Loss of your spouse

“The death of a spouse or partner is different that other losses, in the sense that it literally changes every single thing in your world going forward

When your spouse dies, the way you eat changes

The way you watch TV changes

Your friend circle changes (or disappears entirely)

Your family dynamic/life changes (or disappears entirely)

You financial status changes

Your job situation changes

It effects your self-worth

Your self-esteem

Your confidence

Your rhythms

The way you breathe

Your mentality

Your brain functions (Ever heard the term ‘window brain?’ If you don’t know what that is, count yourself very lucky)

Your physical body

Your hobbies and interests

Your sense of security

Your sense of humor

Your sense of womanhood or manhood 

EVERY.

SINGLE.

THING.

CHANGES.

You are handed a new life that you never asked for and that you don’t particularly want. It is the hardest, most gut-wrenching, horrific, life-altering of things to live with.”

This article was re-posted on Facebook this past Sunday by a brother, shipmate, and friend for over five decades who lost his loving wife.

He is one of few friends that are grieving their loss – each are in our daily thoughts and prayers, as we ask God to help each of them the strength to get through this very difficult time. God bless each of you.

American Uprising

Sharing an excellent email

All the people who spoke up for Trump, sent emails, posted on Facebook, sent a check, or in whatever small way helped, you played a part in this great VICTORY.

Please pass this on so others can cheer for America.

AMERICAN UPRISING

by Daniel Greenfield

This wasn’t an election. It was a revolution.

It’s midnight in America. The day before fifty million Americans got up and stood in front of the great iron wheel that had been grinding them down. They stood there even though the media told them it was useless. They took their stand even while all the chattering classes laughed and taunted them.

They were fathers who couldn’t feed their families anymore. They were mothers who couldn’t afford health care. They were workers whose jobs had been sold off to foreign countries. They were sons who didn’t see a future for themselves. They were daughters afraid of being murdered by the “unaccompanied minors” flooding into their towns. They took a deep breath and they stood.

They held up their hands and the great iron wheel stopped.

The Great Blue Wall crumbled. The impossible states fell one by one. Ohio. Wisconsin. Pennsylvania. Iowa. The white working class that had been overlooked and trampled on for so long got to its feet. It rose up against its oppressors and the rest of the nation, from coast to coast, rose up with it.

They fought back against their jobs being shipped overseas while their towns filled with migrants that got everything while they got nothing. They fought back against a system in which they could go to jail for a trifle while the elites could violate the law and still stroll through a presidential election. They fought back against being told that they had to watch what they say. They fought back against being held in contempt because they wanted to work for a living and take care of their families.

They fought and they won.

This wasn’t a vote. It was an uprising. Like the ordinary men chipping away at the Berlin Wall, they tore down an unnatural thing that had towered over them. And as they watched it fall, they marveled at how weak and fragile it had always been. And how much stronger they were than they had ever known.

Who were these people? They were leftovers and flyover country. They didn’t have bachelor degrees and had never set foot in a Starbucks. They were the white working class. They didn’t talk right or think right. They had the wrong ideas, the wrong clothes and the ridiculous idea that they still mattered.

They were wrong about everything. Illegal immigration? Everyone knew it was here to stay. Black Lives Matter? The new civil rights movement. Manufacturing? As dead as the dodo. Banning Muslims? What kind of bigot even thinks that way? Love wins. Marriage loses. The future belongs to the urban metrosexual and his dot com, not the guy who used to have a good job before it went to China or Mexico.

They couldn’t change anything. A thousand politicians and pundits had talked of getting them to adapt to the inevitable future. Instead they got in their pickup trucks and drove out to vote.

And they changed everything.

Barack Hussein Obama boasted that he had changed America. A billion regulations, a million immigrants, a hundred thousand lies and it was no longer your America. It was his.

He was JFK and FDR rolled into one. He told us that his version of history was right and inevitable.

And they voted and left him in the dust. They walked past him and they didn’t listen. He had come to campaign to where they still cling to their guns and their bibles. He came to plead for his legacy.

And America said, “No.”

Fifty millions Americans repudiated him. They repudiated the Obamas and the Clintons. They ignored the celebrities. They paid no attention to the media. They voted because they believed in the impossible. And their dedication made the impossible happen.

Americans were told that walls couldn’t be built and factories couldn’t be opened. That treaties couldn’t be unsigned and wars couldn’t be won. It was impossible to ban Muslim terrorists from coming to America or to deport the illegal aliens turning towns and cities into gangland territories.

It was all impossible. And fifty million Americans did the impossible. They turned the world upside down.

It’s midnight in America. CNN is weeping. MSNBC is wailing. ABC calls it a tantrum. NBC damns it. It wasn’t supposed to happen. The same machine that crushed the American people for two straight terms, the mass of government, corporations and non-profits that ran the country, was set to win.

Instead the people stood in front of the machine. They blocked it with their bodies. They went to vote even though the polls told them it was useless. They mailed in their absentee ballots even while Hillary Clinton was planning her fireworks victory celebration. They looked at the empty factories and barren farms. They drove through the early cold. They waited in line. They came home to their children to tell them that they had done their best for their future. They bet on America. And they won.

They won improbably. And they won amazingly.

They were tired of ObamaCare. They were tired of unemployment. They were tired of being lied to. They were tired of watching their sons come back in coffins to protect some Muslim country. They were tired of being called racists and homophobes. They were tired of seeing their America disappear.

And they stood up and fought back. This was their last hope. Their last chance to be heard.

Watch this video. See ten ways John Oliver destroyed Donald Trump. Here’s three ways Samantha Bee broke the internet by taunting Trump supporters. These three minutes of Stephen Colbert talking about how stupid Trump is owns the internet. Watch Madonna curse out Trump supporters. Watch Katy Perry. Watch Miley Cyrus. Watch Robert Downey Jr. Watch Beyonce campaign with Hillary. Watch. Click.

Watch fifty million Americans take back their country.

The media had the election wrong all along. This wasn’t about personalities. It was about the impersonal. It was about fifty million people whose names no one except a server will ever know fighting back. It was about the homeless woman guarding Trump’s star. It was about the lost Democrats searching for someone to represent them in Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was about the union men who nodded along when the organizers told them how to vote, but who refused to sell out their futures.

No one will ever interview all those men and women. We will never see all their faces. But they are us and we are them. They came to the aid of a nation in peril. They did what real Americans have always done. They did the impossible.

America is a nation of impossibilities. We exist because our forefathers did not take no for an answer. Not from kings or tyrants. Not from the elites who told them that it couldn’t be done.

The day when we stop being able to pull off the impossible is the day that America will cease to exist.

Today is not that day. Today fifty million Americans did the impossible.

Midnight has passed. A new day has come. And everything is about to change

Healthy Aging 2013 Follow-up

By Terry Orr

Establishing and maintaining good healthy habits early in life provide significant dividends later in life – annual checkups, monitoring your vitals and weight, keeping track of medications taken and for what, and staying current with new medical, dental and mental advancements.

Prior to each visit to my healthcare team, the following information is updated, printed provided to them – very handy paper.

Medication	Dosage	Frequency	When	Refills	Date
Coreg	80mg	Daily	Breakfast	2	8/1/13
Ecotrin	325mg	Daily	Bedtime	N/A
Fish Oil	1000mg	2 x Daily	Break/Dinner	N/A
Diovan	320mg	Daily	Lunch	3	7/17/13
Singular	10mg	Daily	Dinner	2	8/15/13

Date	Time	Glucose	Time	BP	Time	Weight
7/17/13	0700	118	0730	120/80/72	0715	180
	2100	131
8/15/13	0645	121	0700	121/78/70	0710	179

Notes for Doctor:

8/27/13 – 9/4/13 Sinus infection with low-grade fever: Sinus rinse twice daily; Tylenol; and Mucinex DM maximum strength.

8/22-23/13 Stress test: two parts – reported results were good.

Upcoming Healthcare Appointments:

10/24/13         Eye Doctor (Annual)

11/12/13          Primary Care (Quarterly Checkup)

12/10/13         Dermatology (Checkup)

1/14/14           Foot & Ankle (Semi-annual)

2/10/14           Dentist (Teeth cleaning and annual checkup)

Still looking for a single app that will do most of this tracking and other items – while there are some apps that provide most of it –you generally need two or more apps. 

Our two previous post on aging can be found:

http://kisbyto.blogspot.com/2011/09/celebrating-healthy-aging-month.html

http://kisbyto.blogspot.com/2012/09/healthy-aging-month-update.html

Myths About Healthy Aging (from www.helpguide.org )

MYTH: Aging means declining health and/or disability.

Fact: There are some diseases that become more common as we age. However, getting older does not automatically mean poor health or that you will be confined to a walker or wheelchair. Plenty of older adults enjoy vigorous health, often better than many younger people. Preventive measures like healthy eating, exercising, and managing stress can help reduce the risk of chronic disease or injuries later in life.

MYTH: Memory loss is an inevitable part of aging.

Fact: As you age, you may eventually notice you don’t remember things as easily as in the past, or memories may start to take a little longer to retrieve. However, significant memory loss is not an inevitable result of aging. Brain training and new learning can occur at any age and there are many things you can do to keep your memory sharp. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits.

MYTH: You can’t teach ‘an old dog new tricks’.

Fact: One of the more damaging myths of aging is that after a certain age, you just won’t be able to try anything new or contribute things anymore. The opposite is true. Middle aged and older adults are just as capable of learning new things and thriving in new environments, plus they have the wisdom that comes with life experience. If you believe in and have confidence in yourself, you are setting up a positive environment for change no matter what your age.

A wonderful and informative health website is WebMD!  Found this neat guide while researching this article.  Do yourself a favor and bookmark this site.

WebMD’s 50 and Over Guide

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide/default.htm

Staying Healthy

Eating Right

Good Nutrition for Aging

Slideshow: Avoiding Problem Foods as You Age

Slideshow: Eating for a Long Life

Menopause, Weight Gain, and Exercise Tips

Slideshow: Brain Foods That Help You Concentrate

Staying Active

Getting Fit for Life

Over 40, Fit, and Ready to Bare Arms

Video: Repairing Boomer Athletes

Looking Good

Video: Make Hands Look Young

Premature Graying

The Effects of Aging on Skin

Wrinkles

Natural Beauty Tips for Women Over 50

Women's Hair Loss Slideshow: Thinning Hair Causes and Solutions

Men's Hair Loss: Treatments and Solutions

Healthy Sleep

Sleep and Aging

Prevention

Health Check: What Is Your Cancer Risk?

Preventing Hearing Loss

Preventing Slips and Falls

Genes vs. Lifestyle: What Matters Most for Health?

Cataract Prevention

Preventing Vision Problems

Memory & Staying Sharp

Memory

Emotional and Mental Vitality

Forgetfulness: It's Not Always What You Think

Midlife Crisis

Make a Midlife Crisis Work for You

Coping With Changes

Empty Nest: Launching Adult Children

Life Stages: Retirement

Stress Management

Depression After Age 65

Transportation and Driving

Family & Friends

Sex and Relationships

Sex and Aging

Sexual Vitality

Sexuality and Physical Changes With Aging in Men

Caregiving

Caregiving Assessment

Financial Planning for Caregivers

Helping Older Adults Manage the Outside World

Caregiving and Your Loved One's Health

Legal Issues of Caregiving

Seven Tips for New Caregivers

Caring for Parents: Routine Care

Starting Your Role As Caregiver

Health Care 101

Medical Tests

Milestone Medical Tests in Your 50s

Medical Tests for Your 60s and Up

Your Health Care

Dos and Don'ts of Drug Safety

Tool: Find a Doctor

Buyer Beware: Health Scams

Generic Drugs: Answers to Common Questions

Live Longer

Video: Longevity Clues in DNA

Slideshow: 18 Secrets for a Longer Life

Planning for the Future

Independent Living

What Is Assisted Living?

Video: 'Smart' House for Aging

Video: Seniorizing Your Home

Life Choices

Advance Directives

Support & Resources

Resources

Aging Better: Resources