Month: April 2012

Milestone Tapes

About

Jenna Chamberland never wanted anything more than to be a wife and mother. That is, until she realized that her life was ending after a three-year battle against breast cancer. Now, all she really wants is more time. With 4,320 hours left to live, Jenna worries for her loved ones and what she knows awaits them on the other side: Gabe will have to make the slip from husband to widower, left alone to raise their seven-year-old daughter; Mia will be forced to cope with life without her mother. In a moment of reflection, Jenna decides to record a set of audiocassettes — The Milestone Tapes – leaving her voice behind as a legacy for her daughter. Nine years later, Mia is a precocious sixteen-year-old and her life is changing all around, all she wants is her mother. Through the tapes, Jenna’s voice returns to teach Mia the magic of life, her words showing her daughter how to spread her wings and embrace the coming challenges with humor, grace and hope. THE MILESTONE TAPES is the journey of love between a parent and child, and of the bonds that hold them when life no longer can.

My Review

I can’t even put into words how much I truly loved this book.  I had a hard time reading this book because it made me cry so much and even though it made me cry I didn’t want to put it down and stop reading it.  I loved following the characters and even though you know the mom is going to pass away I had to keep reading.  I believe that this book was so hard for me because I can relate to the topic.  As some of you know I go to a cancer center every month to get my MS treatment so I do know a lot of people who have cancer and I have had several family members pass away from cancer as well.  It broke my heart to know that the girl at such a young age was going to lose her mom.

I found the idea of making milestone tapes is a great idea even if you don’t know you are dying.  My great grandma passed away when I was a senior in high school and I was so close to her.  After reading this book I wish  she would have written down things or even made tapes so that I could go back and listen or read her words.  I am sure any person would love to go back and read what their parents left them.

When it comes right down to it I have to give this book 5 stars and it will be a book that I will always keep and I am sure I will read it over and over again.  I recommend this to anyone who knows what is feels like to lose a loved one!

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Freaky Friday

Welcome to another addition of Freaky Friday! I am looking to have one or 2 guest host each week so if you are interested please leave a comment and I will send you all the info! You can link up GFC, Twitter, Facebook & Google+ all in the same place.

GFC has gone away for my blog so you if you would like to follow me you can follow by email or any other RSS reader.

Make sure you label what the link attaches too like I have done with the hosts.

There are just a few simple rules to follow for this one:

  • Grab the button and post in on your blog
  • Make sure you follow the hosts
  • Leave a comment so we can return the follow

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Margaret Margaret

Widow, Virgin, Whore

Mama’s Losin’ It

Today for the Writers Workshop I am going to use prompt #1 which is:  Book review time! Some people STILL read books…share one of your more recent reads and tell us what you thought!  Now the book I am going to review I didn’t actually get this book in book form but I read it on my Nook. I read 1 to 2 books a week and sometimes more depending on what I have going on and this book surprised me.
Widow, Virgin, Whore
 AIDS Changes Everything!

When recently widowed Katherine Samuals purchases a home to share with her son, Christopher, and best friend, Denise Richards, the last thing she expects is to include Denise’s outrageous sister, Darla Richards, into the household. But Katherine concedes to Denise’s request because she adores Darla’s daughter, Chelsea, and feels this is a good opportunity to give the young teen a real home environment.

Living with Darla is anything by easy. She parties too much, sleeps around too much and speaks her mind without apology. To conservative Katherine and shy Denise, her behavior is detestable. When Darla is diagnosed with AIDS, the household is turned upside-down. Katherine finds herself thrown into Darla’s life, first as her caregiver, then as her companion as she explores the devastating lives of AIDS patients. Katherine’s fledgling writing career flourishes as she shares the experiences of Darla’s AIDS group in newspaper articles across the country. Denise finds true love for the first time, but struggles at the inappropriate timing of her personal happiness. Surprisingly, Darla also finds love – real love – in the strangest of places.

As the household struggles with the stress of living with a terminal illness, Katherine, Denise, and Darla learn just how strong and deep their bond of friendship, and sisterhood, is.

If you are a sister or best friend, you will love this story.

My Review

I chose this book to review and I was super excited about reading it but I was pleasantly surprised when I got into it and literally didn’t want to put it down.  Every time I have a few minutes with nothing to do I turned on my Nook so that I could read a little bit more even if it was only a few lines.  I fell in love with the characters and was sad at the ending but I also knew how it would end once I was a few chapters into it.  The one thing I can say about this book is don’t judge it because of the title or after the first couple of chapters.  Give it time and I know you  will fall in love with it like I did.
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My MS Meds

I am not sure if anyone would be interested in the medications I currently on for my MS but I am sure there is someone who would be interested to know what is working for me right now and all the things I have tried that hasn’t work for me over the 11 years I have be treating the MS.  For this post I am going to talk about the medications I am currently on and what I am taking them for.

Tysabri-I am currently using this to treat the MS.  I have been on it for over 3 years now and even though it is dangerous I won’t stop taking it because it is the only MS drug that is out there right now that is controlling the MS.

Baclofen- I take this three times a day.  There are some days that I may only take it once but depending on pain & how I am feeling I may take it all 3 times.  I use this for the spasms I have and I also use this because of my back injury.  If I don’t take this at night I wake up stiff in the morning and in tons of pain.

Zoloft(sertraline)-I take this once a day and it is my antidepressant.  Depression runs in my family but I also think that the MS has made mine worse and also made me super anxious.

Loritab- I use this as needed for pain.  I get 20 pills a month and I usually use them all but  most of them are use the weekend and week after my infusion because that is when I tend to have the most pain.

Fiorinal- I use this for my migraines.  I have had migraines since I was in 5th grade.  Most of the time if I can catch it at the beginning I can stop it from getting super bad but on days that I don’t catch it or it doesn’t respond to the usual things I have to take 2 of these.  The thing I love about this medication is I can still function at work while I am taking it.

I also use things such as Benadryl, Tylenol, and Ibuprofen almost daily.  If you have any questions about any of the medications please let me know.  Next time I am going to write about what MS treatments I have used and why I stopped using them.

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Margaret Margaret

Standing Still

I am sure everyone knows the saying Have you ever been alone in a crowded room?  That is sort of how I have been feeling lately.  I feel like I am standing still while watching all of my friends passing me by and living their lives.  It has been hard for me to  watch life pass me by but I also know that I am just where I need to be in life.  It is hard at times to watch everyone I know get married and start their families.  I am not sure why this is so hard for me right now because I don’t want to be married and I don’t think I ever want kids of my own.
I think part of this comes because it is lonely to be the single one with no kids.  Now don’t get me wrong I am 100% happy for my friends that they are happy and doing everything they want to do with their lives.  I guess it all boils down to that it is hard to be the last one.  Some of you know that I am technically married right now but there is no way my husband and I would ever get back together to much has happened between us for it to ever work.
I have to wonder if I will ever get married again or if I will ever even date again.  Right now for the most part I am totally content to be single and not have to answer to anyone.  There are those days when I wish that I wasn’t single and I believe I have those days because my friends are either married or all in relationships so I see couples all the time.  Heck the office I work in everyone but one guy is married so I always seem to be the single one but most of the time that is okay.
I know this post rambled but it was just the thoughts I have had in my head that I knew need to be typed out.  I feel better now that I have typed it.
For everyone who is or has been in my spot what things have helped you?
Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Margaret Margaret