Nurses = Outstanding

**I'm sorry. All my cool hospital pictures are in my computer... which is currently having some sort of mental breakdown. Hopefully I will be able to add them later.**

I have always had a lot of respect for nurses. My parents had many friends that were nurses when I was a child and I have had many great nurses as friends.

In our latest foray into the world of medicine with my daughters' mysterious chest pain I came to love and respect them even more.

Our emergency room nurses were wonderful. They were incredibly busy the night we came in, but the triage nurse had Gwen hooked up to an EKG within ten minutes of us walking in the door and showed it to the doctor right away. She had us in a room ten minutes after that. She was calm, efficient and compassionate. My hospital feedback for her- Excellent!

When we were in the ER room we had another nurse. He was in to hook her up to the machines in a very short amount of time and checked in on us often. He stoically endured her complete melt down when it was time for the IV and blood work and gave us updates about when the doctor managed to get in touch with the pediatric doctor and what was happening with transport. With as busy as they were and especially since their ENTIRE computer system crashed about 3 hours into our visit it would have been easy to close our curtain and forget about us, but he was very proficient and attentive. My hospital feedback for him- Phenomenal!

We were then transferred to a pediatric wing of another hospital where we had our first nurse for an hour until shift change and our second nurse for the rest of our visit. They were great with Gwen and extremely caring. If they came in while she was eating or sleeping they would come back later to do what they needed to do. They wanted her to be as comfortable as possible and took any concerns I had to the doctor immediately.

The second nurse also endured my anger/insanity at the incompetence of the pediatric doctor who discharged us, professionally and almost completely straight-faced. I wish I could tell their boss how outstanding they were. I think I should be getting a survey in the mail... maybe?

Flu Season Woes

Cough, Cough
Achoo!
Snnnniiiifffff

That is the song of my house for the past two weeks and I have to tell you, it's not unfamiliar. It happens every year around this time and pieces of it linger until spring. I've been told this season is worse then usual, although that's what they say every year.

 

I might just believe them this year because along with the coughing, sneezing and runny nose my house was also invaded by fevers and vomiting. And that, my friends, is what has led to my woes. As you well know, as soon as these sicknesses appear all moms look at the toys in the house and thing one word

EEEWWWW!

Anything that could go through the wash did. Anything that could be bleached was. Anything that could be sprayed with disinfectant was.

Everything else.... was bagged up and is enduring a 2-3 week vacation in the attic while I wait for the germs to die out on their own. Unfortunately, many of those toys are favorites and they are sorely missed.

I can't blame them for missing the horses... They are pretty cool.

 

I brought out some toys they hadn't played with in awhile, but I'm still continually answering the question of when they can play with them again. I will have to over and over until the day their quarantine ends.

 

Here's a cute little book for toddlers/preschoolers about germs:



 

I would recommend these for children older then preschool:



  

Hope you all stay healthy!!

lazy post

I haven't the energy to say anything. The kids sucked my sickly self dry of all energy today... but I'll share this with you:

Yum!

She IS The Class

Some of you may remember my sick day post where Gwen was watching movies in my bed and pretty much spreading all her stuff all over my room. Well, It was strep (ouch, no wonder she was miserable), so there went a whole week of school. I planned on getting back on track on Monday, but she still had a fever and a cough that wouldn't let either of us sleep. After some back and forth with the Doctors office we came home with meds for pneumonia :( not only was it scary, but there went another week of school.

Over the long Holiday weekend I worried and tried to plan for how we were going to 'catch up'. How much math, science, geography, history, and language I can squeeze into each day. How quickly I can expect her to memorize spelling words. If I can get her to practice an hour of music a day.

I looked at timetables and schedules for days and then I realized that we don't have to 'catch up'. We homeschool. She doesn't have to try to cram as much in her brain as she can to keep up with the other kids in class who weren't sick for 2 weeks... she IS the class. This class moves at HER pace. If she learns something quickly, we will move on. If she needs more hands-on, or books about, or lessons pertaining to a subject we will continue with it until we are confident in her knowledge. (A little extra leg work is something that is a parent's responsibility whether they homeschool or not. Teachers are amazing, but they can't be one-on-one-ing with each child all day... They are only one person)

And remember all those in service days and ridiculous holidays that the kids in public school don't have to go in for? We don't have those. You know what we do on Martin Luther King Jr day? We learn about Martin Luther King Jr. The books we read and activities we do on that day might not be our regularly scheduled stuff, but there's no reason to do nothing, after all... we're in the building anyway (LOL). I am not a state employee who is guaranteed certain days off. I am a mom. I don't get days off!

We have plenty of time to make up for those weeks. It may take us awhile, but that's why my lesson plans are labeled Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc. and not with specific dates.

We'll make up the time... eventually

In The Past 7 Days...

I have watched kids that are not used our schedule and rules

I have led a story time with books, felt board characters and action songs.

I have helped with a pig roast that benefited the youth of my church that are going on a mission trip next summer.

I have attended church, taught Sunday School & Jr. Youth Group and helped with refreshments after a concert.

I have attended a very stressful meeting where no matter how many ways I tried to convey my concerns... nobody heard me.

I have nursed a highly contagious child with a high fever for 3 days, causing me to miss a meeting I was expected to attend at the ambulance hall (...Sorry guys!) while still caring for several other children including a gassy 4 month old 10-12 hours out of each day.

I have dealt with useless email drama that is the reason for yet another meeting tomorrow night.

These are my excuses for, in the past 7 days, only having read 591 (out of 849) pages of the book that I waited THREE YEARS for! I should have finished it DAYS AGO. I'm sorry fellow book lovers. I am a pathetic excuse for a bibliophile.

My Poor Baby

My poor baby is sick with a terrible cough and fever today. Because I still have to work and need her 'Quarantined' so the other kids don't get sick, she has totally taken over my bedroom with her lounging about. A friend gave me the idea of a 'sick basket' with small toys, juice or tea, activity and reading books, her DS, and other things. This is what's left in the basket, the rest is all over my bed and night stand

Of course, it's not a sick day without a few movies... LOL!

She was watching Fantasia :)