Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for the ‘Diary’ Category

For quite some time, I have been putting off cervical neck surgery. Unfortunately, disk degeneration goes on hiatus for no man. Finally, one is forced to accept the truth–it’s time to face the music and have surgery.

Too bad the surgery requires a stay in the hospital afterwards, because things ain’t like they were “in the old days.”

First off, if you don’t have nice, big, juicy veins…beware. Don’t go in the hospital expecting to find a crack-team of phlebotomists, those dearly loved persons who specialize in taking blood. I don’t think they exist anymore. Invariably, as a last resort, someone will have to insert the needle into a vein on your hand, because no one is adept at hitting a vein in your arm. Let me tell you, a needle stuck in the top of your hand is a whole lot more painful then one in your arm.

I’ll refrain from going into my entire bathroom fiasco. Suffice it to say that after the first horrendous trip, I suggested to the nursing assistant that it might be easier for all concerned if she supplied me with a commode next to my bed. Puzzled, she responded, “Oh, you want a commode?” The thought of a commode appeared to be a totally foreign idea to her. I can only assume she preferred yanking all my IV lines as she “helped” me back and forth from the bathroom.

24 hours later, and after at least two assistants heard and saw me cough up thick mucous, I asked one of them for a breathing machine. Again I was greeted with that surprised, kind of blank, look, “Oh, you want a spirometer?” After searching through the cabinet in my room, and finding none, she left, returned with one and handed it to me. It had no sterile wrapping, so I had no idea where it came from, or where it had been.

This is what should’ve happened long before it was necessary for me to ask for the contraption myself.

Your nurse will explain the deep breathing and coughing exercises you will need to do after surgery. These are done to improve lung expansion. This helps prevent infection and other lung complications. You will be shown how to use the incentive spirometer. This is a tool to help you breathe deeply. Coughing is needed when you have secretions in your lungs.

That is the procedure that is recommended at Incentive Spirometry, and has actually happened to me on previous visits I’ve made to a hospital.

About Medications–Prior to entering the hospital, I was told that the hospital would provide all medications that I normally take on a daily basis. The first night, I was offered the wrong blood pressure pill. Believe me when I tell you this, and I can’t stress it enough. Don’t accept any medication until you ask and understand what you are taking. This is by no means an isolated incident. See a post put up by Solid Geekery, a blog written by a group of people who are studying, working in, or are just plain interested in the shoddy treatment being dispensed by hospitals today. This particular post was written by Miranda, who is in her third year of graduate school, pursuing a Ph.D in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis.

Getting back to my particular nightmare, the second night, after having my blood pressure checked, a nurse came in and said, “Your blood pressure is normal. Would you like to skip your blood pressure pill tonight?” I was actually struck speechless for a few seconds before I could answer, “My blood pressure is normal because I take my prescribed medicine.”

During my second day in the hospital, I asked the nursing assistant to write her name and the name of my nurse on the board supplied for that purpose at the foot of my bed. She couldn’t. Want to know why? Because someone had used permanent marker on the board, therefore it couldn’t be erased. Think about that for a minute, because it is really scary. Someone, who dispenses medicines and supplies hospital care to patients, used permanent marker on an erasable board.

I’m not one to rant. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I ever have on this blog…ever. However, just for the record, I could write another four or five paragraphs about the oversights and lack of knowledgeable help I received. But I won’t.

Have you noticed it’s getting easier and easier to spend money?

Last week, I received a tiny booklet in the mail from QVC, which contained my very own personal membership number. To tell you the truth I wasn’t surprised, since a few weeks before I had somehow lost my mind while watching their programming. I bought three sterling silver rings, a bracelet, and some lovely food containers–all in one night.

I’ve purchased products from them in the past. The thing is, I hadn’t fired up my ultimate buying power all in one sitting before. Since I momentarily fell off my rocker that night, I guess QVC thought it would be an excellent idea to send me a membership number. Voila! Now I can buy whatever I want by punching in a few numbers on my phone’s keypad. How’s that for convenience?

Furthermore, I’m such a good customer of Amazon.com, they have bestowed upon me their one-click customer status. I click–they send.

It appears I’m not the only one having a hard time keeping money in my wallet. Maggie the Cat is evidently having the same problem.

Ive been spending money on books when i shouldn’t be spending money at all. I got the wonderful book “Elvgren” by Taschen it is so beautiful.

I suppose my way of thinking is similar to Terra’s over at Questionable Rationale.

As much as spending money sometimes stresses me out, I actually become stress free after a nice long (and sometimes expensive) shopping trip. I think it’s just bills that I hate paying.

Obviously, no matter how you do it, shopping feels good, at least in the moment. I have broken the habit of running to the mall, though. That’s a step in the right direction, right? Now, if I could only stay away from the TV and the laptop. Any suggestions?

Okay, I’m on my soapbox again, encouraging you to write something this week about yourself. If you do, I can almost guarantee one of your children or your grandchildren will thank you someday. You are living in their “good old days.”

I can’t tell you how many times I could kick myself for not asking my mother more questions about her life. Now it’s too late. The only things I have of hers, in her own handwriting, are a few recipes she gave me over the years. At least when I see her handwriting on the page, it helps me to remember other small things about her. I’m going to share one of her recipes with you at the end of this post.

But to get back to journaling, there’s so much to write about. Some suggestions:

• any kind of travel would be good
• all of your favorite recipes
• right now, the campaign for the presidency furnishes a bushel full of options
• what television shows won’t you miss
• what movie did you see recently that you absolutely loved
• if you are reading a book, try writing your own review

And remember, there’s no rule against being humorous. You can go in any direction, it’s your show. Someone mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she started writing stuff down occasionally and she does it in letter form, as if she is actually writing a letter to someone.

Or maybe something happens in the course of a normal day that seems worthy of preserving as a memory. Here’s one from Ireland.

I was driving home yesterday amidst a flood caused by a thaw of snow. We came to a big enough pool of water that stretch the entire width of the road. We watched as the car ahead of us passed safely through the water and then to my surprise the car stopped and waited. The driver waited to make sure we passed through the water safely.

Short, sweet and cute. That’s all it takes.

If you go somewhere…anywhere, write about it. Here’s a very short travelogue and a chuckle from Walking Around. She just returned from a trip to Wales.

So there you have it, one of my pep talks to get you writing and saving your memories. Now to the promised recipe from my mother.

Italian Wedding Soup

3 heads of escarole (found in the produce dept.)
1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs, scrambled
Chicken Broth, either homemade or 2 large cans Chicken Broth (my mother used College Inn)

First roll the ground beef into tiny balls about the size of your thumb nail. Set aside.

Wash the escarole leaf by leaf in a sink filled with cool water. Place leaves on a clean dish towel. There will be loads and loads of leafy greens, but they will shrink down when you drop them into a large pot of boiling water. Keep turning the escarole with a long wooden spoon until all of the greens have been submerged in the water. Cook until tender–about 20 to 25 minutes. To cool–transfer the entire pot to the sink and run cold water into it until the escarole is comfortable to handle. To remove most of the water from the escarole, squeeze the greens into fist-size balls. Cut through each ball, using a cutting board, about 6 times, slicing in two or three different directions.

Rinse out the same pot you used to cook down the escarole, and pour in the chicken broth. Most of the work is now done. Just drop the escarole and all of the tiny meatballs into the hot chicken broth. Cook on medium heat for about an hour.

Now for the scrambled eggs. Make sure the broth is boiling, then pour the eggs onto the surface of the soup. Use a tablespoon to swirl the egg around gently on the surface, creating little bits of cooked eggs. (This is reminiscent of confetti at a wedding–hence the name.) Once the eggs are cooked, the soup is ready to serve.

Optional: Some people like to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of their soup, so make sure you have that on the table for those with that preference.

Enjoy.  And if you have a recipe from your mother that you’d like to share, feel free to send it as a comment.

Can you believe there is such a thing as Arthritis of the Eye? Well, there is and I’ve got it.

The eye’s version of arthritis is call Uveitis. Some doctors believe it follows an infection of some type, but if you suffer from arthritis, it almost certainly is related. And it’s hard to diagnose. This is the fourth time I’ve experienced an outbreak, but it wasn’t until the third episode that it was finally diagnosed.

…This can be confounding to the patient and the doctor when the infection has long passed at the time of presentation with arthritis or eye inflammation…

Surprisingly, it even has political overtones–who would’ve thought!

Reactive arthritis has, in the past, been referred to as Reiter syndrome (a term that has lost favor because of Dr. Hans Reiter’s dubious past, one of enthusiastically embracing Nazi politics and medical abominations).

Be that as it may, I’ve got it and my symptoms are: painful eye (only one eye at a time, not both), profuse watering of the eye and, consequently, blurry vision, and a painful reaction to bright light/sunlight. The treatment prescribed for me is Prednisolone Eyedrops.

Prednisolone is a steroid, therefore, the treatment is controversial. But leaving it unchecked is a lot more dangerous according to the Mayo Clinic.

Complications

Left untreated, uveitis can cause the following complications:

• Abnormally high pressure inside the eye (glaucoma)
• Damage to the optic nerve
• Clouding of the lens (cataract) or cornea
• Scar tissue inside the eye
• Retinal problems, such as fluid within the retina or retinal detachment
• Vision loss

This is where my post ends. Evidently, looking at a computer monitor only increases the blur.

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I swept in and out of Memphis, TN with two friends for a three day weekend last month. We packed in a lot of sightseeing and activities, but we didn’t have time to visit the King’s house–Elvis, that is.

I happened to mention that fact to one of my younger co-workers shortly after I returned. And she said to me, “You call that guy who died on his toilet from a drug overdose a king?”

Not exactly what I wanted to hear after a truly great weekend adventure. I tried to explain to her what it had been like seeing Elvis for the very first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.

What I found out was, it is impossible to define the “Phenomenon of Elvis” to young people who cannot comprehend a time when there were NO Super Stars.

Then came Elvis.

So, here was my dilemma. How could I possibly explain about the young Elvis that the world fell in love with? How could I tell her what a fresh faced boy he was back then, when all she is familiar with is the unfortunate last act of his life. In a way, it broke my heart, because I grew up with Elvis and I know that, although it appeared he had “everything”– money, fame, adulation– he also had a really rough ride. He was literally trapped in his compound at Graceland. He agonized and begged to be able to make movies that would allow him to act, but the studios insisted he star in movies that they believed his public craved, and maybe we did. His music was the only freedom he was afforded.

Of all the movies he starred in, he liked only one–Jailhouse Rock

To top that off, Elvis had no idea what it meant to be an internationally known Super Star. Why? Because he was the first. He was “it.” How does a kid who grew up in a small country town handle that? Who can instruct him? There were no footsteps to follow.

Superstar! We have plenty of them today, but none– repeat none–come even close to the King’s popularity. He was known throughout the world. Here is a statue of him in Jerusalem.

January 8th was Elvis Presley’s birthday. People all over the world remembered him especially on this day. Following is a comment posted on a blog that originates in Ireland

Elvis Presley was remembered here in Ireland as our national radio service RTE1 played his beautiful music on his birthday.

Did ever a vocalist’s voice reach right around the globe like Elvis’s did? and light up millions of peoples, lives like no other, before or since.

They loved him in Germany then and now

In the quaint little town of Bad Nauheim, it was “big love big heartache” every day when young ladies back in the 50s wrote their phone numbers with lipstick on the typical German garden fence outside the king’s villa. Aging German locals report that every night the wooden fence would be cleaned to make room for more love notes.

“He still preoccupies us, he’s well-known across the generations, and he brought about a sexual, musical and social revolution,” said the head of a German museum that hosted a recent Elvis exhibition.

Unlike any other performer before him, he spawned an industry.

Elvis Impersonators

He met Presidents and Heads of State. Crazed crowds of people clamored to see him at every airport.

And when he passed on to the stardom in the sky, many countries outside the U.S. built monuments for him like this one in Germany.

So, “To answer your original question, dear, Elvis remains The King, in spite of his final curtain. I doubt there will ever be another like him.”

PHOTO FROM

It doesn’t happen that often, but when it’s time for me to buy a new car, I cringe. Last Saturday, I thought I had myself talked into visiting some car dealerships to test drive a few cars. But when Saturday rolled around, I couldn’t make myself go. My insides seized up, my head began to pound and I think I actually had a panic attack. I couldn’t leave the house.

By Monday, after giving it some serious thought over the weekend, I decided there must be a better way. Maybe if I didn’t have to deal face to face with a salesman, I might be able to hold on to my sanity. I decided to try out internet shopping. Did you know almost all car dealers now have an internet management group?

Don’t be thinking it’s all peachy keen, though. In some cases, you still have to put up with salesmen who prefer to give you information that they want to give you, instead of information you ask for. And there are still a few holdouts who won’t divulge their out-the-door price. (That is the bottom line that includes price of car, taxes, dealership fees, option costs, rebates, etc.). Fortunately, when you are working with this type of salesmen via email, you can just “delete” them and erase them forever from your life. It feels heavenly.

But for the most part, internet salesmen are happy to answer all your questions; to let you know what cars are in stock and, best of all, dickering over price is much more time efficient. Instead of sitting in the showroom waiting for the sales manager to bestow his reluctant blessing on each and every price reduction, you are sitting at home checking your email whenever it’s convenient for you.

Forays into the land of the hard sell are kept to a minimum, because it’s a lot more difficult for a salesman to pressure you via email, and those that did make feeble attempts to push, I was able to weed out the first day. Finally, I decided to concentrate on getting the best deal I could get on a Toyota Corolla.

There are three Toyota Dealers in my town and I spent three days corresponding with each of them. In the end, I decided to do business with Andy. He works out of a dealership named Courtesy Toyota; their name says it all.

Courtesy Toyota

Although price was my major concern, finding a likeable saleman also enteres into my equation. As the days wore on, it was Andy who patiently answered all my questions, made suggestions, made concessions. When we finally talked on the phone, he worked out a few more minor issues that were troubling me, such as, how could I get two cars to my home since I wasn’t planning on trading in my old car. His solution: two individuals from the dealership would follow me home.

All in all, my car buying experience was painless. I never thought I’d ever say that in this lifetime.

So, here you have it. Yet another reason why you should learn to make your computer work for you. Blogging and writing memoirs are a plus, but when the computer can save you time and money, it’s time to get on the bandwagon and make 2008 the year you’ll learn to utilize your computer to its fullest.