I own far too many movies on DVD. So, I've been attempting to sort them out, give some to my kids, donate a few, and put the rest in some sort of order on a shelf. This task has landed me on the couch watching an oldie-but-goodie flick more than once in the past couple of weeks. Last night, it happened to be Saving Private Ryan, which was one of my sons' favorites. My youngest son, Ian, always called it, "Save it, Private Ryan!" I'd just laugh and squeeze him. If you're not familiar with the movie, its about a platoon of U.S. soldiers who go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action, and bring him home from the war. Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, leads the platoon, and dies from gunshot wounds sustained during his rescue of ... View Post
Runnin’ in Stilettos
Have you ever run a marathon? How about a 5K? Did you wear two of the same shoes? If so, I'm assuming they were running shoes. Right? Same size on each foot too, right? I know that seems like a stupid question, but this next one is even sillier. Do you think you would have done as well in that race, had you worn a pair of heels? Stilettos? And for you men - How about a pair of heavy, steel-toed construction boots? Could you have run a marathon and done as well, and felt as good, had you worn steel-toed boots instead of a good pair of running shoes? How about if you ran the race wearing one stiletto, and one running shoe? Or, one steel-toed construction boot, and one running shoe? Of course not! Where am I going with this? Well, when I put my sneakers on this ... View Post
When God says NO!
I just ran into the husband of a patient I cared for a few years ago. She was in the hospital a long, long, long time. He was a Christian man, and was always confident that his wife would be healed of her very advanced cancer that had metastasized everywhere. My co-workers and I had found it very difficult to care for her, watching her suffer tremendously in pain as we turned her or bathed her. Any movement caused excruciating pain, and her husband insisted that she did not need pain medication. This not only made our days and nights difficult, but also sparked many, many conversations regarding just WHY God allows us to suffer, to be diagnosed with cancer, to die horribly painful and sometimes lonely deaths. I remember him being very angry with staff at the suggestion of ... View Post
Goodnight! (No More Belly Aching)
I am pooped out and crabby and everyone knows it. Most of the time, I can handle being tired (for a little while). I can work an extra-long shift, exhausted after only a nap, and even work hungry while gulping down mouthfuls of ice cubes when a break is nowhere in sight. But when I am much too sleep-deprived, I don't seem to have much control over my reaction when that unexpected, "didn't see that coming" kind of "slap in the face" moment happens. That always seems to happen at exactly the time when I am approaching the summit of my tolerance level - that same summit that I don't know is anywhere near until I have reached it! Over the past few days, I've grumbled and complained about how exhausted I am, probably much to my friends' very own "heard enough" summits. First, I ... View Post
Please Hold For The Next Available Operator
Certainly I could eat my breakfast and still have time left to call the physician's office while on a 30-minute break. My question was simple, and would only take a minute. "Press 1 if you want to make an appointment." No, that's not what I need to do. "Press 2 if you need to cancel an appointment." Nope. I don't need to do that either. "Press 3 if you need laboratory results, 4 if you know your party's extension, 5 if you want to request a prescription refill, 6 if you want to leave a message for the nurse, 7 if you have questions regarding your bill, 8 if you need to make billing arrangements, 9 if you want to speak to someone at the front desk (eventually), zero if you need to speak with an operator, and the pound sign if you want these options repeated." Goodness. ... View Post
The Porch
THE PORCH “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2 KJV) Ethel Mae was a sweet 92-year-old woman with cancer that had spread to just about everywhere. Her pain on any day was horrific, but Ethel Mae refused anything more than a Tylenol, and the only time she was not smiling was when the thermometer was in her mouth. When I teased her about that, she was determined to try to smile with it in her mouth, which was not difficult at all for this joy-filled woman to do. Professionals in white coats and foreign accents came in and very clinically tried to talk to Ethel Mae regarding her “code status,” using a vocabulary very unfamiliar to a 92-year-old woman from the south. Her life-long ... View Post
No Ian, You Cannot Ride A Bull!
It was about 100 degrees out the summer day that we decided to take our visiting cousins horseback riding out in Romeo. We'd spent the morning making stuffed cabbage in my then un-air-conditioned home, so I'm not sure what gave us the notion to go horseback riding. But off we went. My sons were probably 7 and 9 at the time, and wanted to ride the biggest horses available. "Are you sure you don't want to ride a pony?" the manager asked. But oh no - My sons couldn't be bothered with a little pony. So they mounted them each onto a horse, and off they walked out of the barn. And stopped. No matter what the trainer did, those horses didn't want to budge in that sweltering summer heat. Very disappointed, it was not long before we headed back into the barn where the temperature was a ... View Post
Nurses, Docs, & Difficult Talks
Statistics say 10 out of 10 people are going to die. The odds are not in our favor. That's what I thought about yesterday as I overheard a very elderly woman yelling at a doctor. "FIX HIM! And STOP TRYING TO KILL HIM!" She could barely stand without her walker. Her husband could hardly breathe. And I thought about my friend, Ryan. You see, Ryan called me late the night before last. It's been 6 months since his Grandma passed away, and he misses her. He knows I blog, and write, and love to communicate stories that people can relate to about life in general, but especially about the day-to-day life as a nurse. "Rita! Please, write a blog about palliative care! We've got to tell people about the importance of difficult conversations!" he insisted. Now, I ... View Post