Night Terrors or the Sixth Sense??

So right now I am on my 5-day weekend (ya-hoo!) and am on my 3rd night off. It has been nice and well-earned. I definitely need this break from work. 

However, I got to witness something I only heard about from my husband. Starting back in October, Bella started having night terrors. Of course, every time she had one I was working....until last night. Now she has only had it about 4 or 5 times, but it sounded frightening when my husband would tell me about it. Well, last night I got to see it first hand and Oh. My. God. Talk about freaky.

I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom when my daughter (and btw she is 5) started whimpering. John immediately went back to comfort her. Then she just started screaming. I ran in; I was standing next to her bed and John was half-lying on her bed. She was staring into the space between us, crying hysterically and saying "I promise!! I promise!!" She literally looked like she was in a trance. I made John move, sat down and grabbed Bella. All of a sudden, she blinked and leaned into me, crying softly this time. So we took her in the bathroom, gave her a quick shower, dressed her, and laid her back down. She was fine by this point and went right to sleep. She's fine now; no remnants of last night lingering. I am still recovering! I can't help thinking of all those horror movies where the bad spirits got the young children. And let's not even think about the fact that the small town we live in is considered one of the most haunted cities in America.

Now maybe my imagination is running away at the moment. But if things start going bump in the night, you can bet I will be moving in with someone across the river. :0

-Liz

The Snarkiness of the Skinnies

Newsflash to those of you who know me: I am overweight. Gasp! I know, you had no clue, right? ;-) Anyways, I am working on a meal plan, just counting calories and exercising. I have been sick for about a week now, some sort of respiratory infection, and have not exercised in a few day, but am getting back in the saddle tomorrow! I look forward to making some real progress soon.

I like reading about others' progress and think it's very inspiring. However, some are OBSESSED with it. Like "all I had were rice cakes, an avocado and oh yeah that colon cleanse, why are there still fat people out there? Whatever" At least that's how these people sound! I was following someone on fb who posted about her weight loss and she happens to be a nursing student. She recently made a post about how she told a cancer patient how she lost weight and hopes she inspires this patient to lose weight. Well that is great, really it is, but she made a comment about how she felt that she couldn't be a good nurse and be overweight. So that means that I suck? And another commentor had the audacity to post "it amazes me when there is a health professional who is overweight especially when they have to educate patients on healthy living/lifestyle" blah blah blah. Really? That amazes you? Morons!

I felt the need to "snark" back at them. Let me inform ya'll what makes a good nurse: Compassion. Knowledge. Skills. Communication. The ability to advocate for your patient. Intuition. Trusting your gut (no matter how fat it may be). Time management. Having confidence in your abilities. Knowing when to ask for help.



This past week I took care of a patient who was actively dying and was DNR. Technically I was taking care of the family the most since the patient was in a coma. As a nurse, I checked on them, I monitored their loved one, and I tried to accommodate them as I was able. I am PRETTY sure they won’t remember me for being a fatty. And it’s very possible they won’t remember me at all. Because it wasn’t ever about me anyway. It was about being with their loved one in his final moments on Earth and saying good-bye and knowing that he was not alone.

And that's my fat-rant of the week ;-)

-Liz

Oops ;-)

OK, so I have neglected my blog! I am going to try to post at least once a week, to get in the habit. Stay tuned and don't give up on me yet! :)

-Liz

Update on Jack's progress...

Okay, I have been really bad on posting! Sorry, guys....

Anyway, Jack has been doing really well. He is now on a "fork-mash" diet: so anything you can mash with a fork, he can have. Which definitely broadens our horizons a bit. Now we can add overcooked pasta, potatoes, even some soft pieces of chicken to the menu. Hoo-ray!

He has not had any pain or discomfort since the week after his surgery. He has been back at school for 2+ weeks now and just has to do mouthwash a few times at school. He was getting bored with jello and pudding at lunch, so today I dropped off a couple Wendy's Jr Frosty's for him and became the coolest mom for a short amount of time, lol ;-)

Anyways, his next appointment is March 5 to make sure his palate has healed and then he can go back to a regular diet. Then he will start speech therapy again. We should hopefully know sometime around summer if the surgery did the trick, so we've got awhile to keep our fingers crossed. 

Have a great weekend!

Jack's Surgery Day

Sorry it's been nearly a week before posting an update on Jack's progress....but needless to say I have been EXHAUSTED. The only computer I have seen is at work to chart.

SOOOO...the day of surgery:

Well, we were originally scheduled for 9:20. Then 2 days before the surgery, I got a call, saying that his surgery was being moved back to 10:30. When we arrived, we found out his surgery was scheduled for 11:25. Not bad, I thought. I am a nurse, and I know that things pop up. Well Jack hadn't had anything to eat since 11pm the night before and was only allowed a little apple juice that morning. (And of course, his dad and I didn't eat that morning either). So we registered, went back to pre-op, Jack got into patient scrubs, and we waited.

Jack channel surfing at the hospital

Well the hours ticked by. Now, again...I understand how things can happen, surgery can be unpredictable. But we were hungry, tired, and bored out of our minds. So we were all a little cranky (and anxious). 

Finally, the surgeons came back to talk to us. Now let me give you a little background on them. The head surgeon is actually the chief of pediatric plastic surgery (I kept joking "nothing but the best for my kids!") and he is Asian (I'll explain why I'm mentioning that in a minute.) The other surgeon assisting him is a pediatric plastic surgical resident, and he is Indian (meaning from India, people, not Native American.) Neither one had much of an accent and my husband later said he started thinking of them as Harold and Kumar!!! Now, that is how I refer to them. Hopefully Jack doesn't catch on and call them that in person! But really, these guys are amazing. GREAT bedside manner, great with kids, and absolutely awesome with explaining things to us. Harold would explain things and then ask us if he was making sense. I work with doctors and TRUST me, not every doctor is willing to spend so much time putting patients and their families at ease. 

Anyway, it was time for Jack to be wheeled back to the OR and he started freaking out a little bit, which was hard for us. I can't tell you how it felt to know that your child is frightened and just watch him being wheeled away. It was terrible. 

So by the time he was taken back it was after 2pm. My husband, my father who was also there, and I went down to the cafeteria and ate, then we went back to the surgery waiting room. My dad left, and my mom showed up a little later. My mother-in-law was watching our other 2 kids, thank God for her, and we tried to occupy ourselves without going crazy. I got a call after 4 that they made the first incision at 3:08 and they still had a ways to go, but Jack was doing well. I thought it would feel like forever, but before I knew it they called to tell me he was doing well and was being moved to recovery. Harold came in to update us and said that he didn't have to do as much work as he initially thought, so his recovery should be easier than most, which was great news. 

We ended up seeing him in recovery since when they initially woke him up, he was scared and hurting and did not respond well, so they figured seeing our faces would help. I, of course, started crying when I saw him. He had a small tube in his nose to protect his airway, and a safety stitch in his tongue (also to protect his airway). But anyone who has had surgery knows that it is pretty miserable right after. We went up to his room and about 2 hours later, my mom and husband left and I settled in for a long night with him.

Jack's surgery

So for most, the New Year brings resolutions, possibilities, hopes and dreams for the coming months. For us, it includes surgery for our oldest son, Jack. It's less than a week away, so it's creeping up fast on us. Here's a little background on it:

Jack was born with a "submucosal cleft palate". What this basically means is that the muscles of the palate did not connect together correctly, so it doesn't block off the opening to the nose while talking like it should. It didn't extend all the way through the roof of his mouth to his lip, though, so it was not an obvious physical sign. When he started preschool, he was evaluated by a speech therapist who suggested he see an ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor). At the time of his eval (he was 4) the dr wanted speech therapy to take him as far as possible before looking at surgery as an option. So this past year, when speech therapy took him no further, we had him seen by several specialists and scheduled his surgery. It will be a 4 hour surgery, where the plastic surgeon will stitch the muscle of his palate together and extend it so it works properly and blocks the nasal airway when speaking. The big challenge will be his diet: he'll be on liquids only for 2 weeks, then a soft diet for another 2 weeks, then for the final 2 weeks he can be on regular food except for crunchy, sharp things like chips or popcorn. 

Jack is handling everything pretty well, and we are not making it our center focus this week. The kids are still on Christmas vacation, so we want him to just enjoy his time off. We invited some family and friends to come out to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants this Friday, I'm working alot this week so I can have the time off next week, and I really don't think it will sink in too much until Tuesday, the day before the surgery. I'm sure everything will go very well (this is a common procedure) but I am anxious for it to be over for him.

I will post updates on his progress in the coming months :)

Oh Bother

Everyone should know from here on out....I'm am a worrywart. I worry about EVERYTHING. Really, I can make a career out of it. It has become an obsession.

I worry that my kids might need shock therapy when they are grown up thanks to my awesome mom skills :/. I worry that if I don't ever lose these 40 or so lbs, someday I will be 500 lbs eating a bucket of chicken every night. When my oldest has a meltdown at school, I worry that he will endure horrendous teasing for the rest of his elementary school career (I can thank the lovely ladies of St Al's for that one). Sometimes I question the choice of my career, because HELLO! Talk about worry. Sheesh.

I often worry that I have somehow offended or made someone angry. I often think back over something I said and think "Oh my God, she/he probably took that the wrong way! They will hate me forever." (I know, pretty stupid, but everyone is insecure in some way or another. Let me have mine, lol) But one of the very few people I never have to worry about is my best friend, Sara....and this is my shout-out to her.

We have been friends ever since Kindergarten, since I got mad that she stole my seat (at least this is how the story goes, but I conveniently don't remember this). We have been through ALOT...and I never have to worry if I have said or done something on accident to wrong her, because she will let me know. We can go for weeks without talking and pick up exactly where we left off. She is my sister from another mother (and father), and she is pure awesome chica. She doesn't blog, but she should :) And it is really nice for an obsessive worrier to have a worry-free friendship.

So thanks, Sara....but keep the buckets of chicken away from me! hehehe