mg pill) and we would start taking 1/4 pill every second day for awhile, then every day. Then if my body accepted that we would go 1/2 pill every second day mixed in with the 1/4 pills alternating, etc, etc. We would stop when my body reacted to it, if it ever did. We both wanted to see what this would do as, if successful, he would use this regimen with other patients.
So, I had been doing this for about 6 weeks and had increased to the 1/4 of a 5 mg Crestor every day. I took nothing else... no fish oil etc (which I plan to do as well).
I got the results of my first blood test under this experiment yesterday. These will show you that the biggest benefit to a statin drug is in the initial dosage. Increased dosages help very little, lowering the levels by just a fraction. My doctor was overwhelmed with the results as was I.
Total cholesterol 3.89 (150); previously Jan/11 5.65 (218)
Triglycerides 1.16 (103); previously Jan/11 1.36 (120)
HDL cholesterol 0.85 (33); previously Jan/11 0.88 (34) ** exercise needed **
LDL cholesterol 2.51 (97); previously Jan/11 4.15 (160)
Chol/HDL Ratio 4.6; previously Jan/11 6.4
He said to just continue with the 1/4 of a pill and we'll recheck in a month as that may be all I need. And I have no side effects at all from this low dosage.
I guess a point to consider is: perhaps when going on a statin start low. It may be all you need. And this was done with just 1/4 of a 5 mg Crestor pill. A normal starting dosage that most doctors give for Crestor is 10 mg every day! I am taking 1 1/4 mg every day!
Also, my blood sugar was good. My A1C actually dropped from 7.0 to 6.7.
Take care all and I hope you found this useful. I am extremely happy but I have to exercise more to get that HDL up as no pill helps that. Take care!
"The body is like a piano, and happiness is like music. It is needful to have the instrument in good order." - Henry Ward Beecher
Friday, May 20, 2011
I learned today with much sadness that our wonderful Spark People friend, Willowwinds has passed on to be with our Lord.
I can't stop the tears from flowing. I realize that I only know Susan (her real name) from Spark People, but she had become a source of such daily uplifting to me and to others. I will so sadly miss her daily blogs, her little jokes, her beautiful poems, her Christmas pages.
Through all of Susan's financial troubles and her many health issues, she never complained. She was always there to comfort us and to enlighten us with her wit and wisdom.
I feel so sad for her husband Russ. Russ was always so kind to Susan. And Susan loved Russ so much. Her fur babies will miss their Mommy so very much.
Russ, to you, please know that Willow was a light here on Spark People. She will be missed by so many. God Bless and keep you through this sad time.
I would like to quote one thing Susan said in her last blog:
"The Secret is this: "I have learned there is little I can do in my life that will make me truly happy. I must depend on God to make me happy and meet my needs. When a need arises in my life, I have to trust God to supply according to HIS riches. I have learned most of the time I don't need half of what I think I do. HE has never let me down." Since I learned that Secret I am happy."
This was Susan. All she wanted some days was some fresh fruit that at times they couldn't afford to get or some extra heat for their home. God Bless you, my dear, dear friend. A spark has gone from me and Spark People today.
God Bless you Susan!
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9b
For those wishing to send a card, her address is:
Susan Distler 3906 Nichol Street Newportville, PA 19056
You may leave a memorial comment on her Spark People page here:
www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?ID=WI
LLOWWINDS
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
I'm so glad see loves her bear and you two shared some laughter 
