# How's everyone doing?



## AmZ (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi everyone,

How's everyone doing today?

What are your plans for the day ahead of you?

AmZ  (I blush when I speak to groups of people)


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## Cat Dancer (Nov 21, 2011)

I am being lazy right now. Getting ready to put Josh down for a nap which he's not crazy about.

Later we have to go out to the store.


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## AmZ (Nov 21, 2011)

Nice to hear from you CD.

Enjoy your day


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## Retired (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi AmZ!

We started the day with a bike ride and are now preparing for Thanksgiving Day (celebrated in the U.S.) on Thursday.  A group of our friends (24) are getting together for a pot luck Thanksgiving Day dinner where everyone brings a dish to share.

Then on Friday is shopping chaos as Black Friday introduces Christmas shopping mayhem.  All over the U.S. stores will be opening from midnight Friday morning to attract shoppers, while some people have already camped out in front of stores to be the first ones in.

I may pick up one or two Black Friday items, but won't be out until after the sun rises!

Otherwise, I plan to be out on the golf course and I still have some corian carving projects in the works.

There just are not enough hours in the day to get done the things I have planned!

You are sounding in good spirits, and I hope your week will be a good one.

Steve


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## AmZ (Nov 21, 2011)

I'd love to have a Thanksgiving Day here  Yours sounds especially nice with what you have planned.

Ah, Black Friday - I remember seeing about this on TV. I was watching 'Mall Cops' a reality show which follows the security guards duties in and around the malls of the US. If I remember rightly, I think they said that it's the busiest day of the year in that particular mall (at least). 

Carving projects and golf - sounds like you have a great amount of hobbies there Steve. You should post some of your carving projects here, it'd be great to see them.

I am feeling somewhat OK today thank you. All of the staff at the hospital were off today on an outing together asides from a few nurses we had here - So we had like a weekend day here. I was not looking forward to it because of the lack of things to do but I ended up getting through it fine. A few intrusive thoughts but nothing major. Back to real hospital life tomorrow. And I'll be finding out about them changing my anti-depressant also so I hope for some good positive news and perhaps finding the right medication for me


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## adaptive1 (Nov 21, 2011)

Hope you are having a good day AMZ, I am jealous of the Black Friday shopping Steve is going to. I have always wanted to try that but I hate line ups so maybe it is just as well that I don't.

It is a chilly night where I live but I am settling down by my fireplace and hopefully find something good on to watch as I dont feel like bundling up to face the prairie winds tonight.


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## Daniel (Nov 21, 2011)

> I have always wanted to try that but I hate line ups so maybe it is just as well that I don't.



Many of the Black Friday deals are online, too :woohoo:


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## Mari (Nov 21, 2011)

H! AmZ   "(I blush when I speak to groups of people)" I know what that is like! I guess the day is almost over and it really was not so great but I will try to think of the good things. I saw my doctor today and she is very nice, intelligent, and cheerful. The weather was not too cold and lots of sunshine. There are nice people here and a 'just for fun' section that might cheer me up a bit. Enjoy your evening!


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## Yuray (Nov 22, 2011)

A welcome post AmZ. You seem positive tonight, and the replies to your post are genuine. Nothing heavy, just a good, simple, plain question......."hows everybody doing". How are you doing?


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## AmZ (Nov 22, 2011)

adaptive1 said:


> Hope you are having a good day AMZ, I am jealous of the Black Friday shopping Steve is going to. I have always wanted to try that but I hate line ups so maybe it is just as well that I don't.
> 
> It is a chilly night where I live but I am settling down by my fireplace and hopefully find something good on to watch as I dont feel like bundling up to face the prairie winds tonight.



You need to on online for the sales then, as Daniel said!
Ah, a lovely fireplace with cold weather outside - Reminds me of good old England. I hope you found something to watch!



Daniel said:


> Many of the Black Friday deals are online, too :woohoo:





Mari said:


> H! AmZ   "(I blush when I speak to groups of people)" I know what that is like! I guess the day is almost over and it really was not so great but I will try to think of the good things. I saw my doctor today and she is very nice, intelligent, and cheerful. The weather was not too cold and lots of sunshine. There are nice people here and a 'just for fun' section that might cheer me up a bit. Enjoy your evening!



Hi Mari,
Oh, blushing is my top thing that I hate. I feel the blood rushing to my head and I say to myself "oh no, here is comes". (Maybe that's part of the problem!). I blushed twice today, one 'minorly' and one 'majorly'. Once because I was asked to speak in group therapy but even before that I was having a minor panic attack sitting there because of sitting in a small room with about 12 people. The other time majorly when I sat with a worker and she asked me to tell her my entire life story, that got me going good and proper. 



Yuray said:


> A welcome post AmZ. You seem positive tonight, and the replies to your post are genuine. Nothing heavy, just a good, simple, plain question......."hows everybody doing". How are you doing?



Hi Yuray,
I hope you are well.
Yes, my question came from a good and positive place. Just wanted to say hi and see how people are doing. I'm doing OK thank you. I've had two days of feeling neither good nor bad, and it feels good. Partly because it means that I haven't got much to lose if the next day doesn't turn out so great. And I spoke with my psychiatrist today and my anti-depressant is being changed to Prozac, so I am hopeful that it will finally be the thing for me to bring me out of this year and a half mess!


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## MWCT (Nov 23, 2011)

Hi Everyone,

Also getting ready for Thanksgiving here in US.  Watch the NYC Macy's parade on TV.  Going to my family for lots of food - usual Thanksgiving fare - Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, pies.....no Black friday shopping - I had to fight the crowds.  I usually buy online.  But some stores opening at 10pm on Thursday....rounding out with seeing mother-in-law on Saturday - don't have a time yet because she waits until the last minute to make plans which makes it hard to plan....but our town has a Christmas parade on Saturday, so should be fun!

At least the power is back on in CT.  With the October 29th snow storm we had - lost power over Halloween for 5 days!  What a blur!


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## AmZ (Dec 3, 2011)

I'm not doing too hot today. Sometimes I really don't know what to do with myself. I'm so confused and frustrated. I don't want to live and I don't want to die.

How's everyone?


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## H011yHawkJ311yBean (Dec 6, 2011)

Well, I'm an optimist, so it's nice to see you don't want to die.

Perhaps you are just _afraid_ to live.  Maybe you need to change your thinking about what living is...  Don't worry though, you aren't the only person who is afraid of life sometimes...   Or aspects of life, I should say.  There are feelings a person can be afraid to feel, but at least they are felt.  And it's only feeling...  It will pass and go on to something else, too.

I don't know what I am talking about.  I thought I did, but I think I need to go to bed.  lol


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## AmZ (Dec 6, 2011)

I don't know. 

I won't moan on this thread also.


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## AmZ (Dec 18, 2011)

Good morning North America. How's everyone doing?


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## Daniel (Dec 18, 2011)

> Good morning North America.



Haha.


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## AmZ (Dec 18, 2011)

Daniel said:


> Haha.



That was meant to be a fair comment haha. 

How are you doing Daniel over there in North America?


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## Daniel (Dec 18, 2011)

Just ecstatic as ever about living the American dream


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## AmZ (Dec 18, 2011)

Daniel said:


> Just ecstatic as ever about living the American dream



Damn right!

Or am I hearing some sarcasm there?!

---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:13 PM ----------

Ahh. Get me out of here! Again, more drama in the hospital today. Some guy just started to scream and run about and has been moved to the closed ward and one of my American roommates is currently in the bathroom doing a pregnancy test! She's 22 years old and bought the test herself so I am waiting in the room like an expectant... Person!


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## Daniel (Dec 18, 2011)

> Ahh. Get me out of here!



I would suggest immigrating to Canada   They take anybody for any reason.   And your only roommates are polar bears -- some are pregnant but most are just hungry.


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## H011yHawkJ311yBean (Dec 18, 2011)

That would be me (mostly just hungry)...

When I had my husband in Emergency last week and he was kept in a room they termed "code Burgundy" (sort of a makeshift ICU because of the overcrowding lately), there were a couple of um... Interesting characters in there, too...  An elderly gentleman with a walker in one corner kept getting up and trying to leave.  He was finally allowed to call his daughter and she calmed him down.  There were only curtains, no walls at all, so it was impossible not to hear.  Poor guy was convinced "something wasn't right here" and the nurses constantly had to chase him down.  The other thing he did that drove the poor elderly lady crazy in the bed across to him was that he kept calling her his wife.  "That's my wife right there," he kept saying.  She was quite offended when he kept coming over to drink her water, and he tried to make a couple of advances or hold her hand.  She was in a tizzy, poor thing!  She was also mad that the tech who tried to put in the IV needle back on the triage/emergency entrance had some difficulty because her veins kept collapsing (where several beds, including my husband's, were temporarily located out in the hallway)... So she was a bit horrified that she had all these bruises on her arms and was complaining loudly about it.  But she also managed to wiggle her own IV loose and caused it to bleed all over herself when she got up to use the washroom.  They gave her a mild rebuke and so when the old gentleman kept trying to come over to her she would say, "You'd better stay there or you're going to pull out your IV and then you'll be in big trouble."  The nurses kept telling him, "Albert, your wife isn't here.  That is NOT your wife.  Your wife is at home with her feet up watching television."   He kept saying, "Well she sure looks like my wife."  I couldn't see through the curtain but I bet that elderly lady was scowling at him something fierce...

There was another fellow a few beds further down who was gacking and coughing like he had TB or pneumonia or some kind of nasty lung issue.  Ah, the sounds that came out of him...  "hack hack hack cough cough cough bark bark bark... hhhhwaaccckk...."   I don't know if it was because he was lacking oxygen or something to do with his meds because the 2nd day I was there he started complaining loudly that his forehead and fingers and toes all felt like there was something dead inside him trying to get out.  Some kind of neuropathy?  "It's driving me crazy!  I don't think I can stand it anymore...  It feels like it's me falling out of my fingers and toes and my forehead...  You know what I mean?  It's like I'm coming out of my own body and I'm falling out dead in bits and pieces.  Is there anything you can do to stop it? "  He would laugh nervously because he felt embarrassed about how it sounded, but he was clearly anxious about it. He kept repeating it over and over until the doctor came to visit him and apparently gave him something else as he settled down finally before I left that evening.  

At least the 2nd time we visited Emergency a week later, we just stayed a few hours and he's back home again.  

Last week it was an intestinal bleed from the meds he was on for his pinched nerve.  Yesterday it was "just" his pinched nerve.  We finally have him on some "short activation" morphine...  Lowest dose available, and now we can both sleep fairly well after 2 weeks of us both being exhausted trying out other medications...  He is doing a lot better, getting more sleep, managing the pain much better, and we have had xrays and have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on the 21st.  Emergency doctors told us they are booking him for an MRi but no one has called us yet, but mind you it happened on the Saturday so I don't even know if MRi appointments are open until weekdays (or at least unless it is an emergency)...  I have to call our physician on Mon anyway so he can get back up to speed (although they kept him up to date on the first trip to Emerg)...  We will see if David can get some slow release Morphine or if he just needs to stay on the stuff he has now.  Seems manageable with staggering Tylonel and morphine.  The other stuff (Tramadol once a day 300mg) didn't do squat for him.

Sorry I haven't been on, I've also had some milder medical issues, found out my thyroid levels plummeted a bit so I have a higher dosage prescribed for synthroid and we'll see if that doesn't lessen these feelings of blah and always chilly and short-tempered and not wanting to do anything etc...  It feels so hard to do anything lately.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and are not experiencing any PAIN!


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## Daniel (Dec 18, 2011)

> Your wife is at home with her feet up watching television.



Smart lady


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## AmZ (Dec 18, 2011)

Ah, hospitals! Not fun. 

I hope that your husband continues to rest and feel better and I hope that your thyroid issue can easily be taken care of. 

Happy holidays 

---------- Post added at 09:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 PM ----------




Daniel said:


> I would suggest immigrating to Canada   They take anybody for any reason.   And your only roommates are polar bears -- some are pregnant but most are just hungry.



Polar bears for roommates sound better than the roommates here at the hospital! One is so triggered by everything, I am always on the edge. I can hear her semi shouting on the phone outside and am terrified of her coming in to the room! I just need to be shipwrecked on a beach somewhere.


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## Retired (Dec 18, 2011)

Ah, polar bears!!  My favorite animals.

This photo is the mural that was painted on the back of our motorcoach in which we traveled a few years ago.


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## AmZ (Dec 19, 2011)

Steve said:


> Ah, polar bears!!  My favorite animals.
> 
> This photo is the mural that was painted on the back of our motorcoach in which we traveled a few years ago.



Wow, that's beautiful.


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## AmZ (Jan 12, 2012)

How's everyone doing?

---------- Post added January 13th, 2012 at 02:09 AM ---------- Previous post was January 12th, 2012 at 09:00 PM ----------

All fine I take it?

Hope everyone is well. 

Just another 2am hello from me. 

Take care.


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## Daniel (Jan 12, 2012)

It's like you are from the future


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## Cat Dancer (Jan 12, 2012)

LOL, Daniel. That is true. And weird. 

Sorry about your sleeping problem, amz.


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## AmZ (Jan 12, 2012)

Haha. Maybe I am. 

It's 4am and I'm up. 

Was just wondering how my forum buddies are doing (without talking about me for a while!).


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## Cat Dancer (Jan 12, 2012)

It's about 9:30 pm here. I am having kid sleeping issues. No peace for me. LOL. It's snowing too.


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## H011yHawkJ311yBean (Jan 12, 2012)

9 pm and all is well...   Cat Dancer posted at 8:30 pm my time...   So it's probably 10 pm where she is...

So AmZ, you posted at 8:15 pm and you said it's 4 am where you are/were...  Wow, that's a few time zones, that's fer sure!  lol

My husband doesn't need nearly as much sleep as I do and also gets up around 3am or 4 am if he goes to bed the same time as me (around 10 pm).  If he has to get up at the same time as me in the morning, he has to go to bed really really late (for me)...

I wonder if he is still in his time zone, circadian rhythm-wise...  His eating habits are different, too.  He won't be hungry for hours and hours in the morning but I can't stand not eating as long as he does.  I get a sick feeling in my stomach if I wait until noon or 2 pm to eat. 

 He was born in Connecticut/Maine area... lived there a few years, and then Vermont and then Florida, slowly moving West until he made a big jump North and West to Saskatchewan...  So he's been several time zones to the East.  

It's sort of the opposite for you, though...  You were born in the West and moved East...    Not sure if that logic works...  I don't even know if MINE does. lol


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## AmZ (Jan 12, 2012)

Oh snow CD. It's just blowing a storm outside here. Making lots of doors bang which is not helping my sleep. 5.30am and I'm still up! This has seriously got to be addressed but anyway. 

Haha Jolly we sure are a different few time zones away. Weird. Your husband sounds like he sleeps just like me. 3 or 4 am usually and I'm wide awake. 

Hehe. I think you logic works. 

So what's on everyone's evening agenda?


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