Ludlow's Place - The Latest Shtuff 2002

I've decided that until I'm feeling better I will just keep updating this page. I don't mean to offend anyone by doing this, it's just easier on me than typing individual letters. If you're not one of the people I'm in constant contact with, here's the very brief run down. I have a cough that the doctor's haven't found the cause of yet. For whatever reason, it doesn't bother when I lay down. I cough now and then when I'm sitting upright, and I go into double-me-over coughing fits when I stand up that get much worse if I walk any distance.

2-27-02

I went back to the Ear, Nose & Throat doc today. He ran the scope through my nostril to look at the voicebox again but didn't quite make it that far today. He sprayed Afrin in there, like always, but this time it made everything feel swollen. When the scope was about halfway there I swallowed. He asked me to do it again, and said I had a very swollen adnoid. I mentioned how I thought that was odd since I had them removed as a child. To make a long story short, I'm scheduled to have a CT scan tomorrow to see what it is that he saw. He said it could be adnoid tissue, or it could be a small tumor, or no telling what, just that it looked strange. Whatever. Maybe he'll remove it and the left side of my nose won't close when I sleep anymore. That would be great. I have an appointment with a lung specialist on March 18th.

We went to visit my dad yesterday and he is taking Freddy's latest arrest very hard. I could just knock the shit out of my big brother for hurting our dad like this. The man is soon to be 80 years old and doesn't need to be feeling like he's just lost a child, which is how he is feeling. My nephew is having the same reaction, like there has been a death. I wish they didn't have to feel this way, but how can they not since he is their son/father? I didn't realize that they were both there when the arrest took place too.

I'm going to go now and do something totally inappropriate for my age. I know I'm not right, but... well... I'll just come out and say it. I get a kick out of Jay and Silent Bob. I don't recommend any of Kevin Smith's humor to anyone who is easily offended by words beginning with the letter "F", the word "suck" as the main verb in the movie, or stoner humor in general. I have no idea why I like this particular duo so much but I do. So I'm off to watch "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" for the third time, and it only came out on video yesterday. Everyone has their deep dark secrets I suppose. LOL If you don't know who they are, I recommend that you start at the beginning, with the movie "Clerks", and work your way forward. But if you're over 40 and just want a quick jump, rent "Dogma". hehehe

2-26-02

Oh yeah... It's springtime in Texas alright. We are supposed to have a high temp of 39 degrees today. That's typical for both spring and fall.

I was just reading catching up with some other people's opinions via their blogs. Both Bernadette http://www.bernadettehurley.com/blog/ and Lucy's husband, Wayne http://www.wayneklick.com/weblog/index.com made for an entertaining read concerning the Olympics. We get four channels so the Olympics were kind of dominant here, but I still managed to miss most of the games. We did watch the closing ceremonies last night though as I was curious to see how the "talent" they were advertising would go over. I'm no fan of pop music, but I think they did make a decent choice by having N'SYNC do the National Anthem. At least they can carry a tune. I enjoyed the show for the most part, even if the choice of entertainment wasn't the best. I'm not sure WHY they chose to have KISS perform. Or why the guys from KISS are still able to get away with the same costumes they used to wear. The makeup maybe, but cover the chest already. Enough is enough. And the dog with the 17" tongue that has been in the news so much lately has taken all of Gene Simmons glory. Gloria Estafen was the show stealer, which I'll admit surprised me. I didn't realize that she still held so much appeal, but then again, I don't listen to that kind of music either. Harry Connick Jr. was good, as always, and so was the kid from Stomp. The next Winter Olympics will be held in Italy, a very nice presentation representing their culture. Then the athletes came down on the ice and started dancing to the music of Moby, they were all having a good time. Then came the headlining act... BonJovi. HUH? These kids don't even know who the hell BonJovi is. They all just sort of started wandering off, and who could blame them. Who would want to travel half way around the world, realize their dream, then have the biggest celebration of their young life headlined by an act from their parents generation? I was embarrassed for our country. Luckily Moby did come back out and the athletes were able to enjoy themselves again.

What was the Olympic committee thinking?

So in the "Whoa, is this strange or what file"...
Do we have a physic connection with our pets?
When you're in your bed, bundled up nice and warm, snoozing away and dream that you left your bird in front of an open window, then wake to find that the outside door has been left standing open in the room where your bird's cage is...
Do you take this as the bird's way of saying, "YO! WOMAN! Get in here and close this door!"?

2-24-02

It seems that every time a doctor starts me on a new drug, it starts getting mentioned in the media because of it's side effects. The other night David came home from Wal-mart with among other things, a magazine for me. I'm flipping through this magazine and the name Topomax jumps out at me. This is the new wonder drug that my neurologist just put me on 4 weeks ago, so I'm thinking "oh no, now what". It turns out that although it was originally approved as a seizure drug, it has been found to work great for migraine headaches. Good news for a change. Maybe I will even be able to start drinking milk again? (Milk is my #1 trigger.) Then the other night I'm watching the news and they show a promo mentioning the drug Topomax and new side effects that you should know about. Oh no! What new terrible damage is THIS going to be doing to my heart and/or liver?! Well... it turns out that a large number of people taking Topomax are also losing weight!!!

BONUS!!!

Three Strikes and Your Out. That's the law in Texas anyways, and my half brother damn well knows it. But does that keep him from getting caught with a pound of meth last night? Not according to today's paper. David told me last night that the cops were there when he was on his way home, so it doesn't really come as a huge surprise, but I had hoped that just maybe spending most of his 51 years in prison had taught him that he didn't want to go back. I guess not. I learned the first couple of times that my heart was broken to not get close to him, so it only hurts a little this time. I am worried about my dad though. He says he's fine, but I'm a parent too so I know better. My kids were never forbidden to know their uncle, but they were never given the oppurtunity to get to know him either. When he was due for parole the last time I wrote him a very long letter explaining the kind of hurt that I've felt because of his repeated visits to prison, and how I didn't want my sons to go through that. He respected my wishes and kept his distance, so I thank him for that. For those who don't know about our "three strikes law", it simply means that he will be going in for life this time.

2-20-02

Scott went back to the knee doctor today. Nothing showed up on the MRI, so that's good news. He said it's inflammation of the lining around the kneecap and put him on Vioxx. That's not such good news. Vioxx has been getting a lot of bad press lately, mainly because it can do some real damage to the body. So now we are stuck in the what do we do place again. We used to always bitch because people would suffer and die because drug approval took so long. Now they rush the drugs through much quicker but wind up pulling them off the market because they find out the hard way that they are dangerous. Just can't win for losing. Between his back, chest, and knees I have no doubt that he will eventually end up with his own neurologist too.

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my mom's death. Thanks to my cough I was unable to take flowers to the cemetery, that bummed me out pretty bad, but I know she'd understand. It was also David's older brother's birthday. So everyone got to wish Uncle Dan a Happy Birthday. Tomorrow is his mom's birthday.

We've been having some awesome weather the past two days. The temperature is just right for having the windows open. The birds are all out singing, the paper whites and daffodils are in bloom. It is the start of springtime in Texas.

2-17-02

So while I was talking birthdays I was being sexist. I left out Richard, who celebrates his birthday on January 19th. Sorry 'bout that. Richard is Josh's best friend and our 4th son. But he's also become a good friend to our whole family as well. Happy 20th!!!

Two groups that I belong to made me birthday pages, which I will post the URL's to here, as soon as I have the time to upload everything to my server, so they don't have to keep them on their servers.

My best buddy, Tee, took a fall at work for Valentine's Day, and as a result has 3 fractures to her foot. Heal fast and well Tee!

I'm on antibiotics again because of this stupid cough. Biaxin. I know that Biaxin works well with me but I always dread seeing that label. This stuff makes your tongue taste like antibiotics and there is nothing you can do to make it go away, you just have to wait it out. I grew up on gigantic penicillin pills that I had to learn to swallow very quickly lest they start to dissolve on the tongue. That is what this reminds me of. *shudders*

2-12-02

I'll be doing something new again. This little newsy update area has turned into more of a weblog, so I will be adding an archive to keep the page from getting so long.
The archive will be located at the bottom of the page from now on.

Happy Birthday To Us

I celebrated (?) my birthday on Feb. 5th. But what most people don't know is that I don't celebrate alone. Two of my friends since Junior High also share this time of the year. Darcey, who lives in Maryland, has her birthday on January 21st. And Rose, who has been my best friend for years on end was born on Feb. 6th. Being so young, I've always had to offer her my guidance. LOL Rose and I haven't seen each other since 1986, when we met up around Thanksgiving time in Ohio. (We both married men from Ohio.) We are in touch almost daily by email of course. Darcey on the other hand, I haven't seen her since 1978, although we are also in touch constantly by email. She is planning a stop in Texas in a few months. I'm afraid she'll take one look at me and wonder who the fat lady is that swallowed Rhonda. But considering we were teens the last time we saw each other and are now in our 40's, we will have to get used to seeing the new version of each other anyway. With luck I may shed a few pounds before she gets here, who knows? Not that she'd care, but I remember a time when my brother had gained quite a bit of weight and I never could see him in that face. Oh well, I suppose she could always close her eyes... I sound the same. Smart assed as ever. :)

And then there is Lucy.
Lucy is someone that I met online. In fact, she is the first person that I met online, and we became fast friends. She celebrates her birthday on January 26th. When I first went online about 3 years ago (I think) one of the first things I did was search for photos of my favorite places back home in California. (I haven't been able to go back since moving to Texas in 1978.) One of the places I ran a search on was a beach called San Gregorio, and there were Lucy's photos. We started emailing and have been friends since. We haven't met face to face but have spoken briefly on the phone when I was passing through Albuquerque, N.M., where her and her husband Wayne live.

Happy Birthday To Us!!!

Scott and I did spend the morning of my birthday in the doctor's office. That seems to be home away from home lately. His knee has given him trouble for the past 6 years or so because of a baseball injury. He has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. Please pray that it's nothing that requires surgery.