Thank You

I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and concerns after my post last week. This weather has made staying home and doing nothing pretty easy!  

I have lots of random photos and thoughts.  Here is the flower my housekeeper clipped to the board in my room. She was such a sweetie. 

My daughter the nurse Phd came up to make sure I was receiving top notch care. One of the RNs that I was assigned was a former nursing student of hers. Basically all the nurses on the floor were terrified of my daughter (who is 5' tall) but the doctors loved her questions and spent lots of time talking over me.

Both daughters were bored by day two and went to the grocery store. They went to my house and threw out what was in my refrigerator and made me about 30 meals. These included raw green pepper, raw vegetables, fake eggs with raw green pepper, overnight oatmeal (I detest oatmeal), brown rice etc. All in cute little meal containers. Snacks were apples and nuts. This was incredibly nice of them. 

Unfortunately I have GERD like every fat old lady and also can have bouts of IBS (too much information) and I cannot eat nuts or that many raw vegetables, etc and I was very sick. I did lose almost ten pounds which is worrying to my nurse who is calling me every other day to make sure I don't gain over two pounds which could signal the congestive heart failure.  

So I switched to some of the food, like eating the yogurt and berries on top and leaving the oatmeal on the bottom, and egg whites from my farm eggs for lunch. And lean meat and cooked veggie with no salt for supper.  She keeps sending me goofy recipes though, the last one is soaking chicken in almond milk, then  .  . . well I didn't read the rest. 

Anyway, not sure that I mentioned I wore my oldest, most ratty, ugly, gramma nightgown to the hospital. When I got home, one of the first thing I did was order new pjs, some to wear at home and some to pack in a bag by the door in case this ever happens again. 

I got a couple pairs of these. Black so they don't show fluids, short sleeves for IVs, button front for chest stickers, and crop length so they hit my ankles!  I was so embarrassed to show up like I did. Thank you Walmart. 

Further embarrassing my children were my actions in the hospital. Our 50th wedding anniversary is coming up and I was on several fan sites, etc, that had codes for early bird purchases. I had set alarms in my phone. The original plan was to purchase them on my laptop so I could see what was doing. I was receiving alarms every time they were going to do a medical procedure and having to let them time out.  The first day was a total flop.  I actually was able to purchase the tickets and all the extras, like the big bucks parking so I don't have to walk far and tickets to a special bar/deck area which has a private restroom for those patrons (you see where my mind is) right before I went down for the heart cath. Success! And as silly as this seems, this concert at the end of July is goal one. 

In more disappointing news I had signed up for a Bridge Brigade which is a group of protesters who show up on an overhead bridge over the highway, each holding a letter to spell out a message. I received my first alert and had to contact the coordinator and explain I am out due to health reasons. And today the local party called me and I told them the situation before we got started on the ask. 

I notified the charity that I won't be around for several weeks at the very least, until I get my act together.  They actually wrote a prayer for me.

"Loving Lord, We ask Your healing grace for (Miss Merry). Bless her for her faithful service with the Saint Vincent de Paul ministry. Restore her strength, grant her peace and hold her in Your loving care."  (and this made me cry.)

I think this was the Friday snow? Saturday? Anyway the base layer. I have no idea how much we have at this point. So glad I am stuck indoors. Tomorrow schools are cancelled again for both snow and super super low temperatures. 

I am not in this picture. 

My arms are now black, blue, green and orange from all the needles and whatevers at the hospital. My husband is afraid I am turning into the president. 

The events of the weekend have left me sad and angry and devastated and crushed.  I recently saw the videos of the VA nurse reading at the bedside of a deceased veteran and the honor walk that the VA center performed for Alex.  I was present when these rituals were performed for my own father and it was one of the most meaningful things of my life. Watching them with this young hero left me crying for hours. 

Memory Monday

My grampa was a jeweler in our small town. His dad had an alcohol problem and left the family (or they left him) about the time my grandfather finished 8th grade. He apprenticed to the town's jeweler, Mr. Mayle. 

My grampa is on the right. This should be late teens or early 1920's.

Our city built a large building with several stories called The Glass Block. Retailers, such as jewelers, could rent floors or spaces.  The jewelry store, which I think might have changed to Mayle O'Dell Jewelers moved in. 

Here is the Glass Block with the Dinky going down the street. The Dinky ran from one edge of town to the other along Main Street. The town is in the midst of digging up Main Street to the center of the earth and removing the tracks. They removed the tracks at the end of my street last year, dashing my hopes of a Dinky revival. 

And here is the Glass Block in August 1923 after a huge explosion.  The top floors of the building were removed and the current building is one and a half stories. This was a Sunday and the only two men in the building were killed.  A woman waiting on the street car was tossed into the building and died a day later. 

Mr. Mayle decided to retire and my grandfather moved about 3 buildings down on the right of the Glass Block. Most of the furnishings were moved to the new building. 

These are family snapshots from the Christmas season in the 40's or 50's. 

At some point my grandfather scaled back into more jewelry repair and the music store next door cut an opening and expanded into this space. He was still working part-time doing repair work in this area in the back when 1972 he suffered a heart attack and died. My mom and I, along with one the ladies pictured above, inventoried and closed the store. 

The beauty of a small town is that whenever the town historian is contacted by someone wanting to sell memorabilia, he calls me.  I have quite a collection. 

I also have some of the store window display pieces. These are in the best condition. 

And I have a ridiculous amount of jewelry.  And I am a person who does not wear jewelry. I have a codicil leaving it all to my daughters. 

Well, That Came Out of Nowhere

Saturday I was dancing on a street corner with a frog at the Ice Out protest.  We had a normal weekend and Monday would have been another snow day for the children if it was a school day.  I have been tired all month after the influenza I contracted the first of December and was just chilling.  

Monday evening I was watching some high-brow television, Snapped, which features women murdering their husbands. Mr Merry went to bed. At 11 I checked talk show listings and realized they were all reruns because of the holiday.  I stood up, walked to the hall and felt my throat tighten, like I couldn't cough. I thought, I really should call the doctor tomorrow. Then I took about five steps and thought I think I should wake Mr Merry to take me to the ER. Then I got to the bedroom, shook his leg and collapsed.  

He called 911 and they sent 2 adorable little firemen within 3 minutes. I could not breathe and my oxygen level was 83, I could see their faces and assumed I would never come back home.  EMS arrived shortly after and raced to get me on the gurney. We had to take a long route to the hospital due to most roads near me being drifted shut. They gave me either breathing treatments or cpap in the ambulance. 

Then we got to the ER which only had one other patient.  I had five medical people in my room.  Anyway, lots of stabbing, lots of tests, lots of treatments. I did not realize that, right after I arrived, I suffered a NStemi heart attack.  Mr Merry arrived and did not bring anything like my phone or a coat (I was wearing my rattiest nightgown only) or shoes.  I assumed they would give me a shot and send me home.  The first concern was a pulmonary embolism but the cat scan ruled that out. 

They put me in a room and spent Tuesday doing all kinds of poking and prodding and testing.  My veins were not having it and I was blowing ivs and it would take 2-3 pokes for bloodwork.  In addition to normal labs I was having something tested every two hours and something else every three hours, all day and all night.   They were trying to squeeze me into an echocardiogram and heart ultrasound appointment before the end of the day.  And they made it. 

I was the first heart cath on Wednesday morning.  The long story short (and this is from me, a non health professional) is that the flu virus in December got into my heart and started killing muscle. My heart has not been beating properly and fluid had collected (and completely filled) my lungs. Then the torturous aorta in my heart (that I was born with) twisted and leaked blood into my heart.  The final diagnosis is Hypoxia/COPD, Acute systolic heart failure, hypertension and hyperglycemia and congestive heart failure.  I really had zero symptoms until I almost stopped breathing. 

My daughter who has a phd in nursing traveled in on Tuesday and was appointed boss of me. She listened to the doctors reports while I breathed and translated the information.  This is life changing and scary and makes me really really angry so I guess I feel better today. 

I passed the test of walking the hallway and was able to come home without oxygen.  My daughters went shopping and made us about 20 individual heart healthy meals in our fridge and freezer. I have appointments with every specialist in the system.  I have a person whose job title I didn't catch calling me every other day for 30 days to check up on me. My whole world is changing to focus on me and my health. And I don't like it. 

I know I am feeling better today because I am angry.  I have no trouble sitting in a chair because I have both arms in ice from all the bruising. I think I am permitted to shower tonight.  

So how was your weekend?

I want to apologize in advance because I am not thinking I will be sharing light posts for a while.  Actually, I do have some funny goofy hospital stories.  I will share those next time.  Right now it is all kind of a blur. 

Memory Mondays

For this edition of Memory Mondays I have decided to answer some genealogy questions. 

I want to start with how I began my research because it is something I recommend. I was afraid of the internet and sharing too much. When I started researching I used the Ancestry dot com subscription at our local library as well as the website Family Search. I also researched in collections of local libraries and the courthouse. 

When I found documents related to my family, like a census record or draft card, etc, I printed them on paper and put them in folders. I talked a friend into day trips to a Presidential library that specializes in genealogy where we researched newspapers in our state, first on microfilm and then computers when they digalitized them. These holdings include many newspapers not available on line and we are able to make copies of articles.  I made so many copies that it was worth buying a membership to get a reduced rate on copying, lol. 

I also made a spreadsheet for every generation so I could chart when I had copies of birth certificates, death certificates, census and military records so I knew what I was looking for. 

Having everything on paper was good for me as a visual person. And with my family traditions - very necessary. We like to name babies after relatives and, for example, in the case of my maternal great grandfather, he and two cousins who were all born in the same township in the same year shared the same first and last name. Having the paper copies I could compare all the information to make sure the documents I had belonged to the correct person.  

I developed my family tree for about a year before I joined Ancestry and put my tree online.  I have found lots of misinformation about my past relatives on line and people don't seem to respond to messages about it.  

Another example. One census lists my great grandmother Maud as Mary. Most people's family trees list Mary as a sister. There is no Mary. 

Same family, Maud's mother Isabell raised my grandfather after her death. People confuse his Isabell for my grandfather's mother even though she is listed as grandmother on most census records. After he married, Isabell lived with them and is listed on census records as "mother-in-law". This has lead people to assume she is my grandmother's (his wife's) mother.  You can imagine the mess this makes with the wrong family attached to the maternal side. 

I knew these people and know I'm right (lol) but people will disagree with me and keep sharing the wrong information. 

How do I store this information.   

I have files of all the information I find on paper copies. I try to attach it all to the tree on Ancestry. And I purchased Roots Web so I can have a copy on my laptop not attached to the internet.  I am a total failure at Roots Web and haven't updated it in a decade. I bought a newer version thinking that would inspire me. It didn't. 

So yes, I have a room of papers. Original documents are kept in acid free boxes I purchase from library supply vendor Gaylord. 

How do I share information or do I share information.  

Oh, lots of ways. First, I send portraits and pictures to Walgreens and print 4x6 copies which I attach to my china cabinets. I test the little grandchildren on who is who.  They are pretty good at it. 

Several years ago I made picture books from Shutterfly for all the grandkids. The first page has photos of them, then the next two pages are parents, then grandparents, etc. It goes back maybe 4 -5 generations.  I did do captions, especially with military information which the boys are particularly interested in.

I created a private facebook group for each side of my family where I share information, finds and photos.  I try to encourage other relatives to share too but it is mostly me. All my children are members of the groups, too. 

I have done a little research on my husband's tree which is challenging because he was born in another state and most of his grandparents and great-grandparents are first generation. Once I found a family picture on Facebook from his mother's side showing her father and his eight siblings as young adults. I thought this was so amazing that I made copies for all his siblings and his mother. The siblings loved it (except one) and his mother called me and informed me that this is NOT my family and I have no right to have this photo (that I found on Facebook). So that is one experience. 

On my mom's side there is a line that I had no information. I started with her grandfather's name, a family legend that wasn't true and all records in a small rural community in another state and not available on line.  I contacted a relative through DNA and we compared what we could find. Now move forward to a genealogy conference last spring and a course I took on using the new feature on Family Search that reads text of old court documents.  

My great grandmother was Lavantia and I wasn't even sure of her maiden name. Census records said she was born in New York or New Jersey.  I put in her first name and married last name and up popped about 12 pages.  

It was a lawsuit brought in the 1850's by Lavantia's mother Catherine which listed her husband's name AND all seven of her children listed with their spouses first and last names.  This was completely new information to my family. I printed all the papers because they are scans of handwritten pages from the 1850's and difficult to read. I got into messages on Ancestry and offered to mail copies to relatives I had identified who were THRILLED.  No one had figured out how to get past these walls and here it was! 

I also commented on a facebook post in my town which put me in touch with someone whose great grandmother was my great grandmother's sister.  And she was the keeper of the family photos! She came to my house one day and let me scan a rubbermaid tube of papers and photos. We later located the great granddaughter of one of their brothers and all met for coffee and discussion.  

I love to share resources and finds especially in person! 

The last question is where all this stuff will go. 

I sincerely doubt any of my five children will want to take custody of all the paperwork. Or even the original photos.  I am hoping to eventually convince one of my grandchildren to take over.  We do have a very active local genealogy chapter who would house some original items in their research library along with a self published book.  I would just need to put that together. In my spare time.