and things are looking up here in west central Illinois.

mrsdc is doing better still. She finally got off the one medication that was causing a lot of problems (accelerated heartbeat, tightness in her chest, weight gain, feeling 'foggy' etc) and is doing well.

She's lost the majority of the weight gain caused by the medication and the rapid heart rate and breathing difficulties have went away. Her pain is more under control and she's starting to feel "human again" as she put it. LOL

She's scheduled for a botox treatment on her bladder in early May to stop the painful bladder spasms. She had one back in Sept of last year and it worked great but wore off after about 4 months. Due to worries about systemic absorption she has to wait until May for another.

She had a bunch of test yesterday to make sure there were no lasting effects from the medicatioin, (CAT scan, echocardiogram, blood gas analysis, EKG) and we'll get the results next week but everything looked okay so that's good.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully we'll be back on and more active again soon. (I know I keep saying that lol but I really do mean it)

Take care all.

DC

Guess who's getting lots better?

Yep. mrsdirtycopper is feeling a LOT better.

She finished the course of iron infusions last week and they, combined with the weekly B12 shots have made a HUGE difference.

She still gets worn out easily (got to build her stamina back up) and the bladder spasms aren't totally under control, but she's much much better than she was.

She's still having some issues with pain but we're getting them under control too. Her pain doc changed one of her meds today, and although it's too soon to tell for sure, she hasn't been complaining of pain as much today as she was.

She can't have the botox treatment on her bladder until early May so in the meantime she's trying a new med for that. It's helped some, but doesn't totally control the spasms. It's an improvement for sure but there's still room for more.

All in all though, things are looking up. She's stepping back on one of her other meds due to the nasty side effects and we're hoping to get her off it totally in the long run.

Just reducing it has helped with the side effects so that's a plus too.

Anyhoo, she's doing better and I want to thank you all for the kind words and positive thoughts and prayers.

Now, if we could just find a way to be as sexually active as we were before all this without triggering the bladder spasms for the next month and a half....

LOL

And yes, we're still here. We've not decided what to do yet about that either. We miss you all and maybe we'll be back on sometime soon.

Take care of yourselves.

DC

Our "break" from NN continues and may be permanent. We've discussed it off and on.

Her medical issues aside NN just wasn't as fun as it used to be. Also as a mod there are many times I feel my hands are tied and when NN is hard to get in contact with it just gets frustrating.

So my premium expires in a few days and for now, I'm not renewing. Neither is she when hers expires. She has 33 nudles "pending" she could use but they've been "pending" for months despite a PM sent to NN etc.

If we decide to delete our accounts we'll let everyone know. Until then, if you want to drop us a line we do stop in to check our pm's from time to time.

Her health issues....not much change, she's still not doing great. Nothing life threatening but she's tire of being stuck in bed and feeling bad all the time.

Take care my friends.

It's been a while since I posted on here. It's been an interesting last six months to say the least. Mrsdirtycopper has had some severe medical problems and they continue but we're hoping we've finally got a handle on them.

First she had some issues with her depression and it took several medication changes to get her through that. Things are better in that area but the side effects of one med just about drove her crazy (her words) so we had to change that again recently. She's doing pretty good on the new one so hopefully this one works without all the side effects.

During all this we learned (from blood test done) that her iron level was extremely low (she's having her 2nd of 4 iron infusion treatments as I type this), her B12 level was low, along with her vitamin D level. I have to give her a shot in the butt once a week for the next 3 months... with a needle perverts...for the B12 and she has to see a nutrition specialist to work on getting her D level up...sheesh get your mind out of the gutter....that's vitamin D pervs.

Also her thyroid isn't working right (she had a precancerous growth removed along with half her thyroid several years ago) so they have started her on meds for that.

And to top it all off a recent CAT scan showed she has pleural effusion (fluid around the lungs) so she has to see a pulmonary specialist next week for that.

Other than a 5 day hospital stay for a severe kidney infection and three week long stays while straightening out her antidepressants, several other UTIs, and various other assorted medical issues....

We're doing fantastic.

Anyway we haven't forgotten you all and hopefully we'll be back on soon.

Hope you're all doing well.

I saw this ad today on Craigslist...

Breastmilk - $2 (Quincy, IL)
I am a healthy 22 year old mother of a 12 week old baby girl and I already have close to 1500 oz frozen! I do not drink, smoke or use drugs. I would prefer to provide for a baby in need. Cash only. E-mail me if interested!



Really???????????

I was on patrol, simple routine....boring. It usually is in a small town.

I had the radio on a country station and the DJ, during a break, announced the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. My first thought was it was some private plane who'd gotten to close and maybe caught up in the updrafts that can develop in cities filled with tall buildings.

But then they broke in again, to say that it had been a commercial plane and the speculation began that it was a terrorist attack. I stopped at the house and turned on the TV, just in time to catch CNN broadcasting the second plane as it flew into the second tower.

My heart stopped and I knew then that this was going to change our lives forever. I called my wife at work and told her what had happened, and then my parents. We were all in shock.

Americans were moved that day in a way we hadn't been since the attack on Pearl Harbor. We, for a few short months, had a sense of solidarity, and togetherness that hadn't been there before. You could see it in a strangers eyes on the street.

But now, a dozen years later, I wonder just how many remember, truly remember. I kept quiet all day today, until last break, just wondering if any of my coworkers would mention it. None did. I asked a few while on break if they knew what today was and got blank looks until I reminded them.

When I went back inside I played these songs on my radio as loud as I could. Everyone in that part of the warehouse couldn't help but hear...and be reminded.




Never forget....NEVER!

[url]http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-bozell/2013/07/02/bozell-column-military-4th-july-fireworks-canceled-obama-white-house-c[/url]

This is sad and shouldn't have ever happened.

Mrs DC took a pic of Tux and I together.



Then she suggested we both act like we were picking our nose. I think Tux took her serious, look how far up in there he shoved that thing.

Mrs DC and I met Tux for some chicken fried steak at a local truck stop tonight. Well, Tux and I had the chicken fried steak, mrs dc chickened out and had a cheese burger. LOL

The meal was good, but nothing compared to the company. I already considered Tux a friend and brother, and when we finally met face to face for the first time, it was just like we'd known each other for years.

He's quite the gentleman, polite (you can hear his southern upbringing in every 'thank you ma'am'), and so funny he had us laughing like idiots.

Anyway, here's the pics I took. Sorry about that scruffy looking guy with mrs dc. I'm not sure where he came from. LOL