Working again

Hi all, Well, here I am in Libby again. I am justing finishing up another week-end of being on call. It has been a good week-end with just enough patient visits so I'm not bored but not too much to do. The weather is COLD here (after we had a few days of the weather getting almost warm, around freezing or just above). Now it is down in the teens. Tomorrow morning I will be heading home, going over and through the mountain pass...hopefully it will be plowed by the time I head home. I saw on her blog that Jen's girls were out playing in the yard yesterday and realized that they were only about 10 feet from a moose! That could be a very dangerous situation! They were smart enough to hurry inside before the moose decided that he did not like having them around. The area where we live also has bears (not active at this time of year) and deer, and other wild life roaming around. If you can visit their blog site you will see the view of the lake from their deck. It is beautiful and everything is covered with snow right now. I will try to get a copy of the picture to post. I love to watch TV when I am staying here in the "dorm" room. I miss the news and some of my old favorite shows. But I know it does not hurt me to miss out on TV. In fact I actually enjoy getting the whole season at once and watching all the episodes in the correct sequence without commercials. I get more done without the TV on at home too. I have been experiencing menopause symtoms for over a decade now and lately have had two new symptoms added. The ones I have had for years are "hot flashes, insomnia, grumpiness, fatigue, mental/memory problems", but the two new one are "night sweats" and a really weird one "cold flashes". Has anyone out there had cold flashes? It is not cold just from the hot flash ending or from the moisture of night sweats...It is more like my bones get totally chilled and I cannot get warm no matter how close I stand near the heater. My skin will get warm from the heater but my bones stay very chilled! Weird. Will this menopause never end??? I think I have put in my fair share of time and misery! Does anyone have a suggestion for a food supplement or vitamin or herbal remedy? I will not take anymore prescription medications. I have gone through months of misery getting off all of the medications that I have been taking for the last decade or more. So far my blood pressure and other ailments have remained stable. Losing weight is the key, I'm sure. My doctor is keeping tabs on me and is pleased with my health at this point. I am still working on improving my health with an improved diet and increased exercise. I will be going in for another round of lab work in Feb. I am reading a book named "Dr. A's habits of health" that is really great. I may start sharing what it is teaching me in future blogs. My new motto is "To become what I want to be I have to be what I want to become". I say this to myself many times a day, sometimes many times an hour. I have very far to go but at least I am headed in the right direction (I hope). I have been working on my family genealogy alot lately. I am determined to write a book with not just the facts, such as date of birth, etc...but also I want to include information about the person, his/her interests, accomplishments, personal writing/journaling, stories written by others about a person. I would like to make each person become a real person to his/her descendent (us). I have not had anyone send me any information that I have asked for...so if YOU don't get your information in the book it will not be because I haven't tried. Please send me written information and personal stories...to my address: 43 Bass Lane, Hope, ID 83836. I have been starting to print out completed pages (families) but I still have a lot of documenting to do. If you have your birth certificate or the birth or death certificate of someone in the family, would you please send me a copy. I would like to document each person's information. I use US census information to determine families and approximate ages of family members. But I can only get census information that is over 70 years old. I need modern information and I can not get some of it myself. I need people to send me their information. You may not realize it but I can not ask for a copy of just anyone's birth certificate. Now that my kids are grown I don't think I can get their's either. Mom could you send me a copy of dad's death certificate. I do not need originals, just a copy. Today I was talking with a patient and spouse about how they play cards with their friends and it made me think of all the times I used to play card with my girlfriends in Bend. I miss the times we used to get together. Wish I could get together with you guys for a good night of eating and playing games. Maybe sometime this year. I have a long list of people and places I want to go see this year. I have some old friends that I have not seen in decades and some that I have not seen in almost a year. I want to see you all! I am also determined to go see my children and grandchildren in Utah and California also. I am missing so much of their lives and it is frustrating that I can not see them more often. My Zoe and Owen do not even know me. It breaks my heart. And Tre is probably taller than me now! Well, I have been rambling for too long now, so will go see if I can fall asleep yet. I need to get up early and get on the road home. Talk to you all later. Love Cathy