Finally getting the chance to reply. My brother has been in a wheelchair for 43 years. He lives alone and has been in pretty good health until recently. He has been dealing with a bed sore on his butt for a few months. we think this is due to air loss in the cushion. He had to be in bed for several weeks to clear this up which caused an open sore on his right hip.

Trying to clear that up he over-laid on his left hip and now has a nickel size open place on the left too. He is now reduced to bring on one side or the other for only about one hour at a time then has to flip back on his back which he hates. He can't do anything in this position and so bored out of his mind. I have been staying at his house for a week (seems so much longer!) to help him. We have had a wifi problem at his house that is hopefully fixed now so I can read and reply on my iPad.

Read your post of your childhood with great envy. I close my eyes and think how wonderful that must have been. I had pretty much the opposite start to life with 3 sisters and 3 brothers. I am the baby of the family. 1 sister and 1 brother were given away to relatives as infants long before I was born. I was lucky or unlucky (I am not sure which) that I was not given away. We were very poor due to poor money management on my parents part and grew up quite hungry. My brother in the wheelchair is 11 months older than I am and we are extremely close. During lunch in grade school we would hide on the playground in the bushes so no one would know we did not have a lunch. It was so exciting to be invited to a girlfriends house to spend the night knowing I would have a meal.

My parents did not drink, gamble etc they just only thought of themselves such as going out to eat without us and nothing to eat in the house. They did not fight or argue they just did not pay any attention to us being around. There was always cigarettes, coffee, cream and sugar in the house. I don't know how we all didn't grow up to be robbers or murder's ! None of us ever had a birthday cake or school supplies. We moved every few months, usually in the middle of the night and I never went a whole school year at the same school. No grandparents or other relatives were in our lives as we were the black sheep. I could go on and on with stories but won't.

I am not bitter about it as I feel it made me a better stronger wife and mother to our children. I can surely say our kids were never ever hungry and got lots of attention. And....most important....they were told they were loved every day !

It is a beautiful thing to read your memories and know you received the love, teaching and caring that all children should have.

I have fallen apart on my feeding goals while at my brothers house. Just using the 2Cal and lots of water thru the tube. Christine would be proud of my water intake. There is nothing much to do while here so I hit the kitchen counter stockpile of cans of nutrition and jugs of water often.

I am SO glad that physical therapy is helping you ! The painfulness while doing it seems to be paying off with increased mobility and just the mental knowledge that you are doing something for yourself is so important. Just stay away from that pneumonia !

Gathering recipes here for Thanksgiving and looking forward to baking and cooking. Not the crowd that comes but I will get through that part too. My favorite part of it all is handing out containers and containers of leftovers for them to take home. I laugh as I type this as I realize I can't stand to have space in my pantry, freezer, or refrigerator and want everyone else's to be packed too ! Guess I am a food hoarder even though I can't eat. Funny how your past is always kinda there.

I must get busy with finding a proper dentist. I have looked and looked on line trying to find one who is knowledgeable with post radiation issues. Looks as though we might have to travel a ways to find someone with this expertise. I like my dentist but he is just a dentist.

Hope you are having a good week !