Monday Madness

Normally I don't mind Monday's. It's another start of a work week. I don't mind the extra phone calls, the extra surveillance I have to do on the nursing units. I'm the Employee Health Nurse Coordinator and the Infection Control Officer. A lot of my daily activities is monitoring all the patients that are on the units for signs/symptoms of infections, monitoring all the microbiology reports, making sure the staff is using proper gear, washing their hands, etc. Today started at 3:30AM and didn't end until 7:30 PM tonight. Needless to say, it was definitely a mad Monday. Besides the usual Monday routine, I had 3 meetings scheduled, and had to do FIT testing on our local squad units for HEPA fitness masks (in the event of a TB outbreak). They were late for their scheduled times, one was even 40 minutes late and still expected me to do the 25 minute test. Another showed up this afternoon and wanted me to get back out all the supplies and do his test then, even though he was scheduled at 8:00 this morning. He was not happy when I told him he would have to reschedule at a later date. Definitely not a normal busy Monday.

My other babies

MaiLing (My-ling) and Sui-Ling (Sue-Ling), otherwise known as Sissy, are my other babies. My first babies are now two grown young men with families of their own, my second babies are my two grandsons, and these two are my other babies. They are eight months apart, are inseparable, and in this picture, are in need of another trim. This was taken at the top of the stairs. I can't believe they sat still long enough for me to take their picture. I walked by the stairs and there they both were and looking so forlorn. Their antics keep us laughing and they are both good cuddlers.

Veggie Garden

We are already two weeks past when we should have had our peas in the ground (that's last year's crop climbing their way up the string trellis), partly because of the rain/snow and cold weather. We finally had a nice day and even though the garden area was still a little damp, we were able to till one area and get the peas, radishes, and lettuce in. I also transplanted lillies from one of the back yard beds to the bed under the dining room window. Hopefully, this year the new bed will fill in with color. The hyacinths are up and blooming, the bleeding hearts are coming up, the lilacs are up, and the daffodils are blooming. I'll take a picture once everything is blooming and post it. Today, it's build the teepees for the beans and plant the gladiolus in the front bed.

Don't you just love spring when everything comes up new again.

Ian

Ian is my first grandson. I can't believe he will be 2 years old in June. Sarah, my daughter-in-law, is wonderful about sending me pictures and video of him. She has put together a web page with his first year and a half of life. In amongst the pictures are pics also of Gabe, my second grandson, born 1 week after Ian. That week was a good week. My neice Liz also had her baby and a friend of mine had her first granddaughter.
http://www.gearfrontier.com/ian/

More later.

Spring

Spring is finally here! That means cleaning out the dead from the many flower beds we have, tilling the garden and getting the sugar snap peas in the ground, spring cleaning the house, and opening up the camper at the campground we go to almost every weekend. I can't wait. This is a pic of our camper and site at Rustic Knolls Campground in Mt. Vernon, OH. I'll have to take another picture this spring/summer since we have added so much more to the campsite in the 4 years we've been there.

Everything I Know About Life, I Learned From Nursing

........I've learned that nursing is a great metaphor for life. It's both rewarding and frustrating, utterly fascinating at times and dull as tombs at others; it's funny, sad, beautiful, ugly, dramatic, unglamorous........and sometimes it outright stinks.........A little effort can go a long, long way. Investing five or ten minutes in a needy patient at the very beginning of the shift sets the tone for the entire day, and pays dividends in decreased anxiety for them (and less call-light use for you). This principle also works for frustrated and picky spouses.........Age has its advantages. I didn't know how much wisdom and life education I'd missed out on until I began working with the elderly. Through their stories of the past, I've discovered much about who I want to be, and the legacy I want to leave my own children and grandchildren. I only wish I could bottle whatever these people are made of, because our generation and those coming after us could certainly use a dose or two.

.........The longer you're a nurse, the more warped your sense of humor becomes. And a warped sense of humor can get you through almost anything.......even the worst code brown(that's a really smelly and usually quite large BM) in history.

........No matter how crazy your shift has been, there will always come a time when you get to hand over the keys and let someone else take care of the patients, put up with the families, fight with management over staffing, and deal with the paperwork when your one trying patient is found on the floor for the third time today. Remembering this is the only way I can maintain my sanity and still keep coming back, day after day, to do it all over again.

........Teamwork is a great idea in theory, but rarely practiced in everyday life........and that failure to "gel" as a team is not merely a nursing issue, or a female issue. If anything, it's the American way---we're raised from infants to value individual achievement and make the attainment of personal goals our driving force. Group-think isn't natural to us---especially those of us who are Baby Boomers---so I hope we can be forgiven for taking a little while to adjust. ........I finally understand what the expression "thinking outside the box" means. I don't care what the powers that be say---I'm not going to force a 90-year-old
patient to eat his meat and vegetables before he can have his dessert, or put him in a nightgown when he wants to wear pajamas. I'm OK with bending rules, and but I'm simply not going to let anything so petty as facility policy trump my patients' rights to determine: a) what they may eat, drink, wear, sleep in, listen to, watch on TV, or read; b) how late they may stay up; c) whether or not they will take a shower on a given day; d) who may visit them

.......People will generally live up---or down---to your expectations. This includes nursing assistants and MDs.

.......And yes, I've found that the Golden Rule is applicable to every possible situation, whether in nursing or in life: Treat everyone you encounter with the same respect you would want for yourself or your loved ones. Everyone who ever lived is, or was, someone's parent, someone's sibling, someone's child, someone's spouse, someone's friend. What's more, we are all members of the human race---including the three-hundred-pound diabetic who smokes like a chimney and doesn't take her/her insulin and the elderly gentleman who hasn't changed his socks in two weeks. We judge them only because we fear, deep inside, that "they" could just as easily be "us".........but for the grace of God.

....... So many lessons........so many opportunities to grow in compassion and wisdom.

Reality Shows

Reality shows are a major part of mine and Rich's evening entertainment. We look forward to Monday through Thursday and are at a loss of what to watch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tonight is one of those nights when two of our favorite shows are on opposite channels. OH, the dilemma. I don't mind missing one of the shows if something else is going on, however, I work with a couple of nurses that are totally into this form of entertainment. This is the major topic of conversation at work the day after. Even my mother has joined the bandwagon. If I call her on a particular night when one of her favorite shows is on, she lets you know exactly how many minutes you have to talk, then it's time to go as her show is starting. I believe that if there were more family centered TV programming available in the evenings, we would see less of the so-called reality shows.

Flip Mino HD

Ryan McLean from Smarter Wealth is giving away a brand new Flip Mino HD to one lucky reader. This will be the easiest Flip Mino HD to win because barely anyone is going to enter meaning more chances that you can win.
The Flip Mino HD is the coolest gadget around. You can shoot one hour of video in HD (so you can play it on your plasma) and you can even edit your footage right on your device. This device is so small that it will fit in your pocket so you will never miss capturing a moment ever again.
To enter all you have to do is sign up for Ryan’s newsletter and post about the competition.
Check out all the details of how you can enter the Win a Flip Mino HD competition now.

The bad along with the good

Rich (hubby) and I have been married for 6 1/2 years. He's really testing me right now. Two weeks ago he had surgery on his leg. He is on crutches and no weight bearing. Which means, he has to be waited on for everything. It's not too bad now that I've gotten the hang of getting up a half hour early to get his morning coffee and breakfast taken to him, along with mine. Then it's pack his lunch in a cooler to park beside his bed. Thank goodness, I have a sofa bed in the downstairs den. That has become his 1 room apartment. If we make it through until he can walk without the crutches, then I suppose we could make it through almost anything.

Grand Opening

Ok, here's the situation. This is another new adventure for me. I always enjoy reading other's blogs and many make this look easy and fun. I've kept journals off and on throughout my life and this environment makes sense to me. Some posts will be nostalgic, while others may be fun. Please bear with me as we learn and grow, laugh and cry with each other.