Hi all

It is a nice warm day in Iowa and the snow is rapidly melting away. By next week I may be able to see the ground. I am hoping no more snow.

Not much going on. This new cast is a pain. It has sharp edges and is tighter. But if it helps. I have been reading up on this disease. Some people have worn casts for months! Yikes. Some people have surgery right away. Your chances for recovery are best if your in stage one and have surgery to get the blood supply return to your hand. It is a rare disease if indeed I do have it so I hope my doc is familiar with it's treatment..

I can't believe all the earthquakes. Next you will not be hearing about global warming, they will start talking about global shifting and hitting you up for taxes to stop the earth from shifting anymore. They already said the quake in Chili knocked the earth off its axis. I feel so sorry for everyone. I hope the predictions that California and Missouri are next are wrong.

I saw the photo ops of our President with the "doctor's" in their lab coats. I don't know about your hospitals, but you rarely if ever see a doctor in a lab coat. Just on TV. Just because you wear a lab coat does not mean your a doctor. I wear a lab coat, can I get a raise?

Rick is getting his bike ready for the riding season. My bike is good to go. It's me that will need some work. Have to get my bike legs ready. And see how riding one handed goes. As long as I don't fall off it should be good to go. RAGBRAI starts in our town this year. Hummmm, wonder if I should tackle those hills again. Bad thing is its the hottest time of the year.

Well, time to get going. Eating out, low cal as always, tonight. Bye

The cast and me

I was pretty upset they put the cast back on. I told the nurse, wait, I was just suppose to get it off, not replaced. She went to check his notes and not only does it say replace it says wear for 6 to 9 weeks! I swear he only told me 2 weeks. So why so much longer and what did he see when he looked at my MRI films himself at the hospital? He didn't like the way they looked when they sent the scanned results and wanted to look at the actual films. I guess I won't know until I see him in 2 weeks.

It is just such a pain doing my job with a cast on. I guess I am lucky it is a short cast but still, it does create a challenge. However...... it has pretty much stopped the pain and I did notice for the 10 minutes I had the cast off that the pain is still there when I move it. Even my shoulder is back on track and I have been doing my exercises again since the cast was put on. I get a twinge every once in awhile, but mostly the shoulder is good to go. What a relief. I was figuring it out and I have been in constant pain for over a year so this has been a blessing. Constant pain really wears you down and my usual sunny self had taken a real beating. With the cast on I haven't even had to take a tylenol. So I guess it is a good thing.

We are finally getting some warm weather and the snow is melting away. I don't know how many weeks it will take to actually see ground in my yard but we went from 40 inches to what looks to be about 20. And we have blue skies. Yippy. Spring may come after all. Soon the robins will be back and sky will warm instead of chill. I am lucky I didn't have to wear the cast in the heat of summer. I even felt like a bike ride yesterday.

This cast is tighter and my fingers are swollen a little. It should loosen up as the gauze compresses but it is a little uncomfortable. And I do like the purple better then the blue. Rick said anything but hot pink, LOL.

Well, time to cover it up and pop in the shower. Ta all, 2 more nights to work.

Purple

Much to my distress and dismay I had a new cast applied. I was hoping they would leave my cast off. No such luck. I now have a new purple cast. Sigh.

So you think your having a heart attack

Your working and get some pressure in your chest. Being young, " everyone feels too young to be having a heart attack", you keep working for awhile. You find yourself starting to sweat a little and catching your breath is strangely difficult. Sometimes you feel a little sick to your stomach.

Sitting down you go over what you ate for lunch. Was it questionable? Too spicy, too rich. Maybe you start to feel better so you get back to work. But the pain starts to become a nagging thing. Leaving work early you go to bed hoping to feel better in the morning and hoping your not coming down with the crud. But you can't get comfortable and pressure starts to get worse, real pain even. Your loving family member convinces you to be seen in the emergency room.

Laughing nervously you joke with the nurse that your wife or husband insisted you come in, but you know there is nothing wrong with you. But we never let that stop us.

When you arrive your promptly shown to a cot and your clothes are swiftly removed. Faster then you can say heart attack we have you in bed and hooked up to a monitor. While one nurse puts some oxygen in your nose another starts a IV just in case and the EKG tech is waiting to get to you next. As soon as the EKG tech is done a lab person draws your blood.

A nurse brings you a pill for under your tongue and baby aspirin. Your hooked to a machine that takes your blood pressure every few minutes. And happily the pressure goes away and you feel completely normal and fine. Just gas after all your thinking and let me out of here.

But no, a doc comes in and suggests you spend the night for observation. They want to repeat the blood work a couple of times and make sure the pain doesn't come back. Arguing that your only in your 40's does no good and your wheeled upstairs to your room.

Hi, my name is Julie and I am going to be your nurse tonight. Welcome to my floor. I listen while you tell me you feel silly for being here and I hook up your heart monitor. I ask you the exact same questions they just asked you down stairs and I take your vitals again. And I tell you I want to know immediately if you get any pain. On this floor I want your pain level at zero, not 2 or 4 but zero, no chest pain. I tell you how everything works, what you lab says so far and what we will be doing for you.

In the middle of the night the pain comes backs. But this time it is 10 times worse. Your having trouble breathing and your sweating up a storm. You turn on your light and I come in. Taking one look at you I pop a nitro under your tongue and get a set of vitals. You still have oxygen on. I reassure you that I will do all I can to make you feel better. In 5 minutes your pain is better, but still not gone. You have a feeling of doom, your left arm feels a little numb. I give you another pill under your tongue and order a EKG and check you vitals again. We order your lab to be drawn again I compare your new EKG to the old one. I give you morphine.

Breathing easier you feel less scared, but the pain is still in the middle of your chest. Not zero. But so much better. I call the doctor, hang some Nitro in a bag and because your lab work comes back positive I give you a blood thinner and more medication, a beta blocker and take away your water. Now your lucky enough to have me at your bedside the entire time. Your not going to get any sleep tonight you can tell.

The doctor comes in and I update her and because your still having pain decide you need to go the cath lab right away. So besides no sleep you are now getting bathed shaved and signing paperwork. Your family is called and more IV's are hung and before you even know what happened I am telling you your going to be alright and that I will see you later and I walk part way down the hall with you when they come to take you to the cath lab.

I check on all my patients real quick and start to chart all that had happened with you. I know you will be fine, your in good hands. A call light goes off. Julie, your patient in so and so room just called and said they are having chest pain. Some nights are just like that..

I am glad you didn't ignore the pain. I am glad your here so we can help. If you have chest pain always get it checked out. And if it isn't your heart that's great, but if it is. We can help.

Zoeys Birthday

Today is Zoey's Birthday. 11 years we have been blessed to share our home with her. From a simply adorable fat little puppy,




To a scarred old cancer survivor


An energetic stick chewer.

To a crazy wild eyed full of the comic,

We have enjoyed each and every day with her. Happy Birthday Zoey and please......... many more.


Now last night was work. I had some great patients. Sick but great. I was happy to take care of them and the night went by quickly.

One my co-workers asked me what happened to my arm. Dead pan I told her I had been snow boarding up at Aspen's and had hit a tree. The expression on her face...... Priceless. Wish I had thought of this one 2 weeks ago, LOL. Have a great weekend all..

Health care

From what I see at my hospital I see everyone who needs care gets it. But what I do see is the ones without insurance are the ones who come in more often. They take ambulances, they come to the ER for colds, sore throats, in-grown toenails. They scream loud and long if they don't get treated, " your not treating me just because I don't have insurance"! And they don't pay. They are our mercy cases.

Who isn't coming in for treatment anymore? Who is putting off their care until it is almost too late? The insured. Because they do come after us. Most of us have a large out of pocket deductible. Most of us are charged higher rates, scalped on our medications, and they go after us. The hospital or offices won't let your bill slide. They won't give you special reduced rates. Oh no. They go after you. They will take your car, they will hound you by phone and mail, they will take you to court, they will increase your payments....... they get the money.

This makes many of us wonder why are we insured? We put off many things we should get treated. Preventive health care isn't practiced because we are saving for the times it isn't preventable. I believe I should pay for services rendered, but not pay more just because I always made sure I was insured.

Government health care takeover is not the answer. It will just add to the middle mans burden. Which is me. As a middle income tax payer it is my pocket again which will be burdened. I will simply not be able to afford it anymore. Because if I can't pay I do without.

Studies have shown tort reform will save more money then health care reform. It won't cost us the taxpayers more money. What has cost us money? All this debate on health care reform that the majority of people don't want and simply can't afford. And why? When the majority of people are screaming no are our elective officials still even debating this? Why? Why?

It angers me that our insurance companies, the AMA, hospitals, doctors etc.... made it so bad that they made it possible for the government to do a hostile takeover. They should have prevented things from getting this bad within their own system. Stayed strong. Governed themselves better. Maybe we wouldn't be in the spot we are in now.

May I suggest also that term limits will also save the taxpayers money.

Waiting til the last minute.

They are taking all the gold medals won at the Olympics and giving them to Obama I hear. It's because he is going downhill faster then anybody, LOL.

Just heard that joke and had a chuckle. Read Jimmy's journal and had a chuckle. Read my photo hunt challenge list and had a gasp. Procrastination rears it's ugly head again. I have one day to finish my hunt since I work the rest of the week. And that day is today. Heaven's forbid I actually do it one shot a day taking the stress out of it. Actually I do have one shot done. 19 more to go.

Work tonight. I am not looking forward to the weekend with this cast on. I wonder if it has done anything except cost me money. Monday I will find out I guess. I am hoping it has helped.

I continued my cleaning spree and the house looks so nice. I just wish it was nice out so I could take down all my blinds and spray them off outside. But it is freezing out there. 8 above right now. Should be great taking photos today. Burr.

I was reading a poll from our local paper. It wanted to know how many people donated to the Haiti relief fund. I was shocked to see very few had. I wondered why. I know the economy is bad and there are lots of scam places so some people are nervous about donating. But it is easy to find places that aren't scams. Shelterbox is a great way to donate. What could be better then a roof over your head during a disaster. Out of the weather during the rain. One box is $1000.00 but you don't have to donate that much. As much as you can afford. And it is a global organization. Not just USA but other countries have it also. It would be great to do as a fund raiser and you can follow where your box goes if you donate enough for a whole box.

I give to a mixture of charities. This past year I have moved my contributions closer to home as I feel with this economy you should be helping your town to survive. Your food kitchens, your clothing drives, your fire victims. Even your discarded pets.

Remember Charlie the chocolate lab who was tossed from the bridge like garbage? Well he now has a loving home and is well on the road to recovery. And that makes me feel good because I had a hand in that. I think people should help each other because you can, not because it is being forced on you or because you may get praise for it but because it is the right thing to do. It may be you some day who has lost everything in a house fire. It may be you who need help. Like my mother fleeing in the middle of the night with us children and the clothes on her back. Because others helped us. So pay it forward.

Well, I never know what I am going to ramble on about and this was no different. Time to stop and get ready for the camera hunt. I work my long stretch tonight and I have to take the photos and post them. Why why why do I wait to the last minute?