A Nursing story

The last couple of weeks I've worked a lot...52 hours each week to be exact. I have so many interesting cases and experiences, but every once in a while one really stands out, so I wanted to share...

One of the patients I took care of the other night was a man about 55 years old. He had long beard and thinning hair that was fairly long--making him look older than his 55 years. The most striking thing though was that he was terribly jaundiced. A long history of alcoholism had damaged his liver and he was in the final stages of liver disease. His feet and ankles were very edematous and he had difficulty even shifting positions in bed.

His mother sat with him for most of the evening and then left when visiting hours were over. He rarely called for anything and didn't say much to anyone.

On one of my rounds to him, I asked if he'd like to try getting up to the bathroom. He nodded, so I called the nurse to help as he was a rather large man.

With great effort on his part, he managed to inch his legs to the side of the bed and come to a sitting position. We brought out the bedside commode and placed it a few inches away from the bed. Then we brought his walker around and placed it in front him. He put his hand on the handles, we hooked our elbows under his arms and supported him while he shakily stood. He shuffled his swollen feet the few inches needed to get to the commode and sat down.

We finished taking care of him and got him back to bed in the same painstaking way we'd gotten him up. As we tucked him into bed he said softly, " You ladies are angels."

It made my heart smile:)

What do I do now that he's eighteen (almost)

Remember this little boy?

Well, he grew into this handsome young man! And now, he's turning eighteen this week! Of course we still have his senior year of high school to look forward to.

The main thing we are struggling with is how much freedom and decision-making to let him have. After all, he's eighteen, now (almost).

The other night, he wanted to go for a walk just to get out of the house by himself for a bit (1400 square feet, 4 sisters--I completely understand!). He's done this before with no apparent problems or lapses in judgment. However, this time he didn't arrive back home until 10:30 pm (no phone call to let us know where he was or to ask if he could stay out that late)--a little late by our standards. We talked with him and asked that from now on, he be home by 9pm.

Oh, the protests, the "why are all of the rules changing", the "why don't you trust me" and of course the "I'm eighteen now, why can't I do what I want."

My reply was simply that good judgment dictated that he should keep in contact with us, ask permission to stay out a little later and let us know where he was and what he was doing. A lot of the time he uses good judgment.

However, staying out on a walk until 10:30 (past dark), without calling, without us knowing exactly where he was or when he would be home, was not using good judgment.

When he chooses not to use good judgment, we as parents must step in and make the decisions for him until such time that we feel he is again capable of using good judgment in this area.

What do you think? Should I have come down harder? or should it have just been a talk to let him know what he should do and leave it at that.

This parenting stuff is hard!

Welcome to the ADHD zone!

We often joke about our house being "the ADHD zone." It keeps life interesting because you never know...anything can happen at any time.

Several months ago, Maddie had gone into the bathroom and a few minutes later called for some toilet paper (paper toilet in her words). Paul obliged, opened the door and started to hand her the toilet paper. As he did so, he noticed clothes and various other items littering the bathroom floor. He opened the door wider to check the rest of the bathroom. Then, forgetting what he'd actually come there for and what Maddie was doing at the time, he started calling for the owners of the items to come and get them out of the bathroom. All of a sudden, he heard this little voice--

"Hey! Hello---I'm going to the bathroom! Paul sheepishly (but stifling the laughter) apologized and exited the bathroom.
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Holly ran into my room this morning and said, laughing--

"Don't knock on the gates of hell,
Ring the doorbell and run away--
--the devil hates that!"

then she ran off as quickly as she came in!
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--From the Reader's Digest

(we related to this one)

I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are arranged alphabetically like they're supposed to be!
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ADHD version of "Silent Night" (we also related strongly to this one)

"Silent Night, Holy Night,
All is calm...." oh, look at the froggy. Have you been to France? I lo-o-ove chocolate!
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Can you relate to any of this?

The Energizer Bunny

The Energizer Bunny lives at our house. Her name is Madelyn (remember the Energizer Bunny is pink after all!) We gave her this nickname because well...she keeps going and going and going! If we call her from another part of the house, when she comes it is often a combination of skipping, somersaulting, cartwheels and front walkovers.

Gymnastics practice is Mon, Wed, Fri 9-12. 9am can come kind of early during the summer since it stays light in the evening until around 10:30. This morning, I awoke at 8:25 (Cut me some slack, I worked until 11:30 the night before!) with a start thinking of what it would take to get Maddie dressed, breakfast down and out the door within 20 minutes to get there on time. I leaped out of bed and ran to her bedroom.

The bed was empty.

I ran to the kitchen. There she was calmly eating a bowl of cereal, dressed in her leotard and warm-ups, ready to go.

"Hi, Mom," she called cheerily.

Watch out! The Energizer Bunny has been recharged!

Daniel's Eagle Project

Well, we're almost there! Daniel is in the last stages of getting his Eagle Scout award. He's rushing around getting signatures and references---all to be done before the 18th birthday in three weeks.

The project itself was completed almost three weeks ago on June 21st. We had nearly fifty people--men, women, children--show up to help complete it. We were awed by the number of people who came to support Daniel in these efforts. The project consisted of cleaning and organizing the preschool shed...

BEFORE...

DURING...

AFTER!

Repainting things on the blacktop...

BEFORE...

DURING...

AFTER!

MORE PAINTING...BEFORE...

DURING...

AFTER!

Krispy Kreme and Dominoes donated food for everyone, Lowe's and Gorgeous Garages donated time and materials, and we got the whole thing done in about four hours!

Hopefully in a few weeks we'll have pictures of his Eagle award Court of Honor!

Bear Lake Trip!

Last week, our family had a fabulous time at Bear Lake spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Colton, aunts and uncles, and cousins!

As most families do, everyone had different interests. Here are some of the things we did:

Daniel tried to get a tan--however, I only brought 50 spf sunscreen--sorry, Daniel!

Paul, Kelly, Daniel and Maddie went on a hike--we learned that this tree is "tortured."

We even found snow on our hike--in July!

Ellie relaxed on the lake...

And the beach

A rare picture of Emily out of the water watching Daddy architecturally design a sand city.

Holly played in the sand and water while Paul continued to build his city.

We took Cameron and Aaron with us (Paul, Kelly, Daniel, Emily & Maddie) to Minnetonka Cave. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for sending us there!

It was quite a week! We came home exhausted, but happy after a fun vacation. Everyone was very happy to get back to their own bed!