murphzlaw1

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  2. Members Having Trouble...

    in Bug Reporting

    Posted

    I'm really not sure...that doesn't sound anything like anything I've seen. I'm using 3 different versions of windows and 3 different types of browsers, and they all appear to be working normally.

    if i could see some screenshots of what they see, that'd help with starting the investigatory process...but...yeah, that sounds really odd.

  4. Okay...so...quitting Smokin.

    in Hobby/Leisure Archive

    Posted

    A few weeks ago, we saw the doctor for my mother in law's progress. they decided they wanted to do preventative radiation on her head, as they were pretty sure that's where the cancer was going to hit next.

    They did the scan, etc, and then we visited the radiology to start the process.

    On Friday, Oct 25, they told her that she was okay, and ready to start her treatment. We'd informed them that we (my ex wife, her gf, all of our kids, and my (ex) mother in law) were planning a trip to Disneyland on Sunday, returning Wednesday Oct 30th. They said it was okay, to go, and have a good time, and they'd start her treatment on Oct 31.

    We made the 7 hour drive with only small complications. Holly (MIL) was a little sore, but made it okay. We made it into Anaheim at about noon.

    By 3pm, Holly decided that she wasn't going to be able to go into Disneyland, (even with the electric scooter that we'd brought for her), so she rested in the hotel room.

    The rest of us (8 in total) all went to Disneyland, where I performed a quick wedding ceremony for my ex wife and her (now) wife.

    We had a very awesome time, thank you.

    Tuesday, we decided we were going to cruise Hollywood, and then check out Venice beach.

    We did Hollywood, went to Pink's hot dog shop..by that time, Holly was getting nauseated and needed to return to the hotel to rest. So we didn't do the beach bit.

    When we all woke up Wednesday, we started packing to leave. Holly was getting a little confused and disoriented. The ride home didn't help much. We had to pretty much carry her into the house.

    Thursday, she went thru her first treatment. It was then that the radiology doctor informed us that the cancer had indeed entered her brain, but he didn't want to tell us for fear that it'd make us put off our vacation, or that she'd refuse to go.

    He stated then that he was confident that with additional treatments, she'd be okay.

    We did another treatment on Friday, which didn't seem to help any. Her cancer doctor called, and we explained what was going on. He advised us to transport her via ambulance to the hospital for the weekend.

    They did their primary assesments, and then put her in ICU. Apparently her liver and kidneys were both shutting down. This was all by early Sat morning.

    By Sunday morning, her liver and kidneys had all failed, and she was fading fast. Sunday afternoon, they advised us that there wasn't much more they could do, and asked if we wanted a DNR.

    We did, as we'd felt at that point there was no point in keeping her alive just to be in pain.

    At 10PM Sunday night, we (ex wife, her wife, myself) went to the hospital to meet the hospice worker that would oversee the transport to the hospice facility.

    At about 1 am this morning, they got her transported to the hospice. They got her settled in and got her started on the "comfort" drugs.

    About 55 minutes later, (I don't have the exact time), she passed away.

    We went to the funeral home this afternoon to sign all the necessary paperwork, and I got to see her for a little bit.

    It's true that she finally looked relaxed, almost like she was sleeping. She'd been so tense for so long, it was a huge relief to see her in a relaxed state.

    I posted this on my facebook this afternoon:

    My (ex) mother in law passed away this morning from complications due to cancer. Even tho her daughter and I divorced, we still are great friends, and her mother and I were quite close. Long chats on the way to the doctor's offices, chatting by the pool, playing with the kids.

    I'll definitely miss that quirky old lady. She was one of a kind.

    I'm glad she got to go on one last vacation with us before she went.

    Holly, rest in peace. After everything you've been through, you deserve some peace.

    (close watchers of my fb feed know that I used her "real name" but Holly is what she preferred to be called.

    I'm glad it was quick. She didn't need to go thru any more pain.

  6. Okay...so...quitting Smokin.

    in Hobby/Leisure Archive

    Posted

    I wanted to give you guys the updates that I gave the mod team about what's going on in my life.


    So, on Dec 17th, my (now ex) Mother in Law was taken to the hospital, thinkin that she had pnuemonia and was having trouble breathing.

    After several tests, she was diagnosed with Complex Small Cell Lung Cancer.

    Obviously this was quite a blow to her, as she'd been feeling fine up until she'd gotten sick. ...if that's not redundant or whatever.

    Anyhow, she was released from the hospital on Dec 24th. The doctor was, basically, a crock. Gave her basic information, other than "you've got 2 years to live. have a nice day."

    I took her for her dr appt, where she pretty much had a mental break down and complained severely about the doctor. There were several issues, so the complaints were definitely merited.

    My Ex found another doctor, that is in the top 1% of Oncology docs in AZ. I went with her to that appointment, and actually sat in there with her so that I could get FULL information. my MIL is a little spacey sometimes, and doesn't get/retain full information.

    So, after talkin with this doc for about 5 minutes, he'd given us more information than the other doctor had in the past 3 weeks. So that was a good thing. The BAD thing was, the doc told her that "50% of patients don't make it more than 10-11 months."

    So, that was another blow. She didn't hear that "the OTHER 50% can live up to 5/6 years," she heard that she'll be dead in 10-11 months and that's it.

    So, she was supposed to go thru the next round of Chemo a couple weeks back. I took her to that appt, dropped her off, and waited. This appointment was supposed to last 4 hours, and about an hour later she told me to come get her.

    I went down and got her. Apparently, what she'd heard was that this round of chemo, plus the booster shot she was supposed to get, was going to cost her about $800. Being on disability, etc, there's no way she can afford that, every 3 weeks, for the next six months.

    I explained all this to my ex. her and her best friend got to work on the issue. (Best Friend is an RN with oncology training).

    After many phone calls and such, it turns out that the 3 days of Chemo should cost about $163. the 4th day, the booster shot, is SUPPOSED to cost about $500, but they found an organization that will help, and she'll only have to pay $5.

    At first, MIL said that she couldn't possibly do anything until Feb 20th, when she gets her disability check. I told her that I'd cover the chemo and her next dr appt, because she NEEDS this, as she is now already 3 weeks late for her chemo.

    (I'm hoping that I haven't bitten off too much, tho, cuz mortgage just came out, and after all is said and done, I'll have about $150 to make it to the 15th.) (No, I don't want money.)

    It'll be tight, but I gotta do this.

    So that's what I've been dealing with. I'm sorry I haven't been around much. I assure you, tho, that I do check in daily.


    We are still going thru chemo on the 4 days on-21 off schedule. Her next round of chemo is scheduled for April 1. After that (4th of Four), the doctor will schedule an MRI to determine if/how much the chemo has been working. Then we'll determine if she needs to start another round, upping the dosage, or what will happen next.

    Things are still going pretty well. She's definitely had some....physical improvement. She's in a better mood, feels better...but in my heart I know that this is just the uptick before things start going down. The type of cancer is one that really...it may as well be seen as terminal, best I can tell.

    Today (4/18), MIL had another appt, to check on her progress, and to prepare for next week's chemo session.

    She had postponed the chemo session that was due to start 4/1 because she took a vacation to Vegas to visit some of her family.

    Basically, things are going pretty well, her blood numbers are, quote, "awesome". After Chemo is done next week, they are going to do a "PET scan" to determine where the cancer is, and how much the chemo has been working.

  7. The Recent Flu Epidemic & What One Can Do...

    in * Welcome - ULC Minister's Introduction Junction *

    Posted

    I never saw a post requesting account deletion. If you wish your account deleted, that's easily done. Send me a message. If you don't want to post here, you can stop coming; no one is making you return here to post just because you have an active account.

    MY post was in regards to your signature, which takes up more than half a page and is very difficult to get through.

    So I learned that we can ignore individual signatures when they become cumbersome or overbearing to regular posters.

    I'm not sure what you mean "you tried to edit back your spiel to no avail." I will say that I do find some (many) of your postings very difficult to read, due to formatting.

  12. Update On Counterfeit Ulcs

    in * Welcome - ULC Minister's Introduction Junction *

    Posted

    Corey, I think there might be a, for lack of a better term, "market" for a ULC source of valid (even if irregular) line of apostolic succession, for those that value it.

    I agree.

    And, my personal perception is that the problem lies not that they are ULC sites, or even "non standard" ULC sites. It's that they are trying to make the claim that they are the "ONE TRUE ULC, ALL OTHERS ARE FAKE."

    That's what irritates me.

    If you did a Catholic ULC, and acknowledged your roots, for lack of better term, I can see NO reason why you wouldn't be welcomed with open arms.

  15. Okay...so...quitting Smokin.

    in Hobby/Leisure Archive

    Posted

    Is your "tentative" plan to use the same basic approach to quitting?

    Mm. Basically. It DID work. If things hadn't happened as they did, I probably would have succeeded in my quit smoking goal.

    I admit I feel a little guilty when I light up a cigarette.

    I guess I need to get back to a point where I like myself enough to try again. So what I'm doing NOW is a) trying to slow down and b) trying to prepare my mind for it again.

    Oh. I will probably not hit the "new year's eve" mark. It will be late on new year's day. that's what I'm going for.

    Cuz I know New Year's Eve will be a very difficult time to quit.

    (if all goes to plan :devil:)

    Guys, I really do appreciate all of the support you've shown me through this whole ordeal. I didn't really expect any of this. I started this post, basically as a little blog of my own, to track my progress, my ups and downs. I didn't expect anyone else to jump in.

    From the first day, (before day 1 of my original quit), thru to 8 months, to the separation...you guys overwhelm me with support.

    I don't honestly think I've ever had that kind of support before. I'm humbled.

    Thank you.

  16. Okay...so...quitting Smokin.

    in Hobby/Leisure Archive

    Posted

    Really wish I had something of an update to give you guys.

    I'm maintaining. What can I say?

    I've set a "tentative" goal of stopping again, come the first of the year. That's when all the cool kids do it, right?

    That's the smoking thing.

    The home life thing...well. It is what it is. I guess I'm adapting, at least sorta well. We're still friendly, which is a plus.

    I may have an opportunity to change my work schedule here in a few weeks, so that's something new. Basically, 2 days on 2nd shift, 2 days on 3rd shift, and 3 days off a week. it's better for family time, you know?

  17. Words From The Wise...your Favorites

    in Creative Expression & Cultural Arts

    Posted

    "So long and thanks for all the fish." Adam Douglas

    I think you mean Douglas Adams.

    As are these quotes:

    "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so."

    “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

    “It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much, the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons…”

    “This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”

  23. Ulc Forum: Members, Friends, Or Customers?

    in * Welcome - ULC Minister's Introduction Junction *

    Posted

    I've been doing some thinking about this a lot, of late.

    There's always going to be room for improvement.

    Of course we'd like more actively posting members. Of that, there is no doubt. While I don't really want to just open the floodgates and let everyone attack each other at whim, I prefer to have members that can be civil to each other. I'm not saying they always have to agree with each other (far from it), but be civil when they DO disagree.

    I recently had a discussion with a moderator who we felt was coming off a bit more harsh than probably intended. In my attempts to explain how I felt members should be treated when they come to us, I explained that, in that sense, we'd treat them as we would a customer coming to us with a complaint.

    Well, you can imagine how that went over. Not well at all. And I've been blasted for it ever since! (:P) In hindsight, I probably phrased the whole thing poorly. I can accept fault for that.

    Truth is, while yes, this forum is attached to the ULC.net website, which is a for profit bookstore for the ULC, I don't CARE about the sales side of the site.

    While I have immeasurable respect for Kevin and his bookstore, it makes no difference to me whether or not he sells one more minister credential or saint certificate. I just don't care. This forum is NOT a focus for the main website.

    I'd like to find a balance between having decent members, and a decent member count.

    I like to think this place is a community for the members. Not the customers, not the "numbers", but the people behind the screens.

    I also agree that in the past, we had a more vibrant community. However, nature of the beast, people come and go. Many (thousands) of our members sign up, maybe thinking it's a requirement of the ordination process, and then never return. Many register, look at the content of some of the threads, and think that maybe it's not the type of environment that they are searching for. Which is cool, our posting styles may not be for everyone. It's impossible to be able to cater to every person who signs up.

    We have very detailed rules in place, and sometimes people feel they are unable to abide by those rules. Some people leave on their own, sometimes it's necessary to remove their access priviledges. Those who know me, know that I'm reluctant to bring that power to bear, tho, because often, the members that I end up having to remove for rule violations are indeed some of the more colorful and interesting people.

    Being a forum administrator is not an exact science. I fully admit, before you and everyone, that I can make mistakes. I'm human, as far as you know, and things happen.

    I have a couple of background forum issues brewing right now that have been going on for months, and I still don't know how to correct them without ticking a large number of people off.

    My desires, really, are simple: I want a community of people that are able to discuss topics of varying natures, with the abilty to remain civil when disagreements arise (as they inevitably will.) I really DON'T want a bunch of people flingin crap at each other just because they can't agree.