OT,, January, Chit Chat

[agate]

I was whizzing through my e-mail on my way to the last session of the study I've been in (MS and fatigue) when I saw about your accident, Gary.

It sounds as if you're getting good care, and the medical people are standing guard over the infection. What a major trauma for you though!

You most definitely did not need this. I hope that with good luck and good care your recovery will be fast.

[SalpalSally]

OH (((((Gary))))), So sorry..ouch!

[Gary]

Sorry to clarify its about a quarter inch off the end. It looks like hamburger. Last night Missy (my daughter) rewrapped it when I got home as it had bled through and as a 4th year med student wrapped it she didn't like his work anyway (grin,typical nurse) she wanted it done with extra room at the end she didn't say why. Although while he was trying to wrap it she did say Dr. dont you want more room at the end? He said it want necessary. At my doc this morning he took off the dressing and DW told him it had been changed his first comment "did Missy change this? I thought so 1. its way to straight 2. no overwraps 3. plenty of end room to form a good clot. I was pretty sure you didn't wrap it yourself!"

It was pretty gross so I wont post pictures. Yeah she took pictures in the ER to send to her brother. We have a rule in our house than when both kids are together we DO NOT discuss the latest "really interesting case that came into my ER the other day".

I have orders that I can walk to the bathroom or dinner table but that is it. The doc said "I have a patient in CCU so I will be talking to your daughter.". He told me once several years ago that a smart Dr. never EVER angers the nursing staff in CCU. There are not many problems that they have never seen. If you want a phone call every 15 min all night long to verify orders. Tell them what you want and then shut up and leave them alone."

Its funny DD has said that they hate having a teeny bobber (her words) student nurse in CCU for training. Especially if they have a code. I never realized that they have certain duties and you better know what the doc needs before he asks. She said that more than one has left in tears because a doc yelled at them during a code. Or they find out that medicine can be gross and smelly. And life in an intensive care unit isn't quite like it says in the text books.

Cherie I have a new respect for the nursing profession!

Nap time.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Gary is it your dominant hand? I'm glad your daughter was there to do it right. I am a retired CCU nurse although Good Samaritan Hospital called it MICU (medical intensive care unit).

I did get my PCP to RX the antibiotic the ENT doctor had given me before. I have now had this cough 16 or 17 months. It makes me more tired than normal. Today I have done next to nothing. Just playing Solitaire still in my PJ's. I think I am mildly depressed and partly because I am so tired.

My son came and mowed my yard this morning. The state fair is here and if it warms up we may go next week. Take care and Gary behave yourself. Jeanie :)

[SalpalSally]

Jeanie, have you had chest xrays and a CAT scan?
That is way to long to have a cough. Feel better soon.

[Cherie]

I agree with Sally...WAY too long Jeanie. And I share your assessment of mild depression due to loss of sleep (I think that is some of what I am going through).

Gary,
Whether it's a quarter of an inch or the whole thumb, it is horrible. Of course, it probably hurts a lot more being just the end as that is where most of the nerve endings are. And Missy is right about leaving room for a good clot to form or you keep debriding it each time you take the bandage off and it takes forever to heal.

Better sleep last night but still exhausted. Slept the better part of 7 hours with only 5 remembered awakenings. I'm glad we are going into a 3 day holiday weekend and I won't need to go to work Monday.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi everyone. I had chest x-rays, breathing tests, CT scan and an allergy blood test. Everything normal except for a high allergy to dust mites. I have now had about 30 allergy shots. I give them to myself and I am beginning the 3rd and final vial.

When I took 2 rounds of the Amox-Clav 875 mg I went from coughing 30 or more times a day to about 3 times a day. The ENT would not give me a third round. I talked to my PCP and told him with my immune system compromised I need to take it long enough to have the cough gone, I am back to 30 or more times a day. If 4 to 6 months of antibiotic do not knock it out them maybe it is emphesema with no visual signs on x-ray and scan. I'm praying this works.

I have a silver generator and I am using distilled water and making silver water to boost the antibiotic effect. It is an antibiotic also.


Cherie like you I am not getting quality sleep and coughing tires me out. Keep warm everyone. Jeanie :)

[renee]

I wish I could hand you kids some of my sleeping time.

I have been very depressed lately and cannot sleep enough.
This is a pity party, I suppose.

Thank God for the cat, the occasional work and those friends
and family that are good for the regular and relaxed wassup? calls.

I am more social than now and love the anticipation of adventures big and small-
excluding the ones that involve lopping off fingers and hospital visits….GARY.

I fired my visiting nurse service this week.
After years it had signed me up for their new "Nurse of the week" plan.Too many parsnips and beets.
Anatomy was a challenge, they were too pinched for time to check vital vitals and recently x3
the nurse du jour left w/my wheelchair in another room.

I called the local library reference desk for the phone number to
get the nurse back here. What the world doesn't know about our lives!!!
It was funny and horrible.

You all get better.
I'll try to screw my head back on.
In two and one half years I will be eligible to move into
non ghetto-like housing with a community of people who I can better relate to.
And where they move your car for you when it snows…and more.

Bon nuit.

[Cherie]

Renee,
That is why i am such a proponent of Case management and one nurse overseeing the care plan of each patient. So very sorry that happened.

Jeanie,
Glad the doc is listening.


Better last night. I actually woke once to to to the bathroom at 1:39 then did not wake again until 8:50 am. This from 11:10PM. Pretty darn good and as of this moment I feel more rested and less on the edge emotionally than I have felt in a couple of weeks. Still in PJs at almost noon but second load of laundry is in and bathroom cleaned and emails answered and mail tended to.

[SalpalSally]

Bonjour Renee. So sorry you are feeling down in the dumps. Hope it's just
a temporary winter thingy. You are so lucky, in one respect though, that you
have Family and Friends who call you regularly. No one calls me anymore.
Probably because, I very seldom call anyone, either.

Go and charge a frivilous gift for yourself, that way, you won't be depressed
again until the bill comes in. Orrrrr - get an increase for your AD. Feel lots
better soon.

[Virginia]

Gosh, so much going on!

Gary, so sorry about your finger. Hope you heal fast and well. Reading about it made me feel slightly queasy. Guess I am a whip.

Renee, so sorry you are not your usual chipper self. I do hope you feel better soon. I think I have picked up on the fact that you do better when the weather permits you to get out and about. Like Sally, I am glad you have family and friends to call. I have kind of lost most of my friends (not all). That has made things worse for me. It has been circumstantial and not anything anyone could do anything about. I miss them terribly. Two moved out of state to be nearer their families. One is in Florida and wants me to visit real bad, but I cannot fly and I cannot drive that far - so that's out. The other is in Georgia and would also like me to come, but again there is no way for me to get there. I had two other friends that died within a relatively short period of one another. Another lady I was close to in my neighborhood had moved and I could still see her except that she has acquired a boy friend, and spends all her time with him. Hopefully, someday I will get where I belong now all figured out.

Cherie, glad you are sleeping better. I remember when my husband was in the hospital and dying the Doctor gave me halcion on the occasional night that I went home. I can't remember much about it other than I think he told me it would not leave me groggy the next morning and that I would be able to get up and get to the hospital if called. He told me to take 1/2 valium about a half hour before taking the halcion to relax me. However, those were not ordinary times as Gabriella and Jeanie can attest to. I had not thought of that drug in many years. I can't remember the drawbacks to it.

Jeanie, I would feel better about you if you got rid of that cough.

Several of us seem to be doing the same thing today. I have not dressed, but not necessarily because I am depressed. I just slept late this morning and felt tired so decided to rest and do some reading.

I just finished a book. The title is "Still Alice". It is a beautifully written book about a lady who has early onset Alzheimer's disease. She is 50 years old, a brilliant Harvard professor accustomed to not only teaching, but having articles and books published and traveling all over lecturing. She is also a wife and mother of 3 grown children. In spite of the topic I enjoyed the book. At one point, she formed a support group for others like her in her age group, and she also found an on line support group. There she felt more at home and felt people understood better than anyone else. It sounded so much like us. I could just hear us saying that people do not truly understand unless they have this disease.

Gabriella, hope you are able to get things straightened out soon. Just glad your son is helping out. I have much I want to do as far as going through things and shredding and throwing away, but just keep putting it off. The story about the jewelry made me feel better about myself. I lay things down and then have to spend so much time looking for them.

I went out to a nice restaurant last night with my two brothers. Just the three of us as one wife was doing some work and the other had gone to their condo at the beach for a couple of days. It was a nice evening and I am glad I was able to be with them. That does not happen very often.

I have recorded some movies so think I will go see if there is anything I want to see.

Edited to add that one cabana boy is incapacitated it appears and the other one is hiding from us I think.

[Howie]

Looking for Howie? He went that way!

[SalpalSally]

Bad News - more snow on the ground and dang cold. Good News - The sun is shining!!
DD had a big birthday bash for her 2 Boys yesterday - 1 was 8 on the 15th, the other
was 9 on the 16th. One day - the 15th, they were both 8..ha ha. Can we say, whoops
on 2nd Babe so soon..lol. She'll be over 2morrow with my groceries, instead of 2day.
Alllllll tuckered out.

I'm feeling ok, for an old bat of almost 74 (eek, how did that happen). Still a bit tired
from the holidays, but Gunning HO as fast as I can..ha ha. Most days, I truly feel more
like 44 than 74. Still having MS, of course. Grrrrrrrrrowl!! I think I was just a mere 60,
when first coming to MGH/Braintalk. Time flies, when you're having a good time, they
say.. I felt older then, than I do now.

Here's wishing you all, the best of everything, for tomorrow and beyond. I love you guys!!

[agate]

I'm with you 100%, Sally. I think it's wonderful to have got this far and be having a good time. I'm happier now than I was in my 20s.

Somebody said that it's a shame youth is wasted on the young.

EDITED TO ADD: The somebody was George Bernard Shaw. He also said:

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

[SalpalSally]

I'm with you 100%, Sally. I think it's wonderful to have got this far and be having a good time. I'm happier now than I was in my 20s.

Somebody said that it's a shame youth is wasted on the young.

EDITED TO ADD: The somebody was George Bernard Shaw. He also said:

I was just telling my GD(15) that very thing. Smart man, that GBS.