Karen L. Syed's Blog, page 6

Sodium: the Silent Killer

I recently reposted an article by heart transplant recipient Bob Aronson. With my impending inclusion on the transplant list, I am trying to be as careful as I can with my food and nutrition intakes. I did a little bit of research and these are some of the things I found that are either classified as “heart healthy” or “low sodium.”

Keep in mind that you should keep your sodium intake below 2300 mg a day (2000 if you have heart troubles like me.)

So here are ten restaurants that offer one of the options mentioned above. Oh, and this is just what I found within ten miles of my zip code. Where can you eat healthy in your area?

1. Longhorn Steakhouse offers a “sodium savvy” Grilled Chicken Salad (Lunch and Dinner) that contains a mere 720 mg of sodium

2. Olive Garden offers a “Healthy Dining” option of Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (Dinner Portion). Only 710 calories, 22 g of fat, 94 carbs, and a mere 1340 mg of sodium Healthy? Really?

3. Chili’s has been kind enough to offer a Caribbean Chicken Salad that has only 440 calories. Not bad, but kinda hopeless when you include the 1050 mg of sodium and the 65 carbs. Keep in mind this does not include the dressing.

4. Denny’s has got to be kidding. But there Cranberry Apple Chicken Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette is no joke. With 530 calories, you also get 21 g of fat, 1450 mg of sodium, and only 49 carbs. Did I mention that this is on the “Sodium Savvy” menu?

5. Red Lobster (my favorite place in the world to eat) gets kudos for keeping the calories down on thier “Heart Healthy” menu, but gets a good smack for the rest. Take their Grilled Peppercorn Sirloin and Shrimp (Lunch and Dinner) for example. Only 520 calories with mashed potatoes, but 20 g of fat, 28 carbs, and 1940 mg of sodium. Sigh…

6. Outback has obviously gone insane. While most of their “sodium savvy” selections are under 550 mg of sodium, I was floored by the Chicken Tortilla Soup (Bowl). While low in calories, they managed to squeeze in 1670 mg of sodium. Have you people lost your minds?

7. Hooters made me blush. I just realized that the owl’s eyes look like boobs. Oh, never mind. I was shocked to see that one order of Steamed Shrimp is only 230 calories and gloriously free of carbs. However, it shocks the senses with 1500 mg of sodium, and this is sans butter and sauce. You get to add extra for those.

8. Salad Creations was tempting us with their heart healthy choices until we actually looked at what we could get. I know we will NOT be getting the Jr. Classic Salad: Greekalicious. Not with its 1320 mg of sodium and 16 carbs. It’s a JUNIOR salad for cripe’s sake. Oh, and you don’t get any dressing in that count.

9. Boston Market has such great potential with their skinless chicken and turkey meals, but their Roasted Turkey Breast Meal (regular portion) doesn’t really do the job with its 1600 mg of sodium, 18 fat, and 42 carbs. Seriously?

10. Au bon pain has a lovely little Grilled Chicken Sandwich, once you get past the 12 g of fat, 55 carbs, and 1890 mg of sodium.

For those of you who really care about your health, but still want to eat out, there are a number of app you can download to check the nutirtional stats of what you love. My personal favorite is Grant Roberts Unified Lifestyle Restaurant Apps.

I challenge each of you reading this to find out what your favorite restaurant meals are really feeding you. Tell us here what your favorite restaurant meal is and the nutrition facts.

We Are Killing Our Own Organs — 30 Worst Foods, 100 Best.

The key to solving the shortage of transplantable organs is to eliminate the demand for them.

“We have met the enemy and he is us,” has become a trite expression but that doesn’t make it any less true.  We are our own worst enemies.   The numbers are staggering.  We are killing ourselves in four ways:

We drink too much alcohol
We smoke too much
We eat too much of the wrong food

Let’s look at he facts.

22.5% are current smokers, resulting in significant health problems and associated costs.
8.5% of Americans abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent,.
 Approximately 30.4% of adults in the United States are obese,

The estimated annual medical expenditures associated with alcohol abuse total $26.3 billion.  Organs most commonly affected are the lungs, kidneys, pancreas, heart and liver.

Second,  smoking.  Medical costs caused by cigarette smoking exceed $75 billion a year.  According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and causes many diseases. Cigarette smoking remains the single most-common preventable cause of death in the United States,  The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for more than 440,000 deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths, each year in the United States.

Finally obesity combined with eating the wrong foods.  A good number of these people experience some organ failure.  The direct medical costs for obesity have been approximated at $51.6 billion per year. The organs most often affected are the heart, kidneys and pacnreas.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PictureOfHealth/story?id=4286176&page=1

This blog is about preventing organ failure  and one way to do that is to be a little more careful about how much we eat and what we decide to consume.   There are two lists here, 1) the worst foods and 2) the best foods.

Top 30 Worst Foods in America (from Food Matters -  Note from Bob’s Newheart.  While Food Matters lists 30 I am only listing ten.  You can click on their link for the rest of the story)

Today’s food marketers have loaded many of their offerings with so much fat, sugar, and sodium that eating any of the foods in this article on a daily basis could destroy all your hard work and best intentions of eating healthy. Beware! This list is brought to you by Eat This Not That and Men’s Health.

http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/the-30-worst-foods-in-america-beware

1. Worst Meal in America

Carl’s Jr. Six Dollar Guacamole Bacon Burger with Medium Natural Cut Fries and 32-oz Coke

1,810 calories – 92 g fat (29.5 g saturated, 2 g trans) – 3,450 mg sodium

Of all the gut-growing, heart-threatening, life-shortening burgers in the drive-thru world, there is none whose damage to your general well-being is as potentially catastrophic as this. A bit of perspective is in order: This meal has the caloric equivalent of 9 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnuts, the saturated fat equivalent of 30 strips of bacon, and the salt equivalent of 10 large orders of McDonald’s French fries!

2. Worst Drink

Baskin-Robbins Large Chocolate Oreo Shake

2,600 calories – 135 g fat (59 g saturated, 2.5 g trans) – 1,700 mg sodium – 263 g sugars

We didn’t think anything could be worse than Baskin-Robbins’ 2008 bombshell, the Heath Bar Shake. After all, it had more sugar (266 grams) than 20 bowls of Froot Loops, more calories (2,310) than 11 actual Heath Bars, and more ingredients (73) than you’ll find in most chemistry sets. Yet the folks at Baskin-Robbins have shown that when it comes to making America fat, they’re always up to the challenge. The large Chocolate Oreo Shake is soiled with more than a day’s worth of calories and 3 days’ worth of saturated fat. Worst of all, it takes less than 10 minutes to sip through a straw.

3. Worst Ribs

Outback Steakhouse Baby Back Ribs

2,580 calories

Let’s be honest: Ribs are rarely served alone on a plate. When you add a sweet potato and Outback’s Classic Wedge Salad, this meal is a 3,460-calorie blowout. (Consider that it takes only 3,500 calories to add a pound of fat to your body. Better plan for a very, very long “walkabout” when this meal is over!)

4. Worst Pizza

Uno Chicago Grill Classic Deep Dish Individual Pizza

2,310 calories – 165 g fat (54 g saturated) – 4,920 mg sodium – 120 g carbs

The problem with deep dish pizza (which Uno’s knows a thing or two about, since they invented it back in 1943) is not just the extra empty calories and carbs from the crust, it’s that the thick doughy base provides the structural integrity to house extra heaps of cheese, sauce, and greasy toppings. The result is an individual pizza with more calories than you should eat in a day and more sodium than you would find in 27 small bags of Lays Potato Chips. Oh, did we mention it has nearly 3 days’ worth of saturated fat, too? The key to success at Uno’s lies in their flatbread pizza.

5. Worst Mexican Dish

Chili’s Fajita Quesadillas Beef with Rice and Beans, 4 Flour Tortillas, and Condiments

2,240 calories – 92 g fat (43.5 g saturated) – 6,390 mg sodium – 253 g carbs

Since when has it ever been a smart idea to combine 2 already calorie- and sodium-packed dishes into one monstrous meal? This confounding creation delivers nearly a dozen Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnuts worth of calories, the sodium equivalent of 194 saltine crackers, and the saturated fat equivalent of 44 strips of bacon. Check please.

6. Worst Seafood Dish

Romano’s Macaroni Grill Parmesan Crusted Sole

2,190 calories – 141 g fat (58 g saturated) – 2,980 mg sodium – 145 g carbs

Fish is normally a safe bet, but this entrée proves that it’s all in the preparation. If you fry said fish in a shell of cheese, be prepared to pay the consequences. Here that means meeting your daily calorie, fat, saturated fat, and sodium intake in one sitting.

7. Worst Chinese Dish

P.F. Chang’s Combo Lo Mein

1,968 calories – 96 g fat (12 g saturated) – 5,860 mg sodium

Lo mein is normally looked at as a side dish, a harmless pile of noodles to pad your plate of orange chicken or broccoli beef. This heaping portion (to be fair, Chang’s does suggest diners share an order) comes spiked with chicken, shrimp, beef, and pork, not to mention an Exxon Valdez-size slick of oil. The damage? A day’s worth of calories, 1 ½ days’ worth of fat, and 2 ½ days’ worth of sodium. No meat-based dish beats out the strip.

8. Worst Appetizer

On the Border Firecracker Stuffed Jalapenos with Chili con Queso

1,950 calories – 134 g fat (36 g saturated) – 6,540 mg sodium

Appetizers are the most problematic area of most chain-restaurant menus. That’s because they’re disproportionately reliant on the type of cheesy, greasy ingredients that catch hungry diners’ eyes when they’re most vulnerable—right when they sit down. Seek out lean protein options like grilled shrimp skewers or ahi tuna when available; if not, simple is best—like chips and salsa.

9. Worst Burger

Chili’s Smokehouse Bacon Triple Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

1,901 calories – 138 g fat (47 g saturated) – 4,201 mg sodium

Any burger whose name is 21 syllables long is bound to spell trouble for your waistline. This burger packs almost an entire day’s worth of calories and 2 ½ days’ worth of fat. Chili’s burger menu rivals Ruby Tuesday’s for the worst in America, so you’re better off with one of their reasonable Fajita Pitas to silence your hunger.

10. Worst Sandwich

Quizno’s Large Tuna Melt

1,760 calories – 133 g fat (26 g saturated, 1.5 g trans) – 2,120 mg sodium

In almost all other forms, tuna is a nutritional superstar, so how did it end up as the headliner for America’s Worst Sandwich? Blame an absurdly heavy hand with the mayo the tuna is mixed with, along with Quiznos’ larger-than-life portion sizes. Even though they’ve managed to trim this melt down from the original 2,000-plus calorie mark when we first tested it, it still sits squarely at the bottom of the sandwich ladder.

Now you know what to avoid, and we urge you to click on the Food Matters link to read the whole list.  So, if you can’t eat any of the aforementioned items what do you eat?  There’s plenty to choose from.   Health Life lists 100 and you can read them all by clicking on their link. Here are their top ten.

http://www.dwlz.com/HealthyLife/healthy50.html

THE 100 HEALTHIEST FOODS

Fruit

Fat/Calorie Breakdown

Body Benefits

(1) Apples
1 medium apple:

81 calories, 0 g fat
An apple’s 3 g of fiber help you meet your fiber goal of 20 g to 30 g daily.  High-fiber diets can lower heart disease risk.


(2) Apricots
3 apricots:

51 calories, 0 g fat
A good source of beta-carotene (which is converted to vitamin A by the body), providing the equivalent of 35% of the RDA for vitamin A


(3) Bananas
1 medium:

105 calories, 0 g fat
Bananas are a great source of potassium, which plays a key role in heart health and muscle function.  Plus each one has 2 g of fiber.


(4) Blackberries
1 cup:

74 calories, 0 g fat
This fruit boasts a whopping 10 g of fiber in a single cup.


(5) Blueberries
1 cup:

81 calories, 0 g fat
Blueberries help prevent and treat bladder infections by making it hard for bacteria to stick to urinary tract walls.


(6) Cantaloupe
1 cup, cubed:

84 calories, 1 g fat
An antioxidant double whammy, with 68 mg of vitamin C and enough beta-carotene to cover 65% of your daily vitamin A quota.


(7) Cherries
1 cup:

84 calories, 1 g fat
A good source of perillyl alcohol, which helps prevent cancer in animals.  Heart-protective anthocyanins give cherries their color.


(8) Cranberry

juice
1 cup:

144 calories, 0 g fat
Fights bladder infections the same way blueberries do.


(9) Grapefruits
1/2 fruit:

39 calories, 0 g fat
A good source of vitamin C and a compound called naringenin, which helps suppress tumors in animals.


(10) Purple grapes

and juice
1 cup seedless:

113 calories, 9 g fat
Offer three heart-guarding compounds:  flavonoids, anthocyanins and resveratrol.  (Green grapes are not rich in them)

If you insist on eating meat there are some good choices you can make…we’ll jump ahead on the list to give you a sneak preview.

74) Beef
3 oz, cooked:

150 to 280 calories,

5 g to 20 g fat
Beef is a good source of both CLA and iron, but since it’s also high in saturated fat, have it no more than three times a week.


(75) Chicken,

without skin
3 oz, cooked:

162 calories, 6 g fat
Remove the skin and you’ve got an excellent, low fat source of protein.  And 3 oz provides 38% of the RDA for the B vitamin niacin.


(76) Lamb
3 oz, cooked, trimmed

of fat:

175 calories, 8 g fat
Lamb, like beef, is also a good source of CLA.  Ditto beef’s saturated fat warning and weekly consumption recommendation.


(77) Lean

pork
3 oz, cooked, trimmed

of fat:

140 calories, 4 g fat
Fat-trimmed pork tenderloin has one-third less fat than even lean beef.  And it boasts 71% of the RDA for thiamine.

If Healthy Life doesn’t offer you enough good food ideas, here are some other excellent resources for you to peruse.

http://tinyurl.com/lcmlalt
http://tinyurl.com/lqg7ce8
http://tinyurl.com/k2zzypk
http://tinyurl.com/m9ojjbx

Bob Aronson of Bob’s Newheart is a 2007 heart transplant recipient, the founder of Facebook’s nearly 3,000 member Organ Transplant Initiative and the author of most of these donation/transplantation blogs.

You may comment in the space provided or email your thoughts to me at bob@baronson.org. And – please spread the word about the immediate need for more organ donors. There is nothing you can do that is of greater importance. If you convince one person to be an organ and tissue donor you may save or positively affect over 60 lives. Some of those lives may be people you know and love.

Please view our new music video “Dawn Anita The Gift of Life” on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYFFJoHJwHs .  This video is free to anyone who wants to use it and no permission is needed. 

If you want to spread the word personally about organ donation, we have another PowerPoint slide show for your use free and without permission. Just go to  http://www.organti.org  and click on “Life Pass It On” on the left side of the screen and then just follow the directions. This is NOT a stand-alone show; it needs a presenter but is professionally produced and factually sound. If you decide to use the show I will send you a free copy of my e-book, “How to Get a Standing “O” that will help you with presentation skills. Just write to  bob@baronson.org  and usually you will get a copy the same day.

Also…there is more information on this blog site about other donation/transplantation issues. Additionally we would love to have you join our Facebook group, Organ Transplant Initiative The more members we get the greater our clout with decision makers.

En Espanol

Puede comentar en el espacio proporcionado o por correo electrónico sus pensamientos a mí en bob@baronson.org. Y – por favor, difundir la palabra acerca de la necesidad inmediata de más donantes de órganos. No hay nada que puedas hacer lo que es de mayor importancia. Si usted convence a una persona de ser donante de órganos y tejidos puede salvar o afectar positivamente a más de 60 vidas. Algunas de esas vidas pueden ser personas que conoces y amas.

Por favor, consulte nuestro nuevo video musical “Dawn Anita The Gift of Life” en https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYFFJoHJwHs YouTube. Este video es libre para cualquier persona que quiera usarlo y no se necesita permiso.

Si quieres correr la voz acerca de la donación de órganos personalmente, tenemos otra presentación de PowerPoint para su uso libre y sin permiso. Sólo tienes que ir a http://www.organti.org y haga clic en “Life Pass It On” en el lado izquierdo de la pantalla y luego sólo tienes que seguir las instrucciones. Esto no es un espectáculo independiente, sino que necesita un presentador pero es profesionalmente producida y sonido hechos. Si usted decide usar el programa le enviaré una copia gratuita de mi libro electrónico, “Cómo obtener un pie” O “que le ayudará con habilidades de presentación. Sólo tiene que escribir a bob@baronson.org y por lo general usted recibirá una copia del mismo día.

Además … hay más información sobre este sitio de blogs sobre otros donación / trasplante temas. Además nos encantaría que te unas a nuestro grupo de Facebook, la Iniciativa de Trasplante de Órganos Cuantos más miembros que obtenemos mayor será nuestra influencia con los tomadores de decisiones.

The Cloning of Solomon Hays: A Beginner’s Guide to Genealogy

Click Cover to BUY for Kindle!

I wasn’t sure what to think when I decided to read this book. I have been tracing my roots for a very long time and I don’t seem to be learning anything. At least I wasn’t. I was also frustrated with books claiming to be help guides, but only touch on the most basic things and mostly irrelevant.

Since buying this book I have added an entire branch to my tree that had previously been tormenting me with its elusiveness.

Ms. Collins opened up doors for me regarding things I should have known, but didn’t. Her down to earth style of writing is more like having a pleasant conversation with her than reading a book. She gives you the facts, then backs it up with practical experience. She explains important things in a manner that any beginning tree climber can understand and offers useful information for people who have been at it for a while but need more guidance.

I didn’t find any slow spots and I even figured out how to highlight and bookmark on my Kindle so I could refer back to things. I think the best thing about this book is that it made learning fun and it had earned its retail price before I even got half way through.

I strongly encourage newbies and even others like me who have some skill under their belt, but need to fine tune it, to add this book to their library. I have read several other books on this subject that were so dry I could not even finish them. But this is going in my book log of favorites right along with my W. Daniel Quillen titles.

Thank you, Ms. Collins for a delightfully educational guidebook.

Where were they?

As I delve deeper into my family history, I have come to the conclusion that places are going to kill me. Well, not places so much as how they are recognized and what is where. As I look at records, I see a bunch of different words that I thought meant the same thing, but turns out they mean their own thing. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.

As a courtesy to those of you newbies to the genealogy world, I have made you a little cheat sheet. I basically did some geographical homework for you. Below is what I managed to figure out.

How can this help you? I have found that what an area was called has given me insight as to what the life of that family might have been like. I think it might make more sense when you have finished reading this.

A county is a large area that handles the smaller towns, cities, villages, etc., within its jurisdiction. This includes most of the legalities involved with the operation of the smaller entities. The legal middleman, if you will, between state and local.

A city is a pretty big permanent settlement. Although there is nothing carved in stone on how to tell a city from a town, a lot of cities have a specific administrative, legal, or historical status based on the law of the area. Take Massachusetts (a state); an article of incorporation gives approval by the state legislature that determines a city government from a town. In the UK, a city is usually a settlement with a royal charter.

A town is a place where people live. They are larger than villages, but smaller than cities. Each country may define its own guidelines for these classifications. In the USA we have small towns. In the UK the same size place would be called villages. Then again, a small town in Britain might be considered a city in the USA.

A township is an area that might be urban, but in many places, such as Australia, Asia, and Canada it could be an area that is actually rural and outside more of a small town. While in Europe this term is more historical, it is still relevant to records and how certain places were referred to. Generally, a township is a step below a county, but can also be a municipality.

A village is a cluster of communities that serve specific types of inhabitants, especially with regard to agriculture. Villages are usually permanent, but have been known to travel. Without going into the definition of a hamlet, a village is smaller than a town and historically speaking a hamlet grew up to be a village when it got a church.

A borough is an area that, while it may consist of a higher population, is most recognized because it has its own local government. Boroughs are more often found in Europe, but a few areas in the USA have taken advantage of this, the most well-known being New York.

Tagged: definitions of places, genealogy, geography

That’s it. I admit it, I am a total slacker. It has been ...

That’s it. I admit it, I am a total slacker. It has been too long since I posted anything here, but I have a good reason. Well, for a while I was at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. I went to have an ablation to stop those pesky v-tach episoded. Well, that was not as successful as I’d like, but the meds I am taking seem to be working.

I also got a new ticker box–they upgraded my old pacemaker/defibrillator to a new bi-v device. I have three wires now in my chest instead of two…wooohooo! And if being in Boston for surgery wasn’t enough, I had surgery on the day of the bombing. My husband was actually in that block only an hour or so before the explosions. God sure is looking out for us.

So with all that going on, I fell behind in EVERYTHING. I have been working very hard to get caught up and that is my reason for not posting. I have, however, come up with five new story ideas that I will probaly never get written.

I sure do miss writing…

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today would have been my mom’s 70th birthday. She died five days ago. I’m not sure how the rest of you feel, but I Hhave some mixed emotions. Sounds crazy, huh?

My relationship with my mother has been strained, to say the least, but I discovered something recently. I don’t know if this is normal or not, but in the last week I learned that my childhood/life wasn’t so bad. My mother and I fought horribly and there was a tremendous amount of tension between us for as long as I can remember, but since last Saturday, I have remembered a whole lot of things that I had either forgotten or blocked–misplaced anger?

We used to live in this little itty bitty (and I mean garden shed small) house at the entrance to the trailer park where my grandparents lived. It was a duplex…I kid you not.  So, we had these two guys who lived in the other half and one of them worked at some kind of store and every so often he would bring home these boxes of Charms Pops, you remember the ones in the shiny-colored clear cellophane, and they would give them to my mom for me. She never said no.

Well, Christmas rolls around and our house is so small that we have no room for even a small artificial tree, but my mom was a fanatic for Christmas and refused to be held back. So I wake up on Christmas morning and there is this mound of presents for me and sitting on top of the stack is this 6 inch high Christmas tree statue–all my present under it. I was delighted.

I also remember when I turned 10 or so, she gave me the choice of where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner. She listed off some places and ended with “The Golden Arches.” She said it with so much awe that I thought it must be the most wonderful restaurant in the world. We got all dressed up in our very best clothes and we headed out. When we pulled ito the parking lot, I was shocked and then I just giggled and giggled. She was quite proud of herself and it was one of my best birthdays.

I hope that wherever your slippers are sitting right now, Mom, that you are at peace and that you know that I have always loved you, know matter what…I guess even I didn’t know how much

Refund Please!

My heart done been broke. I think I am done with the tests for today, but the results of everything have not been good. In fact, they have been bad. It seems that each doctor I see feels the need to give me more bad news.

Doctor #1: Monday’s – procedure went fine, no complications (except the gouge in my throat from the trach tube.) Bad news is, while we got numerous problem spots that are causing the arrhythmia, there are many more we cannot get to.

Doctor #2: We wiped out a lot of PVCs when we did the ablation, but the other spots causing PVCs cannot be ablated. This will continue to cause stress on your heart and we are putting you back on the meds you came here to get off of.

Doctor #3: Well, we really have no idea why your heart is in the horrible shape it is in, but we are going to do 1,234,487 more tests and hope we find something. Oh, and the little chunks of your heart we snipped out showed us nothing.

Doctor #4: Well, I know you have answered all these questions 2,349,345 times, but I need you to tell me now since I was not here. Blah blah blah, oh and by the way, you have two leaky valves…really leaky.

Doctor #5: You know what all the others have said and now you are going to talk to another doctor about a transplant.

Doctor #6: …no sign of him yet…

Good news though, the SWAT team finally left the hospital.

And how was your day?

Warranty Void?

And the hits just keep on coming. I won’t even go into the whole diet issue. I’ll skip right to the recall. That’s right folks; one of the wires on my ICD device (pacemaker/defibrillator) is on recall. Really? What am I, a Toyota? Then the doctor tells me to think of this as my 50,000 mile checkup. What, are doctors trained to read minds now? LOL

I also have a heart murmur. Did I mention that yesterday? I also have a left bundle branch block that is causing some issues. So Probably on Wednesday I get to go back into surgery, have my ICD taken out and a new one with a two original good wires and a new third wire. Woohoo. How excited am I?

They took me off the meds that were blocking the arrhythmia problems, and now that they are flushing it out, I am feeling those blips coming back. Set off my little alarm last night. Guess I just needed some attention. LOL

All in all this is good news, but I sure as hell don’t want to have to deal with all this. Hubby is being such a good guy. He is staying here in the hospital with me and I feel so bad that he is cooped up and not eager to leave me alone. He is the best husband ever.

What you DON’T get in a Cardiac Wing

Well, I am checked into the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Everyone has been really nice so far. I have received my IV…the tech was pretty good, she got it on the first try. That is a rarity for me, I am a tough stick.

Last night was a rough night, almost no sleep and lots of stressful worry. Hubby is being a real trooper, making every effort to keep me positive. Right now, positive bites! But I know things will be better once this is all done.

I think the worst part of any stay in the hospital is the diets. Being a cardiac/diabetic leaves me with minimal choices of multi-flavored cardboard. Still trying to figure out the logistics of sneaking in food. LOL

Yesterday was a nice day for me. My Aunt Susan, who lives nearby, picked us up at the airport and hung out with us for dinner at the hotel. It was the first time we’d seen each other since before I graduated high school. I really enjoyed the visit and hope we can spend a little more time together before we go home.

Did I mention I am scared? I really don’t like being scared and I don’t like not having control of my own life. I just hope when all is said and one, I get back the weird sense of normal I had before.

Well, the 80 mgs of Lasix are kicking in (I know, too much information) so I must close out. Updates to come later.

The Beginning of the Journey

Click Cover to Buy

When I woke up this morning, I had a notice about a new Blog post from one of the Blogs I subscribe to. That post was by Jenny Turner, who writes as J.R. Turner. Her Blog was entitled “The End of the Road.” I was going to respond on her Blog, but then I decided that I would do it here and toss in a few other things.

In her Blog, Jenny talks about the changes in her life. One of the things she mentions is the reversion of all her rights. Anyone who knows the situation, knows I was Jenny’s publisher. I have already had one person ask me what happened, why I reverted her rights to everything, like there was some horrible altercation or something. Let me be clear, I reverted Jenny’s rights because her contracts expired and she had previously embarked on her journey as a self-publisher. Jenny was with Echelon Press for nearly the entire time of its existance and she will always remain a part of its history, and a very important part.

Jenny is one of the most talented writers I have ever met. Her wit is sharp, her style is enchanting, and her ability is stunning. She tells a story almost as good as any writer I know. I sincerely hope that when she has reissued her works in her own venue that you will offer her the support she so richly deserves. If you have not read her work, you should, you will not be sorry!

I wanted to write this post to ensure Jenny and anyone who enjoys an awesome story knows that despite how Jenny described it, this is not the End of the Road for her, it is the beginning of an awesome journey.

Tagged: author, authors, books, ebooks, fiction, J.R. Turner, publishing, readers, Redemtion, sales, Self-publishing