Where To, Bud?

Y'all have read my notes on SDMB before and you know how much everyone who posts there means to me. My friendship with Timespanner/Ice Wolf (Lisa) from New Zealand began there, as did my friendship with Julia , Janis , foodhoe , Margaret and many more who lurk here! (and if I forgot someone, PLEASE correct me because EVERYONE from there deserves inclusion and my thanks!) So what's goin' on with SDMB? Click on the title line and it will take you there. It ain't makin' no money for its owners (heretofore the people who publish Creative Loafing , i.e. The Chicago Reader newspaper). Recently, the message board was acquired by the Atalaya corporation and no one knows what they may do with us. The SDMB offers free membership (you see ads, and it is hoped you click on them for revenue) or subscriptions (no ads). The "Dope" (in case you're just tuning in) has been around in one form or another since 1973. It has nothing to do with drugs and its slogan is ...

The Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association will once again be participating in October. My counsellor Suzette writes that this is the most important fund-raiser for AD research of the year, so please click the title above, which will take you to The Memory Walk homepage. The Georgia team has been the front-runner in fund-raising for the past three years and we need everyone's help to put us out front again this year. Please take a look at the page in title link above to see how you can help. I will be including reminders in my blogs from here on out as well. Thanks Bill I know this is a "replay", but I think it serves as a good reminder:

And once you're on it, you'll NEVER get off! You just move up or down on it..... Do as I say and click on the title! :( And thanks to my gaming friend Mister Rik (from SDMB) for reporting this! I'm so mad at y'all, I could just say somethin'! Well. Okay. Just click to feed then..... *smirk* That *smirk* means that all of the above was in jest, and I have absolutely too much time on my hands these days! Thanks! B~

It's the weekend and I hope it will be a great one for you. I tried to find something befitting my circumstances at the moment and came up with this little ditty (it's not really about a broken leg, but it's funny as hell anyway!) And for you "purists": Thanks, see ya next week! Bill

All those re-runs of "House" are coming in handy, because even I though I have both a walker (Oh! The indignity of it!) and crutches, they're not really feasible for getting around in the bedroom and/or going to the bathroom. Can't get the cast wet, so I have to do "sponge baths", which really don't make me feel clean at all, and D. has to help me wash my hair, which we do in the sink. Luckily, I have an electric shaver, but everything has become such a "chore" all of a sudden, that once I get done, I'm huffing and puffing like a freight train. Add to that, the shame of having to sit down to pee, and maybe you (guys, at least) can imagine that it ain't so easy bein' me these days. I take a diuretic along with my BP meds, so that means I have to that a LOT throughout the day! We have a PC (this one) in our bedroom upstairs, so all I have to do is slide from the bed right onto the office chair and I can sit and check e-mail or write ...

Okay. It's broken at the ankle, but it's a "clean" break and will require no surgery/pins. The way it happened was this: I was helping D with the washing and was carrying a clothes basket down the stairs (bedrooms are upstairs). This is an older house and each step of the stairs is only about a foot deep. The basket was fuller with clothes than normal and It was hard for me to gauge where to put my feet, so about half way down, down I went. Didn't know it at the time but yeah, I broke the ankle and hit my head on the wall. The reason we didn't know it at the time, is because the new B/P meds I am on are making my hands and legs swell, so, because I could walk up the stairs last night we just thought "twisted ankle". Wrong. So I'm in a temporary cast till next week and when the swelling recedes, they'll put me on one oc those "walking" casts and I shold be able to get around a bit better. My computer time is going to be minimal bec...

I may be MIA for a few days. Took a tumble down the stairs carrying a basket of clothes and may have broken my left leg at the ankle. On the way to ER. Please keep clicking to feed, okay? Thanks Bill

Anyone who knows me can vouch for the fact that I'll sometimes point out the obvious, but I also think I see things from a different perspective than others. Does that make me a "conspiracy theorist"? Oh, I don't know, but it sure puts me in the realm . Lsst night I was privileged to see an interview with the President of The People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao, and listened carefully to what he had to say regarding the USA. Here's the transcript, if you'd care to read it: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0809/28/fzgps.01.html There may also be a video link, but only highlights. He wasn't all that critical of America, but you could read his "concern" that if we bite the big one, it's going to affect the entire planet . So that made me think (Thank GOD, I can still think clearly enough to form coherent sentences!): Our infrastructure (all parts of it) is quickly going to hell in a handbasket. I heard on the news that the nation...

With this blog, I didn't set out to be a "Mr. Doom & Gloom", but sometimes one must face facts: 1. I now see 4 doctors on a regular basis (5 if you count the Orthopaedist my PCP wants me to see). 2. Each one of these requires a $40.00 co-pay. 3. My meds (refillable monthly) run about $200.00 (not counting the OTC stuff I take to keep from having to take the prescription ones, to keep the cost down) 4. SOME of those meds have severe adverse effects. My new BP medication makes my hands and feet swell to the size of balloons, for example, so guess what? Yup. more expense as we try yet another medicine. As I write this, I can just imagine some of your comments, such as: "You think you have it rough, Bill? I pay way more than that!", but that isn't the point. The point is that the sheer expense of doctor's visits and prescriptions is going to cause a lot of us to have to "go without". I cite as an example, myself: I took myself off the Ex...

"It's been a good (and interesting) life, and who am I to claim to be the 'center' of it?" Of course I'm not! I once thought I was, but then I got "patients", and got to know them, and their families, and yes, loved them, too! Then it all just slipped away. So fast. What a voice, huh? And while we're at it, why not a tune from some of my favorite pickers and smilers? I know y'all will know my Darlin' Emmylou and my favorite picker Chet, but who else do you see? Sorry. Can't embed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-3dRwCaqU4 Remember the critters, please, and "Bert" (my long-haired domestic) says..... MROWWWWW? Thank you! Bill

There I was, a couple of nights ago, about to chow down on some great-smellin' vittles, when my sister-in-law (another one) goes: "Bill, ask the blessin', please?" HUH? I mean, Jesus Christ (sorry!)! My jaw woulda dropped on the floor if I hadn't supported it, and the first words (normally) out of my mouth would have been, "You have got to be shittin' me!" I mean, look at this from my viewpoint, okay? Pretend you've got the Pope, Billy Graham, Dr. Martin Luther King, Oral Roberts (and his bro' "Anal"), even this guy: And at the end of that line-up, ya got your ol' pal Bill standing there, picking his nose. Now, who are ya gonna pick to ask the blessing? See what I mean? So I said some stuff, beginning with the words, "It's been a while, ain't it?", and I guess it was okay with everybody, but I mean, damn , (sorry) I'm the least likely person one would ever want to ask the blessin'! I'm abo...

......and not the comments, you're missing a great deal of (heh-heh) social intercourse , because my friends and followers of the blog are asking some very good questions there, and I'm answering them there and not in the main body of the blog. So.... I don't know, have you got the blog set up so that you can read the latest comments as well? Or would you prefer I not reply in the comments, and create a blog entry with the questions included? Up to y'all, dear readers! Sometimes I will get an e-mail of a new comment and sometimes I don't. Guess that's just a google "thang". Hope y'all had a great weekend and will have a great week coming up. I found this video to remind us that there are many animals (not just doggies) who need adopting from local shelters nationwide. Adoption fees are very reasonable and your new pet will aprreciate a home that isn't behind a cage, so remember to click to feed, and to spay, neuter and adopt! Thanks Bill Edi...

I'm not in any of the pictures you are about to see, but I wanted to share them with you because of what (and who ) we believe they represent. Last Tuesday afternoon, Wayne's daughters, Gwen, Susan and Lisa, along with Dondra and two friends, Amanda and Wendy went to Wayne and Bett's ("Bett" was Betty's nickname) home just to be together and get some solace and give Wayne some comfort. While they were standing outside, a little baby deer came out of the woods, approached them all with no fear, allowed itself to be hugged, stroked, kissed and fed. Here are some of those pictures taken with Amanda's cell phone (some are a little out of focus but I think that given the circumstances that can be overlooked): Dondra and Gwen Gwen Lisa Lisa Lisa and Wendy Amanda ============================================================================ Now, one could argue that most wildlife are becoming bolder and unafraid of humans, because we're running them out of thei...

Something I meant to address in the first post with that name, but didn't - is I have finally come to the realization that all those material things I have gathered and collected in my life-time have suddenly become very unimportant. Y'all, I have given away my entire Stephen King hardback collection - right up until the very last book I bought called Dumas Key . I also will give away (or donate) other hard-backs/paperbacks/softbacks, and you wanna know why? I will never ever read them again, and why shouldn't someone else have them? Yes, I know I could have sold them, but my God, who wants to go through all that trouble? I also took all my Batman comics to the dump (some of them dating to the late 60's), because who gives a flyin frigg ? There's no market for them anyway and the guy at the dump is a Batman fan, so maybe I made him happy! My cd collection will most likely be the be the next to go, and then the DVD's, because, honestly, I haven't listened ...

Betty passed away Monday afternoon. Her heart stopped and the nurses and docs did CPR and got her back, but after that, she no longer "assisted" the ventilator, and she just wasn't "there" anymore, so decisions had to be made. Because I am an "in-law", I decided that this was a time for me to "step back", as it were, and let the family handle things from here on out, so I am sitting here by myself "talking" to you. Wayne (Betty's husband) is going to need someone to be his best buddy, and even though I have been away from the family for 24 years, I will step into that role if he'll have me, and do that. It's gonna mean I will have to learn how to fish and pilot a motor boat, but I will do that for him (and for myself!) and be there for him. One more final word: This is a REALITY blog, remember? That means I am giving you a "glimpse" into my life just as it is at any given moment in time. In the next few months...

And don't give me any shit over it, either, okay? http://www.d2d4wetnoses.com/sandy.html God, I'm wore out! Sorry! Edited to add I was just kidding about the "giving shit" part. I'm just very tired right now. We lost Betty Monday afternoon. Be back soon as I can. Love Bill

First off, everything's fine. With me. Betty's going to be in long-term Re-hab and has had a tracheostomy done since she'll also be on the ventilator during that time, and, at another hospital. This means setting up a schedule for at least one person to stay the night with her at the new place and it looks like that person will be me. D will be there in the daytime as much she can and still work. Statistics show that most mistakes with patients occur at night, so with what knowledge I have I can at least make sure she gets the proper care, although we're assured that Select is on of the better LTACs. So if you don't see me on the blog for a while, this will be why. I can check e-mails and even answer them, but as for writing any blog entries, I just don't know. Please remember to click and feed: And enjoy one of my favorite Johnny Cash tunes! Thanks Bill

Click on the title and read, okay? At first, it might seem very "clinical" to you, but just keep scrolling down till you get to the symptoms/characteristics, and read them one by one. I am in every one of those, and I am being told by neurologist, that I don't "fit" the "Alzheimer's Pattern", but that my depression is so severe, it's affecting my memory. My doctor tells me that's "good news" because it's treatable . With what ? I'm already "topped out" with Welbutrin and Lamiktal, so what's next, Electroshock Therapy? Nothing is working, and I am still doing stupid stuff. For example, I was told very plainly by D not to put her cotton tops in the dryer, but to hang them on clothes hangers, and what did I do? Threw everything into the goddam dryer, and now her tops will only fit her Barbie dolls. So I have this "pseudodementia", and now they want me to do the testing all over again: The MRI, the...

Had a reallll bad episode of memory-loss today, y'all, and this one's never happened in quite this way before: We get ready to see Betty in the hospital, and we both pack in preparation of spending the night if we're needed, I took my morning dose of "memory-dope" and we leave the house. We get there shortly before 11 am, and I'm thinking: "Okay, lunch, then the noon dose of meds and supplemen........ Oh, SHIT! I forgot my meds!!!!! I whisper to D that I forgot them, and she rolls her eyes, but says "Okay, we'll go home and get them (a 55 mile drive)." Luckily, another family member is spending the night, so we didn't have to go back, and just came on home. When we got here, I immediately went to my bedside. No meds (I keep them in daily plastic pill containers, and there are three: morning, noon and night). I say "Oh shit" again, this time with a lot of trepidation in my voice, and I go to my carry-on bag, and guess what I ...