Run out for a cup of coffee...

I think its safe to say there are fewer of us now.

Just off the top of my head, Oz and JD are gone. BFilm posted recently but has been mostly away. Jacqui hasn't been here for a while nor Neil, Mae, Shell and GG.

I suppose that I should have expected changes. I get nostalgic for the "good old days"... which may or may not be an indication of creeping senility.

At least I still recognize SOME of the faces. I confess, it is strange to not see Oz stirring the pot and never thought the day would come when Neil wasn't around.

For now at least :p I still have my sanity, but only by the thinnest of nano-fibers.

Been WAY to hectic. This year has [b]S U C K E D[/b]. With next year around the corner it can only get better right......... {crickets chirping}

Damn, girl, but it's good to have you back!

They've tweaked the Forums format a couple of times in the last month or so. It's better, but I still prefer the pre-facelift version. Many haven't been seen since late winter, having left in disgust. The spammers are thicker than flies on you-know-what. Sonja's community updates have been scaled back to a simple posting. The place hasn't gone to heck in a handbasket, but it's come close.

And yes, always listen to Devo when contemplating your doctors... you really have to whip it into shape, all by yourself.
Ask, demand, research, repeat.

Some TR news; first of all some of the bugs have been fixed! And there's this neat staffer called golampo who seems to have a 6th sense about when we're discussing TR bugs, then checks in to ask questions, and then things tend to get fixed.
That's really cool... we haven't had any talk of mutiny for a long time, on account of that :)
Right now we're in the middle of the biggest spamstorm I've ever seen.
Last TR community scoreboard shows over 200 flagged pieces of spam... and that was before things got *really* out of hand.

Don't let it get to you, Tammi says they're getting artillery support.

And also, be prepared that right now posts have a tendency to disappear, so far there's been no explanation, but I guess it could be a side effect of all the spam or of the countermeasures. Just remember to copy-paste really long posts to notepad or whatever, saves a lot of frustration.

Look out for zombies, and stay away from the "Bring your gun to work day" thread. Good to have you back!

Hope things are well with you, and that we'll be seeing more of you. *hugs*

I've got a whole lotta 'not keen on docs' going, too. Hugely busy in life at the moment. Between personal goings on and the latest TR upgrade, I'm just kinda poppin' in and out on my breaks.

Darryl and I are around sporadically. The spammers seem to have overrun the place the last couple weeks though. But we hang in there as best we can; there's too many good folks like yourself that we would miss way too much :) ((hugs))

Hope you are getting (and feeling) better. You were missed, both in the forums and in Louisville.

you have been missed, Large HUGS

We missed you around these parts. As you can see, TR had a face lift. Initially, it was a rocky start and a lot of things didn't work. Some people just got disgusted and haven't been back.

It took TR several months to work through the bugs and design problems. There was a whole lot of complaining here for a few months. Now it seems like its going back to normal (for this place).

Yeah, navigating hospitals, doctors and tests is just a nightmare. I hope you're in a better place now.

The new TR takes a little patience to get used to. There are some quirky features, like "take offline". If you go down so many levels, you have the option to take your post offline. That means it dumps your post in the Water Cooler as a new discussion and no one knows what the heck you're talking about. I'll never understand why that makes sense to the PTBs.

If you want to find things, your best bet is Google. The TR search function is more broken than ever.

Its good to hear from you! {{{HUGS}}}

AV

Welcome back Tigs.

I think that all of the main things have been covered above but this may be of some help to you in getting your Quacks to better communicate.

Use an Electric Cattle Prod on them and after you hit them a few times with it they will do 2 things. The first is to stay out of reach and they will make sure that you have their complete undivided attention and will be the most attentive that you have ever seen.

The second thing is that they will talk to everyone about you and what you did to them, so there will be masses of communication between the different Quacks. You'll probably even find that Quacks you have never heard of previously know all about you when you first meet them or even bump into them in the Horsepitals. :D

[b]Important[/b] Remember to use a Electric Cattle Prod not a Tazer as the second option has quite a few undesirable side effects. ;)

The only other thing here besides most of my posts ending in the Bit Bucket and I'm feeling like a Lurker rather than a member is that a lot of posts are disappearing. Some reappear some don't so you may very well find that what you posted several hours previously has disappeared only to turn up several days latter or not depending on how you where holding your tongue at the time you posted it. ;)

Cheers Col

I missed Geordie hoogs. It just wasn't the same. :_|

Is often the frontline of sanity in my world. She kept everything straight for us while hubby was doing chemo roulette and she manages me beautifully. Thank God!

My ire is only directed at docs with a God complex and a decided lack of psychiatric intervention. The rest are a welcome breath of air!

Good to see you! Hopefully, you can be escaping the clutches of the doctor-types. At least a bit.

I read parts of your post out loud, and my SO was nodding and exclaiming, "Ain't that the truth!"

Anyhow, good to see you back from the coffee shop. :) :x

Well, it would appear that all is "normal" for this joint.

I think that the last time I logged in was around the launch of the facelift. Things got funky after that.

It all started when I finally realized that I was going to need assistance to wash my hair. I literally couldn't raise my arms over my head. An MRI revealed that I had a disc that was compressing my spinal cord. While ignoring it was certainly an idea that I considered, I had to re-think as the resulting damage was heading into a zone of permanence that would have been unhelpful.

Surgery was the solution of choice but left me looking like I had lunch with Jack the Ripper. Anyone who also has me in their Facebook friends knows all this...

That was late April. Took awhile before I could be at the computer for any length of time. That was around the time I bought Naturally Speaking... but rarely use it because somewhere in my head I think of it as cheating.

In May, I finally took hubby's remains up to the cemetery in northern MN. It takes them awhile to defrost up there. Took me awhile to be [b]able[/b] to do it.

(For those who wonder, hubby was cremated.)

It is VERY strange to see your own name engraved on your tombstone...

(Hubby and I will share a niche. The only information not carved when his was is the year of my death. Like I said... strange)

I've been making a habit of escaping up there every month for a couple of days at a time. Last month I even took a computer with me.

The process of learning how to live again has been...

More recently, I've discovered that the whole spine thing was the least of my problems. Somewhere along the line I have picked up a fun lung disease that they tell me is treatable, not curable. According to the pulmonologist, it won't kill me... whatever is causing my heart rate and blood pressure to skyrocket out of control will get there first. Just in case I wasn't having enough fun, I've developed peripheral edema in mostly my left foot and something is funky with my gallbladder. And heart damage from the whole uncontrolled BP thing.

In a nutshell, that is what I did on my Summer Vacation. I went from being a happy pharma-phobe to taking a colorful array of things that must be swallowed or inhaled. I'm discovering drug sensitivities that I never knew I had.

Did you know that around 60% of widowed spouses die within five years of their partner? True story. Plan for today- beat those odds.

I am on target to reach my 49th birthday.

*sigh*

I very much missed the Soni hugs at the Gathering. There was just no way I could make it.

Coming to terms with all the joy in my life has been challenging. I warn you all that I really don't have the hang of it completely and am sometimes a real PITA. Disappearing posts may just be my friend.

(((((hugs)))))

well, we're a very encompassing bunch of asses :D :D :D

I'm so sorry to hear about all your troubles. Hang in there, ok?

You could try some breathing exercises. You know, just sit and look at a blank wall, and on every breath in you make yourself aware of what you're thinking or feeling, and on every breath out you accept that thought/feeling and let it go. It's very relaxing, and it helps with processing stuff, because you make the conscious mind get the hell out of the way - lets the subconscious work in peace.

We've missed you!

Hopefully, you'll get your Oxygen approved so that you'll feel better.

Edited to add: My dad had a major health scare and it took me, who has worked in a hospital over 20 years to navigate all the ins and outs, and it was still a pain. They should assign guides to help you through all of this!

I put some weight back on in the past few months.

You can't go out walking at 10pm when it's still 99 outside. :(

Not unless you're a lava monster. Then you'll need a coat. :^0

Don't try to make sense of it. It makes none. :^0

Hospitals don't all. Univ of FL Shands Teaching Hospital is the best one i've ever been in. Well, at least their neurosurgery people and the room staff were awesome. Everyone actually seemed to care there, and the food was actually GOOD. Yes, it was good. I told them they had to have a southern cook. lol

As for bad doctors, they are everywhere. I know. I've dealt with a dozen just concerning my mother. She has a good cardiologist who's thorough. That's it. Her GP is into the practice mill and pushing off stuff that covers symptoms or gives slight relief. Doesn't look for remedies. And, her endocrinologist and what not are all pretty much quacks.

And yeah, it's shocking how little doctors interact. And, they don't look at charts. Mom had a cardiologist, but the hospital she was in gave her their cardio doctor. At least, until dad and I called her cardio who had staff rights...and he called and had a heart-to-heart with the hospital administrator. lol

And yes, insurance is horrible. I still am in shock that an ambulance company gets 98% of their cost just to put me in the back of an uncomfortable ambulance for a bouncy ride that halfway killed me and had no pain meds that would work on me. However, the neurosurgeon only got about 20% of his fee to do the surgery that kept me from being paralyzed.

Nonetheless...Forget the idiots in medical for now. :) Welcome back. :)

And you can get one of them there placards that allow you to park in those handicapped spots that are close to the entrance :D
(((((HUGS))))) to you Tig.

The d*mn thing had better have wheels and good ones. I'm still not allowed to lift or carry things. Spine isn't healed.

Besides, I [b]am[/b] somebody special. So there!

Do we have a link handy...... I'm like a yo-yo when it comes to weight loss, I constantly go up and down, up and down. My ultimate goal is to drop like 150 lbs :O Sadly I like food too much :_|