Long Long days

Surprisingly enough we got out of town by 6:30 and it was because of me we left later. Shame on me. Got half way to my son's house and realized my blouses were still hanging in the closet.

The weather was simply awful. From Des Moines to Dubuque Ia it rained. And hard. The picture below was from right before the heavens broke open. I took it from a moving car so the bottom is blurry but check out those clouds. It was so cool. Until it rained.


It didn't just rain alittle, it poured so hard we could barely see the road. We stopped at a rest stop and got saturated just running in and it turned out the storm was on the same path we were. It was probably 100 + miles in blinding rain driving at 35 miles a hour.


When we finally got out of the rain we hit the rush hour traffic in Chicago. The roads were simply horrible as soon as we got on the toll road. Wasn't the man they put in office suppose to fix those? Pot holes big enough to break an axle. However. The traffic was much more organized during rush hour in Chicago then in Omaha. In Omaha no one slows down and they ram all over the lanes forcing themselves in at breakneck speed. There are accidents after accidents after accidents. In Chicago they actually drive slower and let you merge into the traffic without taking your life in your hands. We only saw one accident. It was a lot less stressful then I feared. Took forever though. We ended up being on the road for 12.5 hours.

The kids were good and our room was wonderful. Not very expensive and a 42 inch hi def TV and separate sleeping area. Mackenzie said it passed her nose test, smelled good. The place looked new and the owner just happened to be there so the service was wonderful. Maybe it always is though as it had high marks which is why we stayed there.

The next day was very hard. We went to IHOP, my first time, and then the other grandparents arrived to get the kids. Gabe was sobbing and holding onto his dad who was crying then Mackenzie started to cry and then we all joined in. I bet the people in the restaurant wondered what the heck was going on. Oh man. It just was terrible. The fastest 3 weeks I ever saw and blink...... they were gone again.

I wanted to spend the night in Iowa City but my son just wanted to get home. We did drive around and look at the flood damage from 2008. Many buildings are still abandoned. There was so much damage it was sad and the art center is empty. Where we ate the water would have been over our heads.

When they flooded in New Orleans everyone around the country sent money and help. Here in Iowa...... they got nothing. No concerts raising money, no actors raising money. No day after day, week after week, month after month media coverage. But in Iowa, neighbors help neighbors. And they did. The mayor pitched in and got dirty. Oh enough of that, onward.





My son's were born there and he had never been there so we showed him around and ate supper. The weather was much better and we made better time but it was still around 12 hours before we got home at 11:30. Exhausted. We did have a lovely sunset to enjoy though.




So now the house seems empty and I am missing the kids, until the next time.

Today's the day

And we are getting ready at this ridiculous time in the morning. I hope they will be up when we get there. My son is notorious for not being ready on time. We shall see.

It looks like we will run into some challenging weather and if all goes well the trip should take up about 10 hours or more. Hope we don't run into miles and miles of road construction.

I can't believe how fast 3 weeks have gone. Today will be my last day with the kids until later this year.

Well, I have to finish up, my hair is a mess but I am all packed.

Good news.

My echo was good. With my family history it is good to know my ticker is still working fine. And after being on my asthma med for that week my cough is better. I always get mouth sores though so am off them for now. But it is better. My pleurisy is gone and all I have to deal with right now is my shoulder. Much easier to just deal with one issue.

Work was just crazy last night. We had several confused patients on bed alarms which kept going off all night. We didn't know which direction to run . Made the night go fast. I was charge and from that aspect it wasn't a bad night. My hospital is doing this major crack down on overtime. Get it down or get fired. Of course we run short at night, don't have time to take our breaks because it is so busy, but we had better make sure we said we took our break. Get out on time if the next shift comes on time and lets you give them report before they have written down every little thing and checked their lab. So basically they will be getting another free half hour of work out of me because there are lots of times I just can't get a break taken. Its too busy. But I don't want to lose my job. There's always something, sheesh.

Yesterday we went for a bike ride with the kids to our favorite trail. They have these little tiny bikes and Gabe is only 5 but they went 3 miles and Gabe just blazed up the hill. Very impressive. And their bikes don't have gears.



Friday we are driving them to South Bend Indiana to meet up with their other grandparents. It will be a sad trip sending them back. I hope they get to come at Christmas. There will be lots of tears for sure. My son has been getting grumpier and grumpier. This 3 weeks went so fast.

We will be driving interstate all the way, boring and have to go on the outskirts of Chicago, scary. I hate big cities and the traffic. Glad I am not driving. Give me a smaller town any day.

The shoulder is still bad and as expected I didn't hear back from that doc. I still am mad at that work comp woman. I could never do that job. I reminded her it has been almost 8 months since I hurt my shoulder. I only missed one day of work and that was at my expense using my PTO. I never asked for any pain medication except once and that isn't because it doesn't hurt. I do my exercises each and every day even though it hurts because I don't want a frozen shoulder and she can just take her snotty attitude and shove it. And I am getting a 2nd opinion if he doesn't want to do anything.

It's not that I want surgery. I just want to get this fixed. It obviously isn't going to do it on its own. I am worried about my job. There are a lot of younger nurses without bad shoulders. Jobs are getting hard to find around this area. But actually sometimes I dream about finding a job with less lifting. It would be easier on my body. But I would not like to take a cut in pay. So I guess I will stay where I am until they kick me out. And even with a gimpy shoulder I contribute quite a bit to the floor. I do charge, help train all the new people, am one of the best IV starters on the floor and am a good nurse. I can do unit secretary, watch the telemetry, do staffing, run the codes, and do it with a sense of humor.

Rick is cooking me a lean pork chop and we are having rice. I hope to get off at 11 since tomorrow I need to pack and get ready. We will be leaving at 6 am on Friday. Knowing Rick it will be closer to 8. I will have to crack the whip.

Donna made me the cool tag but once again I can't get the animation to work so I will try to down load it again. Its pretty cool.

Ticked off

I hate hate hate having a work comp injury. AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH. This week was terrible as far as my shoulder pain goes. To even move my shoulder causes pain. I had been told to call the doctor and let them know if the increased lifting was bothering me. So I did. And I get the run around from the work comp nurse that it was up to me to follow the lifting restrictions and not go over. And what was I doing that was making it worse? Excuse me!!!!! I am trying to do my job and not be a pain in the ass to my co-workers by having to ask them to do every little thing for me. I am not suppose to lift over my head, not suppose to reposition my patients, not suppose to help my patients get out of bed. Not suppose to do any of the 900 things + that I have to do to do my job. I can pass pills. I can do their vitals, I can get sick and tired of being given the run around for over 7 months on something that obviously was never going to get better and that is slowly getting worse and worse.

I wish I had did this at home. I probably would have had it repaired months ago and be back to work and all better. The bad thing is I can't just get my own doc and get it fixed. Because my insurance won't cover it because it was a work comp and work comp won't fix it because the are work comp. I am in limbo. Worried about how long my job will keep me on if I can't lift more then 20 pounds forever.

I am going to ask for a 2nd opinion and then if that doesn't get me any help I am afraid I am going to have to talk to my lawyer. And I really don't want to do that. I just want to be able to do my job.

I am waiting for my other doctor's office to call with the results to my echo. I hope that isn't more bad news. I might just pop. Time to go doing some fun stuff like play with the grandchildren.

Iowa dog Days.

Its hot and muggy in Iowa tonight and a good night to just relax. I got off work at 7:30 and Rick and the kids were there to pick me up. I could get used to that. After visiting awhile I went to bed and Rick was on his own. They watched Annie on the computer and Mackenzie and Gabe taught Rick how to make egg salad for sandwiches. It turned out really good. The cool things about that is that is the things the kids will remember. Teaching their grandpa how to make the world's best egg salad. And Rick says it was. Then they shopped and came home and woke me up around 12:30. Short sleep for me but worth it to spend time with the kids.

My doc has called twice wanting to talk to me, but I am putting it off until tomorrow. In my experience it isn't a good thing when your doc calls you at home. And I was in a good mood and just want to keep it for awhile. So instead of talking to him we went swimming with the kids and had a grand old time. They are just so much fun to be around.

When they left we went out to eat and right now Rick is out getting a bottle of wine so we can relax in the kiddie pool again and just enjoy the evening. The pool is big enough we can fit two floating mats in it and just chill. A hot and steamy night in a nice cool pool, wine and the man you love floating on water. What a nice way to spend the night. Especially since I work the next 2 nights.

Well, I hear the van, time to get ready for the pool. Kiddie pools rock, LOL. Take care all.

The day after

Zoey survived another 4th and our neighbors setting off what sounded like bombs the entire night. She almost needs to be sedated these days. For a town that it is illegal to set off most fireworks we had quite the display and it sounded like a small war was going on while driving to work.

I never could understand the thrill of firecrackers. In fact, they all pale for me next to a huge fireworks display put on by cities. They seem like cheap imitations of the real thing and a real letdown. Once my kids got older we happily stopped wasting our money on them. No more burnt fingers from sparklers, no more mess all over the yard.

But some people really like them. Driving to work at 10:30 last night we saw fireworks going off all over town. Is it just this town or everywhere? It seems like the poorer the neighborhood, the more fireworks you see. They can have torn screens and broken windows and light off 500 dollars worth of fireworks every year. Weird.

Anyway. We got the usual blown up hands and asthma attacks from the thick smoke. But the large firework display was very impressive and because it had rained most of the day the fire department got a break. Not a single fire. We had a couple of grumbling patients upset about the noise, did I mention some of them sound like small bombs, which seemed to go on most of the night, but besides that it was a uneventful night. Sadly we had one death this morning but it was very peaceful and everyone else was stable. I wondered how many of the people celebrating really gave much thought to what they were celebrating for?

I work tonight and then am off tomorrow. I have to call my shoulder doctor. My shoulder is just killing me and with our census low we don't have has many staff to help lift. Turns out my shoulder just isn't up to it.

Now for what is becoming a daily whine fest.

My breathing is still a problem, my back was killing me, it hurts to take a breath and my shoulder feels like it has a knife in it. My ganglion cyst on my wrist is back. Hummmm, that just about covers it. Oh wait, I forgot. Since going back on my steroid inhaler I have sores all over in my mouth. No matter how much I rinse after I take it I get mouth sores. I can get them in seconds and it takes forever for them to go away. My asthma is kicking up today so I used my rescue inhaler and this new crap is just that, crap. I miss my old inhaler. It actually worked and delivered the medicine deep in your lungs so you could breath easier in seconds. So far I haven't had any luck with this inhaler. Sorry people but I don't believe for a minute the old inhaler was really killing off our ozone level and I think saving people's lives if more important then making money off making us all take ineffective inhalers. I have read of some deaths that the families think is because these new inhalers don't work as well. I have to agree. Mine has never given me the relief the old one did.

Rick is at a cook out at my son's. I had to sleep today so didn't go but I sent a pie. It is nice to have some peace and quiet actually. Tomorrow the kids will be back which should be fun for Rick while I sleep. I have a feeling I won't get much, LOL.


Time to stop for now and get in the shower. It will be a long day I can tell. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Strange work week.

Due to the holiday my work week has been chopped up. I only worked 4.5 hours last night and got off at 11:30 and tonight I don't go until 11. We only had 11 patients when I left so I hope we get more in or they will have me stay home tonight. Actually that would be a good thing as I am having some pretty severe shoulder pain and pleurisy tonight. But financially that would not be the best. It has been an expensive week with the kids here.

It is raining today and we pretty much just stayed home. Rick is grilling and then I have to try and stay awake until I go to work. I am so used to 12.5 hours it seems like working 8 just flies by. I will be done in no time.

More pictures of the grandkids. The first picture is my grandson and youngest son. I just love the eye contact in the shot. They are both so happy to be spending time with each other.
They are good buds.


And this one I love because she isn't posing for the camera and has such a natural happy look. They had a great time in the pool. She is just so pretty and sweet.



I can't even begin to tell you how many photos I have taken. I get so few that when they are her I take hundreds, LOL. The pool was a blessing as it was so hot this week. It really kept them entertained.




I love that choppy hair look.



Friday they spent the night in the tent and made smores with grandpa and their uncle. A stray young cat showed up and the kids would not leave it alone. Much to the guys distress the cat sat outside the tent the entire night meowing. The kids slept through it. When I got home I had to tell them to leave the cat alone so it would go home. I was afraid Zoey would get it plus they aren't always healthy. Both kids were crying and I had had a terrible night at work so it was not the best morning. I went to bed and left the kids to the men. Rick gave the cat a meal and it happily went back to where it lives. I think it belongs to the people on the hill. Man. I would have been begging my mom to let me keep it also.

This weekend they are with their dad and Rick and I are recooping for Monday. It has been fun having them. I can't believe they are leaving Friday already. I will miss them so much.

Well, time to go start on supper. Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th.