Oh wow! SO much is going on here! I can hardly catch up! Bj, I am so happy to hear about your Dad, first off. I LOVE miracles : ) I didn"t get any pics (sniff) I feel left out : ( ; ) Maddie, have you gotten your "unknowns" in Micro yet? Did you get to pick them yourself? I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours Ha ha! MARCI!! Way to go! Did you have too much fun, or what?? Now, ladies... the plan is for us all to kayak TOGETHER next time! Maybe George would come along and bring FRIENDS if he knew Maddie would be coming along! Marci, you look wonderful. Raeanne, I haven't read that book either yet... me next! Had to have an xray of left knee to clear me for duty on a project. EVERYONE (but me) was surprised to see that all the former severe tissue damage seems to have resolved itself, as this is UNHEARD of . "You know that this is usually crippling, do you not?" I just shrugged. All forms stamped "no pre existing diagnosis noted. Error in original MD assessment most likely." I think not.... ; ) I have so much catching up to do that I don't know where to start... Overwhelmed with work this summer. Not so much patient care, but getting all of this HORRIBLE paperwork digitized and semi-automated during the "slow season" HA! This project has taken up so much of the summer, but the end results will free me up to spend more time with patients and have a lot more free time. I owe my son, the great DIGITIZER a big thank-you as he goes off to UCLA in 2 weeks. I owe my daughter, oh she of meticulous documentation, a debt of gratitude for refining the process this summer. And from it all, she started a new business doing documentation for home health nurses. I owe everyone emails! Dee Marie, Mea culpa! I did NOT forget you! Have not had much time to enjoy the new kayak, but I will be out on the water again this Saturday (maybe Friday even!) found some great places... venice beach canals, near by son's girlfriend's new apt. I will be in NYC for a few days starting Oct 1st. and would love to see you East Coasters if possible. Any takers? I know that the city is far for some of you, but if anyone wants to come out, I could put you up with me for a nite or two?? just a thought... Raeanne, I am already penciled in for the Girlfriend's Getaway. Just need final dates. I guess I should just go look that up! :) BJ, I will be up your way in early April. Can I still have that flying lesson you threatened me with, er, promised me a while back? Jenn, would love to see new pics of your girls! Besh??? where are you as Holloween approaches? Jan? Check in please. Iva mae, way to go! Milk dud, times have been hard for you this season. I admire you, so much... See you tomorrow! Ivamae, we'll weigh in together! (((HUGS))) Tikanis

Born in 1953. When I was around 47, I suddenly had all kinds of really bad joint pain. I could barely walk...feet, legs....got frozen shoulder, too. Health care folks thought osteoarthritis, but the bone scan was fine. Then, they thought fibromyalgia. I started gaining weight because I couldn't move very well and had no energy. Fast forward...I started taking potassium supplements when I tried the Atkins diet for a few months. The pain went away. Rewind...up until about that time, my GYN had me on aldactone, a potassium-sparing diuretic, to help with PMS. I had stopped taking it when I had to switch providers. So, I guess my body was missing the potassium. Back to the future...3 years ago, I caught a respiratory virus that sent me to the ER. My heart went wacko on me. I was born with mitral valve prolapse w/regurgitation. It hadn't really bothered me until I caught that virus. The virus lasted almost 5 months! I was put on atenolol, a beta blocker and promptly gained a lot more weight, was out of breath, no energy, etc. from that experience. So...DH insisted that I retire from my job (June 2006) to take care of myself. Everytime I turned around, I had something to follow-up...suspicious mammos, biopsies, etc. He told me my job was now "to get healthy". Bless him. For the last few years, I've been trying to figure out how to make myself healthy. Last year, I was able to slowly wean myself off of atenolol. A pulse over 100 was normal and I have low blood pressure. Tired person! I also started taking kelp, which cleared up my sinusitus and tinnitus within the first few days of taking it. Don't ask me why I needed it. I was just researching my multitude of problems and decided it wouldn't hurt to try it. As soon as I retired, I made myself exercise and get outside as much as possible. I tried all kinds of diets. My weight stayed locked on the same number no matter how little I ate or how much I exercised. My body temp was usually around 97.1, but I'd have bouts where it would drop down in the 96 range and I'd get chilled. Thyroid tests showed 3.0, so my doc won't treat that. On January 9, 2008, I tried something new. Trader Joe's came to town, so we started purchasing 100% of our food from them and have almost completely stopped eating out at restaurants. I was already in an exercise routine, but I just mixed it up to add frequent bursts of intensity among steady exercise...stationary bike, Bowflex weights, crunches, yoga, walking the dog, etc. I have an outdoor bike, a kayak and a swimming pool, so I'm also accustomed to doing those when the weather permits. I just spent 3 hours this morning in my garden, moving shrubs around. I started keeping a daily dairy (spreadsheet) of EVERYTHING that I eat to try to stay between 1200-1300 calories per day and also low fat. I rarely go above 45 grams of fat for an entire day. When I bring home the groceries, I enter every item's nutritional content into that spreadsheet to help me easily track what I eat. I use measuring cups and spoons to make sure that I've got my portions matched to the nutritional portions. I stopped drinking "brand name" diet sodas. I drink TJ's diet soda with no preservatives, no sodium. I no longer crave sweets at all. I don't get hungry at all. It is so easy to eat the right portions. DH is experiencing the same thing, although he gets larger portions and more calories. I take TJ's high potency vitamins for women -- you take 5 pills a day instead of one pill -- spread out over the day. I take potassium due to my particular problems. I get vitamin D because I do get sunshine, even in winter. Our house is passive solar, so even on a cold sunny day, I can sit out on our front porch and toast. The results? I've lost 12 lbs, but I stalled at 6 lbs for several weeks and have stalled again at 12 lbs. I tend to increase my exercise, so I'm hoping these stalls are due to muscle weighing more. Anyway, I still need to lose 10-20 lbs. I have lost 4 inches in my waist! To get out of the first stall, I started drinking green tea 4 times a day. That helped to boost my metabolism up to a temp of 98.3. My husband has also started drinking the green tea, too. He is also losing weight, btw. What we've BOTH noticed...our skin and hair looks and feels so much younger. We both have a lot of energy. We feel great with no aches and pains. We feel like our circulation is better. My bp is around 88/60 and my pulse is down to 65-70 beats per minute. This sounds strange, but my body feels "quiet" now that my pulse is under control. I feel "light" inside my body like my organs have more room. Could it be the lack of artificial stuff and preservatives in the food? Could it be that restaurants (we don't do fast food) are really surving food so full of calories and fat even in small portions? Anyway, I'll see how the weight loss goes over the next year. I got interested in the green tea from going to the Real Age website and catching Dr. Oz on TV. Hope this helps someone else. IMPORTANT: I got my physical in January before starting all of this. So, my doctor knows what I'm doing, what I'm eating and the supplements that I'm taking.

Good heavens, haven't we all learned to adapt! I have severe fibromyalgia and arthritis, as well as vitamin deficiencies that cause neuropathy in my fingers and feet, and had cataracts until last year. Part of my "coping" was to change from local doctors to making the 2 hour trek to Hershey Medical Center for specialized care. It's made a world of difference. Mega-doses of Vitamin D and B12 have my hands almost fully functional.. only the nodes on my knuckles remain from that. That means that crochet is out, knitting is limited (especially in cold weather or for long periods, and applique has to be fitted into days that my hands can tolerate using a needle. And a trigger point injection is helping me cope with the pain in my neck that has limited sitting at the machine. So far, nothing helps the back pain (had surgery 10 years ago, and symptoms are returning). I've found that the most important things to keep me functioning are having a variety of chairs & tables for different tasks. Whenever I try to do anything, the least "misalignment" can wreak havoc for days. It's always been tempting to just keep plugging along at either the sewing machine or the cutting table. Now I know I HAVE to alternate tasks, and do whatever I can from a recliner with my legs up, so I'm doing more applique. I also buy more notions/tools with ergonomic handles.. especially my seam ripper (for when I couldn't see very well!). And I'm using the knee lift on my presser foot more than I used to, now that the weather is cooling off and my hands are starting to hurt again. Another must have is a collection of warmers. I have a neck buddy and a set of footies that can be heated in the microwave. Then when the pain sets in, the heat can help keep me going. Next must is outstanding lighting. I didn't realize how tired I was when my vision was poor. And speaking of fatigue, changing tasks includes lying down at least once during the day, like it or not. I, too, cannot go to guilds because #1..Can't handle taking my machine, and #2.. they meet at night, and I don't do evening activities at all. So this site IS my guild! So far, NOTHING has stopped me from getting to the quilt/fabric shops to add to my stash! In fact, I think that my physical limitations have made me feel that I MUST keep adding fabric and patterns... saving up for the day when I can no longer do this without assistance (hoarding?). What a great topic! Prayers to everyone trying to live with these severe health challenges and kudos for finding ways to do it! Kay

I have been very aware of accessibility issues because my knees started going out on me in my teens. One traumatic surgery experience at 18 convinced me I did not want that again, so I have had periods here and there in the last 30 years when I was on crutches or a walker. I know my limitations and never expected as much from my knees as others do. Standing at a counter to work has never been pleasant for me, though. Then I started having asthma problems that were never quite like normal asthma problems. After 20 years of others shrugging off those symptoms, one doctor finally told me I have fibromyalgia. My rib and shoulder and back muscles go into contraction when I work hard to breathe, and those muscle cramps are what make my asthma symptoms so weird. It makes doing anything at a kitchen sink or counter difficult. I have to stand up straight and stretch to get a breath. In our last kitchen, I made one 40" counter. I still chopped sitting down, though! In this kitchen we have done a couple of things. We have a slightly higher island with stools and a 6" section of desk-height counter. It is easy to remove the center desk drawer so that someone in a wheelchair can scoot in to eat or work at that height. I can easily slide onto a counter stool to work at meal prep or talk with DH as he works in the kitchen. Our wall oven is at counter height, which is easier as we age than a low one. Almost all of our lower cabs are drawers or are pull-outs, and the ones that are not, are quite shallow - maybe 15 inches deep at most. One 5' run of base cabs are actually wall cabs, set on a toe kick base. One side of the island is generous with space, if a wheelchair needs to pass through. We also have a ramp going down into the adjoining family room. The 6" step there was hard on my knees, so I eliminated it. We used the same Marmoleum linoleum sheet flooring in both rooms, so the surface can be made wheelchair friendly with the removal of a rug. Our hands-down favorite feature is the dishwasher. We placed it in a double wall oven cabinet, so it is 11" up from the floor. DH loves it. We did this all with a set of used cabs from Green Demolitions and a few additional cabs our carpenter made to match. We figure that we will live here until we can't live independently - which could be 20 or 30 years from now. Byronroad, I have to sigh at your use of lever door knobs. I had to remove the few I got around to changing to levers and store all of them away until our middle dog has passed. He can open the lever knobs, and since he is the family member we most want to keep out of certain rooms, they are a liability for now!