newbeee

[Guest guest]

My wife Emma has MSA_C. We were told to expect normal life

expectancy. I began to wonder how she could last 20 years which

might be normal for a 65 year old. I was having to change methods of

dealing with her first walking with a cane, then a walker, now

confined to a wheel chair, all with in a year or so period of time.

Moving her from the wheel chair to the portable stool and back to the

chair or to bed has been a challenge as she has less and less control

of legs and feet. I got the message below and it rang a bell. I feel

like I am just about out of changes that can be made, then another

idea comes.

Now I am finding out that If I read things correctly, she may have as

few years as 3, having had it for about 3 years. I guess we really

need to see some one who really knows about PD as their speciality to

get a good prognosis. I have always been open with her about the

disease but I have not told her of what I think the prognosis really

is. The reason I haven't is that it may do more harm than good, but I

am afraid someone may let it out. Any thoughts? Emma is taking an

anti depressant now and it is working, but I truly don't know how I

would handle it if she got as bad as she was before the Paxil. I know

God would give me strength when it is needed but is not something I

would look forward to.

Harold

-- Mountain:Monday - Patches

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Mountain A Mountain Moment

#2084 Wings Over The Mountains of Life

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PATCHES

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I had to install an additional hard drive in a computer today.

Hard drives are about like closet space.

They eventually all fill up.

The hard drive was a 3.5-inch drive. Computer components come

in either 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch sizes. The computer didn't have

any 3.5 bays open, only a 5.25-inch.

I looked at the drive and I looked at the bay. The 3.5-inch

drive fit the bay like a matchbox in a mailbox. You can buy an

adapter kit that adapts 3.5-inch components to 5.25 bays.

You can buy the kit if you go to the computer store, which for

me was a 45-minute round trip drive.

I patched.

In many instances in life, you won't have the exact thing that

you need. It won't fit specs. It won't be " recommended by the

manufacturer. " It may even void the warranty, but it's all

you've got.

I used Velcro.

I can hear the computer enthusiasts saying, " You used Velcro to

install a hard drive! "

Yes, I did.

And you know what. It worked.

The hard drive is almost as secure as if I had taken the 45-

minute trip to the store and got the recommended part. The

Velcro will even hold the drive through anything but the most

extreme earthquake. If an earthquake happens that shakes the

drive loose, I will have a lot more to worry about than a loose

hard drive.

I looked at the makeshift mount sitting in the oversized bay.

Engineers would have frowned.

Systems Analysts would have shaken their heads.

But nothing in the hard drive instructions said, " do not mount

with Velcro. " Maybe they never figured anyone would.

You do what you have to do to make it work with what you've got.

So what if the world frowns on your Velcro?

You are making it work.

So what if it's a little unusual.

You are making it work.

So what if it's not in style or doesn't have a designer name?

You are making it work.

Patches

It's what we have to do to make it with what we have.

You may not be able to afford a marriage counselor when things

get rough. So you patch.

You may not be able to have a personal trainer when you need to

lose a few pounds. So you patch.

You may not be able to go on a Caribbean cruise when you need a

vacation. So you patch.

My parents did it.

My grandparents did it.

My great-grandparents did it.

They were expert patchers.

They made do with what they had and so must we.

And you know what?

The more I looked at the installation, the better it looked.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

The Velcro actually is a cushion. A hard drives worst enemy is

shock. A hard knock and it's out of commission. The Velcro was

like a little sponge that it rested securely on.

Sometimes patches have advantages over the original.

If you buy a hard drive one day and it comes with a Velcro strip

to mount it with,

you'll know where they got the idea.

From a patcher.

A Mountain Original

Thank you for inviting Mountain in your mailbox.

See you tomorrow.

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