h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nononononono...keep this place yours!!!!
...*shoots a dirty look toward B.E. Bookworm...*
Frank can full well get his kudos second hand.
...and if anyone wants me...my FanMail addy is:

[email protected]

I have blood I can give Frank once each month...

I hope Frank enjoyed his cheeseburger. Did he have to eat it under the bedclothes so that the nurses didn't tell him off for eating all that cholesterol?

Its great hear he is doing so well, Hypatia. But how about you? I hope you are managing to get some rest now.

Yes!
You ARE managing to take extra care to treat yourself, aren't you?
You deserve a spa day!
Karen

...either that or a snokel and a barrel of rum...

:: Pandora ::

I never intimated that Hypatia should forego this space and hand it over to Frank. He could start his own thread, don't you think? It would just be a treat to get his perspective on his recovery, as well, and see what he gets up to next.

As I'm still new to the whole bunch of Salonistas, I haven't even seen Frank post on the site. That's in large part due to his trip to the hospital just about the time I joined in. [I don't believe there's a causal relationship between the two events.]

I've been doing what I can by 'talking to the Big Dude upstairs' on Frank's behalf, as have quite a few other of the folks here. It's encouraging to see Frank's progressing and that Hypatia can start breathing a sigh of relief.

My thoughts are continually with them, as I see yours are, too.
B4

Isn't it nice to see that people really care for other people
Wouldn't it be wonderful to see more of that up-close-and-personal-like!
We all deserve this kind of "hangin-in-there-together" kind of stuff.
Let's see if we can accomplish that in some small way where we live this week. It WILL make the world a better place
Karen

I vote Unanimously with Karen's sentiment. Do good things for others; enjoy each day to the fullest; do things you like to do; remember to say "I Love You" to each member of your family...daily; speak kindly; help whenever you can, even if it's not your problem; smile a lot; work with your whole heart in it; take rest breaks, breathers, and sleep well at night. Life's too short to instigate or dwell upon strife.

B4igrewup

P.S. Karen, your life is very intriguing! Thanks for sharing a slice of it with us. Ups and downs come around. I'd once heard that you can't necessarily keep the adversary from kickin' ya, but ya can shore 'nuff determine the direction you travel afterwards.

Best to you,
B4ifoundout

Thanks, Luv
You can share in any part of my mixed-up life you want I welcome you with open arms
I think your life is pretty , too.
Thanks for being there.
Karen

B4I forget... to go with the loo brush!

Did Frank use to post here? Cuz I only met Hypthia during the 'head spin' phase of the medical laundry pile.

My pal Chris just left. He gave me a bottle of homemade white wine!It's my 46th birthday.I've offically live four entire years past my experation date, accourding to the 'experts' in Philly.
...*does a little 'nahnah dance', nude, in front of the livingroom picture window...admires her reflection*
With my hair growing past my butt...I can hide, er, I mean, I look pretty damned good.
Everything's moving South jussss like mama said it would.

See, when Lady-H pops in to see what all she's been missin'...I wanna' make sure she hasn't missed ANYthing.
...*takes out note pad...*Oh. Yeah, I had a ChippenDale Dance
haul in a stolen, er, borrowed Christmas tree from Norway. It was the one that was in the news cuz it was covered in euro dollars and someone stole, er, I borrowed it for The Crossed Purposes Pub.
Each year I provide the tree there. The past couple years I've been getting trees from Buchingham Palace.
There are always bobbys yelling for a thief to stop!!I run, draggin that tree as fast as I can but I NEVER catch up to the thief! So, this year I jusss thought I'd stay out of the way, there in England and got our tree elsewhere.

Hope you all stop by for a cup of tea or sumthin' durin' the Holidaze.
(it can always be found on my page...Dec. thread as we change threads each month <--- sounds like we're tidy, but thruth be known, the pub's not really *livable* by the end of each month)

Pandora-
Did you snag a Chippendale Dancer for me
Karen

p.s. Happy Birthday

Dragonlady,

We don't live in Canada where the Social Services don't have their head screwed on straight, however, we found that malady to be prevalent in Florida. Several years ago when our teenage boys were breaking all the rules (smoking, drinking, doing drugs, skipping school, causing havoc for the rest of the family), we got NO support from the civil authorities. As you said, they insisted the burden of proof was on us, the parents, to prove our assertions. We had to take a crash course in legalism, going to the courthouse and doing research for long hours on different cases that would give us some precedent to work with. It was fruitless; Florida defaults to the side of the children for "their welfare". Right! It was a long struggle and I thank God that they finally outgrew most of this silliness.

The unfortunate side-effect of their actions was that the other kids then thought it was okay to do the same kind of things. Dang it! Our eldest daughter darn near got kicked off the Navy base I was assigned to in Iceland. The general rule at any military base is that the Sponsor (enlisted or commissioned military member) is responsible for the actions of his Spouse and his Children. Puts the onus on that individual to keep the peace and keep things organized in the family. Our daughter followed the boys' poor example and made a real mess of things, even accusing us of maltreatment and that her brothers had raped her. Ouch! We pursued that and found it to be a lie. Not surprising, since I'd watched her cultivating that little vice for years and tried many things to drive it far from her, to no avail. She finally left our home from Iceland to be with her mother. I had to concede it would be better for her to "quit rather than get fired" from living there. She still hasn't got a handle on living "above board" (honestly) and continually stirs up arguments within the whole family. I can only hope she gets a clue and changes.

Recently, our 14-year-old daughter got a case of the stupids. She neglected her school studies, snuck out of the house (swiping my wife's car several times to do it [she's not of age to be licensed yet]), smoking, and drinking with some of her 'friends'. The car incident was the final straw, and we actually called the local police, who responded and hauled her in. She got turned over to the Juvenile Department and suffered "house arrest" for more than a month. The Juvenile Officer laid down the law to her (this is Missouri and they don't take any guff from the kids here!), explained just how few privileges she'd have if she wound up in the lock-up, and set some counseling sessions for her. We pulled her out of school and my wife got back to "home schooling" her, and we changed the home phone number to cut back the contact with her former 'accomplices'. The change in venue and the involvement of the authorities (who cared enough to give her a dose of reality) made her think twice and we've a lot more peace in our home since.

If today's kids weren't so "coddled" and left to run in every category, I think they'd respect their parents a bit more. On our part, I think discipline with dignity, a caring attitude to be involved in their lives, and some consistency in how we respond to their foolish behavior would go a long way towards keeping the homefront a haven for the whole family. We're still getting it all together, and it's getting better every day...

B4theygrowup&leavehome

Thanks.
I know I am not alone in this.
So many parents are having to cope with the same things.
We are not doing anyone any favors by allowing this to continue, either.

Well, there is so much more to say on the subject, but so little time. I could write a thousand pages, and still not be thoroughly finished.

Karen

P.S.-

Hypatia-
How is Frank?

Yep, now I'm really, really certain that I don't regret not having any children.I think.

Hi guys and gals!

I thought I'd be back before this. Frank was released from the hospital on Monday the 9th and I had to take him back on Friday the 13th. He has something called heparin induced thrombocypesnia (sp?) which is a fancy name for a blood clot in his leg. Since he can't have the two drugs normally used to treat blood clots, they have him on a drug called refludan which is a leeching agent. I was told that it's a wonderful drug but isn't used very often because it's so expensive. Just what I wanted to hear.

So far we've had allergic reactions to heparin, coumadin, and platelets; two falls; an infection he caught in the operating room; a bedsore; and now a blood clot. But, he's improving. He is eating again - and I didn't even try to hide the hamburger the other night. I dared anyone to stop him from eating it! And this morning his platelets were up to 45. That's still awful, but it's the best it's been since the surgery. And the refludan has gotten most of the swelling out of his leg. It was enormous. At least three times larger that the other leg.

I'll try to get Frank interested in h2g2 when he's himself again. But, he's pretty hesitant about computers in general, so don't hold your breath. Actually, he's had an interesting life and has some great stories, so you'd probably enjoy him.

I'm anxious to catch up on what everyone else has been doing, but it's going to have to wait a little longer. Thanks for the prayers and humor and comradery. Now, I have to pay the library's bills and get ready for a board meeting Tuesday night.

A bit of careful celebrating, mayhaps?

I'm glad to hear that things are looking rosier.

Hypatia,

Once again, Thanks for the update. Good to hear Frank's demeanor is perking up, even if his body's still undecided on full health and wholeness. It'll come around, I'm sure. Have Frank adopt a military Drill Sergeant persona and his bodily functions will fall right in line.

If Frank is not able to post for himself when this is all cleared up, perhaps you could share some of his interesting moments in life. Let him dictate and, perhaps, y'all can both together as each incident makes it to the post.

God bless you both tremendously and a full recovery for Frank,
uRinmyB4igotoeachnight

Ditto what they said.
...*slides her bills into the mix with Hypithia's...*

I'm having a dreadful time posting today....can't seem to stay connected to the Beeb.

Okay, he's doing better. He looks normal, which means he's knobby kneed and has ugly feet. His legs have never been his most attractive feature.

His platelets were up to 48 yesterday and keep climbing slowly. I haven't had a lab report today. So here's the scoop. Apparently he wasn't allergic to coumadin after all. The reaction they thought was caused by the coumadin was a residual effect of the heparin. This is a hugh relief to us. This means that they can start him on it again (think they did that last night, actually) and once his pro time is regulated they can take him off of the refludan and send him home. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! We're shooting for this weekend.

I still don't know how much the refludan costs, but they nurses on the floor are calling Frank the man with the golden arm. I think they're afraid to tell us. Our insurance only pays 80%, so I'll probably need a when the bill comes. But I'm told that the hospital is good to let people make payments on their bills instead of demanding it all up front. So, with luck I'll live long enough to pay it off.

They're having physical therapy come today to start exercising him again to get his strength built up enough to go home. He has a greenfield filter from his last clot, so as long as the only clot is in his leg he'll be safe.

Talk to you later.

Sue