THank you all so much for writing...it's been a roller-coaster of a day...I called the dentist back and said that it was worse than ever, not subsiding, just growing -- he folded and referred me to an endodontist, but I couldn't call them until after 5, so I won't know if I can be seen until tomorrow morning. By around 5:30 as I was driving DD to orchestra, it finally HIT so bad I was ready to go to an ER. I was sweating, panting from the pain, and felt faint...oh my gosh it was bad and just getting worse...luckily DH met me at the orchestra place and he drove me at first to a dental ER, but I REFUSED to let them see me because it seemed so shady (weirdly, I got definite vibes not to let them near me, and the weirdness was confirmed by the completely inappropriate behavior of the people behind the desk and the questions on the registration sheet -- how many medical offices make you write the name of your "Financial Institution" and warn you about the fee if you don't call within 24 hours of your next appointment before even handing you the *long* registration form??! but I digress)...by then I had given in and taken an extra half tramadol, just because I was going completely insane with the pain. I would categorize it as the second worst pain I've ever felt--first being childbirth. But I think the tramadol what did the trick because in about 45 minutes I was living again, doing errands with DH while we waited for DD. I can feel it's coming back again now, but I know now how to control it until tomorrow morning. jbrig, thank you for the clarification -- you're right, I was being too broad-brush and ended up just being wrong -- I think I was thinking of the prostaglandin-inhibiting and the anti-inflammatory effects of ibuprofen (or at least that's what I had been told). Thanks for correcting me. Funny that you should mention the tramadol/flexeril, because those are what I take -- the tramadol in the daytime for fibro and the flexeril at night (low dose, as a muscle relaxer as you mention). camlan, WOW...that's scary...how did they end up finding it? Do you have complete resolution now and you're pain-free? And Pat, I'm sorry to hear you've had that situation for years...I can only imagine what it must be like for that long. Could TN2 include the feeling that teeth are about to explode? INTENSE ache? I'll bring it up with the endodontist tomorrow. I can feel a tooth throbbing now, starting the wind-up. I really appreciate your all's understanding, help and good wishes so much. I'll post back about the endodontist. THANK YOU!

One of our fine ladies pointed me here from the conversation page when I asked what I missed while I was away. I think it is a great Idea. This week I WILL! 1) Get caught up on Birthday Blocks (other forum) and start on August blocks. 2) Finish July BOM, start extra block, and start piecing top! 3) Wash new BOM fabric so it is ready for the next round. 4) Start baby quilts for Hannah(due October) and Sarah (Born June 26) 5) Buy/find a rubbermaid to store project linus quilts in between drop off/pickup - call pickup lady and get more labels - also ask her if it is ok to put up pics of blankets as some are beautiful!

My ss has some (not all but some) of these tendencies.. Some of them have changed or evolved over the years but are still there in some form He often doesn't know where a sound is coming from (I had put this to that he had ear infections as a kid and has tubes, but then I found out tubes shouldn't do that) *** Not one that he has has problems with He often doesn't realize someone is speaking - he says he just hears a sound, but doesn't realize it's talking. I had thought he was just hyper-focused on something else, but he's getting WAY better about hyper-focus and it's still happening. ***ditto but I am guessing not as bad... I will be talking to SS and unless I have grabbed his attention and make sure he makes eye contact with me ... it's like it was all just a buzzing in the backround. He forgets the meaning of everyday words frequently. Poor little guy cried the other day because he was so frustrated that he couldn't remember the word "armpit" :( ***had some difficulty with this when he was younger... sometimes still has this issue. It's like a little roadblock just popped into his head. I know he had used the word before and I know he knows what it means but it just isnt there and he will get himself frustrated. I usually just use it in several sentences and he'll catch on. His speech therapy is going very well, but our big struggle is that he doesn't hear the difference between phonemes. *** not a big problem with him right now... mostly I am sick of the 'ghetto talk' (or at least that is what I call it) He babbles a lot, much like how a baby or toddler babbles. Random, meaningless phonemes strung together... Last week, just out of curiousity, I popped my head into his room and asked "Hey, whatcha talking about, kiddo?" and his reply was "Huh? I wasn't making any noise." *** he did used to do this and it would confuse me because I would have no clue what he is talking about. Usually telling him to calm it down and sometimes take a break would solve it. It was like he was so excited about what was going on or what he was doing he just didnt take the time to form full words. Now he (quite frequently) will be moving his mouth. No sound will come out but he is definately 'talking'. I asked him the other day if he realized that he was doing that and he said 'doing what?' I have no clue how to fix that... right now I am taking a no harm no foul approach to this one. We have so many other things to work on. He can repeat your words back verbatim, but has no clue what they mean when questioned on it. For example "Put on your shoes, A__" and he looks right at you while you say it, but then he walks away... When we ask "What did I just tell you?" he can say "Put on your shoes, A__"... but when we ask what he should do with that instruction he is puzzled and has to think about it before he cheerfully exclaims "I should put on my shoes!!" and promptly does it. So I don't think it's just attitude or not listening. ***Big Big problem with SS right now. I ask what did I say... he repeats it... I ask what does that mean or what should you do... he is clueless. I mostly just make a point of asking more questions... like so what should you do... what do you think would be the next step... that way I can be sure he understood what I said in the first place. I keep telling him listening is active that means he needs to think about what is being said. Hearing is inactive ... thats just hearing words bee bop around in your head. I want you to listen to what I am saying... so I want you to think about it and repeat it in your own words (big deal) usually if he can word it in his own words he has got it. If not we know to take a step back and try again. He often doesn't know if the TV is loud or quiet. He'll be STRAINING to hear it, or covering his ears because it's blaring, but when asked "Why not turn it up/down?" he says he doesn't notice it was quiet/loud. I would chalk it up to lazy or just being a kid, but he will get up to change the lighting or get a blanket and so on. It seems like he has a physical reaction to the volume, but he doesn't have any clue how to affect change to it. Does that even makes sense? ***this could be a bigger problem ... but it could be nothing .. I have had similar situation with all of my kids not just ss with adhd... it's like it just doesnt click that oh yeah that would fix the problem. I guess it would really depend on how often it happens. Sometimes when listening to a simple instruction, he cannot carry out the task - like folding a towel "Now bring the bottom up to the top" - and he says "I was listening, but I didn't get it" He genuinely appears to be listening - he is watching, is being quiet, has attentive body language, and so on, but he just doesn't hear it. ***another big one with SS... sometimes it is like I am speaking a foreign language to him and sometimes I do find myself getting frustrated with thinking "How in the hell do I say put the lid on the tupperware container a different way..." I dont really know what the key is here ... I do know I just keep trying to think of different ways to phrase things... and often time I physically put the lid of the container while I am saying it and then he says "Oh! I thought..." and then I take it off and say here you go. I feel like it defeated the purpose of asking him do it for me in the first place but I would rather get him to understand directions than get upset over having to put the 'lid on the container' myself I honestly dont know anything about auditory processing disorder so I dont know the answer there. But, my ss with adhd has some of these problems/concerns. It is mostly just a day to day thing for us. We know what it takes to get certain things across... ie eye contact or he isnt listening and we make sure other know this. Since he is getting older I am more and more pointing out things like SS, you know you will forget these things if you dont write them down, so you need to write them down... and ss you know you are not listening if you arent making eye contact so make eye contact... take the initiative. My theory is that we are not always going to be able to tell teachers and coaches what his deal is. He needs to realize it and take control of it in order to benefit his life in the long run.

elizpiz - "John - what did you decide to do???" First I decided on one ending photo, then on another, then I changed my mind back and forth so rapidly that I became disoriented and drove over a pedestrian. A Flying Nun, I believe, and she sure was Blue. No, not really. What I'm doing is this. The book starts with my favorite picture on the cover. Then I found and paired pictures of she and me, which can be placed side-by-side, as if I am looking at her. The chronologically earliest pair was actually taken that way, and the subsequent pairs do fit together. This is the recurring theme in the book. What I saw each time I looked at her, as we traveled through life together. With courtship, wedding, travel, first child, second child, in between each look. The chronological story ends with the most recent pair of pictures, which are respectably recent. Then the book ends - is book-ended, as it were - with the favorite picture. But it doesn't really end. There are several blank pages following, for future pictures, because our story is far from over. I think, hope, that this design will work. I've received so much help from all of you. Thank you. And - this is more cut-paste cross-posting, I'm sorry, and if you frequent the Cooking Forum you may see the same words there - this struggle has made me realize something that I wanted to share. I got myself in this pickle because I haven't taken enough real pictures of her in recent years. Lots of digital snapshots, sure, but not real pictures, shot with real feeling on real film and printed on real paper by my own hands. I shot the kids, friends, still lifes, landscapes, abstracts. But I had already the shot of her that captured her spirit, that entranced me whenever I saw it, that I could be buried with, such that I thought I'd never need another. But I was wrong. And that is the real moral of this story. Never stop taking pictures of the people you love, because you never have enough. So now, I've laid out the book, and I am working on the captions. Which is more difficult yet. I'm listening to music to get the right frame of mind. "Little Wing" by Carlos Vamos, "Loverman" by Charlie Parker, and now "Gravity" by John Mayer. Each very different but all beautiful songs if you're looking for such.