Isolation

I was down isolation alley last night. MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE, (vancomycin-resistant enterococci) are becoming more and more common and unfortunately we get several patients with these antibiotic resistent bugs. They are in isolation at the hospital, but when they get home they probably go shopping, to the movies, swimming......
But at the hospital they are in isolation. Which means I wear a gown, gloves and a mask and as always use good handwashing. I am a handwashing freak and my hands show it. They look at least 10 years older then the rest of my body. A price to pay but worth it.

Anyway. I was down isolation alley last night and it was probably a good thing. I have been on antibiotics since Tuesday and feel 70%, better, just have the cough left and my very sore belly from the staples ripping out, but since I was all gowned up it protects my patients from germs also. Win Win situation. I won't get what they have, they won't get what I have. And a lovely group of patients it was also. My freq flier detox patient starting getting twitchy, but not until 10 minutes before I had to leave, lucky me because when that patients goes full blown he is big and out of control. We nurses always pay for it. Nothing like being tossed like a matchstick to make you leary about getting within arm distance.

Anyway it was a quiet night and went by quickly. ER was very busy but mostly ortho which triples in good weather and a weekend and people go out to play. This time of year though our floor finally quiets down slightly. From bursting at the seams for months to empty rooms we all take a breather. Farmers are getting their fields ready and nothing short of a amputation will bring them in and except for the spring crud making the rounds most peoples hearts behave for awhile in the spring. Another reason to look forward to it.

Monday is the day we go back to self staffing. Us old timers are dreading it and the new people are excited. Yeah we won't have to pulled anymore.... Boo, no help for when we are short. Extra shifts, mandatory overtime and on call. Sigh.

I am not excited but know historically speaking it probably won't last long. For the same reasons it didn't last the last time.

Patrick from Caregivingly Yours has a great music video posted you should check out if you haven't been there already. It's a feel good song and just cheers you up. Music is good for the soul.

Well, Rick is making supper. Not doing the best job about keeping it in my calorie limits. Time for me to take a hand in the shopping. Yesterday I had 1350 calories but today with the supper he is making it will go up to 1975, and that is with me restricting any bread and limited portions. Have to start thinking lean.

I haven't eaten in a fast food restaurant more then 1 time in the last 10 years and then I got sick. Remember my son's bike race. Tent camping and being at least a block from a bathroom. Now that was fun I can't forget, LOL. So anyway, cooking at home it should be easy to watch what I eat. Rick however likes to cook what he knows and likes. And its fattening. Zoey and I suffer and he rarely gains weight. He will gain 10 pounds over the winter and drop it overnight in the summer, plus some. Makes me sick.

Anyway. Time to go. Take care all.

Work

Well, I slept pretty good and for the first time in 3 days was able to sleep laying down, what a treat.

Work went well last night. Echoing down the halls from all directions was a very familiar cough. The crud is really going around. Sick as it made me our heart patients have really been laid low by it. I truly could empathize with their misery at not being able to sleep, sore ribs and belly from coughing and just general aches and pains. What a way to usher in Spring.

I was charge last night. This is our last week of not being self staffed. Not that it did us any good and we were still short a nurse. It's like they have already given up helping us out with any staff. I know we will have to get used to it. We have a couple of new nurses starting this week so hopefully they will be quick studies and able to hit the floor running. We have lots of experience on my weekend with 3 of us having over 25 years under our belts so we should be able to answer any of their questions.


I broke down and finally started my old eating plan. Back to writing down everything I eat and keeping it to about 1200 calories. The only way I have effectively lost weight in the past was by keeping track of anything that passes these lips.

Slim fast has a great site to keep track of all your food and water intake and breaks it down into weekly reports so you can see where you need to tweak a bit. You can also add your exercise, they have a weight chart so you can see your progress, and a great support group. All free so that is a plus. I need to get my bike body back. Of course my bike body is still fluffy with flab's of steel, but much better then it is now and my legs are so flabby after this winter. I usually have very strong legs.


Looking out the window I see green leaves on the trees finally, butterfly's. There is a wasp in the window. Millions of birds singing their songs, some very loud. Yesterday I took my outside plants out of the basement and put them on the porch. It's official, hopefully, spring is here is Iowa. And I am so ready for it. Take care all.

At Seventeen...... A Rant.

At seventeen you can't live on your own. You can't buy alcohol. You can't go into the military. You can't vote, you can't be on jury duty.

A school nurse can't give your child a tylenol for a fever. The child's inhaler if having a asthma attack. They weren't allowed to give my son his blood pressure medication.

But now. Now they can give your child the morning after pill. Without telling you. No questions asked. Without knowing your child's medical history, their allergies. Without a doctor's prescription. And probably without wanting to for fear of their jobs. At least I hope the majority of them feel that way. Depending which side of the far left they stand.

Thanks to the leadership of a man who made Georgetown University cover up the name of Jesus when he spoke there. But worn a gown, turban and went shoeless in a mosque to show his respect.

Thanks to a man who would not put his hand on the bible to swear in to protect and serve this country. But made public government documents to our enemies.

Who wouldn't put his hand over his heart and pledge allegiance to the country he is suppose to protect and serve.

I haven't been ranting lately. Not feeling well for one plus there are some great blogs out there who say it far better they I ever could. But if your not angry about this I don't understand it. These are our children. They have no right to medicate them behind parents backs.

Just a little history review.

Margaret Sanger, the mother of Planned Parenthood. Rumored to be a nurse, but no proof of that has ever been shown. What proof there is .... She believed in selective inbreeding and eliminating Non-Aryan people. What is know is this, " that Sanger considered her crowd to be the elite and "preferred that government be run by an aristocracy -- a privileged minority or upper class." She advocated intelligence tests for legislators and made it clear she thought many of those of her day would fail such a test. She declared Congress and state legislatures nests of the "mentally and constitutionally unfit." ( I might have to agree with that, :-) She wanted a "A Race of Thoroughbreds". That is why so many of her clinics were in the poorest parts of town. Tell me, see any of them on the richest area's of your city?

She agreed with Hitler and would have named her clinics "Birth Control Federation" but it hinted to closely with Hitlers views.

Now in present day the Planned Parenthood Federation deny that. But.... they are for the science of birth control. They call it a science. And many of the practices today are the practices that were put in place by Margaret Sanger.


So my rave. This isn't a mild little pill. Women have died from it. 99% of people taking it had side effects as mentioned on the drugs site. So if your child is being pressured to have sex could she also be pressured to take this medication. If a man rapes your child will he also insist she take this pill and the father who fathers his daughters children not have made this also something she did against her wishes. There will be as many abuses to this as reasons it came into being in the first place.

Strep

I felt kind of silly going to the doc yesterday when I was pretty sure it was a virus. Don't diagnose yourself. I knew I was getting worse. So today the rest of the family went in. The 4 year old, my son and his girlfriend all have strep throat. I probably do also. So we are all on antibiotics. We all spent days waiting to feel better from this virus. Which wasn't a virus after all.

90% of the time it will be a virus. But it was strep that shut my youngest son's kidney's down. Strep that caused his heart problem. He almost died. He had so many complications and it was a good 9 years before his lungs recovered.

So. If you feel worse every day. If you have a high fever or a fever that keeps coming back. If your throat hurts, ( however, I had a severe sore throat the first day, but it went away, I don't have tonsils, neither does my husband, neither did my youngest son so that isn't always the key point), see a doctor.

I had a small relapse in my rush to catch up on things left undone, but still, I can feel the improvement. For one thing, I can talk. Poor Rick. Hopefully I will not be contagious tomorrow. And hopefully I will sleep like a dream. For tomorrow, Work again.

I Feel Better

Amazingly I feel better. So it must have been bacterial for me to feel better or else I was going to be better already. I always have responded fast to Z paks in the past. Of course I am not 100%. I still had to sleep in the recliner. I am still coughing. But I can breath. Deep breaths without triggering a cough. The low grade fever which popped back the minute my tylenol wore off seems to be gone. I feel clearer, less fatigued. Oh the wonders of modern medicine, LOL. I slept the entire night also. So catching up on some much needed sleep does wonders. A new woman.

So, I have been cleaning all day. Washing all the bedding, dusting, cleaning the bathroom. All the things that have been put on hold for days because I was either sick or working. If I had a few more days I would take down all my curtains and blinds and wash them and get my flower pots ready to go. But I would be just asking for a relapse so after this last load of wash I am done for the day.

It's beautiful out. I can hear a million birds singing. The turkeys are eating in back yard and the robin is back building her nest on my porch. Looks like I am destined to get attacked when I tend to my flowers again this year. The price you pay to be able to hear the chirps of little birds while you sit inside on your couch. Worth it.

Speaking of chirps of little birds, well they aren't so little anymore. Have you seen the baby Eagles this year? They are getting big already the the drama of last year doesn't look like it will be repeated. I can't wait to watch them learn to fly again. It's the little things.

Well, I am going to finish my laundry. I have been letting so many things go. It is so quiet here without the kids. We went to their new house yesterday. It is pretty nice. Zoey missed them also. But I expect them today.

Empty House

My son's house they are renting was finally finished last night and they are busy moving out of here today. It is quiet. I will miss having kids around and my son and his girlfriend are easy to get along with. I know they are looking forward to getting settled in their house though. It was fun having them here.

I finally broke down and went to the doc's today. Last night I had the worse coughing spell. I could hardly breath from the bronchial spasm. I had to sleep sitting up. Then today it happened again and I had the worse stomach pain. Years ago I had a hernia repair done. Occasionally when I cough hard some of the staples tear loose. It hurts. I get bruises and let me tell you, it is making coughing now even worse. Anyway, they did a flu screen and that was neg. Good. I was exposed a couple of weeks ago but I am a hand washing freak so I didn't pick it up. I did miss my flu shot though.

He thinks it is just bronchitis and a sinus infection so I am taking a Z pak. I have good air exchange so he doesn't think I have pneumonia again. Since I have gotten worse instead of better maybe this will help. I am breaking out in cold sweats today. Hopefully I will be better by Thursday when I go back to work. If I can just sleep I will be happy. I was pleased to see I could get right in with this new doctor instead of 3 weeks from now.

One thing though. The other day I got some cough syrup with codeine from the pharmacy. It is the best thing for suppressing a cough. Nothing else seems to work quite as well. The doc says you can't get it without a script. I told him you can, it is behind the counter and you have to sign for it. He said it is so strict he can't even fax a script in. Made me doubt what I had gotten. So when I got home I checked. Yup, cough syrup with codeine listed as an ingredient. I was tempted to drive back to the office to show him. You have been able to do this for years and when a cough get this bad I have done it in the past. So. I will save the bottle and if I ever go back show him. They monitor it and make sure your not running all over town getting it, but you can get it. But he is really young. I swear he looks like he is in his 20's.

Things are starting to bud out and turn green here. I can't wait to get some flowers planted. We are still having some freezes at night though and I don't want to rush it. Soon though.

Well, why it is quiet, I may try to lay down. Maybe, just maybe.... I can doze for a half hour without coughing.

Monday

I am still way under the weather. Remind me never to miss my flu shot again. I am so sleep deprived due to laying down makes me cough my head off. My ribs all feel broken, my throat is raw, my stomach muscles hurt. I threw my back out in a violent coughing spell yesterday and my head hurts. Lets see, did I miss anything..... oh yes, my shoulder is taking a beating.

You can hear me breathing from across the room and if it doesn't get better soon I will probably get a chest xray. Yesterday I got some cough syrup with codeine. I want to suppress this cough. I did sleep 3 entire hours without coughing. Oh the miracle of drugs, LOL. Last night, they were my friend.

This has been total bust of a weekend. All the things I wanted to do are undone. Thursday it will be time to go back to work. I have little hope of being recovered by then so that should be just so much fun..... not. I have been drinking tea and honey, taken vitamins, drinking immune boosting drinks. Anything. I want to be better.

Today the kids think their house might be finished. They probably can't wait since I have been nothing but sicker then a dog since they came. Between the food poisoning and now this. And I still don't feel good enough to get the lab work from the company that messed up with the cysto exams. I think I will call them and tell them to call me back to schedule a test if any of the ones they have done so far come back positive. Otherwise I am not going to worry about it.

It looks glorious out. The leaves are popping, I see flower's, granted they are dandelions but I always thought they were pretty and bike trails are calling my name. I haven't got the wind for it though. But I will.

I missed the play my friend was in this weekend. That bummed me out. We had been looking forward to it . I also am going to miss my date night tonight. Gee, has it been a week since Zoey's great adventure already. She is still recovering. Time to put the tick medicine on her also. They are predicting a record year in ticks. I haven't wanted to put it on yet as the 4 years told is also hugging and kissing Zoey, they are great pals. If they move out in the next day or 2 I will get Zoey protected. I hate ticks.

Well, I hope everyone has had a better weekend then I did. It shouldn't have been to difficult, LOL. Take care all.