I looked at the Jitterbug for myself and would have gone with it except I was told it the reception where we are is "iffy". Probably just as well since with DH and me on the same service, we get free cell-to-cell. But the numbers are nice and large, the buttons are high contrast, and it's very easy to use since there isn't all that cra...um...other stuff to contend with. I really wish our cell provider offered something even remotely like it.

When I had my eyes done, they gave me the hydrocodone, but I only took it on the first day, after that, I could get by just on plain old tylenol. Hoping you don't need the big time drugs! And I wouldn't mind seeing the 'damage'. I once knicked a vein in my left arm and my whole arm turned black...kinda gross, but cool looking at the same time. As long as there is no blood, I'm fine.

I have A fib and they attempted this procedure on me a few years ago. The procedure is not bad. Your leg will be sore for a few days and if they do like mine they will use a plug to plug the artery so it does not bleed instead of sitting with the darn sand bags on your legs for hours. Which I have had done before as well. I don't want to scare you but I also want to let you know what happened in my case which I will stress (IS NOT TYPICAL) My doctor suggested the procedure to me because they could not get my A Fib and other arrhythmias under control she told me it has a 98% success rate and they believed it would be a good option for me. I had this done at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston so a pretty good hospital I went in for the procedure and just be warned ( I was not prepared for this) they may shave your nether regions. I only say this because it caught me off guard but once they explained it I understood why but was still a bit of a OH moment lol. Anyways I went in to the procedure at 12:00 pm. They gave me some sleepy meds and put a bunch of monitors on me including what I thought at the time was 2 giant heart monitor pads on me one on the front of my chest and one directly behind it on my back both left side. They explained to me they would be doing the mapping and I may feel my heart rate go up and down if I was not completely asleep so not to worry. I was actually zonked out! They woke me up at 1:30pm and told me they had mapped out the areas they needed to and were about to start the ablation portion of the procedure. That is the last thing I remember until 4 pm when I woke up coming out of the procedure room. They took me back to the recovery room and my doctor was sitting there waiting for me. She kept lifting my gown and looking at my chest. I kept wondering why she was looking at my chest when they went through my legs. My husband came back to the recovery area and his hair was standing straight up and I could tell he had been crying. By that point I was talking, eating having a drink and everyone around me was acting really really strange. My doctor didn't leave my side, the nurses were fawning over me and my husband was loving on me like I had never seen. Something was up! I finally ask ok what is going on? Why do you keep looking at my chest??? The doctor then explained to me that I went into an A Fib attack on the table during the procedure and they could not get my rate until control and it had shot up to over 600 bpm and chemical conversion did not work and they had to Cardiovert ( use the DeFibber) on me 6xs to bring my rate back and they had had a really hard time stabilizing it even after that. I was like Ohhhhh ok now I understand. I had at that point never been cardio verted outside of using drugs. I still honestly didn't understand how bad it was until I got up to move. I found out they had went through both legs and what I thought was an IV bandage my other arm was actually where they had also went through my arm for something. I felt like I had been hit with a semi in the gut. I could barely walk I assume it was from the DeFib jolts. I was actually on my way home by 5:30-6:00pm after that. Once they watched my heart rate for a bit and made sure I wasn't bleeding they sent me home which shocked me. At that point I was a bit nervous to go home but they assured me I'd be fine (which I was) On the way home I asked my husband why he was so upset, I was fine, I felt fine when I woke up he explained to me then that he had heard the code called to the procedure room, right after the code was called they called him on the phone in the waiting room and told him there was a problem and poor guy had to sit there alone waiting to hear what happened to me all alone. I felt so bad for him. On the hour drive home I was sore but doing ok. When I got home by back and chest started to burn terribly. I hadn't taken my shirt off since I got dressed at the hospital but I kept telling my husband it was burning really bad. I finally went and got changed and when I took my shirt off my chest and back were burnt really badly in the shape of those big giant what I thought were heart monitors. They were apparently stick on defib paddles. I had 3 of them on my chest and back so each one must be good for 2 cardioversions. That night I was in so much pain, that the next morning I had to go to Urgent Care. They told me I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my back and chest from that. You don't ever see on TV when they use the paddles on people that they complain of burns or feeling like they have been struck by a semi. My doctor never explained to me that this was a possibility. As far as I knew I was going in for a simple procedure (which it is) but there can be issues. I wanted to let you know about them so that you aren't caught of guard like I was. After all of that they ended up aborting the ablation as they said I had too many bad areas in my heart and they would have to burn too many areas. So for me the procedure was not successful, My next option is a pacemaker/Defib combo which I am waiting for awhile to get. As I said please don't think I am trying to scare you. The catheter part in the legs and the procedure recovery is pretty easy. You do need someone to drive you home and you maybe sore in your legs for a few days, do not lift anything heavy until they tell you you can due to the entry site for the catheter it needs to heal and you need to watch it for bleeding. I was told before I had my procedure that after the procedure I may have a few fluttering episodes but not to worry about them it was normal. I wish you the best and a speedy recovery.

Diagnosed with varicose veins bout 6 or 7 years ago, I was prescribed compression stockings, got two pair Sigvaris at drug-store related homecare store, about $40. but immediate discount of about $10. using their store loyalty card, which usually offers only points ... and they threw in a pair of the latex(?) gloves to help adjust them, which helps a lot. They're getting very old and bedraggled, now ... but the socks are still going strong. A few months later got a third pair, which are a bit tighter ... and included a second pair of gloves (still in box). A couple of years ago they called to ask how the socks were doing ... seemed O.K. - how do I knew when not? They slide. Mine didn't ... later took them in for confirmation, and they still don't. To remove them, I push index or middle fingers down slightly to each side of middle of back of leg, push sock down to three or four inches above ankles, push that top down over heel, with top up to near toes, then use two fingers as before to push the rest of the sock still on the leg down over the heel, then take the top and pull the sock off of the foot - inside out. Then wash them in slightly warm water, with mild dish soap, nightly on removal. Lots of pressing down and squeezing. Then rinse well in slightly warm water, with much squeezing. I have a dryer in the bathroom, that I can drape all three pair over the flat top. In the morning, put socks on shortly after leaving bed, push hand down into sock, pull heel up some over hand, push toe portion into the hole, grab with thumb and fingers, try to spread the foot as much as possible, then grab heel to pull sock part way off of my arm. It would be easy to then pull the sock up over the foot, but I take hold of the back of the sock again about 3" above the heel, remove the arm, then put thumbs into the foot portion on either side of the heel, pull it up over the foot. Sometimes one hasn't judged well, and the seams on either side of the heel aren't even, so some manipulation with the glove gets things straightened out. Then pull the top up slowly, with the thumbs about a third of the way from back to side of leg, and rock back and forth gently to try to distribute the relative pressure exerted by the sock evenly around the leg. Those three pair of socks have provided good service, almost daily, for about 7 years ... so I'm not complaining. This loquacious guy has just been informed that he has three minutes left to get out of here ... so.. ... 'bye, all. ole joyfuelled