Need help.

Ok folks. Well, the one or two people who still come here. I need help. I can't comment on other people's blogs because I can't see their "visual verification", all I see is a blank box with a red "X" in the upper left corner. How do I fix this? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!


Oh......and HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!! I'm heading to Ryan's house for a cookout, swimming and fireworks. Y'all have a good one!

I'll never understand it......

People! Please......for the love of all things holy.......please, discipline your children. They will thank you for it later. No, I don't mean beat them or spank them for every little thing but you must be the boss. Period! Not the child. I see this day in and day out..................:

Dehydrated child: Mom says...."he refuses to drink". Um, Hello who's the boss here? You are! Make him drink or give him a swift spanking and let him know that he doesn't have a choice.

Child with temp of 104.2: Mom says........"he either won't take the medicine or he spits it out".....again...Who is the boss? Because funny thing is (sarcasm) that when he goes into febrile seizures because you allow him to refuse medication then guess what happens? Any guesses? Yes, you get a very expensive ambulance ride, IV's, medications and an expensive visit to the ER because "he refuses to take medicine."


My kids didn't like medicine either but they took it because they knew I meant business......and guess what? No ambulance trips and no seizures and no IV fluids. It's an amazing concept really.

Like I said.......I see it all the time but some cases just take the cake. I walk into a pt room a few weeks ago and find a very, very sick kid who will absolutely need an IV immediately and fluids and hospitalization.....she's SICK, she has chronic health problems! She's an older kid. Before I've even had the chance to adequately assess the child the mother tells me to "find someone who knows what they are doing to start the IV" (?!?!?!?!) I respond, politely, with "Ma'am I do this all day long, I assure you I know what I'm doing" Her response? "I don't care, the last time she got an IV they stuck her 9 times before and they had to call the IV team to come do it. I want you to go ahead and call 'the experts'."
Meanwhile........while Mom is laying down the law to me I am scoping out the child's veins. I see a couple that I know without a doubt that I can put an IV in with no problem (it's what I do all day, literally!) I tell Mom in my sweetest nursey voice that WE are the 'experts", the ER has the most skilled IV placement people in the hospital. The 'IV team ' would laugh at us if we called them to come to the ER to get an IV in for us.
Mom finally agrees to letting me do the IV and I begin to look at the top of the kiddos hand only to be told immediately and under no uncertain terms, by the child, that I would not be putting an IV in her hand. She wants it "here"..her right AC (inside of the elbow). Fine, I can get one there as well so I commence to doing just that. IV is in, it's good, I am able to draw my labs from it and it flushes like a dream...which means it works.
All is well for about 45 minutes when the child decides she no longer wants it there because she is unable to bend her arm. Mom demands that it be removed immediately......because the kid says so! WTH? #1 if it took NINE tries to get a good IV last time and we have secured an IV in one attempt why on earth, as her mother, would you allow her to demand that it be removed because she can't bend her arm?? Really? Is this a joke? because, really, you're killing me here.
I tell Mom that we do not remove patent (working) IV's, sorry. I end up having to call my manager because Mom is so insistent that it come out NOW! My manager reiterates my denial to remove the IV. The kid has some heavy duty meds coming her way that require the IV on board in order to administer them. Nope! She wants it out and if we won't do it then she will do it herself. Oh Lord help me, I pray.
It just so happens that her room is now ready and the transport team has been called to take her upstairs, where there are NOT IV experts. I have no doubt that once upstairs that the IV will be replaced and very likely will take more than one attempt. I inform Mom of this and she wants to know if I will come upstairs if they are unable to do it in one try and do it myself. Sorry! As much as I hate that your child will be stuck numerous times upstairs, my job is taking care of the children in the ER, now she will likely have to undergo more than just one stick to get a patent IV and YOU, Mom, will be the cause of your child's having to endure numerous attempts. I hope you are happy!

Okay...........end rant. Discipline them, really! Please? and a huge thank you to those who already do.

Happy Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to all the great father's out there.

I received my yearly Happy Father's Day call from Ryan this morning. She cracks me up. She has always said that I played the role of both Mother and Father to her, which is also the reason that I was the one who walked her down the aisle on her wedding day, so she calls me every year to wish me a Happy Fathers Day. She's such a sweet girl, I can't help but giggle every year when I get this call.

Of course, with that giggle also comes a bit of regret that she didn't have her father there during her formative years though that was a decision made by her father, not myself, I know from talking to him that he regrets it now. Some things just can't be redone. She doesn't seem to have suffered from it but still..........

As some of my more perceptive readers have pointed out...(in emails).......I haven't been posting much about my personal life, just work related stuff. I have been going through a rough period with Amanda for the last few months. I guess it is to be expected. For some reason that year between 17 and 18 seems to be a time of turmoil in most teens lives. She will always be "my baby" and I have faith that she will find her path and that she will do better on her road to discovering herself than I could have ever dreamed. I know she has the brains, the determination and the upbringing to make proper choices for herself and I look forward to the day that both she and I can look back at this time in our lives and laugh about the unnecessary drama. She and her sister always have been and always will be my pride and joy.

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!!!!!

Aye yi yi...........

Most of my workday today was pleasantly steady, not too busy but not slow enough to actually get bored. This is good. I enjoy the occasional steady day especially when there have been numerous hairy days recently. Well the dam busted about an hour and a half before my shift was to end. Back to back EMS's, severe lacerations, seizing kiddos, closed head injuries and the local helicopter EMS (don't wanna say the name) calling in over the radio that they are bringing in trauma pediatrics which means pediatric nurses need to go to the trauma bays leaving the overflowing patients that are here and still arriving with fewer nurses then we already had. For the entire last part of my shift I felt like I was putting out mini fires all over the place. No charting getting done, just scribbled notes with pt names on stickies all over my desk reminding what I needed to chart once I was done putting out the fires.

We had students with us for part of the day who were very helpful but limited in what they could do, for good reason. One of them asked how we get the patient to quit seizing so that we could get in an IV? Well.........come on in to room 3 with me and I'll show ya! We don't stop the seizure before we put in an IV.........we put in an IV while they are seizing. If you think getting a needle into the tiny little vein of a child is hard already, try doing it while that child is in an active seizure and you are also trying to suction them and protect their airway. We need the IV on board to give the meds that stop the seizure. I think if either of those students had thought they'd like to become an ER nurse at some point in their careers that they very likely changed their minds about that today.

All that being said. Once I was finally out the door, definitely not on time, and on my way home, I felt like I had really done something today, I like that. I'm tired but I feel good about what I do.

Maybe you'd be shocked or maybe you wouldn't be, to know how often I hear "Oh, I don't know how you can do that on children." Maybe you've thought it yourself. Maybe I'm different than other Peds nurses but I tend to feel the need to defend what I do when someone says that to me. It's not like I make a living torturing children. My usual response these days is "well, someone has to do it." I no longer feel the need to try to educate them.

It's days like today when we are helping to stop seizures in an infant, or giving a child back the ability to breathe is when I think about the people (medical and non) who say to me.."I don't know how you can do that. I could never "poke" kids or be able to keep it together when they are so sick" that I think "THAT is why I do this, THAT is what makes me capable of "poking" a child, To see a child come out of a seizure and eventually eat a popsicle and watch Sponge Bob before he goes home and to watch the kid who was brought in fighting to take air into his lungs, skipping down the corridor, holding Mom's hand and asking if they can go to ChuckECheese. THAT's how I do it! Now if I could get all of that tattooed onto my forehead then maybe I could just quit answering that question but for now I'll just continue doing what I do and letting people think I'm some kind of child torturing monster.

Fishing with friends=good. Catfish barb embeded in spine=bad!

There's nothing quite as fun as enjoying beautiful weather and a fishing trip with friends.

Teenagers will be teenagers and boys!..............I won't even go there. These boys were out enjoying a day of fishing and fun in the sun when one of the teenagers decided that a fish fight would be fun. So you can imagine the picture of teens slapping each other with dead fish. LOL. I'm sure you can also imagine how these boys smelt during their stay in the ER. Dead fish....UGH!

but..............the fun came to an end, for at least one of the boys when after being slapped across the back with a dead catfish ended up with an approximately 3 inch catfish barb embedded entirely into his spine and I do mean ALL THE WAY embedded. For those unfamiliar with salt water catfish, they also inject venom into their prey.

I'd post pics but that's not allowed for HIPAA reasons. The scary part was whether this fun loving teenager would have a spinal cord injury that could leave him at least partially paralyzed for the rest of his life once the barb was removed. By the grace of God, that didn't happen.

He was so funny though. A good kid. All he was concerned about was whether he would be able to be released from the hospital in time to take his final exams at 7am the next morning so that he could walk the stage at graduation. He was one lucky kid and made my job quite fun for a few hours during his stay.

Necessary Disclaimer: I tell tall tales and blatant lies. This fish story may well be a figment of my often overactive imagination. All details have been changed or quite possibly never even occurred. Your choice. No animals, be they finned or fin-less were harmed in the writing of this bogus story. :o)

Next month.

Next month my middle daughter will turn 21. An age that I have spent 21 years waiting for. I hope and pray that she requests her information from the adoption agency. It will have everything in it that she would need to easily find me.

I'm trying to remind myself that alot of adopted people don't feel the urge to locate their birth parents but I hope this is not the case in our instance. I guess we'll see.

Say a prayer, cross your fingers or do whatever you do to pass along good vibes. Thanks.

Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mother's out there. I hope you had as great of a day as I did.

Wonderful, and might I add gorgeous, company. Great food. A wonderful church service (where I won a drawing for a beautiful plant.) Lots of laughter and I love, love, love my Yellow Box * flip flops. I have been wanting a pair since I first saw them last summer.

Love you guys!