Please someone tell me no the next time I say I'm gonna start on a project. I got a really nice wooden futon from someone at work, so I decided to make my spare bedroom into an actual guest bedroom instead of just an oversized closet. Of course instead of just putting the futon in there and calling it a day, I decided to repaint and everything. Ugh! I forgot just how much of a hassle painting is. And the smart thing would have been to paint before I got this big ol' futon in there and now have to work around it. What a pain! And I don't think I could have picked a hotter week to do it. Ick, 5 minutes of painting and I'm dripping in sweat. Thank goodness for A/C. Anyway this break has to be over, got more painting to do. I'll post pics when I'm done...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
It's been a long while
Oh my goodness, I haven't been on here for a while! Ooops! So let's see....what's new? Well there's a lot, and not alot. My grandma is still sick, that's getting to be a frustrating situation. I'l post more about that later. Been having a fun summer, my bro and sis in law brought my niece out here for the 4th. It was my dad's 60th birthday. She's getting so big, I miss her so much when she's not here, and am sad that I don't get to be a daily part of her life. Can't wait til she's old enough for her parents to just ship her out here to spend time.
My cousins also came down from Northern CA to spend some time. They've got 3 little kids so that was fun. Lots of playing in the pool. We went to DownTown Disney and had ice cream and fireworks. Thats always fun.
Here's some pic from the summer so far. I promise it won't take me so long to post again....
Reese and Payton, ice cream and fireworks and DTD
Payton and Reese
Fourth of July firework fun
Chloe and her great grandparents
Chloe in her 4th of July dressWednesday, May 13, 2009
You can make a difference
About seven or eight months ago, a man was at my grandparents neighbors house washing cars. My grandpa, like he is prone to do, started talking to the man and found out he was living out of his car and was going around the neighborhood washing cars for money. He was charging $5 a car. So he washed my grandparents car and then came around to my parents house and washed theirs, mine and my brothers. We paid him $20 for a wash and wax. Not a bad deal right. We asked him to come around again in a month or so and he could do it again. And he did. My family talked to him (he would spend a couple hours on each car so there was plenty of time to chat) and we found out that he had an alcohol problem (no surprise there) and that he had been living out of his car for awhile now. He said that his mother was alive and that he could go there, but he didn't want to burden her with his drinking. He said that he had been raised Christian, but had gotten away from it. My grandpa spent alot of time talking to him and witnessing to him. When he left the second time we sent him away with some sandwiches, and a bag of groceries. He said that he would be back in about a month. He never came back for 6 months. Last week he showed up at my grandparents house. He was clean and well dressed. He said that he had been to rehab and was now living in a sober living house. He said that he had 5 months sobriety. He is now working at Anaheim stadium. He said that after spending time with our family and seeing how close we all were and how kind we all were to him he decided that he wanted that, that he wanted to change his life. He gave all the credit to God saying that he knew he wouldn't have made it thru rehab without Him. But that he was coming around now to thank us for our kindness to him. No one in my family thought we were doing anything special. No one thought we really would have made a difference. We just treated him like we would have treated anyone else, and I guess that's what made the difference. He said that most people looked down on him and we never did that. My dad and grandpa spent alot of time just chatting with him while he was washing the cars and boat, and he said that most people didnt do that. So while we thought we weren't doing anything special, to him it was. So you see, you never know when you'll touch a life, when you'll make a difference.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
This really sucks...
So my grandma is back in the hospital. Now she has a blood clot in her leg. Last Friday morning I noticed that her right leg was a different color, a little mottled, and more swollen than her left leg. It was still that way Friday afternoon so we took her to the ER and they did an ultrasound and found the clot. It's in the same leg that had the central IV line for the dialysis so we think it's related to that. Its also related to the fact that after they took it out, they didn't get her out of bed for three days. When you don't move around the blood pools and clots. (Read the previous post to see all our complaints about her hospital care) We think this clot is directly related to the lousy care she got during her previous stay. We're writing a letter and going to complain, but no matter what happens to the nurses as far as punishment goes, nothing is going to make up for the fact that she is back in the hospital, and this is another set back on her road to recovery. Not to mention that it totally could have killed her. It just sucks that she is the one suffering for their lousy work ethic, and nothing that they do now will change that.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
What a week...
wide awake on Easter
taking an Easter nap
Ryder James
