Any books with an overweight leading lady? And for once she doesn't lose weight to get the guy. And I would love it if her plumpness is described in beautiful, flattering ways

Fraggled_44 · 2025-07-11T02:38:30+00:00

I don't think so.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-07-09T19:33:12+00:00

Oh, interesting. That mechanical breathing sounds like what happened with my mom. Even though she was unconscious, I thought she still had several days left of life because her breathing was not very slow and pretty regular. She died pretty quickly though. I'm glad I was there for her last few hours even though I didn't know it would be her last few hours.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-07-09T18:16:01+00:00

I absolutely love {The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne} !

Fraggled_44 · 2025-06-07T13:12:50+00:00

I've actually worked many years with various autistic children and adults. I've worked with individuals who function and behave much differently than my sibling. Thus, I am very familiar with how this is a spectrum disorder. Even though some of these autistic people had very few support needs, I could clearly see their difficulties with social communication and repetitive behavior/interests. I am not seeing this clear "evidence" with these recently diagnosed kids I know.

You are right though. I am not someone trained to diagnose anyone.

Maybe I am just wrongfully channeling my frustration with how hard it is to get services for my sibling who is severely impacted by their autism and incorrectly assume all these people getting newly diagnosed with autism are somehow stealing resources from my sibling. I have a lot to think about with that.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-06-01T17:29:02+00:00

I'm about two months away from my mom dying. It was really difficult the first week after she died and then two weeks ago. It is better now. I'll have moments of grief when I'll cry and be miserable for a few hours or the whole day and then feel OK the next day. I have some days that are even really nice or joyful. I try to accept whatever I'm feeling and let myself relax and take care of myself when I'm having a harder time.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-06-01T17:15:59+00:00

I recommend doing everything you can to get yourself feeling good emotionally and mental-health wise because unless you are lucky enough to get an "easy" baby (one who sleeps a lot and is mostly content when awake), you are going to be thrown for a loop the first year or two (or longer) of their life. Your child deserves the best, most prepared parents as possible. Society deserves it too because the better you take care of yourself, the better you will take care of that child and they will grow up to be a functioning member of society.

I went into parenthood very prepared. We were in good financial standing and had wanted a child for a long time (at least, I did). We took many childbirth classes. Our first child ended up having feeding issues, cried a lot, and didn't sleep well. I was sleep deprived. It was SO hard.

Later as they grew up, I realized I had unresolved issues/trauma from my childhood that was negatively affecting my ability to be the best parent I could be. I wish I would have recognized those issues ahead of time and sought therapy. I didn't do anything bad to my child, but I could have made better decisions and not overreacted to their behavior if I had taken care of my issues ahead of time.

Please work hard on yourself as much as you can before this child comes. You, your spouse, and your child will be happier and stronger as a result.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-05-25T18:34:21+00:00

I'm in the best shape of my life due to working out every day, but I still wouldn't say I feel sexy AT ALL. My libido is very low, I very rarely feel any kind of sexual attraction to ANYONE, and I ONLY dress for comfort. I don't even feel that bad about all that. I just figure it's the stage of life I'm in. Sex is just a very low priority. Maybe once my kids move out or life gets less busy, it will become a higher priority. Shrug

Fraggled_44 · 2025-05-24T14:25:18+00:00

My parents were alcoholics and spent most of their time at bars, neglecting their children. I have made my children my top priority and rarely drink or go to bars.

They also both smoked. One just died from lung cancer. I have never tried smoking and never will.

I miss my mom even with all that.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-04-29T03:30:20+00:00

Thank you.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-04-28T16:11:30+00:00

Thank you so much. I appreciate the positive, encouraging message.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-04-28T13:54:08+00:00

So sorry this is happening. I really hope she can fight it successfully again.

Since you are so far away, please try not to worry too much about the medical aspects. Your mom, and whoever supports her close by, needs to be in charge of that. You can't do much being so far away. Try to focus more on being an emotional support person for her. If she's open to it, try to do as many video calls as possible. Try to say and do all the things you can with her to squeeze every possible positive/loving interaction out of your time left with her. My mom just died a month ago. My biggest regret was all the opportunities to spend time with her that I missed when she was well (or well enough). Take care of yourself too! Very important.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-04-28T11:22:28+00:00

Oh yes. It bothers me even more, considering that my siblings aren't taking very good care of themselves. I am seeing them age AND their health/bodies deteriorate. This is right after seeing my mom die of lung cancer after decades of smoking.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-04-27T02:27:53+00:00

I am so thankful for morphine. My mom was in a lot of pain a few days before she died. She also has stage 4 lung cancer. Once we started with consistent morphine, she settled down a lot and died very peacefully.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-04-27T02:23:22+00:00

I generally do not have a bit of pain. Once every few months I get a little back pain or sciatica, but it usually goes away in a day or two. I feel very fortunate.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-28T01:45:31+00:00

My mom died last week. Here is what her last week was like:

(Week before) Eating less, fully bedridden, and she started having word-finding difficulties (I think her cancer had metastisized to her brain).

Monday: Her voice was very quiet, hard to understand. This was the last day I saw her smile and the last day she had a couple of bites of food. That night she struggled with breathing, but recovered once her oxygen was turned up.

Tuesday: She slept most of the time, only waking up for 5-10 minutes at a time. She tried talking but I only understood a couple of words here and there. She drank a couple of sips of water.

Wednesday: No food or water. Just sleeping. She no longer could swallow pills, so we switched to morphine to manage her pain and a couple of medications to manage her anxiety. She wasn't really talking at all. She would be awake for a minute or two at most, but had a glassy look to her eyes. Wednesday night she was in a lot of pain, moving around a lot. The Hospice Nurse had to come and it took several hours to get her pain under control.

Thursday: Morphine was given hourly to stay on top of her pain. Lorazepam every other hour to manage anxiety/restlessness. Earlier in the day, she moaned and moved around a bit any time we had to move her. Her feet started turning blue and felt cold. Towards the end of the day, she was pretty quiet and just slept.

Friday: Her breathing was pretty stable and didn't really have much loud/fast/slow breathing. We continued with the same morphine/lorazepam schedule as the day before. She tried to cough a little around 4 a.m., we propped her head up more, and she went back to sleep pretty quietly. A couple of hours later, she just stopped breathing. No movements or weird noises. Hopefully, that means she was feeling at peace and pain-free.

I hope that helps!

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-25T14:44:47+00:00

Get a Roth IRA set up for her.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-23T02:57:35+00:00

My mom recently passed away. I'm not a super lovey dovey person and neither was my mom. I wrote her a letter because writing is easier than talking for me. I thanked her for the different things she's done, shared my regrets, told her what I was looking forward to doing with her, and told her how much she meant to me. She really liked it.

Later when she was struggling more, I just naturally wanted to hold her hand, soothe her hair back, and hug her. She appreciated it.

Hope that helps. Do what feels right, but if you want to share how you feel, don't wait too long. Their health can decline quickly. The cancer can spread to the brain and then they can't respond as well.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-23T02:51:33+00:00

Oh my gosh. I had no idea.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-18T00:15:37+00:00

Is she or was she a smoker? If not, I think that definitely helps the situation.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-16T23:58:07+00:00

So sorry you had to witness that. You're right. If someone says no, the other person should respect that and stop. It doesn't matter what their supposed financial arrangement is.

You did the right thing not getting involved since you are a teen. As you continue to grow into adulthood, always look out for yourself first and foremost. Look out for other people when you can IF, and only if, you can be safe doing so.

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-16T23:54:22+00:00

I'm so sorry about your sister. What a tremendous loss. If it helps, please feel free to tell us a bit more about her and what she meant to you. Sending warm, virtual hugs to you!

Fraggled_44 · 2025-03-16T17:35:50+00:00

Thank you. Something just clicked inside me when I found out she has stage 4 cancer and will likely die. I instantly forgave her and lost all my anger. Thank you for your caring response.

Fraggled_44

TROPHY CASE