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Hubs and I had an atypical Valentines day.. I am feeling much better than yesterday post COVID shot #2.. but we stayed home and he is cooking dinner. We did start on the taxes, switched out two mattresses ( moms to our bed and ours to hers,, hers was newer) and lots of laundry because of that. He watched sports and I watched several episodes of Outlander.. Yes indeed we are hopeless romantics! But it was still a great day. Called my Aunt and talked to her awhile, and DD is coming over tomorrow.
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Coldest Valentine's record.

Overnight, tonight, forecast down to -40. And have to go to work tomorrow.😟
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worriedinCali, what your Mom is going through is pretty much the norm. I remember having those issues myself ten years ago when I had a similar surgery.

First, I couldn't believe the insurance company would only pay for a hospital stay of less than 24 hours. I can understand why surgery patients are sent home so early, but sent home to a household whom are not health care providers, thus have no idea what is going on. HELLO insurers, this was major surgery.

My legs were like rubber, so it wasn't easy getting up to use the bathroom. I was also in a brain fog for a couple of months. Sleeping wasn't easy, had to surround myself with pillows so I wouldn't turn over on my side or stomach. Prescription pain pills took the edge off, but I didn't like the side effects, so I stopped taking them.

Oh those drain bulbs. Wish back then they would have a "class" on what to do and what to expect [they do now], as I was clueless about the drains. The surgeon probably told me, but one is usually a deer in headlights and terrified.

Burning pain, how I remember that. It's the cut nerve endings from the surgery. Your Mom will feel those for the next couple of years. It's like a quick bee sting when it happens. Even ten years later once in a blue moon I will still get one.

Will your Mom's doctor put her on pills that she should take for the next 5 years or more? If yes, I hope your Mom does ok with the pills. If there are side effects, your Mom is not alone, I had them.

Hope your Mom finds a good bra fitter who can help her choose the right bra that is comfortable and a light weight prostheses. Or skip the whole thing and go with an undershirt.
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FF thank you for sharing your experience. What you describe is exactly what my mom is experiencing. I’m glad to hear it’s normal. The burning pain does hit out of nowhere and it’s brief but still excruciating! These bulbs are a PITA. It’s easy to empty them and measure the fluid I rained but the left drain DID in fact come out. Well as of yesterday afternoon, it was still technically sewed in but the tube itself is totally out and there an opaque white tube coming out of her chest. I’ve got a phone call in to the “breast navigator” to see what can be done about that because she is leaking fluid. Today she is light headed.

there are a lot of things I wish we had done different. Hindsight is always 20/20. I am surprised they released a senior citizen with mobility issues home without arranging for a visiting nurse! Her follow up isn’t until 2/25. We don’t need any hands on care but having a nurse come out every few days to check the incisions and the tubes would have been a huge benefit. Now here we are on a holiday weekend with a tube that’s come out and ZERO support! The on-call dr said if the tube had come out, I could pull it out myself—well I can’t because it’s sewn in. And what do we do about the fluid leaking? Anyway....other than being light headed, she’s doing good today. Thank you all for the support. This would be much worse for us if this forum didn’t exist. It really would. There support and the knowledge all of you provide is priceless!
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glad - brrrrrrr! 🥶🥶🥶
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🥶️ We put some hand warmers in our emergency kit.

So cold!
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TOO MUCH SNOW. 😞

I tore up my car's front bumper trying to get in a slippery parking space the other day, and roommate has had a couple minor car accidents in the past week or two. It's a mess on the roads. I was supposed to take my car for bumper repair tomorrow but there's so much new snow coming down, I'll wait a day or two. We'll see. Snow is pretty but there's just too much of it on the ground here and more coming down all night.

I read something that said Chicago had 30 inches of snowfall the past month, or this month, and none of it's melted due to cold temps. There will be at least six more inches during this snow that fell all day and is still going.

I feel like I'm in a snowglobe that's malfunctioned. lol I'm getting through it fine, just whining, and travel anywhere will have to wait a day or two at least until roads are cleared.
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Wow, so many in the snow.
Spring is on it's way, soon, I hope!
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Okay Ali, I'll stop shaking the snow globe. My bad!😊
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Snow Globe? Is that like having a crystal ball Gershun?
Lol.
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Ali: Sorry that you tore up your vehicle's bumper.☹
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Thank you, Llamalover. I'm embarrassed to say I did something similar this time of year 2 years ago. I don't think I'm careless but driving and parking in the city during the winter is more difficult when there's snow piled up everywhere. I'll be extra-extra careful from now on when there's snow in parking spaces, and not try to force my car into spaces where there are piles of snow. I have such a small car and my tires, though relatively new, are slick. I've been thinking what I'm going to do. Maybe new tires, maybe add collision insurance (my damages aren't much more than a deductible anyway, though), maybe just don't ever try for a parking space that seems iffy...

Maybe all of it. ;-)
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Ali: You're welcome. Winter driving can be challenging at best. And even the most skilled driver is no match for ice, especially black ice.
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ABB
Many moons ago you contributed to a conversation about whether or not an electric snow blower was a worthwhile purchase - I remember and thank you whenever I pull out my Snow Joe (like I did today)!
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I once did a doughnut on black ice on an overpass in town. I touched my brakes, spun slowly, and went on my way. There was, fortunately, no traffic around. 😱
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Happy Mardi Gras!

So, so, so, different this year! Our mayor had to shut down Mardi Gras due to Covid. Looking forward to next year!

It’s a weird vibe in New Orleans this year.

We will eat our last piece of king cake today. Bad juju to eat king cake after Mardi Gras!

Fat Tuesday is here. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday so I will begin fasting. No meat tomorrow. I am giving up all sweets for lent.

Normally for Mardi Gras we would be on St. Charles Ave. and Napoleon to view the Rex parade and marching bands.

No one knew about Covid in our city for last last year’s Mardi Gras celebrations and it developed into a nightmare scenario for us.

The last time Mardi Gras was canceled was due to a police strike in 1979!

It has been cold here! We would have had a freezing Mardi Gras today.

Our weather is so unpredictable!

We have had some Mardi Gras celebrations with cold temps and others where it was very mild.
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Happy Mardi Gras to you, NeedHelp. Glad to see your post today. I saw the news today that it was cancelled. Ash Wednesday tomorrow and we will go early to get ashes before everyone ese. We have such a nice Deacon and Pastor. They are both accommodating to my mother and our family and were willing to send home the ashes, but I feel like going to church on Ask Wednesday. We will go early before the service starts.
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EB,

Yes, it is best to go early to receive ashes.
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Chicago area got another 18 inches of snow in the past 24 hours. I knew it would be a lot but that is just... A LOT... on top of the snow that's been sticking around for weeks. I'm sure someone out there is having fun with all this snow, maybe kids and some dogs like it.

I cancelled my plans for tomorrow and called off work, which they don't mind because it will be very slow due to weather. I'll dig out the car at some point and work on a paper for school that was due today, but professor kindly gave extra time and I had another paper due this week, too, and that took several entire days of work to finish up. The 3 classes I'm taking this term are all introductory or basic core classes, and the units are a week long. How are they demanding this much in-depth work assignments like thesis papers on a single week's worth of learning?? This is the second week of the term, we just started! lol I'm a bit frightened to think this pace could continue for 8 more weeks. The papers are only a few pages each but still, it takes a long time to research, write out, and format correctly. Ugh. I'm venting, very stressed about the school work load this week.

Cw, I'm glad you get good use out of your electric snowblower! I remember using the one I purchased down at my grandma's house. Much better than shoveling, that's for sure!

Now I have no snow blower and would love to hire someone to even just dig out my car. After I do about 30 minutes of shoveling my back is hurting badly and since I am prone to back sprains and spasms, I don't think it's a great idea for me to shovel this much snow. I figure I'll look at it tomorrow and make a plan.
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Would love to get some paczkis for Mardi Gras but I'm reading that some local bakeries had to close due to weather. It is what it is... Maybe by the time I get the car out, the bakeries will have figured things out, too.
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Ali, hang in there. It was always those intro classes that were the most difficult for me. Lots of foundational information.

You will do good.
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Ali - not everyone puts the time and effort into assignments that you do (hence the great marks along with your very good mind, of course). I agree with glad You will do fine and enjoy the later classes more.

Time to make snow angels? 😇
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NO, OH NO!
Many of the Teepa Snow videos I frequently recommend here on the forum are no longer available. I always knew this might happen, I still miss the wonderful presentation Gone From My Sight from Barbara Karnes that disappeared years ago 😥
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Drat, CW! Any explanation? Drat drat drat - !
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cwillie: Have you had a chance to attempt to find the Teepa Snow vids? I am not familiar with them.
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cwillie: I don't know which Teepa Snow vid you were looking for, but I just searched "Teepa Snow videos" and some came up.
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LL: I know there is a lot of Teepa Snow stuff still available but IMO the newer posts are not nearly as helpful as the old ones where she (or someone) recorded some of her lectures. One I liked in particular was about understanding the difference between letting go and giving up at the end of the disease and included a story about how early on in her career she learned that lesson, another was about understanding the difference between depression and apathy. According to YouTube the account holder has deleted their account, therefore deleting all the videos they had posted.
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CW: Oh, okay. As I said, I was not too familiar with the videos.
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I received my grades back on the two papers I turned in this week, 98 on one and 100 on the other. I wish I could avoid stressing myself out so bad at times with this school work. The only strategy I can think of is to start earlier and ask questions in advance about anything I'm not sure about. It had been a long time since I wrote essay papers like these and I'm relieved that the work was good. My school week units are only only that, one week each. It's a short time to take in a lot of new material and put it back out with enough original thought that shows you learned it. I'm not trying to get terrific grades, necessarily, though it's a great feeling. I don't know how else to do the work as it's assigned, other than follow the letter of the rules and such. My uni has grading rubrics for every assignment and I go over them repeatedly while doing the work, ticking all the boxes.

The stress out over school this past week really knocked me down temporarily. I had a sinus infection, too, and ended up taking off 2 days from work and just rested and slept. Today was my birthday and I spent the whole day working on school work at home, which is fine... just seems like so much work at times. How do people juggle demanding jobs and raising children at the same time they go to online college? My hats off to them.

*Oh! And a bestie sent me a turmeric tea set for my bday! Wonderful gift, and timely, since I've been reading about turmeric's proven help with stress and inflammation. I knew about it before, but it's one of those things I had good intentions for using and it didn't materialize. I still have a giant container of turmeric in the spice cabinet, hope it never expires. lol Her gift had me looking at the benefits of turmeric again, and it coincided with this week's assignment in my psychology class that examined biological basis for stress response. I may not be able to be less stressed by my school work at times, but I can drink turmeric tea while I stress out. haha
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Congratulations, Ali! If I knew how to use my new laptop - sigh - I'd send you lots of icons of certificates and gold stars!

You appear to be suffering under the inner voice of the over-achiever - the one who insists you must get 100% for your therapy homework, "which it is both desirable to aspire to and possible to achieve" according to the joke my daughter sent me.

I don't know how you counter this voice. There is a long-running family theme that would ask, for example, "and what went wrong with the other 2%?" but this is as nothing to the poor little Chinese grade schoolers: when they succeed in getting full marks, they are urged to "try harder next time."

But it would be such a shame if anxiety stopped you *enjoying* both the course and your success. Rest on your laurels for at least one hour :)
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