THE CREATIVE PENN

In this morning's e-mail I had an invitation from The Creative Penn to take part in a survey.

Goodness knows this is not unusual. We all get those e-mails that state we could make $$$$ just taking survey's and filling out forms.

This one caught my attention so before I hit the delete key I decided to check it out.

I was impressed.

Joanna Penn has done all the research you will need regarding Writing, self-publishing, digital publishing, internet sales and promotion for your writing. www.thecreativepenn.com.

She started her company in December of 2008. You can learn more about this remarkable woman at www.bubblecow.blogspot.com. Click on the Friday, 24 April 2009 link.

Take some time and explore her website. There is much to be learned there for free. www.thecreativepenn.com

DOCTOR SPEAK

Since 1992 visiting doctors has become a way of life.

Through the years I've learned some doctor speak. I don't always understand it, but I've picked up words and phrases that mean something totally different in the non-medical world.

Let's start with, "Well, thyroid cancer is a GOOD kind to have." The theory here is that it is easier to cure than most cancers and the survival rate is very high. Thank God.

I'm a cancer survivor.

Then there is, "Fibromyalgia is not progressive." What the docs mean is that it is not progressive as in destroying body tissue. However, destroying quality of life is another story all together.

I went from some pain and fatigue to please God let me be able to move and get out of bed today.

But, in the last few months I've learned two new doctor speak favorites: super bug and essential tremors.

In early March I developed an upper respiratory infection. Well, this one hung on and on. And, I had a new complication from years past with this nasty bug, my throat was swelling shut. A trip to the ER that led to a butt load of meds and steroids.

As my pulmonologist was writing the second script for antibiotics she casually informed me I had a super bug.

Let me tell ya, there ain't nothing' super about it. I'm still recovering. It wore me down to where watching infomercials at 3 AM sounded like a good idea. I wonder if that steam cleaner works as well as they say, and I may just take up real estate?

Then there are the shakes. These involve both arms and my torso. I don't mean the little tremors you sometimes get when you've held something too long.

No, these are the kind where you could replace the milk shake machine at the local Mickey D's.

Another trip to another specialist. Neurologist.

She informs me I have essential tremors

Essential?

To whom?

I was doing just fine without them. Thank you very much.

More meds.

I am mellow.

She tells me sometimes they come with age and especially in older fibromyalgia patients.

Another wonderful side effect of this non-illness illness (fibromyalgia).

What is your favorite doctor speak?

EARTH DAY

It is a shame, but when I think of Earth Day I think of Holly Maddux and Ira Einhorn, self named The Unicorn.

He claims to be the father of Earth Day.

The Philly P. D. call him a murderer.

Holly Maddux was a young, beautiful, intelligent and on the brink of a great life unfortunately she met and was mesmerised by Einhorn.

On March 28, 1979 Newspapers dating from September15, 1977, and earlier covered what was underneath. A second layer consisted of packing styrofoam and plastic Sears bags, crumpled up. "He slowly scooped the foam aside," Levy goes on. "After three scoops, he saw something. At first he could not make out what it was, because it was so wrinkled and tough. But then he saw the shape of it — wrist, palm, and five fingers, curled and frozen in their stillness...He dug just a little deeper, following the shriveled, rawhide-like hand, down the wrist, saw an arm, still clothed in a flannel shirt. And he had seen enough."

He turned to the Unicorn, whose expression was still blasé. "It looks like we've found Holly's body," he said.

The Unicorn shrugged with indifference, as he did in the good old days when the campus police caught him puffing on a joint. "You found what you found."

The cat and mouse game was on. After much wrangling, maneuvering and good old fashioned police work Einhorn was captured in Southern France.

The evidence against Einhorn was just too strong and he knew it. So did the jury, who found him guilty of first-degree murder in December 2002.

He was sentenced to life in prison with out the possibility of parole. His new home in Houtzdale Prison in Clearfield County, PA.

Happy Earth Day Holly.

For more info follow this link.

You may wonder why I followed this story so closely and for so long. I had a lot in common with Holly. She was just a little older than me, southern and trusting because she had been brought up in a Christian home with lots of love and support.

I was lucky and escaped from my own version of the Unicorn.

Happy Earth Day Holly.

AMAZON LAYS AN EASTER EGG

If you were on Twitter on Sunday then you were bombarded with the Amazon debacle.  

Censorship.

The whole bruhaha boils down to censorship.

The focus of the censors seemed to be anything related to homosexuality.

Like it, don't like it that is your decision.  The God I believe in gave you a brain and the freedom to choose everything from what you eat for breakfast to how you choose to live your life.

  

Amazon is not a mom and pop brick and mortar bookstore.  In a small family run business I expect some form of censorship as they can't afford to carry every book that is avaliable to the reader.  From my personal experience they can order just about any book that it is in print.

Amazon is another story.  They've made their reputation on having ALL books in print and e-print just a mouse click away.  That brings me back to censorship.

I'm against it.  Period.  End of story.

BRENT

Today is my husband Brent's birthday.

Let me tell you about the man I have known for 33 years this week.

He is kind, generous, smart, can fix almost anything, loves his family, honored his parents, loves his church, loves God, serves Jesus and follows His example.

For as long as I've known him he has collected old people.  I don't mean like putting them on a shelf type of collecting.  Usually they are widowed and lonely.  He goes and visits, does small repairs and generally lets them know they are not forgotten.

His favorite group of old people is those who served with his late father during WWII on the USS Santee in the South Pacific.  This past year they had their last reunion as the youngest crew member was 82.  They were all getting too old and frail to travel for the reunions.  Brent attended and took all his memorabilia.  The men love him and he loves them.

When we met, I was a single mother with a small son.  This didn't stop him.  As we came to love each other so did Brent and my son.  We had to be married a year to start the adoption process. Our other son was born in October of 1982 and the adoption was final about 6 months later.  He has never made a difference between the boys.  They are both sure the other is the favorite. :)

We had been married 12 years when I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  His tender care and love made this time in my life easier to bear.

Through the years he has become dearer and dearer to me.  So, this is my tribute to my wonderful husband.  He is my Knight in Shining Armor.

 

When Traveling ....

This past weekend was SMRW's annual retreat.  We had great speakers  Alyssa Day and Barb Ferrer, lots of good food, and I felt like I'd been run over by a tank.

The reason.

I forgot my Lyrica.  It helps control the pain of my fibromyalgia and essential tremors.  Needless to day I spent the weekend in pain and shaking like a milkshake machine.

So, the moral of this story is to make sure you have all your meds when you travel.

LIVING WITH FIBRO

Don't get me wrong, I love the drug Lyrica.  But, the ads on TV bug me.  This very attractive middle-aged woman talks about how some days her pain is so bad she has to force herself to leave the house.

My reality is some days if I get dressed its a red letter day.

Then there is the famous fibro fog.  This is where basically you brain stops functioning in a way that supports daily chores, names, dates, children's names and anything else you need to recall rather quickly.

EX:  I've been setting at my computer for two days trying to refill a medication through my online prescription company.  Then it hit me I had had it filled at the local Wal-Mart.  Two days.

One of the other aspects of this wonderful disease is the inability to concentrate.  You can't even do it looking at the orange juice can.  This is really bad for a writer.  Our editor's don't really understand that getting three sentences in a row written in one twenty-four hour period as making good progress on a manuscript.  

If you are trying to get a book read so you can write a review that was due last Tuesday and are only half-way through the book the review site owner is send you frantic e-mails saying, "What do you mean you read three pages today, and you remember most of it?"

So, If I see you out in public or at a writers conference and I don't know your name without your name tag, don't be offended. 

Murmur, "Poor thing" as I'm walking away, and I'll know you understand. 

TO SLEEP PERCHANCE TO DREAM

Do you sleep well?

 

If you need to lose weight you probably don't sleep well.

 

Studies have shown that getting enough good sleep will help you lose weight.

 

How do you get good sleep?

 

1.  Exercise

            I'm not talking going to the gym and doing an hour of aerobics here.  Get out of your chair, go outside and walk for five minutes.  If you do this several times a day you will feel better and sleep better.

 

2.  Don't Eat A Heavy Meal At Night

            I'm not saying don't eat after a certain time.  That just makes you crazy and want to eat everything in sight after the proscribed time.  Eating heavy meals at night can interfere with your sleep cycles.

 

3.  Don't Nap During The Day

            Or, if you must nap keep it to a thirty minute power nap or sleep for an hour and a half.  The longer nap lets you get through one complete sleep cycle.  This way you won't wake up with that feeling of being hungover.

 

4. No Distracting Noises

            If you are like me you need some background noise to go to sleep.  All that silence is unnerving.  The experts say not to do this, but I do it anyway.  I have my television on a channel that I can tune out, but still hear the noise.  I set the volume as low as I can and still hear it.  

            If the light from the television bothers you get a sleep mask.  They are cheap and available at most department stores.

 

5.  Sleep Study

            Get a sleep study done.  I had one done recently and found out that I stopped breathing two hundred and fifty-eight times that night.  That’s not good.

            I now sleep with a c-pap machine.  It has taken some getting used to, but I’m sleeping so much better.

 

6.  Make Love or Cuddle

            As far as I know there are no studies that say sex helps you sleep, but getting all warm and cozy with your loved one will at least feel good even if it doesn’t help you sleep.

 

Don’t let the lack of good sleep continue to wear down your life.  Find out why you don’t sleep well and work at fixing the problem.

Debbie is now stepping down from her lofty soapbox.

 

GET MOVING

Today I bought walking poles at Wal-Mart for $20.00.

Like most writers I'm overweight. No, that's wrong. I'm not overwieght, pleasingly plump, chunky, or fat. I'm obese. God, I hate that word. It sounds like I don't care about myself, and I'm just a lump of fat sitting watching soaps and eating all the wrong foods every minute of the day.

It's not true.

I try to eat healthy and usually eat 2 to three meals a day with one snack. I allow myself 1 real Dr Pepper and the rest are diet.

My problem is moving. I have several health problems that limit my life.

Today has been a good day. The sun is out. It's not overly warm, but warm enough to get out and walk.

That's just what I did with the walking poles. My back sidewalk is about 75 feet long. I used the poles and went up and down the sidewalk 5 times.

Yes, I had to stop at each end and rest a few seconds. Yes, I had a hard time breathing. But, if I don't get rid of this weight I'm going to end up in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank. At 54 that is not viable option.

So, do you want to get moving? Join me each day in moving and let me know how much you moved. You can also bitch about how hard it was, how much you hate it, and then be proud of one more day of moving.

GOOD NEWS

After several tests that involved big machines and IV's the doctors tell me my heart is in good shape for a 50 something who is obese. That is really good news as heart disease runs in my family.

Now, comes the hard part, getting rid of the weight. I've tried diets, change of life plans, home delivery of the food plans and just plain old starving. I can't stick with any of it. So, my next option is the lapband. I'll be looking into this this week. It is non-invasive and reversable.

I'll let you know what happens.