Perspective Plus discussion

I had my first car accident today. I am fine. The car,not so much. Not totaled, but not driveable either. I am shaken up and weather is the very utmost cause. Snow. I was going slowly and was on my way to the library. I turned the corner and car met curb. The right front tire is UNDER the car. See, when I break something, I don't go half-way.

Well, I am fine, the car is back and I have my check from the insurance company. My mechanic was able to fix it with no problem, and it turns out that it was mechanical failure and not driver error that caused my problem. My control arm (for those of you who don't speak car, that is what makes the wheel turn) broke. This is a very delicate part and a good pot hole can fracture one. My mechanic thinks this may be the case and that I must have hit ice or something causing just enough torque to snap it.

All in all, not a bad situation, and now I can make jokes. Saturday, I was shaking and crying throughout the day. I have never had been in or had an accident before. So, as a first time for everything moment, not a bad one.

I got a scary email yesterday. My best friend Karen (I have 3 total, Connie, Karen and Kelley) emailed me to tell me that she found a lump yesterday morning. She is working on getting a mammogram scheduled ASAP. I will be going with her to her appointment and I will keep you posted.

Karen has an appointment for Friday (5/25) at 9:15 in the morning.

Just came from the mammogram. Karen is just fine. If it gets bigger or a problem, she is to come back.

PLEASE remember my landlady Sue in your thoughts and/or prayers. Her daughter died of a drug overdose leaving behind 4 young children. Thank you all.

Oh sweetie! Of course. I have met Paul's landlady and she is an absolute doll. Please keep me posted.

I am in need of prayers for myself. I went to the eye doctor on Tuesday and I now need too see a specialist. All my doctor could say is that something is "not right" with my right macular. I need to see a specialist and she can work with my regular doctor to get me a referral to the Cleveland Clinic Eye Center.

Here's the scary part. I can only see 100% out of my right eye. I had a bleeding retina in my left several years ago that left me with a center dead spot. I have peripheral, but not dead center. So, fear is a big part right now.

I am at a day by day thing right now. I must stress that my vision is just fine, and that hopefully this is a normal thing for me that she just hasn't noticed before or wasn't enough of a concern before to be noted.

I will keep you posted.

I have an appointment for Monday, 12/10/12. I will be seeing the same specialist that I saw for my other eye. He is THE best you can get, so I'm in good hands,but it's still scary.

I was in the office for almost 3 hours, saw him for 5 minutes and have been pronounced as being just fine.

YAY!

Thank goodness!

I got to drive home dilated,in the dark, and in the rain, all while crying tears of joy. Lucky I made it home.....

I lost my pet mouse, Etoille(our group photo avatar) on Saturday. He was 2 years and 1 month old to the day that he moved into my heart. He was the first mouse I had purchased making him my first true time at being a pet parent. Jasmine only lasted 2 days as she was too young. We still have Luna,who is also over 2 years old,and she is doing fine.

And relentlessly mooching extra treats off Kim and I. Can't forget that. Luna won't let us.

I didn't want to harsh anyone's holiday, but Luna passed on Friday, 12/21/12. We are now, for the time being, mouseless, but we plan on adopting more in the spring.

Awwww. My condolences dear.

Thank you.

So... I am having a LOT of pain in my left leg recently, at night. Waking up every two to three hours from the pain. I went to the doctor's office and he diagnosed inflamed bursa and t-strap. He sent me for x-rays and the results posted on mychart. Test results posted on mychart. I now apparently have:
Disk space narrowing, vacuum disk Phenomenon and endplate spurring at the lower four lumbar levels consistent with
degenerative disk disease. Multilevel degenerative facet changes are seen as well. There is mild dextroscoliosis of the lumbar spine. There is mild marginal spurring at the left hip. Mild osteoarthritis at the left hip.

I am going to find a teaching position with insurance how? I am going to work 20 years there how? Color me depressed :(

*hugs* That really stinks. But we're here for you; if you need anything, just ask.

BIG HUGS! You know that "disabled" people are able to be teachers. We had one teacher that was in a wheelchair in my high school. Don't give up,and know that we are here for you.

My aunt Pat is not doing well and I ask for your thoughts and prayers. She is my grandma's last sibling. All of the in-laws are gone as well. She has been in nursing home for over a year now, after living in assisted living for a few years. I am asking for enough time for grandma to get in her goodbyes and for my aunt to go quietly into that goodnight.

My aunt passed quietly on Thursday evening late/early Friday morning. Mom took grandma out to see her Thursday afternoon. My late Uncle Hughie was an Arthur Murray dance instructor and loved to dance. Many times he and Aunt Pat were out on the floor at weddings or Kiwanis events cutting a rug. One time at a family wedding, he twirled her so hard,he flung her into a table and chairs, but he kept going!

Aunt Pat stories were always my favorite stories to hear over the years as she was a Character. One story that will translate to those who did not know her is this one. One time grandma,Aunt Pat, and Uncle Hughie went out to dinner and grandma drove. She was taking them home, and Aunt Pat, in a typical move, had placed her leftovers on the floor of the car. When she got out,forgetting that her leftovers were on the floor, stepped in them. Not only did she make a mess in the car, she left a trail to the house as she went to get something to clean up the mess!

These were the kind of stories I heard all the time. She worked for the May Co. and retired well after they became Kauffman's, before the Macy's buyout. She loved golf and baseball. She was loud, loved to laugh, and swore like a sailor when she forgot the kids were in the room, which was often. She loved her family, life and a good drink.

She will be missed.

My condolences dear friend. Huggies.

Thank you.

Hey, Paul, how are you doing? How did the Dr. go?

Oh my. I am sorry I forgot to tell you. *embarrassed look*

The pain is evidently from the arthritis rather than the bursitis as rotating the joint can trigger the pain. The other conditions are all minimal and of no concern at this time according to the doctor. We are treating the pain with A) a new mattress, B) Ketoprofen 3xs a day, and C) physical therapy. It is actually working, I have just woken from my third night in a row of NOT waking through the night from pain. YAY!!!!

Huggies and THANK you for asking.

I am so glad to hear that you are doing better.

*hangs head in shame* I should have called....(bad friend,bad!)

As of Saturday, April 27, Aaron's landlord (whom he has had for only 1 year) put the building up for sale yet again. Many of you may recall that the building went up 2 years ago, one week after Aaron's open heart surgery. Well, this coming Sunday, May 5 will mark two years for that and this Wednesday will mark one year since his lease started. Convenient isn't it? No notice can be given by tenants to move out and they will be there until a new owner takes over. Any new owner will have to keep the lease as is until it expires, unless they want to condemn and tear it down, then they must give 90 days notice. Aaron cannot afford more than what he pays now and in order to stay with the low-cost clinic we are a part of, he must not move into the city of Cleveland or he will lose his care. He cannot afford what is offered via his work, so you can see our situation.

On a higher note, we became mouse parents again after losing our remaining two at Christmas. We now welcome a dulche de leche colored girl named Dusty (as in Springfield), a gray and white girl called Pogo (she has a possum face of half gray and white) and Tatianna, a light brown,(kinda like a ferret brown) girl to our lives.

Oh wow. Sending energies!

Happy anniversary of surviving the surgery.

Congrats on the new critters

Thank you darling! :) We do so need to get together when school is done or when you have time. I miss you!

I was just thinking the same thing. School is done now... call me and we'll make plans.

Will do! :)

We lost Pogo last night and Tatianna is not doing well. Dusty seems fine. I am so stressed that I am numb and can't even cry.

BIG BIG BIG huggies and comfort.

Well,Narzain has a bug, Tatianna, as far as I know is hanging in there. I will be checking in on both later today.

Narzain is recovering, albeit slowly.

Tatiana is doing fine; she's favoring one paw, and isn't as steady on the ladders as she was, but she's active and eating. Dusty is also fine, and has been a wonderful sister to Tatiana, keeping her warm and comfortable while she was sick.

Great to hear! Huggies

Tati was not so hot last night according to Narzain. She may have rallied, but she may not be succeeding. :(

And in a cruel twist of fate, we lost Tatiana last night. One week to the day after losing Pogo. When I got home, she was laying very still, partly on her side in the entrance to their plastic igloo, and her eyes were closed. I tried blowing on her to rouse her, but only disturbed Dusty, who was sleeping next to her. I went to get the supplies to remove her, but then she drew two deep breaths. At the time I thought she was letting me know she was still holding on. Now I think they were her last breaths. I checked on her just before bed, and she was gone.

Dusty seems mostly okay, if a bit lost and shell-shocked. She was always the most skittish and standoffish of the three, though she will take crackers from me by now.

I am not dealing with this terribly well right now.

I am so sorry to hear about the loss. Much comfort to you my friend.

I am too numb to cry yet. I am going to purchase a companion for Dusty today after I go swimming and rid myself of some of this stress. Narzain is still recovering from whatever he had last week and this has been weighing on us as we have been holding a collective breath.

Dusty's new roommate, Endora, is absolutely adorable! Alas, she is also an escape artist. This morning I found her sitting on top of the cage; she got out, but couldn't get back in to where the food and water live. Fortunately, she is not shy about being handled, and let me pick her right up and put her back inside. Hopefully this experience "scared her straight," so I don't have to wonder where she'll be whenever I leave the room...

Houdini lives!

Dusty passed yesterday. Endora seems to be o.k. and I will be getting her a new companion or 2 today.

Oh my. I think you should talk to where ever you got them from. For them all to go so fast in close order.... something sounds fishy. My most sincere condolences.

We now have a total of three mice, and a story. So, yesterday Kim went back to the pet store where she got Endora (who were supposed to be getting more female mice in on Friday) to get her a new roommate. Well, they meant NEXT Friday, sorry. So, option two, the store nearest my place, where she got a nice-looking mouse. What neither she nor the store employee could tell at the time was, that one was a boy. Apparently he was tense & spraying that unique boy-mouse musk on the drive, and his little nuts were a little more obvious then. Oops. Easy mistake.

Not wanting to circle back around, she went to another shop nearer to her place, where she found two adorable girls: Esmerelda, an all chinchilla-grey cutie, and Serena, a study in black and white. They stayed at Kim's place until I came by after work. Then they moved in with Endora, and hit it off immediately. They also started climbing the walls immediately; two ninja mice in the house!

What happened to the errant boy, you ask? We took him back this morning, with many apologies and declarations that he didn't do anything wrong, we just can't have a boy mouse. We're trying NOT to go into the baby mouse business. They took him back no problem; I last saw him heading for the igloo in the store's display cage.

All's (hopefully) well that ends well. Our three girls are active (and staying inside the cage). Perhaps de-stressing can now commence? One hopes.

Any errors in relating this story are all mine, and I apologize on behalf of my brain.

We are excited about the ninja mouse thing,as it is fun to watch them climb. As of Friday evening, the two newbies were climbing upside down. (By the way, Narzain you did a great job of relating what happened.)

I knew something wasn't right when the smell started in the car. I haven't smelled that since Etoille and Sol so I knew that that meant! Unpleasant is one word for it.

On Saturday, while we were at the library, my contact lens was irritating my left eye. I went to remove it, and could not find it. My eye was still bothering me, so I thought my contact had migrated to above and or behind my eyeball. I'm panicking,thinking I need to go to the ER and have my eye flushed out. It was on the desk. It blended in with the desk. They are lightly tinted to bee seen when you drop one, except the desk is the same color as the tint. So, there I am, with only one eye to see with, trying to type.

Not good.

Thankfully, I wear disposable ones, and have backups. We were close to my house and it was quickly fixed.

Sheesh!


As for the other 3 we had, they were sold to as "feeder mice" and not "fancy" which means that hobby breeding was largely not a big part of their lives. Feeder mice say it all. Fancy usually means mice with color and patterns. Typically they are bred by hobbyists for color,temperament,and longevity. Some stores sell both white and colored as feeder mice if they have a supplier who is just breeding to breed. I believe this may have been the case with our three.

Miss Endora is indeed an escape artist. She has gotten loose 3 times this wee, twice in one hour while Narzain was there to catch her. Not in the actual act, but close. The cage is now clamped,covered with parts from the old cage and things have been removed from inside the cage that may have provided leverage for Miss Tiny Henie. Come on growth spurt!

The precautions seem to be adequate, as Miss Endora has since stayed inside the cage. Now if I can just get her and Esmerelda to stop fussing at each other...

Serena just stays out of those arguments. Smart girl.

SAD AND EMOTIONAL POST ALERT





This morning was a sad one, as it saw the loss of our Endora. Just after 7 am, I went by the cage and offered goldfish crackers (the treat of choice) to the girls. Serena and Esmerelda took theirs, but Endora was laying on the second level of the cage with her legs hanging through the bars, not responding. I reached in and supported her legs; she moved over to the side of the cage and lay back down. Within a few minutes, she took two deep breaths which I think were her last.

I took her out and held her for nearly a half hour, looking for any sign of breathing, but she was gone. This hit me hard, as I have become very attached to the cute little escape artist. I don't know if she had a sudden illness (she was fine last night), or if one of her escapes had somehow damaged her inside, and it caught up to her this morning. She did not seem to be in pain, thank goodness.

I think what hits me the most is the fact that she always came back to me. Always. Except this time.