blech....

we've all been sick over here...it's not any fun at all. I think Memaw got the worst of it, though. Thank God we're all pulling through it now!

Bebe is having an internal defibrillator implanted as we speak...I'll post a longer update later.

I'm Official!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's here!!

Prayers Please....

Michael's grandmother had an episode Friday night, and she was at the county hospital. She was on a ventillator Friday night and she's been pretty sedated. They were trying to rule out anything with her blood sugars, or possibly a stroke. Something happened to her that night, which caused her to not be able to speak, and she had a seizure in the ambulance before they left for the hospital.

We don't know much, but here's the latest update :

Michael's grandmother (Bebe) is in the Cardiac ICU at a local hospital. She had some pretty major and scary heart issues that are still not quite stabilized, but she was extubated today. She's currently on a CPAP machine (it forces air into the patient's airway,thereby keeping her oxygen saturation up)...basically a step down from the Ventillator. Most people wear a CPAP at night when they have sleep apnea. ANYWAY, she's waiting to stabilize to have an internal defibrillator implanted, hopefully sometime next week.

She does have pneumonia, and we're uncertain whether or not she had that on Friday already, or if she got it from the stomach contents she aspirated when she seized Friday night. Either way, she's on a fairly strong and fairly common antibiotic, not only for the pneumonia, but she also has a UTI/bladder infection combo, as well as the unfortunate fact that the infection is also in her blood. The antibiotics are taking care of that.

So, there is a lot of crap going down with her, and your continued prayers are greatly appreciated. I'll update when I know more.

She had a cardiac episode Saturday afternoon called Ventricular Tachycardia, which is basically a non-sustainable cardiac rythym...it's not something you can live with. And she did go into full cardiac arrest. She's been shocked with an external defibrillator almost a dozen times, I believe since this all started. She had an external pacemaker installed Saturday evening at JPS and they removed it when she arrived at Plaza. We're waiting for the infections to stabilize and resolve so they can put in a permanent defibrillator, HOPEFULLY next week.

So there you go....life is hard and sucks right now. Please pray.

Some Pictures!!

Daniel's masterpiece that he painted for our bedroom...I got the idea when Michael and I decided to finally buy ourselves a bed and matching dressers to have daniel do the artwork for our room! This is the one he did today...isn't it beautiful??!! There are two more, and he's so incredibly proud of them!! So am I, admittedly.

Me and my nursely-ness...FIRST DAY OF WORK (Thursday) !! YAY!! Yes, I ironed those scrubs!! ;) Can you believe it?!?!?!

I like the color pink...DAY 2!! And yeah, I ironed those scrubs too! YOU try to look happy at 5 am...this is the best I could muster...sleepy and somewhat smirky....

Learning to brush our teeth is hard, but we're getting the hang of it!!

"First you gotta sizzle it. Yeah!" Not sure what that means, but he's sizzling it right now!! :)

They never tell you that

Something they never tell you in nursing school : you LOVE the first time someone refers to you as "the nurse." It feels A-MAZING!!!! Today was my first day as a nurse, and I gotta tell you people, it was unbelievable!! I feel as though I was meant to do this!! This is what I was born to do : be a Mommy, and be a Nurse. Seriously. My job? Not really my first choice, no. But I think it'll be rewarding in its own way, because these people really NEED me…not in a way that trauma patients need their nurse, and not in the way an ICU patient needs constant supervision…no, these people need me on a whole different level. They've achieved a point in their lives where some of them might feel like less of a person than they used to be. Some are incontinent, some cannot put together a coherent sentence, and others can't understand what you're saying because of the disease processes going on in their aged bodies. So they need me, because I am unbiased. I am caring. I am honest. I am the one person in their lives who can make a difference EVERY DAY. I'm their Nurse. The job is hard, and it's (for the most part) thankless. There is no glory in nursing homes. And for that I'm glad. No heroics. Nope, it's just good old fashioned loving and caring and giving of oneself. I didn't realize that before today. So, nursing home nursing NOT my first choice but now that I'm doing it? I see why the need is so strong. SOMEONE has to care for these people! They are somebody's mommy, granny, pop-pop, and daddy. They deserve all the dignity I can help them achieve, and by golly I'm going to help them achieve it!!


Now to get onto my organizational skills…handling this many patients is more difficult than it would seem!!





OH, and by the way???? I checked the BNE website today!! I'm official...you can look me up at http://bne.state.tx.us/

Snow Day!! Slideshow

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Snow Day!!!

Imagine my shock when I woke up at 5am this morning, got dressed in my SUPER CUTE new scrubs, did my make up (WHA????!!!!) and let the dog in (yeah, that's right IN she's a stupid dog who doesn't realize that we only want what's best for her and that staying outside in sub-freezing weather is IDIOTIC)…holy crap what IS that white stuff????!!!! Is that SNOW?!?!?!?!?! I couldn't believe my eyes….AND I didn't spend an hour ironing scrubs last night to be deterred by a little snow, did I?? After all I was supposed to start my new job this morning, and I'm a NURSE I'm unstoppable….right?!?! K…not really, no. I actually got IN my car, wiped off the snow and headed out. I got to the corner before I skidded and almost hit my neighbor's car. When I turned the corner onto the little country road that leads to the slightly bigger road I ALMOST hit a freaking telephone pole!

So I called my new job, and what a great first impression, huh? Yeah, I know I'm supposed to start today but God dumped 3 inches of snow and it's SLEETING on me right now I can't see and I've almost had two wrecks…I don't think I'll be able to make it in there today…perhaps later when it warms up. Of course, the nurse I talked to understood she'd been there since last night when it wasn't snowy and icy! Now I sit here, watching the snow and warming myself by the fire, and I'm just working up the energy to get in there and clean up the kitchen so I can make home made chili, after all – nothing screams SNOW like homemade chili!! Right?!

Daniel is begging to play in the "winter" so as soon as we eat and warm up and bundle up we'll all go outside and play in the snow. I'll make sure we take pictures and then I'll post them!!

I love snowy weather, but I HATE ice……so let's just hope that tomorrow when I actually start my job I can start my job! I don't want to miss another day of my new career!!!!

He's coming to get me with a snowball!! :)

There ARE a few things I'm not any good at...Part One

Well, there you have it. An admission of guilt. There are a few things in this world that I absolutely suck at. I'm pretty good at a few things, and really horrible at others. One of these things I suck at is starting a fire in the fireplace!! I can light a fire log, but I cannot get a hunk of wood cut from a real tree to start burning! Mostly they just smolder in there and smoke a lot. Yes, the flue is open...thanks for asking! The firestarter logs burn really really well, but I cannot get a real log to catch fire. Anyone have any suggestions??

Icy and Nicy

It's "nicy" outside today. What I mean is : it's ICY but it's NICE too. It's quiet, and everything seems Ok with the world. This morning we lit a fire, and I'll probably light another one here in a bit. Since it's been such a dull day outside, we've all been a little slower inside. The kids are already both in bed, and well on their way to sleepy land. And it's not quite 6:00. It's one of those days that makes you thankful you've got someone to cuddle up with. In my case, I've got three someones which makes me happy.

I think that ice is one of the prettiest things that occurs naturally. It gives everything a clean, bright, decorated look. It makes even things that are dead look alive, because of the glow. Here are some pictures I took from the warmth of our living room! Enjoy!

This particular tree looks like it's wearing diamonds to me.

You can see the totally dead shrub next to the green leafy vegetation? It looks like it's wearing a silver and diamond jacket. I love it!!

This one just looks lovely to me, for some reason. It looks like strands of pearls, or diamonds. I love this weather! It's like diamonds for nature! What a cliche!! But it's true.

"My Mommy Is A Nurse"

It's a phrase Daniel's learned over the last few days...today, he got to say it for REAL!!


Exam Date:
Thu, 11 Jan 2007 at 11:30 AM
Candidate:
COURTNEY NEWBERRY
NCLEX ID:
null
Registration #:
null
Exam:
NCLEX-PN: NCLEX-PN
Grade:
pass

My 2 Little Frogs

He's throwing you the "Go Frogs" symbol...for those of you who "know" you know how very close he is to that!! He calls it "two frogs" WHAT A CUTIE PIE!!

He wants to be a Doctor, by the way. I'm so proud!!


And here's the pie.....she's so curious about what I'm doing when I'm on the computer!! She's adorable!!

Some Pics

Daniel LOVES edamame...they are his "magic beans" and at Pei Wei he decided to try out his chopsticks...he did really well with them!

I love the fact that Zoe's hair is finally starting to be long enough to "fix" and we call this "Zoe bug"... Daniel decided she looked like a bug with her "tenna."

Red Fingernails

I've recently re-discovered the color red. It really is a rather underrated color, in my humble opinion. But I discovered just how much fun painting your nails red can be! I've gone an entire year without painting my fingernails, and since I've graduated I wanted to paint them!! Dang it! Well anyway, I bought some red shoes today and I think they're very cute...I'll post a picture later....

and onto "settling".....

I never thought I'd be one to settle, and hopefully I won't have to, but finding the right job is getting discouraging. And there's only so many times one person can be rejected before they start to think it might actually be THEM. I don't know, I shower on a regular basis...at LEAST once a day, and sometimes more often than than. But now I'm starting to think that the "right" job for me might just be the one that gets offered! Who knows. chin up, right?

{check ya later}

2007

Well, another year has gone...and I say GOOD RIDDANCE. This year had it's definite ups and downs, like all years...but the difference with this one : it's been a hard year. It's been a really quick year, and it's been a year full of knowledge for me. I'm finally on track with my life and it feels really good. I'm hoping that everything will even out in 2007, though I have a feeling it too will be a year of upheavals. Hopefully, though, these upheavals will be good ones and will result in positive changes. Here's to seeing the good in everything, finding the silver lining no matter what, and making the best out of negatives. I suppose that's my New Years Resolution, if you could call it that : returning myself to my former state of optimism. No more jaded personality.

Happy New Year(s)!!