Went to see "Jenny" from Southern Savers

Yes! I got to See Jenny from SoutherSaver! Really funny thing I thought Deanna had signed me up for another blogger and had been looking at another page all week. I really loved getting to hear her talk and explain coupons.

I have been couponing with my mom since 1983 when I first got sick. My mom started couponing and rebates when she had to quit her job to take me to radiation and physical therapy treatments.

I have been following Jenny for a while now. The only disappointing part of the class. Jenny could not give enough great information for having to answer silly questions from people that (I'm sorry to say) will never understand how to use a coupon.

I have played with the idea of starting my own coupon blog. I would want to immolate what Jenny has done with her blog. It is very neat and easy to use.

I pushed myself to go see Jenny last night. I may have pushed a bit much. I feel it today. I still have a headache.

I'm 3 for 3

This week for the first time in a long time I made it to water aerobics all week. I have even added my protein shakes back of the morning. Plus for the past 3 days I have been up to 300 mgs. of topamax.

So this is my goal for the following week. I want to make it to my water aerobics classes. Plus I am add the treadmill at home.  I have noticed more fatigue with the additional topamax. In the class I can tell I have lost muscle tone from being out for a while.

If I can drink the morning protein shake and another of the even it should help me build back my muscle faster plus help the fatigue.

I have seen a change with the topamax. It has been helping my headache. now that my nausea has calmed down.

What would you do if you needed medical insurance?

I had just watched the movie "John Q" Where a mans son needs a heart transplant and he holds a hospital hostage until they add his sons name to a list to get a heart.

He even goes to the extreme measures to kill  to attempt to kill himself. Leaving his heart to his son in his will.

Then I see this story on the news...

Man robs bank for $1to get medical care in jail



By RAD BERKY / NewsChannel 36
WCNC WCNC

updated 6/21/2011 10:48:36 AM ET 2011-06-21T14:48:36

Share Print Font: +-GASTONIA, N.C. — A Gaston County man robbed a bank and then sat down on the floor to wait for police to arrest him.

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.."(This is the) first time I've ever been in trouble with the law,” James Verone said from the Gaston County Jail on Friday. “I'm sort of a logical person and that was my logic. (That was) what I came up with.”

That is how Verone said he came to the decision to rob the RBC bank on New Hope Road on Thursday, June 9.

He didn’t have a gun and he handed the teller a rather unusual note.

"The note said ‘This is a bank robbery. Please only give me one dollar,’" Verone said.

Then he did the strangest thing of all.

"I started to walk away from the teller, then I went back and said, 'I'll be sitting right over there in the chair waiting for the police," Verone said.

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.And that is what he did.

The teller called 911 and police released the recording:

911 Operator: Is he being threatening to ya’ll?

Bank teller: Yes

911 Operator: What is, he has threatened you?

Bank teller: Yes

911 Operator: To shoot you?

Bank teller: Uh, yes. He’s sitting on the sofa. He can hear everything I’m saying, so I’m in a back room. But there’s four of us here in the bank. Please hurry.

911 Operator: Ok ma’am. They’re just right out there.

So why did Verone do everything he could to get arrested?

"Because I wanted to make it known that this wasn't for monetary reasons, but for medical reasons," he said.

Hoping for three-year sentence
Verone said he doesn’t have medical insurance. He has a growth of some sort on his chest, two ruptured disks and a problem with his left foot. He is 59-years-old and with no job and a depleted bank account, he thought jail was the best place he could go for medical care and a roof over his head.

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.Verone said he wanted police to arrest him.

"Oh yeah. I went in knowing I was going to jail," Verone said.

He is hoping for a three-year sentence. He would then be able to collect Social Security when he got out and said he would head for the beach.

"I've already looked at a condominium. I've spoken to a realtor on Myrtle Beach," Verone said.

He admits his story is unusual and said he wouldn't recommend anyone else do what he did, but Verone said he has no regrets. He said he is getting good medical care now, but the jail doctor accused him of manipulating the system.

"If it is called manipulation, then out of necessity because I need medical care then I guess I am manipulating the courts to get medical care," Verone said.

Verone may have a problem with his plan because he only demanded one dollar in the bank robbery. Police charged him, not with bank robbery, but larceny from a person. He might not get as much time in the slammer as he was hoping for.

This is a scary thought for millions of us everyday. I even talk to my friends with hydrocephalus that have no medical insurance. This is very dangerous for us if you do not realize.

It is important to have up to date cat scans every year to compar to if we have any thing go wrong or start having headaches.

Many of our homeless are on the streets because they usually have medical conditions that they need help with.

One of my greatest fears is being under insured or my doctors denying me treatment because of my insurance.

I need specialist and many of my friend also need to see the same specialist. But because of the surgeries we have been through we no longer have top of the line insurance.

Will those doctors turn us away? The hospitals can't. But I have to explain my case to a new doctor each time at the ER when I go to the hospital.

The ER doctors go away more confused than ever. I would be better off doing surgery on myself. These poor guys are in their first or second year of residence and not prepared for the equipment I have set up in my head.

So I get this mans point... Bad thing... He only stole a $1 he was hoping for a 3year sentence. With it just being a dollar it is considered a lesser charge. So it is something called larceny from a person.

Most likely he will get a fine and time served.

He retires to take care of her

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/22/kelly_retirement/










Endeavour commander Mark Kelly quits NASA


'Not an easy decision', admits veteran astronaut



By Lester Haines • Get more from this author



Posted in Space, 22nd June 2011 11:13 GMT



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Mark Kelly, the veteran combat pilot and astronaut, has announced he's retiring from the US Navy and quitting NASA on 1 October.



In an announcement on his Facebook page, Kelly admits it was "not an easy decision" to move on from a career which has encompassed Desert Storm combat missions and four space shuttle trips to the International Space Station.



Kelly was the commander of Endeavour on its last mission - STS-134 to the ISS - while his wife, Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was recovering from the headshot she received in the Tucson shooting in January.



During that trip, commander Kelly took a moment to record a message for the crowd at a U2 gig at Quest Field, Seattle

Back down at Facebook, Kelly says: "As life takes unexpected turns we frequently come to a crossroads. I am at this point today.




"Gabrielle is working hard every day on her mission of recovery. I want to be by her side. Stepping aside from my work in the Navy and at NASA will allow me to be with her and with my two daughters. I love them all very much and there is no doubt that we will move forward together. After some time off, I will look at new opportunities and am hopeful that one day I will again serve our country."



Whatever the future holds for Kelly, he's certain that NASA will continue on the right track without him. He insists: "I know that as our space program evolves, there are those who will question NASA's future. I am not among them. There isn't a group more dedicated to its mission or more capable than the outstanding men and women of NASA.



"Exploration is a critical component of what makes our country great. We will continue to explore and NASA will continue to lead that effort." ®


As I read this on Mark Kelly's facebook the other day I think this is how true love really should be. "For better or worse, in sickness and in health..."

It touches my heart to see and hear the stories of Mark Kelly taking Gabriel Giffords home to Arkansas for the first time after her shooting. Mark brings her back to his home where she will continue outpatient therapy.

They are planning to write a book about everything that has going on in the past few months. I am really looking forward to hearing about Gabby's recovery. I'm sure it will bring back memories of my own recovery after my first surgeries from my brain tumor and shunt.

Pepper sleeping

I had to wake pepper early this morning for his groomer to come to the house to cut his hair so he will be cool for the summer.  He is so woolly you can barley see his little mouth...

But look! you can see his white chin! He is 13 years old... He sleeps with his little tongue sticking out on his back. I hate to have to wake him. He is so cute!

He looks like my puppy when his curls are out like this. After he gets it cut he looks like a totally different pepper. I wish you could tell in the picture how his one ear is flopped up.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day! This is my Daddy yesterday sitting at the kitchen table. He was holding Pepper during a bad storm.

At this moment I was thinking how thankful I am to have a dad that takes care of me and my mom the way he does.

Probably the reason I'm still single. no man will ever treat me as special as my daddy does.

Happy Father's Day!

Trying more Topamax

I have still been having trouble with my headaches. I called my neurologist to ask to go up on my Topamax again.

I had gone from 150 mg to 200 mg and it has seemed to help some. So I'm going up to 300 mg.

Yesterday I broke up my dose but I took my first dose of the 300 mg.

The topamax has been helping my headaches. I had taken topamax years ago but it did not help my headaches.

I had a programmable shunt then. There was nothing but a non programmable shunt that would help me.

The reason I still hurt is I had a faulty shunt for 14 months. When it was found to be faulty it was unknown exactly how much damage was done.

I know my balance is worse. At times my memory is worse. But I have learned to take more notes.

I have an OSV II non programmable with an anti syphen device. At this point I feel like the shunt should be working right. I'm not wanting another surgery. Especially after my last surgery was the worst I have gone through yet.

I was in severe pain and very nauseated after surgery. I want to try everything I can before I have to go through that again.

Senator Gifford gets to return home

June 15, 2011

Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 2:00 pm

She’s taken a couple cross-country flights in the past few months and her husband recently rocketed into space.

But the 30-mile trip U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made this afternoon may have been her most satisfying yet.

After five months in the hospital following a gunshot wound to the head Jan. 8, Giffords was discharged from TIRR Memorial Hermann today and will soon begin outpatient treatment there.

"The Congresswoman is elated," said CJ Karamargin, her spokesman. "This is a major step in her recovery and she’s feeling very good about it."

Doctors say Giffords’ cognitive abilities and physical strength have improved to the point where she no longer needs hospital care. At her husband’s house in League City, Texas, she will be assisted by a 24-hour home health provider and will return to the hospital regularly to continue her intensive therapy program.

“Congresswoman Giffords has shown clear, continuous improvement from the moment she arrived at TIRR five months ago,” Dr. Gerard Francisco, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said in a prepared statement. “We are very excited that she has reached the next phase of her rehabilitation and can begin outpatient treatment. We have no doubt that she will continue to make significant strides in her recovery.”

Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, said the change of scenery will be a good one for his wife.
“Anyone who knows Gabby knows that she loves being outside,” Kelly said in a prepared statement.

“Living and working in a rehab facility for five months straight has been especially challenging for her. She will still go to TIRR each day but from now on, when she finishes rehab, she will be with her family.”

Was water aerobics a mistake?

Monday I decided I would try water aerobics again. I had gone friday and it was a fairly slow class. It kind of warmed me up I thought to get back into my regular routine.

I was excited to get back to my exercise program. I was hoping it would help me to feel better. But I did take along earplugs. Because of the risk of getting water in my ears when I got in the deeper water.

The last time I got water in my ears I was in the fetal position the next day. Even after I put the swimmers ear in. It takes a good 12 hours for the swelling to go down in my ears.

My neurologist listen to how this effects me but has no reasoning for it. He did tell me there was a test done on the nerves in the ears where the doctor puts water in the ears.

The only thing I can come up with is I have nerve damage after the past surgery.

So today after having a great work out. I'm sore from not being there in a while. But I also have my headache kicked up more than it had been.

First thing I thought was I got water in my ears. So I put swimmers ear in my ear. As my headache builds today I'm wondering if its from exercising yesterday.

I was talking to my friend Rachelle and she mad a comment about have pain after doing zomba. In 2002 I had been doing a huge gardening project.

Which I have wondered for years if working on the bank. I would plant bushes and trees on a hill that was so steep I had to dig holes to stand in to keep from falling.

But today I'm having the pressure/head rush headaches. When I say I'm having a head rush. It feels like I am bending over with all the blood rushing to my head.

It feels like fluid is going to explode my head. I feel it more in my forehead back to the crown of my head. I may not feel it in the back of my head because I had part of my skull removed to access the brain tumor when I was 8 years old.

So my question is what have I done this time to cause this miserable headache?

First picture after Gabriel Giffords shooting

Gabriel Gifford has her first pictures posted on facebook after the shooting to the left side of her head has left her needing extensive physical,occupational,and speech therapy.

With the release of this picture. There has also been talk of releasing the senator  later this month. Gabby is said to be progressing very well. She is stringing together words better to make sentences.

With this shooting Gabriel Gifford has gad to not only learn to talk again but has had to learn to walk again. Often being seen in a wheelchair. She was seen at the lift off of Endeavor in a wheelchair and the helmet she no longer has to wear.

Doctors said the helmet really troubled her to have to wear. Seeing her without the helmet is a freeing feeling. I know she feels so much better.

While Giffords' release from the hospital after five months of intensive inpatient therapy will mark an important step in her recovery, she still must undergo months of outpatient rehabilitation that will include speech, occupational and physical therapy.

Made it to the Y twice in 2 weeks

This is really getting me to wonder what is happening is with my headaches. I am still having trouble with headaches. I am wanting to blame it on water in my ears injuring my ears. But I think I have had plenty of time for that to get better now.

I pushed myself yesterday and went to my water aerobics class. It was just the second time in two weeks. I miss exercising and talking with my friends.

I was so careful but guess what?? I got water in my ears again!!

So I again have a headache....

My mom had an idea that caused my a headache in the past. I at one time had allergies that caused fluid on my inner ear. I took allergy medicine to help it.

Actually I took children's allergy medication because allergy medication makes me so nervous. So my new experiment is the allergy medication.

If this does not help I have thought about calling my neurologist and going up on my topamax again.

Today maybe a new day

I'm still blogging from my black berry. I was so happy to not be in a fetal position crying this morning as I was woke up.

I have a headache this morning that is hurting worse than what I usually have. But I slept last night .

I was so tired yesterday because I only slept 2 hours then I when the pain got so bad I couldn't sleep any longer.

I was so thankful I was able to deal with my headache at home. There was several times I wondered if I would need to go to the hospital.

I am taking it easy today just encase what ever caused the fetal position headache is going to happen again.

I plan to call my neurologist for a CT if Monday. My Neurosurgeonis in Charlotte so I am going to start trying to get my neurologist to do test my surgeon would want then forward to my neurosurgeon.

I'm hoping my headache keeps getting better so I don't have to do this. My neurologist may advise going up on the topamax again. That did help before.

What is hydrocephalus?

Hydrocephalus is the medical term for a condition that is commonly called “water on the brain.” It is a combination of the Greek word “hydro,” which means water and “cephalus” which means head. But the liquid involved in hydrocephalus is not really water at all, it is cerebrospinal fluid or CSF.




CSF looks like water, but it contains proteins, electrolytes, and nutrients that help keep your brain healthy. The most important purpose of CSF is to cushion your brain and spinal cord against injury. Your brain produces about 1 pint of CSF per day. It circulates through a network of tiny passageways in your brain, and ultimately into your blood stream where it is absorbed by your body.



Hydrocephalus occurs when the delicate balance of CSF production and absorption is disrupted and CSF builds up in the brain. This build-up of CSF causes the brain to swell, and for pressure to increase inside the skull, resulting in nerve damage.

Headache is back

As you can tell I am once again blogging from bed. I have once again a fetal position headache.

I had increased my dose of topamax that seemed to be helping for the most part. I'm hoping this is maybe just because I was more active yesterday than I have been in a while.

I guess I should have realized something was wrong with all the things I was able to do.

I got up early. I had my kitchen cleaned by 9:30 and did some work on my blog. I even got ready and went to my water aerobics class.

I had got water in my ears the day before washing my hair and used swimmers ear to get it out. I had the headache coming on then. The headaches were coming and going. But I was sure if I got the water out the headache would subside.

Then I also got water in my ears yesterday. I had the water related headache last night again. I once again used the swimmers ear thinking I would go to bed hurting.

I wasn't able to go to sleep until nearly 3:00 am this morning. I thought I would wake up and feel better this morning.

I was wrong! I barely got 3 hours sleep. I woke up in MAJOR!!! Pain! My forehead right over my eyes is hurting so bad! I was instantly nauseated. (I'm blogging while hurting and sick to get my true feeling)

I am literally balled up in the fetal position. My eyes hurt. They feel bruised. I can't stand to touch them. The bridge of my nose hurts. It feels displaced.

It must be the pressure build up. My ears are stopped up like when you have a cold. I can't hear as well.

I just walked to my kitchen to get some more medicine. Walking made me dizzy and nauseated. Plus the pain! I had pain shoot through my forehead like a lightening bolt.

It feels better to keep looking down. When I try to look up is when the pain gets like a lightening bolt.

I want everyone to know this is not common with hydrocephalus. I am one of those people that has very different systems, side effects and reactions to the condition. This is one of the reason I blog.

I fear some else going through this alone like I did for so many years.

Famous faces related to Hydrocepalus

From time to time I like to remind everyone about famous people struggling with hydrocephalus. Several years ago Reverend Billy Graham was diagnosed with Parkinson's as his gate got worse and tremors made it more difficult for him to do normal daily things. He was accepting his condition when a brain scan revealed what is called normal pressure hydrocephalus. Which at the time I am sure Rev. Graham did not think anything could help his deterioration condition. But with the new diagnosis a shunt could greatly improve his condition. He has had 2 revisions to date but it has been reported his quality of life has greatly improved.

 

 I messed up in passed post I thought Pia Toscano on the right had the daughter with hydrocephalus. I was looking for information on my blog this morning when I saw I have been blogging the wrong information. Paris Tassis is the Mother with the 8 year old daughter with hydrocephalus.

If you haven't kept up with Paris' story. Here daughter has hydrocephalus and from the hydrocephalus it caused the complication of hearing loss. Paris had her daughter when she was 18 years old when the doctors saw the baby had hydro they advised her to abort her baby. She chose to have her baby and she is a beautiful little girl.
You remember Paris Tassin from the early auditions? She was one of a few contestants who walked in with sad stories and 'touched the hearts' of the American Idol judges.




Sadly, Paris failed to live up to expectations during her group audition. She and her fellow singers gave a screechy, out of tune rendition of Rihanna's Only Girl (In The World) while the judges looked on in despair.



Jennifer Lopez commented that the audition was "So disappointing," while Steven Tyler told the girls "It made it excruciatingly painful for us up here to see that." So, despite looking like a serious contender just a couple of weeks ago, Paris is sent home. Although I think the tuneless backing from the other girls may have made it difficult to stay on melody.



Paris was so upset after the rejection that she couldn't even speak to Ryan Seacrest

Gabriel Giffords recently had surgery to add a shunt and replace her skull with a permanent plastic piece shaped just like her head was before the shooting. She no longer need to wear the helmet to protect the part of her head that did not have bone or skull to protect it.

Pepper Rodgers , the former football coach at Georgia Tech who sued that university for discharging him in 1979, yesterday was named head coach of the Memphis Showboats in the United States Football League.


Rodgers has also coached at U.C.L.A. and Kansas and had a 75-63-3 college record. Rodgers had been out of coaching since his dismissal at Georgia Tech. . . . The Cleveland Browns' punter and kickoff specialist, Steve Cox , underwent successful brain surgery at the Cleveland Clinic to correct a condition known as hydrocephalus, in which pressure between the brain and the spinal cord causes headaches and blurred vision. ''He'll come back in about a month,'' said Sam Rutigliano , the coach of the Browns.

New York Times



The article says his condition was corrected. I was to make some things clear that may be misunderstood. Hydrocephalus can't be cured. It can be treated.



Relieving the pressure on the brain with a shunt hopefully helped his headaches and blurred vision. A shunt has to be monitored and doesn't always help with the first shunt surgery.

Endeavor is home for the final time

 An image made from NASA Television shows the Endeavour as it does its fly-around of the International Space Station Monday May 30, 2011, before returning home on NASA's penultimate shuttle mission. (AP/NASA)

.                                         

(CBS/AP) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts returned to Earth on Wednesday, closing out the next-to-last mission in NASA's 30-year program with a safe middle-of-the-night landing.






Endeavour touched down on the runway a final time under the cover of darkness, just as Atlantis, the last shuttle bound for space, arrived at the launch pad for the grand finale in five weeks.





Commander Mark Kelly — whose wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, remained behind at her rehab center in Houston — brought Endeavour to a stop before hundreds of onlookers that included the four Atlantis astronauts who will take flight in July.





The museum-bound Endeavour, the youngest of the shuttles, logged nearly 123 million miles over 25 spaceflights.





"Your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be remembered. Welcome home, Endeavour," Mission Control told Kelly and his crewmates, who wrapped up U.S. construction at the International Space Station.





"It's sad to see her land for the last time," Kelly replied, "but she really has a great legacy."