Good Morning to all y’all! How was your week? I hope it was good. In fact, I hope it was great! We were supposed to go to see an Ortho Surgeon about my “significant tear” on a ligament or tendon that goes between the bones on my wrist but the surgeon called in sick and we did have a good laugh with her nurse. Apparently my Sports Medicine doc really likes her and she my SM doc. I just said I really don’t want to meet up with her if she’s sick, no offense. RN did mistake of saying I wouldn’t know where her house was. I really started laughing and said I was a CPSSW and could find just about anybody with tricks I learned. But suggested the RN take her some chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers since I can’t drive that far. She busted out laughing and said don’t forget the water! Which made us laugh even more. Where have we heard that before? She rescheduled me for this coming week. Fingers crossed the Surgeon can come up with something besides surgery. That could very well be false hope, which is never my preference but I am still hoping.
Nina got it in her head to supplement her prescription dog food. It didn’t settle well in her tummy and of course it’s my job to get it up. Sharp little bones and a quick text to her Vet. Squirrel, rabbit I don’t know, I am curious of course but some things I can stay ignorant on. I did a walk around the yard but found no evidence. As I’m typing this I see 3 squirrels, we’ve never seen rabbits on our property which is odd. Maybe they don’t come this far out of the woods.
I found the missing brace after I ordered and received another. LOL. Of course the old one was in a back pocket I presume and it came out in the wash. So I have one to use around the yard and house and one when we go out. They’re supposed to be hand washed. The glue for the tab around the thumb decided it didn’t want to hang around. It gets a lot of abuse going in and out of my leather yard glove. It fell off, so wasn’t working. Got it in my head to just sew it on. Didn’t want to go to the trouble of using the sewing machine and decided to sew it back on by hand. Found a needle already threaded and used it. Red thread on black. Who’s going to care? If it works I’ll be a happy camper. Even if the stitches aren’t pretty and believe me they’re not. I could just hear Mom telling me to take them out and try again. All my pants, except for my Levi’s had to be hemmed and I was taught to do it by hand before I was even taught how to use her old cast iron electric Singer sewing machine. She gave it to my SIL unfortunately. Mom got frustrated with me when the first pattern I picked out to make was a bit complicated with a jacket, pants, vest and skirt. She didn’t like that I had picked black material either. I don’t know what happened to all the pieces I carefully cut out. Mom was working a lot of hours and said she didn’t have time to help me until her overtime was done. She worked for the telephone company and couldn’t tell us at the time why so much overtime. Found out later one of the President’s and his wife had come to the county and she was getting all the extra lines put in the hotel for them and the Secret Service. They also all got special lines that allegedly couldn’t be tapped. No cell phones back then and computers were mostly Big Blues (IBM). Makes me wonder now how much it cost taxpayers for people in power to go traveling about. Also makes me wonder if they still use landlines.
We also got to see one of our nieces and her friend from high school. The friend turned 22 the same day she graduated with her BA in Communications and a minor in Marketing. They wanted Italian, BH found a place with a very high rating with lots of folks giving it that high rating. Odd, since our niece cannot eat cheese. Well she can, but no one would want to be around her. She’s had that problem since she was little. Something to do with being a premie. She was very proud when she finally got to my height (almost). She’ll be finishing up her Master’s in Atmospheric Science next year. We hope she doesn’t stop and gets her PhD. I’m always reminding her that she will be more marketable and I will get to call her Dr. Emily!
I also got to talk to a great niece on my side that is graduating with her JD down in Lubbock Texas this year. She’s going into Family Law. We had a falling out with her parents so we haven’t been able to talk to her or her siblings since we stopped sending them money and suggested they live on what they made. Perhaps if we can rekindle the relationship with her, I can ask if she still has the toy box I made for her. It has a checkerboard inlaid on the top with real ebony and hard maple. The top broke when her maternal uncle stepped up on it and it wasn’t closed properly. Her mom said my nephew would fix it, I suggested he get his BIL to fix it since he has experience with wood working and the tools. I imagine they tossed it. Ebony is on a protected list so it can’t be bought anymore, there are other woods that can be used of course. Her mom saw no value in things from family members. Family drama can sure muck things up. But since I ruptured, it’s very important for me not to have that chaos as part of my life.
I am glad I had my stent installed. Since then, my brain has been doing a lot of reconnecting. I can now read people again. I couldn’t for years and it was always confusing me. Reading body language is as important as truly listening to someone’s words. I can also now tell when I need to quit talking. Truth be told that doesn’t always happen but I don’t always blurt things out like I used to. Which means I’m not offending people so much and BH doesn’t have to try to explain it to me. I think that’s new for the last six months or so. Progress in little steps, right?
Sometimes those little steps forward come with huge steps backwards. We just need to keep trying. By not trying, we let our aneurysms control us and I don’t think that’s a way to live a good life. We are so much more than our aneurysms, please don’t let yours completely control your life.
The Canadian Geese that live on the river just flew by which is my signal to get to welcoming our new members!
@JanR joins us from Florida. Janice is still waiting on her Neruosurgeon appointment that will happen in June. She had blurry vision, vertigo and a visual disturbance. That led to an MRI which showed a 3mm in the supraclinoid Internal Carotid Artery with a broad base. Remember to practice some relaxation breathing every day all day!
@trinketsandthings is in Georgia. Riley had an MRI for a different issue and the aneurysm was found. Riley shares that just over a month ago didn’t even know it existed and just had a flow diversion stent placed to treat it. Riley shares it’s all been a bit overwhelming as a lot has happened in a short amount of time. Riley is optimistic and grateful for the incidental find. Riley also shares a love of music, playing listening and making it. Has too many different craft hobbies to mention but just enjoys making, creating and building things. Riley is currently a student studying Psychology and Spanish hoping to go into research. If you get your PhD, I promise I will call you Dr. Riley!
@Yvonne is in Colorado and also had an incidental find when they checked to see why she was experiencing bad headaches and nothing was helping. Headaches were unrelated to the aneurysm. Yvonne was treated with the WEB device. A month later she had two simultaneous strokes on each side of her cerebellum which she’s been told is unrelated. Yvonne shares she has 3 wonderful grandsons. It’s always interesting to me we are told things happening in our brains after an aneurysm has been treated that it’s unrelated. Many times we blame it on what we know and the docs say nope, not related. I wish they’d sit down and explain exactly how or why they think that. I, of course, would need it to be dumbed down and it can be difficult for specialists to get to our level. A good reason to never shake one’s head in agreement when it seems they’re speaking Greek to us, or another language if you speak Greek of course, maybe Old Latin?
@alice123 is in Texas and has been treated with a stent and blood thinner. Alice had a stent placed in Dec 2025 and follow up resulting a small stable aneurysm. Glad it’s stable Ms Alice!
That’s the newest members for the week! Welcome to everyone! Although this week everyone’s here in the USA, please know we have members that are literally around the world. It is a Small World After All, you have my permission to go ahead and belt the song out, it will bring a smile to your face! In case you don’t know the words or the song https://youtu.be/2rTZ9UndNeI?feature=shared
If you find yourself having problems with the site, please reach out to me @Moltroub or the kind folks who make up @ModSupport We are in different time zones so be patient for a response. I am on in the mornings and the folks who make up ModSupport are moderating all of Ben’s Friends Rare Disease Groups so give us time. Please jump in on a topic or better yet start your own by clicking on the General tab, then the +Add New Topic box and fill in all the parameters so we can get to know you better and share our experiences with you!
I want to thank everyone who has helped a member out this week, y’all have been awesome and get gold stars! It’s truly what we are all about being a support group and we wouldn’t be as good if no one was helping another. I’m so thankful you keep passing it forward, big hugs!
I hope everyone has an awesome week. Remember homework never ends so do your breathing exercises all the time every day, keep hydrated and rest as needed. Don’t forget to eat a healthy diet. If you’re north of the equator, get out and get your walk about done, drink the water you should be carrying with you and your dog or cat if you’re walking with them. Enjoy the beauty of the season. If you’re south of the equator, dress appropriately, drink your water and get a walk about in when able. Start each day with at least one positive, even if it’s making your bed when you get up and then look for other positives. I bet you can find one every hour! Until we meet again in this internet world, have a wonderful week!