fking

Stroke Survivor - male
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  1. fking
    Well it doesn't have to come from a long way from my city it's about 60 miles and before it arrived in two days. This will be my second time experiencing a slow heart beat and this time it was really low so needless to say I'm a bit worried not knowing the real reason this is happening only speculations and I'm no doctor. It's times like these you just don't know however everybody knows when the heart stop beating you are a gonna.
     
    Right away you start to think about your age then you wonder with all you been through in the last 9 years is it your time to depart this earth? Either way you are concerned no matter who you are. So here I sit waiting for it to arrive in the mail or by FedEx so all my thoughts turns to God needless to say I'm praying.
    Now the steroid injection must have had something to do with the very slow beat because it was OK before the procedure as I stated in my last blog. I suppose it's little things like this that make survivors so uncertain what is happening to the broken body.
     
    On top of that I felt great for one day after the injection but from then until now, hey it's been a wild ride and not being able to check my heart beat lately. I thought about trying to find that kind of machine where I can check it myself. I've had back problems for many years, really since 1961 getting knocked off a tank at the Berlin wall as it was being constructed when the gunner turned the gun tube as I was outside trying to pee. The tank commander gave me permission to do so but the gunner was doing something he had no business. I was in the hospital about a week for my back.
     
    Then of course in Vietnam I got hit and operated on in the field to save my life. So I have been suffering for many, many years but not until now about this slow heart beat thing. Maybe the injection was a bit much I could feel it on my paralyzed side down to my toes. So now I'm back to using the back patches to control some of the hard pain so close to my spine. Now that same wall is no longer standing since the days of president Reagan. I left Germany in 1979 but never had a reason to visit Berlin again. I have 14 years of service in Germany and my daughter was born in Munich in 1964.
     
    Normally I'm not up this late but my back is hurting it was a very warm day today at 85 degrees, it set a record for this day then tomorrow is suppose to be cool so it's up and down plus rain too is on the way. I'm sorta rambling but my mind is going and coming about now so it's time to close this blog and turn in. Hopefully tomorrow the heart monitor unit will arrive and I can figure out where I stand in my condition. I feel like a Wounder Warrior now. But I got my wife whom has turned in for the night to rise early tomorrow for work so I'll probably lie awake for hours wondering what's next.
     
    Well hope I didn't confuse the readers of this blog I'm still a concerned survivor from a brain bleed so hope you can understand me. Oh, I just looked at the clock it's time for the ten O'clock news so see ya's.
  2. fking
    After the pain clinic appointment for a steroid injection my heart beat was slowed to around 33 to 40, that's super low and before the injection it was very normal. That caused a trip to the ER and a 4 hour stay only to continue to the heart doctor a few doors away. Nothing was found to be the reason for a slow heart beat and a monitor was ordered. I await it's arrival by FedEx probably Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime I have to sit and wonder what is going on or is it the steroid causing the slow beat.
     
    Anyway yesterday I felt good no back ache and today I'm hurting again and being a bit dizzy like so I'm home for today. Hopefully I'm better tomorrow Sunday so I can attend church then come home and get a seat on the 50 yard line in front of my big screen TV without hurting so bad. It should wear off after 5 to 7 days I think I read that right.
     
    Recovering from a stroke plus any other ailments can be a big struggle when you can hardly walk with a cane. I have to keep telling myself it was 9 years last month so maybe I am in a slow down mode now. I feel like I been in a fight with a big bear and the bear won that's how sore I am today so it's time for me to lay down and rest.
  3. fking
    Already the news is all about the cold weather and the snow that's coming to almost everywhere. The accidents and many vehicle pile ups on the highways and Freeways are really making the news and keeping the highway patrols busy along with the many wrecker services needed to haul the wrecked cars. In some cases I saw on TV as many as 80 vehicles were involved when just one vehicle hit icy spots and spin out of control while other vehicles are going way to fast to stop. And it's happening in every state this week.
     
    Most drivers are in such a hurry to reach their destinations and don't pay attention to road conditions. I bet many drivers are still trying to operate their cell phones instead of hanging up and drive the vehicle. It used to be when people were planning a trip they would get road conditions to their destinations and I don't think any drivers do that anymore but it's still a good idea to plan ahead, it could save a life or lives when the whole family is in the car. Also we used to get the car serviced for the up coming trip that doesn't happen any more.
     
    I have noticed more and more cars on the shoulder of the highways changing flat tires. When I hit the road you can bet my tires are very good and will get me there and back and I get it tuned up as needed for better gas mileage, it just makes sense to me. I know where I will gas up and when to make restroom stops which is every 100 miles since my stroke. I don't drink sodas or eat heavy foods while I'm driving and I don't change the Cd's my wife does that and we have an 8 CD changer which will take us a long way without listening to the same songs the whole trip. Then in some cities there are good radio stations to listen to.
     
    So if any of you are planning trips over a great distance and changing road conditions please plan your trip carefully this time of year. If you are driving in high mountain areas and passes like in California you will need tire chains too. The highway patrol is sitting there at that point and telling you chains are required. The little tire chain salesman is sitting there too and his chains are twice the price you could have bought them at a tire store or a walmart. Again plan ahead and make your drive and trip much safer. We only got one life and I hate to take chances on the road.
     
    Another bad habit many drives got is to drive until the gas tank is about empty only to find the next service station is out of gas and you don't even have a two gallon gas can of gas in the trunk. Poor planning instead of planning ahead. Give yourself some breathing room on any trip in bad conditions. I thought about Mary Joe and ladies driving to Florida saying to myself I hope they planned that trip and no doubt they did. They got there enjoyed themselves and back. At least I think I remember they drove the car but they may have taken a flight!
     
    Be careful anytime you are driving on the road going any place and any distance. Stay alert, be safe!!!
  4. fking
    Well, now is the time and the month to celebrate my time here on site where I learned everything I know about strokes, recovery and all the meds one needs to survive. A stroke wasn't nowhere in my mind when it happened to me while home alone in the late morning. In fact I was on the computer upstairs typing some papers I needed for my business when I got to work and opened up at noon.
     
    Well, I never made it that day or for the next five months either and I knew once I opened the doors I wouldn't have any time to sit at the computer and do any typing. It was all work on the drill press putting holes in bowling balls I had sold the day before. They would be there standing by the door ready to try their new bowling ball out on the lanes. I gave them two free games of bowling with each new ball I sold.
     
    Many of my customers were soldiers from the military base and they didn't come in until closing time for me and when they got off duty in late evenings. At that time my wife have already called to see when I will be home because she is cooking a certain meal and want it to still be hot when I got home. So I put those up on the bench to start drilling them soon as I opened the shop. If I didn't drill them then I would be swamped again in a few more hours and I hate to take the money and not have the balls ready when they got back to try them out.
     
    There was League Bowling almost each night and I had things to do for my league bowlers too to get their balls, shoes and gear working right. Their balls needed shining, sanding or new finger grips replaced and some needed new shoes especially around their paydays. I was a cash and carry pro shop operator because I order my equipment one day it was there the next day by 2pm UPS. I stocked about everything any bowler could ever want in their bowling bags.
     
    You know as I sit here now typing this blog that I realize I may have been putting pressure on myself trying to get so much done that my blood pressure shot up and busted the vein in my head. But when you own a business you try hard to make it work that's my way of doing business and it brought many more customers in than any of my competitors in town. That may well be why I wasn't walking after 5 months in the hospital on the rehab floor and still running my shop from my bed with a guy I thought I could trust as my wife went by and picked up the money he took in for that day and told her what I needed to order from my distributors.
     
    Needless to say when I got out the hospital and was ready to sell the business to another guy my tax man said my inventory was way off so much so I lost money. The inventory was not there and I was in no shape to operate a bowling pro shop with one leg and one hand I couldn't use good. I probably would have really hurt myself trying to use the drill press and other machines I had. But that's life I guess.
     
    Every weekend I was on the road going to tournaments or just busy with that shop and not going to church like I should have been. My wife was so mad but I was making money and even refinanced our house down to 15 years, smartest move I ever made. I paid the bank off where I borrowed to purchase the pro shop, get it fixed up and down payment on my house. After I had to sell the shop for less I owed my distributors money and I paid them off with no money coming in so I was flat broke.
     
    I was only 64 by then and still couldn't draw my SS for age, I was a few months short and couldn't draw disability because I hadn't paid SS for the last ten years here in Texas. As it was they took 13% from me for not waiting to full age of 65 and some months. Life goes on, I'm back going to church almost every Sunday, my wife is in the choir and the praise dance team so I have no complaints about how or why I'm like I am.
     
    I've reached 9 years since the stroke and I guess 8 years I been on here so it's high time to celebrate life because no one knows the last day. I plan on being happy with a smile on my face. Now if I could do a sunshine dance and it warms up I'll really be OK. That's still in God's hands and I can live with what He wants where He wants it!!!!
     
    That reminds me...Added at 5pm today........
    When I became a member here my member number was 3852 I think, and we don't have those numbers any more but the membership here is nearing 11,000 young and old alike and when I joined the new members thought this was a site for old people and the staff members started over and under age groups.
     
    Most young survivors just wanted to talk with younger people and then a chat for younger members got started along with care givers and others. About that time more younger people were having strokes not just us old folks. I can imagine the nursing facilities still have more older people than younger ones and with that I'm hoping I can remain at home until it's my time to go meet my maker providing my wife's health and strength holds up longer than mine. She runs up/down the stairs now at age 60 and I finally got a stair lift chair thank God! I sure couldn't give this home away when it's about paid off just to buy a one level home!
  5. fking
    Well members I just want to say tomorrow 15 January 2013 is the beginning of nine years to the day that I became a stroke survivor at 11am that morning. I shall never forget and here I'm praying it never happens again and so far so good. You never can prepare for any stroke and it's like an accident with so many ways it can occur. I remember so well there was no warning that I knew about while sitting at the computer my fingers on the left hand stopped working and went numb. While I was wondering what's going on my elbow went numb so I stood up and fell.
     
    At that point I quickly figured I had mad cow disease because we ate hamburgers for supper and the news was reporting so many mad cow incidents I just assumed I had it when I couldn't stand up the second time I tried. I fell away from the computer desk and telephone and I couldn't get up again.
     
    Unbeknown to me I crawled to the stairwell to go down but passed out, wet my pants and there I lay until my wife came home at 3:30 from her dental appointment to call 911. It was now about 4 hours since the stroke and another few hours before I arrived at the hospital. I learned the doctors said I got there just in time or I would have died.
     
    I knew nothing at all about strokes and to my knowledge I'm the only one in the family to have one. Many of my mother's 18 children had high blood pressure I found out later from my older sister. The doctors stated to my wife the cause was HBP and high cholesterol. That put me into ICU for a few days then five months in the hospital on the rehab floor before I came home unable to walk.
     
    Here I am in a WC operated by my wife loading/unloading it and pushing me around to appointments and out patient therapy until I learned to walk with a quad cane as my balance was not good at all. Now my wife was able to return to her job at the bank which she had quit to be home and care for me. I know the value of a care giver for sure as she visited me every day or night for five months straight and still made choir and praise dance practices on separate nights at church 25 miles from home.
     
    After I started walking I also started driving again as a happy survivor after taking the drivers test and road test in the same car I still got now. Then I went to work at Walmart as a people greeter using my scooter and that was a blast. I met people that could not believe I had a stroke and now working. I made up (so to speak) some of the money my wife lost while caring for me, I felt obligated and she never complained one time.
     
    So 15 January each year will be special to me as a survivor so long as I live when I think about I got to the hospital with minutes to live. Oh yea, the Army hospital didn't take me they said Scott & White hospital was where I had to go because they were equipped to handle cases like mine so I was life flighted there.
     
    Now I have been a member here since 2005 that's when I was able to get back on the computer without being a little scared after a friend told me about this site while I was attending a local group stroke meeting the hospital had organized but I didn't learn much there as I have being here and I'm very proud of that fact.
     
    Well now you got my survival story and I'm still glad to be here and a survivor. I wasn't attending church as I should have by bowling every week end and being on the Pro Tour with the southwest bowlers and the senior all star bowling association which held tournaments on weekends since most bowlers were working during the week. I owned a bowling pro shop in a bowling center and stayed busy during the week too.
     
    Now since that time I attend church just about every Sunday and my life has really changed since I serve my God faithfully in every way with my loving wife still by my side. I really feel so blessed and thank you for reading my survivor story today. I do pray for all of you daily to keep on recovering and giving care to your loved ones. May you continue to be blessed in your own way and beliefs!
  6. fking
    I am a senior survivor and I forget things easily and perhaps some of you forget things too and it is so common it seems like a practice! The big thing is there is always someone that hadn't heard about it yet!!
     
    In this case it's your money that you have been receiving in the mail by way of a paper check to your mail box for only you know how many years!! Effective 1 March 2013, that's this year, they will stop coming by that method! Getting social security benefits and federal benefits will be electronically through direct deposits to your bank or a direct express prepaid debit card! No more paper checks unless you are a hardship case or a person in their 90's who do not convert to electronic payments will continue to get paper checks!
     
    I'm posting this Blog in the event members here have not heard of the pending change coming 1 March this year! Some survivors don't have care giver close by that looks after their finances!! I hope this notice helps those in this situation that hasn't heard of the change coming!! Some things can slip pass us you know!!
     
    Now hear this, Sex a subject we tend not to read or know about for stroke survivors!
     
    According to a study in the journal Society and Mental Health sexual activity is associated with lower levels of depression in both men and women! Having sex, the most damaging myth about older adults is that aging means saying good bye to sex! On the contrary in a national survey of more than 3,000 men and women ages 57 to 85, more than half of of those 75 to 85 said they have sex more than two to three times a month, and 23 percent claimed to have sex at least once a week. <I think I'm in the larger group without the age>
     
    The benefits? Sex causes the brain to release endorphins, the feel-good chemicals that act as painkillers, and reduce anxiety. Sex also prompts the release of substances that bolster the immune system. I have read in our message board different topics where some members are afraid of having sex or they don't feel it's the thing to do after a stroke.
     
    I feel we all should re-evaluate our own intercessions or actions and go back to what we did prior to the stroke. We survived and we are still a person with feelings, much alive and need to do whatever will help us to recover from the stroke! Having sex is a part of life with your mate and the study has shown it helps us with depression and anxiety, that's good enough for me. What about YOU??
  7. fking
    You all heard of the saying, "Time waits for no one" right?? Well just in my mind and thoughts this year is already doing just that...moving on and waiting for no one!! When you think about it Christmas seems like last week but that was the New Year just getting started on 1 January now tomorrow is the 6th of January already and my emails are letting me know I got some bills going to be due pretty soon!!
     
    It seem like I would get a little brake since I don't have any new bills just the same ones I had for a few years now!! I bet many of you are feeling the same way!!
     
    My car insurance I pay that early and can only get insurance for six months instead of a whole year like it was years ago being here in Texas!! I have been with the same company now for 15 years so my rates are pretty good I think!!
     
    In fact I still got my 2003 Ford SUV fully insured because I never know who may hit me or when and I haul my scooter every where I go and it's insured too!! The big thing here in Texas and probably in every state for that matter is the number of motorist with no insurance and you don't know who or when you'll get hit!!
     
    Any way with the year passing by with what seem to be a fast rate it won't take long for Santa Claus to pay us another visit with more grand kids and great grands for us to buy presents for them!!
     
    I sure hope the wars are coming to an end because 10 years plus is a long time for the troops to be in a war away from their families like it has been since Vietnam as I remember!! In fact my son was in the Gulf war and he is now retired and I remember when he first went into the service years ago!!
     
    All we can do is pray and hope for peace a long lasting peace for all we have had to endure like the housing market, jobs lost, unemployment and some moving overseas until it's about time we start to take care of the US and not shed more blood and suffer many deaths on foreign soils!!
     
    My wife and I got the chance to go out to one of the premium outlet malls about 50 miles from our town and spend some time just looking around!! Many, many people were out shopping and as I sat in one place on my scooter, I could tell many women were returning perhaps gifts they had gotten for Christmas from friends and family members!!
     
    The sun was shinning and the weather had warmed up from a morning low of about 29 degrees!! The drive was pleasant and the speed limit has been increased to 75 mph on I 35 most of the way but the slow drivers were still in the left lane doing 60 mph when there were three other lanes they could be using while driving that slow on the interstate freeway!!
     
    It appeared the state patrols were looking for 18 wheelers hauling dope or illegal aliens from Mexico because I was speeding while passing two different ones sitting on the side and they never left their spot and there were several trucks behind me in the outside lanes on the side the state troopers were sitting!!
    As a rule they stop and catch trucks daily between the border of Mexico and Dallas, it's shown on the evening news every day!!
     
    Well my time is moving on too writing this blog and it has been a week since I blogged last so more to come in another blog you all until then I'm out of here!! Hope you all are doing OK!!
  8. fking

    The New Year Is Upon Us!

    By fking,

    Well I don't know about all my fellow members here but for me I got the Christmas tree out on the curb this morning for pick up by the city disposal services! My pick up day is Thursdays and I couldn't wait another week to take it down!! Last year I was late putting it out for trash collection and it stayed there on the curb for two weeks before I had to dispose of it myself and that was a job for a man using one hand!!
     
    Now my wife and granddaughter can set the dinning room back up where I can get to my bicycle much easier, thank God! Then my yardman should be around soon to take the lights down from the garage and the hedges out front and things will be back to normal!
     
    That leaves from now until tax time for me to get my tax return done and redone several times because we just don't know what the taxes will end up being for my family this year! Last year I had to pay that's no fun a tax refund is always better to get in my opinion!! I use Turbo Tax and have for several years because it's so easy for me to understand and not have to pay to have them done! I redone my W4's to have more taken out so I should be OK but we just don't know yet!!
     
    Will our taxes be higher or lower with this over the cliff thing being late to get done by congress and our president?? We'll have to wait and see!! April 15th comes early for me or I'm awful slow trying to get it done correctly for "No questions asked" by the IRS!!
     
    I don't get a W2 but my wife does while mine are all the 1099 from the government and no lottery winnings to report this year nor casino winnings either!! I do enjoy not having to pay property taxes and that should save me some money!! My wife's 401K is a looser for sure it goes down with the oil and gas prices changing so often doing the year!
     
    Maybe I'll have to play poker and win a few millions in Vegas this year that would be fun I think!! I guess I got a couple months to decide since I can't seem to win playing the Lottery games!! Oh well what's next??
  9. fking
    Most of you know it's that time of the year for football playoffs and the Superbowl and also the college playoffs as well so I got something else to watch besides the news that hasn't been to good lately! In fact it's been down right depressing watching all the reporting of deaths, destruct ions and many people with health issues!! Then there is the US government that can't get together to solve the nation's problem of debt and taxes for all American!!
     
    The weather where I am hasn't been good either so going to the stadiums to watch games are not in my best interest with me having to use my scooter to navigate my way to a seat in the stadium!! The best time to see a game in person is baseball season for any handicap person in my opinion! Then it cost so much money to see a game in person nowadays!
     
    You know a survivor can become depressed easily by several factors like noise, crowds and activities going on so for me watching games on my TV is what I have to do but I promised our own Lenny I would attend a baseball game with him one day soon since he loves the Red Sox and supports that team!
     
    School will be starting back soon so I still got the puppy to keep me company and on my toes while her little owner is in class all day long! She is now a year old as of 1 January!! Can you believe she loves to lay and watch football like she knows the game without missing a play or a touchdown!!
     
    I think as a survivor my age you learn to accept a pet for company in the home when your drinking days are gone and there are no buddies coming by for a drink or a poker game like "I used to run Friday, Saturday and some Sundays around paydays! The friends I had before the stroke are all gone or play at other places! I see one or two out in places I go but that's about it no conversations follow!!
     
    Maybe in the coming months things will turn around the weather will be warming up and many spirits will be lifted then I can think of my favorite game...Bowling and perhaps go see a few tournaments in my area at the centers!! The last couple weekends it's been on TV so I recorded them to watch when I'm in the mood!!
     
    I got to thinking about one of our members who recently gave up the site for being too depressed! Depending on your home life and your recovery progress I can see how that can be for some survivors especially if you are not driving again yet and just sitting home raising your kids and not being involved with something you enjoy doing!!
     
    I bought a 55 inch flat screen HD TV for downstairs that I haven't watched very much so far but the birds enjoy watching the cartoons I think from their big cage!! It's company for them and the puppy got her own chair to sit in and watch when I sit and watch with her!! Everyone ask me if I bought that little recliner just for the puppy??, I say sure did and she enjoys sitting there with me while in her own chair!!! She will let you know it's all hers but she used to jump up in mine every time but no more!!
     
    I think I got to back another team the Cowboys are sickening now in how they can lose a big game to any other team in the league!! My wife still go with the Saints and they should be better next year and finished with suspensions they brought on themselves by the commissioner of football!!
     
    Hey, I got my 1.7% pay raise so maybe it's time I invest it in the quarter machine at the casino pretty soon where I usually can win while my wife plays the penny machines for fun, entertainment and get comps in food and free rooms on our next visit!! She won 400 dollars one time on the penny machine and it scared her silly she couldn't believe her eyes!!
     
    She called me on the cell phone shouting "I won, I won come here quick" and the attendant came to pay her off in cash, the penny machines don't pay that amount in payout slips!! I hope I'm prosperous some at least!! I usually am!!
     
    Happy new year again to my fellow members and all the guess who read the blogs and the message board before they decide to join our support group!!
  10. fking
    Many of us lived to see yet another year that wasn't promised to us!! We still have a long way to go in our recoveries from the strokes or our care giving but I feel we can make the trip a little at a time! Each year gets harder and harder but our will power keeps us moving in the right directions by God!!
     
    I do feel for the couple in this world that has been together for nearly all their lives then he decided to shoot and kill the wife for no apparent reason then turn the gun on himself!!
     
    That happened last night just blocks from my house as if I wasn't already scared of people shooting their guns in the air and drinking not knowing where they got the gun pointed!! I said to myself my headboard may save me if a round comes in from the side of my house!! Well you know I prayed and said our prayers before we turned in last night or I should say this morning!!
     
    Last year we seen so many things that was unbelievable in lost of lives and with the storm Sandy and others that caused so much damage!! They got the damaged cares lined up in New Jersey I think totaling over 16,000 cars and trucks that has to be disposed of somehow sooner or later!! It may be a time to watch out for used cars being damaged by water before you buy a used one!!
     
    We are all glad and thankful we got to see the new year in reasonable health in as much has happened in those last few weeks of the year!! I know I'm getting better every day but still it seem like recovery is forever in my head!! I'm not complaining it could be lots worse so I'm very thankful for what I can do and have the wife I got now that makes for a good day every day and a wonderful life in my mind!!!
     
    I will continue to pray for all the members of Stroke Net that their recoveries be strong in the Lord!! He allows us our peace and rest in life always!! Its back to living one day at a time as best we know how except we will be a year older at some point this year!!!
     
    We can't change the world there will be wars and rumors of war in this world but can you think for a minute how peaceful the world would be if we all could live in peace????? We speak different languages wear different styles of clothes, eat different kinds of foods but we all are humans you would think could find a way to live in different parts of this world without fighting and killing each other including children and babies!! One day, one day that day will come about perhaps for our grand kids and their children!!
     
    It doesn't hurt us to pray about it and I can say the living together has certainly changed for the better in many parts of the world and this country as well until one day that dream will come true!! When we think about it destruction does no good for anybody!! We don't gain one thing we can use not even the knowledge of how to destroy!!
     
    What did we gain in invading Iraq>> What did we loose???? Many citizens that would still be here today raising their children had it not been for lies and war minded leaders making decision a father before them should have made at that time!!!
     
    I really wish all the survivors here could come to Texas and visit with all the soldiers with limbs missing and prosthetic limbs and burns over parts of their bodies and ask yourself "Did this have to be??"
     
    So then the question becomes I survived a stroke but I'm OK! These soldiers paid the price of a go to war decision that didn't have to be given at all much less by a lie!!!!! Please pray to bring our soldiers home from all our NATO countries and allies by years end!! Not 2014!!! God bless our president for trying to get them home and stop the spending!!!
  11. fking
    I really wish people wouldn't drink and drive but for many of them they have done this over and over to the point they think they can multi-task?? This is the holiday many good drivers think and feel they can handle it, that is the bottle and the steering wheel, but many of us know that is not true!!! I'm staying home to avoid any such drivers out there on the roads!! Of course new year's eve will probably be worse!!! Some never learn!!
     
    The weather here has turned cold with snow coming by tomorrow but two people are dead from two tornadoes touching down and toppling a tree on top of a truck and killing that driver near Houston!! The other death I'm not sure where it happened! The other frequent happenings here are house fires while people are trying to stay warm with the weather as it is now!!
     
    It's very cold here at this hour and tonight into Wednesday the temps are low around 19 to 25 degrees and for me that's real cold!! The snow is going to fall here and it's already in OK. and farther up north moving toward Ohio and the east!! That tells us man don't control the weather, we can't do a dance and the sun comes out or the rain will fall!!
     
    Take care enjoy this time of year and prepare for the new year in one week! Happy New Year every body!
  12. fking
    Winter is a season that is celebrated around the world. It comes in many different forms with many different methods of celebration. In America, the most significant winter celebration is Christmas, observed on December 25!
     
    Throughout hundreds of generations, (I'm thinking 2300 generations) the Christmas holiday has carried many traditions, from decorating Christmas trees to cooking special holiday foods.
     
    Santa Claus and the Christmas tree are two of the most common traditions found every year during the holiday season. It is almost unheard of for a home to not have a Christmas tree. Likewise, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without Santa Claus! The question may sometimes be asked, Is Santa Claus Pagan?
     
    Children all over the world go to bed early with great anticipation that Santa Claus will sneak in sometime during the night and leave presents under the Christmas tree. The two just go together, here's no doubt about it!
    Old St. Nick, a name that is often loosely associated with the character of Santa Claus, was known for his charitable giving at Christmas time. While Santa Claus may just be a childhood fantasy, Old St. Nick is not!
     
    St. Nicholas was a real person who was a saint and Bishop of Myra, located in modern day Turkey! He lived during the third century and had a reputation for secret gift-giving. Eventually, this charitable characteristic of St. Nicholas evolved into the fictional character of Old St. Nick, someone who left candy or coal in a sock or shoe left outside the front door on the eve of December 6.
     
    This custom obviously became Americanized and modernized by the development of Santa Claus! The difference is that Santa not only fill the stockings with goodies, but also leaves gifts and toys under the Christmas tree for the sleeping children!
     
    For Christians, the season is more importantly celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ the son of God. While it ids understood that December 25 is perhaps not the exact birth date of Jesus, it is the date chosen to honor the birth of mankind's Redeemer! While carrying out the traditions of the Christmas tree and Santa Claus let us not forget the real reason REASON FOR THE SEASON!
     
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.....Merry Christmas to all, Ho, Ho, Ho!
     
     
    I will be trying to track Santa Christmas eve by the NORAD site as I do each year for the kids to follow along right to their house!!!! http://www.noradsanta.org/ Have fun!!!
  13. fking
    Man, I thought today Friday would never come without more TV news of all the things happening with the shooting at the school, the burials, going over the Cliff at the White House, the snow everywhere, and bad weather in Alabama, to the NRA not having much to say about guns!!!
     
    Today we learn the president has nominated John Kerry as secretary of state replacing his nomination of the lady John McCain and others were against, Ms. Rice!! Another battle goes on between the president and speaker of the house so I'm thinking we will all go over the cliff, pay more taxes and what ever else comes about in short order!!
     
    In my opinion one of those two men will have to change jobs they now hold for anything to get done in the white house!! I suppose that's not going to happen no time soon!!
     
    When I turn to sports and listen to all the chatter about the Jets, Tim Tebow and Sanchez and will the Eagles win or lose this weekend that too gets old fast! I mean it's the same conversations over and over like they have money bet on the teams to win or loose!!
     
    All the sport announcers, men and women have different opinions on who will win a game and they are wrong most of the time so their conversations get old too quickly! Maybe I'll have to turn the radio on and listen to some music or just get in my bed and rest my nerves most of the day!!
     
    That way I only have to go across the street and get the mail at around 4pm!! Meanwhile the puppy and me can get our rest doing the day but wait today is the last day of school until the new year so that won't work either!!!!
     
    Okay, I'll talk on the phone until I get tired so that won't be very long either!! I sure hope my PTSD is not coming down on me today because I'm fully awake!!! It's way too cold to be outside on my scooter so maybe I'll go downstairs and lite the fireplace and roast marshmallows on a stick! Wait, I got no sticks?
  14. fking

    Life As A Survivor

    By fking,

    Most or many of you know by now I am a survivor of a brain bleed stroke on January 15th 2004 and right now that seem like so long ago but it will just be nine years come 15 January 2013! I found this site early January 2005 from a stroke support group guy the hospital has started to better inform us on what to expect after leaving the rehab floor of the hospital!
     
    I enjoyed the group although many of those attending was much older than me and wealthy citizens in their own right and neighborhoods where you could see immediately that money was no issue for any of them! Right away, I learned strokes can and does happen to anyone at anytime no matter their ages!
     
    However if you had money and insurance, getting what you need in terms of service, equipment and proper treatments was much easier to obtain and many of them had private rooms at the same hospital I was in during the same times but I never saw any of them!!!
     
    I did wonder why I was asked if I had insurance and if I would be getting more out patient therapy so I could learn to walk? Then while in therapy I learned it was one of the best around town and sure enough I started walking in no time with the therapists they had at the clinic there! That's also when I learned about equipment needed and the HyperBaric oxygen treatments I may need for my brain to regain some functions!
     
    Anyone having a stroke and survives is blessed to be in a good hospital then upon release can get proper care in the out patient clinic! Should you go to any hospital ER and get sent home before they diagnose a stroke, I think then is the time to try finding a different facility to treat you properly! So many folks have been sent back home and they had a stroke all along!! It's something wrong with that picture!
     
    In my case it was so long before I got to the hospital after my stroke that my brain has started to shut down and I was 62 years old already! I was home alone when my wife came home and found me passed out!! I know every minute lost in getting to a hospital to be treated is brain loss! I'm so happy to be a survivor with my wife and more years to live with her by my side!!!
     
    When I see married survivors I see a blessed couple and when I read or hear of divorces I pray for that family because it takes both people to survive any stroke!! I was so glad I had married again when the stroke came my way because I really don't think I could have made it on my own from how I was then!!
     
    We are all blessed to be survivors then to have a companion by our side to give care we can't give ourselves! I'm so thankful for my wife, God knows!! I am having a better life and recovery for sure and it was her that pushed me around to my appointments in a WC and cared for me when I couldn't do it myself!! I will be forever grateful to her so long as I shall live on this earth!!!!!! :jig:
  15. fking
    A very Merry Christmas to all and wishing you all a Happy New Year 2013!! I know from experience all of us here are just hanging on day by day in trying to recover from a stroke or trying to give all the love we have in our hearts to care for our loved ones whom have survived a stroke or in many cases more than one stroke!!
     
    The one thing we all got in common is we survived and we are trying our very best to Talk, Walk, and recover as a survivor in speech, occupational, and physical therapy with what little we got left of our bodies!! I sorta think we came through hell but finally on the road to recovery in a bed, a wheel chair, a cane or already up to using a walker or motorized scooter to get about as best we can!!!
     
    We now know a stroke is no joke and it takes plenty time to make a decent recovery where we can care for ourselves some but still need a care giver close by at all times for comfort in the home or a care facility where we feel good being there!!!
     
    When we look at the big things all year long we want happiness and peace in the family!! When that's present we then look for healing in our minds and recovering in our bodies and our functions in legs and arms to help us be more mobile and our ability to speak and say what we are thinking and trying to overcome!!
     
    When we accomplish all of that a merry Christmas is ours to claim with our families, kids and friends alike!! When we really look at it, all we have is life (we survived) our family and perhaps a few true friends for life, the others are already gone and we know not where!
     
    That should not keep us from having a joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year!! I and others here like to say and think Jesus is the reason for the season and our joy to the world and all mankind!!
     
    We remember our moms, dads, sisters, brothers and many other family members and kids we may have lost over the years!! Through it all the days and the nights are ours to behold and give thanks we are still here on earth to celebrate another Christmas and a New Year a coming!!
     
    I say now Peace and Joy to all of you as we celebrate in our own ways, traditions and faiths!!! Behold Christmas time is here upon us to enjoy!!! Six days later the New Year Appears!!!! 2013! Time waits for no one!!!!!
  16. fking

    Christmas Is Almost Here

    By fking,

    Can you believe there is about 15 days before Christmas?? With all the cyber shopping and extended days to shop some more it seems like Thanksgiving was just last week? Maybe because I'm still eating turkey salad and ham sandwiches from what's left of a small fried turkey for thanksgiving!! I spoke of the weather being exceptional warm for December, well, that all changed by the time we made it back home to central Texas last evening!
     
    It's cold and windy today with temps around 36 degrees with more to come and colder in the morning around 19-22 degrees! For this part of the state that's cold! I will not complain because winter is coming to most of the states, it's just a bit late I think for the fall of the year!!
     
    We had a great time at the casino on the machines! I did pretty good playing the same quarter machine I play every time I go there! That row of 5 machines seem to give out more than they take in but I'm sure the casino makes up in other machines and areas of the casino! I felt almost good enough to go try a high limit machine but my scooter just wouldn't bulge away!
     
    My wife just enjoys playing the penny machines that makes all the noise and changing pictures with free games you win for getting very high numbers! It all counts towards comps for rooms and food on our next visit!! She did cash out for 200.00 late Friday night but probably put much of it back in other machines!! Being over 50 we eat in the big buffet for half price that equals 8.00 each and they have every thing you could ever eat!!
     
    So now we will just stay home and get ready for Christmas Day and opening presents she got already under the tree she and her grand daughter put up last week! I don't think the puppy helped they kept running her back upstairs!! She wanted to play with the little color balls hanging around the bottom of the tree!!!
     
    Here is wishing all of you a joyous holiday or Christmas if you will with your family and friends!! The New Year is just around the curve or over the Cliff and only God knows what we are looking forward to in terms of our taxes and finances! Some government checks are suppose to see a 1.7% increase, a first in a couple years!!!!!!
  17. fking

    It's December!

    By fking,

    Can you believe it? December is here, today is the 7th, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and we still got veterans of that era alive and well! in Japan and many states across America! A typhoon hit Tokyo today causing much damage like the tsunami did a few years ago causing so many lives lost, nuclear tank damage and structure damage everywhere!
     
    Aside from that this December is so different this year, no snow in the usual areas, it's unusually warm, butterflies everywhere it's hot people are still in shorts and in the parks doing things like it's summertime!! Here we are just a few weeks from Christmas and Santa Claus making his trek from the North Pole to see kids everywhere!! Can you believe it's December???
     
    The climate is changing ice is melting in places that never feel heat so who knows what else will happen by time the New year arrives?? Many of us here are looking forward to the new year and playing with our new toys we bought on Black Friday or watching football and basketball on that huge screen TV we got for a bargain and haven't made a payment on it yet!!
     
    So you know the bills will be coming in the mail or to your computer email saying "hello" it's time to make a payment! With all of that we are still trying to recover from strokes and let our care givers know how much we love them for taking care of us for another year!!
     
    My wife hasn't opened her tablet yet, it arrived a couple days ago, that she wanted but maybe she will put it under the tree and is waiting for Christmas Day to open it!!
     
    I hope everybody get what they wanted for Christmas and maybe by then the weather will be cooler or darn right cold in some areas with a little snow as it normally does!! I'm not complaining while looking at the butterflies in warm weather sitting outside in the garage! We can open the windows now and not have to run the AC, that's a good thing!!
     
    One would think with the weather this warm this time of year the flu would leave you alone but that is not the case here in Texas!! I had my flu shot a month ago or more at the VA but many people are getting the flu anyway! My barber was out yesterday with the flu bug since Monday!!
     
    Even all the birds are out flying around while the tree leaves are still falling and my front year is full of leaves and I guess my yardman has his hands full this week he hasn't cut the yard yet!!
     
    Well my little puppy is trying to tell me it's time for her walk plus I got to make a Walmart trip to pick up a few things for the trip this evening when my wife get home!! We thought a trip to the casino would be a good break and we may get lucky!! It's December!!!
  18. fking
    This is a subject that goes way back farther than we can imagine, "For God loveth a cheerful giver" For many, many Christians, December 25th is a time of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ the son of God. Even though it is most likely not the exact date of Jesus' birth of mankind's Redeemer.
     
    Traditions often inspire joy and a sense of belonging. They also help create heartwarming memories for children and adults alike for years to come. Yet it is fascinating to learn the history behind some of the traditions of so long ago that are so fondly and fervently embraced around the world today.
     
    One such tradition is Christmas shopping! People all across America and much of the free world look forward to giving and receiving gifts wrapped in bright and glittery paper and ribbons. There is something about the way the Christmas tree looks when beneath its branches lies a mound of shinny gifts of all sizes. It's mesmerizing for both children and adults of all ages.
     
    Somehow much to the disappointment of many stressed Christmas shoppers, Santa Claus is not the one who loads up the stockings and the tree with goodies and drink the big glass of milk left on the table to quench his thrust in such a long journey leaving gifts for the kids and other family members alike house to house everywhere in the world all the way from the North Pole. My God what a long journey in a night's work!
     
    Presents do not magically appear overnight. They have to be bought, wrapped and placed under the tree by Santa's real elves, the parents.
     
    Now some people live for Christmas shopping, others loathe at it. Millions of Americans every year spend millions of dollars Christmas shopping so they can do Gift Giving even in the churches they give gifts. Sometimes we act like Christmas is all about giving and getting gifts. Well it is a big part of it, but not the whole story. To Christians it's more about Jesus the Redeemer who came to save all of mankind.
     
    If you should read this enjoy the holidays but remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season no matter how we celebrate this historical event that changed the century's time from BC to AD when God gave His only begotten Son.
     
    This is a short story of gift giving and how it's done in so many places around the world! I'll be tracking Santa again this year on his journey from the North Pole to your house!! Watch for the date!!!!!
  19. fking
    "My how time slips away" today is the last day in November so Christmas is so close and to get you in the holiday spirit just go to the stores, Walmart, Kmart, the malls and yes the grocery stores too!! They are all ready for Christmas! Lowe's, Walmart, Home Depot and others are ready with fresh cut live trees and all the decorations you ever wanted for your yard, house top, doors or any place you want to put up decoration they got you covered for sure!!
     
    The prices aren't bad because they all have price matching in force even the military stores offer price matching!! That helps to keep the prices reasonable I think and not just Walmart but other stores sell so much of their goods from China!!!!
     
    Another fun thing to do after dark is go site seeing to look at all the different decorated yards, homes and displays these home owners invest in each year and pay the light bills!! They even have outfits for the cats and dogs to wear and have their dog house decorated in the yard!!
     
    When we think of the number of people unemployed I say those that can afford to put up this much decorations must have the funds on hand because I sure can't afford to decorate like that but I can cruise around the neighborhoods to look and admire for free!!!!
     
    It's great to see the seasons come and go while at the same time seasons in other parts of the world are different like in Australia where we call it "the land down under"
     
    The little girls were caching butterflies yesterday when I went to the mailbox across the street so my little puppy got off the scooter and tried too but couldn't catch a single one!!! By the way tomorrow she turns 11 months old and has cost me a fortune in haircuts, oatmeal baths and medical care!!
     
    Before we know it Santa Claus will be coming around the bend and a new year on the horizon!! So play safe, be careful and enjoy what's ahead for all of us!!
  20. fking
    I just learned of your Mum passing into heaven very peacefully as you had wanted it to be!! With that I say all our prayers took hold and was heard by God! May His Grace and Mercy take hold and she rest in His presents in this life on the other side!!!
     
    We must remember we too shall go this way one day we know not the hour and we will be in God's hands!!
     
    Sue, you have given so much of yourself over the wonderful years with your loving husband Ray while caring for you dear dad only to turn around and give that same care to Ray during his battles with strokes over the years, then falls, health failures and finally his peaceful home going to be with our Father in heaven!!
     
    Now comes the time and the hour your mum has to make the same journey, dressed as she wanted, in a peacefully surrounding, on her upward journey to meet her maker, for much more peace and no pains what so ever in this spiritual life above this earthly home she shared with you and all of us in prayer!!!
     
    Sue may peace and virtual life endure you all the days left on this earth until that day we know not our Father will call for you and all of us himself and you have that peaceful home going we all desire from our Father by our knowledge that one day this way we must go!!!
     
    Take your time Sue, you have lost a precious gift, as we all feel your pains and sorrows, God will stand with you and acknowledge your lost loved one in due time; His time; in Jesus name!!!! Amen!!!
     
    Fred and the entire stroke support community, we shall await your return to the message board and Chats!!!
  21. fking
    The Friday after Thanksgiving commonly called black Friday will start early this year at 8pm Thursday evening Thanksgiving day!!!! All the TV stations, CNN too has ads stating shopping starts early this year at 8pm Thursday evening with Sears leading the way along with Kmart!!
     
    You can imagine all the stores will follow suit as they are all open to making money and hiring more people to handle the shopping season through the end of this year!! I did speak to the manager at Walmart where I once worked and he said they too will start at 8pm on Thursday, but hourly, certain big dollar items will have a Posted sign stating when that item will go on sale!!! :yadayada: :happydance:
     
    So to me that sounds like lines forming outside the doors of these stores until that item goes on sale!!! Should this be the case and holds true people will be standing in different lines until Friday morning at 5am when the sale usually starts anyway at many stores!!!
     
    Sounds to me if you happen to be in the market to purchase a giant 70 to 80 inch flat screen TV you will find yourself shopping until you drop!!
     
    Have fun everybody and happy Thanksgiving to you all!! :Argh:
  22. fking
    Until now I had not ever heard of this Title or a kind of storm with snow like this, I guess but what it is for this part of the country is pain and suffering!! I hope the ones affected take all precautions possible to prevent loss of life!! We have talked about this kind of conditions happenings about every 50 to 100 years in different parts of the United States and other place around the world!!!
     
    It's a very sad time for people this time of the year with Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year just ahead of us!!!! We have to think and believe it can't hold us down for long it's just temporary in nature!!
     
    However we start to wonder how the weather will be for the holidays around the country? You know we tease and hear it announced all the time about the snow birds going south to Florida for the winter while others head out to Arizona!! No matter the severity of the hurricanes we never hear about the Floridians going up north during the hurricane season they suffer through year after year!!!!! They stay put time after time from what little I know which is one reason when a mandatory evacuation order is given for big hurricanes only a hand full will leave!!!
     
    I have driven through Arizona when the big-big dust or sand storms are raging and I stopped every time in a safe place like a Walmart parking lot until it was over!!! On the other hand I have driven through Phoenix with the sun shining bright going north to Flagstaff and run into snow so deep the highway patrols require you to put on snow chains!!!! If you didn't have them there was a guy on the side selling them at twice the price you would normally pay!!
     
    I bet there are members here that know exactly what I'm talking about!! You always carried snow chains in your trunk year round otherwise you would never be allowed to go past Donna summit going to Reno, NV from California!!!!
     
    I miss those traveling days but when I think of them now it brings back great memories of when I was more able to travel in my motor home and enjoy life!!! I remember like it was yesterday the gas was 97 cent a gallon and I had an 80 gallon tank!!!! "Those were the days"!! Now my travels are to New Orleans and maybe to Fort Benning Georgia for reunions of the pistol shooting team members!!!
     
    It's so much better to think of and remember the good times we had back in the days!!! When I think about those times considering how things has changed everywhere, the times now are really not that bad in my case!!! I guess the memories last a long time so many of you will remember Nor'easter for sure like a high tide and another heavy snow fall at your doors!!!!!!! Be good, if you can't then be careful!!!
  23. fking
    Wouldn't it be boring if we had no worries in life???? Think of how much time we would have on our hands and a mind that is free of worries in life!! Really can you just imagine life with no worries??? I bet that kind of person would live a long life like the guy in the bible did (Methuliser) I don't know how to spell his name nor at this moment where to find it in my bible!!!
     
    That's boring, I got no worry because if you read this blog you get my drift!! Reminds me of some of those Clint Eastwood classic movies he made long time ago!! Anyway life is what you make it out to be and we shouldn't worry but leave that to God, what can we do about a worry anyway!!
     
    Can we make it rain today? Can we make it cooler tomorrow?? No we can't but we can get in a swimming pool or the shower and sing, no I can't sing either!!! No we can't make it cooler but we can turn on a fan or the AC! Our powers are very limited when we really think about it at all!!!
     
    Think about this!!! Can any one human being or one electoral vote elect a president??? The answer is no, no, and no again!!!! Can you imagine for an hour or one minute how many people are worried right now who will be president tomorrow???? Well, I'm one that is not worried, it's nothing I can do by myself to change the outcome anyway!!!
     
    I have been getting messages all morning telling me to get out and vote, well I already did early last week!!! But to worry about something like that, no way!! I can imagine many Americans are on pins and needles holding their breaths!!! We should have a few more deaths tomorrow don't you know??? The funeral homes will be smiling all the way to the banks!!!
     
    OK, enough of that stuff but just don't worry yourselves about something you can't control!!! If you are reading this and you are a Survivor then only you can control your recovery process in how much or little you get back!! IF YOU ARE A CARE GIVER you can't control how much a survivor gets back in their recovery but you worry if they don't get back what you feel they should!!! In fact you are ready to leave them alone!!!
     
    That won't solve them getting back any more or less, ain't it funny (to me) how we worry about things we have no control over and we still do it everyday then wonder why our hair is turning gray!!!! It makes Miss Clairol happy she can sell more hair dye in all colors too!!!
     
    One Sunday I was in church and the Mission Choir was in the choir stand, they are the older ladies, moms, grand moms, great grand moms, you know the type!!! Well as I was listening to them sang it hit me..."No one had gray hair, no one looked that young"!!! I guess they all had on wigs or dyed their hair!!!
     
    Obviously they were worried about how they looked not how they sang or sounded to the members in the congregation!!! But then aren't we all worried in some way about how we look??? We had guess preachers visiting and sitting in the pulpit right there in front of them so just maybe some were looking for soul mates??
     
    Well, I never worry about how I look or what I got on so long as nothing is showing that shouldn't be because there is nothing I can do about what my mom and dad did to make me like I am today!!!!!! How one look is in the eye of the beholder anyway!!!!
     
    Popeye still loves his girlfriend (Olive Oil) and will eat a can of spinach to get strong and protect her too!!!!
    He ain't worried!!!!!
  24. fking
    This Sandy storm has come and gone but not without unusual destruction in several states leaving so many homeless, some changing to another hospital, and still many others not really knowing what they will do next! Hard decisions must be made in many cases on where will I live next, rebuild and start over, or stay with family or friends????
     
    Having to make decisions like this is very hard on any person especially when they have lived much of their lives where they are now but staying there is no longer possible! Some lost their cars while others who needs their jobs had to walk since the trains and subway are not operating yet! That makes this storm the most devastating in that area since 1888 as reported on the new TV!
     
    On the other hand this is my first time seeing snow, this much water being pushed from the ocean, and wide spread damage in this many states all at once this late in the hurricane season this year! It reminded me so much of Katrina when my wife lost her dad while trying to be transferred to a different living facility long before it made landfall that late August morning and they didn't recover his body until early February!
     
    The really hard part for many of these people is deciding should they stay, rebuild or move to another part of that city! For some they may want to move to higher ground where flooding wouldn't be a big factor! That's a choice each family or person has to consider especially when that has been their homestead for so long!
     
    Me being in the Army for 22 years and having to move and relocate every three years or so, it is much easier for me to make a move including overseas stations! Since I retired in 1979 I have only moved twice and been in this location since 1986, some 26 years or so and have no plans to buy another house in my life time!!
     
    I see on the weather channel another storm is trying to form and with that we just don't know!!!!!!!!!!!
     
    I continue to send my prayers for all those affected, I know the feelings, so my prayers are with all of them in whatever decision they choose!! We can't forget those who lost their lives in this storm, may they rest in peace!!!!!! God bless all our members here and our future members soon to come!!!!!!
  25. fking

    After The Storm

    By fking,

    We all know the storm has passed most of our areas and maybe back out to sea by now but the damage she left in her wake is very visible! I can only imagine the number of prayers said during the raging storms travel to the place it made the left turn and hit NJ, NY, and the other states in her path! Much damage was seen from beginning to end as was predicted!
     
    We must be grateful the number of lives lost was minimal considering the power this storm carried as predicted! The rescues I feel were a big part of the reason many more lives were saved including the babies being evacuated from the hospitals and carried to safety plus the elder persons in chairs unable to get to shelters on their own! Far as I know or heard in the news not one baby life was lost that's a true blessing in itself thanks to the many first responders again!
     
    Some of them lost their own homes while helping others in putting their jobs first so we owe them many thanks and prayers! Without communities working together nothing can ever get done by just a couple people when this type of situation presents itself! All of them were the super heroes in my mind! There were many ambulance drivers and attendants carrying the babies to safety hours after hours without losing one child!
     
    Now we can only hope the power is restored in due time by the many power companies coming from many other states to the relief of the local power company to perform dangerous work only they know how it should be done to avoid lost of life! We depend on electrical power for so many things to be operational and without it we can't even make phone calls on cell phones to see if people are OK!
     
    I think today we will know if any of our members here were affected by the storm from Florida to Maine!