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Sallie there is some new oxygen equipment out there that makes extra tanks unnecessary. I am not familiar with it but your equipment company can tell you about it. I know it is expensive but might be at least partially covered.
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My big whine today! how could i be so stupid? I never go to bed without hiding the keys to the back door so mum cant get at the washing machine! well she was up at 7am this morning i thought i was dreaming or sorry having a nihgtmare when i heard the machine going YEP she was up and had gotten the keys as i left them on the table and theres about 5washes piled up and its raining so theres no where to dry them? i am so mad with her i want to scream i will have to lock my keys in my room along with everything else. Then the cheek she asked me to hang out the clothes? Where in the rain. Oh shes getting worse and i just dont know how much more i can take of this i clean the house pay a cleaner to come in for 3hrs and its like weve been burgled AGAIN!
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Susan I admire your adventuresome spirit. When you book ahead ask if they have a lower bed for Mom also a chair and bath chair also a little stool to put her little tootsies on sitting on one of their high chairs.
I well know what it is like travelling with toddlers. two of mine were under 18 months when we made our first travelled to the US and it took us two days. Total nightmare especially as I did not want to come anyway 15 years later began our adventures with horses, not only do they need an unimaginable amount of gear but they also need a seperate conveyance which they may or may not decide they are prepared to climb on. Oh happy days.
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Thanks Veronica - I've always been the type to just "go" when the mood hits me - when my children were young, we were always off on some adventure. We went to the National Zoo on a bus trip because my then-husband wouldn't go with us (he hated zoos and circuses and the like - not sure why, so I took the kids myself) and often went to various local or not-so-local events. When my husband and I divorced, I started the annual trek back and forth to take the kids to see their dad or to pick them up, etc - about 700 miles each way. People always asked me how I could do that - traveling alone with my kids as a single woman. I always said, "I just DO IT."

Nowadays, as I'm getting older, though, I'm finding my adventuresome spirit is tempered somewhat by my reluctance to deal with all the hassles of traveling with very young children or very old ones (as in my mom - lol). I dragged my feet and really just didn't want to come on this trip this time, and couldn't figure out why. Now I know why - because of all the hassle. Mom started out doing well on the trip, but now is being more difficult to deal with than usual, requiring me to help her dress (which she never does at home), resisting showering (even though everything is set up here for her to shower - in fact, it's easier than at home, because it's a step-in shower, not a tub), refusing to walk 10 steps across the motel room to get a snack (requesting I get it instead) - even though she walks about 18 steps across the room to get to the bathroom - probably because that's the ONE thing she can't ask me to do for her!!

The good thing about this trip, though - my brother and his family joined us for the first 3 days of the trip and made the journey up here with us - so when we stopped, they stopped, and he and his wife now have a full understanding - I hope - of what I have to deal with getting Mom in and out of the van, getting her to go to the bathroom when she should, etc. (At one point, she was refusing to get out of the van to go to the bathroom and had been sitting in the van for about 2 hours - my SIL was trying to convince her to get out and stretch her legs and go to the bathroom - Mom looked right at her and said, "I DON'T FEEL LIKE IT" in a tone that made my SIL walk away.) So I'm trying to look at it with a positive light - at least some of the family is now seeing what I'm dealing with on a daily basis.
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My whine, my sister who shows up once every 2 months out of guilt sent me an e-mail saying her, my brother and older sister had a meeting about me and have decided they are done with me! Boo Hoo! Tears of joy because I have had nothing to do with them any way. I have no idea why she thought this would hurt me.. Lol
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Nice that they had a meeting about you, without you. Meetings and help with the parent is what's needed, not back stabbing siblings! GRRR.

Glad it didn't upset you though sallie :)
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Oh dear sallie! chin up though, my siblings thought i shouldve been commited a few years ago and they were worried about the stress i was causing mum????? WHERE ARE THEY NOW????? Nice of them to have a family meeting about you and what about mum have are they DONE with her too?
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Well Sallie look on the bright side that's fewer Christmas cards you have to buy this year
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I'm telling you, thus is the way my family has always been. Back stabbing self centered A-holes! They have been done with my mom for a long time any way. And we haven't exchanged Christmas gifts and cards for a long time. I may send them coal in their stockings thus year. Lol
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sallie when your mum dies you will be a happier person because you cared they will not have the memories good or bad that you will have so STUFF them!! I keep seeing my sisters lying on that beach in my head while im cleaning up pee and pooh all day it aint right!
Only good thing is im going on a holiday in 2wks and sis will be here with mum for one week HA HA HA HA HA!! LOL and thats a WITCHY laugh out loud yeh maybe im losing it!!
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Back to whining...

The Vet visit is just as annoying as a people Dr. visit. An hour n a half!! OMG!! I'd like to see one of the employee's sit it a 5x5 room with a neurotic dog (jk) and a demented parent about ready to storm the back office because she THINKS she hears people just pissing off back there... darn it all,, she was probably right too!!!
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My whine moment today is I feel I'm living with Goldilocks. The food is too hot, it's too cold, it's too salty, it's too bland. I finally told her you don't like how I cook eat a sandwich. She can't remember how to set her alarm clock all of a sudden. She sure can remember her booze. I know tomorrow is going to be an argument over money. She thinks she should have large amounts on her at all times. She can't afford it and its easy way to get robbed. I give her so much for spending money. I get the stink eye everytime.
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The bathroom whines just reminded me that it's probably not a great idea to have mother along when my uncle takes me to a nice restaurant for my b-day din-din. The restaurants he chooses are absolutely 1st class and a potty accident (becoming more frequent) would potentially ruin everything. It's so awful of me to think that way but many times, she doesn't recognize me as her daughter (she thinks I'm her sister) and sure doesn't remember my b-day. So thanks to all for this "heads-up" call.
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Not so much whining as hollow laughter - just checking out "self-help" sections on the menopause information site in case they had any bright new ideas for me, and what does it say? "Try to reduce your stress levels."

Oh my, aren't they quite the comedians though.
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CM I went through the change early and I was lucky, just slightly warm occasionally for a minute or two. I tell people I decided to just give up and grow a beard instead lol
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I had a hysterectomy, kept ovaries in my early 40's. Never had any sort of problem with menopause what so ever. After watching what mom went through with it I was scared to death! Course mom was always a hypochondriac type, to say nothing of her narcissism, probably just part of the package.
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Had the full hysterectomy - even the ovaries got taken out. Not even 3 days after the surgery, the surgeon asked me if I was experiencing menopause. I did get a brief one upon returning home. Too hot. Sweating so profusely, sweat was literally dripping from my face and back. If I had read this early this afternoon, I would say no more signs of menopause. Until I was cooking dinner. I was sweating profusely. And this is about 5 years after my surgery. But, that's about all of my symptoms - so far.
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Joining the hysterectomy club here. After a horrible 3rd pregnancy, where I was in the hospital more than I was home, both I and baby almost died twice, then almost lost the baby during the delivery...after all that, my organs went into revolt and tried to ....well, they tried to exit through the nearest available opening. (Don't think I need to explain that further - technical term is prolapse, combined with cystcele & rectocele.) 3 surgeries during the year that I turned 31 - including hysterectomy, but I kept my ovaries, as they were the only healthy thing left, and I didn't want to go into menopause at age 31. My then-husband left me for another woman between surgeries 2 & 3 - that week went like this: husband left, I turned 31, and the day after my birthday, the 9/11 attacks happened. I thought the world was ending.

I have to say, I was pretty unhappy when the doc told me at age 27 I had to have a hysterectomy, so I waited 3 years, and was miserable with all the symptoms until I decided to go ahead and do it. I'm not sorry I did it. I don't miss it a bit.

Oh, and a funny side note: I had a great OB/GYN doctor - he was always making jokes and knew exactly what to say to make things better when I was going through the roughest times with this whole situation. While we were dicussing options *other* than hysterectomy - because my husband and I wanted more kids - Dr. A mentioned a pessary. I had no idea what that was, so he pulls out this donut-shaped plastic thing, and tells me that it goes up against the cervix to hold everything in place without having to do surgery, and that I could use it the rest of my life, or until I decided to finally have surgery. My thought was first - uncomfortable - and second - how do you clean such a thing? He said, "Oh, I have 70-year-old ladies that come in every 6 months or so and I clean it for them and pop it back in!" ACK! And then he proceeded to tell me they come in different sizes, because not everyone is the same size in that area. I asked how he knew if he had the right size for someone - he said, "Well, if I put one in and you stand up and sneeze, and it falls out on the floor, it's too small!!"

Gotta love a funny doctor.
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Oh, and because I kept my ovaries, I *will* go through menopause. It may have happened already, not sure. Mom never went through any of the issues most women have - she just stopped the normal monthly activity - no hot flashes or anything like that. I went through about a year of hot flashes and night sweats about 3 years ago, but that was 10 years after my surgery. I still get the occasional hot flash, but nothing like that year was - that was horrible. So I think if I was going to go through menopause, it may have already happened.
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I remember my mom disrobing while driving through the city. She evidently was a flasher before it became in vogue! UFFDA! Add that to the chronic diarrhea and sending children into service stations for the key to the bathroom! Hated every second of this constant embarrassment!
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Susan!! LOL!!!! Too funny!!

I remember when I used to love snuggling under my big fluffy warm comforter... I've downsized to a thin sheet, open window with a fan blowing on high and nekkid. Nothing worse than being sweaty/sticky/hot all night trying to sleep.

Menopause and caregiving should NOT happen at the same time. It's just wrong in so many ways.

CM, I started using natural homeopathy for the hot flashes. Works darn good too!! It's called Progestrelle. Just put a few drops on your wrist before bedtime and so far it seems to have stopped the heatwave.
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Can I join the menopause club, too? OMG, what an adventure. I had to have a hysterectomy when I was 55, everything had to come out.... I asked my doctor if afterwards would I rattle when I walked because of so much empty space left ;0

Had hot flashes for almost 10 years and just when those flashes were finally disappearing, I got breast cancer.... here we go again with those darn awful hot flashes because of the meds that one needs to take for 5 to 10 years. Surprised the fan in my bedroom hasn't burned out.

I only spend a limit of 15 minutes at my parent's home because it is like walking into a giant hot flash.... Mom has to have the house at 85. I just can't breath in there.

If anyone ask what is my favorite season, it is now WINTER !!!
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Mom had a hysterectomy when she was 65, just after she had her gallbladder out. She had a doctor that was a very tall, large gentleman from Nigeria. He said during the gallbladder surgery, they found a huge mass on one of her ovaries - of course, we were all very concerned at that. He said, in of course, Nigerian-accented English, which made this all the more hilarious: "How old your mudder?" I told him she was 65. He answered, "Ah, she don' need ovaries - we take dem out!" LOL
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Well 30 years after the event I still have everything in place that the good Lord gave me. Everything just stopped one day and I just started insisting on natural fabrics close to my skin. Refused all HRT before it became a no no. So there you have it.
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I'm with you on HRT Veronica. I go back and check the news on it from time to time hoping to see "HRT definitively proved to be absolutely brilliant incredibly good for you eliminates wrinkles and prevents all known cancers breakthrough!!!" but so far…. Mmm-nny-no. Not really. Think I'll pass, thanks.
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I have everything, too, Veronica. My mother, my grandmother and my sis all had hysterectomies. One day sis asked when I was going to have mine. I said I'm not, All healthy down there. Had my last baby when I was 40 and the obgyn said I could have more, Dh chickened out. I was starting to be low thyroid around the time of menopause. Low thyroid makes you cold. Menopause make you hot. For the most part they balanced out. HRT - wouldn't have ever considered it.
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Me and hubby play upsie downsie with the thermostat. I told his I will light his balls on fire to show him what a hit flash feels like. I win on the thermostat game. Lol
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I went into early menopause around 45. My hot flashes occurred mostly in the winter thankfully. Sure did save on heating bills. My daughter used to crawl into my bed to get warm. Said I was better than an electric blanket.
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ooo - kay ..
i think ill stick with the cooking thread ..
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{{laughing}} captain... you can always change the channel. I mean subject. =)
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