Christmas News.... some good, some not so good... but it's life. ;o)

Matthew has gone to his girlfriend's parent's home today, and will be
going to a party at friends' on Boxing Day... but I get him all day
Christmas Day. )

The tree is up... still has no lights on it... Matthew will be doing
that when he gets home, while I'm preparing the turkey and vegetables
for Christmas dinner... then we will decorate the tree together. There
are wrapped gifts from me to Matthew sitting on the table waiting to go
under the tree when it is finished, as well as a box of things from a
few friends which will also go under the tree. I believe Matthew has
his gifts for me down in the rec-room... likely not wrapped yet, but
that's okay, I have no intention of going down those stairs anyway.

I have done absolutely NO baking at all... no goodie making at all
(Christmas Candycane Bark, or Christmas Fluff Pies)... I have no energy
or ambition to do any of it. I really don't have the energy or
ambition to do the Christmas dinner either, but that HAS to be done, so
I will do it.

Well, Matthew is supposed to be home in about an hour or so... so I
want to finish up a couple of things (email checking, etc) before
getting off the computer, so I will leave now and likely be back on
Boxing Day since I'll be alone.

Oh by the way... my son called me on the phone last night (while he was
out shopping) and was p*ssed off with me about some dorky thing that I
had misunderstood him to say. He got me so ticked that I hung up on
him.... he tried calling back right away, but I didn't feel like
listening to anymore of it, so I didn't answer. A couple of hours
later he called to let me know
he was on the way home, and he apologized for his rant earlier.

I informed him this morning that since the doctor told me my blood
pressure was high on Tuesday (oh yeah, I don't remember if I told
everyone that... more fun with my health) and if it was still high
after Christmas when he sees me, he will start me on medication to try
to bring it down, I started doing searches on the Internet about it
all. I already new most of what I read, but just wanted to verify that
I wasn't in panic mode and thinking irrationally. So, I enlightened my
darling son that high blood pressure is known as "the silent killer"
because often people don't even realize that they have it... and that
it is also "the number one cause of strokes" (both my parents had
strokes... my Mom's was due to high blood pressure and overwork, my
Dad's was due to stress about my Mom's stroke and he very likely had
high blood pressure too), and that "it can also lead to congestive
heart failure" (which my Dad had when he passed away a little over a
year after his stroke).... and I told him "So, I would really like to
NOT allow myself to become overly stressed, and would like to NOT have
arguements or yelling matches like you pulled on me on the phone last
night. I would like to try to remain as calm as I possibly can to see
if I can get my blood pressure back down, as I would really rather NOT
have a stroke as we've both seen what it can do to people, and I would
really rather not end up with congestive heart failure either."

You should have seen his face... he was sitting there in kind of
stunned silence. I also informed him that if he thought I was
over-reacting, or dramatizing... that I copied and pasted a lot of the
information from the pages I visited, and included the URLs so that he
can look them up himself to see that I'm not BS-ing. He just said
"Yeah, not getting stressed would be a good idea. I don't want to see
those things happen either." Guess he loves me afterall... even if he
does get lippy at times! LOL

Merry Christmas - Happy Hanukkah - Season's Greetings to all my
friends. May this season be happy and peaceful for all of us!

*hugs*
Gemini

Gemini wrote:
Matthew has gone to his girlfriend's parent's home today, and will be
going to a party at friends' on Boxing Day... but I get him all day
Christmas Day. )

snip

Sorry to hear about your blood pressure, Gem, but it is controllable for the
most part. Avoiding stress is the probably the hardest part of it. You'd be
amazed what you can do with a proper diet. I speak from experience.

Have a great day tomorrow, and enjoy your turkey.

Higs,
Katherine

Hi Gem,
It's great that you were able to set boundaries with your son - they can get
lippy, can't they? And, sometimes they don't understand that moms know what
they're talking about, and aren't "imagining" how they're feeling... I deal
with bipolar disorder and have to take some pretty heavy meds that can have
nasty side effects (I remember the first time my doc and I talked about
taking a new one and she told me that "...one of the side effects is death."
(I can laugh at that, you know). When I have trouble with meds/side effects
(fortunately, not death - and it is a RARE possibility BTW) my son kept on
saying that he wished they could take me off all the meds, like it all was
something that I could control without medication...

I admire your ability to talk to him about how you felt, and to stand your
ground with him. Sons can be pretty in your face - mine has done it, and
while it's happening, it's hard for me to deal with (he hasn't done it in a
long, long time). He's big and loud, and I don't always deal well with anger
from other people... I'm sure that you will do just fine with the HBP and
dealing with it. You are absolutely right to be concerned with your family
history, to educate yourself, and to start treating it early. I just hope
your son finally shows you the support you deserve. (as my son - Nick - has
said, "Mom, it's nothing, you carried me for nine months.")

In support,
Susan K



"Gemini" wrote in message
oups.com...
Matthew has gone to his girlfriend's parent's home today, and will be
going to a party at friends' on Boxing Day... but I get him all day
Christmas Day. )

The tree is up... still has no lights on it... Matthew will be doing
that when he gets home, while I'm preparing the turkey and vegetables
for Christmas dinner... then we will decorate the tree together. There
are wrapped gifts from me to Matthew sitting on the table waiting to go
under the tree when it is finished, as well as a box of things from a
few friends which will also go under the tree. I believe Matthew has
his gifts for me down in the rec-room... likely not wrapped yet, but
that's okay, I have no intention of going down those stairs anyway.

I have done absolutely NO baking at all... no goodie making at all
(Christmas Candycane Bark, or Christmas Fluff Pies)... I have no energy
or ambition to do any of it. I really don't have the energy or
ambition to do the Christmas dinner either, but that HAS to be done, so
I will do it.

Well, Matthew is supposed to be home in about an hour or so... so I
want to finish up a couple of things (email checking, etc) before
getting off the computer, so I will leave now and likely be back on
Boxing Day since I'll be alone.

Oh by the way... my son called me on the phone last night (while he was
out shopping) and was p*ssed off with me about some dorky thing that I
had misunderstood him to say. He got me so ticked that I hung up on
him.... he tried calling back right away, but I didn't feel like
listening to anymore of it, so I didn't answer. A couple of hours
later he called to let me know
he was on the way home, and he apologized for his rant earlier.

I informed him this morning that since the doctor told me my blood
pressure was high on Tuesday (oh yeah, I don't remember if I told
everyone that... more fun with my health) and if it was still high
after Christmas when he sees me, he will start me on medication to try
to bring it down, I started doing searches on the Internet about it
all. I already new most of what I read, but just wanted to verify that
I wasn't in panic mode and thinking irrationally. So, I enlightened my
darling son that high blood pressure is known as "the silent killer"
because often people don't even realize that they have it... and that
it is also "the number one cause of strokes" (both my parents had
strokes... my Mom's was due to high blood pressure and overwork, my
Dad's was due to stress about my Mom's stroke and he very likely had
high blood pressure too), and that "it can also lead to congestive
heart failure" (which my Dad had when he passed away a little over a
year after his stroke).... and I told him "So, I would really like to
NOT allow myself to become overly stressed, and would like to NOT have
arguements or yelling matches like you pulled on me on the phone last
night. I would like to try to remain as calm as I possibly can to see
if I can get my blood pressure back down, as I would really rather NOT
have a stroke as we've both seen what it can do to people, and I would
really rather not end up with congestive heart failure either."

You should have seen his face... he was sitting there in kind of
stunned silence. I also informed him that if he thought I was
over-reacting, or dramatizing... that I copied and pasted a lot of the
information from the pages I visited, and included the URLs so that he
can look them up himself to see that I'm not BS-ing. He just said
"Yeah, not getting stressed would be a good idea. I don't want to see
those things happen either." Guess he loves me afterall... even if he
does get lippy at times! LOL

Merry Christmas - Happy Hanukkah - Season's Greetings to all my
friends. May this season be happy and peaceful for all of us!

*hugs*
Gemini



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Hi Susan,

Thank you for your support. ) Yes, Matthew has started to realize that
I really can't do as much as I used to be able to do (mostly because of my
Fibromyalgia, and my Degenerative Disc Decease which has my back doing some
really horrible things this past week... due to my own stubbornesss again).
In fact as he was about to go to the rec-room on Tuesday night, he glanced
back and saw me leaning against the doorframe to bend down slowly to scoop
the dog food out of the bag... and he came back and took the scoop from me
to do it. I assumed he was being impatient because I wasn't doing it fast
enough for his liking so that he could put their dishes down and go to the
rec-room to play his PS2 games... but he said "No... I could see that you
were having a hard time, and you mentioned a couple of days ago about your
back bothering you, so I thought I'd help since you're too stubborn to just
ask for help." Rather than get into why I don't bother asking for help
when he's talking to... about to talk to... or chatting on line with his
girlfriend (because I get the rolled eyes and the sigh... like I am
interferring with his love life and why couldn't I ask *before* he gets on
with her. I would, but WHEN *isn't* he on with her is the question?), I
just thanked him for his help. He smiled and said "No problem!"

I'm sorry to hear about your bi-polar... I know a couple of people who have
that, it sure isn't a fun thing to deal with. Good luck with your
medication! *hugs*

Gem

"Soozergirl" wrote in message
ink.net...
Hi Gem,
It's great that you were able to set boundaries with your son - they can
get
lippy, can't they? And, sometimes they don't understand that moms know
what
they're talking about, and aren't "imagining" how they're feeling... I
deal
with bipolar disorder and have to take some pretty heavy meds that can
have
nasty side effects (I remember the first time my doc and I talked about
taking a new one and she told me that "...one of the side effects is
death."
(I can laugh at that, you know). When I have trouble with meds/side
effects
(fortunately, not death - and it is a RARE possibility BTW) my son kept on
saying that he wished they could take me off all the meds, like it all was
something that I could control without medication...

I admire your ability to talk to him about how you felt, and to stand your
ground with him. Sons can be pretty in your face - mine has done it, and
while it's happening, it's hard for me to deal with (he hasn't done it in
a
long, long time). He's big and loud, and I don't always deal well with
anger
from other people... I'm sure that you will do just fine with the HBP and
dealing with it. You are absolutely right to be concerned with your family
history, to educate yourself, and to start treating it early. I just hope
your son finally shows you the support you deserve. (as my son - Nick -
has
said, "Mom, it's nothing, you carried me for nine months.")

In support,
Susan K



"Gemini" wrote in message
oups.com...
Matthew has gone to his girlfriend's parent's home today, and will be
going to a party at friends' on Boxing Day... but I get him all day
Christmas Day. )

The tree is up... still has no lights on it... Matthew will be doing
that when he gets home, while I'm preparing the turkey and vegetables
for Christmas dinner... then we will decorate the tree together. There
are wrapped gifts from me to Matthew sitting on the table waiting to go
under the tree when it is finished, as well as a box of things from a
few friends which will also go under the tree. I believe Matthew has
his gifts for me down in the rec-room... likely not wrapped yet, but
that's okay, I have no intention of going down those stairs anyway.

I have done absolutely NO baking at all... no goodie making at all
(Christmas Candycane Bark, or Christmas Fluff Pies)... I have no energy
or ambition to do any of it. I really don't have the energy or
ambition to do the Christmas dinner either, but that HAS to be done, so
I will do it.

Well, Matthew is supposed to be home in about an hour or so... so I
want to finish up a couple of things (email checking, etc) before
getting off the computer, so I will leave now and likely be back on
Boxing Day since I'll be alone.

Oh by the way... my son called me on the phone last night (while he was
out shopping) and was p*ssed off with me about some dorky thing that I
had misunderstood him to say. He got me so ticked that I hung up on
him.... he tried calling back right away, but I didn't feel like
listening to anymore of it, so I didn't answer. A couple of hours
later he called to let me know
he was on the way home, and he apologized for his rant earlier.

I informed him this morning that since the doctor told me my blood
pressure was high on Tuesday (oh yeah, I don't remember if I told
everyone that... more fun with my health) and if it was still high
after Christmas when he sees me, he will start me on medication to try
to bring it down, I started doing searches on the Internet about it
all. I already new most of what I read, but just wanted to verify that
I wasn't in panic mode and thinking irrationally. So, I enlightened my
darling son that high blood pressure is known as "the silent killer"
because often people don't even realize that they have it... and that
it is also "the number one cause of strokes" (both my parents had
strokes... my Mom's was due to high blood pressure and overwork, my
Dad's was due to stress about my Mom's stroke and he very likely had
high blood pressure too), and that "it can also lead to congestive
heart failure" (which my Dad had when he passed away a little over a
year after his stroke).... and I told him "So, I would really like to
NOT allow myself to become overly stressed, and would like to NOT have
arguements or yelling matches like you pulled on me on the phone last
night. I would like to try to remain as calm as I possibly can to see
if I can get my blood pressure back down, as I would really rather NOT
have a stroke as we've both seen what it can do to people, and I would
really rather not end up with congestive heart failure either."

You should have seen his face... he was sitting there in kind of
stunned silence. I also informed him that if he thought I was
over-reacting, or dramatizing... that I copied and pasted a lot of the
information from the pages I visited, and included the URLs so that he
can look them up himself to see that I'm not BS-ing. He just said
"Yeah, not getting stressed would be a good idea. I don't want to see
those things happen either." Guess he loves me afterall... even if he
does get lippy at times! LOL

Merry Christmas - Happy Hanukkah - Season's Greetings to all my
friends. May this season be happy and peaceful for all of us!

*hugs*
Gemini



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.859 / Virus Database: 585 - Release Date: 2/14/05