Good Morning all y’all! Guess who slept in? Nina! Which means we all got to sleep in. But we were up rather late last night. BH was doing dinner and laundry whilst I was trying to get a step on the tractor. It was complicated - remove 3 bolts then put the step on and drive home the three bolts with a torque wrench. Murphy’s law came into play and I believe it’s all my fault for not using critical thinking steps or watching the correct YouTube video.
Did I remove the FEL (front end loader) first? Of course not, which was a big mistake. Did I have the correct tools? Most of them but BH did have to stop at Northern Tool for an adapter as I don’t own large sockets in mm for the 1” breaker bar which I’ve inherited. I’d rather not use an SAE socket that’s close because they have a tendency to round the edges off eventually. Big kudos to BH for not minding to stop by Northern Tool! That’s a positive for sure, the better positive is not asking BH to go to Lowe’s not once in all of this mess. LOL. My small air compressor is too small and the one I inherited is bigger but still too small with different fittings so that needs changed, hopefully I can get an adapter. I wonder where Dad’s impact drill went? Then BH who was at the Food Lion getting some things for the dinner planned had to be called because the small bottle jack wouldn’t lift the part up so I could get the bolts back in. I did offer to purchase on line so it would be up at the front desk, a gallon of hydraulic fluid as that’s what I thought it needed. BH didn’t mind again to stop at the Ace Hardware across the street! Apparently they were packed probably due to the sale going on. BH hadn’t met the great guys in the back yet and was a bit aggravated with their dry humor. I think the boss in BH came out and was able to get one helpful guy to move some 5 gallon drums for the 1 gallon needed.
I ended up making a mess of it trying to pour the fluid into the little hole. I need to put it in one of those refillable plastic squeeze bottles we used to use back in the day for picnics when condiments came in glass. Did I think about that yesterday? Of course not. That’s when I figured out I needed to remove the FEL! But the problem was that by removing it that heavy iron piece the bolts were holding to the frame was going to drop. I’d already put a couple divots into the cement floor when I dropped the bottle jack. I had also dug out a farm jack aka HyLift Jack which took a while. To avoid breaking the concrete or the piece which feels like cast iron, I did figure out to put a piece of board insulation. I couldn’t dig out the thicker piece that I wanted so I used a thinner piece that was already in the tractor shed. There’s another positive because it dropped as expected and dented the insulation pretty good.
Good thing too, about getting that farm jack out, but after I got it to the tractor, I noticed I’d already brought my older one in. We did end up using the farm jack and got the bolts threaded in. That was a fiasco as I had been holding up the pieces whilst BH was trying to thread the bolts back in. We eventually switched places, seems I’m a little better at that. BH’s back was hurting the step isn’t all that heavy but that other piece is heavy as heck.
In order to get the FEL back on, the hydraulic lines have to be reattached. I always clean off the mating parts so I don’t get crud in them and muck up the lines. But my hands had enough of working and they were hurting pretty bad. I’d had a really bad flare up of my dermatomyositis towards the end of having the flu. I had to call in to my Rheumatologist as it was the worst I’d had skin wise. They went from swollen purple to places with fluorescent pink. So I put on the cream she said to use which meant wait 30 minutes to put the moisturizing cream on. But a couple days ago, my swollen hands started developing the tell tale signs of blood blisters I normally get. What I have now is peeling skin and some deeper areas that the skin is just being removed all by itself. Interestingly, I am reminded of something I watched on tv about flesh eating bacteria…
Had to have BH help me again connecting the hydraulic lines, a couple didn’t connect but by then it was near 8:00 pm and we hadn’t eaten. I had been hydrating but forgot to eat, since I was busy not thinking. I wonder if I had eaten some protein if that would have helped me problem solve? Yes, I’m pretty sure it would have helped. So this morning I’m going to hopefully reconnect the lines and get the FEL properly connected. We had to use the farm jack to get the front end loader up to where it needed to attach to the piece we took off but boy does a couple of inches make it much easier to get up to the tractor! On to the welcomes while the hundreds of blackbirds are making a cacophonous racket.
@Sonson is down in Argentina. Sonson shares they’ve had a flow diverter placed. Just before Christmas, Sonson had blurred vision in the right eye. The MRI showed a smaller aneurysm behind a larger one. The flow diverter was placed a couple weeks later. Sonson is recovering but is experiencing teething pains. Sonson is needing some help and the support of a community that understands. Sonson also shares they travel a lot and its making it a lot harder.
@JBC is out in California. Julie shares she’s been following a 3mm aneurysm for 15 years and went recently to the ER with a migraine. They found a small bleed and was sent to Neuro ICU where she had it repaired with a pipeline. Home now and recovering. Julie shares she’s a singer songwriter for fun and a psychotherapist for work.
@Blessed823 is up in Virginia. Cheryl had an incidental find of an aneurysm on a CT scan of 7+mm with a second lobulation confirmed via angiogram 3 weeks later. Her clipping procedure was on the 6th of January and she is currently 9 weeks post op. Cheryl is still working as a VP, is a gardener who loves fiber crafts like weaving and crocheting. She also likes to cook.
@phoenixmaria is up in Maine. Maria shares she’s not had any treatment yet. She had a full body MRI scan through Prenuvo with a 5mm aneurysm discovered on right internal carotid artery. Marie had her angiogram and another smaller aneurysm was discovered near the first. She’s probably already has had her appointment with the clinic to discuss the next step. Marie shares she’s a runner, retired and enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and snow shoeing spending her time in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
@DCG is way up in New Brunswick Canada. He has epilepsy and a brain aneurysm. David shares he is on 4 medications and has thyroid issues.
@archierouge is over in Portugal. Bettina ruptured in July 2025 and was operated at Porto’s Santo Antonio’s Hospital. The only complications arising from pre and post surgery were frequent anxiety and high blood pressure both being treated with medications. The other unruptured aneurysm was operated on in March 2026 by the same team. Bettina shares she’s having some lasting emotional trauma due to the fact that the hemorrhage was not diagnosed correctly when she went to the ER at a private hospital and she was sent to an orthopedic doctor. The doctor presented himself to her with a good degree of what she presumes slight condescension/chauvinism despite having described the picture book symptoms of a ruptured aneurysm. It led to literally a six week delay in proper diagnosis, delayed MRI and operation. She considers herself very lucky. Bettina shares she’s an expat living in Porto, Portugal with her husband and cats. In her professional life, she’s worked in film and TV production as well as a reporter, journalist and editor.
Ending our week is @Cs5rd1e0 over in London. Sadie is waiting for her clipping. In January an incidental find of her aneurysm was discovered when she had an MRI for something completely unrelated. She’s up for her clipping in April after a lot more appointments, scans, angiogram, etc. Sadie says she’s feeling shocked and scared! Sadie loves to rock climb, play guitar and sing. She’s also a student.
For everyone new, please start a new topic under General or Support either one works well. We would truly love to know more about you and how we can help you on your life journey. Remember the only dumb question is the one that wasn’t asked. We help through our experiences so we provide no diagnoses, just what works or in some cases hasn’t for us. Most topics you will find under General. You can use the magnifying glass to search for topics. Try to stay within the last 6-9 months on replying to a topic. You’ll be able to tell when it started and the last entry by looking on the right side when you’re reading it. Many of our older members are no longer active so be cautious of that if you reach out to one. If by chance you do respond to an old one, I will let you know. If by chance you post under a different place that needs to be moved, I’ll do it and let you know. No worries!
For our existing members, dang y’all do me proud, you do this support group proud! Well done this week, please keep it up. Every post of support brings a smile to my face! It also makes BH ask why I’m smiling which makes BH smile when I tell on you LOL.
Look at us this week taking trips to different countries and States, WOWZA! Remember that we are around the globe, so be patient in getting responses with all our different time zones. I’m off to get the hydraulics back together. Wish me luck, I think I’ll need it. ROFLOL.
Two quotes that came across my life this week I’d like to share. I don’t know the first author “Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine; perspective changes everything.”
This one because it’s funny to me comes from “Murder in an Irish Village” by Carlene O’Connor where the protagonist is thinking of her da’s favorite Sean O’Casey quote, “It’s my rule never to lose me temper till it would be detrimental to keep it.” BH and I did not lose our tempers but this is definitely one I’m telling Mr. Curley! It’s okay to be mad, just don’t get violent towards others or self which is not okay.
Be kind to yourself and others. Remember to hydrate, eat protein, rest as needed and most of all breathe. You do practice your relaxation breathing, Right? Have a great week!
It was fascinating to read about your tractor trouble, distracting me from my week-after surgery- ‘‘is this healing ok’‘–jitters. i look forward to meeting the members of this support group and thank you for moderating1