Roy D. Mercer

..Roy D. Mercer (RD) adopted us about 10 years ago. Showed up on the porch, and of course I fed it. The next morning he kept jumping on Wayne's lap while sitting at his desk in the garage. Wayne then claimed him as HIS cat and his name would be Roy D. Mercer. The 2 himalayan cats in the house wouldn't have anything to do with this mere tabby, but that didn't stop RD from marching right to the food bowls and making himself at home. This is the reason I can't figure out why RD would have left on his on. The same week he disappeared is the same week a new cat entered our home. RD was an adoptee himself. Surely he didn't leave because of a new cat. He's too laid back for that. That's what's so cool about RD. He is very calm and passive and doesn't like to fight- only in defense will he fight. He's been gone since the 17th. I have a friend whose cat came back after 9 months. RD is diabetic and I give him 2 shots a day, so if he does come back, he will be very sickly. Or if someone has taken him, they don't know he needs his shots...

Please come home RD, please!!!!

Myasthenia Gravis(to those who know the story-skip this one)

Listening to my profile song prompts me to tell this story. And I'm a detail kind of gal, so don't say I didn't warn you.

The 3rd wk. of January '03, I noticed I was having trouble with my vision. Ever sat to close to a movie screen in a theater?? That's how it was for me, and toward the end of the week- I was seeing double. By then, I was also having slurred speech and having trouble eating. Talking to a dr. friend- Wayne took me to the ER. Because of my age-51 they assumed I had suffered a stroke or an anurism. All the necessary tests were done with no answers in the end. Stupid dr. said I had an asaphalgic headache. (non-pain headache) I thought he made it up until I googled it when I got home 2 days later. He was sure a little pill would take care of the problem. 3 different pills later, I was no better and even worse b/c of the last 2 pills.

I previously had been going to a master herbalist and made a visit early March to her. She told me it sounded to her like Myasthenia Gravis (which her mother had). Had they tested me for that? she asked. There's another word I'd never heard of before. Asked the dr.'s nurse could they test for that, she quickly told me the test cost about $2000. Well, I knew where she was going with this, as we didn't have ins. Someone recommended another neurologist and I made an appt. After telling her my symptoms, I was about to ask her about this disease I'd heard of and she took the words right out of my mouth. I knew I had found a good dr. I felt in good hands. A simple blood test (which btw was only $400) would tell if I indeed had MG. Meanwhile she gave me a prescription for the symtoms and said if 30 minutes after taking this pill, the symtom went away, it was a pretty sure thing. The pill worked wonders, but it only takes care of symtoms. The disease is an auto-immune disease that has no cure.

This is a muscle fatigue disease. My facial muscles (eyes, lips, cheeks, tongue, eyelids) with repeated use would get fatigued. It also affects my arms and legs, so no more cleaning houses and walking 4 miles a day. :( !! She wanted me to get a chest ct scan in search of a thymoma (tumor of the thymus gland) another new word for me. Never knew I had a thymus gland. lol This gland sits in front of the heart and has to do with the immune system mostly as a child. As a child grows- the gland shrinks and bone marrow is the main immune system then. (as I understand it) I didn't have this done until early August. I hated to spend the money. Not everyone with MG has this tumor so I was gambling. ..

It turned out, I had a thymoma and the best way to remove it was open-chest surgery. A very well known and respected surgeon agreed to do my surgery free. Can you believe that? I just had to work a payment plan with the hospital. That took some figuring as my early 03 stay in the hospital was $21,000 with them already.

The ct scan showed the tumor to be contained and not spread, so that was a good sign. My surgery was not til early October, my fault trying to find other means in Galveston. UGHH!! Thank God that didn't happen. In the 2 months time the tumor had grown and attached itself to my heart lining and it turned out to be malignant. After 6 wks of healing, I had 6wks daily radiation as a preventive measure. Christmas Eve was my last treatment. What a gift!!

The expense of it all was just killing me and now I couldn't even help out cleaning houses. I felt like such a burden. Wayne worked so hard to provide for us. Hospital human resources called me Jan. 04 to say if I could bring our 02 tax returns to her, she might could get the amt. owed to the hospital reduced or erased. Result was the amt. was erased. Praise God! again and again.

I believe God had everything to do with how things turned out for us, all thru this ordeal, the right people at the right time was put before me. Him nudging me to get the ct scan, b/c in just 2 months it had started growing on my heart. As it was-- part of the heart lining had to be cut away. I had bookoos of people praying for me and I was really trying to listen to God's leading. Hard as that seems to be at times, He is there, we just have to listen. Sometimes it's thru his word, or a teaching or a friend. Sometimes it's that still small voice like the one that kept nudging me to get the test done. (money or no money)

Anyhoo, the song says it all for me, I feel I've lived every word of it and still do, ck it out:

Even though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death

Your perfect love is casting out fear

And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life

I won't turn back, I know you are near

And I will fear no evil. For my God is with me

And if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear?

Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, you never let go, thru the calm and thru the storm.

Oh no, you never let go, every high and every low.

Oh no, you never let go, Lord, you never let go of me.

And I can see a life that is coming for the heart that holds on

A glorious life beyond all compare

And there will an end to his troubles, but until that comes

We'll live to kno you here on the earth

Still I will praise you, still I will praise you

(back to--Oh no)

History of bad driving!!!

You know, pondering the life of our courtship, I realized the first time I ran off the road was not with my daddy. It was with Wayne. We had gone down to Hebert, (my summer stomping grounds) to his dad's camp on the lake. It was late and I don't think we were supposed to be there!!! You decide. On our way back, Wayne was letting me drive his corvair, (I said corvair, not corvette). An economy 4 dr. 4on-on-the-floor, but hey, it had 4 wheels, which is all we cared about. Anyway, he was messing with me, nothing graphic, don't puke, but I'm just learning to drive, and it doesn't take much to set me off course!! Coming around a big curve, I didn't come around it too good. The incident took place just past my Uncle Ralph's house. He was really my 2nd cousin once removed, but was my daddy's age and was not allowed to address grown-ups by their first name, hence Uncle Ralph.

Well the story gets worse, when I went off the road, we were facing the opposite way tangled up with a barbed-wire fence. A man living across the road heard the commotion and ran over to help. I made the misstake of telling him my uncle lived at the next house. He went to get him to help us get out of this entanglement. He gladly came, but sadly left the scene after almost bleeding to death. Unknowing to Wayne, when they told him to "go", he went, but they also told him to" hold it". Wayne didn't hear that command. Maybe the radio was on or the car motor was rared up. My uncle's leg was caught in the wire and the car drug him, tearing up his leg at the knee, (the most vunerable part of the leg, wouldn't you know). Well we got the car out and went on our way after taking my uncle back to his house for his wife to nurse him.

We never said a word about this to any of our families. To this day, I don't know if my parents know. Knowing adults like I do now, (I am one, ha!) they probably know, but have never let on they know. I felt so bad, to have done this after all the help he gave. He passed on years later, hope it wasn't from blood poisoning or something! This is why I think we weren't supposed to be down there to begin with or else why wouldn't we have told someone. Because WE would be in trouble!!!!

Kids!!!!

Somethings never change!! It has a voice now! I'm SORRY Uncle Ralph!

Engaged--39 years ago!!!

I was about to enter my senior year in high school. He had just signed up with the Air Force. It was a troubled summer for him. He graduated from high school in May and moved out of his parents home with his best friend Tommy. Of course we thought we were really grown-up. I don't think they had the garage apt. a month before Tommy decided to go in the navy and Wayne decided to go in the Air Force. Paying bills was a little more than they had anticipated.

We didn't know when the service would call him for duty, so the next thing in order was to get engaged. I remember my parents were on vacation, and when they came back, Wayne asked my Daddy for my hand in marriage. It was really sweet but scary too. As it turned out, they called him for duty December 19. I saw him off at the bus station, then had to go participate with my school choir in a Christmas concert. I was miserable.

He was in basic training all thru the holidays. Christmas day, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I made a call to his barracks. His sergeant answered, I asked for Robert Wayne Fuller. They called him to the office to answer the phone and said " boy, where's that girl from?" Wayne said "Sir, Monroe, Louisiana, Sir" They said "with that accent, she had to be from the south!!" I asked him what they were doing for Christmas. He told me they were having a GI party. I started crying, assuming they had already corrupted my husband to be. He said "no, no, a GI party is where we scrub the floors." I think they have them do that to get their minds off of being away from home on the holidays. It saddened me to think that's how they spend Christmas Day. The last Christmas he gave me a Promise Ring. That was a new thing then. A promise to engagement of course.

I didn't see him again until 5 wks later, when he could leave the base. His parents and his younger brother and I came for the week-end. I stayed with my Uncle Roy and Aunt Edna and they stayed in a motel close to the base. Uncle Roy showed us around San Antonio, but all Wayne and I wanted was to be together

Those were the days!!!!

Well, that's all, just thought I'd give it a place to be.

Cabin Fever

I am BORED out of my mind!!! So, whoever reads this will sure to be bored too. I'm 3 1/2 weeks into this broken foot thingy. Not being able to drive is about to DRIVE me right up a wall. Just to check out the bargains at Big Lots would be a big outing for me. Are you getting the picture now?? Asking someone to drive me to the dr. or drop me off at Walmart, seems so imposing on others. I'm getting a feel for how Mike, my brother-in-law must feel. He has no car, and has no business driving anyway. He'd be as dangerous on the road as me driving with my left foot, maybe more. He has more accidents under his belt than I have fingers and toes. Seriously though, he walks everywhere he goes. He pays a fellow worker to pick him up for work and take him home. He should, the guy lives on the opposite end of town. He usually calls me for rides to the dr. and rides home from work when that guy is gone. I don't know what he's been doing for that, since I can't drive. It's so hot right now, I wonder if he's staying indoors. He lives in the apts. across the way from us. It's a good location, walking distance to almost anything you'd need. That's why I love this location, our kids growing up had access to anything without crossing a major street. Of course, now I know that one kid crossed a major street, by going underneath it in a drain culbert. (sp.?) He was very adventuresome who hung out with an even more adventuresome boy.

On top of this boredom, I'm going thru some diet changes that are very foreign for me. No sugar, breads, dairy or wheat. What's left you ask?? Fruits,vegetables, eggs, meats and nuts (no peanuts). I am a chocoholic 1st of all, 2nd, I love sweets- ice cream mostly and 3rd, I like breads- pizza, bread sticks and rolls. Guess what I'm acustomed to doing when I'm bored, lonely or depressed , (one equals the others)?? I grab my ole buddies sweets and have a lovefest. Not anymore. It's been especially hard, during this foot thing. I grab nuts and fruit. I am seeing results from doing this though. I love my sweet tea. Now I sweeten my tea with Stevia. It's a natural thing and it's ok. I cheated and had some SWEET TEA today, boy, was it sweet!!! I also cheated last night and treated my poor bored, lonely, depressed self to a BLUE BELL homemade vanilla ice cream cone. It's been almost 2 weeks on this new diet change, and I thought I deserved it, by golly!!

Now, you see how bored I am. I'm rambling on and on. I'll stop now.

Stupid Strikes Again

Before you say anything- I have already and am still going thru a horrific time about this. As you probably know by now, I broke my foot last week. I had gotten very comfortable driving with my left foot. Not driving more than I had to and definitely not on the highway. I am very situated in the truck so as to have my booted right foot well out of the way on the "hump", with the seat pulled up and my body turned "just so" so my left foot had the reach it needed. I had just pulled in the driveway and put my foot on the brake. It happened so fast, I'm assuming my foot slipped and hit the gas. My natural instinct was to reach for the brake with my right foot which just pushed my left foot again on the gas. As you can see in the pictures the house stopped my truck.

..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />

The scary thing is- I was just saying to myself that I had this all worked out and it would be fine driving with my left foot. People do this out of necessity and this was a necessity. Then this happened just moments after I was thinking this. The thing I did not count on is the natural instinct to use the right foot in the case of emergency. As long as things are going fine, it's ok; but when you need to react quickly, the instinct is to do it with the right. So please, please tell anyone you know, not to think it's ok to drive like this, for any reason. You never know when you'll have to act quick, and believe me- you will never be prepared!!!

A number of things could have happened to make this situation worse.

1. Wayne was on the porch getting ready to take the truck to look at a job, could have already been right there.

2. If Matthew had woke up 20 minutes earlier, he would have been sitting there drinking coffee and smoking

3. Maya could have easily been playing in the drive or yard

4. Last but certainly not least-this could have happened in traffic

Needless to say, I learned my lesson. As inconvenient as it's going to be, I will NOT be driving for 4-6 wks. I keep having bouts of " out of the blue" crying in response to the visions of what could have been. Feeling so-o-o remorseful and ashamed. I could not have lived with myself if I had hurt or killed someone.

I'm trying to look at this as a blessing to have learned this without anyone getting hurt. I'm a little sore in the shoulders, arms and ribs, but nothing my chiropractor can't help me with.

Wayne has been a dear, just like our daddy. So calm, collected and comforting. He's held me and not complained one bit. God has raised him to the occasion health wise.

Perhaps Mary Ann will do the honors of posting the pics of my truck attached to my house.

Moral of this blog: Don't try this at home, it brings nothing but heartache!

Well Ain’t that special???

Gearing up to pat myself on the back, and then I hear "snap"!!!

Sure hope that was a twig I stepped on. One look back told me--no such luck. So how could this be??? This changes everything!!!

A friend of a friend needed to find a good home for her dog she could no longer keep. Knowing a family who was looking for a dog, I emailed my friend and set it up to pick up the dog and deliver it to it's new owners. One problem....I have to pick the dog up at 6:30 and the family can't pick it up from me until 8:30. No problem..just more pats on the back for me.

So as not to upset my dogs or cats, I opt to keep the dog in the front yard on a leash until the new owners could arrive. Good idea...could-of, would-of, should-of! Since he'd been in the kennel all day after being nuetered, I decide he'd enjoy a little walk, after offering him water and food. Well he did... me?? not so much! He dragged me over over the place. I was ok with that, although it wore me out. He finally settled down. Yeah, right!!

For no apparent reason, he bolted, throwing me off balance, causing me to mis-step on our uneven sidewalk, turning my foot sideways. (which is where I was at the beginning of this story)

I'm on the ground crawling to catch the leash that left my hand, afraid to stand up on my foot. Finally grabbing the leash, I pulled myself to my feet for a test walk.... Yep! it hurts, but I can walk on the side of the foot, which comes in handy, since the dog got away again. This time going down the street, with me hobbling along 25 feet behind him calling his name. Hmmff.. he doesn't know me or the neighborhood, he's not listening.... I'm almost in tears, hoping ONE of my neighbors will see this spectacle going on and assist me. No one!!! It's 8 p.m. and all our neighbors are older than us and have shut the doors for the night. 3 houses down I catch up to him and I'm able to grab the leash. That's good..right??? Wrong.... He's dragging me now much faster than my hurt foot can take.... NOW I AM crying!!!

Put his ass in the kennel!!!!!! Yes sirree!! Mosquitos are already sensing I don't have bug spray on EVERY part of my body and are munching away at whatever is available. Mary Ann comes up about that time, puts the dog in the foyer where Bear used to stay, and we escape from the vampires flying all around us like vultures.

The family came for the dog about 9 p.m. All's well that ends well. Except for the foot part.

Elevated and iced the foot all night and went to clinic the next morning, then the foot dr. the NEXT morning. Yep, it's broke....Soft cast and big ugly boot for the next 4-6 weeks. At least I can hobble on the heel of this monster boot, keeping the crutches far, far away.

Just not in the mood now to pat myself on the back. I feel more like kicking myself in the ......... Mary Ann took a pic of me wheeling myself around on the computer chair. It wasn't that cooperative but it beat walking on the side of my foot. (that was the first day, before the boot) Maybe I can get her to add the pic to this blog.

Is there a moral to this story??