Dis Breast Cancer Survivors - GAGWTA!

[snappy]

Glad everything checked out OK, Linda.

Good luck with your appointment Wednesday.

Congrats to your DH!! Way to GO!!!!!

I thought the pools at Pop were magical.

Which one was it, the flower, the bowling pin (my personal favorite), or the computer?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

LOL, it was by the computer pool.

 

[snappy]

Glad everything checked out OK, Linda.

Good luck with your appointment Wednesday.

Congrats to your DH!! Way to GO!!!!!

I thought the pools at Pop were magical.

Which one was it, the flower, the bowling pin (my personal favorite), or the computer?

 

[snappy]

I have a new favorite then.

 

[snappy]

I have a request for P&PD for Claudette.

They rushed her to Touro Hospital in New Orleans early this am. The congestive heart failure flared up again, and her vital signs were very bad. She is stable but needs prayers as well to be transferred to East Jefferson, the hospital where she has spent most of the last 4 months and where all her docs are.

With so many hospitals in the area closed or operating with fewer beds, they are waiting for a bed to free up at EJ.

She even worked yesterday. Apparently, she was forcing herself every step of the way. Her body finally rebelled.

Makes me feel like a slackard for not working, except to keep our household afloat.

Sending prayers to Beth, Monique and Kelly this morning too.

I hope you heal, Kelly, and that you avoid having the skin graft.

I am trying to send healing thoughts to EVERYONE.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I am also sending continued healing thoughts and prayers out to everyone.

Snappy, my specialty is congestive heart failure. It is never exactly the same in any two individuals, however there are three things that everyone must do when they have CHF as a result of volume (ie fluid) overload (obviously in addition to the right combination of medications and diuretics):

1) follow a low salt diet, preferably not more than 2 grams (2000 mg) of sodium per day. This requires label reading and awareness of serving size as it relates to sodium intake. Sodium causes fluid retention.

2) follow a fluid restriction of not more than 2 liters intake in 24 hours (may be even less depending on her circumstances). The heart cannot pump more than that in someone with CHF. She should always be "putting out" more than she takes in, ie negative fluid balance, not positive. Most women don't have trouble with this, men often do.

3) weigh herself every morning, same time, after voiding. If her weight goes up more than 2lbs in 2 days it is a sign she is retaining fluid and will more than likely begin to display other symptoms such as shortness of breath (due to a backup of fluid in the lungs, or the left side of the heart), swelling of extremities (due to a back up going into the right side of the heart), anorexia (due to congestion in the blood vessels in the abdomen), and fatigue (due to a combination of all of the above, as well as poor circulation of blood (and therefore oxygen) around the body.

These are things everyone has to learn in order to care for themselves at home when the heart muscle is weak and unable to pump efficiently. Sounds elementary but you'd be surprised how many don't realize the importance, and believe it or not I've had many patients who've had CHF for a long time and never heard it before. (I always say I wish I had a dollar for every time I've had this discussion with patients).

When things settle down maybe you can share these things with Claudette. I will also email you an excellent article written by members of our CHF service. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with. I'll keep her in my prayers.

 

[snappy]

Thank you, Linda.

I have cleared out some room in my in box, if you want to try to send it again.

I received a message that I had reached capacity.

I saw my MIL Thursday afternoon. One of DH's brothers brought her to BR to see her granddaughter (it was match day for med school students)
get her residency assignment.

I asked her how Claudette was, she said not too good. She said after she gets home from working she goes to bed. She was also worried about the amount of (guess what) salt Claudette was ingesting. I think she was too tired to mess much with food prep, she was actually eatting potato chips.
She had a major heart attack back in 1995, and has been on a heart friendly diet ever since. I guess she was slipping just due to exhaustion.

MIL is pretty savvy about this stuff. My FIL had multiple serious heart attacks and died in 1978, just before DH and I married. So she knows the drill about diet and heart patients. It is a little tricky though giving advice to your adult daughter. I think you can get away with it more with your husband.

Anyway, thanks for the info not to mention prayers.

 

[NHAnn]

GAGWTA !
Prayers for Claudette.... and of course continued thoughts and prayers for all on this thread and their loved ones.

Linda...I'm glad the MRI results were good...and for the good news on your DH's job too!!

We keep running into snags and delays in our modular home building project. The lot is being cleared...mainly by DH...but the modifications to the design of the hone itself are resulting in confusion, tension and of course extra expense Today we went looking at veneer stone for the house face on the farmer's porch and the chimney which will run up the front of the house. SO hard to decide on colors and type with pictures in brochures and teeny samples on such a small scale.......

Tonight is our corned beef night since we weren't home last night...so I cooked it in the crock pot today ...the house smells yummy though this is not my favorite meal of the year...but it IS only once a year....

 

[laurabelle]

~~~***GAGWTA sistas***~~~

Monique- I'm so glad you are feeling up to posting here...Glad you got the ribbon and bunny too! I used to have a lop eared rabbit, it reminds me of him...I can't wait to see what the kit looks like!

Laurie-I am so sorry to hear Claudette isn't doing well again. My goodness, she sure is a trooper, working through that!!! I will be praying that they can get this under control quickly...

Linda- I'm so happy for all your good news! I hope you enjoyed that bubbly! Are you having your gall bladder removed? I'm curious if you had trouble with it prior to your bc dx. I had what I'm sure was a gb attack a couple of years after bc, had a scan which was ok and never had an episode again, weird. I have heard other sistas complain of gb too. Wonder if it's from chemo???

Ann- Glitches come with the territory don't they!?! Danny and I sat down with the designer on Fri about our kitchen, even though we're not ready to start yet... Which I guess is a good thing, since he said it typically takes about 4 planning visits with him before people are ready to order! And even wiht all the planning, he warned us to expect the unexpected! We priced out our dream kitchen, which came out to what we suspected (!) and we'll play around with it from there...

Dee- I haven't ever been able to walk the 3 day, but have family and friends who do. It seems like if you do it once, you're hooked! Thanks for walking for us!

After church I'm literally going right down the street to a champagne brunch held by Komen for volunteers. I went shopping yesterday and bought a very cute pair of shoes for the occasion! I'm so looking forward to hanging out with some of my sistas today!
Thinking of you all and praying for our good health!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

she was too tired to mess much with food prep, she was actually eatting potato chips.

Ah yes. We call it "dietary indiscretion" and see many hospital admissions because of it. We've seen people put on as much as 40 lbs of fluid, not be able to walk across the room or get their shoes on, but didn't want to call the doctor. They come in the hospital and we give them massive doses of diuretics and fluid restrict very severely (once in a while we have to shut off the water in their rooms even). We often give very strong intravenous medications to help the heart itself pump stronger. All because they didn't follow the three steps listed above.

Of course, we do have a smaller segment of people who really do follow the guidelines and still have trouble. We know it can be difficult to follow such a restricted diet and fluid regimen, but it's truly necessary. I always feel badly for young men especially who eat all three meals on the run, for instance - very hard to follow a low salt diet when you eat on the run. Around this time of year we see a lot of admissions after Easter because people ate ham, got thirsty, then overdid the fluids. I tell people, sure, go ahead and have a bit of ham with your family (they still have a life to live and enjoy), just make sure you don't get into a positive fluid balance over the next few days if you get thirsty.

Maybe you can copy and paste what I wrote, and also print up the article, and give it to Claudette to read. As I said it is pretty generic to most CHF patients. I'm sure she will hear a similar thing when she leaves the hospital - it is required patient teaching (charts are reviewed to be sure it's there in order to meet accrediation guidelines). It is then up to her. But after a scare like this most people realize more fully what they need to do. I hope she has a good nurse who will sit down and go over all of this with her. It is one of my favorite aspects of my work, personally. It is not unusual for me to sit for an hour or more talking about this, and I quiz before they leave, LOL.

A few months ago I had a college professor as a patient. He was kind of a "nutty professor" type, actually, pretty cute - his room was a complete mess with books, newspapers and such. I spent a long time going over things with him. He was very interested in what I was telling him and asked a lot of intelligent questions. Seemed very motivated. Provided teaching materials and booklets in writing. Imagine my surprise a few weeks later when I saw him standing at the desk in his johnny. I hadn't realized it was him in another room, had been admitted for fluid overload with a 20 lb weight gain since leaving the hospital last time! I was so mad, seeing as I knew for sure I'd gone over this with him! I said "Professor, what happened"? Right then and there I gave him my quiz. And he'd remembered every word I said, LOL, just somehow didn't think it was important. Well we haven't seen him back since then so hopefully he now realizes what he has to do. That cracked me up.

 

[snappy]

Linda, thank you for this info. I am going to share it with Alison, Claudette's 40 yo daughter who owns the shotgun house uptown where MIL and Claudette are staying. She is a very together person. I feel a little better sharing it with her rather than directly with Dette or MIL.

I think some have to learn the hard way. However, Claudette was very strict about following the diet after her heart attack. Even when they evacuated here last August, she brought some frozen low fat entree packets that she had previously prepared. Over the years since 1995, when we had family dinners on holidays, we would always have certain entrees or veggies that was heart healthy for Dette, although others of us (like me) would also enjoy them. We also ate a lot of angel food cake.

I think some of this is steming from the ordeal they have lived through. She told me last fall after she was hospitalized the first time that she had lost weight because basically she took no pleasure any more in eating, she just ate to keep going. She never thought it had anything to do with a mass in her stomach. I don't think this attitude about eating was the case before Katrina, even though she was on that extremely low fat diet for years (she was very thin even before all of this). I do think you are right though that this will scare her into following the nurse's instructions. My dad had CHF for about 1 and 1/2 years before in passed in 1998. I was visiting with our kids in 1997 for a few days in Charlotte, and he had an episode when he couldn't catch his breath. We had to call 911, but before the crash truck arrived to take him to the hospital he was petrified. I don't think he was specifically afraid of dying, it was about not being able to catch the next breath. It was on of the most frightening moments of my life. He did get a little better after that and lived about 9 more months.

I have read that you don't see too many older patients with CHF because they rarely live long once they have it. In your experience, is this accurate, even if they follow nurse's orders? My maternal grandma also died from it back in 1989, but she was 80 and had other issues as well.

DH spoke to a number of his relatives yesterday and last night. As of last night, Dette was still in ER awaiting a bed. Damn Katrina. His sisters and Alison all told him she was resting comfortably. She did get there via ambulance which is what I surmised yesterday morning after the first call.

I kept busy yesterday cleaning my fridges. I could not believe how long that process took, but there was a lot to dispose of, and I had to take every drawer, etc. out since I had let it go so long. After DH came home after the DD10's second soccer game, he took over and did the really bad fridge.
He is an angel. Also, he seems to have a case of nervousness and was keeping busy. I find he gets a lot done when he has worries. Me too I guess.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes for Dette.

How was that champagne, BTW? I bet you did lots of toasting.

Ann, hope the tide turns for you on the house planning. I have always heard that building is a very stressful thing. Renovating is as well. I am chicken about attempting anything, although DH wants to redo the tile in the kitchen soon. It is at least 600 square feet that will be torn up though if we do this because the same tile extends into the breakfast area and laundry area. I am just not sure if I can tolerate it. Just getting a new stove put in in December made me a nervous wreck. One good thing is that my mom lives very close (less than a mile away) and has two extra bedrooms so we could survive there if we had to for awhile.

We bought stuff last night to clean the kitchen cabinets. They are nice solid custom oak ones but need a very good cleaning up and shining. I saw an article a few years back about cleaning them with mineral spirits and then shining them up with paste wax. I am hoping this will make them presentable again. I don't want to spring for new cabinets, we did that in our New Orleans area home a few years ago, and that was a big expense not to mention very disruptive. And that was before we started having kids.

Laura, Linda, and Ann, what kind of countertops are you planning on?
Everyone around here who renovates seems to choose granite. We have a large U-shape design kitchen with an island and a bar area. I haven't measured but it would be a fortune to use granite. I am not one of the keeping up with the Jones types, I am more interested in what is the easiest upkeep. Just wondering if you have considered this and had some advice.

GAGWTA!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Are you having your gall bladder removed? I'm curious if you had trouble with it prior to your bc dx. I had what I'm sure was a gb attack a couple of years after bc, had a scan which was ok and never had an episode again, weird. I have heard other sistas complain of gb too. Wonder if it's from chemo???

Laura, this pain I've had started in the summer of '03, several months before my cancer diagnosis. At the time, I had an ultrasound and upper gi series, and nothing was found. When I was diagnosed with BC and mentioned the abdominal pain, they sent me right away for another ultrasound and abdominal CT. Again, nothing (to my relief). They said wait until your BC treatment is over, and we'll persue it further. So I did.

Thankfully, during my treatment, the pain was minimal or non-existent. Around this time last year it came back like gangbusters (almost called 911 one night is was so severe), so that was when I saw a GI specialist and spent spring and summer having every test known to man including bone scans, chest and abdominal CTs, MRIs, another upper gi, endoscopy, more ultrasounds, etc and each one once again was negative. The GI doc said to consider having it out since it does seem to have a lot of the classic features of gallbladder "colic" and often when you take it out, the pain goes away.

In January I had my physical and my primary asked me if I wanted a surgical referral yet and I said no, didn't need it. Well since my cruise (ie rich food) I've been in a lot of pain again, which is what makes me think it most likely is gallbladder (it is also somewhat relieved with prilosec). So I am seeing the surgeon on Wednesday. Since it's been many months since my last tests I'm sure he'll want to order more but the one test I haven't had was a HITA scan, I'd asked about it and the GI doc mumbled something about why I didn't need it (also the same guy that shirked off my concerns about possible mets, condascendingly chuckling "there's nothing wrong with your liver" ) so I neither like him very much nor have a lot of faith in him. OTOH, I like my surgeon very much, so from now on I'm going to work with him on this (wow, never thought I'd say that, LOL ).

FWIW Laura, I also know others who've had cancer and also have this mysterious right sided abdominal pain. Have heard it enough that it really makes me wonder. One of my friends at work is male, early 40's, had colon ca but did not do chemo or XRT, just surgery. He and I had almost the exact same symptoms and tests (as well as frustrations) and they never found anything with him, either. What was interesting about that was that, as a man (and a nurse too), he felt as though his medical team was attributing his pain to "anxiety" and even told him he should seek psychological help and go on anti-anxiety medication. He was bull and let them know it in no uncertain terms. This pain is real, not in our heads.

If my gb does come out, I am interested to see what it looks like. I've been following a gallbladder thread here, and someone just had theirs out and there were 10,000 stones (pieces of calculi, I presume)!! We've never seen any stones or anything with mine, but I bet there's either "sludge" or it's poorly functioning. The one thing I learned from that thread, though, is that many people have IBS symtoms after having it out, so that's a concern, but we'll still go ahead and see what happens. It is a lot easier not to worry about your health when you don't have pain.

BTW, I'm glad you haven't had any further episodes, you have enough on your plate right now.

 

[donnabres]

Linda, congratulations on your results. I had my gall bladder out 16 yrs ago, wow, am I getting old!!! I'm sure that after everything you've been thru it will be a piece of cake. When mine came out, there was only a couple very small stones. The surgeon said that they must have been there for a long time as the inside was very scared.
I am headed to POP in May and again in June. I will be soaking in the Computer pool to see if the Magic works for me too!!!!

Prayers and Hugs to everyone!!!

Taking the granddaughters to a girly movie this afternoon. Should be fun.

Donna

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have read that you don't see too many older patients with CHF because they rarely live long once they have it. In your experience, is this accurate,

Actually, people are living longer and longer and better now with CHF, there have been many advances over the last few years, with more on the horizon every day. We see patients of all ages with CHF, from teenagers to elderly. I would venture to say most of our patients are middle age but we also see many elderly as well, many with other diagnoses as well as the CHF.

We try to give patients hope that they can still lead long and full lives if they take care of themselves (for the most part). Like many diseases of the heart, it is important to get a handle on it early on and prevent further damage to the heart itself and to other organs which are affected when the bloodflow doesn't perfuse them properly. In Claudette's case, she had a lot of other issues going on in her body, as well, with the stomach cancer. That is tricky because you will get anorexia in heart failure (abdominal congestion) but with her you don't know which it is, the stomach issues or the congestion. But there are ways to tell, so I'm sure her docs will figure it out. I hope she gets a real bed soon.

he had an episode when he couldn't catch his breath. We had to call 911, but before the crash truck arrived to take him to the hospital he was petrified. I don't think he was specifically afraid of dying, it was about not being able to catch the next breath. It was on of the most frightening moments of my life

What you've described is called pulmonary edema. It's when the heart can't pump and the fluid backs up into the lungs. On XRay you see a "whiteout" which is fluid that shouldn't be there. The person cannot get oxygen and literally feels like they are drowning. I agree it is terrifying to witness. Your poor Dad. When I mentioned the "scare" above, that is often what brings people in to the hospital, an episode like this where they can't breathe. They always say they never want that to happen again.

We see it so often on our unit that I can actually tell it's coming on before it happens. How? The person starts to get very anxious. There is no more casual conversation. All of a sudden it's "I can't breathe, help me". When I train new nurses I actually tell them, LOL, that if a patient is asking me whether my hair is naturally curly or permed, then I don't need to worry too much about them (amazing how that always comes up ). Someone in true pulmonary edema couldn't care if the building was falling down around them, they'd still be sitting there in panic mode, diaphoretic, saying they can't breathe. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, my job is to convince young doctors we're headed for trouble, it may be the first time they're seeing it for real.

The other night at work we had a situation with a heart rythm which was worrisome, the worst you could have, actually (although it wasn't "real" since it was only on one lead, but it sure looked that way at first). After making sure the patient was stable, we reported it to the doc who said on the phone she "wasn't worried about it". I told her she should come by to look at it anyway. Another nurse and I were joking that between us we had 44 years of cardiac nursing experience and this doc was a few months out of medical school, yet she wasn't worried about it. So she casually comes by a little while later and nearly fainted when she pulled up the rythms we were talking about. All of a sudden she's running around, checking the patient, writing notes, etc. My own feeling after working with literally thousands of new docs over the years, is that the best ones know what they don't know, and let the experienced nurses help guide them. (Sorry, don't know how I got off on this rant ).

 

[NHAnn]

wow...really interesting medical reading as usual! Thanks for the waelth of information, this board is such a great sounding board and resource. Keeping everyone in my thoguhts as usual!

Countertops....our modular has laminate for their standard. I had thoughts of granite and corian running through my mind, but after seeing a couple of their laminates that I really liked...and pricing out some of the other upgardes we want on some fixtures and flooring (oak through great room, kitchen and hallway on 1st floor, stair treads and rail to upstairs) we are going to use the laminate.. The two we like look like slate...one has a predominately deep green color, the other is predominately grayish ...I think I am going with the grayish, it has some tan in it that will look nice that will be brought out byt he flooring and cupboards....
Yesterday we went and looked at veneer stone for our chimney (runs up the outside front center of the house, so is a real focal point...and will be used for the face of the farmers porch wall on the breezeway, which will be the main entry to the house into a mudroom/foyer...

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Ann, it is very exciting to hear about your house.

Laurie, we're not sure what we want to do about countertops. Corian and granite seem to be about the same price. I really don't care too much, just would like something fresh and new and preferably not break the budget. I do know the color scheme will be white - kind of going for the cottage look, which is somewhat what we have now. We want white cabinets so will probably get a dark countertop, whatever we decide to go with.

I have been buying some home magazines for ideas and also watching Designed to Sell which DH and I love!!

We kind of enjoy doing home renovation projects. Our latest idea is that we are going to rip apart the family room which is the largest room in our house, and half below the ground (we have a tri level). We want to install laminate flooring, looked at some the other night. This will primarly be the room the kids have for themselves and their friends, so we'd like to get it ready for that. Last time we did it over they were babies, so the design now will be a lot different. And this time the walls are coming down and we're starting over from scratch, new windows too. There is also a half bath off the room which should be done over, might as well do it right if we're going to do it. We really need a new sofa set and I don't want to get it until the room is done. DH is excited about getting started, he enjoys doing the work. During the summer we have a lot of outdoor living space, so now is really the best time to get it done.

I'm hoping that once we do this, then we can move ahead with the upstairs renovation, but keep it simple. We're still dreaming about DVC.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

That sounds good, Ann. My in laws just had those countertops put in a new inlaw addition they did on one of their kids houses, and they look beautiful! I will consider them as well if I can find something I really like. Around here everyone is renovating since it's too expensive to move, and just about everyone is using granite. I guess one of our neighbors has a connection to a granine company. One of our other neighbors used them and they got a good deal, so I'll look into that, too, and if it works $$ then we might go with granite.

Has anyone been to an IKEA store? We got one here recently, interesting place and lots of storage ideas.

snappy, keep meaning to ask, what is a shotgun house?

 

[snappy]

Linda, I think my dad was living with a lot of fluid on and off for awhile.
He could not sleep laying down because he had that drowning feeling, so my mom would drive him around and around for hours at night to help him relax and sleep a little. Before he got this bad we tried to talk him into getting a sleep study to determine if he had sleep apnea (he was an extremely heavy snorer for decades (heavy smoker too until about age 62 -he died at 70).
He also had a very stressful job. He lasted about an hour in the sleep study the two times he tried. I don't think he could fall asleep, anxiety, early CHF, who knows. He also was very skeptical about the veracity of sleep studies. He was very conservative in everyway, and felt that the docs and sleep clinics were trying to sell him a bill of goods on the CPAC.

Luckily, DH listened to his doc in 2003. His cholesterol was high suddenly, and he had gained a lot of weight in a short period of time. I went with him to see the doc, and when I reported how bad his snoring was, he ordered a sleep study. The technician aborted the study after a short time, he had so many episodes of apnea that his blood oxygen was dangerously low. He slapped on the CPAP, and presto chango, the episodes were minimal and his oxygen soared. I am sure he was headed for trouble with his family history.
He still is not on any cholesterol meds, it seems to be better after changing his diet. He still needs to lose weight, but his job hours make it difficult to fit in enough exercise time. Also, just the craziness of the last year disrupted all our routines, including the exercise stuff.

He hates the CPAP, but we ordered a new mask in December that is less instrusive. He has to be very sleepy when he retires (usually a few hours after I do) so he can tolerate that air blowing. He likes to stay up a bit later anyway until our teens are in (DS17 works late a lot).

I like the idea of grayish countertops, Ann. It is also the smartest choice for grout, shows the least discoloration. My mom has the same tile on her floors up on her countertops too with grey grout. They look the same today as they did in 1999, no aging, no maintenance (my favorite part). They were doing tile for countertops back at that time, it seems to be passe now though. I want something my kids can't damage and that cleans up with just a wipe or two. I don't have the energy for elaborate cleaning, and the last thing I want is to obsess over countertops.

Ann, I love the sound of the stone veneer for the chimney and farmer's porch. What is the farmer's porch anyway, it is not something we have in houses around here as far as I know? Is it screened in?

Don't use that word DVC, Linda. You'll make me jealous. I have half a mind to go back to work to to be able to buy some points. Have you rented points? The thing I dislike is the way the points go up so much on the weekend. My sister's Sandestin timeshare is the same way, so I guess it is common. At least you don't have to buy a specific week like many TS make you do. The thing I like about her TS though is that you can schedule these getaways of up to 4 days for very low price not more than two weeks from your travel date. Especially good if you are withing easy driving distance. They bought the minimum number of points possibile but can add nights through the getaways (her DH gets loads of vacation and plans to retire soon anyway (no kids). I wish DVC had this, if they did, I would find a way to be a owner.

I think DH would actually go for DVC if I made an issue of it. I guess I am the hesitant one. We have had a lot of luck renting villas from private owners. However, as our teens start to leave the nest, we won't need the 4 BR deal. With just DD10, we can get buy with a studio (for a couple more years anyway) or a 1BR.

You know to at least check out buying DVC resale, don't you? I think you have to really do your homework to assess what's being offered, how many current year or banked points are included, etc. There are some very knowledgeable folks on the DVC DIS boards who know all about that stuff.
Just be informed (look before you leap) on buying in.

 

[snappy]

snappy, keep meaning to ask, what is a shotgun house?

Shotgun houses abound in New Orleans. I am not sure when they started building these, sometime late 1800's I guess. A lot of the housing stock in Orleans Parish is quite old. Alison's house is easily 100 years old, uptown very close to the Missiissippi river (about 2 blocks), raised about 6 feet off the ground with VERY high ceilings (maybe 14 feet) and a porch across the front. No garge, no driveway, you park on the street. (Land has always been a premium in New Orleans, there is only a few feet between houses, and a very shallow front yard and not too deep in the back either.)

A shotgun has very few or no hallways. The rooms all open into each other. The "front room" is where you enter, then you go though an opening into the next room. In Alison's house, on both sides (it is a double) you go from the front room to the one bedroom of the house. Next is a small bathroom, which does have a door LOL, and then you enter through an opening into the kitchen area, then you proceed to a sort of utility room on the back with a door to the outside. It is quite small on both sides, not sure of the square footage of her house. Not much in the way of closets either. But she has great huge ceiling to floor windows that are fantastic (I guess to aid ventilation back in the day).

They were called shotguns because you supposedly could shoot a shotgun through the front door and the bullet would exit out the back door, as those openings are usually alligned in a straight line.

Her house was a mess when she bought it for about 3 yrs ago for I think about 60 or 70 grand. Now it is worth I guess between $300,000 and $400,000. It had appreciated a lot even before Katrina since people were buying these and renovating like she was but now because of the housing problem and the fact the area did not flood, the value has skyrocketed.
All of the $$ she spent in renovations was a good investment.

I remember back in the 50's and 60's one of my uncles lived in a shotgun on the west bank. Also, my grandparents house was a modified shotgun (the bedrooms were actually to the side of the front room, it was built I think 1930.)

A little local color for you this morning.

Sorry about going on and on. I guess I am feeling sexy this morning.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've been lurking on the DVC boards for a while. We are considering all options but are leaning toward resale. Heck, we could have bought and paid for DVC already if we'd done it a few years ago. We know we'll be going on many more trips (we almost drove down this w/e since we were both off, LOL) so it makes sense to buy. We also like the idea of going elsewhere on the timeshare points, and wouldn't mind a trip or two to Hilton Head or Vero Beach.

On the ship I went to a DVC presentation. They were offering a great deal at SSR, but you had to sign up then. You got this years points and last years points as a bonus, no maint fees for 2005 and none for 2006 until June. As Disney stock owners we would also get a free vacation this year. DH wanted to go for it but sensible me wanted to wait seeing as his job status was unclear at that point and I had my MRIs coming up. Neither of us are wild about SSR, though, so it was just as well that we waited. We are looking at a BWV resale, we like to be in that area and the standard view points are pretty low. We don't mind having a studio, so we could get away with the minimal amount of points. I also like the fact that you can always sell it if need be. The people at the Timeshare Store told me their listings are updated 3 times a day, and to call rather than email if I see something, that's how fast they go. So that's a nice feature.

For years DH and I dreamed of having a summer cottage, as DH had growing up. But around here, the market made it impossible, even cottages are now selling in the $400K+ range. So we're thinking that this would be a relatively affordable way of realizing our dream, just a little different than we'd planned. I also like the fact that someday we can pass it on to our kids if it works out and we hold onto it. So many people say that the kids will outgrow Disney. I don't know. I look at the Teen Board on here and see many that haven't outgrown it. One thing's for sure, DH and I love it, and think it would be a much different trip without kids, but still enjoyable. What do others think, am I wrong?