Good Morning World! Isn’t it awesome that we cover the world where internet access is available? I think it is, probably because I remember black and white televisions and getting up to change the channel. Sundays were always the day we went to church, had a big huge breakfast for the six in our family unit and then played hard with the neighborhood kids. It was also when we got to watch The Wonderful World of Disney right after the Wild Animal Kingdom. We tried to get our shoes polished before either one came on.
Bucky Greene was my best friend when I was very young from ages 3-5. He’s been on my mind a lot this week. We were a curious pair, he was taller and bigger than the other preschoolers and I was exactly the opposite. I learned not to back down from bullies because of Bucky. Kids are sometimes mean to someone shorter and smaller, Bucky wasn’t having any of that and would always be the first to stop any such nonsense. Until the day I stopped it myself and goodness me, they called my Dad at work! I had employed the sue of Dad’s wisdom to my two older brothers, unfortunately. A boy tripped me, I fell hard, he and his cronies stood around laughing. Before Bucky could return from the swingset, I’d got up and socked the boy as hard as I could. Dad was teaching my older brothers not to start a fight but to make sure they finished it. I didn’t take into account their age difference one was 3 yrs older and the other 6 yrs older. There were some bullies who lived on the next street over.
Back then, parents had no issues letting kids take care of themselves. Bless Bucky, he tried to take the blame for my actions despite the preschool teachers seeing the entire event. They tried to get to us too, I was a bit faster, I was angry as all get out. I did not want iodine or mercurochrome put on my skinned up knees. Orange or red it hurt worse than the injury.
Bucky and I were once were scolded in preschool because we went past the swings to play in the creek. We loved to swing but we wanted to catch tadpoles that hot day. Time outs weren’t a thing back in the early ‘60’s but she sat us next to the swings and made us stay there for a long, long time. It may have been 5 or 10 minutes. But hey, when one is 4 years old it’s a very, very long time!
Bucky and I were going to get married, I believe he started it. We had a plan! We would live in a tent in his mother’s backyard, eat hotdogs (his favorite) and tacos (my favorite) every day. Anytime our moms’ made something we didn’t care for, we discussed in earnest our meal plan. I still like tacos, I wonder if Bucky still eats hotdogs. We played
Superman and Batman on the swingset in his backyard. I was a bit more of a daredevil and instead of staying on the crosspiece and jumping, I went to to the top and tried to fly. Didn’t work out so good for me. Mrs. Greene (we never called adults by their first name back then it would have been extremely disrespectful) carried me down the few houses to Mom. Every time I’d cry, she’d hold me tighter, I’d cry louder and she held me tighter. It was a painful non stop circle we put ourselves into. Mom thought I’d be okay, Mrs. Green thought not, agreements for her to watch for my three older siblings. Mom left with me to the doctor, had broken my collar bone pretty bad. Mom said it was almost a compound fracture, doc pushed it back together. I don’t remember that part, I do remember having to wear an ace bandage in a figure 8 and could swing until the doctor said it was healed. Bucky would swing me so I didn’t have to use it. He was my Batman after all! He and his younger brother moved away before we did. We weren’t old enough to write each other, maybe a postcard or two and we lost contact. Sad but true. I’d really like to know if he still eats hotdogs.
Oh gotta tell you about yesterday before I move on and it might be the reason for Bucky being heavily on my mind. Our friends little girl just turned 3 and her birthday party was at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer. I’d never been before but BH and I are planning to return in the Fall when temps are cooler. Nora, the birthday girl loves trains right now. She doesn’t like the Happy Birthday song and gets to crying loudly. Lolli was there to rescue her that’s her maternal grandmother, maternal grandfather is called Pop so together they are LolliPop! The song is some type of trigger for her and no one knows why. Poor thing just doesn’t like it. Sort of like when we go to the doctor and they don’t know the why’s of things happening to us. Unlike us, a 3 year old can get over stuff pretty quick with a hug and a comfy lap.
Went to see Sergey because my bad brain days have increased to point BH is concerned. BH had this whole scenario set up if Sergey didn’t order an MRI and when he said he was, it took the fight right out of BH. BH was loaded for bear as they say and it took the air right out!
Now we wait for the Radiology dept to schedule it, could be two weeks, could be two months. He doesn’t want to wait until the Neurosurgeon does the one next year so that one will be pushed out again. He’s hoping I’ll snap back but he’s also concerned the pituitary adenoma has grown some more. Little pesky things.
Bucky, BH and Nora remind me that we need friends and loved ones to help us with the twists and turns of life, but sometimes we need to fight our own battles. The way we fight for ourselves here is by advocating for ourselves, always helps to have someone at your back and that’s what we do by supporting each other!
What’s not pesky is welcoming our new members! Let’s get to them!
@AmiS is up in Maryland and experienced a rupture 9 months ago. Ami had a craniotomy and spent 19 days in ICU. Ami continues with her rehab and hasn’t been released to go back to work yet. Although feeling blessed for surviving, she really wants her independence back! Ami is looking forward to working on her bucket list and is able to find joy in each day, even the hard ones. Good for you Ami! We look forward to interacting with you as well. Just start a new topic under General and tell us more!
@Skeeter is up in Iowa. Regina has an aneurysm on the anterior communicating artery. There is discussion I think on it being treated with coils, an endovascular procedure. We’d like to help out if we can, just start a new topic under the General tab. We do have a lot of members who are on the Watch and Wait as well as the endovascular repair procedures with coils and other devices.
@christina112 takes us down to the Great State of Texas, July 2023 she had a pipeline stent with coils for un unruptured LICA. November 2023 another angiogram to check on status. It was occluded and she was taken off the DALT. 10 days later, Christina had an acute ischemic stroke and some subacute. Yes I did have to look up subacute stroke, learn something new every day. As most folks may know an acute ischemic stroke is when the blood stops flowing to the brain and is a medical emergency, subacute appears to be the ongoing neurological effects. Hope I got that correct… Christina’s doctor put her back on DAPT for 30 days then the baby aspirin She went 15 minutes of battling dizziness and fatigue then just brain fog. Doctor then took her off baby aspirin and she had another stroke. She shares she was healthier prior to her pipeline stent. You can read more of her journey here Everyone’s healing is different - #4 by oct20. I do hope y’all can help her out, please and thank you!
We also have @jessii who is actually a member of the Discourse staff to help set up the site, not sure if we will see them, but lets hope they’re well and healthy with no brain aneurysms.
That’s the weekly welcomes! Remember we do need to have support coming from many sources be it our medical specialists, friends, family, and us here. But we also need to be able to stand up for ourselves, be kind, don’t knock them down, there are better ways to deal with issues. Open, honest communication is a great start after we do our relaxation breathing which we should be practicing all the time!
Have a great week everyone! I’ll be shedding out Nina this week, weather changes bring about fur changes😂
