Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is a day to enjoy good food with family and friends and be thankful for what we have. Well, here's how my day has gone and what I'm thankful for:
1) I'm thankful that when my closet door fell off in my hands this morning (yes, reminiscent of the shower doors) that it didn't hit me in the head.
2) I'm thankful that the 2 charges which appeared on my credit card this morning from Lord & Taylor totaling $322.52 are not mine. Hopefully, I will not have to pay for the person who has taken my credit card number and shopped a store that is too expensive for me to afford. That's probably just a pair of pants and a tee-shirt :). I will find out more tomorrow when the billing dispute office is open.....which leads to:
3) I'm thankful that the billing dispute folks at my bank got the day off, thus don't have to worry about the charges on my credit card as I do.
But, MOSTLY.........
4) I'm thankful for Boston Market who were there for me when I needed my tryptophan, carb, and gravy fix to make it through the fun I've had today.....now, let me sleep, Oh Great Chemical Tryptophan!

HERSTORY: Teaching Hospitals

HELEN QUOTE: "This is a teaching hospital, so I shall teach!"
This is long, but really worth it and is a lesson that we MUST be advocates for ourselves, our children and any in our care!!!

As a 3 month old, Ginny was hospitalized with a Nasal-Gastric (NG) feeding tube. Yes, it's just what it sounds like, a tube which goes up the nose and into the stomach and dumps nutrients into the stomach. And, yes, this was something which I learned to insert. That's something they taught me, Lesson #1.

While we were in the hospital, a Physical Therapist (PT) came in to teach me how to perform Chest PhysioTherapy (Chest PT) on a small baby by thumping the crap out of her.....okay, actually, cupping the hand and patting each lobe of the lungs. Lesson #2 for Helen. As I was learning this, an Attending Physician came into the room with his entourage. Said entourage consisted of a 3rd year Resident, 1st year Resident, and a Medical Student. It was the start of the new medical year so they all had new roles (never, EVER get hospitalized on July 1!!!!....Lesson #3).

The Attending was trying to be impressive to his latest set of groupies and thought he'd impress me with big words. His favorite was the word "sphincter". He told me that the tube was irritating the sphincter (the one between the esophegus and the stomach) and that it would continue to do so causing irritation of the sphincter, thus acid reflux and the sphincter wouldn't heal.....sphincter, sphincter, sphincter.....at the time, I had a 3 year old son who was not doing well with toilet training. Sphincter was not an impressive word to me!

Anyway, he continued running in circles telling me that the tube couldn’t stay in, but she probably couldn’t tolerate oral feed, taking a bottle by mouth. He wouldn’t listen to me, or explain what he really meant, or what his solution to this problem would be although I was pretty sure I knew. He wanted to put a feeding tube into her stomach directly. That way, we’d plug the food into a port in her stomach. Wouldn’t that be a really cool procedure to take his entourage through??? My, my what a great experience for them since they ARE in a teaching hospital.

LESSON FROM HELEN: I finally stopped the Attending and told him that he needed to leave the room. He tried to continue speaking, but I looked at him and said, “There are 4 of you looking at me and talking at me, but you are not listening to me. You say she can’t continue with the NG feeds, but you don’t think she can tolerate the oral feeds, but we haven’t even tried them. You are not listening to me and you need to leave.” When he tried to speak again, I told him he must leave and I turned my back on him to focus my full attention on the PT working with me.

They all left and I collapsed, handing Ginny over to the PT who told me I did the right thing. She told me that I need to be an advocate for my child and do what I believe is right.

A bit later, the 3rd year Resident came into the room. I’m pretty sure she was the one who drew the short straw. In a very intelligent (condescending) tone, she said, “Fine. We are going to try it your way.” She pulled out the NG tube and told me that a nurse would be in later with a bottle and they would try it “my way”.

END RESULT: That was the last time Ginny was on a feeding tube. Guess she could handle those oral feeds, and I’m sure her sphincter appreciated the break, I know mine did!

HERSTORY: Definition & Reason

Herstory is my past stories. I call it Herstory because I am a her, not because I'm an extreme feminist or anything. History is associated with research, textbooks, absent-minded professors (if they are men), and boredom. Now, granted, that is not the only thing associated with history, but for my purposes, I'm going with that definition because the word "his" is in it.
When you come across Herstory, it will be funny, exciting, full of hilarity, ridiculous situations, and hopefully, lessons learned.

We all want History to provide us with knowledge to have those "lessons learned", and I'm hopeful that my Herstory will do the same. So, sit back, relax, enjoy and learn when you see one of my Herstory posts.

We All Fall Down...

The leaves are falling from the trees, sticking to the roads in the rain, and fluttering around the cars as we drive. Rain is dreary, falling leaves are melancholy, but the season has such great features. The air becomes crisp and fresh, fireplaces are in use and the aroma triggers feelings of comfort. Hot chocolate, hot cereal, and cold toes are all part of the fun.

But the best, truly my favorite part, is Thanksgiving Dinner! I love the turkey, the gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and the deep, rich colors of the perfectly decorated table.

My kids will be in Florida with their father and his family. I will be home without them which is dreary and melancholy, but I still love the season. Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a High Tech Life For Us!

Yes, I'm playing catch-up on my blog. Lots has happened but I haven't had time to journal it, so enjoy reading!

So, after my High-Tech Symposium on Thursday, I called my children as I was on my way home. My 13 year old son, Drew, had been invited to a party for Friday night and "didn't have a thing to wear". In his defense, he has grown and his clothes haven't caught up with him.
I told him that I would come home, pick him up and take him to the store to get something which made him groan (and me do the same as the thought of going back out after getting home didn't exactly appeal to me).
THE HIGH-TECH SOLUTION: He checked the tags in his clothing for his current size and relayed those to me by calling my cell phone as I was on the way home. I went to the store and looked for items befitting a teenage boy party, while keeping Drew's style in mind. He likes the look of the button-down, collared shirt decorated with flames over a t-shirt of a complementary color. Once I stumbled upon this outfit, I took a picture of it with my cell phone, sent a picture message to his cell phone and continued in the store. Within 2 minutes, Drew called me and approved the outfit in the picture which I then purchased and he then wore on the next night for his party.
When I told my sister the events of my day, her response was "You are The Jetsons!!!" As a matter of fact, we were very high-tech, space-folk-ish! What a day!

What did YOU do at work on Thursday?

Well, here's what I did. I attended the Emerging Technologies Symposium at the Applied Physics Lab at the University at which I am employed. It was like a gaming conference for the people who created the games. Highly intelligent conversation, thought-provoking ideas, and great knowledge-sharing came out of the day.

AND, I got to fly a vehicle over Mt. St. Helen's in a simulated rescue mission. It was highly cool :). I crashed the vehicle, then got it right again and spun the vehicle all around, actually feeling dizzy in the process as it was stretched out in front of me on large screens. The feelings were similar to that of watching a roller coaster on IMAX. My friend took a turn and aimed the vehicle skyward. She accidentally hit the turbo speed and went 2000 mph at the sun. We called her Icarus the remainder of the day.

Then, there was the virtual reality helmet......yes......I look very odd, but WOW!!! I was looking at a street scene. Pushing the button had me walking forward down the street, passing the buildings. Then, I turned right to go down another street....I didn't move the mouse to the right, I turned my body to the right and was able to walk down that street. I accidentally maneuvered myself into a street post. I actually stopped and took a step back, grabbed the chair and listened to the people waiting for their turn laughing. It was a blast!!! Another person looked up and was able to fly.....her reaction was to keep saying "Oh, S!@t!" which also got laughter from the crowd. There was just as much fun watching the virtual reality as there was participating in it.

So, this is what I did at work on Thursday, what about you?

The Appointment - November 2007

Once every 3 months, we need to go through the ordeal of taking Ginny to her Cystic Fibrosis Clinic appointment at JH. I say ordeal because of the amount of time it actually takes for the appointment, the hassle it can be to drive and park, the stress for the couple of days leading up to the appointment and the collapse which occurs after.

Below is Appointment Summary for November 2007:
1. Height, Weight, Blood Pressure
November - 64.5 lbs - INCREASED 6.5 lbs!!!!!!!
2. PFTs - Pulmonary Function Tests
118% which is down from her normal 130%. Yes, over 100% sounds great and is fantastic. However, ANY decrease is NOT good!!!!!!
3. Doctor
Review of Height-Weight Ratio: Height - Weight Ratio: IDEAL = 50%+ PREVIOUS: 29% CURRENT: 46% !!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!! She is almost where they want her to be. Where they have been hounding her/us to get her up to. AMAZING!!!!!! Dr. R was so complimentary. He used words such as excellent, proud, good job and ended with "Keep up the good work!" Wow! We've waited a long time to hear that! Then, there's the throat swab which is done every time.
4. Nutritionist
Reviewed the eating habits and suggests how to increase calories. Not much to comment on this appointment due to the excellent increase in weight and height-weight ratio.
5. Nurse
Reviewed equipment, cleaning, directions and needs for assistance with insurance company. She gives us handouts to help at home, school and anywhere else as needed.
6. Pharmacist
Reviewed all medications, dosages, writes out new scripts as needed.
7. Respiratory/Physical Therapist
She came in to review the breathing treatments and Chest PT. This did not go well and we need to come up with processes to improve. This includes at her father's house, maybe there even more so than mine. He hasn't cracked the Vest out in a long time which the PT told Ginny was unacceptable. This portion of the appointment left her in tears and me feeling a bit nauseous.
8. Psych
She came in to give us ideas for PT incentive and to cheer Ginny up.
9. Research
This time, we participated in a research survey. It consisted of 3 questionnaire papers on my part and one on Ginny's part. The researcher read Ginny's and recorded her responses, I filled mine out at the same time. It was trying to gauge how the nutrition portion, self-esteem and feelings about the protocols by the family and the patient.

OTHERS - not this time, but once per year blood has to be drawn. Every other year, x-rays are taken. Then, there are the times that other doctors come in.....never sure who or why they are there, but it is a teaching hospital......one day I'll have to go over my theory about that!!!!