Great news!

So we finally got some really good news the other day. My grandma is on this special medication for the anemia. It is a shot that she gets 3 times a week. And it's super expensive. Without insurance the cost is $2400 a month! With insurance her co-pay is $600 a month. No one can pay that, let alone my grandparents who are on social security. Then we found out that there is a gap in insurance. Apparently there is a cap to what medicare will pay, and she has reached that cap. So they were going to have to pay all the cost of the medicine, up until they paid $4300 out of their pockets. They had already paid $1100 in copays so this left $3200 left to be paid this year.
Well we found out that they don't have to pay up to his amount. I'm not really sure exactly how it works, but they only have to pay up to $1600 out of pocket. So that's only $500 more. Then everything will be covered at 95%. That means the medicine will only cost $120 a month! Much more do-able.
We thought this was good enough news, but then we got some more! We had submitted her information to a prescription assistance program that will help with medical costs. And we just found out that she got approved! They will re-imburse her up to $1200 a month for medical costs. So they aren't going to have to pay for any medical costs! Hallelujah! We are so thankful for this blessing! We had been praying for something like this, and the Lord has blessed us. God is so good!

Harvest Crusade 2009

We went to the Harvest Crusade last night at Anaheim Stadium. It was the 20th Southern CA Crusade and so they had a special night planned. We got there early, before the gates opened, and it was already crowded. It ended up being standing room only, 50,000 people got in to the stadium and 5,000 were turned away! And boy did they miss a great show. Chris Tomlin performed, Greg Laurie had a great message, and there were fireworks! Because it was the 20th year, after the alter call (where 4,500 people came forward to change their lives) Chris had a mini concert and there was a 15 minute firework show. Check out the videos I found, the sound quality sucks, but you get the idea. Let me tell you, 50,000 people singing How Great is Our God is an AWESOME thing. It was an amazing night! Go here for the official webcast of the night. (Friday and Saturday nights webcasts are there too.)

Visiting Chloe

We went to Utah this weekend to see my niece, ok we went to see my bro and sis in law too, but mostly my niece. My bro and sis in law had to work Thursday and Friday so they left us home alone with the baby. We had so much fun, she is such a perfect baby. So content and happy all the time. She's talking like crazy now. Its funny how much they change just in the month since we had last seen her. She's 5 months old now, and getting so big. Here's some pics from the trip...

Chatting with her Grammie

All dressed up for the fair. (I got her this outfit.)

Relaxing on Chloe Island

I put this teeny tiny hair clip in her hair. It was so cute!


She wakes up so happy, just lays in her crib and talks to herself. It's so sweet!

Food coma

I just got back from the OC fair and my tummy is full of fried deliciousness. We ate, in this order, chocolate covered bacon, bbq'd corn on the cob, deep fried oreos, caramel apple, cheese fries, and deep fried cookie dough! But no garlic fries. We saw a sign for garlic fries when we first walked in but didn't get them and spent the next few hours trying to find them again. When we found the place with the sign, they didn't have them! What a disappointment. Anyway, I think I'm gonna be sick. Good thing it's bedtime, because the food coma has set in and I'm so sleepy.
FYI...chocolate covered bacon: not horrible, but not as good as just chocolate or just bacon. Fried cookie dough is better than fried oreos. =)

Points to ponder...

At church on Sunday we had a guest speaker and he spoke on an intersting subject....Why is it so hard to witness to non Christians? He posed an interesting question...if you got a thousand dollars for everytime you witnessed to someone, regardless of the outcome, would you share your faith more often? And if you can overcome that fear for love of money, why can't you overcome it for love of God?
It's totally true, too. I know that if I got money everytime I shared I would be passing out tracts, evangelizing like crazy. But I don't do that now. I know for me sharing my faith is hard. I don't do it out of fear of rejection, and also fear of not being able to answer someone's questions. The fear of rejection thing is a biggie for me, it permeates most of my life. I have not done somethings, and probably missed out on some good things, because of this fear. I'm just gonna have to pray for the Lord to give me strength and work that issue out. The other fear I am gonna have to work on myself, perhaps spend more time studying God's Word, maybe do a study on sharing my faith.
Either way, I'd better get over those fears, cuz I've heard the message, and now am going to be accountable for living it out. And so are you.....

Indulge me for a moment...

So I'm kinda having a pity party kind of day. Just frustrated with life in general, stuck in a rut with no light at the end of the tunnel.
The situation with my grandma is not getting any better. She is still unable to walk, still incontinent, still not eating. My mom and I have to be there every day to help out. One of us goes every morning and every evening at 9 to get her cleaned up and in and out of bed. Then my poor mom goes twice more during the day to do therapy with her. It's really getting old, and unfortunately I'm starting to resent her for it. My mom and I have to work opposite days so that one of us is off every night. We can't go anywhere together, even for a day because one of us has to be there. We're supposed to go see my niece in Utah next week, but may not be able too because we aren't sure if my aunt can come over 4 times a day for 4 days. If I'm off I can't go out with friends because I have to be there at 9 and am usually there for about an hour. It's like our lives are on hold.
My aunt has helped out a few times when we both are working, but that's only at night and only like 1 or 2 nights a month. My cousins are nowhere to be seen, I think they may have forgotten where my grandparents live. My mom asked my uncle to come stay with her in the morning last Sunday so we could go to church (we don't like to leave her at home alone for more than an hour at a time, church takes a few hours), but he said he couldn't come because he had to work on the car. This is his mom too, and he comes for like an hour once a week in the afternoon with my aunt. He can't take a few hours from his busy schedule to sit with her so the rest of the family can go to church. My grandpa is a go, go, go type of person and we can tell he is getting kinda depressed because he can't really go anymore, he likes to go out and eat but doesn't really go because of my grandma. Has my uncle come to go to breakfast with him? Nope.
Seriously it's so frustrating. Between my mom and I we are there probably 4 hours a day, and we both work full time. My uncle doesn't work at all. My cousins both work, but one works 4 days a week and the other works 5, but not always 8 hours a day. But no one works anymore hours a week than anyone else. You'd think the rest of the family could help out some. I realize that the incontinence is a problem and don't expect my uncle, or even my cousins for that matter, to clean her up, but c'mon people, you can come to the house and spend time with her. Come do therapy with her. Hell, come and bring her something to eat, cuz my mom, grandpa and I aren't getting her to eat, maybe somebody new will get thru.
It sucks too, because she is so not the same person she used to be. She just sits there and stares at the TV, or sleeps. She's like a bump on a log. She's not interested in anything, books, games, anything. She doens't engage in conversations. She just is there. We try everything to get her to eat and she has an excuse for everything. It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too thick, nothing tastes good.... you name it, she's used it as an excuse. Again, it's getting old and I'm starting to resent her for it. I don't like this person she's become and I want my real grandma back. Which makes me feel like a horrible person, because she didn't choose to get sick, so I feel bad for getting frustrated with her. She went from being totally independant in February to being wheelchair bound and incontinent in May. But it's been 3 months and she hasn't gotten any better, and it doesn't seem like she is even trying anymore. And that's the most frustrating part. If she would just try. We try to talk to her, but it goes in one ear and out the other. She says she'll eat better, but then she doesn't, she just comes up with another excuse. And they're not good excuses, she once told me that she thought her teeth were too dull to eat with!
It's getting to where I'm beginning to wonder how much more we can take. My mom, grandpa and I are bearing most of the burden, and I wonder if the rest of the family will step up and help out? Or is this gonna cause the family to break? I'm really not sure....

Tales from the ER...

I just have to share my night at work with you. Seriously I wish you all could have been flies on the wall, because unless you saw it you will not truly comprehend the majesty that was the ER Friday night.
So my night starts like this, I get report from the day shift nurse and she tells me to watch out for bed 5 because he's been hypersexual and hitting on everyone and making inappropriate comments. So I avoided going into the room for a good hour, but then I had to. I wish I had the words to describe this guy to you. Picture one of the Hansen boys, with a long scraggly bowl haircut, in the gurney with just his pants on, he took the gown off to show off his manly (or not) chest, sunglasses on. Trying to be cool. So I walk in all no nonsense and thinking I'm gonna be all firm with him. Unfortunately I was walking in to get a urine sample from him so I'm sure that just played to his fantasies. I ended up sending the one male nurse we have in to try to get it from him and I overhear the patient asking the nurse "Do I look buff to you? I mean do I have a nice body? Good muscles? Do I intimidate you?" It was all I could do to keep from laughing. A little bit later I go in the room to tell him he is going to be admitted and he asks me if I'm mad at him. Then he tells me that I "put the naughty in naughty nurse" and asks me if I'm gonna be his nurse for the rest of the night. Five minutes later, I have to go in the room again, as I'm approaching the curtain I hear some strange noise coming from inside the room. I rip back the curtain and find him pleasuring himself. I yell that he needs to stop that immediately which of course draws the attention of the family member in the room next to him. The look on that guys face was classic!
So I finally get this guy upstairs and the next patient in that bed wasn't much better, although much more harmless. He kept asking me if he had nice muscles, and when I had to give him a shot in the butt he said it was ok because "your cute and I have a nice butt"!!!! What the hello?!?! If he only knew how many butts I've seen, trust me his wasn't that impressive!
The most fun part of the night however was the drunk lady that came in a few hours later. Luckily she wasn't my patient, but in the spirit of teamwork I decided to help a fellow nurse out. So this chic rolls in via the paramedics, she had been drinking in downtown HB and apparently passed out or something like that. So she comes in covered in vomit and stinking to high heaven. So Heather, Kelly, and I go into the room to get her triaged and situated. We had to gown up with masks and all cuz it stunk so bad. She's in these tiny painted on skinny jeans that are covered in vomit. Heather and I just wanted to cut them off, but Kelly insisted on taking them off. So she starts pulling the jeans off and notices something dark in them.
Kelly says "Uh I think she started her period"
Heather and I: "Um no Kelly, that's poop!" She had crapped her pants. The smell was so awful Kelly almost puked right then and there.
So the patient meantime, is so freaking drunk she's like a ragdoll. She keeps trying to sit up but just keeps flopping around. She's spitting at us so we threw a sheet over her head. Then she sits up like she's gonna puke, Heather grabs a bucket and holds it under her mouth, the patient puked in it, then immediately flopped down into the bucket face first. So we just left her like that, face down in a vomit filled bucket. She wakes up a minute later and starts flopping around again, picture a fish out of water. She's spitting at us again and shaking her finger at us like she's really gonna do something, she ralphs again.
So by this time we're trying to start an IV and were playing everyone's favorite guessing game...what did she eat for dinner? The conclusion, reached by looking at her vomit, was seafood. So we clean her up, throw her vomit, poop and pee soaked clothes into a bag and set them outside to save for her. She wakes up a few hours later and asks for her clothes, so we give them to her. She opens the bag, in which the clothes have now been fermenting in all those bodily fluids for hours, takes a nice big whiff of the smell and pukes again!
I wish to goodness that I had videotaped this night, words just can't do it justice. But now when you all complain about your jobs, just picture me playing what was for dinner, and it probably won't seem so bad!