Marcia's Live Journal

08:07 am - questions and answers

taken from Draven


1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favourite Film:
5. Favourite Song or Album:
6. Favourite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favourite memory of us?
14. What is your favourite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favourite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

Current Mood: bored

12:20 pm - taken from draven :)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Post a picture in my comments of what you think describes me when you think about what/who I am.
Give no written explanation though. Just an image.
Macros are ok :)

Copy and paste into your own journal and see what others think about you in pictures!

Current Mood: blah

08:46 am

I know I haven't been around here..well much at all in MONTHS. I just don't seem to have the time or energy lately. I was really happy with my job and then on Friday they handed out new production standards starting in July. Now I have worked my butt off to stay at "gold" since I started. And the production starting in July..I will be barely making "bronze". Thats a HUGE difference..4 point jump up. Thats four more claims a hour we have to do. It might not sound like a lot..but it is. This is going to make a huge difference money wise. Because of the bonuses... I'm seriously having to reconsider if I can afford to keep driving to Visalia for work.

I did get a new laptop last week. I shouldn't have spent the money..it was my bonus plus my government refund check that paid for it. But my imac was on its last leg. Honestly every time I turned it off.. I didn't think it would come back on. The internet is the only way I keep in touch with my family...so I would have been really lost without it. I've gotten pretty homesick lately. And they are the only ones that bring a smile to my face sometimes.

Well anyway, I just wanted to stop by and post since I think October was the last time I posted in my journal. I keep saying I'm going to get better at it. But don't do it.

Current Mood: frustrated

07:10 pm - A fellow Duranie needs your help...

Some of you might know her from several message boards. Last night, there was a fire at Suz's house. Everyone made it out safely and is fine. I don't have all the details, but it started in the kitchen. They lost pretty much everything. As soon as I know more, I will post it.

In the meantime, if you would like to help out, please leave a message here for the info. Thanks to Rho and Wendy, who so graciously set up a paypal account and are accepting donations of clothes, etc. They are also going to go see Suz later in the week to take her some things. Again, if you can help out, please ask for me for the paypal account.

Let's keep Suz and her family in our thoughts and prayers.

Current Mood: sad

07:12 pm - sometimes its fun to be naughty!

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! In August I stole sundgirl's purse (-30 points). In September I farted in an elevator (-6 points). Last week I broke happywife84's X-Box (-12 points). In July I put gum in dravens_haven's hair (-12 points). In January I turned frannie12 in for tearing the tag off a mattress (3 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-57 points). For Christmas I deserve a moldy sandwich! Sincerely, lovinglebon

Current Mood: bored

07:37 am - What Do You Have To Say? - Music: My First Favorite Band

10:18 am - Listen to this!

Current Mood: accomplished

07:13 am

Create your own Friend Quiz here

05:57 am - Sounds good! LOL

Current Mood: sleepy

07:02 am

Current Mood: bored

05:16 pm - doll maker..

i know its not GREAT..but its my first try at it.

Current Mood: artistic

11:12 am - tickets

well its two weeks away!!  i can't believe its actually that close already!!  agh!! LOL  ok i want to know if you all will gather together and ask your friends, coworkers and family to donate to the cause... i read rebeccas last blog and cried. she had to go back to the emergancy room.  i can't stress how serious this is. if we all ask everybody we know for $15 for ticket sales and buy them ourselves.. we can will call them..and then if we do happen to have a miracle and sell out we can resale the tickets and make more money for rebecca. so PLEASE ask everybody you know.  i know its embarrassing to ask coworkers and friends for money...but how about copying rebeccas last blog into a email and sending it out and asking for donations that way.  here is her latest blog from myspace.

What a week
What a week this has been. Bless Karen, she's been keeping an eye on things for me because I've just been unable.

Part of that feeding tube finally came out. That's good, but it was painful enough for me to lose consciousness. I'll have to have more testing and all of that good stuff. Fluids, antibiotics, pain meds, blood...you name it. To top it all off, I fell and sprained my right ankle! Ugh.

know that a lot of people haven't heard of gastroparesis.  We never heard of it until my diagnosis in October of '04.  I've made the offer that if anyone has a question, I'll do my best to answer it for them, or find someone who can.

I've been chatting and emailing an 80+ year old for some time.  She finally started asking me questions about it.  Basically, she wanted to know why I said it was so awful when it only affects my stomach(gastro).  That to me was a fair question, but one from someone who's obviously never had a lingering illness of any sort - and I'm thankful she hasn't.

Here's what I told her: I started out with the yes, you're right.  Gastro Paresis translates to Paralysis of the stomach.  Here's the problem with that, though.  With GP, you can't eat.  If you're lucky enough to take in some solid foods, it's never more than a couple of bites, and you usually get violently sick(vomit) within 30 minutes of eating.  A key symptom of GP is getting sick first thing in the morning.  I've neraly choked because of it.  That's a scary thought.

Our bodies depend on food for so many things.  When you get to where you can't take in food...well...here's just some of the things that I've found have happened:  Bleeding stomach ulcers - my stomach muscles don't move, so food and such would sit in there way longer than it should have, and caused more damage than in someone who's stomach does work.  These ulcers have resulted in me having blood transfusions, and the risks there are astronomical.

Chronic sickness or getting violently sick(multiple times per day every day) I've found these problems with those:  Dental problems...the acid eats through the enamel on your teeth.  Sore throats, pulled muscles, broken rib, tears in esophagus and stomach lining, weakness, fatigue.

Your vital signs change:  the lower my weight got...the bigger the changes.  The lowest my blood pressure was...60 something over 40 something.  One night, they even had to give me a shot into my heart.  Luckily, I don't remember, Steven told me.  My pulse stays around 120 - 130...even while sitting.  Is this good for my heart?  No.

Decreased food/liquid intake causes lower output of urine...leaving doctors to wonder about organ failure, and running the risk of urinary tract infections.

Then there's the whole emotional state.  You don't know what's going to set it off, you try to be prepared, but...You see people look at you're some kind of hideous monster or they look at you with such an air of pity...You lose interest in doing things you've loved(like with me, my beading and cross stitching have been put on hold)  You get irritable.

Also with GP, a complication can be pancreatitis.  Your stomach gets inflamed/aggravated, and your pancreas is right behind it, and they touch.  Pancreatitis is horrifically painful, and it makes you just as violently sick as GP.  Your pancreas creates insulin, so then you run the risk of that production getting screwed up and all of the complications with that.

Then there's your colon.  Food not going into the stomach, means no food and such going through the intestines.  The slower this process is, the worse of a risk of you becoming "impacted".  That is NOT a good thing, and is very dangerous on so many levels.

So, you see, even though it's my stomach that's paralyed...it directly affects all these things I've mentioned, and I'm sure that's not everything.  That is why it's so important that we try to get attention drawn to this disease.  Research desperately needs to be done.

And I know that some may be aggravated with us constantly reposting about the benefit concert.  Without this gastric pacemaker, I'll die.  I'm 32 years old, and still have a lot I want to get accomplished.  With all of your help, I'm making progress.  Please, help us with that too.  Even if you can't make the concert...if you can spare the price of a ticket, it still gets turned over to the benefit fund.  If you can make it to the concert...go and have fun.  It will RAWK!!  *hugs*  ~B~

so please come together and ask everybody you know to buy a ticket or to give you the money to do it!!!   i know we can make this a sucess..and we have two weeks to do it!

Current Mood: determined

09:14 am - Rebecca Benefit Concert!!

Current Mood: accomplished

06:42 pm

well its happening!! i have a official line up now...

lylah
mannequin (or young americans)
sink to see
crash
curious
rome to paris
clear static

just waiting to hear back tyler on which band him and michael are going to be playing as. and then contracts are going out..and then we can promote the thing like crazy!!! everybody is playing 30 minutes except for clear static..they are playing 45.

Current Mood: accomplished

08:51 am - FRUSTRATED!!

ok i was all excited about this interview..and i just got a call saying that the person that is doing the interviewing is sick. so im dressed up with no interview!! damn!!! they are going to call next week and reset up the interview. i really want it. so now i have to wait a week just for the interview!

AGGGGGGGH!

Current Mood: frustrated

07:02 am - going to SF

ok all of u know that i have been stressing over work... well lack of work. and i know that i was getting close to depression. well things looked up a little yesterday.. i applied at like 5 different places for office work, which is really what i want. and i applied at a store that does UPS services. so that brought my spirits up a little...now i just have to hope they all call!! lol

AND... i found out that i will be able to afford to go to SF this weekend. i won't have alot to spend..but at least i can go! i need to hang out with my fellow JCAers. steph u will be missed!!

and robin... i have been posting about requesting our boys and the key club like crazy. and i called KROQ alot yesterday. sure they were sick of me! LOL ill call tonight!! determined to help them in anyway i can!

ok i need to get up and go feed my dogs.

Current Mood: hopeful