It's been awhile....

I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy. My grandma is home from the hospital, but needs lots of help, so my mom and I are taking turns spending the night at her house to help out. That stay in the hospital really did her in. She definitely needed it, she was really sick when she went in, and we couldn't have turned her around without the dialysis and such, but she got such lousy care that she is weaker now than she was.
Definitely if you have a family member in the hospital, make sure someone is there everyday. All throughout the day if possible. We compiled a list of 26 things that the nursing staff neglected to do. Big things like failing to do a head-to-toe assessment (every patient is supposed to get a full assessment by a RN each shift), to little things like just getting her out of bed. Or failing to give her a bath. One nurse even came in at 3 am, woke her up and handed her a wash cloth and told her to wash up because she (the nurse) didn't want to do it in the morning. They also came in and left medications at the bedside, the nurse brought them in in a little cup, sat them on a table and told her you need to take these, then left the room. Most patients have no idea how things go while in the hospital. And I know as a nurse we like that, that way they will just do what we want them to do, it's easier for us. And we like our patients to keep quiet, most nurses are lazy. Especially the nurses on the floor (nurses who don't work in a specialized unit like the ER, ICU, L&D, etc), their biggest concern is does the patient walk, and if not, do they have a catheter in. In other words, am I gonna have to go get off my butt and get this person out of bed to go to the bathroom. Their other concern is what is the diet order. Not what am I going to do to help this person get better. It's really sad.
Anyway, she's home now and getting better. She's getting physical therapy and is getting a little stronger. It's just gonna be a long road to get her back to where she was before the surgery.

What a week...

wide awake on Easter

taking an Easter nap

Ryder James

4/16/09 9:40pm

9lbs, 21 inches

Payton, Ryder, Jessica, Reese

Oh my golly! This has been one heck of a week. First of all we had to take my grandma back into the hospital. We actually took her in about 10 days ago, on the 9th. She was really dehydrated and weak and had gone into kidney failure. So they admitted her and started her on dialysis. Luckily the failure was due to dehydration and once they got the toxins cleared out and some fluids into her, the kidney function came back, so she will not have to be on permanent dialysis. Thank God for that. She is doing much better now, and they are talking about surgery to reverse the colostomy soon. We should find out more about that tomorrow.

Also this week, my cousin had her baby...Ryder James was born on April 16th at 940pm. He weighed 9lbs. She always has big babies. Big sisters Payton wants to take the baby and go live at grandpa's house. But she wants to leave little sister Reese at home. As Reese all she does it poke at Ryder and say "Baby, baby." They're so cute, I can't wait to see them. I keep trying to get Jessie to send the girls down here for a vist, but she won't yet.

My niece also turned one month old on Wednesday. I can't believe she's already a month old. My dad and brother went to Utah this weekend to help build a fence for my brother so they can put the dogs out so they won't bother the baby. I got a picture message of my lil brother holding the baby. He said she got fussy so he walked her around til she fell asleep! Let me tell you this is not like my lil bro at all. He usually runs from any baby under 1 year old. I guess being an uncle changes things. Thats the update for now.

She loves her Auntie Jen!

Some pics of my niece Chloe from this week. She figuring out how to smile, but doesn't quite have it together yet. She sticks her tongue out everytime. The cute pjs are from Babies R Us. Of course I bought them for her. She's so cute...

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to wish my cousin Jessica a Happy Birthday! I'm sure it will be an exciting one, with alot of partying...she's pregnant and due in a few days. Maybe today will be the day. Anyway have a great day Jessie. Love ya!

What in the world...

...is going on with the world these days? On the news right now is the story of another shooting, this one at a Korean Christian retreat. The gunman killed one person and injured 3 more. In the last month 58 people have been killed in mass shootings. 58 PEOPLE!!!!! So imagine the loved ones left behind. How many more lives have been affected by the loss of these people? How many parents, spouses, children, friends are now without their loved one?
What in the world is going on in our society that people are resorting to this? What is going on that these people feel so angry that they think this is the only resort? Why are they so hopeless that they think its better to be dead? And why do they think its better to take people out with them? I don't think we will ever find the answers to these questions, but perhaps, not coincidentally, I read an article today from Newsweek, on how more and more people were disassociating themselves with religion. The article stated that fewer people call themselves Christian and more say they don't believe in a particular religion. The author of this article seemed to think this was a good thing, that this country needed to get away from Christianity and Christian values, especially in politics. Last time I checked "Thou shalt not kill" was one of the ten commandments in the Bible. Maybe its time we get back to Christian values...

Tales from the ER

At work last night we got a full arrest (for the non medical personnel out there, that means someone who is not breathing and without pulses). So anyway there we were waiting for the medics to come in with the patient and I noticed something. We were all standing around the bed talking, not about the patient or what was coming, but laughing and joking. Telling inappropriate stories, insulting each other, just being obnoxious in general. And I realized that this is not unusual. Every full arrest I've ever been a part of has been like this. And in the NICU when we would go for a critical delivery it would be the same thing. The doctor, the respiratory therapist and the nurse would be standing around the warmer waiting for the baby to come out, and just making the most inappropriate jokes, quietly, of course, so the family and patient wouldn't hear, but not very nice in any way. I don't know what this phenomenon is. Call it gallows humor I guess. I suppose its our way of taking the tension out of the situation. Maybe subconsciously we know that in a few minutes we will literally be trying to pry someone away from death's door and its how we relax. It's also weird that after the arrest is called and the patient pronounced, we all just go on like nothing has changed, most of the time. There are the unusual cases that really affect us...kids, young people, mostly. Those stick around for awhile. But in most cases we just go back to business as usual. I guess maybe its a way of coping.