Madchen

1/2 Chihuahua, 1/2 mini-schnauzer and ALL HEART. Loved Fried catfish and raw baby carrots. Was not afraid of anyone or anything, except thunderstorms.

We love you, Madchen.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Found a bit more trivia (true or not?? can't seem to find any corroboration) that explains why Kate Hepburn was so excellent in portraying Eleanor of Aquitaine in the movie "The Lion in Winter"

Supposedly, Miss Hepburn was descended from Eleanor via at least two lines, from Eleanors marriages to both King Louis VII and from her marriage to King Henry II.

Maybe I can find something to back this up.. the website only states it, gives no references.

Old Movies and CT Scans

Been watching classic movies all yesterday on TMC. Katherine Hepburn is greatly missed. I got to see African Queen, Rainmaker, Pat and Mike, Woman of the Year and The Lion in Winter.

I love the movie "The Lion in Winter". Not only am I somewhat of an Anglophile (lover of things british), but I also enjoy history and the interplay of people. I had always wondered what the "Aquitaine" mentioned in the movie referred to, this morning I finally took the time to look it up. Turns out the "Aquitaine" is a large bit of land in France, about 1/3 of current France.

In looking at some of the websites about Eleanor of Aquitaine, I found this quote: "No one ever mistook Eleanor of Aquitaine for a saint." I LOVE it. And no wonder Katherine Hepburn played the role so well. The part in the movie where Eleanor talks about going on crusade with her first husband (King Louis VII of France) dressed as an Amazon is true!! That sounds very like something that Kate Hepburn would do.

While I am too much of a homebody to want to have such adventures myself.. I do enjoy reading and watching others exploits.. even ones from many hundreds of years ago.

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Tomorrow I go in for a CT Scan to follow up on my cancer. First time I will have to have IV contrast. Hope it doesn't nauseate me.

Dogs and Friendship

Madchen (the sick doggie from the previous two posts) is still at the vet. When I called yesterday about 4pm, they said she was still having seizures, but at the moment was resting comfortably. They're trying to get the seizures under control.

I'm so afraid that she's dying.

Yesterday before I took her to the vet, she was doing strange things. She tried to walk into the pantry.. never did that before. I took her into the bathroom with me while I was getting ready because I was worried about her. While in the bathroom she tried to walk into the shower.. and she HATES the shower. She was walking into walls and into things. She also peed on me as I was carrying her to the car, which is not normal for her.

Last night I dreamed of her, healthy, happy, ready to play. I don't know if I will get that happy dog back from the vet. I'm so scared. I think I'm experiencing anticipatory grief.

Well, on to happier subjects.

Two of my sisters had birthdays this month, I finally got their gifts in the mail, so now I can finally post pictures.

The first one is for my oldest sister. It's called a Celtic Knot Shawl and the pattern is at www.friendshipshawl.org

I know the picture is dark, sorry. There's a better picture on the website. I'm hoping I can get my sister to model it after receipt.






I made it out of Caron Simply Soft in Dark Sage. The picture on the friendshipshawl site shows it in soft sage, which is ok, but I liked the dark better. I didn't measure the shawl, but it seemed to come out very large. I think if I ever remake it, I will try it with dc's rather than the trc's that the pattern calls for.

The next one I call a Seashell Shawl (quite a tongue twister, no?) and it went to my youngest sister. Very apropros I think as she lives not too far from the coast.

It's called Seashell, because that is the color name of the Caron Simply Soft I used. Which I believe Caron has discontinued. Me and my luck with Caron.. sheesh. Seashell doesn't look impressive in the skein, but when it's made up, it just glows!!






The pattern is also available at www.friendshipshawl.org

Update on sick dog

The Vet thinks her heart failure just got dramatically worse for unknown reasons. He's keeping her today to start her on some injectable Lasix to help her pee off the fluid. She's put on almost 2 lbs of fluid in 2 weeks. He might keep her over the weekend.

He thinks the heart not being able to pump well enough because of too much fluid has caused the increase in seizures.

While this isn't great news, it's better than what I thought would happen. I thought they would tell me it was time to put her to sleep. Prayers are working.

Sick Doggie

I was just about to go to bed at 2am this morning.. when my little dog walked into the kitchen.. lost her balance on her back legs, regained, walked a little further then fell down and had a seizure. Not a bad one, but was incontinent of bowel and bladder. Poor thing. So I stayed up with her a little, gave her the antiseizure and her heart meds a little early.. and was about to go to bed at 3, when she had a grand mal seizure. 3 limbs thrashing and a 4th drawn up tight against her belly. She was also showing her teeth, making chewing motions and eyes wild looking. when the seizure was over, she had foam on her lips.

This was her 3rd seizure in less than 24 hours (she had a mild one at noon yesterday). She's also got some abdominal distention and has not had a good appetite since Tuesday. Right now she's walking around and walking into things that are below her line of sight... like walking right into her dish and the cats dish. that's not normal for her at all. I'm going to call the vet when they open and see if they can pretty please see her today. Heck, if they can't give me an appointment, I'll just go up there and sit and let them work us in. I think she's too sick to make it through the weekend without some help.

I'm so afraid that the vet is going to want to put her down. I'm not ready for that. She's been with us since about '91 or '92, I'm not sure if dd was in kindergarten or first grade.. but it's been quite a while.

I guess in a little while I'll take a shower and give the dog a bath at the same time, so at least she'll smell pretty for the vet. If so inclined, pray that they will have other remedies than putting her down. I don't know if I can do that without the kids here to tell her goodbye.

Immorality, Wyeth and the FDA

Have you ever heard of BHRT? Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Bio-identical Hormones are made by compounding pharmacies, bypassing the drug companies, and therefore affecting their profits. Many women and their physicians find that bio-identical hormones are much more effective with less unpleasant side affects.

Wyeth, a major drug company, manufacturers Premarin and Prempro, both hormone replacements. Premarin and Prempro are both made from Pregnant Mare's Urine. Pre-Mar-In (get it?). Since it is an animal and not a human hormone, Premarin isn't utilized well by the human body, and people who are allergic to animals really have a problem with it.

The Women's Health Initiative, a clinical trial for Hormone Replacement Therapy showed that long-term use of progestin and estrogen may increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, blood clots, and breast cancer. Following these results, Wyeth experienced a significant decline in its sales of Premarin, Prempro. This was in about 2002.

Two years ago, Wyeth lobbied the FDA to regulate the production of BHRT. 40,000 individuals wrote to complain about Wyeth's action. The FDA didn't move immediately, saying that the issue was too complex.

Last month, January 2008, the FDA came out with a statement saying that it will “halt” compounding of medications containing estriol, an estrogen produced by the human body. Estriol is one of the most widely prescribed hormones and is regularly compounded with other bio-identical hormones pursuant to doctors’ prescriptions for women suffering from symptoms of menopause.

I smell a rat. I think Wyeth has had an attack on their bottom line and are trying to force women to have to use their less effective products, Premarin and Prempro.

So far, I am not on HRT.. and I will NEVER take Premarin or Prempro... not only do I object to Wyeth's actions, there's a familial tendency to have bad reactions to animal products.

I don't object to Wyeth making a profit, drug companies need profits to fund new drug research, which is very costly. But I do object to the immorality of Wyeth's and the FDA's actions to prevent women access to something that WORKS.

So count me as one who is boycotting Wyeth products when possible. I will no longer buy Advil, Advil PM, Robitussin, Dimetapp, Alavert, Caltrate, Centrum, ChapStick, Dristan, or Preparation H. There are many other alternatives or generic versions of these items available.

Mad as I am about this (or madder?) please follow the link and write or call your congressional representative.

www.savemymedicine.org

Interested in learning more about this issue? Here are some links to follow:

http://www.iacprx.org

Facts Don't Fit

Fight brews over natural versus synthetic hormones

Compounding Facts

FDA Asserts New Policy to Restrict Women’s Access to Bioidentical Hormones

Organizations supporting Wyeth..and how Wyeth is supporting the organization (can you say collusion?)

Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

I'm disturbed by the ignorance regarding the origins of Valentines day. It's not just something invented by retailers to get us to spend money.

Valentine's day has many origins, probably replaced a pagan (ie non-Christian) celebration of some sort. Many Christian holidays are timed to replace a pagan celebration to help the local populace to accept the new (at that time) religion.

There's a good discussion on this website:

http://www.history.com/minisites/valentine/viewPage?pageId=882

Personally, I think that it doesn't matter what the basis, it's a good time to have some sort of celebration, February often being a dreary month.

I have some other rants to make, but will save them for another day. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. (or something like that)