Flashbacks to New Years Eve past...

Well, it is New Years Eve and nothing too much to do and to be honest, I won't last long enough to ring in 2009. Sad isn't it?? I can remember when New Years Eve was such a big event. My friends and I would make plans months ahead of time to make sure we were at the most happening spot in town!! My mom and I even had a New Years Eve date one year! I think it was 1999 and we had a date to go to dinner at the Ojibwa Hotel and Restaurant to ring in 2000. My mom was a great date!! So here is a flashback for you!! Happy New Year everyone!!

Snow, Snow and more Snow!

I am officially tired of winter and it just begun so to speak! We have had way too much snow and I can't tell you enough how miserable it is. I think we have as much snow right now than we had all last year and possibly the year before that! What makes it worse it that they don't know how to plow down here! Cut backs what ever, if they did it well the first time around it would make it a lot easier on them and us! Anyway, I guess I am done venting about the snow, for now that is!! *S*

The Holidays

I can't believe that Christmas is just one week away. I am trying to get into the Christmas spirit but having a hard time. I think it is a combination of things. I am tired of the snow already! We are suppose to get 7-10 inches tonight and more on Sunday! Enough already!!! I would like to keep what we have, then after Christmas it can go away. It may be different if I were into skiing or snowmobiling. I have thought about getting lessons, but I have this vision in my head of me getting lessons with a bunch of 5 year olds!! With my luck I would break something! Not so fun!

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD:I was tagged by Dara. http://thelifeoftheevansfamily.blogspot.com/Here it goes:
1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your significant other? Loving
3. Your hair? Short
4. Your mother? Visiting.
5. Your father? Huggable
6. Your favorite thing? Fridays
7. Your dream last night? Forgetable
8. Your favorite drink? Lemonade
9. Your dream/goal? Happiness
10. The room you're in? Basement
11. Your fear? Drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Somewhere
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? fashionable
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? ipod touch
17. Where you grew up? MI
18. The last thing you did? Dishes
19. What are you wearing? Sweats
20. Your TV? Nice
21. Your pet? Jack
22. Your computer? On
23. Your Life? Restless
24. Your mood? Good
25. Missing someone? Family
26. Your car? Great
27. Something you're not wearing? Watch
28. Your favorite store? Old Navy
29. Your summer? Ok
30. Your favorite color? Blue
31. When is the last time you laughed? Saturday
32. Last time you cried? Yesterday
33. Four places you go often? Work, Home, Meijers, Target
34. Four of your favorite foods? Pizza, Chinese, Pasties, Pie
35. Four Places you would rather be right now? The Ocean, Minnesota, Utah, Las Vegas

TAG: Sara, Sylvia, Amy

The Cardinal Blanket

A few posts ago I spoke about a blanket that a staff person had made for grandma, well it came in handy at the hospital. Everyone loved the blanket, all the nurses would comment on how pretty it was. Here are some pictures...Sandy had embroidered "Jesus Loves Barb" on the blanket, so thoughtful! Thanks again Sandy!!

Statistics

Some interesting information from The Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry...

Statistics:

• One woman out of every fifty-five (approximately 1.8%) will develop ovarian cancer some time in her life time.

• In 2008, approximately 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Approximately 15,520 women will die of the disease.

• Over 70% of all women with ovarian cancer will not be diagnosed until the disease has spread beyond the ovary. This is because the symptoms of early ovarian cancer are often vague and can mimic other common medical problems.

• Ovarian cancer is most common in women who have already gone through menopause. The average age for developing ovarian cancer is 61 years old.

• For the small number of women who are fortunate enough to have their cancer diagnosed before it has spread beyond the ovary, the chance for cure is 85 to 90%. However, for the majority of women in whom the disease has spread beyond the ovary, the chance of living for five years after the diagnosis is between 20 and 25%.

http://ovariancancer.com/app/index.php?pid=1

Newsletter from Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry

While I was sitting at the hospital I found a catalog that had hats, pins etc...for cancer patients and I noticed that ovarian cancer has a ribbon for awareness, which I did not know. While looking for such pins I stumbled upon this website and found the newsletter interesting. The link is below.

http://ovariancancer.com/content/10/Gilda25thAnniversaryNewsletter.pdf

Things have been crazy

With my grandma in the hospital and all the running around, I have been so tired, but I can't seem to fall asleep early enough. I leave on Wednesday and I have some mixed emotions about it. On one had I have to go back and get back to work, on the other, I want to stay to be a support for my family and grandma. I think things will get better...We are going to talk with the Social Worker today to try and coordinate some home health care while she is here in Minneapolis (make sure she doesn't have a temp, check BP, help with bathing etc...), another is that we are going to talk about possibly transferring her Chemo treatment here to Minneapolis at Abbott Northwestern. Grandma has been very happy with the staff and doctors while she has been there. She would like her to keep her doctors at Mayos, but all in all it would be easier for her and on the family to have the treatments take place closer. So we will see. It is a high emotion situation and I am bound to have mixed emotions about leaving, but I know it will be fine, or as fine as it can be given the situation.

How time flies

It is amazing how time flies. It definitely feels like winter is here. I think I was was spoiled with the mild weather here in Minneapolis the past few days. Yesterday when we got snow, it was a shock even though we had snow when I left Michigan, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. I guess it doesn't matter where I am, I am not a fan of snow or winter for that matter, but then I don't know what I would do without it.

Update on Grandma

Grandma was admitted to the hospital last night. They think she may have pneumonia. Her blood pressure was very low, but no calls overnight, which is good. My mom and I are heading over to the hospital soon to visit. Not sure if they are going to keep her additional days. Hopefully when grandma gets home she will be able to eat some turkey and stuffing!!

Grandma not feeling well

Grandma was not feeling well and decided to take a nap. She was unable to get warm even with lots of blankets. She also complained of pain in her chest. Kass called the emergency oncall for Mayo's and they told her to get grandma to the hospital right away as her white blood cell count is probably really low and that she may have gotten an infection. They are at the emergency room right now. More to come...

Obama and Native Americans

A Blanket for Grandma

In our office, we have a tribal elder who is one of the housekeepers. After I had told the staff what grandma was going through, she came up to me and said, "I am going to make your grandma a blanket. I watched my sister go through Chemo and she would get so cold, so I will make her a warm blanket so she can use it while she is getting chemo." I hugged and thanked her. The next few days, she would come up and asked how grandma was doing and talk about the blanket. She said, "I think I am going to give your grandma cardinals. I have this material and it has cardinals on it." I said... "she loves birds, she will love it I know." Every time our paths cross, she talks about the blanket. This is a woman who makes all the blankets for the baby celebration that is held twice a year, blankets for staff who are having babies, she even made me a Fleece Michigan blanket and pillow case!! She is great and I really appreciate her. She says that she puts so much love into making the blankets, that this is how she is suppose to spread love. She buys the material with her own money for all the blankets she makes not asking for a single dime from anyone. So I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge her and all that she does to help others. Thanks Sandy!!!

Sarah Palin on Larry King Live

Sarah Palin will be on Larry King Live tonight at 9:00 pm on CNN.

Heading to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving

I bought my plane ticket this morning to head over to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe the great deal I got on the ticket! I leave from MBS Thanksgiving morning, EARLY in the AM and return December 3rd. I am looking forward to visiting with Grandma and the rest of the family. I don't think I have been back to visit Minneapolis since I left there in 1995, WOW! Of course I have been to the airport on layovers etc...but not to visit. It will be nice...now I am hoping the weather will cooperate and everything will go smoothly, knock on wood!!!

GO BLUE!!

Whoo hoo!! Michigan won a game!!! How exciting is that?? Next year will be a better year for Rich Rodriguez. Michigan will come back with a vengeance next season! If he can bring his team to a victory over OSU...he will be a saint!! It will be as if all the losses will be erased with that one win! Hail to the Victors!!!

Election Night

WOW! What a night! I kept changing the channel from one station to the next. I thought it was funny how the electoral vote count was different on each station. Projections, projections, projections...!! Now that it is said and done and we have a new Presidential Elect it will be interesting to see what the news station focus on now! I am sure that they will have plenty of fodder in the months ahead.

Indian Summer

It has been absolutely beautiful the past few days. I was totally prepared to stand in line to vote and thought it wouldn't be so bad since it was nice. But when I got there, no lines! People had been saying all day that they had to wait 2-2 1/2 hours to vote so I had prepared myself. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised not having to wait.

Happy Halloween!!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!! How old is too old for trick or treating? I am not saying that I am going to get dressed up or anything crazy like that, but there was a conversation about when kids should not go out to collect all the great sugary goodies anymore. Someone said they get older kids, but at least their dressed up. Maybe that's it, as long as your in costume you get the candy! Who knows, but it is an enjoyable time of year! Be safe and have fun!

The little things...

I want to thank my sister in law for sending all the beautiful pictures of my nieces. After spending 10 days with the family, I miss them all and it brings me warm fuzzies just thinking about them, it is the little things after all. To top it all off I left my cell phone at home when I went out and when I got home, I saw that I had a message...it was from Madison!! I had to listen to it twice and saved it! I wish they were closer so I could spend more time with them, but I look forward to my next visit.

Is it over yet?

I can't wait until this election is over. It feels as if it has been going on forever. When Obama mentioned "21 months ago" I thought no wonder it feels like it has been forever!! According to this poll or that poll, it looks as if Obama will win. Some, I am sure, would argue it isn't over until it is over. Alas, I will be tuned into CNN, my favorite news channel and the best political team in America...(ha, ha!) to see how this 21 month journey will come to an end. Maybe their will be church bells and choirs singing, hallelujah!

Phillies or Tampa Bay

I have to say that when Tampa Bay beat the Red Sox thought for sure that Tampa Bay was going to go all the way and win the World Series. Now they are playing tonight in the game of their lives. I guess so are the Phillies. My hope is that Tampa Bay pulls out a win tonight, I want to see the series go to game 7. Hopefully they can hang on to see another day. At least if they went back to Tampa, they wouldn't have to be freezing!!

Rural Health Care in America

My grandmother, who is 80, was recently diagnosed with stage 3 Ovarian Cancer in addition, the doctors found a tumor in her abdomen complicating the matter. She had been seeing doctors in a rural area for months. They would give her medication to take, tell her that she suffering due to her weight completely missing the deadly diagnosis. After months of suffering, my family members insisted that she get a referral to the Mayo Clinic. It was there that she was diagnosed. The doctors there had told her that if she would have come six to seven months ago this would have been a different story and much easier to treat.

This led me to question the rural health care system. Why should people in rural areas receive less than adequate health care than that in larger areas? Which led me to think, how many other people have walked through hospital or clinic doors in rural areas misdiagnosed and mistreated? I would think that many people have had their lives cut short due to similar situations such as my grandmothers.

I have been contemplating for months about whether I wanted to go back to school. Central Michigan University has a Doctoral Program in Health Administration. I am a self prescribed "systems" person and I feel that the health systems in rural America need to reexamined and redesigned to provide the most affordable health care to rural Americans without compromising service. Maybe, just maybe if I went back to school I would be able to produce the change that I want to see in this system so other families don't have to have to suffer.