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Small Talk: Out of Genoa


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Glad you're home safe, @Cupid Stunt.  It sounds like there isn't enough Dramamine in all the Walgreen's in Maldavia that would have gotten me through it if had I been on that plane!  As a side note, when I read your post about the Unification Church, I was thoroughly confused because I thought that was the laid-back church that was cool with everything.  It took me a minute to realize that Moonies are not Unitarians.  I'm beginning to understand why people often call me a "himbo".

@ByTor, I hope your mom and your puppy both make quick recoveries.  I completely understand how stressful it is to have aging parents and sick pets at the same time.  I can't vouch for this personally, but a woman I work with who has a lot of animals swears by peanut butter or regular old butter butter to hide pills.  Of course, every animal has their own personality, so here's hoping you get your hands on some good liverwurst soon!

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(edited)
1 hour ago, Snaporaz said:

I can't vouch for this personally, but a woman I work with who has a lot of animals swears by peanut butter or regular old butter butter to hide pills.  Of course, every animal has their own personality, so here's hoping you get your hands on some good liverwurst soon!

For pill #1 I tried a giant wad of peanut butter, and it worked!  Unfortunately it was such a giant wad I'd go through the jar in a week LOL. I'm staying at my sister's now (heat, yay!) and she was nice enough to buy some liverwurst (double YAY!!).

8 hours ago, valleycliffe said:

By Tor, have you tried wrapping his pill in a cheese slice (kraft)?

I have tried cheese, she eats the cheese, spits out the pill, and hides under the sofa LOL.  She does love cheese otherwise :)

Thanks for the kind words, all!

Edited by ByTor
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10 hours ago, ByTor said:

I would just like to say how I appreciate coming to this Y&R thread to make me laugh at a time when laughing isn't so easy!  On Tuesday my mother (88 years old) had the minimally invasive TAVR procedure to replace her aortic valve.  Long story short, she then needed a pacemaker, but because of blood thinners she was taking she had internal bleeding from the pacemaker site, needed a chest tube and a few units of blood and platelets.  Fortunately she made a decent recovery and is going home today, but it will be a while before she's back to herself...although she's getting there already, when I told her the other day someone told me my hair was cute she said "I like when you wear it up" (we have fought about my hair since I was 5 LOL).  Then, we got hit by that stupid Nor'easter yesterday which was supposed to be mainly rain (I'm just outside of Philadelphia), I lost power yesterday about noon, and it's still not back up.  I'm at a grocery store now having a tea and charging my phone/laptop...of course everybody else around here had that same idea, and the only table with an available outlet nearby is in the kiddie area, so I'm surrounded by a lot of screeching (not a kid person here LOL).  Anyway...sorry for the Debbie Downer rant, it's just nice to be among all you fine people, it really does help to de-stress :)

ETA I totally forgot, I also saw blood in my dog's urine, I had to drag her to the vet only to be told she has a UTI, which I knew it was, but I'm glad I got her checked anyway.  So, speaking of stress, now I have to try to give her antibiotics, and I'm not sure if her liverwurst went bad (liverwurst is the one and only was I can get her to take a pill, and I have tried them all).

ByTor, I just saw this and I'm so sorry for it all - nothing quite like being hit going and coming and I hope your Mom's recovery continues.  If she's able to critique your hair, you may already be halfway there.  I knew my mom was recovering when she told me she knew I "tried to help".  A little salt in the attitude is a good thing, I think!

We use the peanut butter trick - mostly works;  the cheese slice - sometimes works; and we also use the buddig sliced lunch meat - works if I follow the pill wrapped slice up quickly with another slice.

Good luck and rest up if you can.

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2 minutes ago, boes said:

I knew my mom was recovering when she told me she knew I "tried to help".  A little salt in the attitude is a good thing, I think!

LOL so true!

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On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 7:11 PM, Snaporaz said:

Glad you're home safe, @Cupid Stunt.  It sounds like there isn't enough Dramamine in all the Walgreen's in Maldavia that would have gotten me through it if had I been on that plane!  As a side note, when I read your post about the Unification Church, I was thoroughly confused because I thought that was the laid-back church that was cool with everything. It took me a minute to realize that Moonies are not Unitarians. I'm beginning to understand why people often call me a "himbo".

<Dead>

The Unitarians have their reasons for being Unitarians. I don't necessarily agree with them, but we have more in common than we have in disunity. As a Catholic with no standing, I have plenty of doubt about doctrine.

My personal opinion is that Moonies fall under the category of Megalomaniac Religious Cult. Their dogma is short on biblical reference or connection, and long on Ponzi schema remuneration to the founding family. If they had products to sell they would be a multi-level marketing company like Amway.

I've been on worse fights than that one -- Snow storm. Icing. White knuckles. Almost stuck the emergency landing, but skidded off the runway. Emergency slide into a snow bank and -4°F. *_* 

 

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 7:31 AM, ByTor said:

This, by the way, is my Lilly..they took this at Petsmart, now I call her my little cover girl LOL

image.png.14f88a7f88d274b4ece32eb5c1f6362b.png

Who's a baby?

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Thank you kind sir!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi 7Oh, man what blessing!

On 2/19/2018 at 6:01 PM, Snaporaz said:

When I was a student at Pitt, the WQED studio where Mr. Rogers worked was just a couple of blocks from campus, so it was not at all uncommon to run into him in a bookstore or coffee shop.  

Stupid phone!

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; )

Aren't they beautiful!

The Research Program has webcams focused on the penguin habitat, with observations from the scientists studying them. 

My office window faces the wall of a neighboring building, and I use a separate screen to broadcast realtime webcam streams of the outside world.

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On 3/8/2018 at 4:12 PM, Cupid Stunt said:

Mimosa! Thank you, gentlemen.

 

Penguin selfie offers bird’s eye view

Fun short video from the Australian Antarctic Research Program. Left click Home, and there are other interesting videos and information on the research work being done in Antarctica by the Australian government.

What fantastic creatures! I loved the way they shook their heads simultaneously, like nope not gonna mess with that thing.

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Thanks for asking, @boes.  Well, my mother is currently in "I want to bitch about everything" mode.  Although she's 88 years old, she has never had surgery before, and I think she was under the impression she was going to get that valve replaced and be back home doing jumping jacks in a few days.  She told me today she's disgusted that she's not even 90% back, when it's only been a week that she was discharged from the hospital...let's just say that patience has never been her best trait :)  On a better note, Lilly's UTI seems to be gone, 2 days of antibiotics left, and she is enjoying the hell out of her liverwurst :)

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5 hours ago, ByTor said:

Thanks for asking, @boes.  Well, my mother is currently in "I want to bitch about everything" mode.  Although she's 88 years old, she has never had surgery before, and I think she was under the impression she was going to get that valve replaced and be back home doing jumping jacks in a few days.  She told me today she's disgusted that she's not even 90% back, when it's only been a week that she was discharged from the hospital...let's just say that patience has never been her best trait :)  On a better note, Lilly's UTI seems to be gone, 2 days of antibiotics left, and she is enjoying the hell out of her liverwurst :)

I would fight Lilly for that liverwurst!  I'm part Irish, part liverwurst.

Sounds like your mom is getting back to her fighting strength!  Just need to make sure you stay at yours.  Seriously, this is hard work and I hope you're being taken care of a bit, too.

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4 hours ago, boes said:

Sounds like your mom is getting back to her fighting strength!  Just need to make sure you stay at yours.  Seriously, this is hard work and I hope you're being taken care of a bit, too.

Thanks, I am.   Just keeping in mind this is temporary.  I have all the respect in the world for those (I know there are a few of you here) who have parents with dementia, it doesn't stop.  Good thoughts with all of you.

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Guys, I'm so confused.

I went to see a second surgeon today and was told conflicting information.

The first surgeon I saw recommended surgery. He said the breast tissue in the right axilla has a greater chance when I'm in my 60s of becoming cancerous. It also can increase my risk of breast cancer, so while I could live with it, it's better to remove it. He also said once removed, and once I'm fully healed, I shouldn't have any more pain.

The surgeon I saw today said they don't remove breast tissue from the axilla just because it can become cancerous. His reaction was breast cancer can happen whenever, we're not going to remove your breasts because you can eventually develop cancer. He says sometimes, for cosmetic reasons, people don't like the extra tissue in the armpits and will have a plastic surgeon remove that via liposuction, but it's not covered under medicare. And when I mentioned that it causes me pain almost daily, I was told that's normal cuz it's breast tissue. So I'm just supposed to live with it?

Then after doing a mammogram, they found something they wanted to look at further, but couldn't find it via ultrasound so they said it could have just been overlapping breast tissue, and they gave me a paper to schedule another mammogram in 6 months to see if it's still there, got bigger, or disappeared and sent me on my way.

So do I have surgery, not have surgery? Gah.

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That's good news about your mother and Lily, ByTor. Are you going to get more snow with the third snow storm headed east?

 

Jewel, like Peaches, the pain would be a central issue on choosing the surgery. If your family has a predilection toward cancer, you will need regular preventative monitoring and testing

I have regular cancer screenings since I had the mass removed from my pituitary gland. I am forever grateful to the doctor that said I needed a CAT scan because of my hormone imbalance wasn't pre-menopause.

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7 hours ago, Cupid Stunt said:

That's good news about your mother and Lily, ByTor. Are you going to get more snow with the third snow storm headed east?

Right now all we have is some snow showers, the roads are just wet.  Next Tuesday, though, they're predicting 5-8 inches, here's to hoping they're wrong.  I don't need to see snow on my Easter bunnies outside!

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11 hours ago, Cupid Stunt said:

I have regular cancer screenings since I had the mass removed from my pituitary gland. I am forever grateful to the doctor that said I needed a CAT scan because of my hormone imbalance wasn't pre-menopause.

How did they remove a mass from such a location? If you don't mind my asking.

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18 hours ago, jewel21 said:

another mammogram in 6 months to see if it's still there, got bigger, or disappeared

Just my 2 cents - have the 6 mo. mammogram before finalizing any decisions. More information about what's going on in your body is better, right?

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4 hours ago, SweePea59 said:

How did they remove a mass from such a location? If you don't mind my asking.

I was operated on the same day I had the CAT scan. There was a lot of pinched looks between the technician and my doctor as they looked at my scans. I was sent back to my doctor's office where a phalanx of consulting brain surgeons and surgical interns discussed my symptoms and came to the conclusion I needed surgery immediately because of the size and position of the mass. I had just enough time to call Mr. Stunt and my parents, before I was registered into the hospital for surgery. I had a craniotomy, which made it easier for the surgeon to reach the tumor as well as observe any nerves and blood vessels involved with the mass. My head was shaved and the surgeon bored a hole an inch above my hairline through the skull, off to the right side. He probed beneath and between the lobes of the brain to cauterize the tumor and remove the mass debris. 

I was off work about 3 weeks, going back on half days for 3 weeks. 

And now for something completely different:

Sam Cooke - Live Harlem Square Club 1963

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4 hours ago, SweePea59 said:

Just my 2 cents - have the 6 mo. mammogram before finalizing any decisions. More information about what's going on in your body is better, right?

Thanks, everyone. And yes, that is what I'm going to do. If I do have the surgery, I have time since it's not pressing so I will definitely have the mammogram before I make any major decisions.

Edited by jewel21
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45 minutes ago, Cupid Stunt said:

I was operated on the same day I had the CAT scan. There was a lot of pinched looks between the technician and my doctor as they looked at my scans. I was sent back to my doctor's office where a phalanx of consulting brain surgeons and surgical interns discussed my symptoms and came to the conclusion I needed surgery immediately because of the size and position of the mass. I had just enough time to call Mr. Stunt and my parents, before I was registered into the hospital for surgery. I had a craniotomy, which made it easier for the surgeon to reach the tumor as well as observe any nerves and blood vessels involved with the mass. My head was shaved and the surgeon bored a hole an inch above my hairline through the skull, off to the right side. He probed beneath and between the lobes of the brain to cauterize the tumor and remove the mass debris. 

I was off work about 3 weeks, going back on half days for 3 weeks. 

And now for something completely different:

Sam Cooke - Live Harlem Square Club 1963

all i can say is wow...........happy you're still here............you are amazing.

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11 minutes ago, valleycliffe said:

all i can say is wow...........happy you're still here............you are amazing.

I owe it all to my endocrinologist and the skilled surgical staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

God is good.

Edited by Cupid Stunt
very stoopid phone
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1 hour ago, Cupid Stunt said:
1 hour ago, valleycliffe said:

all i can say is wow...........happy you're still here............you are amazing.

I owe it all to my endocrinologist and the skilled surgical staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

God is good.

Yes He is. 

I'm sure you had great doctors, but recovery was up to you.  Give yourself some credit too :)

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On 2/28/2018 at 11:15 PM, jewel21 said:

Apparently tomorrow my grandma is being moved to a facility in Toronto for people with dementia and Alzheimers. It's both reassuring and sad. She has no idea tonight will be her last night in her house.

I'm behind on the thread so I missed this as it happened. It's such a hard thing but being in a facility that deals with her issues will make a huge difference. But yeah, it is really sad. I hated lying to my mom about it not being her last night.

Speaking of which, when I saw her last week, she said she's accepted that she not leaving the facility. It's great that she's aware enough that I don't have to lie to her because it was killing my soul. We put the deposit down on a retirement suite for my dad in the adjoining building that is due to open in October. It'll be so much better when my dad will be there with her - right now he spends the weekends at home with me and spends Tuesday-Thursday nights at my sister's, who is close to where my mom is.

The house will be going on sale soon. We're hoping we'll sell to someone who wants to reno and flip it (there's a ton of work that needs to be done) so I could be out of a place to live in as soon as a month. Since I don't have a steady job (and I'm not sure I'm even capable of working one, plus I have a two-week theatre gig in Ottawa in June) I'm planning on putting my stuff in storage and do professional house-sitting for a few months. Also looking for online work I can do from home on a part-time or project basis so if you know of anything, I'd love to know.

Edited by marina to
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7 hours ago, Cupid Stunt said:

I was operated on the same day I had the CAT scan. There was a lot of pinched looks between the technician and my doctor as they looked at my scans. I was sent back to my doctor's office where a phalanx of consulting brain surgeons and surgical interns discussed my symptoms and came to the conclusion I needed surgery immediately because of the size and position of the mass. I had just enough time to call Mr. Stunt and my parents, before I was registered into the hospital for surgery. I had a craniotomy, which made it easier for the surgeon to reach the tumor as well as observe any nerves and blood vessels involved with the mass. My head was shaved and the surgeon bored a hole an inch above my hairline through the skull, off to the right side. He probed beneath and between the lobes of the brain to cauterize the tumor and remove the mass debris. 

I was off work about 3 weeks, going back on half days for 3 weeks. 

And now for something completely different:

Sam Cooke - Live Harlem Square Club 1963

Wowza.  You are a brave woman, Mrs. Cupid Stunt.

And thank you for the Sam Cooke :)

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14 hours ago, ByTor said:

Yes He is. 

I'm sure you had great doctors, but recovery was up to you.  Give yourself some credit too :)

It's odd how that afternoon developed. I had some questions rattling around my head as I was being scanned, but seeing the technician and doctor's reactions made time go flat. Something was wrong and had to be dealt with now. Questions were asked, scans were explained, more blood taken, decisions and phone calls made, forms signed, and all I could think about was if I had said and done enough for the people I loved ... Mr. Stunt, Thing2 and my parents arrived about an hour before the surgical team came to shave my head and measure my skull. My mother cried and collected my hair. Everyone else looked stricken. I knew the situation was bad when I was comforting them as I was being wheeled into surgery.

I woke up with my father reading The Constant Gardener out loud, my mother reciting the rosary, Mr.Stunt and Thing1 and 2 by my bedside. The post-op nurses were a little itchy with so many resolute characters planted in one room. 

The medications kept everything horizontal and plateaued -- I was walked and poked and bled and peered at and tested and questioned and examined and irradiated and scanned. I passed and was released to recover at home. Mom and dad stayed with us. Mom watched over me and cooked all my favorite meals. Dad handled calls from the office and remained calm as I went through various stages of emotional weirdness as my suppressed pituitary started to produce more hormones while the drug regimen tried to control the output; he was brilliant. Mr.Stunt juggled a crisis project at work and watched me sleep.

I've always been active, so I got to moving without much thinking about it. When I was tired, I stopped. I made small choices, but the drug therapy left me outside of myself and the present. It wasn't until I was being weaned off the drugs, that I could fully connect what I had gone through. The experience of my surgery and recovery happened in a fog of drugs, and there's a distance, even to this day.

Edited by Cupid Stunt
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I'm waiting in line while Homeland Security Theater performs Cabaret ... There's a keg-shaped security guard playing the Kit Kat Klub's Master of Ceremonies ... good voice and believable German accent.

I may or may not make my flight to Austin, Texas.

 

BtQ8707.jpg

 

Happy π Day

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Early/mid ’90s Bad Boy Records rapper Craig Mack died of heart failure in a hospital near his Walterboro, SC home. He was 46.

Mack, who hailed from Long Island, first started rapping under the name MC EZ in the late 1980s. As a boy, the Suffolk County native dreamed of making it big like LL Cool J and Run DMC. He began penning his own lyrics at age 12. But he caught his big break a few years later while working as an assistant to Long Island rap legends EPMD. Mack was introduced to Sean "Puffy" Combs, now known as Diddy, and appeared on the remix to Mary J. Blige’s 1993 hit, "You Don’t Have to Worry." He was also signed to Diddy’s then-upstart label Bad Boy Records and started working on his debut project, Project: Funk Da World.

Mack released his hit single, "Flava in Ya Ear," in July 1994. It was the first official release for Bad Boy. He also released a remix of the single, featuring The Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Rampage, and Busta Rhymes. The song received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards in 1995, but it lost out to Queen Latifah’s "U.N.I.T.Y."

Despite the success of Mack’s debut album, it would be his first and only release on Bad Boy. He split from the label a few years later before releasing his sophomore project, Operation: Get Down, in 1997. It did not enjoy the same success as his first album, and Mack subsequently stepped out of the spotlight and spent much of the last two decades focused on attending church in South Carolina. Still, Mack is widely credited with helping Diddy get Bad Boy off the ground at its start.

Mack’s decided to retire from music to pursue a life of religion, and had been ill for several years. Though Mack had retired, he was finishing up a new album before his death.

Mack is survived by his wife and two adult children.

Rest in the arms of the Father.

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i just love this song and it puts a smile on my face everytime... 

don't know how true it is but i read that the parents were really her parents, that was their apartment and those were her real friends who participated in the video..

Edited by valleycliffe
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