Flip side

I've slept terribly, worried, then been pissed -- a bevy and ocean of emotions -- tides pulling in and out. After it all, I step back, lie down and am happy that my mom is really okay. There's so serious problem; not now, not soon. It was a build up to steam, and I'm finally winding down.

My now, current ulcer-inducing problem is my unemployment. That now is a thunderstorm. It hurts when I attempt to sleep -- stress eating my stomach.

off comment

There was a nurse or tech who was in the room at hospital. My mother, apparently was sure that she was married (likely through a conversation) stated, "She's married to Dick".
"You got that right", she said pointing to her side -- slightly showing that she was pregnant. Interestingly, she wasn't wearing a wedding band. I drew my conclusion -- draw yours.

Whom I saw

I saw a woman from a school where I often subbed and two-fold, she and her husband attend the folks' church and Sunday School. Their mother is to be admitted to the rehab hospital after her surgery. It was just odd seeing her there. She then remembered that her progress had been announced sometime at church.

Another person I saw there was a cute Physical Therapist; well, married and cute.

Pictures of Rehab

One view of large therapy room

Dayroom, shared by all patients.

Small room, shared with roommate.

One knee with staples removed.

Rehab experiences (incomplete)

The schedule for therapies changes, as do the therapists. There is a job board and each patient is given a daily roster of whom they see and when. The patients, by the third day, are expected to come on their own accord to the designated areas for therapy. They are each, also, responsible for their own pain management and requesting of pain meds.

Mom seems satsified with the place presently. Today was assessment, where the therapists determine her weak areas for study and improvement. She is tired and sore, but I think will work through it just okay. She was not as good in the regular hospital with the thearapists, but I feel here, she will be better.

They have meals always at the same time and she likes the meals there much better than at hospital (main). She used a wheeled walker today and likely will have that upon completion of therapy. Overall, I'm happy with what I have seen, in that they push her to successfully complete in a reasonable amount of days (2-14; average 10).

Father and I returned in the afternoon and Mother was happy that she learned how to use a shower bench to enter the tub for a shower. She did a lot of moving today and was tired early. She found that a walker with wheels worked much better. She still has much to learn and strength to gain.

Good news for her, I found the AC, for her room was, well ... hot.

Yet another move

long day ... Mom is in rehab hospital finally. She is in with a roommate today, but her roommate leaves tomorrow. The room is small, but I feel that she'll be moving around with therapies enough that won't much matter.

The thing that shook me was the mix of school and nursing home feel. Oh, eerie feel of the nursing. If it costs $30,000 annual, as my father suggests to keep a person in nursing home, I'd rather hire a nurse. I hated that feeling -- unnerving.

-- I'm very, very tired ---

Here I was drifting

MR's photo shows a very tired and well-filled me. I also see rock 'm' sock 'm' robots, a sockless foot with big toe pointing, and blonde hair on the left attached to a white sweater.

headlines

"West Nile found in 2 more pools"

 -- that’s a large river

"City officials debate tax prediction"

 -- debating predictions … now there’s waste

"New Haven to add pair of stun guns"

-- putting there where?

"’Intersex’ fish in Potomac raise questions about human effect"

-- swimming causes gaiety?

11 months not 12

Norton promised me 12 months of updates -- liars! This is what I get for the next days until I decide to update. It doesn't update until I renew. I therefore was given 11 months of updates, not 12. Liars!

I'm sure the nurses were singing (changed)

the Eric Cartman, "Kyle's mom" song about my mom. What a witch today! I was happy to have my leave of her when PT came this afternoon.

The good things, if any, this morning were that she got to talk with two of her daughters in Indy. That helped her a bit.

She has blood in her urine, but no doctor explained it -- be it infection or soemthing else. The precentage in urine really isn't high. I'm sure that it's either related to blood thinners or minor infection. She's stronger today that she has been, but today bitter and hostile. My father took the car for an oil change and was happy to find out that he missed some of her feistiness while on that errand.

Perhaps tonight or tomrrow holds happier hours.

profiling

If you are sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting ... your mind tends to drift ... find anything fascinating! I don't often give a care about the persons unknown to me, walking around, but I did see a guy, friendly looking, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and shorts in ninety degree weather. Now ... if you want to look like a drug dealer, that's it! You have the inappropriate clothes (too hot, too cold) to point out you are a beacon for something. Other ways would be to carry no wallet, but cash in a roll; bounce your eyes back and forth as if watching tennis demonstrating paranoia; smell like drugs, and others.

If you dress vegabond, have no money for food, but buy yourself and mate smokes and soda, you set yourself apart for scrutiny. The emergency room has people in need and some are in need of SHOWERING and regular daily hygene. If you have to stand in the smoking section outside of hospital with hospital gown, pole with drip drugs; I've got absolutely no sympathy for your condition at all!

A float nurse today stated that at times there are patients brought in with addictions; so staff sometimes administers the class drug that the patient chemically needs instead of having them go into D.T. leading to cardiac arrest. Ya know ... maybe cardiac arrest wouldn't be a bad thing.

Sewer daytime soap

My sister is constantly telling family of the soap opera of her son's life, daily stupid; all about the drama. I told family that I don't watch soap operas on TV, I certainly don't want to see or hear that one. Like other bad TV, it won't change.
----
The soap opera I would like to catch is some of my other sister's family, but then I find that I might not like that either.

In the end, I think I'll take the documentary on one person's line of failures -- mine.

schools of thought

My father is a doomsdayer when it comes to some health issues. He would rather do a messload of procedures and outpatient surgies on my mother to "get her working", regardless the efficacy of it -- risk vs gain. On this subject, he and I cannot talk -- as strong as abortion issue for others. I know she's a surgery risk and the fewer procedures done, the liklier she is to do well or okay.

steps to improvement

My mother is making yet greater strides in improving. She pulled herself up on the walker twice today, at other times needing help. She is more mobile and "with it". Some of her rotten days are a blur and she still has memory jumps, but she is presently highly-medicated.

The cardiologist came in today and stated that he thought that her heart arhymmia wasn't too serious and was planning, likely, to discharge her with oral medicine to thin her blood. He said it would be trial 3 months, perhaps for life, but that is of little cost. It is much better than a semi-invasive or dangerous procedure not quite surgery.

The orthopedics think that she's doing well, but I'm not sure of the physical therapists thoughts. Each group has a different interest in her and each has high goals. She has met the minimum requirements, it seems to be on the track for discharge from hospital to rehab. Certainly there, things will settle closer to normalcy.

I then have installation tasks with my father to outfit the bathrooms with appliances. Her first few baths will be painful, lifting her legs over the full tub-shower. I know that he has a lot of plans in his head. He doesn't share them with me.

I thank eveyone for their prayers, wishes, hopes, support. She is improving at her own speed -- aggrivating for the spectator, but she'll get there.

Who's the guilty party?

One of the funniest conversations with a woman, assistant manager, I had was, "... Who put the penis on the Tom Hanks?"

She instantly started laughing hard about it. She spent five whole minutes not asking, building up the courage to ask me, who put the "penis" on the Tom Hanks standup poster for the Burbs. There was indeed, as I then looked, a penis on the Tom Hanks where a PJ fly might be. Upon closer inspection, it was a sticker that went on a different movie cover. This movie cover was Bad Taste, an EARLY Peter Jackson film. The "penis" was actually a finger sticker meant to make the cover a little less rude that the alien flipping off viewers.

I saw the movie at the library and was instantly reminded of this stupid thing. I think the penis being on the standup for a couple of days wasn't nearly as funny as this poor woman building up the nerve to ask me. I didn't know, later it was told to me by many, the guilty party (TS).

Good work

A Victory for Justice

Over the last 50 years, the psychiatric profes­sion has made a mockery of our criminal justice system. It has gotten to the point that the insanity defense, bolstered by psychiatrists masquerad­ing as expert witnesses, can be invoked any time someone commits a heinous crime.

Thanks to a recent US Supreme Court decision, we may be coming to our senses. In 2003, Arizona courts convicted Eric Clark of first-degree murder for “intentionally and know­ingly” luring a policeman to a parking lot and killing him. The defendant didn’t deny that he killed the officer, but he pled insanity. The state ruled, however, that in order for an insanity plea to stand, the defendant must be incapable of knowing his actions are wrong at the time the crime is committed, and Eric Clark did not meet this criteria.

He appealed, stating that his rights to an insanity defense had been truncated, and his case made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. These astute justices didn’t buy it. They ruled that the state of Arizona was perfectly within its rights of limiting the insanity defense, and Clark was not deprived of a fair trial.  They also put psychiatrists in their place, stating, “No matter how the test for insanity is phrased, a psychiatrist or psychologist is no more qualified than any other person to give an opinion about whether a particular defendant’s mental condi­tion satisfies the legal test for insanity.”

I truly hope this decision will allow other states to wrest the justice system from the fraud­ulent grip of psychiatrists and psychologists.

Job hunitng

I'm still doing it and found that many jobs are posted every weekend, but not during the week. After 3 weeks of posting for these same jobs -- I wonder if there is ... a problem. Today, Labor Day, in celebration of those working -- there weren't any friggin' new jobs psoted. Lovely!

"Skunked again!"+ I will find something soon. I could work better now than last week with the more drama than trauma (Mum post op, and then in ICU). I'll take the drama. I've had the trauma and hated it!

I'm still looking in the FW area, but have expanded to many areas. I'm very concerned about folks, for my sister here in town hasn't the time nor effort to help them with the petty and simple things. I've used several (12 I think) job search enegines, narrowing it after some experience, as some were company-specific and others were just worthless. I think the best jobs aren't listed at all.

MR mentioned to me that I should find a few choice companies that I want to join and tell them how I suit them and work from there. I guess I could work for Coke -- nice, benefits are good, long-standing company. Where do I fit there? I don't know.

+ Christmas Story, Ralphie not finding the orphan Annie de-coder ring in mail

idle mind while driving in third gear (turns from observations to bitching)

I saw a car pull up to a stop that was painted like a "Stinger" car from Grand Theft Auto. I guessed I played that too much. Also, over the course of 9 days, I have seen 22 hawks, some were the same no doubt. Tonight, I saw a deer charge over the road and not get hit.

I have seen several police cars traveling and pulling over drivers. I thankfully am not one of them.

I also am the wall that birds have struck. The car and van I have been driving have been struck by birds on the doors and tonight a bird flew under the wheel of my car. Avian suicide?

Slowed to a crawl, walking to and from hospital parking lot, I helped an obese woman get something from the floor. She had a tough enough time while in the wheelchair, I know it would have been impossible if she had to lean or bend over -- belly getting in way and cutting off diaphram. I am bothered by the smokers at hospital, as there are no-smoking areas that are generally ignored by **shole smokers. I did see a woman courteous enough to smoke in her car. The bad thing the windows were open.

I'm not asthmatic, but if I were, I'd have issue with the smokers at the door and hospital not enforcing the smoking areas. I think that I should extinguish the flames with a fire extinguisher, claiming that I thought the smokers were on fire. If they want to kill themselves -- use a rope, it's faster and still sufficates the suicide slowly.

I have been to hospital so often, I have helped people around, for -- at times, I have little else to do, other than sit and wait. Now that my visiting hours availabily have changed, I'm far more free. The unit where she is, is far less strict. My father and I had been driving there and back 4-5 times daily. We went and stayed twice today -- much better for a longer time than 3 days combined at ICU.

Walkin' away

Mother is making greater strides. She felt urgency and walked, painfully, to the bathroom. Who you don't see in the picture is Thomas pushing the pole, for Lois cannot use a walker and pull the pole.

Earlier with the physical therapist, she walked to the nurses' desk and then into the hallway, erecting a flag to mark her achievement. The orthopedic PCA (patient care assistant; aka nurse's aide, aka; tech -- who might very well have a masters) came to see Lois today and was pleased with her range of motion. Her also wants her now to work on straightening her legs/knees, very imporant for standing.

The good news is, she might be moved yet again tomorrow or Wednesday -- to rehab, but nothing is certain.

This morning she was grumpy, but she settled down. I'd say for a 70 year-old, she's doing pretty well on two new knees. My stress level went down a notch.

Steve Irwin

What surprised me, and likely others, is that he didn't die in the jaws of a large predator or mauled in some grizzly way. He didn't even drown, which would be more likely with a ray sting. He died in a rare instance that a stinger caught him in the chest.

Although I think often, he was too rough on animals, he goal was to educate people on a number of species, but mostly the crocodile and other reptiles. His heart was good, though he was a goof and a nut. I guess people will miss his antics and others still a good spokesperson for reptiles, however wild and zany.

I will still use two phrases, "Crikey!" and "Danger; danger; danger!", sprinkled with, "Poised; ready to strike!"