Tuesday, December 30, 2008
On Strike
For those of you who are wondering....I am on a blogging strike and will not be back until 2009. More about that later....but for now just wonder.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Stuck
For those of you who don't know...I work night shift. That means I am coming home when everyone else is going to work in the morning. Because of our crazy schedules at home, I usually get up at 6:30 the morning before I go to work and then go to bed at 8:30 the next morning. I know it is not ideal, but reality.
Yesterday I left work a little early (6:30), hoping to catch some extra sleep. But instead I hit a HUGE traffic jam. 65 South was shut down between Concord Road and Moore's Lane. They were directing EVERYONE off the interstate at Concord Road. It was not stop and go traffic. It was just plain stopped. It took me two hours to go one mile! Yikes. And to top it all off, my good old reliable 1995 Saturn does not like idling. After awhile it heats up to the point of overheating. So I had to turn off my car in between moving 5 inches. Then when I got off the interstate, it took me an additional hour to get home just because everyone else was on those roads now.
Thankfully, I had my beloved iPhone. I watched 3 episodes of Scrubs, checked my email, checked my facebook, texted some friends, called some friends, even read a book. When I finally got home it was 10:10am. 3 hours and 40 minutes after I left work "early". I do not want to get back in that car again for a long time!
Yesterday I left work a little early (6:30), hoping to catch some extra sleep. But instead I hit a HUGE traffic jam. 65 South was shut down between Concord Road and Moore's Lane. They were directing EVERYONE off the interstate at Concord Road. It was not stop and go traffic. It was just plain stopped. It took me two hours to go one mile! Yikes. And to top it all off, my good old reliable 1995 Saturn does not like idling. After awhile it heats up to the point of overheating. So I had to turn off my car in between moving 5 inches. Then when I got off the interstate, it took me an additional hour to get home just because everyone else was on those roads now.
Thankfully, I had my beloved iPhone. I watched 3 episodes of Scrubs, checked my email, checked my facebook, texted some friends, called some friends, even read a book. When I finally got home it was 10:10am. 3 hours and 40 minutes after I left work "early". I do not want to get back in that car again for a long time!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A Bright Moment
I worked last night and let me tell you...it STUNK! We walked in to a busy ER and it never got any better. We had patients in the hall beds (essentially meaning no room in the inn!) until 4am. We never got to sit down and eat dinner. We had some really sick patients. All in all it was CRAZY BUSY! Add to that fact that I had done this intense exercise class earlier in the day and my thighs were burning from all those lunges. Needless to say, I was not enjoying life.
But towards the end of my shift I had a brief glimpse of happiness. I was taking care of a 78 year old man complaining of neck pain. He was there with his wife who was dressed to the nines (at 5am!). As I was giving him his medications he told me his wife was 76. She got a little embarrassed. But then he said "No look how good she looks! You'd never think she was 76!" He was right. She was beautiful. But the best part was the look in his eyes as he bragged about his wife. He told me they had been married for 58 years and that he was blessed to spend that many years with his best friend. Kind of like that Jason Mraz/Colbie Calliet song. Lucky to be in love with my best friend.
So for that brief moment, life in the ER was good. Then it got crazy again. But the part that sticks with me is this couple. I love when God sticks reminders into our lives of what it is all about!
But towards the end of my shift I had a brief glimpse of happiness. I was taking care of a 78 year old man complaining of neck pain. He was there with his wife who was dressed to the nines (at 5am!). As I was giving him his medications he told me his wife was 76. She got a little embarrassed. But then he said "No look how good she looks! You'd never think she was 76!" He was right. She was beautiful. But the best part was the look in his eyes as he bragged about his wife. He told me they had been married for 58 years and that he was blessed to spend that many years with his best friend. Kind of like that Jason Mraz/Colbie Calliet song. Lucky to be in love with my best friend.
So for that brief moment, life in the ER was good. Then it got crazy again. But the part that sticks with me is this couple. I love when God sticks reminders into our lives of what it is all about!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Life with Riley
When we told my dad that we named our daughter Riley, he mentioned an old TV show called "Life with Riley". Now I admit that I've never seen this show (I think I probably should check it out!). But that's really how I'm summing up my life these past few months. Riley. It is not even her spunky little personality or sassy 3 year old antics that are giving me trouble....although I did have a time with her at the dentist yesterday. We tried to go for her first cleaning and although she watched John Mark get his teeth cleaned with no problems, she wanted nothing of it! She screamed and kicked and yelled. I finally had to hold her down and we only got the teeth cleaned...not flossed or checked by the dentist. Oh well.
But what is really giving me trouble is her medical issues. Now I am not complaining because I know there are hundreds of mothers down at St Jude's with much bigger problems than mine. But this is what we are going through right now:
1. Potty Training (or lack there of). Riley is still not potty trained. We went to the doctor this week and basically she is "stool hoarding". I won't go into the specifics because I want to keep this "clean" (haha). But essentially we need to give her Miralax (a non-addictive laxative) for the next few months to year to "reprogram her brain". So I'm thinking that potty training MAY happen sometime before she enters Jr High.
2. Urinary Reflux. This is the big one for us. This is a disorder that the doctors originally found on John Mark while I was pregnant with him. Basically the ureters are implanted too low in the bladder so urine backs up to the kidneys. There is a potential for kidney damage with this disorder. Now I had it, my sisters had it, my nieces and nephews have it, and both of my kids have (had) it. John Mark outgrew it by the time he was 18 months old. Essentially we need to give Riley antibiotics every day so that bacteria does not make it's way up to her kidneys causing damage. Well let me tell you that remembering to give antibiotics to a 3 year old every day is just difficult. But we NEED to do it. And the testing for this disorder is traumatic. Every year Riley needs to go for a VCUG (an invasive procedure to check the status of the reflux). Well she had this on November 6th and is still talking about how horrible it was. So after a month of worrying (on my part) and praying, JP and I have decided to allow her urologist to fix her reflux surgically. Basically they will go in and reimplant her ureters higher into the bladder and fix the problem all together. I actually had this surgery when I was 4. This has been a HUGE decision for me. I don't WANT my daughter to have to have surgery, but I also don't want the ramifications of her being on antibiotics every day. I asked so many people for advice and got so many different answers but finally it came down to this. JP said, "Jill, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. This decision is up to us and her doctor. Period." So between the lesser of two horrible decisions, we have chosen surgery. Basically because it is a 98% guaranteed fix. We should not have to deal with this at all after the surgery. Yesterday I called and scheduled the surgery for January 26th. And I feel okay about it....not great, but okay.
So life with Riley has proven to be anything but boring. It is a good thing she is so stinkin' cute!
But what is really giving me trouble is her medical issues. Now I am not complaining because I know there are hundreds of mothers down at St Jude's with much bigger problems than mine. But this is what we are going through right now:
1. Potty Training (or lack there of). Riley is still not potty trained. We went to the doctor this week and basically she is "stool hoarding". I won't go into the specifics because I want to keep this "clean" (haha). But essentially we need to give her Miralax (a non-addictive laxative) for the next few months to year to "reprogram her brain". So I'm thinking that potty training MAY happen sometime before she enters Jr High.
2. Urinary Reflux. This is the big one for us. This is a disorder that the doctors originally found on John Mark while I was pregnant with him. Basically the ureters are implanted too low in the bladder so urine backs up to the kidneys. There is a potential for kidney damage with this disorder. Now I had it, my sisters had it, my nieces and nephews have it, and both of my kids have (had) it. John Mark outgrew it by the time he was 18 months old. Essentially we need to give Riley antibiotics every day so that bacteria does not make it's way up to her kidneys causing damage. Well let me tell you that remembering to give antibiotics to a 3 year old every day is just difficult. But we NEED to do it. And the testing for this disorder is traumatic. Every year Riley needs to go for a VCUG (an invasive procedure to check the status of the reflux). Well she had this on November 6th and is still talking about how horrible it was. So after a month of worrying (on my part) and praying, JP and I have decided to allow her urologist to fix her reflux surgically. Basically they will go in and reimplant her ureters higher into the bladder and fix the problem all together. I actually had this surgery when I was 4. This has been a HUGE decision for me. I don't WANT my daughter to have to have surgery, but I also don't want the ramifications of her being on antibiotics every day. I asked so many people for advice and got so many different answers but finally it came down to this. JP said, "Jill, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. This decision is up to us and her doctor. Period." So between the lesser of two horrible decisions, we have chosen surgery. Basically because it is a 98% guaranteed fix. We should not have to deal with this at all after the surgery. Yesterday I called and scheduled the surgery for January 26th. And I feel okay about it....not great, but okay.
So life with Riley has proven to be anything but boring. It is a good thing she is so stinkin' cute!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
