Posted 7:03 PM by Bonnie

I'm a little late responding to this meme but hopefully better late than never still applies :-).

1. What are 3 songs from your "growing up" years that you hear on the radio now and have to crank it. Songs that really get you rockin'

Master Jack – Four Jacks and a Jill
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo – Lobo
So Far Away – Carol King

2. What are 3 songs that bring back really great memories.

Prison Trilogy – Joan Baez (a protest song written from letters her husband wrote her from prison. I was pregnant at the time and she was performing at Gannon Auditorium in Erie PA!!!

Two out Three Aint Bad – Meatloaf

Illegal Smile – John Prine J

3. What are 3 of your favorite bands/singers from your growing up years?

Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin)
Joan Baez and still is
Joni Mitchell

4. What are 3 of your favorite bands/singers now?

Have to admit I am not real up on the current singers, but I do like
Alanis Morrisett

A bit older but ones I enjoy today… or still enjoy today I should say are:
Carol King and
Bette Midler


Bonus: What was the best concert you ever went to? Tell us about it.

I would have to say it was the Joan Baez concert at Gannon. It was just her and her guitar and it was so personal. I was seated on the chairs on the floor in front of the makeshift stage. She talked, she sang, she told stories about the songs. She had one fun request and that was no pictures were to be taken during the concert, but since she knew people would take pictures she did one silly song during which she made very face possible and let people click away. At the end she sang Amazing Grace acupela and had the audience sing along. I have been to a lot more extravagant concerts since that one, but to me Joan Baez and her guitar and that very personal performance will always rank at the top.

Posted 8:56 PM by Bonnie

Another interesting week... Monday, or was it Tuesday? The week has been so stressful I forget when it all started. My husband came home with a headache. Later in the evening as it got worse he went to lay down. Around 10:30 with his head and back of his neck really hurting and a 102.8 temp we headed for the emergency room. He has had meningitis in the past so he knew all the symptons. It is a viral type so not contagious. When his immune system gets compromised he will get a form of it, but this was a lot more.

So, they have to do a spinal tap. Why we ask when they already know what it is... because it is vital!!! this was pushed at us until we said okay. Why did we hesitate? Because it meant taking him off the coumadin he NEEDS to prevent blood clots, such as the pulmonary embolisms he had two years ago. So, for two days they had him off the coumadin and were pumping him with vitamin K to get his blood to clot faster... finally they had him where they wanted him and the nurse came in all giggly and smiley and said we have good news and bad news... they aren't going to do the procedure. WHY???? we ask, since the doctor made a point that is was so vital it was risk the of taking him off the coumadin.

Well, it turns out they finally checked with radiology and the table would not support my husbands weight. It only holds up to 300 pounds. I asked if they had thought he would lose 100 pounds laying the hospital bed for two days. We were not pleased. Also, I asked wouldn't it have been more prudent to find all this out BEFORE they took him off the coumadin? And can you believe a hospital that only has equipment that supports weight up to 300 pounds?

The end result... they didn't do it... put him back on the coumadin and have to keep him in to monitor his blood until it is back to where it should be...

In the meantime... his heart started beating irregularly, skipping every fourth beat, so he is back on the portable heart monitor for 24 hours.... aaaarrgghhhh!! gee, I wonder if they caused enough stress or if they do a little more damage along the way?

Posted 6:31 PM by Bonnie

From Weigh-in-Wednesday. Good things can happen when a scale isn't involved. What has been your most memorable (or important) non-scale victory to date?

Putting on my 3X raincoat and having it feel like a tent. Being able to take the same raincoat to my TOPS group and pass it onto another member who was starting out as a 3X. Also, having someone hand me a 1X shirt and said, just try it on when I objected it would never fit me. I tried it on and it did fit! Small victories, but victories non the less :-).

Posted 7:48 PM by Bonnie

From Seventh Heaven, a daily meme:

01. Would you ever date someone outside of your race or religion?
I have dated outside my race. I even had a daughter who is bi-racial. Somehow when living up north this did no seem unusual. It is different in the south as the bigotry and prejudism work both ways in in a lot of ways the blacks are more prejudiced here than the whites. It is hard to imagine dating outside my race here in SC.

02. Which of the 7 deadly sins in the worst (gluttony, greed, pride, lust, envy, wrath, sloth)?

I had a hard time with this between greed and gluttony as both are what feed the big businesses and politicians and keep their pockets lined while others starve around them.

03. Which one are you most guilty of?

I hate to admit this publicly, but it would have to be gluttony. I am a foodaholic and have been fighting this for years. I have recently joined a support group that is helping immensely and I have actually lost 19 pounds since joining, but still find myself "pigging out" every once in awhile.

04. What would you want a free season pass to?
Yeah, It has to be Broadway. Ever since I saw Bob Fosse and Dancin' while on a business trip to NYC I fell in love with Broadway and would love to back again and again and again and.... :-)

05. Would you tell someone you loved him or her if they didn't say it first?

Yes, I do it all the time. I say what I feel and mean what I say and it doesn't have to be reciprocated. Sometimes the words go unsaid and I wish I had said them. I have a friend in Florida with whom I have been friends with for over 40 years and sometimes he surprises me by ending our calls with and I love you... it is a friendship, brother/sister love but often it goes left unsaid, so it is a nice surprise to hear it as well as surprise someone by saying it to them first.

06. What are you the most sensitive about?

I used to be extremely sensitive and let people hurt me all the time. But something changed after my last divorce. I am not quite sure what it was but something changed in me and I realized people were not hurting me, I was but allowing them to hurt me with their words, looks, etc. I know I should be sensitive about my weight and maybe I would lose more and faster if I was, but somewhere along the line I started to like me just the way I am. Now, I am losing weight for health reasons and that makes a difference. I want to be around for those I love and those who love me.

07. What can you talk about for hours?
Music!! Books!! Movies... anything... somedays I don't want to talk at all, but get me on a day when I am feeling at my best and ... oh, and my husband and I talk for hours about politics, human nature, etc. We don't always agree but the discussions are stimulating and fun.

Posted 9:19 PM by Bonnie

Back again... I have decided there is no way I can do this everyday, so I am not going to stress myself over my haphazard postings. The 24 hour heart monitor showed no current problems with Keith's heart. He is feeling much better and is back to taking walks with me. Of course, he has his handy dandy PDR which he says he scares himself with, but then he would rather be informed than follow the doctors blindly. Of course, it didn't help that John Ritter suddenly died the way he did, and they keep saying for people not to worry it could happen to them, as it could only happen to people with hypertension, high blood pressure... etc.. all the things Keith has... as he says he does get panicky and he knows he does this to himself... men!! who can understand them :-). And now, a friend in Florida, someone Vic and I have known for over 40 years!! ended up in the ER with a blood pressure of 210/176 and that is not a typo. He is home now but on new blood pressure medicine, and also, they noticed his breathing was very shallow. Did a test like the ones they give us for our asthma and found he had 60% carbonmonoxide and 40% oxygen which isn't good, so he is now on 24 hour oxygen. Should be fun since he is in a wheelchair. He said they gave him little portable ones that he can carry in a backpack on his chair that last 4 hours. What fun. Well, hopefully next time I post it will be a cheery one :-).

Posted 7:40 AM by Bonnie

Good morning! It's been awhile since I have posted. Life has just gotten a little to hectic and strange for the moment. My husband is home, went back to work, but is still having problems. Monday we go to the heart doctor and they are going to put a 24 hour portable heart monitor on him. They call it a holster. This will give them an idea of what is going on during the day. He has burning sensations around his heart and it isn't heartburn. They are also going to have him see a gastrogenolgist, but that hasn't been set up yet. We are waiting to hear on that. In the meantime, he is able to go to work and teach but not without discomfort. So, we sit and wait. The doctors are just guessing at this point and are putting him and taking him off medications at such a rapid rate it becomes scary at times. We read up on atrial flutters which is what put him in the hospital and possible side affects of the medications and being taken off the medications but it doesn't always make a lot of sense to us. I will just have to keep you all posted as things progress.