Sticks and Stones.....

Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.  Whoever said that first is an asshole.  Some things are just hurtful and yes, maybe that makes me weak for being hurt by the opinion of someone who really doesn't matter at all.  But hey, I'm human.

Everyday, we are surrounded by bullies.  Some are big, some are small, some are kids and some are adults  Well, I was taught this week, by my friend, Kim that to ensure that the bully doesn't win, to stand up to them.

I will not be as classless and childish as they are and call them out, personally.  That would only give them more power in my life.

I was sent a screenshot of someone referring to me as The Purple Piglet.  Someone else commented further about all the food that I would be eating.

First of all, I would like both gentlemen to go right now and take a good look at the women you both married and look at their asses.  You will see that they are not small.  They are not supermodel size.  They are not much different than mine.  So, would you say the same thing to your wives?  To the mother of your children?

Second, last time I looked it was Big MAC not Mack.  Personally, I prefer Wendy's or Dairy Queen, but you seem to be very knowledgable in McDonald's food, so you should know how to spell it.  Then again, maybe not, because a quick look at your profile on FB, shows that you don't know the difference between they, their and they're, to, two and too, our and are.  Mr. Troth, God rest his soul, is rolling in his grave.

So, why the hell should I care what the fuck either of you think of me?  I have done nothing but try to be nice, try to do the right thing and this is what I get.  Well I sleep at night, knowing I am a hard worker, I am a very active member of my community, I donate time and money to a lot of organizations and charities.

I then am shown where you were discussing how I am a spoiled bitch and have never worked a day in my life.  That, right there, proved to me that you have absolutely no fucking clue what you are talking about.  I grew up in a cock roach infested apartment with a single mom.  I've worked since I was 12 years old.  At times, I worked four jobs at a time.  Don't you ever say I never worked a day in my life.  Fuck you.  You don't know me and I could give a shit if you ever do.  You are an asshole.

I feel sorry for your children and grandchildren.  I have witnessed first hand how they have been taught to hate for no reason.  It's quite sad.  I pray for them.

Now, you have hurt me, but, being the "BIG" girl that I am, I am getting up, shaking it off and giving you both a a big, double, middle finger, crissie cross fuck you.  Be on the lookout for the new LA Taco that is LOVINGLY being called The Purple Piglet.  I am honored to have a taco named after my big, fat ass!

Dual Ablation Time

When I had my first ablation in October, we pretty much knew it was not a success since most of my electrical activity was on the back wall of my heart, which they could not ablate without burning my esophagus.   Despite that, I felt better and when I went in for my check up in May, I thought I was totally fine.  Wrong.  They didn't like my readings.  At all.

So, today, I will be in the fine hands of two amazing doctors.  Dr. Moreca will go first and ablate my heart from the outside.  Once he is finished, Dr. Thosani will go inside and clean up, like he did during the first ablation.

I will be in the hospital until Sunday or Monday, so I am sure I will be going crazy again.  There is an 85% success rate for me and these wonderful doctors developed this dual procedure.  I am in good hand and both of them are really easy on the eyes!

Feeling Fabulous

Here is the update on my heart.  It's doing it's job and I feel amazing.  I mean, I felt pretty good for awhile, then felt bad, then felt good, but once we finally got this all worked out, I feel better than I can ever remember feeling!!

Last time I updated, I just had my ablation.  It was to take three months for my heart to heal.  I did feel good however, I went into Afib and never worked myself out of it, which is what always would happen.  When I went to my three month check up, I had reported that I was getting really short of breath constantly and this was new.

I wore a halter monitor for 24 hours and was scheduled for a stress test.  In between those two things, I had another Cardio Aversion, where they stop and then shock my heart back into rhythm.  I felt so good that day, then in two days I was feeling awful again.  I went to my stress test.  To say I failed the stress test was an understatement.  I lasted 2 minutes and 45 seconds on a slow, uninclined treadmill before I was so short of breath, I nearly passed out and felt like I was going to puke.  I was convinced I was in Afib again, but I was not.

I was so discouraged at this point.  I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life feeling like shit.  I was almost to the point where I was going to admit defeat.  Then, my Pittsburgh doctor recommended that I stop all of my heart meds for a week to see how I felt.  Those meds were keeping my heart rate low and I mean low, like 52-56 low.  I agreed to do it and call in one week to give a report, since I would be on vacation.

Day seven came and went and I totally forgot to call, I was feeling great.  I called on day 10 to report that I felt fabulous.  I feared that it was mind over matter, since I was not only on vacation, but I was in Hawaii.  Who wouldn't feel fabulous there?

As the days wore on and turned into weeks and now at the one month mark, I am convinced that I have beat this!  FINALLY!  I feel amazing.  I still have my meds just in case I go into Afib and need to slow my heart rate down.  I will still, most likely, keep taking my blood thinner just in case I would go into Afib since I am at risk for a stroke if I do.

So no matter what your struggle is, no matter how long you have been struggling, do not ever give up!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel and when you reach that point, you will be so thankful for all that you still have left to live for and the ability to live it with joy!!

Final Manicure

I've been in the business for 13 years now.  We've lost a few clients, who have passed, but most were sporadic clients, that only came a few times a year and were elderly.  I knew the time would come that we would lose someone we are close to.  It happened.  Twice this month.

The first one was one of Kylie's clients.  Miss Elsie just lit up the room when she walked in the door.  She was one of our original Hip Grannies.  She always had us in stitches.  Kylie worked on her and worked on her and finally, we got her in glitter.  In the fall, she asked Kylie to remove her nails, take her out of the book and not ask any questions.

Elsie was a proud woman.  We knew what was going on, yet deep down, we hoped she would beat it. Sadly she did not.  We did find out when she came home with hospice care.  We sent her flowers and told her that we loved her and missed her.  We hope that she got to see and enjoy the flowers and know just how much she touched our lives.

More recently, one of my personal clients passed.  I had heard last week that she was in the hospital and then heard the devastating news that she would most likely, not be coming home.  I offered to do her nails in the hospital with gel, since it has no smell.  I wanted to have one last chance to talk to her, even if she couldn't answer.  I never got to do that.

I was asked by the family to do her nails for her service.  I never hesitated.  Kathi loved her nails and to be honest, she would have been pissed if they didn't look great on the final day people would see her.  I was nervous.  I never worked on someone once they had passed.  I am glad Kathi was my first.

When I arrived, her stylist was doing her hair.  She had been growing her hair out, so she was unsure of what looked best.  I gave her my input and she ended up doing her hair beautifully.  She then helped me out, since she knew it was my first time.  We chuckled and talked to Kathi, just like we would have had she had a regular appointment with us.

I am so glad I did this.  This was my final gift to this wonderful woman, who knew everything about me, my life and especially my fur babies.  See, she was just as much of an animal lover.  I know there are industry and business experts that preach to us that our clients are not our friends.  I wholeheartedly disagree.  You can't hold someone's hand for an hour, every few weeks and not have a connection with them.

Kathi was my friend.  Elsie was my friend.  Hundreds of others are my friends as well.  They trust us with their deepest secrets, their fears, they share their joys and milestones with us as well as their failures.  They celebrate our successes with us as well as support us when we have bad times.

I was honored to help make Kathi beautiful in the end.  I know she would have appreciated it.  I am going to miss her.  I was just looking through all of the nails of hers I took photos of.   She was always one that asked, "What did you learn new?"  She would let me try anything.  Sometimes, I wasn't happy with the result, but she always was.

I hope in heaven that you look up Tom Holcolmb.  I know, without a doubt, he will be doing your nails and so fabulously that you will be saying "Rhonda, what the hell were you doing all of these years??"

Godspeed Kathi.  I will miss you.

Control+ALt+Delete=Reboot Tomorrow

Well it's been three months since my ablation of my heart.  I felt amazing UNTIL I was on my way home from California on November 18.  I got off of my first flight and my ankles were so swollen, they hurt to bend I was also very short of breath.  When we arrived in Pittsburgh, after my second flight, it was worse.  I was sweating, dizzy and thought I was going to have to go immediately to the hospital.  I tried to play it cool so I would not alarm my travel companion.  Thank goodness she was the driver.  By the time I got home, I felt better.

From that day forward, I never felt good again.  I've been horribly winded by simple things, like walking to the car, getting dressed.  I am constantly hot, sweaty and clammy.  It makes me crabby and irritable, restless and gives me a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.  I am very forgetful and I sometimes have problems thinking straight.

I saw my local cardiologist on Monday, he put a 24 hour monitor on me and ordered another stress test for this coming Monday.  I had my follow up with my Pittsburgh cardiologist, yesterday.  He was the one that did my ablation.  He wants to cardiovert me tomorrow.  It's pretty much a reboot of my heart to get it into regular rhythm and see if I can stay there.  So tomorrow morning to Pittsburgh I go.  I already had this procedure a year ago in December.

If this doesn't work then they will do the ablation again with a second doctor, who will be able to use a different catheter that can try to cauterize the back wall of my heart, which is where all of my electrical activity is coming from.  They couldn't do that with the original ablation because they would have burned my esophagus.

So, wish me luck and if I've been crabby, impatient towards you, snapped or just not seemed like myself, please know it's not you.  It's all me and I hope to be back to my jovial self soon.