halt stop forget relax

I forgot to take my memory mint today, so, I'll post it again, likely with changes. Biggest joke (and disappointment) -- MS drugs. They are all "disease modifying" and not "disease stopping."  I guess there's no money in finding a cure for MS. Biggest rip-off - Ampyra.  This was available before the pharmaceutical company got hold of it and tweaked its formula to call it its own so they could charge $1200 a month for it instead of the original $40 or so when it was 3,4-AP [aminopyradine] and you had it made at a compounding pharmacy. [was that a run-on sentence or what?]  Also,  it was hard to get a Dr. to give you an Rx for it then, too. Wonder why? Biggest joy - Ella Minnow Pea. This was a totally delightful book an I still recommend it. Biggest Good-for-Me - Continuing  to do Zentangle despite my shaky and numb fingers.  I can see the difference from two years ago! Also am having some ON issues. Aaargh! Biggest  Obstacle - MS, and al...

Today, the day that sha ll remain "in inf amy," my computer went to bl ackscreen a t the auspicio us time of High Noon.  It is only because we retained my first la ptop that I bought i n 2000 (or so) , a Dell Inspiron 8000, that I am able to post at all. I ha ve, at leas t tempora rily, lost everythi ng -- and I can't tell you when I l a st ran a b a ck-up , becaus e that's not my job; I don't "ge t" computers a nd don't know of such things, and the powers tha t be , while adept at, say, gett ing this old thing to keep on working as our f a ll - back 'puter, isn't so current on ma intaining my other one. Life sucks; MS sucks, and I 've just dropped a bo a t-load of money on two new pair of eyegla sses. Sea rs d oesn't h ave the offers they used to. In s tead of letting me use my old regular frames for my new r eaders , they ha ve changed all of their len s-shapes so that you have to move on to a newly shap ed frame -- also...

  Yeah, that. Now, in addition to having pressure sores on the bottoms of my feet (which are getting  smaller with time), my tiny sores on my bum have morphed into one larger sore which, while not actually meeting Medicare requirements for the medical equipment they should have dispensed to people with worsening MS, but didn't, I now have  shown at least enough progression that my Medicare Supplement Policy has agreed to buy me a semi-electric hospital bed with an APP mattress, a RoHo cushion for this piece of shit chair, and a Hoyer lift.  Now the bed and mattress will allow me to lie on my side, relieving the pressure, and when I am back on my feet, the seat will be very welcome, though I am not sure how much time I will be "allowed" to sit each day. They should be here before 2 P.M. today. Can't wait, though my bedroom will need some major moving of dressers etc. before I can reclaim it as my own. 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888...

HAPPY FALL EVERYBODY! Isn't it amazing how fast it has made it through this season? I used to love kicking though the leaves that weren't swept up on the sidewalks, and collecting horse chestnuts and buffing them to a nice shine. When I was a kid I planted several right next to the side of our house, and my Mom got mad at me because by then then, in one year, they were two feet tall! At least they were easy to pull out. 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 I've had a rough patch lately with more optic neuritis. This is impacting both my blogging and my reading of all those mysteries and 1000 books DH loaded on my laptop.Talk about bad timing. Fortunately I have had the occasional day when the ON abates and I can read or do the Zen thing,  but I have to be careful because I am also noticing a bit of double vision. My MS sucks for sure. Right now I am working on a 9x11 piece which I plan to mat and frame to hang somewhere; perhaps in the...

Ever want to say, "Whoa, Willy!!"? Me, too. Life hasn't been kind to me lately, and it's not the MS I'm talking about. It's my new chair, and it's Medicare, and it's sales people who don't really give a damn, and it's Drs. who let orders sit on their desks because they are too busy to catch up on their paperwork which I imagine is tremendous. Well, MS did play its part in the story, I guess, because without it I wouldn't need the chair in he first place, now would I? But it now plays just a bit part in this drama. I have needed this chair for quite some time, at least according to my E-mail records, going back well over a year now, in 2012 when I was trying to get ahead of the game and getting a mobility assessment from a PT and being taken too literally from my doctor  (my PCP) who took me off that year-long list after I expressed my upset wait for one. [talk about a run-on sentence!] Really? And now she treats me just l...

I am still thinking about a real post for you, but in the meanwhile I am linking to another giveaway. I want to win this manila art journal from Greene Earth Originals. I  did start writing my "real" post but my husband barged in to give me a DVD and unplugged my computer in the process, so I lost everything I was doing. Er, argh!!  When my fingers wake up and I have had a ccup of coffee, I promise you I will write that post.   n the meanwhile, Good Day,  TTYL and Be Well,

I am entering a contest to win a Halaby Aero Flightbook... “Notebook Stories”has   a wonderful collection of various  notebooks to choose from, of this being one. Wish me luck.

 Yesterday I watched Mrs. Doubtfire  "I saw him; I think it was a run by fruiting" ; today it was Dead Poet's Society, in memory of Robin Williams. What a fantastic performance. I don't know why, but it surprises me how rigid and ignorant many people are. This movie brought me to tears in the end. I couldn't help it. Sniff, Sniff. I guess it's on to another one on the list. I will check to see what's available on www.tubeplus.me   where I go to watch TV and movies for free. Makes me wonder why I am paying $20 just to be connected to regular TV which we so rarely watch. TTYL,

First, I turned 59 on the 24th of July. No cake, no presents, nada. It was a little disappointing. Next year had better be different!! It will be a landmark birthday after all. ** We have celebrated another anniversary! We were married on the hottest day of the year in 1987; It was August 8, 1987 -- 27 years ago. Sometimes it feels like 27 years, and at others it feels like no time at all. We both have brought baggage into the relationship. With me, it was MS; and with him it was his predisposition to depression. Together we are quite the match. I am a Leo and he is a Taurus, which is why we are stubborn enough to make it work. I have other thoughts about that which I will keep to myself. ** Last Saturday two friends from sorority dropped by to deliver a free Canon printer that was left over at the yard sale. I wish I had known which model it was, because it turns out that it is one of their cheaper models, and it was not like the one that we had that has a messed up printer head...

While I am  glad that I got this lovely new chair, it is not without its problems, the latest being the back seat cushion. Basically parts of it are a piece of shit   cheaply made product. I have had it for, what?, four  weeks,  and the back cushion which is attached by velcro strips slips down so that the bottom of it is behind the seat rather than above it. That means that the lumbar support, which is also attached with velcro is not supporting my low back. Any other options that were available weren't presented to me because it was being paid for by Medicare and Medicaid, and therefore not covered. Oh well, it is what it is: too big for my house, and too cheaply made. All the money went into the technology for the tilt and recline functions, which are pretty darned cool. I can take a comfortable nap in this thing. Well, the hot hot weather that was predicted turned out to be just cloudy and hot weather, and perfect for the family BBQ/Picnic that I had arranged...

After several hours of  dealing with the timesuck that Google+ presented, my dear sweet husband has fixed my long lost (to me, amyway)  entrance to my blog. This means that I will no longer be using my blog of the same name over at WordPress, as I don't want to climb the learning curve it presents to me. So welcome me back dear readers, all seven, or so, of you. Now I get to go to my reading list and catch up on what many of you have been up to -- so check you comments (hopefully they show up in your E-mail). TTYL and Be Well,

Yes, today's the day. It is supposed to be delivered at 1:30 PDT. House is a mess and DH is sleeping, but what can you do? More later. Webster

After all this time and angst I finally got notice from my insurance company (but not from the sellers) that my Quantum Edge has been approved. Now the sellers got their notice too, but are waiting for hard copy to proceed. My letter came two days ago, so I assume they got theirs then as well. Now they have  to send it to the purchasing department. and from them I will find out how much my copay will be, possibly as much as $5000! Since Obama care has required all uninsured people who cannot afford an insurance policy to go through DSHS, DSHS has cut off certain services they were paying for me. I don't think they are going to pay for my co-pay since I was just billed for the one when I saw my PCP. I have been using a Jazzy 600 that was given to me by the guy who bought my brother's 1980 truck. It's too big for my house. I have to take one arm off so I can make it through the doors, corners are tight, it's a bit uncomfortable -- but it was FREE! It  also has some soup...

My brother likes to wheel and deal; it's just the way he rolls. So when a neighbor of his expressed an interest in buying his old pickup truck, he said, "So what do you have  to trade?"  It turns out this guy has a wheelchair (brand unknown) that he says is worth about $50000.00 and he offered up that. My brother took him up on it and it will be brought over to me on Saturday. I don't know his story behind the wheelchair, but I will find out some of the background then. I have no idea how old it is, just that it is an electric chair and has some super-duper type batteries and will go up hills with  no problem. I HOPE it will fit my rather large butt comfortably, and will work out well for me.  If not, as my brother says, I can always sell it. As for the Quantum Edge -- It is still is review by the insurance company, and I'm not due to have a response until July 3. I looked over the paperwork that was sent in by my PT and my PCP, and things have changed with me...

Well, I gotta say, I am so jealous of people who are warm blooded, because feeling cold all the time sure sucks. I guess that's why I like to stay snuggled under my comforter in the mornings. Lately, however, I am making a valiant effort to turn around my internal clock. Doesn't much help with staying warm, though, but Summer is slowly creeping our way, and it's predicted to be a good one. But right now, and for the forseeable future it's all partly cloudy, rainy, or with showers and temps in the low-mid 50s, dropping to 41 at night. We had the WETTEST March on record. Very little snow pack in the mountains until February when it came down in droves - warning off water rationing this Summer. Considering what kind of Winter much of the country has had to put up with I don't know what I'm complaining about. Perhaps it's just how  I feel these days. Uncomfortable, and a little out of control. As you may have noticed, I screwed up my template and I just don...

They say that patience is a virtue but I am feeling anything but virtuous waiting all these months to get the ducks in a row in order to get my Quantum Edge chair. The latest is that I have to see my PCP again to have her fill out a "face-to-face" series of questions regarding the necessity of my getting the chair. And she's busy out of the office for the next two weeks, so my appointment with her is April 8. I  was hoping to have this baby by the end of January --- but Noooooooo. Still not here. I am trying to concern myself with what color I should get. My first choice was Candy Apple Red, then I moved on to Sapphire blue (purple), then Emerald Green, and lately have been thinking about the bright Orion Yellow. What would work best in our drab Pacific Northwest weather , whether  inside or out.  I also want to make sure it has the elevating feature (if it's covered, cause I sure can't afford to pay for extras). This has been the worst year of the nearly 30 ...

I just thought this was funny. So, don't take this personally please. I am not commenting on anyone's beliefs. Be well, Webster

Well, I finally got some information from both the vendor and my PT eval. I was sent the 12  page review that must be submitted to the insurance company. Now all they need is another signature from my PCP in order to submit it to the insurance company. This won't take long as they wrote it   all out for her and all she has to do is sign it and fave her nurse fax it over. Easy Peasy. Progress indeed. I must say, I have progressed significantly in the last six months. I have been giving myself the Copaxone shots, but they don't seem to be effective at warding off even little relapses, those are the ones that I don't realize I am having until I start to recover from them. What an odd disease this is. The good thing is I see my neurologist later this month, and we can discuss what to do next. Thus far I  have nixed Tysabri and Gilenya due to their rather negative side effects, with little promise of improvement. What else it there? I haven't been keeping up on the n...

They say you learn something new every day, and by golly, to day I did. I was listening to "The Swing Years and Beyond" this evening; in their third set they played the original "Tip Toe Thru the Tulips."  I had always thought that Tiny Tim wrote that song back in the 1960s, so when I heard this, I felt  bamboozled! If you actually listen to them back to back, they're not so very different. But you have to close your eyes, because Tiny Tim was a bit of a nut job, (in my humble opinion). Here's the origina l, done in 1929 performed by Nick Lucas in Gold Diggers of Broadway. Sorry this opens in a new window and has an ad at the beginning. And here is the Tiny Tim version done in 1968 on the Johnny Carson Show. It also opens in a new window, but there is no ad on it. Enjoy this little trip down memory lane. Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well Oh, P.S.,  HydrangeaHippo.com is having a monthly scrapbooker's giveaway of lots of goodies.

I was wandering around YouTube tonight and listen and see what I came across.   I like this rendition of the song. Enjoy! and here is kd lang's version , for comparison's sake (for Muffie). I actually like this version much better, too. Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,