March 20, 2008
-
First, I’d like to say sorry to my regular reader(s) for not posting since last week. I’ve been doing some pretty boring things and didn’t really have a whole lot to share. Still don’t.
With that disclaimer stated I am forging ahead.
I was scheduled to work a 5 day stretch over the weekend, beginning on Thursday. All went well, and I enjoyed it. Our facility was limited to visitors for the past few weeks due to upper respiratory infection. Signs were posted saying, basically, “If you don’t want green or yellow snot shooting out of different orifices, don’t come in here!”
Nursing the facility population back to health was not easy, but we did it and my weekend was relatively quiet. Sunday evening rolled around and the midnight nurse reported off because she had symptoms of the flu. I tried to get one of the other nurses to pick up her shift, to no avail. I decided it would look good on the next check if I just stayed and worked a double. It went smoothly but for one little old lady who thought she wasn’t getting enough attention from “that nurse on the other shift” (me) and she complained until I finally sent her to the hospital ward. She hates the hospital ward and now she hates me! It happens.
Monday morning after working 16.5 hours, I took my car for an alignment. It seems when my brother-in-law pulled my car from the ditch during the blizzard last week the car came slightly out of alignment. There was a strange vibration in the steering wheel. The service tech said the vibration was due to mud and ice being caked around the wheels. I’m a little embarrassed by this, but not really. I live on a dirt road and it is often muddy. What the tech didn’t know, and I didn’t share, was that right before the blizzard my father-in-law lost part of a load of manure on the roadway and I had to drive through it to get to work. Not a pleasant odor. Most of what was caked up in there was probably cow poo.
By the time I got home on Monday, my left foot was swollen and hurt so bad I could not bear to think of working eight more hours on it that afternoon. I called off. Then, when I woke up that afternoon I called my boss to discuss some small matters that came up the previous night. I apologized for calling off and she said…………..”That’s alright. You’re getting older, you know. Now is the time for you to slow down and let the younger ones take over.” She said she was forty when she made that decision.
I feel that what she said was right, but not something I am likely to do. I could have worked my afternoon shift had I been able to get to bed right after I came off midnights. Just not on two hours of sleep. Couldn’t have done it when I was 21, either. I gave in to my weight when I was 40 and let it rule my insignificant existence. I couldn’t have done a nursing job to save my life. Then at 42, I made the decision to have weight loss surgery and got a new lease on life. And, long story short, this is why I can’t give in to my age now.
Tuesday my son and I traveled to Columbus to see my weight loss surgeon. He was happy with my weight at 7 years out. I spoke with the dietician and she helped encourage me to keep eating right. She was surprised when I told her that I had been eating sugar at Christmas time and it had now effect on me, and that now, after having been on a sugar restrictive eating plan for a month that I experienced the dumping syndrome when I ate a cookie the night before. She said it rarely works that way. Usually once we become used to sugar, we can tolerate it for the duration. I feel lucky.
On our trip to Columbus, I decided I didn’t want to take the interstate highways and took the byways. This could have been a bad decision. We had that blizzard last week then a warming trend. I knew there was flooding near Mineral City and that it was within a couple feet of the roadway near granny’s farm. Well, as I was traveling St. Rte. 83, I crested this very huge ‘hill’and saw before me a valley that seemed to be covered with water! There was no place to turn around but there were no Road Closed signs so I went toward the bottom. Luckily, the water was not up over the roadway. But when I saw that expanse from the top of the hill, my heart sank. It was one of those few moments in life that grips you with fear. I would have pulled over and let the guy behind me go into the unknown first, but there was no place to pull over. I knew that when I got to the bottom I could probably turn my little car around in the roadway, if needed.
Once we got to the interstate, I stayed on it.
My brother lives in granny’s house a mile above Dover dam. The sheriff’s department went to his house Tuesday night and told him that he would need to make arrangements because the flooding is expected to be worse than it was in 2005. That was a record high flood. The US Army Corps of Engineers have been working inside the dam to fortify it due to aging. I’m not sure if they still are working inside with the water backed up behind the dam or not. That is not a job I would want. My brother and his new wife and kids are going to try to ride it out. They have went to the store and bought food and water and fuel for the generator. They have natural gas from a well there on the farm so heating should not be a problem. They hope to have enough provisions for three weeks. I’m not sure what I would do in that case. They don’t want to leave because three weeks is a long time to pay for a room and even with vouchers and such, one room for three kids and two adults doesn’t sound like fun. Of course family would take them in, but three weeks is a long time. I’d probably try to ride it out, too.
My son lives with his girlfriend and her family in Mineral City and their town will be stranded, too. I told him that he could bring the girl with him and stay at our home. Another brother and his kids are going to be staying with my sister. Yet another brother and his family live in a house that is right on the edge of the floodplain. If the water gets higher than in ’05, his house could be in danger. The water is supposed to crest next week.
My sister and brother-in-law got good news Monday. They were both accepted for disability. They have been trying to get it for the past two years. She has many health problems and he has a bad back. He retired last year after being on extended medical leave for two years and they only get $300 per month after child support is taken out. They are on public assistance and get food stamps. She called her lawyer yesterday and they qualify for back benefits for three years. He will get a cut of it, of course, but their monthly income will probably be $3000.00, according to their lawyer.
Well, this pretty much catches me up on my doings. I have been off since Monday morning and go back tomorrow afternoon. Hope you all have a nice week.
