Variety Views - Just The Way I See It

Apple Gadgets 72-Hour Giveaway!

2011-12-15T20:05:00.000-06:00

Awesome Apple Gadgets 72-Hour Giveaway!

Nomorerack has some of the hottest deals on incredible authentic brand name items and unique merchandise. Each weekday at noon(EST), new deals open in 8 unique categories, giving you the chance to get great new merchandise at unbelievable prices.*

Check It Out Here

Make sure you watch for the Insanity Deals, they are really cheap so they don't last long (usually only seconds!

In addition to their regular daily deals, 1,000 Insanity Deals go live at different times throughout the month. Some of the hottest selling products like, the Playstation 3 (PS3) for $26.54, Apple iPad - $43.20, Apple iPhone 4S - $51.12 Amazon Kindle Fire only $17.91, insane prices! Discounts are always 80-95% off the regular retail price. Limited quantities available so act fast! Insanity Deals show up in place of regular deals in a purple box and disappear when they're sold out. So, check back regularly to see if you can snag one!

*Details from Friendrack:

Want FREE Apple products? All you have to do is

Sign up at Nomorerack
Head over to "My Profile" at nomorerack™ and copy your dedicated referral link.
Send that link to all of your friends using facebook, Twitter, email or phone and tell them to register at nomorerack™ – all friends who register using this link will count towards your total.
When you hit your friend target, place your order at friendrack.
Sit back, relax, and wait for your FREE Apple products to be delivered direct to your door.

There's no limit on the number of Apple products you can earn, so refer all the friends you like! Substitute higher value items for the equivalent quantity of lower value items. For example, if you refer 400 friends you can pick up either an iPad 2 16GB or 4 iPod Nanos! It's your call!

Act fast! This promotion is only between December 15th noon EST and December 18th noon EST, 2011 (72 hours)!

The fine print

Friend registration must be a valid email address and cannot be fraudulently generated
If your friends were fraudulently generated, you will be disqualified from this promotion
No duplicated email addresses are allowed
Registered users cannot register again with a different email address
Only friends who register between December 15th noon EST and December 18th noon EST, 2011 (72 hours) count towards this promotion
This giveaway is available for US residents only

Nomorerack - Sign Up Here To Get Your Daily Deals

2011-12-13T20:13:00.002-06:00

I get paid to shop, literally! About a year and a half ago, I discovered a great way to save money, Ebates.com! You can find thousands of coupons, promo codes and discounts, PLUS get cash back savings with online rebates. Best of all, they never charge a membership fee, or require mail-in rebate forms. They just send you your cash, no commitments and no strings attached.

When you plan to make a purchase online, go to Ebates.com 1st, search ebates to see if the store(s) you want to shop at participate, Ebates will also let you know if there are any deals or coupons for the site, click the link for the store(s) on Ebates website, shop for your item(s) and that's it!**

Every 3 months, Ebates.com will send you a cash back payment for purchases posted during the previous quarter. Currently Ebates offers 4 ways to receive payment.
1) By Check: They will send a check directly to you - mailing fees are paid by Ebates.
2) PayPal: They will deposit your payment in your PayPal account - sender's fees are paid by Ebates.
3) Charity/Organization/Family Member: If you prefer to donate your savings to your favorite charity, organization or family member, it's free and mailing fees are paid by Ebates. (Note: Ebates does not validate the tax-deductibility of donations that you send to charities. It is your sole responsibility to document donations and to determine that donations to an organization are tax-deductible.)
4) Ebates is currently testing other forms of rapid payment with select members including Visa® virtual; pre-paid Visa debit cards; and direct deposit into member bank accounts. To see if you are eligible for their latest "Fast Cash" options, visit My Ebates to determine if you have been selected to participate.

"Ebates.com is the leading cash back shopping site with over 1,200 stores and 5,000 coupons. Ebates members have earned $100 million in cash back just for shopping at their favorite stores."

Remember, there are never any rebate forms to fill out and mail in, and no need to save receipts (not for Ebates anyway)!
However, your cash back rewards may take a couple of days, or more, before they show up in your My Ebates account***.

Join free now

**Taken from the Ebates.com website:
"How do I make sure that I am earning cash back?"

"Purchases you make at Ebates stores are only credited if you start your shopping session at Ebates.com or another Ebates service (like the Ebates toolbar) and click to a store via an Ebates link. As much as we'd like to give you cash back even if you do not start shopping via an Ebates link, we have no way of proving you are our member to the store without your click. If you click through Ebates and make a purchase, then surf elsewhere on the Web and return to that store and make a second purchase, your second purchase will not earn a cash back reward. (You must click through an Ebates link every time you shop at a store site.) If you use multiple windows on your browser, the window in which you shop at the store must have come from an Ebates link. Also, while virtually all product purchases at the stores are eligible for cash back, there are a limited number of products that do not qualify for cash back. Please check Ebates.com to see a list of exclusions."

***More from Ebates.com:
"How quickly is cash back credited to my account?"

"Most cash back rewards are credited within 48 hours. Some stores, however, cannot confirm your purchase until the return period has elapsed and may take up to thirty days to confirm your cash back."

Save Money This Holiday Season

2011-10-22T20:35:00.000-05:00

Looking for great deals on all your gifts? Then try the Shopping Daisy, it works to find you the cheapest prices on the web!

Shopping Daisy

PennyBurners Birthday Giveaway

2011-05-15T18:12:00.001-05:00

Be sure to check out PennyBurners Birthday Giveaway!!

PennyBurners is celebrating their one year birthday/anniversary, having opened their doors in April, 2010!

In honor of PennyBurners birthday celebration, several Penny Auction site owners have donated birthday gifts. PennyBurners is passing their birthday gifts to their wonderful members. This is THE BIGGEST GIVEAWAY EVER in penny auction history! They have over 347 gifts, with 26,585 bids, and a total of $17,384.75 contributed! (Updated on 04/16/11.) Hurry, it ends TONIGHT (5/15/2011) at midnight CST!

Why should you enter? Glad you asked!

Prizes include (almost $18,000 in value):
bid packs(totaling over 27,000 bids!)
An iPhone 4 <---WOW
PS3 <---WOW
Jewelry <---WOW
Gift cards
iPods
Purses!!! <---WOW
Shirts
Books and more!

All of these are from the best & most trusted penny
auction sites on the internet! They include:

Beezid
StickyBids
SkoreIt
For10Cents
NailBidder
RagingBid
QuiBids
PennyPurses
PennyBurners (Yes we donated items!)
iTicketBid
YourPennyWins
PulseAuction
Bidash
SpaceAntiques
HogItUp
Zeekler
BidPigs
MyPadiddle
PennyAuctionVouchers
BidRivals
Bigggle
BargainsAndFun
RockDawg
SpeedyFinger
BidPackCentral
ScoreLuxe
ItsyBid
BidBlink
PennyAuctionPromo
PennyAuction.ca
PennyAuctionBillBoard

You can enter once just by writing one review for ANY of the sites that contributed here:
http://www.pennyburners.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=65

You can earn more entries by doing the following:
1-Like PennyBurners on FaceBook! (One extra entry)
2-Tag PennyBurners on Twitter (@PennyBurners) & mention
our giveaway. (One extra entry)
3-Invite your friends and family to register at
PennyBurners & have them use your username as
a referral. (Unlimited extra entries)
4-Make a YouTube video testimonial about one of
the contributing sites, and mention PennyBurners!

It costs nothing to enter and you could win a nice prize!

Save big on tickets and merchandise with iTicketBid!

2011-03-16T02:14:00.005-05:00

SITE IS DOWN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...

Save big on tickets and merchandise with iTicketBid! Click here to sign up
My first 3 wins at iTicket:
'Mini-Webcam + 15 Bonus Bids' from iTicketBid for only $0.03!
http://www.iticketbid.com/item/00007291
'Audiology Stereo Earphones' from iTicketBid for only $0.01!
http://www.iticketbid.com/item/00007273
'A Dozen Callaway Golf Balls + 12 Free Bids for $0.01!
http://www.iticketbid.com/item/00006789

FREE Redbox Movie Rental

2011-03-08T18:16:00.000-06:00

Redbox is the best - you can rent DVDs for $1 a night with no membership fees! You should try it out. If you click on my link and it's your first time renting online, they'll give you a free one-night online rental credit. And I'll get a free rental each time you rent via my link through 3/17/11.

Click here to get your FREE rental

COVERGIRL Celebrates 50 Years!

2011-02-11T22:08:00.007-06:00

I am BzzAgent Lilgorilla since 2008

I was recently invited to join the BzzAgent COVERGIRL 50th Anniversary Campaign, no kits or freebies were offered to participate in this campaign, just access to fun quizzes, sweet rewards and the opportunity to win samples and once-in-a-lifetime experiences for me and my friends. So, I am inviting you, come celebrate 50 golden years of easy, breezy, beautiful COVERGIRL! I had fun creating my first (and probably only since I am not a 'Real' Covergirl) Covergirl ad and my candy heart, it is totally free so why not give it a try!

CELEBRATING 50 BEAUTIFUL YEARS

The next generation of COVERGIRL… is you! Visit the MyCOVERGIRL tab to celebrate and let friends and this iconic beauty brand know just what it is that makes you an easy, breezy, beautiful COVERGIRL. As part of the fun, they’ll be offering samples, fun quizzes, sweet rewards, monthly and quarterly prizes and amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Go ahead, invite your friends to the party and rock your COVERGIRL all year long!

SPECIAL PRIZES WITH OUR CELEBRITY COVERGIRLS

CURRENT PRIZE: You could win VIP tickets to The Ellen DeGeneres Show!

FREE PRODUCT GIVEAWAYS

Each month they are giving away 1,000 FREE full-sized products.

VIDEOS, BADGES, AND MORE!

Create a COVERGIRL ad, get exclusive badges, and help shape the next generation of COVERGIRL through polls, quizzes, and more.

Send a candy heart

CREATE, SHARE, WIN! Create your own personalized candy hearts inspired by NEW COVERGIRL Lip Perfection™! YOU COULD WIN A COVERGIRL LIP PERFECTION LIPSTICK™ LIPCOLOR! Celebrate Valentine’s Day and COVERGIRL’s 50th anniversary by sending friends a candy heart from the MyCOVERGIRL tab on Facebook — 1,000 lucky random candy heart senders will receive a free sample of COVERGIRL Lip Perfection Lipcolor!

Live for Today - Sir Ivan on Yahoo! Video

2011-02-09T23:42:00.002-06:00

Live for Today - Sir Ivan on Yahoo! Video

I just came across this music video, while it is not something I would normally watch more than once, I did this time. I came to this video through a HIT (a Human Intelligence Task) I saw on Amazon Mechanical Turk (more on that another time), I wanted to see what it was about before I accepted the HIT. While the song was playing I was reading the comments, mainly because the HIT was to "make a harsh, honest comment on the video, then reply to at least 5 other people's comments".
I didn't mind the song, since it was a remake, and the musician's appear to have talent. The comments were very harsh, all I kept thinking was how people will say or do anything for $1.02 (the amount of the HIT). After I read the comments, I decided to watch the video with an open mind. At first, I could see where some of the comments were coming from, the purple cape was silly, I couldn't understand the 2 microphones, he did look like a Billy Idol look-a-like, and it sort of appeared to be a last minute video shoot. About 1.5 minutes into it I realized I was being entertained by it all, even if it did seem less rehearsed, or put together, than the vids you see on MTV or CMT. These guys each have their own style, so what if it is not something I myself would do, it is what entertainment is all about. They all looked like they were doing what they felt comfortable with. I believe Sir Ivan probably would not judge his commenters quiet as harshly if they made a music video, especially for $1.02. He has made some pretty decent efforts with other videos, I think my hat is off to you, Sir Ivan.

Super Bowl Commercials My 4 Favorites

2011-02-06T11:31:00.003-06:00

Watch these Super Bowl Commercials.

Packers or Steelers? Chevrolet wants to know which team you're pulling for. Cast your vote for the best team to move the Momentum Meter.

Oh No! They hit Bumblebee! I love this Chevy Camaro Super Bowl Ad!

Where's Tommy? Super Bowl Commercial - Click to find Tommy
I'm A BzzAgent

Misunderstanding - Chevy Super Bowl Ad - Too Cute!

Gluten-Free Crackers

2011-02-02T05:45:00.003-06:00

Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease - Sprue (a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, possibly oats and others.) I will add much more on this topic as time goes by.

I quickly discovered my diet was very restricted, it seemed like everything was made with flour, contained some form of the above mentioned, or was contaminated with one or more of the evil ingredients (processed in a facility, a knife buttered the bread then went back into the butter container for seconds, etc.,.) Gluten is everywhere, hiding
in places you would never imagine (lots more on this later). Anyway, crackers are a must for me, I love saltines but they seem to be history, I have only found a few gluten free crackers I can tolerate. I purchased a box of Crunchmaster Multi-grain gluten-free crackers (see picture below on the left) at Sam's Club about 6 months ago thinking if Sam's sells them must be okay, WRONG. These crackers were more hard than "crunchy", and left an awful after-taste, similar to burnt rice. My husband went Gluten-Free when I had to (such a swell fella), and he doesn't like them either. We tried them plain, with cream cheese, with cream cheese and olives, crushed up in a salad, with cheddar cheese, but nothing was going to hide that taste, they were Horrible! I might say it is just my taste buds but...I have 5 kids, 4 of which will eat pretty much anything, so I thought maybe they would eat them, but not a one of them liked these. I tried to give them to friends, family, and neighbors but no one liked them. I guess it is possible that I purchased a bad batch, even though there were 2 packages in the box. I know from reading other reviews, there are many people that love these things, I guess you never know unless you try them. We didn't want to toss them in the trash so we use them as dog treats every once in a while, Ms Muffett (our 4yo Yorkie) & Tazz (our 1yo Lab/Doberman mix) like them. If there is anyone out there that has tried these, please leave a comment, I would really like to know if we did get a bad batch.

The picture below on the right is my favorite so far, Glutino brand Original Flavor Gluten-Free Crackers. They are by no means saltines, in fact they are on the opposite end of that spectrum, almost a sweet flavor. Mostly, I use them to replace croutons in salad or topped with cream cheese and such. I know it sounds a bit unusual but, to replace my dearly missed saltine friends, Lays plain potato chips are my new BFF. They are there for me when I eat Hormel's Chili or cheese dip covered Hormel's Tamales (both gluten-free, thanks Hormel), homemade or canned soup, anytime I need a salty crunch. If there is anyone with a cracker referral please let me know.

Non-Tweezers

2011-01-21T00:44:00.005-06:00

I have had this problem many times, I suppose I thought it was just a fluke, a misfit pair of tweezers. By the way, are tweezers called "a pair" or "a set" or something else? I mean, it's not like there are 2 of them, for now I will refer to them as a pair. Anyway, not all tweezers are alike, you have the slanted tip ones and square ones, personally I prefer the slanted tip ones. I have one pair of tweezers, "Trim" Brand, that know exactly how to do their job! Recently, my 4 year old daughter had a couple of splinters in her finger so my husband used my good tweezers to pull them out, went easy as pie (cause yeah, they're good like that). The next day I noticed I had a few wild eyebrow hairs that needed to go, but my tweezers were not in their usual spot, they were nowhere to be found. We have looked high and low, but no tweezers (such a funny little word). My dear husband can't remember where he put them (though not too shocking) and he feels bad about it. Well, I remembered I had a few more pairs lurking around, and the hunt was on,
I discovered I owned 6 pairs of these things. Why do I have so many? Where did they all come from? I kept an open mind and gave each pair a sincere try, now I can tell you why so many, because none of them work. I couldn't just sit around waiting for the tweezing tweezers to turn up, so my next trip to Walmart I got a new pair, low and behold, they don't tweeze. So, my husband's next trip to Walmart he bought me a new pair, they didn't tweeze either, and they were the same brand as the good ones, go figure. At that point my eyebrows were so red from trying to utilize all of the useless tweezers I didn't even notice the hairs anymore. Out of the 8 pairs (which includes my missing pair), so out of the 7 pairs I have now only 1 was able to manage to do the job. One pair was marked "Avon", two were marked "Trim" (1 slant and 1 square), three pairs did not have a name on them, and the last one was Avon's "Mark" brand (this one worked the best). What is going on, do they not test these gadgets? Maybe I am doing it wrong, surely not, it isn't rocket science or brain surgery. I mean, you grasp the hair and pull, what is so difficult about that?!? I inspected the tips of each pair; no apparent damage noted, though some of them when closed you can see light shine through where the tips meet (that can't be helpful). I am not sure why I kept them if they did not work, probably because I thought it would be a hassle to return them, or just embarrassing. I couldn't throw them away, I had just purchased them (at some point anyway). I guess I was hoping if I needed them bad enough I could wish them to work. So, why can these tweezers not tweeze? Isn't that like selling shampoo that doesn't clean? (When my oldest son was a toddler he called it "shampingpoo".) Or buying a drill that won't drill? A brush that can't brush? You get the point. If there are any awesome tweezers out there that actually work, someone please fill me in. I have heard the Tweezerman brand is pretty good.
*UPDATE*
I discovered something interesting about the "Mark" tweezers, (not sure if I can correctly describe this) besides using them by the normal tweezing tips, you can also use it on the sides. Because the tweezing ends are flat instead of rounded you can pluck from any angle. There is a caution here, because the edges are not smooth, if you are not careful they pinch and it hurts and leaves a bad red mark. When using the side, this pair works better than my old ones, yay! I will upload a picture soon (of the tweezers, not my eyebrows).

If It's Too Good To Be True...

2011-01-20T17:06:00.005-06:00

*UPDATE*(See bottom of post)*

My 16 year old son just recently became interested airsoft guns and has a group of friends that want to have airsoft wars where they go out and hunt each other down. I don't exactly find this intriguing or safe but I realize I can not protect my baby forever (the BBs are plastic, I hope). So, a couple of weeks ago my son asked me to go online and order a Ghillie Suit and a Ghillie Gun Wrap for him. He gave me his brand new debit card (he is proud of that card) and I began my online journey, trying to find him the best deal. Let me say, I was clueless at first, what was a Ghillie Suit? A Ghillie Gun Wrap?

Well, it did not take long to figure out that it was a camouflage outfit that makes one look like a Saskatchewan, an Abominable Snowman, a tree, a bush or whatever scenery you need to blend in with (see photos below and at the end of the post).

He wanted his suit to be in the Woodland colors to match our Arkansas foliage. By the way, these suits are not cheap, even though they are pretty much just yarn, burlap leaves, string, or thread tied, or sewn, onto mesh or netting shaped like a suit. There are several options for Ghillies, such as a poncho version, pants and top separates or combo, long jacket, sniper suit (less bulk on the tummy), buttons or zippers, ready-to-wear or a kit that you put together and customize to your liking. My son works part-time, but hard, at McDonald's so I tried to save him a few bucks. After many hours of searching I finally found a website (Gotitstation.com) that had reasonable prices, free shipping and seemed legitimate so I placed the order, with a grand total of $92.27.
Here it is two weeks later, no package yet, no tracking number, only the two receipts I received after placing the order. One of those receipts is from Gotitstation.com support and the other is from PayPal, which said I made the purchase from Flex Sporting Goods. I have emailed every address I can find and called every number I can find. Funny thing is, Gotitstation.com's number is disconnected, yay me *sarcasm*. Oh, and their website is gone now. I feel like an idiot! I finally found this Flex Sporting Goods on Facebook, no luck there yet but it has only been a couple of hours, they don't answer their phone but they do have an answering machine (or voicemail) that sounds like a joke.
I feel horrible about this, I should have placed the order at Amazon for a few dollars more. Now I will have to do it all over again, this time I am paying. Hopefully the bank or PayPal will help us out on getting his money back. Lesson learned, again, if it is too good to be true, it probably is!

*UPDATE*

After the original post, I received a reply via email from Flex Sporting Goods, they said PayPal had put a "freeze" on the funds so they [Flex] had not received the payment, nor could they issue a refund. I contacted PayPal, they said the funds were not "frozen", or on a hold of any sort, and the seller had received the payment. PayPal was able to link my son's debit card, with the transaction, to my Paypal account and then opened a dispute with the seller. They sent the seller an email describing the dispute with the options of sending the order or issuing a refund. If the seller decided to do neither and/or did not respond, a refund would be issued automatically in 11 days. Well, yesterday was the 11th day and Paypal promptly issued a refund of $92.27 the full purchase amount. WOO-HOO! GO PAYPAL!

Comfort Levels of Service

2011-01-20T13:53:00.005-06:00

We have about 5 inches of snow! I have been up talking to people, trying to get her dad to the Fayetteville, AR VA. Trying to get someone to do something out of there normal routine is like pulling teeth. An example of this on a small scale, Wendy's in Shreveport, I actually have to go in to get our family's to-go-order instead of the drive through to make sure they do it right. It is a good thing I did, I told them that I wanted some of the burgers without a bun because Tricia will get very sick if she even looks at wheat wrong (she has Celiac Disease). So, I am watching them make the food and the lady forgets about the bun, another girl says hey no bun so the other girl takes the buns off and tries to give them to me, this is after I have already explained the problem. I got no apologies for almost making my wife sick, but I did get a go to hell look and a bunch of under-the-breath talking that I can still hear. Then they give me crappy looks as I receive our food. The worst part is that there is only one Wendy's, we could find, in the area and a very limited selection of food for Tricia to eat, therefore I had to return to the same people multiple times.

Now on a much larger scale, I am trying to get people with some of the same views to move out of their comfort zone to help a man return to a good standard of life instead of death.

A Parent's Living Will, I Had No Idea...

2011-01-20T00:15:00.008-06:00

*Revised* If only I had known.....Almost three weeks ago my dad, who is 58 (at the time of this writing), called and excitedly said, "My Little Girl (his name for me), you'll be proud of me, I finally did what you have been telling me to do, I made a Living Will" (See end for details and information). That was pretty good news since most people never take the time, or they just don't want to think about things like that. Nonetheless, he was very proud of himself, as was I, for finally accomplishing this task. He frequently spoke about what I was to do in the event "something were to happen" to him; each time I explained the need for him to put it in writing so I would have more of a legal obligation to follow his orders, rather than going with my personal wishes to keep him around. To make sure I understood exactly what he wanted he went over it with me word for word. I received many in depth examples of, if he can't be just the way he is now then not to try to save his life. He did not want to live if was unable to go fishing or think for himself, or if all he was capable of doing was drooling, etc.,. I told him I understood exactly what he wanted and I would do what he wanted me to do. I had no idea that two days later I would receive a phone call from his best friend telling me my daddy had a major stroke and he was not expected to make it through the afternoon.
My heart sank, the thought of not ever being able to see or speak to him again made me ill. I immediately called the hospital he was taken to, in Mansfield, LA, and spoke with an ER nurse, he said my dad had a large bleed in his brain, was unable to talk or move his right side but his condition was stable and they were about to transport him to the Neuro ICU at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, LA. Shortly after his arrival at LSU I received a call asking me to consent to surgery to stop the bleed in his brain, and of course I did. He made it through surgery but was now on a ventilator and they were having to keep him sedated because he was attempting to get out of bed and pull out tubes and lines.

By day 3 the hospital staff said he would not follow commands but would respond to painful stimuli. They had also tried to take him off the ventilator but that was not successful. By day 6 there was no change in his condition. My younger brother called the hospital to check on our dad and just happened to get a resident doctor on the phone, we usually only get to speak to the nurse taking care of him. This doctor told my brother we needed to start thinking about whether we wanted to try to rehab Dad or withdraw care because he would probably never be the man we know and love, never walk or talk again. Based on what he had heard, my brother had his mind made up, he knew what my dad wanted and this wasn't it. I spoke with a nurse that voiced the same opinions regarding Dad's prognosis, none of it sounded promising. The nurse in me keeping thinking, "if I could see him with my own eyes I would know what to do and the choice would be easier". As his "little girl", I wanted to hear something better, something hopeful. Even though I knew what he wanted in this circumstance, I needed to know the situation was as dire as it sounded.

Day 7 I receive a call from a doctor, she said all of their attempts to wean him off the ventilator were unsuccessful (probably due to decades of smoking even though he quit 2 years ago) and they wanted my consent to give my dad a trach so they could make him more comfortable by removing the tube from his airway, so I consented. A couple of days later I get a call from a GI doctor wanting to know if I would consent to a surgical procedure to insert a G-tube (a tube inserted into the stomach via the abdomen to receive nutrition long term), so they could remove the NG-tube (a tube inserted into the stomach via the nose) because my dad's sinuses were beginning to break down. I explained to the doctor that I wasn't sure yet if we were going to withdraw care or try to rehab and I did not want to put my dad through an unnecessary procedure, he said they could wait another couple of days. At this point I felt even more compelled to see for myself, the condition my daddy was in. I had been trying for a week to go see him, it is about a 7 hour drive from our house to Shreveport, but my issue was our 3 school age kids. They were suppose to stay with our friend and neighbor but one of their kids contracted strep throat and we had to wait until all was clear. Then we were iced and snowed in for 2 days. My husband and I were finally able to go down to Shreveport to see him, with 3 out of 5 of our kids in tow.

Day 9, they did a CAT Scan of his brain right before we arrived at the hospital. That evening I met with the neurosurgeon that performed the surgery to stop the bleeding in his brain. She showed me his CAT Scan and explained what it all meant, there was no more bleeding and his brain was almost healed. She said she had expected him to wake up already and could not figure out why he had not. She also said that the area of the brain where he had the stroke she would expect him to have right sided weakness and the peripheral field of vision in his right eye might be cut off. She saw no reason he would not be able to recover and strongly suggested we give him that chance. A big difference from what my brother and I were previously told. She did want to get a MRI of his brain to make sure the CAT scan did not miss something. The MRI showed a small stroke to the left of the brain stem but she said he should still be okay.

During the week we stayed there I saw a few small improvements, but only after they turned off his IV pump of a high dose of strong pain medication. He was breathing on his own with ventilator backup a few hours at a time; I was finally able to get him to open his eyes for a few seconds; a couple of times when I held his eyelid(s) open his eye(s) would follow me; he began moving his right arm and leg and would sometimes squeeze my hand. I hated to leave, and as much as I wanted to stay until he got better we had to go home. I don't know if he ever heard anything I said to him, I hope he did because I told him how much I love him and need him, how much his grandkids would miss him and that he can be himself again.

In times like these it is difficult to think straight but I remember the many conversations I had with him. The problem with our conversations was he never told me what to do if there was even a slight chance he could recover, if the drooling and having someone wipe his bottom was only temporary. It may be a long, hard road for him, possibly a year or more but maybe less, he could still have decades left to live his life the way he wants to live it. If, no, I should say, When he gets better the trach and g-tube will be removed and the holes will be stitched closed. I CAN NOT let him go as long as that chance is there, even if it means he will be mad at me. It really is not up to me anymore, it is about his own will to live. I don't know if they will allow me to bring him closer to where I live so I can be there to support and encourage him but I am certainly going to try.

Please talk to your loved ones, let them know exactly what you want them to do in this situation. It is important to have Advance Directives, be specific about your desires, don't make the mistake of being too vague because your wishes may be disregarded, or taken to the opposite extreme (like my brother and I might have done) which is not reversible. You can pick up a form at any hospital or you can find them free online (see below), make copies and make sure your physician gets one.

Please check the following websites for more information:
Mayo Clinic Information on Living Wills and Advanced Directives
Download Your State's Advance Directives
National Institutes of Health Advance Directives Info
Do Your Own Will (Free, ease forms & Great information)

Living Wills and other Advance Directives are legal documents that speak for you when you're not able to speak for yourself, for instance, if you are unconscious or in a coma. They are used to describe your preferences regarding treatment if you are faced with a serious accident or illness.
It is important for all adults to have a Living Will and other Advance Directives they are not just for older adults. Unexpected end-of-life situations can happen at any age, so it is important for all adults to have advance directives.

Advance directives: More than just living wills

Advance directives are written instructions regarding your medical care preferences. Your family and doctors will consult your advance directives if you're unable to make your own health care decisions. Having written instructions can help reduce confusion or disagreement. Anyone age 18 or older may prepare advance directives.
Advance directives include:

Living will. This written, legal document spells out the types of medical treatments and life-sustaining measures you do and don't want, such as mechanical breathing (respiration and ventilation), tube feeding or resuscitation. In some states, living wills may be called health care declarations or health care directives.
Medical power of attorney (POA). The medical POA is a legal document that designates an individual — referred to as your health care agent or proxy — to make medical decisions for you in the event that you're unable to do so. A medical POA is sometimes called a durable power of attorney for health care. However, it is different from a power of attorney authorizing someone to make financial transactions for you.
Do not resuscitate (DNR) order. This is a request to not have cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if your heart stops or if you stop breathing. Advance directives do not have to include a DNR order, and you don't have to have an advance directive to have a DNR order. Your doctor can put a DNR order in your medical chart.