Dudley

Notice the tag on his collar, Bark if you love Baseball!  We got it and his baseball collar in Cooperstown, last July.

Dudley came outside with me while I took a couple of photos of my quilts that are waiting to be finished with bindings.  I wanted to do an update regarding the supplements we are giving Dud for his arthritis.  We started him on Nzymes, first, because it arrived first.  We saw a bit of improvement, and it's easy to give because it's a chewable tablet.  Dudley thinks he's getting an extra treat.  About a week later the LubriSyn arrived.  It was a whole different story.  It's a thick liquid (like bath gel), and for his size, he gets a teaspoon.  Dudley doesn't want to take it, but he does.  The LubriSyn started helping him right away.  He's been taking it for 5 days now, and we've noticed considerable improvement.  It's definitely worth the effort to get it down his throat.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,

Bob

It's been a year since Bob was hospitalized, at the time I thought he might not come home.  He did, and he's doing great.  Bob will never return to his "old" self, but he's alive.  I get to endure his wry humor every day, and enjoy his enthusiasm for life.  He now has neuropathy in his legs and has lost a lot of the "feeling".  Half a mile is about his limit for walking.

Recently a neurologist told him to start using a walker.  Bob's attitude was "screw that, I'm going back to Tai Chi to improve my balance".  He's lucky, I'm the teacher, and I teach for free.

We both went to the same high school, Long Beach Poly.  Bob lettered on the Swim and the Water Polo Teams.  I found this Long Beach Poly Water Polo T-shirt for him.  He likes it so much he agreed to model it for the blog.

My great husband.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,

Then the pediatrician died!

I know that "Then the pediatrician died!" is the strangest title I've every done for a blog post.  I've been thinking lately about when my wonderful daughters were growing up, about how different they were when they were small.  We had an older pediatrician, he was about 70, Dr. Z.  I made an appointment to meet him before Carrie was born, to and decide if he was the doctor I wanted for my first baby.  I was really happy with our decision to have him as part of our parenting team.  One of the pieces of advice he gave us, before she was even born was after the baby was off formula, to switch to non-fat milk.  Dr. Z said if we did that, we'd never have fat children.  And he was right about that.

We were in good hands with Dr. Z.  Two years later Sharon was born, and things were humming along.  At about 18 months, she became a very difficult child, she was ornery and contrary, stubborn and disobedient  and generally hard to deal with.  No was her favorite word.  She was a huge grouch and a pain in the butt.  I loved her, but there were times I'd have given her away, to just about anyone.  Things got worse, the older she got.

When she was about 30 months, Dr. Z died.  His practice was sold to a young doctor, Dr. C.  On our first "get acquainted" visit he observed Sharon for less than 30 seconds, and said, "I think she has food allergies and you need to take her to a pediatric allergist."  Mind you I'd said nothing about Sharon or her behavior.  I thought, "I'll try anything."  Going to a pediatric allergist was certainly better than giving her away.

Dr. C., was right, she had food allergies.  She was allergic to milk products, chocolate, peanuts and tuna.  These allergies are not uncommon, but for her they didn't cause  "typical allergic reactions".  No rashes, no runny nose, no itchy skin, nothing we could see.  No, in her they caused her to feel bad, inside, and since she was young and always felt "bad", she acted out.

Once we cut the offending food out of her diet, she was a "new" kid, literally.  Her behavior was what we dreamed of, she was a delightful child, like her sister.

I hope this post helps someone with is having a frustrating time with a child, and they can see there's hope for their family.  And you don't have to wait for the pediatrician to die.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,

Regarding Old Nails.

A couple of years ago, I mentioned to my dermatologist that my nails had suddenly developed ridges, and showed her the ridges that ran the length of my nails.  She shrugged and said, "That's Old Age".  I replied, "So, I've gotten Old, the last month or two."  She replied, "Yes."

I was less than amused.  I am Old, but I thought there must be a solution to this.  I'm found a solution, but first I'll tell you about another, semi-connected problem.

I was born with baby fine hair, and it never changed.  When I was young my hair was thick, but baby fine.  Look how much hair, both Bob and I had, in the above photo.  We were about 26 and 22.  When I was 25, I had a tumor on my thyroid, it was removed, and it was benign.  But, and this was important to me, my hair started to thin, a lot.  To a woman in her 20's, thinning hair, especially thinning, baby fine, hair isn't a good thing.  I learned to deal with it.  Not only did my hair become thin, it grew very slowly.  I could go 8 to 10 weeks between haircuts.

OK, back to the title of this post.  We were watching the news and in the health segment a dermatologist was talking about nail health.  You can watch the interview here.

The Dr. talked about several things to help your nails, most of them I already did; one thing I wasn't doing was taking 2.5 milligrams of the supplement Biotin daily.  I'm still not taking that much; I'm only taking 300 mcg of Biotin daily.  I thought I'd start small and see what happened.

What a difference.  Not only are my nails super healthy and unridged, my hair is growing faster.  I had to get a haircut last week, only 6 weeks after my last haircut.  My hair may be thicker, but I honestly don't know.  My hair-cutter, Emily, couldn't believe how fast my hair had grown.

Be well and do good,

Trouble, again.

In 1969, when I was 25, during a routine exam, my doctor discovered a lump on my thyroid.  He sent me for x-rays and it was decided that the nodule had to come out!  I was hospitalized for a couple of days after the surgery.  The good news was the thyroid tumor was benign.  The bad news was the surgery was brutal.  I was bruised from earlobe to earlobe and nipple to nipple.  Really!  My throat was so sore I couldn't swallow and could barely talk.  To top it off, (I was in St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach), the nuns came in an told me I was faking and to start eating!  My dear roommate, who was Catholic, was horrified; and assured me that not all Catholics were like those nuns.  I knew that.

When my Dad visited me, I told him how bad I was hurting and how the nuns berated me.  He went to the office of the hospital director and told her to keep the nuns out of my room.  They didn't return for the remainder of my stay.

Fast forward to 1988, when I was 44, another nodule was discovered on my thyroid.  When the doctor told me I literally burst out in tears, and I'm not a weepy woman.  He asked what was wrong, so I told him what happened 19 years earlier.  He assured me that medicine has come a long way, and this would be a breeze.  And it was.  After an ultrasound, it was determined the nodule needed to come out; they used the same scar, that was good, and the results were the same, benign.  I only stayed in the hospital one day.  I had visitors from work and I could actually talk to them.  Amazing.

So, here we are in 20ll, and I'm 67, with another nodule on my thyroid.  My endocrinologist has been watching this one for couple of years but thinks it's time to take a look at it.  This time I don't have to have surgery for him to determine if it's benign or not.  He's sending me to a pathologist, today, who will do a fine needle aspiration.  She'll then examine the tissue and determine the next step.

We live in a great age.  Medicine has come a long way, again.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, that everything will be AOK!

Do you see a trend, here?  I've had a nodule every 20 years or so.  I wish it would stop.  I threw in the photos because every post needs photos.

Be well and do good,

Very interesting

I just took a survey using the Life Expectancy Calculator at MSN.com.  My life expectancy is 102.  Oh my!  How about you?  Check it out!