BikerBabe

Is the glass half empty .. half full .. or is it just twice the size you really need?

Moony, hope to catch up with you in chat one of these nights. I wanna hear ALL about Ted's visit. I am just so totally thrilled for you two, words can't express how much. :) Love ya lady!

My my! I go away for a few days and when I get online today I see this thread. I was hoping to find something that would cheer me up, but this goes above and beyond!!! I am more than thrilled for the two of you. This is way cool and I wanna hear more about it all in chat Moon Lady. :) Love you both!

Hey Mark. I'm just not the type of person who enjoys talking Bible much after TWI I guess. The post you did about your wife tells me what you are dealing with on a daily basis and I'm so sorry to hear of the pain she has. Please tell her that anytime she needs to vent or talk about the pain, I'm here. I've found it really helps someone if they can talk to someone else who has been there. That's how the forum I run for pain patients and addicts got started. We all can relate to each other and support each other thru the rough days. Thank you so much for telling me her story. IBD of any type is nasty. I so hate to hear of anyone who has it and know the pain involved. Adhesions are just plain bad. So far I've not been thru that, but know many that have. You said she didn't have Crohn's, but as far as I remember, you don't get adhesions from Ulcercative Colitis, the other IBD. They didn't find my Crohn's until they did a barium gulp, iodine push CT Scan. Has her doctor had her take one of those yet? Laps, colonoscopes and all those type tests never found mine .. only that CT scan. Just a FYI in case she flares up in the future. I can so relate to your wife when she does something and then pays for it later. I'm the same way. I go out of the house for a day of fun and I can expect to be down for the next week or two after. It can be very fustrating at times. I just do my best to find the one thing that makes me laugh every day and that seems to help. The gang who hang out in GS chat help me more than they will ever know. That's cool the patch helps her. I tried it in the past, but with my EBA, bubbling skin disease related to the Crohn's, I can't tolerate it. I know those that it works for say it is a life saver. I did a detox last year and went 8 months 'sober' to get my tolerance down, then the Crohn's flared again. That was enough time sober, for me to be able to now take only 1 1/2 Lortab 10's every 4 hours, instead of the 400 mg of Morphine or Oxycontin I was on. My doc wants me back on Oxycontin to avoid the Tylenol destroying my liver, but without insurance, there is no way I can afford 300 bucks a month for 60 pills. Your wife has a good doc it sounds like if she's on the patch and using Percs for breakthru pain. Good combo for chronic pain. I have a wheelchair I manged to get some years back when I did have insurance. I use it when my flares get to the point I am not comfortable walking very far on my own when outside the house. I think the hardest part of them is the mental. It feels like you are 'giving in' instead of 'fighting'. I'm pretty stubborn and will fight it till I can't any more and am walking doubled over and dragging one leg, then I'll get back in the damned thing. I have yet to learn to do wheelies in it though. *sigh* I even have wheelie bars on it, but am not strong enough in my arms to get it up in the air. I will get there one day. Hah! Do NOT apologize for starting this thread! What helps one person may not help someone else. We have all grown since our TWI days and now we are each reached in different ways on various subjects. It's good to discuss them all so everyone gets the help they need. You are a good man Mark. The caretakers of pain patients go thru their own hell, sometimes I think more than the person in pain. I remember being in an elevator once with my hubby going to a doc visit and the 'lift' of it made my gut pain kick in. I doubled and dropped like a rock. He knows to avoid the instinct to make a grab for me, for that could end up hurting me more if he'd grab an arm instead of my body as I dropped and pulled it out of the socket or something. I know how to fall without hurting myself and then sit there on the floor till the pain passes and can go on. There was a lady in there with us who got sooooo upset when he didn't try to help me (in her eyes) and she cursed him for being uncaring. She didn't get it that he was helping me by letting me go down in the way that helps me most, so I could get past the pain and go on with my day. Hope this finds your wife having a painfree day as possible! Treasure the good ones, deal with the painful.

Wow Lindy. I was worried at first when you didn't show up for my typo class today ... then I saw this post and realized you were off doing extracurricular work. Consider yourself getting an A today. You done great! LOL.

Hey Clay. Like you, I just read thru this tread and although I mean no disrespect to anyone who's posted, I am seeing the same thing. Plenty of Bible verses being put out, but where is the knowledge gained from someone who's been there and can speak from experience. Verses are nice, yes, but I wanna hear what God has done to help people thru their pain along with them. ChattyKathy's post is the only one that spoke to me. She spoke from experience and personal knowledge. I will remember her words always and could feel her family's and her own love and trust for/in God. Her sister's last days weren't spend in a drug induced haze, they were spent without pain, so her last memories on this earth were painless ones that she spent with her loved ones. THAT shows me the love God has for us and what he can do for us physically. He gave her sister the peace that comes before death and gave her the time she needed with her family to say goodbye. I know when my pain gets so bad I scream out loud, long and hard, I will call out to God and He never fails to comfort me until it passes. It doesn't matter if it passes on it's own or from a pain pill I take, He is there with me and I know I will make it. I was born with Crohn's Disease. It passed down thru my bloodline. I can't say it's due to anything I did or didn't do or God allowed it to bring me closer to Him. It's just a part of who I am and I deal with it as best I can. Could I do as well as I do without God? NEVER! He is what gives me the strength to get thru each day and I swear some days when I get really bad, I can almost feel Him holding me in His arms to comfort me. I can hear His sweet voice telling me to hang in there when I feel like giving up. On the rare Sundays when I feel up to going to church, I have no fear of anyone asking me where I've been. Instead I get hugged by everyone and told how happy they are to see I am feeling up to going out of the house. Our retired Pastor and his wife are usually the first to come to me .. they not only understand my condition, the Pastor and their sons all have Crohn's too. I often wonder what the odds are of someone joining a church with a ready made support system for people with Crohn's Disease. LOL. I have an idea they would be very high. Guess I have quite a few experiences I could post about regarding my pain and reaching out to God for strength and support. I also realize this is the doctrinial area and am not sure it's the right place. I was just hoping to find some more personal stories here, like Howard posted on the Miracles thread. Reading his words helped me more than he will ever know. I would love to hear from any other pain patients that post here, if they feel like sharing their stories.

Wow Jerry! God is good. Thanks for sharing your story with everyone, I enjoyed reading what God did for you. :) Please, don't feel like a lightweight. Pain is subjective, what might hurt me wouldn't necessily hurt someone else. Each of our bodies are unique and react differently to things. I can relate to the cold though. Anything under 70 degrees and I will flare, so when I say I'm allergic to snow, there's always a bit of 'truth' in that joke. A Crohnie friend of mine can't handle heat and flares bad. He and I have fun teasing each other about what makes us flare. One thing is for sure. I'll take my gut pain any day over your asthma. Not being able to breathe would scare the crap out of me (no pun intended).

Does your friend know how to type and have a computer and net connection? If so, she can help others using the internet as her way out to the rest of the world. I know, I've been doing it for years. On the very rare occasions I get out of the house (once every month or two), I have the hassle of having the hubby or someone else carry my wheelchair down the flight of stairs first. Pain in the butt for all involved. Not to mention how much I hate that thing. I've learned though, thru the years, that dropping like a rock to the floor when the pain hits, will upset and confuse others around me, so using the chair prevents that from happening. I have to be content to just walk at my own slow pace thru the house where no one can see me if I fall and have to sit and rest awhile where ever I've dropped. I have Crohn's Disease, IBS, Fibro and a bubbling skin disease associated with Crohn's (4 out of every million Crohnies get it). There is no cure for any of this, so all the believing in the world won't help me. I've come a long way from what TWI told us. I do believe in prayer and know how many times God has helped me get thru the bad days when the pain is so bad I passed out from it. I went from birth till I was 41 years old before I found a doctor willing to listen to me and believe I had real pain. At that point I flared so badly I dropped to 72 pounds and didn't have the strength left to stand up on my own and walk. After 2 doctors called me a drug seeker, I finally met the one who listened and ran the tests that found the Crohn's. Surgery followed. When I saw the picture the surgeon took of the section of small bowel he cut out of me, I immediately thanked God for keeping me alive all those years and next for putting me with the right doctor. The doc said I was about 2 weeks shy of dying and I believe that is true. I could feel it. 7 years later and I'm flaring bad again. This time I have no insurance, so Crohn's meds and surgery aren't an option. A friend pays for my pain meds so I can have some quality of life and get thru each day. The internet is what keeps me mentally sane and gets me out to the world. I would go nuts without it. I'd have no one to talk to and you can only stare at the walls for so long before you go totally insane. I bet your friend knows about a lot of different things and online she will find people who have the same interests to talk with and help. On the off hours when no one is around (if she keeps strange hours like I do), a computer gives her access to games that will entertain as she passes time. Talking to other pain patients is always a huge help for someone with intractable pain ... they won't hear what you say as 'griping or whining', but as venting, so you can move on to more enjoyable things. The past two days I've woken up to pain attacks. I sat here curled up in my chair, with my arm up on my legs, which I pull up against my gut, screaming into my arm till the pain starts to fade away in about an hour after the pain meds take effect. (The arm helps muffle my screams so a neighbor won't think something bad is happening inside here and would call the cops. LOL.) As I wait for the meds to hit I will check my email and any IM's left on Yahoo for me. I normally have a few there and they will bring a smile, even as tears run down my face. I would be totally lost without the net.

Paw and Bob .. know that we all love you both and thank you for all the work you did to get this new forum up and running. BIG *hugs* you two!

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I paid 100 bucks when I took the class in '74. My ex told me he paid 200 when he took it in 1980. Over the 20 years I was in TWI, I saw the price vary from 40 to 200 bucks for PFAL. The Advanced was 500 I think when I was pressured to take it, which I didn't. If I couldn't hardly afford to feed my kids, I wasn't about to pay all that money for a class.

Thomas made it to the wedding! I'm so happy he was able to make it and what a wonderful surprise for both of you to have him there. Now go have a great life together! :)-->

Same here Bob. Never got the test emails we did last night when we were in chat together. If you confirmed reverse DNS is turned on, then I'm at a loss as to why it's not getting to me.

Yes, I sure do. I've had many others happen thru my life other than this one. This is by far the 'biggest' one though.

My birth mom had surgery for mouth/throat cancer last year, followed up by radiation. A few months later tests revealed the cancer was back and had spread into her voicebox and abdomen area. She was scheduled for yet another surgery. I got everyone I know praying for her, but the outlook was grim. I talked to my sister who lives near her and it seems when they got Mom onto the table and opened her up, all they found was infection ... no cancer there. They cleaned out the infection and today she's healing nicely. I feel this is a miracle.

Dremels are wonderful for small work. I use them to do lapidary. I'd suggest a corded one for what you are doing, I found out the hard way why a rechargable battery one isn't good. They only let you work for a half hour, then you have to wait 2-3 hours for the battery to recharge again. You can pick up a good multispeed corded Dremel with attachments for around 75 bucks either locally at a hardware store or online from Amazon or Ebay.

Sounds like Adult ADD. You may want to talk to your doctor and see if he will consider letting you try Adderall. Have considered it myself, I get so sick of my mind multitasking me to death some days. If I'm not doing 3 or more things at once I get utterly bored to death. I will drift off like you are talking about too when reading or watching TV. Have you tried listening to the radio, watching TV and reading a book at the same time? Can you keep up with it all? Most with ADD can. Been doing that all my life and thought it was normal till I got older and realized it's not.

Only if you have a call in show Cynic. Gotta give the rest of us a chance to call and harass ..err.. I mean .. talk to you. :P

It's been hell trying to get ID again. I have a divorce decree and a true birth certificate (not a copy), but they won't give me a state photo ID unless I can come up with one more form. They suggested a social security card, but I need photo ID to get that replaced. They suggested paperwork from the state when I was on their medical help before I was married years ago, but they require ID before allowing access to the files. They now say they will take a copy of my marriage license, but in order to get that I need to get downtown and we don't have a car. I'm back in my wheelchair again for awhile since this Crohn's Disease flare is nailing me pretty hard, so getting around isn't easy and of course they won't mail you a copy. When a friend is in town in a month, I am hoping he will have time to run me around town so I can get the marriage license copy and then try for the 3rd time to get a photo ID. While I understand identity theft is bad and agree precautions need to be taken, they have let this get way out of hand. I'm really getting tired of being a 'non person'.

Back in March I got the news from my birth sister (I'm a reunited adoptee) that our Mom had cancer and it had metastasized. I had only been with Mom in person 2 times in my life and wanted to fly back home to see her and say proper goodbyes. That turned into a big mess, due to the fact you can't fly without ID and all of mine was lost in the last move we did. The state refused to give me even a photo ID unless I could come up with 3 forms of 'other ID' they have on their little list. I only had 2. I just got done talking to my sis in IM and she told me that the last surgery Mom had revealed she didn't have cancer as the tests showed, but a bad infection. The surgeon got it all and she is now recovering nicely. She is going to live! When I realized I probably wasn't going to get back there to see Mom, I did the only thing I knew to do. I prayed, as my sis was also doing. God honored our prayers and we aren't going to lose our Mom to cancer. :)--> My tears of sadness are now tears of joy. I'm very humbled and in awe of His power. Thank you God for loving us and taking care of Mom in the way only you can.

Pardon Us For This Intrusion But We Are In A State Of Delusion We Often Feel our Life's An Allusion Until We See It's Just Our Confusion Been Bruised Now We Have A Contrusion Though We Won't Let That Become An Illusion To Those Who Think We've Committed A Protrusion ... next? BB

Awww comeon gang, it was only 101 here in Phoenix today! When it gets this cold, real zonies are pulling out their winter clothes to try to keep warm. Hehehehe.

Bah! It was only 107 here in Phoenix today. Cool enough to dig out our sweaters! BB

Hehe .. seen and answered. :)--> BB

EBA is related to the Crohn's and 4 out of every million Crohnies get afflicted with it. I'm one of the 'lucky' ones. LOL. It is also an auto-immune disease. I've had Crohn's since I was born, but wasn't Dx'd till 7 years ago. I remember being in 3rd grade when I saw the first little water blister on my hand, it got gradually worse every year. Today when I have a flare, my hands will get covered in the little water blisters and they itch, hurt, seep and get infected, leaving my hands almost totally raw skin. Here is a picture I took of them a few years ago during a flare. Be warned, it's nasty looking. http://www.xworld.org/pix/bbhands.gif I don't want to link the picture directly into this post, I know not everyone would be comfortable seeing it. Like your friend, I'm an expert at losing weight, although not by choice. At my low 7 yrs ago I was 72 pounds, which is what got the doctors to finally listen to me and decide that maybe I did have gut pain and there really was something wrong in there .. I wasn't just a drug seeker or a liar. They cut out a little over a foot of my small bowel and now all these years later, I'm finally back up to 90 pounds. Normal for me is 95 to 100, so I'm fairly happy where I am. Of course I'm flaring again now, so I'm again having to struggle to keep the weight on and the pain/weakness has me back into my wheelchair when I have to go out of the house on very rare occasions. The prednisone I take for the Crohn's when I have a really bad day (when the bleeding/mucus shows), also works to stop the skin disease. As much as I hate the side effects of the drug, I will take it for a few days once a month or so to get the blisters somewhat under control. I've never been without some raw spots on my hands though since I first noticed them so many years ago in 3rd grade, 40 years ago. I have no insurance, so I can't afford the Crohn's drugs I need to be on. A friend pays so I can see my doc a few times a year and covers the cost of my painkillers which allow me to at least stay out of pain every day. For those that understand chronic pain, mine doesn't fit the little charts, I pass out from mine. LOL, I've become a fixture on my bathroom floor more times than I can count over the years. Such fun .. NOT! Remacade costs about 4000 bucks a treatment, so you must have insurance to get it. Out of the question for me. Also a Crohnie friend who has had them only did good for the first few. This flare he's having now hasn't been touched by them and he's probably going to have to have surgery soon. I'm glad to hear they are helping your friend. As you said so well, everyone with immuno disorders are affected differently. That is why it's so hard to treat them. BB