Friday, November 21, 2008

Rehashing Memories

This morning I work up and had a memory from college. I was thinking about the night a bunch of us, I think it was Kelly, Amy and April and then myself and Destinie, were in our apartment on campus. And Kelly said, "I'm eating peach ice cream and I don't care what you think," directing that comment to me. As you all remember I can't stand peaches and to this day, still haven 't had one since kindergarten!

I remember the day I got my first pound puppy, it was the day my sister, Emily was born and his name is Sparky! Yes, I still have this little guy too!!

Barbies. I use to have a suit case full of them, outfits to dress them in and accessories to accessorize them accordingly. And don't forget Ken, too. But I never had a car for them. Then, I start thinking about my grandmother. She use to play with me and my barbies all the time. I really do miss her. A good memory I have of my grandmother is her playing with me in the jungle gym by her house at the age of 75. Oh, and her dumplings she use to make. And her little smile and way she even smelled. It's almost as if she is still here.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time with the Boys, more for the fact that I got a long with them better than females. But that's besides the point. Anyways, we use to play flashlight tag in our yard and also up in cemetery that's by my parent's house. If we weren't playing there, we'd be playing tennis-baseball at the park a block from my house. And then there were the times we'd have a little festival at our house of fireworks. Everyone in the neighborhood would come over and it'd be a great show. Even when the cops came up. Ahhh, memories.

College, memories both clear and hazy and don't forget those you'd like to forget. Let's see, Freshman year:
  1. The best roommate, Kelly Pieters. Need I say more!?
  2. Kelly's alarm clock that was so annoying, but I loved it!
  3. Getting my nickname, TwoCan. I earned that name, that's for sure.
  4. Kelly's mom getting sick and not being able to do anything to help her out.
  5. Kelly walking in on Chad K. and I laying on our bunk bed. Honestly, Nothing was going on between us! I was just hiding him from the RA's that were walking around, I PROMISE!!!!
  6. Oh, Halloween and dressing up as a doctor with Jess, then drinking a bottle of Bacardi Lemon....Oh, that wasn't the best idea.
  7. Decorating the dorm hall ways. Ours looked like a fish bowl, it was great!
  8. Falling asleep in Amber and Lori's room with Screech, or Aaron. No, nothing happened that night. I just didn't want to go back to my dormroom drunk, so Amber offered me a place to sleep. Does anyone remember his last name?
  9. Oh, how about hanging out with Sarah L. And being infatuated with Russ.
  10. Going to Canada with everyone. And then going there with Sarah and Russ.

Sophmore year:

  1. The Chemical free floor. Don't need to add any more on to this one.
  2. Celebrating my 21st birthday.
  3. Drinking at Stargate.
  4. Drinking at Grandma's.
  5. Meeting boys.
  6. Going to the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra with Suzanne.

Junior year:

  1. Applying for PT school
  2. Getting into PT school.
  3. Hmm, I'm sure there was something else that happened.

Senior year and grad school:

  1. Living with Amy, April and Kelly in Maple.
  2. Experiencing the terrible attacks on Septembe 11. Although I do remember and will never forget the birthday dinner everyone put together for me. And the great dinner that was made. Bad event, but it turned out good in the end.
  3. Drinking to help me get through PT school.
  4. Ok, Brad wasn't the best choice, but hey, we've all made them before.
  5. Graduating with everyone with a bachelors degree.
  6. Living with Mariah down on 1st street in Duluth.
  7. Living out in Las Vegas for my first internship at an acute care hospital. What happened in Vegas, had to stay out there. *grin*
  8. Andy and Suzanne getting married, and walking down the aisle with Joe as bridesmaid and groomsman. (Been with him ever since.)
  9. Traveling out to Seattle with my sister for my third internship and then traveling back with my mom. Man, that's a long car ride.
  10. Attending my last internship down in Rochester, MN at the Mayo.
  11. Experiencing the loss of my first patient.
  12. Graduating from PT school with a master's degree.
  13. Moving in with Joe in our first apartment in Duluth.

The rest is history.

I know there are other memories, but these seem to be the ones most prominent today. I often think about things and wonder how they may be different. But the thing is, I'm glad they're not. If these things haven't happened like they did, I probably wouldn't be where I am today, or, for that matter who I am.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

An Eventful Weekend

This past weekend I attended another continuing education class focusing on the management and treatments relating to patients who've experienced a stroke. The class started on Friday afternoon and continued all day on Saturday. A great way to take care of my CE credits needed to renew my PT license. Friday after the class I went up to see my uncle, still in the hospital, to see how he was doing. He informed me he'd be going home probably on Monday. After talking for awhile, I decided I should get going, and stop to say HI to Joe down at Starbucks before I made it home. Upon leaving the parking ramp, I started down 3rd Ave toward Superior Street, although I never made it there. I was stopped at the 1st Street stoplight because it was red, and some little old lady rear ended me, lifting my vehicle's back end right off the ground!!! I couldn't believe it! I put my car in park, got out to see if she was ok, and found her to be a bit confused, but nothing wrong. Her car still under mine, she started reviving up her engine, but not going anywhere because she had put her car in park! I told her she needed to put it into reverse, and that then we'd pull the cars over to the street so we'd be out of the way of other vehicles.

I told her I was going to call the police, to let them know what had happened, and so we could report this to our insurance company. Norma Jean, 84 years old, kept telling me that wasn't necessary and that she would just give me her insurance information; however, Norma Jean wasn't able to find her cards in her purse, "I just changed insurance agents and I can't find my cards!" Well, after standing out in the rain for 15 minutes dealing with this, the police finally showed up, as did my husband. I needed to get a my insurance information from my car, although I was I was looking for my cards, I remembered that they were stolen out of my car with my owners manual a couple of months back. Luckily, the police officer was able to use an older card of mine, and the reports were being written up.

Upon completion of the all the paper work, I read what Norma said had happened: "My foot must have slipped off the brake." Now, going down a hill in Duluth, that is not the best time for your foot to slip off the brake, don't you think! Oh well, there wasn't much damage done to my car this time, but I'm still concerned since my car is a lease, it has to go back in the same condition it was bought at. So it is something that needs to be looked at.

Yesterday I worked hard. (Ok, I worked, but not necessarily hard.) I called my mom and found out she was coming up to pick my uncle and bring him home. He was discharged to home and home health was going to help out with the dressing changes that need to be done daily, if not twice a day. He still has two OPEN incisions on his neck, but is taking antibiotics. He still has an infection and they will not close the incisions. They want them to heal from the inside out because of how severe the infections truly were. I'm worried things may change and he ends up sick again, but he's a fighter and things should fall into place. My parents will be able to help out if something is needed. Other than that, I'm glad things turned around for him. He's been through a lot this year. So lets pray things keep heading down this positive road for awhile.

As for today, I was able to have the day off from work because we are currently over staffed at work and our census is low. As a result, there were three of us who were able to relax and take care of things that need to be done. As for me, I ran to the gym and worked out for awhile, ran to Target to pick up another baby shower gift, and then headed to take care of an extra charge found on my credit card. A nice, relaxing day.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Good with the Bad

  • Last weekend I attended a course down in St. Paul addressing vestibular rehabiliation. It was amazing and I learned so much. Much more than I ever did during school, that's for sure. Joe and I also got to spend a few minutes with my sister, as well as seeing her boyfiend Kyle whom we do not see too often. Anyways, it's amazing how time flies when your're enjoying yourself and the company you have.
Emily and I at the Town Brewery in Minneapolis, MN.
  • Unfortunately, the good weekend ended sooner than expected. On Monday, I ended up injurying myself again at work. If I didn't have to do lifting, I'd love my job but that isn't the case. Since most of the patients I work with have injuries that leave them debiliated, I'm the person who helps them move. A very rewarding job, but physical. So, Tuesday I was nursing an injury but dealing with the problem.
  • Wednesday I had off. So I scheduled a massage to relax a little more, and then planned on taking care of some other things around the house and then cooking something for dinner. Little did I know, none of that was going to happen. I was heading out of the house to grab my breakfast when I got a call from my mom who was down in the cities visiting my sister. She said she had a big, huge favor to ask of me. She had gotten a call from my uncle's dentist saying he needed to be admitted to the hospital because the abscessed tooth he had pulled last week on Friday was not healing and he required medical attention. He still had significant swelling on the right side of his face and in fact, he looked just like the Nutty Professor (except he isn't black). That is how bad the swelling was. It was freaky looking!!
  • So, instead of a relaxing day, I drove out to Ashland to pick up my uncle to bring him back to Duluth to St. Mary's to be admitted for the infection he has in his mouth. Upon arriving at his house in Ashland, I realized this was the first time since 1991 I had been in this house. That was when my grandmother had passed away. 17 years is a long time, let me tell you. As I walked into the house, I realized everything look the exact same. Nothing had changed. The flooring, the walls, the bathroom. It was freaky. And of course, I started to get a little emotional. It was so weird. I expected to see my grandma walk around the corner to start cooking or something. Just weird and unexpected emotions to have. I didn't expect to have any, but I did.
  • Well, upon arriving at the hospital, the registration nurse told me and Uncle Jim that he was MRSA + and required to be in a private room. I looked at her and asked how she had gotten that information. She said she didn't know but they would look into it to see where this came about. I explained to her no one had completed blood work or even a nasal swab to test for this, so he shouldn't have been marked/flagged as MRSA+. This was disturbing and boggling to me, but I just let it be. We walked up to his room, and my parents soon showed up before we knew it. We sat around for about five hours before any doctor showed up. Upon his arrival, I decided to I needed to get going home to relax. It had been a busy, and emotional day. My mom said she'd call and give me an update when they knew something.
  • At about 9PM, she finally called me to say Uncle Jim was going down for a CT scan, and we'd know a little from that. Well, about fifteen minutes later, she called again and said they were taking him directly to surgery because of how bad the infection and that this was life threatening. So, I stayed at home, while they waited at the hospital to find out the results. Around 11:30 that night, my dad called to give me an update: Surgery went well. They were able to intubate him through his mouth, meaning the swelling was not affecting his trachea. They had to surgically open the side of his face, one incision under his jaw, and another just caudal to his right clavicle. They had to do two incisions, secondary to how severe the infection was and how far it had spread down the right side of the neck. They had cleaned out the infection as much as they were able to, but may still need to go back to surgery to clean it again. After surgery, they admitted him to the ICU for close monitoring.
  • Thursday morning, he was still intubated, but doing well. He was then exbutated on Friday, but still in the ICU for continued care. Yesterday, after I talked to Dr. Eyer, a critical care doctor I work with at my facility, we were informed he was going to be transferred our to a general medical floor because Uncle Jim was considered to be medically stable. After hearing the good news, my parents decided to head home. Well, this morning I talked to my mom again, and she had informed me the Uncle Jim was transferred out, but then was readmitted to the ICU because they had found bleeding in his abdomen and required to have a couple units of blood. I was informed this evening they are attributing the bleeding to diverticulitis, something that is actually stemming back to his achilles tendon repair back in May. Partially because of all the NSAIDs and Tylenol he's been taking for pain, along with his diabetes medications. At this juncture, he is still in the ICU, but should be transferred back to a medical floor soon; however, it is dependent on how things go.
  • Honestly, this has all been a very trying time. I've seen infections before, but this is something I have personally not had to deal with and it is just nerve recking.So, in a nut shell, that's what has been happening. Hopefully things will start heading back to the good, but in the mean time, it's just a waiting game to see how things will pan out. Wish us luck and pray for Uncle Jim.

A Beautiful View

The first week in October is Apple Fest, something I love attending every year. It was great weather, and Joe, my dad and his dad along with our friend Seth, went golfing down in Hayward. My mom, Donna and myself ventured up to Bayfield. It was wonderful and we had a great time together. After our time in Bayfield we headed up to Mt. Ashwabay to check out the colors and of course, the views. Since my parents are on the board of the hill, we have the advantage of trucking up the hill, or basically doing anything we want! So, us in my little Mercury Mariner followed the back run up to the top of the hill, and here is what we saw:

Beautiful views looking out over Lake Superior, Bayfield to the left, and Madeline Island straight forward. It is great! It was also neat because I got to show Donna and my mom the exact spot Joe proposed to me on top of the hill. Ah, memories. So, please enjoy these two pics. If you're ever looking at going on a vacation, I highly recommend taking a trip up north in Wisconsin. May seem weird, but it is beautiful!