Monday, September 10, 2007

Back to Work...FINALLY!!

After three weeks off, little Chelsie Belle finally returned to work tonight. The first week we missed because of the rain - no way I was taking 70 lbs of wet dog in there. I was out of town the week after that, and last weekend was Labor Day and we were at grammie and grampie's celebrating uncle Joey's birthday. Mom had been off for so long she almost forgot how to dress Chelsie!

As usual, Chelsie was the star of the 4th floor. "Oh, the doggie is here, hi Chelsie, we have missed you!" She of course, acts like NO ONE pays attention to her at home - all of you out there know better. I kept my promise to her of not cutting her nails on Monday night, even though the really need it...

Tonight was a low key night. I was reminded again not to jump to conclusions about who may or may not want me to visit. In the first room, there was an older lady laying in the dark - I was pretty sure she would not want a visit - looked a little frail and also like she was settling down. But she wanted to see the dog, and was thrilled when I put Chelsie in a chair by her bed. I think she had a stroke - we were on her left and she reached across to pet Chel with her right hand. She liked Chelsie's ears - they are very soft. Mommy loves Chelsie's ears too. :) As usual, the visit was worth it after the first room, I know that visit made her day better. At any rate, I was reminded not to guess whether or not anyone wanted to see us.

Thankfully, Mr. Dillon was not there. That would have been a huge blow to him, if he had. We saw another man who had a similar device implanted for his heart. There was no chair in that room, and she was quite interested in his device - I told her to get out there, I was afraid she would disconnect it or something. Her ears were all perked up as she was sniffing it, and I was frantically telling her NO and pulling her back. I am not permitted to use my choke collar during her visits, and tonight was the first night I really would have liked it! Fortunately, the man was sitting up because he needed to get to the facilities and the nurse came to help him.

The nurses in Dodd Hall are very special people - they do some nursing stuff, but they are more caretakers than anything. Most of these people need help bathing, using the restroom, moving, etc and the nurses are so patient. I am sure many of the patients are crabby - they work very hard in therapy all day and are usually exhausted by the end of the day. They help the patients shower, and have the patients take turns because they can't manage them all in one night before the patients fall asleep. These nurses do much different things than the nurses on the Transplant floor of Rhodes 9. Sharon continues to do well, although she has spent one more night in the hospital since her episode in June.

On another note, please keep my friends Kirk and Courtney in your prayers. Their 10 day old son, Seth Ryan, born 13 weeks early on 8/30, passed away on Saturday evening. I will be attending the memorial service tomorrow night. Please also continue your prayers for the Scott/Tom family. Adele is continuing her treatment, and handling it well. We are reminded once again how fragile and precious life it, so let's be sure to spend as much time as possible with those we care about.

We hope this finds everyone well.

3 comments:

The Monroes said...

I am sure the nurses appreciate the shout out to them! They truly are patient people...I am sure we all know first hand!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you two are still making people's day whenever you can!! Hugs for you two!

the youngbergs said...

Nurses are great and what you and Chelsie are doing is incredibly selfless and so appreciated by many.