as the tennis ball turns...

thanksgiving week is past and the rapid decent into christmas season approaches. am i ready...nope! i do have my christmas cards here and my calendars arrived today. i'm pretty happy with them. need to get started on the cards and figure out that christmas list. packages must be mailed soon if that is to happen. working christmas so can be tough to get into the spirit of it all.

joined my friend sandra at her place for a simple turkey meal. no fuss no muss, perfect. sometimes it's wonderful to just relax and enjoy the day and a friend. i was working and she was on call so don't think either of us was excited to get overly social for the holiday.took the girls to the bog that day. still cold out there. it's warmed up today, but that really just meant it warmed a bit then went back to a freeze and the roads became slippery. as i left the monday walk today i passed a pretty nasty looking accident on tudor. soon after i got home amy called to say she had slid on ice and was in a ditch. there were a few other cars near her also in the ditch. all is well now and she is free of the ditch. just took a tow! she was in pretty deep. always a bad feeling when the car just starts spinning out of control.

that is the back yard and above is looking up at the roof. started my day in the adult icu thanksgiving. had one vented patient which i quickly assessed and did as much charting as such as i could. i had an empty bed that was already spoken for. in the hospital it's always best to try and be as ahead as possible. things change fast and if you have any hope of leaving at 0730, you better keep on moving. i'm actually pretty dang organized i must say and i'm generally pretty good at this. my goal is to leave work on time and it's pretty rare i don't. of course, ulitmately, those who slack off or are totally disorganized are the ones rewarded. they stay late and get paid overtime. often i find that those who are chronically late are often the same people who don't have as happy a home life. sometimes work is where they feel powerful and confident and as soon as they get home they are sad and weak. i'm just saying. most happy, well adjusted folks would rather be home than lingering at work.are these two snugglers adorable or what?

anyway, it was a good thing i got ahead as the patient i admited seemed to keep me quite busy. as i did all those critical things one does in an icu to stablize a patient i got word that there was a very sick kid in the pediatric icu. they wanted to start continuous dialysis wondered if i'd be willing to head up there. i did what i could with the two patients i had while i waited for a replacement nurse to come in from home. while i worked on my 2 old patients, val and christy were angels and set up the machine upstairs. i'm never excited to do the continious dialysis on those pediatric patients. partly because it can be downright scarey and party because it seems it's frequently a last ditch effort to save a life. all else has failed. i worked on this patients dialysis the next night as well, but as i'd worried, it was eventually found to not be working and the patient was allowed to pass on. so for me 2 young deaths at work in a span of a week. i try to be stoic and not get emotionally envolved, but i am human. (though some may question that). was quite happy when i got a call on saturday with the information they were withdrawing care and i could take a night on call. i took the night off. went to bed early with my book and eventually dozed off. never got called in. since it was the adult unit i was on call for i don't sleep deeply.

worked peds last night. the regular floor. bratty teenage type, adorable 3 year old and a kid who probably won't have a stellar life. nice to be more relaxed though. that machine just adds stress.

above and below are pictures from todays monday walk. we had a big crowd. above is sharon and tanya. we were joined by pj, speedy (great to have you back in town even for a brief time), lena, karen, amy...hmm...8 humans and like 8 dogs. sadly, i think right before i arrived there was a skirmish between our two alphas of the day. tanya wasn't in a place to battle alpha's so poor boddhi went to the car and missed the walk. her walk wasn't as relaxing as she needed. hopefully, we can rectify that tomorrow.

sharon hasn't joined us in quite some time. it was the first time i'd met her puppy who looks to be already like 5-6 months old. hmm. lots of malamutes as you can see. rio was hesitant to join us and i think tomorrow i may just settle her in with the couch and some peanut butter. overall i think everyone had a good time. i know the dogs did. felt badly for boddhi though, and tanya. it must be so frustrating to love your dogs and want them to just be out walking and have fun. not fun when they get snarky. i'm no dog expert and i feel pretty lucky with my pair at the moment. rio had a big of a wardrobe malfunction. will have to do some sewing repairs on her winter coats. these are just some dog on dog wrestling action shots. they have a blast out there. the puppy, laika rose, is more than willing to jump in with the big dogs and play without fear!blossom and saffron, pj's dog, are really well matched and did some malamute free wrestling today. cute!we did get a few laughs in at work despite the stressful nights. the second night of dialysis we ordered pizza's. it arrived and when i first opened the box i shut it quickly saying, it wasn't mine as i didn't order a calzone. well the dang pizza was completely smashed and squished. it was like the guy totally carried it sideways. unrecognizeable. i really must move my pictures from my iphone and load them. that picture is classic! the place was contacted and they returned. same delivery guy came, our new pizzas were better but still a bit sloshy in the box. the delivery dude was all, "i don't know why that keeps happening". i believe his life as a pizza delivery guy may be shortlived. another funny incident of the night was that at one point i look up from my charting to see a confused gentleman in hospital garb. well, the pediatric unit is a lock up unit and the pediatric intensive care is a lock up within a lockup. have no idea how this guy got here. he had no idea where he belonged, only that he was looking for his boots and coats. those arm bands come in handy and i enventually located his room a few floors up. who knows how he got in , but happily we were able to return him unharmed. amy (speedy), sharon, karen, lena and pj. no kaladi's today. we had a baby shower to hit. felt badly leaving and not being able to join tanya for coffee....looked like she could use a few hours chat. so hard to see your parents get older. i remember when i'd get out to visit my folks after a year not seeing them the change seemed dramatic. how did that happen. when did they age like that. it was at times a shock. can be so tough living so far from family for those reasons. my cute little kid last night had no interest in settling into the bed. his mom tried everything, but he wanted to play still. as he stood at the foot of the bed i noticed he was looking at a little green light on the bed. i told him that green light meant the bed was sad and lonely and awaiting his return, something like that. wasn't his mom and i shocked when he stopped, thought very hard and then decided to save the bed from any further distress. i later looked at the mom and said, i never would have thought that would have worked. we both laughed, she didn't either, but was thrilled it did. another little lie and he ate his peanut butter and jelly sandwich! hurray! sometimes it's good to be deviant! i informed him that we had a monster that wandered the hospital rooms eating pbj's that were left unattended! i know i'm a terrible, liar and i'll no doubt rot in hell. he needed to eat and he needed to rest...mission accomplished!think this one is cooper. austin and cooper, sharons pups, look pretty similar in color. i remembered cooper being much larger than he is. must just be his history of being a bit rambunctious. think he's mellowed some. of course, all his bad habits haven't left him. here we help karen back to a standing position. not sure if cooper just knocked her down or if it was one of coopers slip through your legs move. all was well, no injuries recorded on the walk.love how she takes a moment to pet sweet laika rose as she gets up. below is austin, the other puppy! you blink and these puppies have grown more!blossom played and seems relatively sleepy tonight. she did pick up her toys which is a sign i didn't totally wear her out.should be in bed. i have had very little sleep. worked last night, slept 3 hours, then headed to monday dog walk. after this i came home, settled dogs in and headed to sandra's for a baby shower for melissa. it started at 3pm. was there til close to 8 pm. lots of laughter and fun. tanya, amy, amy and pj. chilly, but bearable out there.

i think lena got out some treats at some point. those dogs sure look hopeful.karen, lena, amy and sharon..plus dogs. is that manny or ekko....? i think manny?yesterday, i joined amy at the dog park. always a nice break. we ended up getting there at the same time and quite enjoyed our loops. the dog park is mostly a happy place.linda and gretchen enjoy the shower festivities!tiffany did the party planning and sandra supplied the house. by the way, leanna(our last shower) delivered a healthy adorable baby). above is melissa and sharon. tiffany had bought white onesies and various materials for us to decorate them with. great idea by the way!!shower games have changed. in this one we had cut string off to what we thought the mom to bes current girth were. linda took this prize with gretchen not far off.was too tired to even attempt any wine. lots of snacks, but eventaully i was getting hungry for a meal. i'd eaten breakfast before i left work. another game, which i won. we had to dig safety pins from this bowl filled with rice. we were blindfolded. nimble fingers win every time!melissa is quite crafty so she happily worked on a few cute onesies for her coming baby.the little onesies were then hung up to dry...glue is a bit messy. i do recall being messy with these sorts of projects as a child as well.the fish and the dog were my creations! i remember doodling in junior high, these same sort of animals. haven't improved much on my art skills since those days in class.pacifier punch or nipple juice or whatever it is they called this. it tasted good anyway! nice ending to a stressful weekend. now i really am headed to bed. should sleep like a rock tonight!!