Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The end of summer

I don't know about anyone else, but besides January, this is the most depressing time the year! Most of my sadness comes from the shorter days and the knowledge that cold darkness will soon consume us!
I love the freedom of summer. I actually don't mind waking up early to a beautiful summer morning. I love the long daylight. I also love going to the pool with wonderfully fun friends! All of this will soon come to an end. OK, enough of the depression. Sorry.
While most of me is sad to see summer go, the other half is jumping for joy. You may ask why. Well, I will tell you. My kids are going to school! (like you didn't know that's what I was going to say!) Although I will truly miss them when they are gone, I am so excited to have some peace and quiet for a couple of hours a day! After a summer of playing hard all the time and with friends over (all of the time), this soulds heavenly. Can you all agree?
I would love some advice on how to get my daughter at least a little excited for school. I'm afraid she's going to start claiming stomach ache every day again in order to stay home. (she did this last year in first grade, she's a home body) I also would like any advice on how to stay more chipper with the shortening daylight.
With all the changes fall brings, I have to say thing to look forward to, is pumpkin. What is there not to love about pumpkin? They look great for decoration, they're great illuminators, and they taste delicious! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pretty much any pumpkin dessert. SUPERB!!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Tara

Sorry, I spelled your name wrong! I shouldn't do this at one in the morning!!!!

great homecare nursing story

Tera inspired this entry by asking me to share some nursing stories. I know that a couple of you have heard this story before, so bear with me.
A little background. I work for a homecare company. I do pediatric private duty, which means that I go to one child's house for my whole shift. These are kids who need someone with them all of the time. We stay up all night or give respite so the families can have a break or get some rest. They are mostly kids with trachs and ventilators.
I used to go to a girl's house in very scary neighborhood. (I'll try to be discreet so as to not break any HIPPA laws!) She had an interesting home life. Her parents were separated. She was living at her mom's house. This is the mother who one time asked "who the f--- is in my house", when I showed up for a shift. One night I showed up for my shift and the patient wasn't home. She was down town at the olympic plaza. (It was 11:00pm). She got home at 2am!!(She was about 7 years old) I sat there for three hours with the mom and her boyfriend waiting for my patient to arrive. At least it was easy money. Anyway, my patient gets home and I put her to bed. The boyfriend decides to stay the night. The walls are paper thin and I can hear everything! DISGUSTING!!!(especially if you saw them) I go home thinking, wow, that was interesting. I am scheduled to go back to this same house in two days. My next shift there starts out rather uneventful. My patient goes to sleep right after I get there, I'm thinking easy sailing right? I get to read a book most of the night. However, the mom has her friend over, who is a girl. A couple hours after my shift started the friend leaves to go to a convenience store. The mom tells her she loves her and kisses her (on the lips)while I'm sitting there in front of them, trying to read my book! I'm thinking to myself, "that's weird, I thought she had a boyfriend, is she gay? Well, the girlfriend came back and slept over. Once again the walls are paper thin and I can hear everything!!!!!! A girlfriend, a boyfriend and a husband all at once! That had to have been demanding. I felt that I had lost all of my innocence that night!!! Needless to say, I will never forget that night!
Sorry this wasn't really a story about nursing, but it has by far had the most impact on my psyche. I also have a good story about finding marijuana in a sterile dressing, that was covering a diabetic ulcer. Yummy!