Last week's FFRR got pulled and I missed a lot too. Was trying to reconstruct by filling in blanks in the note that followed it. For those with these serious issues, we all wish you well and truly will keep you in our thoughts. It IS nice that we are not just names on a board...that we have this one spot to see the person behind the name.

mms...please do let us know the outcome and we all pray the news is good! Surely the odds are in your favor! As Ryan says, not knowing is almost the worst, then when you know, if it is bad, you surprisingly find some weird place with all sorts of strength you never realize you had, and you deal with it with amazing calm despite the ache in your heart...then you come out on the other side! We've been there.

mikemo...you've got some pretty amazing stats. But with everything else so good, are you 100% certain you want Lipitor too? I mean...you could live forever and ever amen and with the market doing what it's doing...that's not a good thing!

I have an HDL even better than yours. My doctor is VERY hesitant about sharing exact figures for some reason...you have to practically drag any of those numbers out of him and I want them #$%# it! Anyway, my total cholesterol was 240 something and despite a not so hot family history, he swears that I'm not to worry, that I would live forever as my HDL is over 100--something he says he's hardly ever seen. It pays to be a gym rat.

That's terrific Scarlett! Sssshh...hush...listen....do I hear the rustling of packing paper??

Had the radiologist appt, and so far things are looking better than the worst case scenario. Just hoping the ENT agrees. So no real news...but at least we are not going into the weekend with awful news. Still playing the damn waiting game.

Hello mms, I am so very sorry that you are going through this concern and worry about your son. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers. And like all the others I sure send my best to you. Not an easy time I know. Don't forget to take good care of yourself too!

Seetheworld, the weather could not have been more fantastic. The whole week was. I have a trip report filed "My trip to Atlanta and Charleston" if you want to read it. Thanks for asking. First trip to the south and I truly loved it.

Having just paid property tax Mikemo I cannot believe (well I believe it of course) but almost passed out when you said what your property tax will be. I am with Scarlett's Yankee, lets all move, LOL. That is fantastic.

I hope everyone has a beautiful and peaceful weekend. And again, my best wishes to everyone who has health problems or heartbreaks. May life be kind to you.

Wow, OO,
We should share a few genes, lol!
M

mike, watch for emails from Scarlett!
Rave: mms , no bad news!!
Rant: posting on a thread to be helpful and ending up being slammed
pity me LOL

Rave: Another trip in the planning stages...yippeee...Buenos Noches

Apologies, mikemo, I didn't realize you were talking about just LDL. Mine is 161 as well, with HDL at 75. My doctor says no drugs yet, wait and see. That's ok with me.

I love SMA and recently read a book about the author's move there, buying a house, fixing it up, etc. Quite lovely: On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan.

Now I think I'll have a glass of wine and read LoveItaly's trip report. Have a grand weekend, everyone, and good health to all.

Rave: Saw the Eagles play MSG the other night and can't get Joe Walsh singing "Life's been good to me so far...."in his crazy voice out of my head. It may be a rant in the next few days if I can't get it unstuck!

Rave: Two friends I've known since I was in pre-K(one being married to another life long friend!) just got home from a year long deployment in Cuba today! His two year old daughter has carried a GI Joe doll around for the better part of the year calling it "Daddy"...If only all the Mommies and Daddies can get home soon!

My two year old daughter is doing her first "official sleepover" with her God parents and my God daughter-which leads to my old rant-
I need to be up in 4 hours to work a crazy schedule,yet I'm not even slightly tired and can't get myself to sleep!

My husband, just after telling me he had to travel all the week after next as well as next week (that part I knew) found a very much alive scorpion in our pantry. I want out of this place maintenant!!Lawsy...someone...take me back to FL, land of the simple cockroach! If it weren't for our geriatric cat, I'd be out of here in a New York minute for the next two weeks! And no, those aren't cyber tears...they are very real! This is not what I signed up for!

Rave: DD #2's 18th birthday!

Rant: My baby just turned 18!

Rave: Happy Birthday to Statia, Eeva and everyone else who has their birthday on April 15th.

Rave: Not getting a big tax refund but at least don't have to pay this year.

Rant: Everyone who is dealing with health issues-Ryan, Jor, Mikemo. MMS-my thoughts are with you and your DS.

Rant: Sunbum-sorry to hear about your best friend. Breast cancer is a horrible disease. I am one of the lucky ones (13 yr survivor) but several of my friends haven't been as fortunate. I know you will be there for her and her family.

Rave: Patrick-What a wonderful story about Lee. Congratulations. I know from my many years of working in community theater that the real heroes are those doing all the backstage work.

Rave: DD #2 got in the college she wanted!

Rave: DD #1 got the part of Mayzie in Seussical at her college. Great way to end her college career as she graduates in June.

Rant: DD #1 won't be able to do any of the summer stock she auditioned for because Seussical conflicts with the time she has to arrive for the summer. Now she has to get a REAL job this summer!!

Rave: All the wonderful people on this board who helped and had suggestions for my recent New York trip. I promise I will get a trip report done soon.

OO, I find it very strange that your doctor will not tell you what your blood stats are. "My doctor is VERY hesitant about sharing exact figures for some reason".

Something is not right with your doctor in my opinion. Its Your life. Ask your doctor for a statement about your health which includes blood test figures. This should not cost you extra money.

I am still not fully aware of the extent of my diabetes and what I need to do but I have received a full report on the figures.

You're right of course jor. I sensed that he was doing it to save himself time and trouble perhaps. Actual numbers would raise questions (what does that mean?) that he would then have to answer and it was easier for him just to say everything was within normal limits. I knew correct ranges for two of the things measured annually and just wanted to know how normal, but it was like pulling teeth to get it. LOL To his credit, if numbers were bad, as BP is, he does tell me exactly what they are and it's discussed more thoroughly. It's a moot point now as we've moved so I'll be finding someone new, once I get to that point of settling in.

DH's Dad had type 2 diabetes too, by the way. His was controlled by a pill. DH's numbers are watched because of his Dad's problem. Although his was an issue with diet, even though DHs is pretty good,the propensity to develop this evidently is passed on. Is there anyone else in your family with it?

The only reason I can think of for a doctor not being anxious to reveal exact figures might be for fear of misinterpreting. I know my doctor used to say he hated telling people what their basic Cholestrol level was because without the HDL and other levels (forgive me if I'm giving the wrong terms here) the single reading of the Cholestrol numbers was pretty meaningless.

As a fairly recent diabetic -- (totally heriditary and I've known it was coming for years), I really am somewhat bugged by people who say, "oh you should just control it with diet". In some cases that is NOT the answer. My weight is right for my frame, and my diet has been excellent for years -- and I have struggled with a "sugar busters" diet to prevent taking medicine, but it simply no longer was enough. When my blood sugar level was 155 three hours after a sensible dinner followed by exercise, but has risen to 190 or higher overnight, it is clear that medicine is the answer! And after doing fasting blood sugar levels continuing to fast and having the levels rise rather rapidly, it is also clear that medicine is needed -- no diet is going to work for ME 100%.

I have finally reached an almost non-wavering average of about 110 with a combination of glyburide and metformin. I keep my fingers crossed as to how long this can last without going to insulin. My father, brother, and sister -- all who became diabetics in their mid 50's also -- all had to move to insulin within a few years of diagnosis. But perhaps these newer medicines can be more successful than what they had?

That's interesting Patrick...I'm glad you wrote that, because in the back of my mind, I have thought we could keep this at bay with diet and exercise. Recently he's had some changes that I know are often associated with diabetes. I have been on his back to get to the doctor to see what's going on, but of course, he has found every excuse imaginable for putting that off. I'm going to harp even louder now than I have been, thanks so much!

Patrick, m'dear -- so sorry it caught up with you, finally. I do get sick of the pious finger-waggers who think that medical problems are just a matter of poor character and lack of willpower.

Suspect you are getting the Very Best medical advice -- but may I add the suggestion that you check out the dietary discoveries to fend off macular degeneration? I'm not up on the exact mix of things, just know it entails salmon, dark greens, and various initials of enymes and such (BHT Omega 3 LMNOP QRST); and know some people at NIH Eye Inst. who announced their findings during the week of 9/11 so no one really was award -- but it's startling how well the dietary combination helps prevent or curtail the macular degeneration. I imagine between Googling it and talking to your good docs, you can get the low-down (not to be confused with down-low at ALL! ;-) ).

"award" => "aware"

Thanks, all of you, for your advise. I have read all of your stat numbers & info and compared them to my stats. OO, The problem has been in the past three generations of the family. I should have expected this but I never thought it would happen to me. I also expect that my older brother has it but he never discusses his health. Good health to all of you.

Jor

Cassandra, thanks for that information. Oddly enough I am "doubly doomed" as in addition to the diabetes I inherited from my father (of course from which many eye problems evolve), my mother (not a diabetic) has macular degeneration, which is also directly high risk hereditary.

My eye doctor has had me taking vitamin E as a preventative measure, but he admits it really may be non-effective.

Greens and salmon, huh? Great. I eat so much salmon I have to constantly fight off a desire to swim upstream to spawn.

OK Patrick (others may fidget or read a magazine): it's a bit more complicated, but briefly it entails a specific combination of antioxidants (C, E, and beta-carotene) and minerals (zinc and copper) with omega-3 fatty acids (salmon has 'em big-time). What you want is the "AREDS formulation": http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/macula...d_facts.asp#14

Did you know they have discovered the gene for this? http://publichealth.yale.edu/news/march05/hoh.html

ANYWAY, try to find someone else who has the urge to swim upstream with you or the trip may be a bit pointless! ;-) ;-)

OO, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Houston reading through FFR&R and your post re: scorpions made me laugh because I know how you feel. Our first house in S.A. was cursed with the alien creatures and they totally freaked me out! Once, one caught me by surprise in the bathroom and I screamed--it quickly changed direction and ran toward me--I could not jump on top of the bathtub fast enough--try not to engage them in conversation, they will respond! Scorpions are the only thing I've ever seen our cat run away from. We have been fortunate with our second house *knock on wood* in that it has been scorpion free but why I have no idea. Years ago, a friend of ours was knocked out by a ceiling fan in his attempt to remove a scorpion crawling on the ceiling over his baby's crib. Texas, it's like a whole other country! There once was a spider so large in the garage I felt inclined to send it a rent-due notice. And should you miss the roaches (are they called Palmetto bugs in Florida?), the tree roaches come out in summer...and they fly. Our cat's extermination skills come in handy in when they get into the house. After 16 years I'm use to it but for years we refered to our house as Wild Kingdom. Hang in there!

RANT: With all of our senior friends who have had serious illnesses and life threatening surgeries this week, the last thing I expected was to receive a phone call this morning with the horrible news that a dear friend of my youngest son has died. She was 21. Poulin was born with a heart defect and as a child, her outcome was grim. But against all odds, she grew into this wonderful, generous, and spirited young women but sadly her heart gave out.

She spent much time in our home and was a special friend to our boy - you know the girl who teaches him how to dress, wear his hair and all of that stuff that young men learn from their best friend. She was the girl who he had his first crush on - but despite the struggles in their relationship they remained true friends. Mike had one last opportunity to speak with Poulin last week -- a gift, he said. Our hearts are truly saddened with unspeakable grief. I just wanted to share how special this precious girl was to us. Please think of us all tomorrow as we say our goodbyes.