just a weekend joke...

Five doctors went duck hunting one day. Included in the group were a general practice (GP) physcian, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a surgeon and a pathologist.

After a time, a bird came winging overhead. The first to react was the GP who raised his shotgun, but then hesitated. "I'm not quite sure it's a duck," he said, "I think that I will have to get a second opinion." And of course by that time, the bird was long gone.
Another bird appeared in the sky thereafter. This time, the pediatrician drew a bead on it. He too, however, was unsure if it was really a duck in his sights and besides, it might have babies. "I'll have to do some more investigations," he muttered, as the creature made good its escape.

Next to spy a bird flying was the sharp-eyed psychiatrist. Shotgun shouldered, he was more certain of his intended prey's identity. "Now, I know it's a duck, but does it know it's a duck?" The fortunate bird disappeared while the fellow wrestled with this dilemma.

Finally, a fourth fowl sped past and this time the surgeon's weapon pointed skywards. BOOM!!
The surgeon lowered his smoking gun and turned nonchalantly to the pathologist beside him and said. "Go see if that was a duck, will you?"

Updates....on just about everything.

So much to say... so little time to type. I'll try to squeeze it all in.

Bryan's dad...

...is home from the hospital. He spent a week in for confusion that was a result of his sodium levels being completely out of whack. He is very weak but at least coherent and able to care for himself. What made that happen? Well, he basically had a depletion of his electrolytes from a combination of all the meds he's been on for the GI bleeding episode a month ago. That on top of the fact that he battles a bad heart condition.
There was talk of bringing him over here, b/c the three kids were all running across the state to be supportive of Mom and Grandmother. But they decided to stay over there. This whole thing will be repeated over and over, I'm sure, b/c his health is not well and he never can catch up with his illnesses.

But still, we are glad he is home.

School (for me)...

... is getting harder by the week. The material is very detailed, as it should be, but I can see that I am getting lost in the math. The anesthetist needs to be able to calculate the EXACT amounts and percentages of meds (and gas) given to any given patient. (sounds simple, right?)
But, if you realize that we (as students) need to learn (and calculate)the amount of gas mixed into oxygen and that a simple math mistake of .01% could mean that someone wakes up during surgery... you get how important it is to learn (and multiply) correctly and be about to do it at the head of an OR table in an emergency.

How about the calculation of figuring out how much TIME is left on a cylinder of oxygen in the event of a power failure during an open heart case? If the machine isn't working, it will be my responsibility to keep the patient (with an open chest) asleep and pain free during the power failure. I need to be able to look at the cylinder, measure the pressure left, multiply it by how much the patient is using and know how long the patient has before I need someone to get another cylinder.

This is just ONE basic step... not to mention knowing about how the patient's own medical history and medications affect the way that the gas and meds work. Crazy, huh?

There is a reason that the school is 2.5 years long. I think I'll need that long to figure out how to do this.

Wade's Birthday...

...is this upcoming week. He will be four. We are having a small party for him tomorrow. (Linda - if you are not working, you are most welcome to stop by between 11 and 3p.) It'll be just us and the neighborhood kids but he is very excited. He has not ever had a special party - we usually just have cake on his actual birthday, so having people over on Sunday is big for him.

Our pool is literally overflowing. The rain has brought the level up to the rim and cooled the water considerably. Hopefully the weather will hold up tomorrow.

Olivia is having a playdate today. This is a new friend for her that she met in class this year. Seems nice enough and we had the parents and her over here the other night so they could meet us and see our home before the playdate.

Turns out the husband is a plumber - which is good b/c we are planning on gutting the guest bathroom and the plumbing will need to be redone. My fingers are crossed that Bryan can finish this in a few weeks, but I'm just hoping that it is done by Thanksgiving.

My husband isn't the best at finishing projects. A quick look around our house will tell anyone that.

Starting a new week...

After staying up later than normal to watch an incredible football game (between FSU and UM), I was denied even more sleep by a (very awake and crying) Paige.

So, I've been up since 5am watching TV with her.

Now, what I want to know is... how come a screaming toddler doesn't wake up...

a. the 3 year old, sleeping 6 feet from her, that can hear the garbage truck turning the corner each week?

b. the 7 and 9 year olds, sleeping 15 feet from her, that can hear the toilet flush across the house and think it is time to get up?

c. (the best one) a sleeping Daddy, who's ears twitch if his cellphone rings across the house at 3am, but cannot hear her cries at 5am?

Sounds fishy, doesn't it?

Getting late...

It is getting late - I get nervous when the kids have been asleep for 3 hours and I'm still up - but I wanted to share about Bryan's dad, who is in the hospital.

Last month, my father-in-law spent over a week in the hospital for GI bleeding - got lot of blood and they needed to stop is blood thinners (which he takes for CHF). He has been taking it easy since but trying to keep his spirits up and start living again.

So yesterday, my MIL was searching their house for him and she found him in the guest bathroom eating potpourri. Very bizarre, right? He was just acting weird and after an hour - and him moving on to eating postits... she took him the hospital.

He is still there... not much better. His sodium and potassium levels were really out of whack. Low sodium levels will give someone confusion and I heard that his sodium level was 10 to 14 points below normal. They are still testing him to see what is going on.

Meanwhile, my MIL is staying with him 24 hours a day to keep him calm. I guess he becomes agitated easily (could be the brain swelling from the low sodium).

This poor guy can't catch a break.

They are 3 hours away and between all the kids, my school schedule, his regular job and football (let us not forget that football started last week), Bryan cannot travel over. He couldn't go when he was in the ICU last month either.

This has always been a concern for me with his parents living so far away... what happens when one of them is ill? For this weekend - Bryan's sister is over there. Holiday weekend and all.

Keeping close on his status is all we can do, for now.

Just asking for an extra prayer... the guy would like to enjoy his retirement.

Give it a rest... please.

For those that don't click on the comments to read them, I'll save you the trouble.

This was posted this morning....

From 'Dee'... "Stalking" of you hasn't stopped! You're just such an easy target - Adding post after post of a topic you want to see go away.

No, I just think that everyone who comes here should know what kinds of things are being said 'on the side'.

Trust me - I invest ZERO energy into this conversation.