Don't forget your key

We are back from our weekend up north. Certainly not the best trip when you have to go to a funeral but seeing family was nice. It is true the older you get, you only see your family at weddings and funerals. Sad, but true. Friday was the service and all went as well as it could. The pastor that did the service is the same pastor that married Richie and I. He is a goofball and that is putting it lightly. The church we got married in was the church my Aunt Ruth went to for years and lovvved the pastor. Richie and I met with him and although a little goofy, we moved forward. We spent about an hour discussing our relationship, how we met, our loves, Steelers football, etc. During our ceremony, he did not mention one thing we discussed and went off on a crazy tangent about college football and he once drove through the city we lived in. I was so irritated that if looks could kill, he would have dropped dead right there.....Any who- at my Aunt's funeral he did the same crap...somehow started talking about college football. Now, my Aunt knows nothing about football and sports-AT ALL! It was so ridiculous that I almost stood up and took over. He is a douchebag!
After the service, we all went to the cemetery and then to a luncheon. The luncheon was also in the same place that our wedding reception was. This is the place that everything in our family is heard, birthday parties, wedding, funeral luncheons, anniversaries, Christmas parties, etc. It is an automatic decision. Kinda funny! The luncheon was small and nice. I got to visit with my cousins that I grew up with and her little girl who is about 18 months old. Very adorable and lightens the mood.

Saturday, my grandmother, Mom and I went to visit my other Aunt and Uncle. The same Uncle that recently got out of the hospital. My Uncle Charlie was upset my grandfather did not come down to the house with us and it started a family bickering session. I did not think it was a big deal until my grandmother asked me to bring her home. I didn't realize it was that serious. I think it had been a rough 2 days for my grandmother and was blowing the situation a little out of proportion but there was no rationalizing. I took her home and then went back to get my mom. It was a silly situation.

Later in the evening my Mom and I decide to go met up with my cousins. It is a big running joke that my grandparents do not let us out late at night. It we are out passed 10pm, we get locked out of the house and all the lights are off. Usually, we have of key, but there has been many times where we had to bang on the door for a long time to get let in. Keeping in mind that I am in my 30's and my mom is on her 50's. Well, we get the the sportsbar around 8pm and I call my grandmother and tell her we are meeting my cousins. She told us not to stay out too late and I said okay. My cousins finally get there at 10pm. 10 minutes after 10 my grandmother calls my cell phone and is so upset we are not there yet. I really thought we were off the hook since I talked to her earlier. I explain that my cousins just got there and she said "great, then you got to see them". I was in such shock. My mom gets on the phone and gets yelled at. When she gets off the phone, she turns to me and says we have to leave.....I could do nothing but crack up the entire time! We paid our tab and left. I think my grandmother just had a lot on her plate and broke down. All is well now and not a word was spoken about it again. Too funny!

Auth Ruth

My Aunt Ruth passed away unexpectedly last night. She was 82, but you would never know that looking at her. She was complaining of abdominal pain and thought it may have to do with her hernia.. After the pain meds were not working she was transported to the hospital. After some tests, the doctors determined she need emergency surgery. Upon opening her abdominal cavity, all her large intestines and some of her small needed to be removed. They were necrotic (tissues were dead). She never regained consciousness after the surgery. Years ago she declared herself as a DNR (do not resuscitate) and did not want to be kept alive by machines or medicine. After the surgery, she was on a breathing machine and meds to keep her heart beating. My cousin who was power of attorney took her off the machines. A few hours later she peacefully passed. I was okay with the decision especially because she was a DNR for years. She would never want a colostomy bag either- she was much to vain for that! :-) We will be headed north again for the second time in 3 weekends to celebrate her life. She will be greatly missed!

Lovin the Lake

We went to the lake and had such a great time. David and Catherine bought a new boat, so we took it out. Richie also had a jet ski from work and we made a day out of it. Dluv, Cat, Laura, Richie and I went out early and spent the entire day on the water. It was a beautiful day. Rick, Kristen and the kids met up with us out in the water with their boat. We threw anchor and swam up to land. We layed out with blankets and fun adult beverages. There is something so incredibly peaceful for me being on the lake. It gives me such a feeling of contentment. It is so hard to explain in words! At some point, Richie fell off the jetski and hurt his ribs. I new he was hurting but still got on the jetski and rode some more. I really didn't think much of it. Later in the day, we had to pull the boat up at the marina. We realized that Richie was one the jetski, David had to back up the truck and trailer. David forgot the bumpers for the boat so we couldn't dock it. He was worried it would get scratched and being a brand new boat, I didn't blame him. I knew I could pull the boat up on the trailer since I had done it several times with my parents boat. It had been years and there was never the pressure of scratching or doing something to my parents boat. This was pressure. David was getting stressed and I told him that I could do it and not to worry. Even though, I was a little anxious, I never led on. Richie and David got the jetski out of the water while Laura, Catherine and I stayed out in the water floating by the ramps. I didn't want to keep anyone held up so we went out a little further and just waited for the guys. It was funny because all these people were trying to dock and here are 3 chicks in this brand new boat. A man with his camouflage bass boat cam over and talked to us...."aaa girls, whats up" What a silly man! Soon after the guys were ready and we were out. I pulled the boat straight onto the trailer on my first try. I was really relieved. I knew I could do it, but there was a lot of pressure since it was a brand new boat. Yay me! We all decided we were going to go eat Mexican food so we hopped into the trucks and were ready to go. Richie looks at me and says his ribs hurt so bad that he thinks he has broken them and can not drive the truck. Greeeeat! So we had to switch and I drove to the Mexican place with the truck and jetski in tow. Richie has been complaining about his ribs for a few days now. I do not think they are broken, but badly bruised. When he went to bed the first night, I ran my fingers over his ribs and didn't feel anything broken....and he didn't wake up while I was pressing pretty hard on them... The problem with being a nurse's husband....you don't get much empathy..Walk it off! HA

Big Girls Don't Cry

I had to give one of my best friends, little girl, immunizations today. She is 11 and I have know her since she was a little baby. It is amazing what a beautiful, intelligent young lady she has become. She had to get 4 shots and I wasn't sure how she would do. I knew she would do well, but wasn't sure if she was going to have some anxiety prior to me getting there. Once I arrived, she was ready to go. I wanted her to eat a little snack first while I got the vaccines drawn up. She was so calm and wanting to get it over with so she could go back to playing with her friends. Her mother told me that she told her friends that she had her own personal nurse. How cute it that. She received her shots and had no problems. Of course, she went back to playing soon after. I wish all my patients were are good as her. I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with mom and dad. It was definitely a business and pleasure kinda day!

Back from an extended Vacay

My mom and I went to visit my grandparents this past weekend. Also, we had to check up on my Uncle Chalie. We spent a bit of time visiting him in the hospital. He seems to be getting better, slowly, but definitely getting better. Really, isn't that all that matters? The hospital is in downtown, off the expressway, so my grandmother was able to go with us a few times. Otherwise, she would never drive the expressway. My Uncle was having stomach problems and was slowly starting to eat again. He had a breathing treatment while we were there and pretended he was smoking a cigar. What a nut- glad his humor is back.

We hung out with my grandparents and I did some work around the house. It is crazy how I turn into the electrician, carpenter, painter, etc when I go to their house. They need work done, but I am not sure how they think I can do all of this stuff. I just wing it and give it my best shot. One day, I was using the miter saw cutting wood for my grandfather. YIKES!

My mom and I decided to go to the beach to meet up with some family members. We were only going to stay 1 night but had so much fun we decided to stay another night! We both called into work and enjoyed a fantastic day at the beach. There was about 40 of us staying in the huge house. We stayed up all night playing games and just hanging out. I wish we could had stayed longer, but we figured we had to go back to work. boo! I hope we can do it again next summer, but stay a lot longer!


Picture of the house we stayed at and the ocean! Love them both!

Kitty Update

She seems to being doing well. No additional seizures, which is making me a little more relaxed. I will be heading north this weekend and she will be home with Richie for a few days. I know he will do just fine, but I can't help being a little worried.

Weekend Wash- Sorta

I spent most of this weekend stressed about our kitty. Friday, was a complete wash because I couldn't leave the house. Saturday, Richie had off and we planned to go to our friends John and Jackie's house around 3pm. I was worried all day about leaving the kitty, especially because my mom would be gone too. I finally decided in the morning that I was going to go shopping and make a flag cake. This way, it would force me or at least make me lean towards going to the party. Plus, it distracted me. The cake was done and I was packing stuff into the car. I wanted to see everyone and hang out at this 4th of July party. I went in to say bye to the kitty and she started having another seizure. This one was the smallest of them all. Just lasted about 2 minutes with less body jerking. Her neck moved involuntarily a few times, but stopped very quickly. Her eyes where dilated and had a slight involuntary movement. About 3 minutes all together, she was back to normal and looking at us lying of the floor beside her. I think, she thought we were losing our minds.. We waited about 25 minutes to make sure she did not have another seizure, since this one was so small. She seemed fine and got on the bed herself and went to sleep. It actually made me feel a little better, thinking she would probably just rest the entire day while we were gone. And so we left.
The party was fantastic and I was so glad we went. They had a pig on the grill, cornhole in the backyard, along with a pool, good friends and good music. It was such a good time. I saw friends that I had not seen in awhile and watched all the kids run around and play. We got in the pool and played a game of volleyball. Later in the night, we watched fireworks and sat outside. The boys played poker and the girls chatted. Richie and I left earlier then normal because I started wondering about the cat. It had been several hours, so I needed to put my eyes on her. My mom was home when we got there and she said Love was fine. She ate her tuna and was laying on my mom. I felt very relieved. What a great day.
Sunday, the weather was a little rainy in the morning. We were going to go to the pool, but got rained out. The kitty seemed fine so we headed to Patrick and Nikki's for a cookout. My Mom was on babysitting duty! We hung out at their house for a few hours. Patrick put chicken on the grill and Nikki had made all the sides. It was awesome. We hung out and admired all of Patrick's electronic gadgets. We reeeaaallllyyy need a flat screen TV. Especially, now that we have seen Patricks! :-) We were exhausted when we arrived back home. What a busy, fun, stressful weekend all rolled into one!
The kitty did just fine last night. I did not sleep very well at all though. I was just listening for any little noise. There were 44 hours, between her first and second seizure and 36 hours between her second and third.. so I was nervous through the night. So far today, she is doing well too. Richie is home with her and keeping his eyes of her. Good thing!

Whats Love got to do, got to do with it...

This stuff with our kitty, Love, has to stop for my own sanity. About 3:30am she had another seizure. This one was not as bad, but still a scary situation. The duration remained about the same as the first, but the muscle and body tremors were not near as bad. Plus, her eyes came back to normal a little faster. After about 8-10 minutes she was completely back to her old self and got on the bed and went to sleep. Of course, Richie and I were bright eyed and could not go back to sleep. She woke up to get some water and we were both still awake. She seemed pretty tired today and slept most of the day. She still ate, drank water and used the bathroom as normal. I was suppose to go to the pool all day today, but felt guilty for leaving so I spent most of the day cleaning the house. Boo- Not what I had planned, but I couldn't leave. I called the doctor early this morning and it took awhile for someone to call back. I was starting to get annoyed. The doctor still doesn't think we need to do anything different yet. Putting her on meds would be the last resort since the meds are highly toxic to the liver. In an older cat, it might not be the best option. Plus, he said meds are for when they are having continuous and numerous seizures during the day. It was 44 hours between seizures, so we have to wait to see if there is more. Lets hope not. We do not want numerous or continuous seizures at all. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Kitty Kraziness

Yesterday, was an emotional day. Out cat, Love is okay now, but I wasn't sure if she was going to be. After we returned from dinner with David and Catherine the other night, our cat was sitting in a strange place. She looked funny to me in a way that is hard to explain. It looked like she was moving her head, but her body wasn't moving with it. I ask Richie to go pick her up and he said she was fine. He put her down on the floor and she ran to the bedroom. This is her way of telling us, it is time for bed and she leads the way - Her usual nightly routine. All 3 of us went into the bedroom and Love jumped up on the bed, as usual. After about 30 seconds, she started to pee on our blanket. -- Gross, I know, but I was too concerned to even move. She has never done anything like that and has not once, in almost 10 years, went to the bathroom anywhere but the litter box. She jumped down and I quick cleaned off the blanket and threw it is the washing machine. She seemed fine, got water, food and acted pretty normal. I was completely puzzled by the whole thing. So yesterday morning, I was in the bathroom and Richie started to yell for me. I ran out of the bathroom and found Love and Richie on the floor in the living room. Love was having some sort of seizure. Her pupils were fully dilated and her eyes were rapidly moving back and forth, her body and neck were moving in weird ways. I wasn't sure if she was having a seizure, a stroke or dying right there. It was horrible. I just tried to talk to her and pet her. About a minute and a half later, her body stopped moving involuntary, but her eyes were still going. Richie picked her up and we got in the car on the way to the vets. For the first 3-4 minutes of the trip, her eyes were still moving quickly, but then, the next time I looked at her, her eyes were back to normal. Of course, we get to the vet at 8am and the doctors are not there yet. We talked with the tech and sat with Love in a room. At this point, she seems back to normal. The doctor came in shortly after. Love stayed at the vets all days, where they took blood and urine and ran some tests on her. The doctor called me at about 3pm and said almost all of her results came back negative, which was good. Unfortunately, we just don't know what caused the seizure, don't know if it will happen again, just don't know. It is a terrible feeling because she is our baby! Richie found her outside at my parents house about 10 years ago. The doctors thought she was a year or so old, so we estimate she is around 11 years old. She could be older though. She is the very best and if she has any kind of problem, Richie and I get all worked up.

I picked her up yesterday afternoon and she seemed to be back to herself. She was very sleepy, but that was expected. We kept a close eye on her last night and seemed to be okay. This morning she was limping a little on her back legs. I bet she is a little sore from them taking blood and giving her some fluids. She ate her food, drank some water and used the litter box, so she seemed pretty good before I left for work. Hoping a incident like this will never happen again. Too much stress!