PALS PALS PALS

Finished day 1 of PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support)

You know what I learned today?!?  I learned I should get down on my knees and thank God every day I leave work and didn't have to deal w/ a code that day.

Does that sound really bad?  I didn't mean it to.  I'm not trying to say I'm shit when it comes to dealing w/ a life-threatening situational crisis.  The few times I've had to deal w/it  I've been able to stay calm and think clearly and act correctly and effectively, or at least efficiently.

It's kinda scary...all of us in the class are experienced pedi Healthcare workers, and we get the senario, and we look at this doll-thing that's supposed to be a kid, and we all freeze up.  then they play a little video clip of the same senario they just described to us and we're all shouting possiblities out to each other and talking about what steps we would do.

I think it's the mannequins.  they eff us up.  you look at this flesh-colored piece of plastic w/ a bag poking out from the seams of its "chest" that's supposed to be the lungs, and no matter how OBVIOUS the clues are about what is supposed to be wrong, we just see this lifeless piece of plastic sitting there and our minds go collectively blank, and we start thinking about how we are going to fail the mega-code tomorrow afternoon...

well, I did.  And so did 2 other people I talked to about it.  So I'm sure there were more....except for the ONE person who is very loud, very in your face, and very "I know everything" and then has the gall to prove that she does.

It was like being in class with the Martha Stewart of Nursing....  You know she's good, but you want to smack her anyway, but you sure would be glad she's around when you have a kid that goes bad...and that just makes you hate her even more.  lol.  kinda.....


Tho- it was neat practicing a mock I/O insertion.  Tho I doubt I will ever get to try it in real life unless I float to E.D.

Must remember:
Epi- 0.01 mg/kg (1:10000) IV/IO q3-5min  max dose- 1mg
Epi- 0.1-1mcg/kg/min infusion
Epi- 0.1 mg/kg ET q3-5min


nubs

froggie in my window -II

My froggie came back today.  He disappeared a few days ago when we hit a low temp of 30-some degrees.  I was afraid he died and fell off the window as a frozen froggie popsicle that some wandering local fauna found and enjoyed as a late fall treat...but he must have burrowed into the mud that was created by the 3-days of rain right before the cold snap and had a mini-hibernation.

Now it is "warm" again (60's) and he has emerged to climb up to my kitchen window and let me look at his belly stuck to the glass.

I like this froggie...I hope I can get a camera to snap a picture of him before he disappears again.  Joe hints at it since my birthday is only a few days away...but I'm not holding my breath.  And even if I do get a new camera, I'm sure Bub will be plotting it's demise as soon as he lays eyes on it.  lol


Going bed, having some kind of allergic reaction to I have no idea what, and the benadryl x2 is starting to make me all loopy.

nubs.

The things my parents did to us...episode Ghandi

Today, for some reason Joe and I were talking & I brought up the memory that my parents once took us to see the movie "Ghandi" which is a very long movie.  I think I was 5 or 6, so Ross was like 4 or so, and Anya was around 10 or 11.  I'm pretty sure it was a theater in Uptown on Lake or Lindale.  All I really remember was that it was a LOOONG movie, and very boring.  It was the only time in my life that I remember my dad giving us money to get us our of his hair...usually he threatened us w/ "the Belt"  (which I did get once...but that's another story....) to keep us in line, but I suspect he refrained from that threat (which usually ended in terrified screams and tears) because we were in public and he actually wanted to watch the movie and not have to comfort 3 squalling kids and not get "the look" from my mom. 

So I'm describing this to Joe, how me and Ross bought jujubees, and that it was the worst dried up and old candy we had ever had and how we snuck up to the balcony and tried to hit people w/ the jujus, and how Anya was hissing at us that we would get a huge spanking from dad at home if w didn't stop...and it occured to me....WHY did they bring us to a 4+hr long documentary-like movie?

I called them today to find out.  They claim not to remember exactly.  I asked if it was because they didn't/couldn't find a babysitter?  Dad said he wanted us to learn something.  (he was laughing while telling me this)

I remember lots of different babysitters and only a few that we had more than one time.  I am starting to suspect that the three of us were the "Calvin and Hobbs" of the neighborhood when we were little.

she must have some sharp incisors...

So I'm helping Bub make orange koolaid.  even tho he won't hold up just 3 fingers when I ask him how many is three he stops getting more sugar after putting three 1/4 c. sugar into the pitcher.  I think I can safely assume he DOES in fact understand the concept of "how many is three"  (small flashback to the song on sesame street where the baker drops all his pastries over himself as he walks down the stairs...seriously...why would you carry 12 banana cream pies down a flight of stairs all by yourself?!?!?)song of three

Anyhow....While I'm adding the water Z comes over to see the action.  I didn't actually see this, but this is my interpretation of what happened, because I turned around to a double scream and Bub holding his pointer finger out like it hurt....

I think Bub decided to be naughty and stick his finger in Z's mouth.  Z has had enough of Bub sticking his finger in her mouth, and bit down.  hard. 

Bub's crying, Z is looking confused and I am trying so hard not to laugh, spill the koolaid, and call for Joe to come over and help, and stop Bub before he starts hitting someone or something with his hurt finger because that's what he does when he's hurting.

I fail at not laughing.

I succeed in keeping Bub from hitting people or things.   Bub is mad at me for laughing, but then decides to laugh bc Momma laughing is pretty funny.  (at least I don't snork when I laugh...)

Oh the joys of my kiddos...

My coffee gets stolen every day

My kiddo's are little coffee-grubbers.  They don't go after Joe's coffee very often, mainly mine.  Prolly cuz I put Silk and sugar in mine, and Joe prefers his black, mainly.

I get me a cup and sit on the couch, first comes Z pretending she wants a hug, but really she's just sidling up to sneak my spoon and then try to sneak out coffee w/ the spoon.  Then Bub realizes I have coffee.  He doesn't even try to be sneaky.  He just grabs the cup, giggles and takes a few swigs.

It's a good thing I don't drink beer.  lol

Joe has found a solution to the red permanent marker Bub decorated his walls with.  It comes off if you rub Shout Stain Stick on it and let it sit overnite.  It wipes off w/ a wet rag.  I tried everything on it, Magic Erasers, nail polish remover, scary recipes I found on the internet and Pintrest...use the stain stick.  I would have never guessed.  Joe is amazing.

Must go, I work tonight, and I'm going back to a wonder winterland of RSV+

Nubs.

As I wrote this, Bub snuck in the kitchen and poured out half a bottle of Dawn on the floor.  Mr. Man is now washing the kitchen floor since he has to clean it up anyway.  Sad part, he's still laughing as he's scrubbing the floor.  How can we really be mad about it?  :)

Little frog in my kitchen window.

There is a little frog that lives on the outside of my kitchen window.  He's been living there for about 2 weeks.  Every morning I go check to make sure he didn't die of "cold" (it's TX- it's not REALLY cold....) because I really don't want to scrape froggy corpse off my window before breakfast.  But he's just sitting there, suctioned to some section of my kitchen window.  He likes it there cuz we leave a lite on in the kitchen all night, so the bugs visit, and he gets free meals w/ no work.  He's a smart little froggie.

A few days ago, Joe and Bub were outside in the back yard burning leaves.  I tapped on the window (from inside) and pointed out the froggy to Bub.  He came over, wasn't sure what the froggy was, so he touched it, realized it was a frog, got scared and ran away.  Joe was watching this, thought it was funny, got the frog off the window and tried to get Bub to hold it.  Bub wasn't having any of that.  He is deeply afraid of all reptiles, amphibians, and birds.  I have no idea why. He loves mammals, we have yet to meet a marsupial.., but anyhow, he's afraid of the froggy, and runs away.  Joe puts the froggy back on the window (very relieved froggy, I'm sure...).  And then what does he do?  he pretends he has a frog in his cupped hands and chases Bub around the yard.

 loverly.

Me waxing on religion and prolly pissing you off....

I read this comment on a blog I'm not naming...really because I'm trying to learn "Blog etiquette" here.  I'm not upset w/ the commenter, and the commenter is entitled to their own opinion, and I don't want to be seeming to "attack" someone or their point of view or be seen to be doing so...  But I just wanted to explain to myself why this comment upset me.  What was it exactly that struck a discord.  and I don't really want to have a discussion about it with the author, I just want to self-analyze....so here goes.  

"It is great to reflect however, on what Christmas means if you are not Christian or Jewish. Perhaps we should pay a little more attention to celebrating and respecting other religious festivals.

Not as a "token" form of respect, rather, a "let's take a day in the life of this religion and learn about it by doing". It could be fun. Our kids could learn by doing, and understand that at the end of the day who cares what religion you follow, as long as you respect everyone else's."

This comment upset me quite a bit.  Not for the reasons you prolly are thinking...  Mostly I'm disturbed by the idea of learning a different religion by doing.  I'm sorry, but find that an antithesis of my principles.  and I am at a loss of words to explain why I find this so offensive, which makes me question 2 things about myself....

1- is this upset a conflict of deeply rooted tennets of my personal faith, or is the idea of participating in some other religion's ritual upsetting to me.

I'm going to admit something here....When I am w/ people who openly admit to me that they believe in a different faith system than I do, I will respectfully listen to their prayer, ritual, meditation, etc...but I will NOT participate.  To participate is to minimize my beliefs, and one thing I hold true- if you do not stand for what you believe in, then you do not really believe in anything.  I have dear ones in my life that start prayers w/ "Mother/Father god"  I listen respectfully to them expressing their beliefs, but I do NOT pray with them, I pray for them, I pray about what they are concerned about, but I will not pray to what/who they pray to.  I love them very much, but I don't and won't compromise my faith and beliefs to mollify anyone else, not would I expect or ask anyone else to do that for me.  I may ask them to share what they believe, and I am willing to share what I believe and discuss the differences/similarities, but I will not participate.    

2- Why do I totally disagree w/ "...at the end of the day who cares what religion you follow, as long as you respect everyone else's"  ?

I think you can and should care about what religion you follow. You can and should care about what religions others follow.  the other person's choice of belief is their own, but you should care about what they choose.  you can care about what religions others in you life follow AND be respectful.  What they believe will affect how they act, learning about what they believe and respecting it (without participating/practicing) will help your relationship with that person, and better communication, b/c you can figure out ahead of time how NOT to piss them off w/ a stupid statement you find acceptable but is wildly offensive to their beliefs.

Learning about a religious system/belief and being respectful does not have to include participating in it, and it does make a difference.  Your world view is different based on your starting point.


Nubs

She sleeps all nite now

If I haven't mentioned it yet (I get this and my FB postings confused sometimes), Joe and I converted our overlarge walkin closet into Zbear's new room.  It is awesome.  She doesn't wake up around 3-4am anymore because either Joe or I snorked loudly in our sleep (to be honest...it's prolly ME that wakes her up...I am a wrecking ball when I sleep....Joe occasionally has to run away to the couch cuz I'm all over the place....)

Well, she just loves her new room, she likes to play in there by herself...Bub keeps trying to sneak into her room and steal the toys we have decided to make exclusively for Zbear.  Bub has toys he WILL NOT SHARE.  EVER.  TOUCH ONLY IF YOU WANT TO BE HIT.  yeah.  yayee autism OCD rituals based on toys.  Joe and I want to be equitable w/ our kids.  We will never be fair.  It will always be impossible to be fair when their needs and levels of expectations will always be SO incredibly different. (I will not kid myself about the differences in my kids...not gonna do it...)  So to be equitable, we have decided Z will have 2 or 3 toys that stay in her room, and that Bub can't play with unless she brings it out of her room for him to play with.


Now this resolve is kinda hard, because Bub and Z are starting to enjoy the same kinds of toys, but in different ways.  Bub still really enjoys toys appropriate for 18+ months, but then he also enjoys toys appropriate for his our age group (7 y/o), but he still has some toys from when he was 2 y/o that he will not let go...they are too important to him, the elaborations he sets up with them are too ingrained into his self-ness, I have replaced these toys several times w/ exact replicas as they got loved-on too hard (or covered in poo...sometimes cleaning is not a viable option.....)  So he's grabbing her age appropriate toys and doing his elaboration thing with them, Z is not getting what he is doing and does her deconstructionist act on his elaboration which then ends in multiple kids crying, small toddlers being picked up haphazardly and bounced on the couch, and a 7 y/o banging some portion of his body against the wall.   We like to avoid these activities when possible....  So we pretty much keep special toys in the appropriate rooms and have only generic non-attachment formed toys out in the living room and attempt to keep the siblings out of the other's room.  Not an easy task.  Sometimes Bub wants Z in his room, but then he changes him mind abruptly and she gets upset when he's pushing her out.

we stay busy while they are awake....can you tell?  But so far the new room for Z is working out splendidly.  We have a child-free bedroom once more and are pretty happy about it.

Happy December!  Nubs