Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday Morning Update
We managed to get to bed last night without getting skunked. You can be sure mommy looked outside for varmints prior to sending the baby angel outside for her bedtime potty trip...
Monday, September 24, 2007
Will we get skunked tonight?????
Dear god, I hope not. Last Monday night was the night that damn skunk crossed the line. I mean, it is one thing to eat my yard and leave me your mess, but when you cross the line and spray the baby angel....she still has a little eau de skunk on her snout, but you have to grab it and pull it close to smell it. She sucked up the sympathy tonight at the hospital - "Oh, you poor thing" "What did your mommy do to help you?" "Did you let her out of the yard?" No, that stupid skunk sprayed her in her own yard. You can bet tonight before bed that mommy will check for such varmints. I did have a grub application put down (which we think is what the skunks were going after) and I have not seen or smelled them since.
Tonight the house was empty, yet somehow, we managed to take over an hour to see maybe 6-7 patients. I thought we might be heading down to three tonight for the first time, but we did not. There were MAYBE 15 patients, 2 of them in isolation, so really only about 13 for us to see. Plus, today must have been a difficult day in therapy, many of the patients were already asleep.
The first patient we saw had some trouble breathing, to the point his wife asked for a breathing treatment. He was having issue coughing and swallowing - thus he was having issues talking and breathing. He had an apparatus that he used to for suction to help him clear his lungs - Chel was very interested in that. She was also interested in his feeding tube - I told her to leave that alone, he needed it more than she did. Although the man could not speak, he was happy to see Chelsie - but when he reached for his magazine, I took the hint he had enough. We were at the nurses station when his wife asked for a breathing treatment. The nurse was awesome - I think we can arrange that. She called the doctor right away, and when we were visiting, she came in and listened to his breathing said, yep, that would help and that a treatment was on the way.
Tonight, we also visited with Mr. Frasca. I was in his room last week and his daughter looked very familiar - she actually works at Cardinal! We had a very nice visit. Tonight, we had an extensive discussion about landscape, varmints and other related topics. We were probably in there for about 20 minutes - he is a very nice man. He was a dog person - Chel sat still for about 15 minutes and he was petting her the whole time. He was getting some oxygen, and she was very interested in the tubing. She was also very interested in giving him kisses. I told him to watch out, that when she gave kisses and was excited, she tended to nibble at ears. For those of you that don't know, my little baby angel is an ear eater. When she gets excited, she jumps up and nibbles at my ears - usually during a period of intense kisses. She gets you right in the ear with her front teeth - actually really hurts. The first few times I could not believe it, but mom has finally caught on = "get off me you ear eater" is a common phrase in our house.
This weekend is a big weekend - we are walking in the JDRF walk to support Megan Boedicker. Last year, her team was the biggest family team in the walk at 104 walkers, raising over $16,000. We are also running in our first AKC agility trial! We have run in a couple of other trials, but this will be our first AKC. I feel pretty good - she has been running well in the competition class over the past few weeks. Last week, grammie and grampie came and watched. The competition class has a lot of "excellent" level dogs in it, so we run courses at an excellent level in class, while our competition this weekend will be at a novice level. I am hoping we can quickly complete our novice titles and move on to "open", the next level up. One of the girls from our club is representing the US in Norway at the AKC agility championships - last year, she and her dog "Guess" and Sheltie, brought home a silver medal. Go get em Jenn and Guess!
On a high note, Adele Tom is doing very well, so that was really, really good news!!!
Chel and I hope this finds everyone doing well. And if we get skunked tonight, trust me you will know very shortly!!
Nicole and the ear eating Chelsie Belle
Tonight the house was empty, yet somehow, we managed to take over an hour to see maybe 6-7 patients. I thought we might be heading down to three tonight for the first time, but we did not. There were MAYBE 15 patients, 2 of them in isolation, so really only about 13 for us to see. Plus, today must have been a difficult day in therapy, many of the patients were already asleep.
The first patient we saw had some trouble breathing, to the point his wife asked for a breathing treatment. He was having issue coughing and swallowing - thus he was having issues talking and breathing. He had an apparatus that he used to for suction to help him clear his lungs - Chel was very interested in that. She was also interested in his feeding tube - I told her to leave that alone, he needed it more than she did. Although the man could not speak, he was happy to see Chelsie - but when he reached for his magazine, I took the hint he had enough. We were at the nurses station when his wife asked for a breathing treatment. The nurse was awesome - I think we can arrange that. She called the doctor right away, and when we were visiting, she came in and listened to his breathing said, yep, that would help and that a treatment was on the way.
Tonight, we also visited with Mr. Frasca. I was in his room last week and his daughter looked very familiar - she actually works at Cardinal! We had a very nice visit. Tonight, we had an extensive discussion about landscape, varmints and other related topics. We were probably in there for about 20 minutes - he is a very nice man. He was a dog person - Chel sat still for about 15 minutes and he was petting her the whole time. He was getting some oxygen, and she was very interested in the tubing. She was also very interested in giving him kisses. I told him to watch out, that when she gave kisses and was excited, she tended to nibble at ears. For those of you that don't know, my little baby angel is an ear eater. When she gets excited, she jumps up and nibbles at my ears - usually during a period of intense kisses. She gets you right in the ear with her front teeth - actually really hurts. The first few times I could not believe it, but mom has finally caught on = "get off me you ear eater" is a common phrase in our house.
This weekend is a big weekend - we are walking in the JDRF walk to support Megan Boedicker. Last year, her team was the biggest family team in the walk at 104 walkers, raising over $16,000. We are also running in our first AKC agility trial! We have run in a couple of other trials, but this will be our first AKC. I feel pretty good - she has been running well in the competition class over the past few weeks. Last week, grammie and grampie came and watched. The competition class has a lot of "excellent" level dogs in it, so we run courses at an excellent level in class, while our competition this weekend will be at a novice level. I am hoping we can quickly complete our novice titles and move on to "open", the next level up. One of the girls from our club is representing the US in Norway at the AKC agility championships - last year, she and her dog "Guess" and Sheltie, brought home a silver medal. Go get em Jenn and Guess!
On a high note, Adele Tom is doing very well, so that was really, really good news!!!
Chel and I hope this finds everyone doing well. And if we get skunked tonight, trust me you will know very shortly!!
Nicole and the ear eating Chelsie Belle
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.
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.
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