The man I loved was in the hospital with cardiac problems. He would soon be on a heart transplant list. But we didn’t know it on that Superbowl Sunday. He was a big burly guy who enjoyed beer and football — and always watched “The Big Game’ — no matter…

I didn’t know on Feb. 7, 1964 that my life was going to change — but the next day it did.

Understanding Addiction It’s been less than an hour since I took my first dose of Oxycodone. I have constant pain in my right shoulder and down the arm — from a severely torn rotator cuff that may require a “reverse shoulder replacement.” …

I follow Shannon Ashley on Medium and this post really hit home: https://medium.com/honestly-yours/its-so-hard-to-talk-about-pain-d721abfd8e05 I’ve been dealing with pain for most of my adult life. It started when I was a young RN. In the 1960s-1970s there were few ways that patients were transferred from bed to stretcher or bed to…

Seriously… I have one I have an exploding head. Having one’s head explode by hearing or seeing something out of the normal has become a comic mannerism — putting both hands up to one’s head and making exploding gestures. But it’s a real syndrome and at first it can be…

My favorite Thanksgiving had no “real” turkey — maybe a huge turkey in a parade — but no turkey to eat. “You’re crazy to drive into New York on Thanksgiving…” I heard that for days before the holiday. “Everyone else will be driving in the opposite direction,” was my answer. …

I haven’t been writing on Medium as often as I did in the past. There’s a very good reason for that and you may discover it in the stext of this article. You see –I’m not ediing what I’ve written — all the mistakes and bad keystrokes are right her…

No one’s perfect; so why, at 75, am I still trying? I’m lying-in bed, trying to settle down enough to get asleep. But my brain keeps working overtime. I’ve made a list of things “to-do” the next day. …

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross identified the stages of grief as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I recently realized that I’ve gone through those stages as I grieve for Mitzi. Denial: This can’t be happening to me. I still think like I’m forty or maybe fifty. I’m not a forgetful old lady. I…