General thoughts

Well, I have been enjoying the weather so much here. So much so, that I have neglected the world of blogging. So today, I am going to send you some general thoughts that have been filling my brain lately. These are things that would make a good blog story, but I just don't seem to make it to the computer.

1. The curse of the call light for an I.C.U. nurse

I had a patient about a week ago that really enjoyed his call light. So much so that I was ready to unplug it and walk out of the room with it. He would call me in to tell me he didn't recall hitting the light, or that he wanted me to find out how to get a copy of Oprah's show from that day, or the most frequent of calls to ask me what time was his pain shot - when it was already written the time on the board in his room for him, and it was only 5 minutes ago that I had been in the room to administered it. Now, as we say in the ICU, if you can use the call light it is time for you to move out of the unit. Unfortunately for me he was not at this stage yet. This made me reflect upon my patience and how usually I do have lots of patience to spread around. However, this day my patience was very thin. I did smile and bear it though, as the patient, or as we say in the USA, the customer, is always right. I am sure that any other fellow nurses reading this "thought" have often had the same experience.

2. Amish friendship bread

On one of my sunny days outside with my plants, my neighbour lady from across the road came over with a loaf of bread in her hands. She had made what she referred to as "Amish Friendship bread" and was offering me a loaf to try. As we sat out in the sunshine, we caught up on what we had done in the winter, as we don't see each other when the weather isn't nice. She told me that this bread was the most moist bread she had ever tasted and if I enjoyed it she would bring me a starter kit to make my own. A couple of days later, the door bell rang and here was my starter kit, and today I made my first loaf of friendship bread. The reason it is called friendship bread is because as Hazel had brought me a sample and the starter, I can now give a sample and a starter kit to my friend. It has been called the chain letter of the baking world. Truly a neat idea that gives us appreciation for our friends.

3. The first rose

I had my first rose bloom last week. Since then I have had one other bloom. My rose bushes are definitely smaller this year but it was great to see the first rose of the season.

4. Another garden

We planted another garden last weekend. This is to replace the overgrown area to the west of our house. We are still going to get some bricks to make a wall around the area. I am especially excited about the Hydrangea bush, Blushing Bride. This is supposed to bloom all season long. I also planted an Old Fashioned Bleeding heart bush. I have memories of this bush in my grandmother's yard, so I am keen to see it bloom again. I am thinking about getting a bird bath for this area and I would love a hand made garden sign to go on my old rail fence.

5. Our vegetable garden

Our vegetable garden is growing quite well. We have not had any critters in our garden so that has been good. I am looking forward to enjoying the fresh vegetables.

6. The Mailbox

Isn't it an exciting vision when your mailbox has all these letter/magazines/parcels inside them. I have to give a thank you to my sister Pam for this excitement. She has signed me up for many freebies. Today I got dish washer soap and deodorant in the mail as a trail. Very exciting. Thanks Pam!

7. The romance of raindrops

Does anyone else find rain romantic? I love it when it rains. I love hearing the rain on the window and on the roof. It is a relaxing feeling when you can close your eyes and listen to the rain. I have always felt this way about rain. I look forward to raining days with Ryan. We had a rainy day a couple of weekends ago where we watched movies and just had a quite day. Rain and peace seem to work well together.

8. Doctor Visits as a RN

So today I had to go see a Gastrointestinal (GI) MD regarding my stomach/intestines. As most of you know, I have had many years of nausea and vomiting occurring in the middle of the night. Lately, I have had cramping in my lower abdomen associated with my colon. When I was sick last month, the PA that I saw thought that I needed to see a GI doc. Now, as a RN seeing a physician that I work with at the hospital it is hard not to form my own diagnosis and skew the story to reach my diagnosis. Ryan told me to just tell him the facts and not make it sound like a diagnosis. So that is what I did, and my MD says it sounds like I have gastric reflux, which was one of my diagnosis', and a colon that spasms. I left his office today with 2 prescriptions, 1 blood work request, 1 ultrasound request, 1 x-ray request , and I save the best for last, 2 requests for scopes- gastro and colon! So, it looks like July is going to be a fun month for me. But, it is interesting how as an RN the MD looks at you for no bologna. They want you to give them just the facts. They expect that of you. It is also interesting that he sees you as someone special, making arrangements for testing to be done on the same day, which he doesn't normally do, but since you are an RN that looks after his patients, he will do this for you. Cool.

9. Car appointments

Our Saturn is reaching 100, 000 kms. Which means our warranty is almost up. So, at the last oil change I asked them to do a head to toe of the car to make sure things were doing OK. Well, the items that were under warranty were all fine but there was about 700 dollars worth of maintenance work that needed to be done. I opted for half of the items on the one day and will tackle the brakes another day. It is interesting to see how a car reacts to some TLC. After getting the transmission flushed I could feel the Saturn running more smoothly. I sure hope we have lots more of smooth rides left in her.

Anyways, that was just some general thought flying through this brain of mine. Sometimes, I just want to write them down and see where it takes me.