Sudokuaholics Anonymous 10

Gail amd Kate thanks for visiting our Judy. Glad to hear she is doing well <3

Thanks Gail and Kate, Judy really appreciated your visit and the kind wishes you brought. I do think she is getting better every day, especially now that she has started rehab, the boredom of sitting there was getting to her. And you will all be pleased to know that the therapists have told her that doing Sudoku is good for her, so she has her books and pencils back out :) ♥

Cyn, sorry to hear about the loss of your cousin ((HUG))
Hawkmoon, very happy to hear about Judy's progress.
I think we all know that Sudoku is not just good for the brain, but it is also good for our hearts too.

Thanks Hawkmoon for the update on Judy and nice to know Gail and Kate visited her.

I'm off (but you already knew that), so wish me luck. I'm a wee bit nervous.

Thinking of you Heidi, I am sure it will all go well.

Nola, Judy, Cyn {{{HUGS}}}

Very damp here (my arthritis is acting up, but it only hurts when I breathe!!!)

MIL is being moved to a care facility just a hop, skip and a jump from her home... we are so glad she is not being sent home yet because she's just not ready. Hubby is going down to visit her after he finishes work today. The move is today. FIL now has a life alert button and he seems to think it's a good idea. He tried it out yesterday and a voice asked him if he was okay.

Suzy, I am not quite finished the blanket yet. I hope D can take a picture of it when it's done. How are you coming along with yours?

I'm back already. I couldn't believe how fast he was! I never felt a thing, either. He told me that this was his 3rd one of these operations he's done just today, and his 15th of the week! And it's just Tuesday!!!
There's just a little swelling, and no pain yet. That should wear off soon, though.

Hi All.
Cyn, sending condolences on the loss of your cousin...glad you had an opportunity to spend a memorable time with him while all were able to enjoy being together. Good memories.
Heidi, glad the surgery is over , and knowing you, you will weather this storm like you do all of your others...I don't know how you do it, but you manage pretty darn well for a klutz that is..lol. Healing wishes being sent your way.
June...so sweet chatting with you...I'm not as tired today...the sun is also out so that helps my spirit.
Thanks for the Judy update Hawkmoon...as has been said...we all know Sudoku is go for the mind, hart and soul...go Judy...keep it up girl...no stopping you is there??? healing wishes continue to wend their way to you
Hope all continue to mend and holiday plans are almost finished so all get to enjoy time with family and friends...Have a great day/night...Peace.

Greetings friends, a lovely sunny almost warm day today. I had my windows open for a couple of hours today, when the sun was streaming in and over heating apartment. I love being able to air out the house so often, I guess I am just a fresh air fiend.

Yesterday at therapy we did the second half of the positions of Ai Chi. I was not as coordinated for some of those as the first ones, these are a bit harder, movement of entire body involved. but I did do the one she was sure I would fall over sideways, like most people do first try, yeah Tricia hehehe.

I came home, found a website with video of some of the positions, I think that will be a big help for me in learning them.
http://www.ncpad.org/373/2088/Ai~Chi
if anyone wants to check it out.

heidi, glad the surgery is over and you are back home. Hope you are still pain free. Now tomorrow is your epidural too, didn't you say earlier?

Mama, good to know you are getting stronger, less tired, wishing that continues till you are once again good as new.

Gail, glad you were able to visit Judy, and found her so much improved. It is so good when someone from the group comes, representing the whole bunch, I know, thank you again Heidi.

Not much going on today, so I will get out of here and see what I can find to entertain myself. Hugs to each of you, with extras. Till Later.

The numbing has worn off, and I still feel no pain to speak of. I think I lucked out. This oral surgeon is excellent. He's the one my own dentist uses for her own work. I have to go back on Jan 8th for the next step in the process. They originally asked me to come in on Jan 4th, but that's the day that Maxine has to be in court, and I promised to go with her.

I am SO delighted that our Judy is improving so well. Thanks for the updates, Hawkmoon. And thank you again Gail & Kate, for visiting her. It had to make all of you feel better.

It certainly did Heidi, we came out with a skip in our step :)
Hope your pain stays manageable.

This is crazy. There is still no pain in my mouth. You'd think that nothing happened today, if it wasn't still leaking a little blood.

Tomorrow afternoon is the epidural. My friend Debbie is driving me since IH is out of town for 3 days. I hope it's another humdinger like the last one.

Condolences to you and your family, Nola! I know it has been a tough time. I am glad that Judy was able to be cared for where you work, allowing for frequent visits and the reassurance that she was being well cared for. What a blessing that she went peacefully. Prayers for you and your family. I hope you can feel us reaching out and adding our support to that of others. If there is anything we can do, please let us know! R.I.P., Judy.

Hello to all of you. Another late night here.

How wonderful that Gail and Kate (possibly other by now?) have been able to visit Judy in rehab. Please share gentle {{HUGS}}.

Hopefully I'll be able to read page 566 tomorrow. Sending lots of prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing vibes and for everyone!

Thinking of you Nola ♥

Boy is home :)

Still no pain, just the mildest discomfort. And I do mean mild.
The back, on the other hand, is screaming at me. The last epidural wore off a few days ago, and I NEED this one. I leave for the hospital in under 3 hours.

Hi everyone.
Heidi...I truly hope you get some great relief from the epidural. Glad the mouth is doing well too. Amazing that there wasn't much pain associated with the post surgery.

It was nice to hear how well Judy is doing in rehab.
Lovely, that she had had some visitors from Gail & Kate.
Cyn...sorry to hear of your lose also.Give your Grandaughter a hug from all of us. It is painful to watch a child suffer when you cannot do much about it. Hope she gets the ipod.

I will re-read and come back.

More ((((( HUGS ))))) to you, Nola.

Nola, huge gentle hugs to you and yours today. You are in my thoughts and prayers. So glad you had a few minutes to drop in for a visit. I found coming here was such a relief from the grief, just to touch base with people who were leading normal lives at the time my world was turned upside down. I do hope you find the same thing in visiting us and drop in as often as you can.

It was lovely to read all of the condolences for Judy and her family. You are the best.

I tried to go back and see if Rolanda had moved in but couldn't find.
Rolanda....you must be in by now though. Enjoy the unpacking, hehe, and new environment.
Tami...lets hope the car repairs are all done with now.
Suzy & June..Thank you!
Brenda...is it getting cold over there now?

By pass this part of the post unless you want to hear me whinge.
So many terrible things happening in the world lately.The shooting of the children was heartbreaking.
Last week in Bundaberg, where my 3 grandsons go to school,there was a breakup at a local pool and during a gusty wind, a runaway umbrella,spiked a 9 yr old girl in the head and she later died. The twin boys were in her class and saw it happen.
The same day that Judy died, we had a storm and my pekinese got out of the yard and was run over on the highway. I am so over everything at the moment. Kinda numb and running on autopilot.
Things will have to improve as I cannot put up with much more.
I did go to the clinic on Wednesday as it would have been too hard to cancel all of the appointments. Got through it ok,even though the computer was playing up and Drs were saying they couldn't access my info. Other computers had the info so how that was happening is a mystery.
I almost,chucked in the towel to go home but thought,what will they do? I persevered by entering,re-entering,closing down and checking again. Sometimes it was there and if not, I would do it again. I was glad to finish for the day and don't have to start again until Jan 9th.
Renae will come out today to help me unload my car of Judys things from the Nursing home.I just left it there. She will help me get the house tidy again.

Talking to you here,is helpful. I can write it down and then get it out of my head, as being dealt with. When I started,I was a bit overwhelmed. Now I am going to get on with it.
Love Nola xxx

Thank you so much Heidi and Tricia.

I am signing off now.
love to you all

Morning all,
First day of my holidays and I'm going to try to catch up!

It is so great to hear the news that Judy is doing so much better! Made my day!

Nola, I'm so sorry to hear about your doggy. That would be tough if you didn't have the rest of the stuff going on. And I'm so sorry that your grandsons now have that memory! We don't want that for our kids (or their kids)!!

MizT, I hope the second session of PT left you feeling as good as the first. So when are you going to show us some pics of your new place, your new Xmas decs and your new cushions???? I'd love to see some.

Tami, your Chanukah dinner sounds yummy. It is wonderful, and rare, to find a mechanic you can trust. I found a mechanic who will not do unnecessary work (I base that on him explaining some of the work he has done and telling us other things should be done as soon as we can, rather than forcing us to them immediately. Even so, I always wonder.

June, thank goodness you recovered those files! So much work went into them!

Theresa, I shared your deer story with my family. That is as alien to me as a kangaroo hopping through your yard would be to you... I love that your family have dedicated a song to you over it!

Mamacita, your night out sounds wonderful. Reading about it sent me on a trip down memory lane to a smokey bar in The Rocks that I used to go to when I was at Uni. It's wonderful that you are feeling a little better...

Heidi, not at all hard to believe you spent $400 on pet and person food! Save me a slice of your pie. I love blackberries!

Rolanda, by now #2 has arrived and you have given him some of the hugs you have been saving for him... I hope you all have a great time together!

Cyn, I suspect it is easier to cry over a guinea pig than a careless mother... I was sorry to hear about your cousin Charlie. Big hugs!!

Theresa, thank goodness MIL is going to a care facility rather than home! What a relief! My blanket hasn't got much further since I started the long block of work. I don't even know how many squares I have now, but not many more than before.

Thought of the day: The computer makes the world feel smaller and our friends feel close: Except when we want to visit them and give them a hug, then it's gigantic again!

Daily anecdote: I had a class of older kids who really wanted to talk about the shooting. I'm not really qualified as a counsellor so I was hesitant to answer too many of their questions. I did point out that we haven't had a mass shooting in Australia since the gun buy back in the 90's.

One of the boys was really upset that the man shot his mother. How could anyone shoot their mother? He must have said it 4 or 5 times. I just said 'Think about the person you have been most angry with, angrier than you have ever been with anyone else, even though you loved them at the same time.' His eyebrows rose and he got it. I hope I didn't do any damage....

I have been working every day and getting more and more tired - these kids really know how to act out at the end of the school year! I had 2 days where by the end of the day I could hardly walk!! Dana had asked me to visit her on one of those days and I asked her to meet me in town so I could get some pain killers while I waited. I sat down and wanted to cry while I was waiting for her. It took taking another set a few hours later to dull the pain enough to relax. The next day I took something at the first sign of a twinge and it was a much better day. One of my fellow teachers told me that my symptoms sound like they might come from my spine - which would make sense with osteo-arthritis in parts of it! Unfortunately I can't take the meds you are supposed to take for arthritis (though I did on Tuesday!!)

Suzy...very wise of you to make the students think. Those we are closest to usually get the brunt of our anger.

Another night where I haven't had much sleep. I have been awake since midnight.I will try to lay down and get some before Renae arrives to help me with some work.
Hugs to you all!

Nola, numb is good, especially with all that has gone on in your life in such a short time! I know I ran on empty for a good while, but then you start letting yourself feel again, and soon enough you hear yourself laughing! At first it feels foreign, almost wrong in some way, then you realise it actually feels quite nice, and you think you might laugh again. Do, and do it loud, laughter is a great way of releasing so many negative emotions. xoxo

Nola, I hope you got some more sleep. Everything is easier with enough sleep. I slept with the TV on for a long time. When I woke up in the middle of the night I could distract my brain with some nonsense that they put on when they think nobody is watching...

Daily anecdote: Dana didn't get much sleep last night either. Tahli threw herself out of her pram yesterday (She literally throws herself forward when she sees something she wants! She was buckled in, but the buckles came undone) She landed in some soda bottles and got a couple of small cuts/grazes and a little bump. Dana stayed up all night to check on her... I made the mistake of telling her that we used to joke that Alie had a permanent bump on her head, it just moved. (I'm not sure if she was a klutz or a dare devil!) Dana was worried about letting Tahli sleep so I told her the routine we were taught of just shaking Alie's foot every 2 hours. So Dana has apparently stayed awake all night shaking Tahli's foot!

Such wise words from everybody here today.

No epidural. I told the pain management doc about the bone infection and the oral surgery yesterday (and that it hasn't hurt at all), and he told me that since I had only started the antibiotics a week ago, there was too big a risk giving me an epidural today. He wanted me on antibiotics for 3 weeks before he'd risk the injection. So we rescheduled. I'd rather have the back pain than a spinal infection any day.

Hi all. Just a quick pop in before I go to bed.

Heidi, sorry you have to wait three weeks but better safe than sorry.

Suzy, you did right by letting the kids talk. You may not be a counselor but you are a mom. I am sure you knew just what to say.

Nola, keeping you in my thoughts. Come anytime to vent. We are here to listen and it is not good to keep your thoughts inside. I know it is a difficult time for you and I promise to try to share some funny stories with you. I just hope my kids at school do goofy stuff the next few days.

Nola Come and whinge here whenever you like!! I just don't know what to say. As if you haven't had enough, then the dog, and the little girl getting killed. Enough is enough! Hope things improve daily as you deal with your grief.
Heidi - sorry about not getting the epidural but glad you didn't risk a spinal infection.
Suzy - poor Dana, I can remember standing over Karin's cot for hours after she had a fall. I did see that she couldn't sleep (on FB) but she didn't elaborate, understandably.