The Life of Mrs. Miles

ASSORTED TAPES ELEMENT #16

U.S. Military Theme

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I created these U.S. military themed tapes at the request of blog reader Mary who's creating scrapbook pages with children to send over and cheer the troops. I may follow sometime down the road with some Canadian ones too. Hope these are useful to you!

TINY SPIDER HAVING A MEAL

I 'digitally' painted all day yesterday. I'm still working on my mystery project with a friend and I pushed myself to finish up something I'd been struggling through for several weeks now. It's always a great feeling when you can push through and complete something you've been putting off.

Just a note - in case you've not been to visit Everyday Digital Scrapbooking - then you're missing out on some terrific FREE tutorials on all sorts of projects and techniques. Julie Ann Shahin says they're having a team search at this time as well, so if you're a creative, entusiastic individual with some ideas to share you may want to get yourself added to the team! Slip on over HERE to check it out!

MAKING SHORT WORK OF AN APHID

Today will be a short day for me - I'm going to hang with my friend Becky - and we're decorating and helping host a bridal shower for our friend Leila! We will put our heads together at noon and just work from there - see what magic brews!

I would like to take a moment to spotlight the BEAUTIFUL digital work of another dear friend of mine - perhaps you all know her already! The other day when I featured my Air Balloon Element I used one of the papers from her JOY kit. I'm speaking about KristinCB. Kristin is a very special friend and she is a talented designer as well. Her work is just DELICIOUS - her kits are chock full of soft, sweet, elegant and tasteful designs and I am proud to be able to send you to her store. You can find so many sweet kits of Kristins - just the names alone are tempting eg: Flutter & Fly, Flutter Silks and Shimmer Shoppe to name a few! To visit yourself, just click HERE

KRISTINCB'S JOY KIT

(georgeous, isn't this?)

My other oh-so-helpful friend, Marie, (yes, the one with the cute Alpaca Baby) sent me another useful email - this one with a story by a woman who suffered completely unexpectedly with a heart attack. I think this is something we should all be aware of so I hope this is useful to you! This was sent under the name of Dellarose.

Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing a heart attack....you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest and dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack....

I had a completely unexpected heart attack at about 10:30 pm with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly and warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking,"A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up." A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when adminstering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws.

AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening--we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, "Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack !" I lowered the foot rest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself "If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else.......but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in moment."

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics... I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like "Have you taken any medications?") but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary artery.

I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.

Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act ). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation, and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up....which doesn't happen My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a "false alarm" visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said "Call the Paramedics". Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call your doctor--he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high,and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI's are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware.. The more we know, the better chance we could survive

Why not send this to at least 10 people you know - it may save a life!

THE APPLES ARE RIPENING, SLOWLY!

Today in History:

1632 - Britain grants 2nd Lord Baltimore rights to Chesapeake Bay area

1782 - Congress approves Great Seal of US & the Eagle as it's symbol

1837 - Queen Victoria at 18 ascends British throne following death of uncle King William IV Ruled for 63 years ending in 1901

1863 - West Virginia became 35th state

1867 - Pres Andrew Johnson announces purchase of Alaska

1893 - Lizzie Borden found innocent in New Bedford Mass

1939 - Test flight of 1st rocket plane using liquid propellants

1947 - Gangster Benjamin `Buggsy' Siegel shot dead in Beverly Hills Cal

1948 - Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan premier on CBS-TV

1963 - US & USSR agree to set up "Hot Line"

1968 - Jim Hines becomes 1st person to run 100 meters in under 10 seconds

1977 - Oil enters Trans-Alaska pipeline exits 38 days later at Valdez

1982 - It's National Bald Eagle Day

BARB'S HANDY TIP #286

Get Out In the Field!

This site thru the National Wildlife Federaton has some terrific reference E-Guides available online. There are listings for Birds, Fishes, Mammals, Reptiles, Seashells, Amphibians, Spiders, Butterflies, Wildflowers, Trees and Insects!

Go forth and identify!

ENATURE FEILDGUIDES