THIS AND THAT

First things first...I don't have picutres to post with this one. I promise I'll start taking more, and uploading them for your viewing pleasure. Second, lots of things have been happening lately. Just no time to sit and write. So here is a splattering of what we have been up to(brace yourself...it's a long one. You may have to read in a few sittings!)....

RASHES
I had a nasty break out to some medication I was taking. It started small and jumped to insane rather quickly. I have run the gammet of little itchy red dots, to hives, to all over rash, to the starts of ulcers down my esophogus, to streaking (no, not me running nekked), to hyper-sensitive skin that reddens when I touch it, to no outward appearance of a rash but just itching like mad. It's been going on for almost 3 weeks now. I wish I could say it's been fun. Thank you Zyrtec and Benadryl for keeping it under control, but now I'm taking prednisone as well and let me tell ya...NOT A DRUG I RECOMMEND! I now have this itchy rash plus am killer moody where all I want to do is throw something, yell at someone, and then stare off in space in a mindless wonder. Yeah.

SACRAMENTO
Aces and I took a last minute run-away to California for a week. He had some crazy cool class to take all day every day, and I got to sleep in, read books, lounge by the pool, (sounds fair, right?) exercise, and, ok, fret about my little ones at home. It was good times, but I will never ever ever take a last minute trip for 7 days with my kids split up all over Timbucktoo. There were a couple days Aces had to convince me not to run to the airport and catch the next flight. My biggest regret that the trip is over...70 degree weather. Try coming from the bliss of the sun back to blizzards and 30 degree days. Yuck.

MY WORK
Love my job, hate my hours. I got home from Cali last Saturday night just to jump back in the swing of things 2 hours after walking in my door. It was a great weekend though. It's nice to work in an ER were we occasionally see patients who should legitimately be there. Saturday night was full of those kinds of patients. I ended my shift with a man who was in the throws of a MI. He came in at perfect timing and we were able to get him stable and out our doors to a bigger hospital with a cath lab within 40 minutes of his arrival. Looks like all will be well with him.
I didn't get to go to sleep when I got home. I had choir practice early in the morning and had to go to church since we were singing for Easter. I finally got to go to bed around 1:30, just to wake up 3 hours later and start another night at the hospital. We had a 91 year old lady come in around midnight with really bad blood pressure and O2 sats, a distended belly, dehydrated, etc. Within 2 1/2 hours of her being there, she stopped talking to us (within seconds) and had yucky crud out of her mouth. She dropped fast and hard and so I called a code. Usually I don't get to help with codes because I have my job to do (orders to put in and people to gather, etc), but my job was done with her since she had been there a while. So I jumped in and got to witness the code from beginning to the sad end. This will sound bad , but it was really cool for me to get to bag her. I've never been that involved. I was asked if I wanted to do chest compressions but that was still a bit scary for me since I have not had that opportunity before. In hind-sight, it would have been a really great experience. Anyway, we coded her for about 30 minutes, and she didn't make it. I guess when it's your time, it's your time.
I worked 2 more shifts this week, and all I can say is, I AM TIRED! Add that to the mix of the prednisone. I am really great company.

EASTER
What was that?

"PEE-PEE, DONE, WIPE!"
I know, I know. You really don't care. My little Mei came home from her week at my cousins all excited about the potty. No not the big one, but her makeshift potty that she has created from the old baby bath. She likes to sit in the end of it and say "I pee-pee! I done! I wipe!" It was completely adorable on day one. But that is all she wants all day long, and she will do it for as long as I will let her, and then goes into a screaming fit when I take her off to put a diaper on her. Then we wrestle and I end up feeling...well..."pooped."
There are probably some of you out there saying, "Yea! She's ready to start potty-training! Jump on board with her!" You bet. When I am done feeling like a zombie from late nights, and from the before mentioned blissful state that I am in due to my prednisone. You bet.
(Oh, I guess I could mention, she actually did something this morning! Way to go girl!)

ACES WORK
So it wouldn't be fair to Aces if I didn't mention that all he has done since we have come home from our trip is WORK. There hasn't been a day that he hasn't been called out or had to work extra hours. He is so tired. But I'm going to be selfish and say, it REALLY STINKS FOR ME TOO! I have been lonely and let's be honest here, I could really use his help.
Ok, back to him. From tri-county investigations to fires to goodness knows what else, I am so glad he does what he does and we have people like him in my community to clean up the messes. Just wish he had 9-5 hours!

TO WRAP IT UP
It's been a good, yet crazy couple of weeks around here. I don't know if we will ever know what "normal" means again, and I am afraid some days to realize that this is "normal." I think we are both having envious moments of Grandma and Grandpa who have both retired within the last two months! Breathe the fresh air for us and enjoy those sunny days on the golf course. We'll be here...wiping bums, dosing meds, working odd hours, and saying "someday, we're gonna miss this!"