Hello again all, I have been taking these past few days one at a time. Some are good days and some are bad days (both for me and Jelika). But we are trudging onward. I am so grateful that I can come here and read all your posts of encouragement. It appears I am not the only one who has gone through this type of pain (even though some days it feels like no one in the world can understand what I'm going through). I am so glad that there are so many pets out there that have good and obviously loving homes. It makes me feel better. Biwako, my hat is off to you for bringing 15 deserving kitties into your life.. I don't know if my heart could stand losing that many... Yesterday was a bad day. I came home and Jelika did not want to eat or get up all that much. But Saturday was a relatively good day. Again we went outside in the sunshine and just sat there (which was nice because we have had about 35 solid days of rain here.. and she so loves to sit in the sun). She is still on Pred.. this coming weekend I may start the weaning dose... the vet wants her to come in for another check up but I just don't know if I can do that to her. She hates it so much. She may be getting slightly more dehydrated though so I should bring her in for a shot of the sub-q's. I really don't know why they didn't show me how to do it at home when i specifically asked them to last time (so that I wouldn't have to bring her in again for it!). Grrrr. It is so frustrating. Also, I am experiencing a problem that may be of my own making. My other cat, Kitty, has started "attacking" Jelika a little more lately.. and she has been acting like she's holding a grudge.. which she may be. I know I have been ignoring her a bit lately because I want to spend all my time petting/being with Jelika. Because I just can't stand the thought that one day soon there won't be a Jelika there to pet anymore. I do try to make a little "Kitty time" each day. But because I have to feed Jelika special food (stuff that Kitty really likes too, but she's a little too..uh...healthy (read fat) to eat it all the time) So she just sits there and watches me feed Jelika. I do try to give her a couple of "treats" at the same time so that she doesn't feel too left out, but I think she does anyway. I feel really bad about it. They have never been the best of friends, and Jelika has ALWAYS been jealous of any time that I spend with Kitty. If she ever saw Kitty in my lap cuddling, Jelika would come right up and sit even higher up on my lap or chest.. to get in front of Kitty (as if she OWNS me.. well I guess she does :) So anyways I have this dilemna because I don't want Jelika to see me spending too much time with Kitty in what could be her (Jelika's) last few weeks, but I also don't want to ignore Kitty too much and alienate her... I mean they do get along and they are friends.. but there has always been a bit of rivalry going on as well... Anyway I will update shortly. P.S I haven't tried pumpkin yet, but the lactulose seems to be working.. however it is dehydrating so i have only been giving it once a day instead of two.. I think I will try the pumpkin.

Ima,my mother in law made the complaint to myspace today. It was infact her fault that BM was able to obtain the pictures, and now all family members profiles and pictures are private. Yes, I know that once they are "out there" there is nothing I can do, I'm sure she has them saved to her computer and will always have them. As for her having to believe the things she says, it's more of a way for her to prove to her family out of state that she is who "they" think she is. We (my husband and myself) did in fact get it easy where gaining custody was concerned. Dhr/Cps was involved because of some health issues reguarding one of my step sons, with many DHR visits to the home she left them living in and her home, I was granted temporary custody per her request (dad had been trying for 2 yrs before hand) because of his job.A year later my husband and myself were granted full custody with no support and only supervised visitation from her on the first and third sunday of each month (she has never once followed through with a visit). It has since been ammended to no visitation and we have a protective order on her and her husband. My step kids were beaten, threatened with weapons and not fed for over a week the last time they were with their mother over 4 years ago. Not only do we have the protective order but our local ymca, ballpark and their school also have them. She has shown up numerous times and still continues to do so, to all of the above screaming they were kidnapped and are being held hostage. She has even tried to "kidnap" my youngest step son and my own son from walmart and they were in the buggy I was pushing. So in that aspect no we arent lucky as you tell me to consider myself. I know of the emotional damage a BM can do to a child, I see it daily times 3. As I said, I have a 9 yr old who thinks he should be a girl and a 7 yr old who vomits at will to not have to eat. AND FOR THE RECORD... I never in my post accused her of being a bad parent for giving up custody, I simply chose to post a FEW of the bad choices she has made over the years, but I will say now; I think she is a bad parent (not for giving up custody) for how she has emotionally and physically abused her children and allowed others to do the same. I think she is a bad parent because she still allows her husband to abuse her and their child together, instead of seaking help(and before you say I dont understand what an abusive relationship is like, I was in one for 7 years before I met my husband all of my teenage years and into my early 20's, eventually everyone knows enough is enough). Now, you asked why I wanted to contact a lawyer. No, not necessarily to sue her, she has nothing to sue for and she wouldnt show up in court anyways. To have it documented, yes. She shows up and causes enough trouble without aid of pictures at their school, ymca and sports activities ect. It does scare me to think she has updated pictures that she can wave around and them possibly have the chance of seeing. They know she wasnt there and Im unsure of what that could do to their stability, their mental capacities(they have alot to work through as it is) and their all around behavorial issues, even if it's only for that day or week. Do I think she will use them in that manner, yes. So again, no I dont want to sue her. I dont want to waste money we dont have to waste, energy I am completly drained of already or time that I never seem to have either. As for her myspace page, today was the first I knew of her having one and no I dont care to go back to it. All of my focus does now and has for almost 7 years gone into MY KIDS, I do love them and they know it and with their father's job I am 99.999% the only PARENT they have. I do also try and ignore her, I have only one other time fed into her pity party and that was her email, she isnt worth it. But yes, this makes me angry and I feel I have the right to be, as you stated you were doing the job of "your" BM, so am I. I have a myspace page, I dont post pictures (for this reason) of any of my kids, yet here she is posting them, ones she didnt take, from a holiday she was absent from and claiming MY son as her own child also, when she didnt want to be a parent to her own kids. No matter her reason behind it, I cant seem to want to let it lie. And your right, its not going to change or fix thing nor will it make them better, but I cant help how I feel. Maybe this is all too fresh having all happened today, and Im sorry if this post seems rude, but I didnt expect to be reprimanded or attacked for my earlier post and thats kind of how it felt.

Jody, one of the guys in our group works on gasoline pumps. He said, they don't make them much different than back then, but, the old ones didn't go any higher than 49 cents. Yup, they were OLD. ;) Moni

I have Hasimotos but not PCOS. I've been using compounded hormones for years. In June I had my levels tested and after reviewing the results my Dr said she wanted to add just a little more progesterone and DHEA. She would like to add testosterone but I can't tolerate it. OMGoodness! What a difference! Reduced whole body inflammation, eye puffiness, facial skin was near porcelain, libido, anxiety all improved. So after the end of that month, I asked her if we could bump it up a little more. She did...it was too much so the 3rd month we went back to June's amt. That's when all hell broke loose and I thought I was going to die :o Here's what happened. When I got the new formula in June, it was "gritty" in texture. It absorbed but this was the first time the cream was gritty. I just thought it was the progesterone and/or DHEA. July's formula (more progesterone) was gritty as well. August's formula was smooth. Remember, I backed off July's progesterone to the June amt. Emailed my Dr about the formula difference. She said it was not supposed to be gritty and can't even absorb unless it's totally smooth and micronized. Well obviously it CAN work and DID. So I start on the (smooth) Aug. formula. Some of what I started to experience...face started breaking out, pore size increased, libido...gone! Swelling/inflammation came back, heart palpitations, digestive issues, fatigue, insomnia, emotional and cognitive problems and much more. I could barely put one foot in front of the other. Took me a little while to figure out what was causing all this as I have so many other physical problems including MS, FM. When I did figure it out, I stopped using the cream. Took about 3 days to start feeling better. I stayed off of HRT for about a month. I'm now on half of the dosage till I can do a retest of my levels. This is nothing to take lightly! These hormones can make or break you. I've been from one extreme to the other and shook out like a rag doll. Along with treating my dog for heart worms (rescue dog that came to us with heart worms) and not being able to leave the house (because he had to be still and keep his heart rate and blood pressure down but would experience separation anxiety whenever left) it's been a long, stressful, and debilitating summer.