Tell Me This is Not the Dreaded “It” Disease: Brain Freeze on Downers. Tell Me
01 Oct 2011 3 Comments
in Letters, Reflections, Trials and Tribulations, Uncategorized
When I realized that there were four jars of Best Foods Real Mayonnaise in my cupboard, I thought to myself, well this is how IT starts. By IT, I mean the gentle demise of your brain and all of the functions it controls, literally Brain Freeze on Downers. You see, I still cannot mention the name of the disease that does this to basically elderly people because I am terrified. I’ll bet you thought this is a commercial for Best Foods Real mayonnaise; well it is not. It is a discussion on a disease I must continue to call IT. My doctors would like to know if I would like to be tested to see if I have the marker for IT. Since my mother and father both had IT, I don’t need a damn test to tell me I will get IT, someday. In the meantime, the health care specialists say, let us explore some ways to best help older adults lead happier, healthier lives. I say this a crock for sure, because as I see it, it is more like let us see how little we can spend on health care for the aging and how to best use them as guinea pigs for new testing to gather results on the future of aging.
The UCLA Division of Geriatrics sends out a newsletter titled: Healthy/Years stating they are helping older adults lead happier, healthier lives. I say this is nonsense because everything I read in their letter and experiences as well about seniors leads to a brick wall.
This newsletter and the articles prepare you to fear for your life and the shoddy scary treatment yet to come. First of all, it states that 45% of all new breast cancer diagnoses is in women over the age of 65. Also stated that the risk of breast cancer does not start to decline until after the age of 85. Yet, they are promoting less mammograms for older women.
Healthy /Years, says what we all know that, the cure rate is early detection and the best way to do that is to have regular mammograms. Yes, I agree, but they have suggested that providing mammograms for women over the age of 70 is something of a debate among the experts. They also state that mammography for older women depends on life expectancy and whether you would undergo treatment if a tumor were found. Really? This is disgusting. The UCLA Division of Geriatrics is cutting you off so to speak at 70 and if you want to live longer, you should make that known. How does anyone predict true life expectancy? Maybe a mother, father, or grandparents died younger, but the way modern medicine is contributing to longevity, I expect to be way over 100, don’t you? So, if I know I have the marker for the dreaded brain freeze on downers (IT), then I should not get mammograms, or should I or should I not try to increase my life expectancy with or without the disease? I really do not like to think of these things, but we cannot sit with blinders on our eyes as well as our conscience.
The article in the UCLA Healthy/ Years, also states that in fact being older is actually beneficial when it comes to mammography because they are more sensitive as women get older, because their breast tissue becomes less glandular and more fatty, which makes it easier to detect cancer. Plus it takes less radiation to get excellent quality mammograms in older women, and I know all mammography has not been adjusted to this stated fact. So now that in older women it takes less radiation, is easier to detect, and is important in ladies until they are 85, you, the medical profession has suggested that we actually stop giving mammograms to women over the age of 70 because they might not live very much longer and may not want to receive the cure opportunities. I say, what a crock.
UCLA Healthy/Years further states in another article titled: Vaccination is Crucial to Ensure a Healthy Winter for seniors. It is stated that in December 2009 the FDA licensed a high-dose influenza vaccine Fluzone High-Dose, which has four times the amount of each of the three influenza antigens that standard vaccine contains for seniors because producing an antibody response has shown to be diminished in older adults. Nothing was said about receiving four times the amount of preservatives and other particles in this vaccine. Now, seniors it is time to step up to the plate and become a human guinea pig and receive four times the amount of influenza. Gosh almighty, will it stop? No it will not, and I have it on good authority that it will not stop for a long, long time or even ever. Where money and expenditures are in the equation, you will get seniors chopped off first and foremost because as stated above, life expectancy. It does not take into consideration the time, money and service you have put into the system. I have always known this fact and here it is quite evident here. It is not what you have done for me in the past; it is what you can do for the future and us now.
Nashville: The City of Music, Love, Food and Candy
16 Jun 2011 2 Comments
in Reflections, USA: Travelling Outside California
Jack's for Barbeque on Broadway
If you know anyone who used to fake being sick so they could stay home and listen to Host Cliffie Stone and his Hometown Jamboree, introduce me to them, will you please. We share the same roots. I have always been a Country Music fan, and found that I still am, totally and absolutely. Coming to Nashville has put my love of country music in its rightful place in my heart and soul. Spending time with our dear friends, P. and S. is on the top of all reasons we chose to come here.
Minnie Pearl giving P. some advice.
In Nashville, there was an opportunity to see the Ryman Auditorium where it all began, to experience southern barbeque at Jack’s, to walk down Broadway and slip in and out of music venues. One after another, you go from one piercing, heartfelt sound to one more. Each one of us in the group had our special sounds that we clung to and few liked the same performers. I got into The Don Kelley Band and became mesmerized by a special guest, Johnny Hiland on the electric guitar. He was jamming to Ghost Riders. Then and there I found out that even at my ripe old age, I could be/have been a groupie. After listening for quite a while, it was time to move on, and I was dizzy, weak kneed and felt full of the reverberations and resonations powerful sound creates. It left a “Honky Tonk” residue that has lasted long after the music wafted away.
We met P & S at the Nashville airport and our adventures began right then and there and did not stop until we were put back at the airport for our journey home. Yes, we did touristy things. Why not? P & S spent their college years in Nashville, so they knew quite a few things tourists don’t know. We drove out of town to Brentwood, saw some homes of the stars, drove on to Franklin, the town where during the Civil War, the Battle of Franklin, one of the final battles of the war was fought. On the way to and from Franklin, we saw some charming Tennessee countryside and forty-seven churches. (I counted every one of them with a little help from our friends) Since it was a weekday, the church parking lots were basically empty, but come Sunday ALL of the parking lots were full. Our lot was so full, we had to park catawampus but left room for others to come and go as we readied ourselves for Sunday morning services. The parking lot was full and so were the pews. Standing room only and parking down in the streets.
The next morning we had a wonderful experience at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which turned out to be an interactive musical experience. Country music songs, legends, clothes, instruments and stories from long ago until now are on display. This experience was a real tribute to Country Music, the Country Music Stars and to the city of Nashville. We drove around on some of the streets around the museum and one house after another has been turned into a recording studio. Nashville is truly the city of music.
If you like candy you will be impressed with the Goo Goo Cluster. They are an original Southern confection made in Nashville, TN. A Goo Goo candy is a roundish mound of caramel, marshmallow nougat, fresh roasted peanuts and drenched in chocolate. Its taste is one you will never forget. They say there is nothing like it in the world. Probably not, but I did find its competition called Marie McGee’s Bumble Bees, also made in Nashville TN. They are heavenly. You eat one of Marie’s Bumble Bees, close your eyes and tears of joy will come dripping down. You can order Goo Goos and Marie McGee’s Bumble Bees online. Go ahead order a box of each, take the taste test and get back to me. I know what you will say.
The Grand Ole Opry House
When in Nashville you must attend the show that made Country Music Famous, yes, you’ve guessed it, The Grand Ole Opry. Before you go to the show, or after, visit Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It is a must see as well. The Grand Ole Opry is the longest LIVE radio show in the U. S. and while you enjoy your show, you will have many intervals where all is stopped in deference to the commercial messages sent across the airwaves. The high energy in the Opry house and the people watching in the audience make up for the commercial time out.
Little Jimmy Dickens
Our show was hosted by: Riders in the Sky, Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens and Vince Gill. Our performing stars were Patty Loveless, Mike Snider, Dierks Bently, Vince Gill and a host of others. Hail Mary, we have been to the Grand Ole Opry. We have seen Nashville, heard the sounds, been immersed in the traditions of the Country Music and were deeply moved by the songs of the South!!
Vince Gill and Patty Loveless
We drove out into the countryside to Fayetteville for the night. As we arrived into this lovely classic Tennessee country town, we were greeted by a howling sound that buzzed loudly, continuously and unmercifully. “The Cicada’s are here,” announced S. They come about every thirteen years. They hibernate in the ground and in the trees and come out on schedule. I heard L. say that this would be her last Cicada’s because in thirteen years she must be planning to be gone. We had a little talk with her about that and feel she will see another Cicada season. I hope so and if I am around, I want to come back to Fayetteville in Lincoln County to be with P.’s family and see L. living through another Cicada outbreak.
The General Store
We ate lunch at the general store. The next time you make chicken salad, pop in some chopped apple and grapes. Yum.
We spent some time on Fayetteville’s Main Street and walked around the square. P.’s family are the nicest, most generous and kindhearted people you would ever want to meet.
The Dance Recital
A Peek at Lucy's Dance!
We hung out at little Lucy’s dance recital in the early evening. The town was quiet during our walk around it throughout the day, but the auditorium was packed for the dance recital. Our eyes and ears were treated to the community as they came in droves for this event. After the recital we drove out into the rolling hills and had dinner in a little restaurant on the side of a country road. The food was spectacular and the company around that table was lovely and loving. We felt so enveloped and accepted. I had to pinch myself and say in my inside voice, look where you are; look who you are with; look what you are doing; hear the cicadas; think about the green rolling countryside; you are in the middle of the world with people who care; I remembered being told the town has a bench called the Spit and Whittle where old men gather to pass the time spitting and whittling; this town is so real, so authentic and so important because P. and his family grew up here and many still live here; what an honor to share it with them.
Our time in this part of the south is a treasure trove of learning and memories with S. and P. and P’s family. We must return.
GRANDMA DORA AND GRANDPA JOE
28 Dec 2010 17 Comments
in Family History, Reflections
How can I begin to describe two people who are responsible for a part of my creation and a part of the essence of who they were, which makes me who I am? I will endeavor.
When I look at what I believe is their wedding photo, I am struck by the look of innocence and their sweet youth. I knew them not then, but came into their lives as a descendant, as they came into mine as grandma and grandpa, ultimately my ancestors. All of us entering a timely relationship of granddaughter/grandson and grandparents encounter: Hair not quite gray and bodies beginning their descent. I loved them to pieces and partly because they showed love for me and partly because they are/were part of the architects of my origin. I knew they were to be honored, respected, admired and pursued.
“A son is a son until he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life.”(This is not necessarily always true.)
11 Dec 2010 9 Comments
in Family History, Life Events, Reflections
Many of you, after reading my post, “Four Daughters” asked me to write about our son. So, I pondered and I have written this for you.
“A son is a son until he takes a wife,
a daughter is a daughter all of her life.”
Well, what if your son does not take a wife, but takes a husband? Then you have something different. You have two sons. Now that’s very special! One son is a lovely, wonderful blessing. But two sons are double the measure. When my two sons work together on my behalf, I have so much love and admiration for them and will always treasure their interest in being there for me.
My two sons look very much alike; they are the same height, approximately the same weight and the same size in clothes. Even though they are not biologically connected, they look and act almost like twins. I can buy a shirt and they’ll both wear it. I ask one for help and they both come. I ask for sympathy and they both give it. I ask for love and I get twice the dose. I ask for an opinion and I get two for the price of one. I ask for a favor and I get it twice as fast. And they always offer to pay for everything. I smile lovingly and proudly, knowing I’ll always receive a positive reception. I ask for one of them to drive and they both say with pleasure. When they visit, one takes the trash out, the other puts a new bag in the can. They work in tandem; they work as a pair.
The two sons are valuable members in our family. They are loving, supportive and kind. They give each other approval to succeed and sustain the efforts of each other. They are priceless. They are double anything that anyone could wish to have in their lives. - Mother
REFER TO PAGE 40 AND STOP WORRYING
04 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in Reflections, Trials and Tribulations
This photo is borrowed from the internet.
A friend forwarded an article from an online magazine. He said to “refer to page 40”. After clicking through all of the proceeding pages, I finally came upon a self-help article written by an elite psychologist in Northern California. She said to concentrate on things in the “present”, instead of worrying about things from the past or in the future. It took about a thousand words to say cut out the worrying because it’s just a waste of time anyway. So if I ever go off on a worry wrath, stop me and say, refer to page 40. I promise to do the same for you.
So, today I am scheduled to speak and answer questions in my grandson’s class. Am I worried? Not really, since I spent 42 years doing this very thing. Only when I did it, I was the teacher. Now I am the grandmother. They’re probably expecting a gray haired, hunched-over, and fragile looking old lady wearing orthopedic shoes to walk in the door. But honestly I don’t know how to look like the grandmother they’re probably expecting. I would have to return to the hairdresser and ask for my gray hair back. I would have to relax so much that my back would hunch into a fragile curve. How do you do that? Orthopedics? Get a grip. I do buy my shoes at the travel store, so I’m already halfway to the grandmother status in the shoe department. Is my voice supposed to crackle and am I to grunt like they probably expect? Gosh, I guess I really do not know how to be the grandmother they expect. So I’ll just be the grandmother that I am. I’m nicely dressed, I look great for my age, and they’ll get what they get. I shall quit worrying and refer to page 40. I suggest you do the same.
ANOTHER DEAR GRANDDAUGHTER # 1
01 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in Family History, Growing Up, Letters, Reflections
Dear Granddaughter #1
At the birthday party you said, “When I was little everyone loved me and then, I grew up.” Well, for your information, everyone still loves you only you won’t let us show you. Really? Really. Start thinking about the people who love you and count them. Probably, you should just look at your Facebook page. There you will find people who are listening. I hope you are listening and reading. I write to let you know I am thinking of you and I love you. I loved you when you were little and I love you just as much and even more now.
I was and still am a sort of wallflower. Do you know what a wallflower is: well, as I remember it and as it was explained to me when I went to a dance and no one asked me for a dance, I was considered a wallflower. Someone who hugs the wall and hopes someone else will ask them to dance. I was thinking last night that I was a perpetual wallflower and I only remember someone asking me to dance after he had been refused by 6 others. I remember that dance so well. I even got sort of popular over it and people talked about how I was such a good dancer. I guess that time was part of my 15 minutes of fame. I am still sort of a wallflower.
Here is what the urban dictionary says about wallflowers. And I do like these definitions.
-A type of loner. seemingly shy folks who no one really knows. Actually these are some of the most interesting people if one actually talks to them.
Or
“Someone, usually in high school, who sees everything, knows everything, but does not say a word; they are not loners; they are introverted, meaning they are shy and have a social disease; they cannot handle having someone pay attention to them even though they crave it as much as everyone else; wallflowers are just phased in, and faded into the background.”
An Ethical Will To My Children: I Did Not Give You Life to Prolong Mine.
11 Nov 2010 5 Comments
in Family Activities, Reflections, Trials and Tribulations
1971
When I was very young, I explored dying. Not the horrid slow, suffering kind of dying I came to view as I grew into my aging years, done by grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and friends. As a youngster, I viewed dying as leaving some very sad people and how they would grieve for me.
I am not afraid to die; I am afraid of the pain and long suffering and I do not want grieving. I want my death to be a celebration. I am afraid of the care that I will need to survive. Please God, please children of mine, do not make me survive past the time I can rise from my bed, take the pills I need to keep my systems going, comb my hair, brush my teeth, pee, poop and feed myself. Do not let me live past giving myself life-giving care.
Four Daughters
03 Nov 2010 6 Comments
in Family Activities, Family History, Reflections
Here they are, four daughters in a row. Can you pick out the twins? I can. When the twins were babies I could be blindfolded and tell them apart just by their smell. I was very animalistic then about my babies. I still am. Better be careful. I bite.
No, I have not forgotten our wonderful loving son. He comes into view when we brought he twins into the house and he said, “Mom you had a girl and a boy and then you messed it all up.” Now, he cherishes all of the girls and they, him. But later we will talk son, talk, but for now it is daughter talk.
What is a daughter? Goodness, a daughter is so many things it would fill pages and pages, but let me see if I can condense it for you. A daughter is a challenging and trying human being that you love no matter what. Sometimes you think you have created a monster and other times an angel. Daughters do not take all that you have to give, they tend to leave a little more for next time. They give you only so much of what you need from them and keep you waiting to hear more. You want to know how their day went and how they are feeling. They say the word “fine” and you leave it at that creating a lull in the conversation. Sometimes on the other hand you get way more than you wanted in all ways. Not all daughters are the same; even if they share exact DNA, trust me.
You have heard many quotations about daughters no doubt. For example to quote a few, “A daughter is a gift of love.” “A son is a son until he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life.”
Here is one that is priceless: “Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million dollar Stradivarius to a Gorilla.” Jim Bishop. Then, there are ones like:
“ A mother’s treasure is her daughter.” “ To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter. “ Oh this is all hogwash; ok not all, but mostly. Sorry, but I’ll bet each one of you can come up with a saying, a personal quote, closer to home and truer than the words I have quoted above. So I am waiting. Post your personal quote. Here is mine
“If you have a choice of a son or a daughter, order both.” Or, like my mother told me; “ I wish you a daughter just like yourself.”
Direct me to a Human. Please!!
15 Sep 2010 9 Comments
in Customer Sevice, Reflections, Trials and Tribulations
Direct me to a Human: Please!
You know how many times you have had to push buttons on the phone and how long it takes to finally get to a human voice. I do, too. It happens more and more lately and the questions they ask are way too numerous. More and more I am losing touch with having human contact. I am worried about the state of this happening especially in progressive top leading countries.
Busy running in circles doing things I think need to be done, I think to myself, what if I had lost my mind and none of these things would be getting done. Then, I think, perhaps, so what? Instead of dwelling, I began to complete the rest of the tasks I have intended. I plugged in the flights to Texas and to Calgary using my aging, but still trustworthy computer. No human contact. Why do I mention no human contact when I am just making reservations for flights to and from for both cities? More
Today’s Bits and Pieces: It is Your Choice
21 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Reflections
My daughter received a lovely gold and ruby watch as an inheritance. She said every time she put it on, she felt bad luck surrounding her. Subsequently, her sister borrowed it and felt equally surrounded with bad vibes.
One day, I saw the glittering watch was lying on my daughter’s dresser. I put it on and felt inspired, hopeful, warm and friendly. I asked to borrow the watch for a few days and was granted my request.
During my visit with this watch, I can’t say there are such things as vibes housed in inanimate objects or that truly, I/we would feel good or badly towards anything other than what we set out to feel. What is lucky for some is absolutely the opposite than for others. The power here is in the thought and the belief.
In wearing this watch, I have set out to observe the truth as I see and feel it. So far, I have been able to observe that there are near tragedies every which way you turn and equally near opportunities for good to happen. My observations are that you have to choose what you want to do, to see, and feel and whether it is on the good side or on the bad.
Today the watch is hidden in the back of a drawer among receipts of paid bills.
