DAY BEFORE APRIL FOOLS

 

What do cats find so interesting about boxes.   Put a box down and within nanoseconds a cat will climb in it.   I wanted to take some things to the thrift store, so I brought a couple of boxes home from work.  As soon as they landed on the carpet, two cats appeared and started exploring the environs. 

I have to check it out Jenny.

Hey, what’s  in there Henry?  

I don’t know, just stuff….

.

I think you had better leave it alone, before The Woman takes it to St. Vincent's….cats included.

PLAYING WITH PHOTO SOFTWARE

 

I was up early when thunder woke me up.  The weather has been in the fifties and today a cold front is coming through.  I think it is the same one that dumped snow on the Midwest.  There is a forecast for snow showers tomorrow.  I am  really looking forward to that…….LOL

I was playing with the photo editing software that I have.   Since my brother in law replaced my hard drive and reinstalled XP I can now use it on my old computer.   It is called Microsoft Digital Imaging Suite, it is no longer being sold.    I could not use it on Vista, so it was basically useless, until the XP reinstall.   

So, the photo above was taken at the Flower Show.   I was playing with the Macro feature and some of the pictures were blurred.  So, what does one do with a blurred photo.  I made a water color image and it looks pretty good.   There were a few other blurred pictures so I will see what I can do with the filters.  

Today Emily and I are going to the Zenith Cafe for their Sunday Brunch.   It is a vegetarian restaurant.   The food is phenomenal and we go there every once in awhile.   I invited Chuck to go but he would rather not go.    I told the waitress that they should publish a cookbook because I would buy it.

FLOWER SHOW

I finally made it to the Flower Show.  It was not crowded when I got there, but the stroller brigade was arriving when I left.   The flowers were pretty, as usual, but as with everything else then seems to be less of them than in past shows.  

In past years it seemed to me to have the flowers growing more closely together but this year was space in some of the plantings.   So it goes for the times.

Then on to the Carnegie Library and more ancestor searching.    I am looking for siblings of my great grandmother.   I was searching the marriage records by name.  It is an odd system.  The records start at 1885 and go to 1908.   After that you have to deal with the State of PA, that can be  an exercise in futility.   

PA does not have an index for people to search.   Most of the states have one.  To search for a marriage or death you have to know when it occurred.  Which brings us to the Catch 22, if you don’t know when it happened how would you give the information???    If they had a searchable index you could search yourself.  

They are citing “privacy issues”   If you were married in that time frame, most likely you as well as your children are dead.   And it will be the great grandchildren who will be doing the research.   I have to write to my State Senator and Representative.

I guess I should just send for the information, but if they can’t find it they will keep your money.  Now, what is the impetus to really search for your requests.

 

FLOWER SHOW

Up early and soon up to go to the flower show at the Phipps. I decided not to go to the Maple Sugar Festival because of rain south of Pittsburgh. I hope to take pictures while we still have sun. Just, maybe I will hit the library.

I spent last evening wading thru my "Favorites" I wish I knew of a program to store them on the computer, they are in disarray on AOL. There are literally hundreds, I have them in folders that I thought would work, but things are scattered about. I need a week of to do this, or perhaps longer.

Emily is off this week, she is waiting to get the assignment list to see where she will go next. Psych or ER. She will spend some time at my hospital for ER, and some time at a State Mental Facility about 45 minutes from our house. I think she will spend two days there, she and a few other women will share a local hotel room for one night. Can you imagine this, four women trying to get ready to be at clinical at 7 am? I hope they are not all high maintenance...

Thursday

 Off today…….we have not had rain in about two weeks.   Yesterday it started to rain, it was long overdue.   There had been stories about brush fires and the dangerous dry weather.   Tomorrow will be sunny and then rain on the weekend again.

I wanted to go to the Maple Sugar Festival but will not because of the rain, I also will not be able to take flower pictures because of lack of sun.   The light and shadows on the flowers are what I love.

Yesterday at work was urology day.  I had a student.   Sometimes working with a student is harder than doing the work yourself.   There is a relatively new treatment for enlarged prostate surgery.   It used to be done with a resectascope that would slice the enlarged prostate.   This would require perhaps five days to a week of in hospital stay, and there would be a lot of bleeding.

Now it is done with a laser, it cuts and cauterizes the tissue and the man can go home in a day or two.   This  is really a kinder and gentler procedure for the man.  Also done for prostate cancer is brachytherapy.   The prostate is mapped out with the use of a computer and radioactive Iodine seeds are implanted in the prostate and this saves a more radical surgery.    I do not know the criteria on how the selection for this is done, but I would think it is done at the early stage where the tumor is smaller.   If you know of any loved one who needs prostate surgery these are certain ones to be considered.

Emily had physiology lab today and her project was to count white blood cells,  she said she would never get a job that required her to count blood cells in a microscope.  

Her latest section is over and she is waiting to hear where she goes next.  It is either Psych or ER.

Manic Monday

Enough of the pseudo cursive.   Today was a busy day at work.   I had a junior student who had never done any chest surgery before.    She was nervous, honestly, I do not bite.   I do not rant and rave or belittle people.

The first case was a lung lesion.   It was done with a scope. First you have to insert a double breathing tube, this has the ability to isolate the affected lung so the surgeon can operate.   The lung is deflated so he can see what is going on.

Three incisions are made in the chest wall.   With the cat scan he can see where the mass is and then goes in and takes a chunk of the area.   The instrument staples and cuts at the same time.   You get a good chunk and it is stapled in a double row and is cut.   You need a special surgical stapler to do that.   Then the specimen is sent to the lab.

They have developed something relatively new.   It is a piece of mesh that is radioactive, it is an isotope of Iodine, the half life is sixty days.   It is placed over the area after the lesion is removed.   It will stay there.   This is called brachytherapy.

The recurrence rate with just the removal is about 15% to 20%, if the brachytherapy is included it goes down to 2% to 4% of recurrence.   Sounds like it is a good thing to do if you have a malignancy in the lung.

The student did good.  Guess she won’t be nervous the next time.    Tomorrow is ENT, Ear, Nose and Throat.  

 

Sunday

Wanted to try a different font, this is really wild watching it type and appear in cursive.

Today was one of my lazy weekend days.   I am a master at getting nothing done, and not feeling guilty about it either.

First on the agenda was the grocery store, which I bought all things healthy and nutritious.

Secondly I went to Half Price Books and spent a good forty five minutes perusing the stacks.   There are some good bargains to be had there.

Lastly I went to my favorite store Macys.    The current idea is to save, save, save, and there are some who say we should spend to get the economy going.   

I tried to spend but found nothing to buy.    The clothes they had looked like I would have been a time traveler to the 1970’s.  There were Granny Dresses, bold prints that screamed 1975, tie dyed shirts and most of it looked like it was made for high school or college students.    There are clothes for older women but it all looked so matronly.   I like my slack to fit nicely and I do not like elastic waist trousers.  

There has to be a manufacturer who  produces clothing   in between the twenty something and matronly.   I had money to spend and found nothing to buy.  

I had my eye on a leather purse but do not want to pay full price.  I wanted some shirt and perhaps a nice jacket to go with it, but it is just not there.    I am sadly disappointed and still have my money.   The lady at Macys said their trucks come in on Tuesday, I will be back next week.

 

SATURDAY MORNING

Well, this morning I woke up at 4:56, no kidding. Fell back asleep until I heard Henry scratching at the door, and Chucks car alarm going off. I do not know what he was doing, out to get his morning coffee and read the paper, but why the alarm????

I read about the flower show in the local paper and the pictures looked pretty but I decided to wait a week or two till they are in full bloom. I am going to the library.

I changed the "What about me" section in my Genealogy blog and some how it morphed into the Thoughts blog. Does it have to be like that??? I wanted two different paragraphs about me. If you want to read the Genealogy blog you just have to click on it in the blogs I follow section on the right hand side.

It is cold outside but sunny. We have had quite a few days of no rain this past week to ten days. Today would be a great day for working outdoors, maybe I will do that when I get back from the library, or maybe I will sit down and wait for that feeling to pass.

What To Do

I spend my whole week looking forward to the weekend and what to do. First I do not have to listen to an alarm clock. I turn it off the morning of the last work day and do not set it until the evening before I go back to work.

This weekend I have a few things in mind. Emily will be studying for her finals in the 103 Unit of Nursing School. Penn State classes are still going, those classes are not in sync with Nursing. She will not be doing anything this weekend.

I want to go to the Library and do more research on the death indexes up until 1906. I realize that some would find working more exciting and perhaps having bamboo driven under their finger nails as an alternative to go to the Library. I like the solitude, the research to find the unknown and the thrill of discovery...My interest in my own genealogy has gone from a curiosity, to a hobby to an obsession. And I do feel a compulsion to go.

They have a lot and it is all on microfilm. It would be nice if it were all on line, but there is no money to pay to do this and it would be a insurmountable job for volunteers.

About a quarter of a mile from the library is Phipps Conservatory and the Spring Flower Show. Tomorrow is the first day, do I dare brave the opening day, or will most be clueless to this event??? I better charge the camera, just in case....... I could really do both. I suppose this depends on what time I get up.

QUOTE

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

Oscar Wilde

That is the real truth......also if there is some distastetul thing to be done, they will give it to a student and say "It is a good learning experience."

What you learn is never to do that again....

ST PATRICK’S DAY

With St. Patrick’s Day over I have reverted back to yellow.  Maybe for the celebration of Easter I will make it lilac……

Yesterday I worked and Chuck had off.  Her made a project of cutting back the hedges.   He cut them back about a foot.   First he tried to stuff the hedge shards into plastic  bags, that did not work, even though he tried to compact the branches with his foot. 

He then discussed the possibility of cutting them with the mower and making mulch.  He was unknowingly being GREEN, but he did not know that.    I did not think it would work, but on the other had I told him we see people all the time cutting off their hands and feet with those mowers.  So, maybe it would work.   Lo and Behold, it did work.   They were pulverized to smithereens.   You can just imagine what it can do to flesh and bone, those injuries are not a pretty sight.

He is now planning a “Family” project.   We are to rake leaves and pick up twigs in the back yard.   Emily said it will have to be the week after next because next week are her section finals.   She said she got an excellent grade on her massive care plan.  She said that this week will be the last day she gets to work on the Med/Surg Unit.   That is a mix of people with medical or surgical problems.

She asked the scheduling woman when the assignments would be out.   The woman said not till everyone's grades are in because she would have to do it over if a lot failed or quit.   OH MY………

The spring flower show starts this weekend, so maybe I will go and take pictures.  

 

NIRVANA

Nirvana is having a warm house. The repair guy, Bernie, came today and fixed the furnace. Bernie loves to talk and I am glad Chuck was here to listen to him. Bernie made it work and told Chuck in about five years we would be needing a new one. The one we have was made in 1991 so the parts are on the way to obsolesence. The weather outside has been in the fifties, and down to the thirties at night.

We had two space heaters, one for the princess so she would not be cold while studying for her GI test, which she got an A by the way. Emily has two patients tomorrow, that is a step upward in Nursing School.

Work today was orthopedics, we did shoulder scopes. First done is an interscalene block, which numbs the shoulder, and also provides post op pain control. They make three 1" incisions and do all the work thru there. They had rotator cuff tears, which are now fixed. At one time the procedure was to open the shoulder and repair it, but now it is minimally invasive and much better recover for the patients.

Tomorrow I will be doing eyelid surgery. These are usually older patients who need this done because of visual problems caused by the sagging eyelids. They will pay for it is there is a medical necessity. What I will do is get the patient very sedated for the local injection and then let them wake up so they can breathe on their own. They will do well with this technique and will not remember the shot.

COLD INSIDE

It it cold inside the house, about 60 F. Usually I hear the furnace kick in and start to warm up the house. We have a digital, programmable thermostat, which I like very much because I have it set to get colder during the night and before the wake up time it will gradually heat up in the morning.

The only downside to that is in the deep recesses of my brain, my subconscious tells me that it will be soon time to get up. This is especially annoying on days I go to work, because my brains screams 10 more minutes. I have never used the snooze alarm, once I wake up I can not fall back asleep. I do not know how people can fall back asleep once the alarm rings.

THE FURNACE IS NOT WORKING.

I can hear the thermostat clicking, the motor of the furnace running but the mechanism that forces the hot air to circulate the heat to the house is not working. I am glad it is going up to 50 F today. Chuck is working and he is good at repairing things. So we have to bundle up and wait for him to come home. I have on my LL Bean Ragg socks so at least my toes are warm

So, what does one do when the heat is off. Make a few cups of tea, so I will add a toasted English Muffin to the mix. Get out or the house and go to the mall for awhile. Bake a cake, or roast a turkey, that always heats up the house. If it would be a large turkey that would work well, but I do not have a large turkey, I do not have a large chicken.

Make hot chocolate is an option....go out for lunch and dinner is an option too. But I will do neither of the cooking options, I will just deal with it and be thankful I have a house to live in and have heat 99.9% of the time.

QUOTE

"The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything."

Oscar Wilde

I must still be middle-aged because I still suspect everything. That includes the government and employers, they will tell you what you want to hear, and then state they didn't mean it or it does not apply to you.

GREEN

I have decided to make the background green in honor of St. Patricks Day.

I needed some color. I am tired of looking at a bleak landscape and bare trees. The only color is the green of the conifers, the first sign of spring will be the yellow of the forsythia. When it shows up I will be out there with my camera taking a picture.

I had off today, the schedule was light. I started on some house cleaning, for me the action of giving a thorough cleaning somehow really feels good. Maybe it is a renewal thing, of purging the grime and coldness of winter. I am off a week in April and will be doing some more.

I started cleaning out a desk and I found algebra problems from when Emily was in eighth grade. The kind where you have a train moving at 50 miles an hour going west passes a train going 45 going south, which will get wherever first? Guess I could say that the desk was long overdue for a cleaning. I had all sort of computer info on top of it and I was really surprised.

In all my life I can honestly say I have never had reason to use any of those problems. I did use geometry for figuring out area and how much paint, carpet, tile or what ever to buy. Then one time we used the a2 + b2 + c2 to figure out if our deck was square. It wasn't so we had to do a little fine tuning with that.

Emily called from school, she had to go to the UPS Store this afternoon. Turns out that she needed to get finger printed and have an FBI check before she started her ER rotation, they wanted to be sure none of the students had a history of child abuse. This was after she had to get clearance from the state of PA for the same purpose. It was because she MIGHT have to take care of a child in the ER. She said it was good for a year, and if she ends up missing the FBI will have her prints on file. There are few UPS Stores that are set up to do the finger printing. The forms are filled by the Director of the school and then she takes the form and then get finger printed. I honestly did not know that could be done there. There were five others have this done too. I hate the feeling knowing that there is something going on of which I am totally unaware.

Like the cats for example, they know the existence of the house and things outside the window, but are totally unaware of the rest of the world. Do we fit into this scheme of some other existence of which we are unaware?? That is a scary thought to me. Contemplate that for awhile.....

LAST FEW DAYS WERE TEASERS

The weekend was superb....and it was just a teaser. Saturday and Sunday were warm, even earlier this week was OK. Today started out at 65F at 05:30 this morning and when I left work at 5 PM it was 44, and by the looks of the weather map it will be down in the 20's tonight.

Work is about the same. I was working with a grad student and he and I did 6 pediatric ENT cases this morning. The children needed ear tubes and tonsillectomies. Everything went well. Work has been sort of slow and then very busy. I am wondering if the slow down is related to people with insurance, now are postponing surgery because they may have lost the insurance???? I have to watch it more closely...

Emily has one more week of her current rotation and then her finals. Penn State is on spring break this week, and the Nursing School has three more weeks before their spring break. So, she did not have one complete week off. I am interested in where she goes first next term. When that term ends at the end of June she will have off for six weeks. She does not know what she will do in that short period of time. I am off one of those weeks too. I would love to go to the beach but I do not think that will be happening. She said she would play in the 4th July concert and maybe we can do some things in Western Pa. I will look and see what I can find to do....I have always wanted to go and see Gettysburg, maybe we can do that.

A good thing about the time change is now when I leave at 5 it is not dark outside. I find it depressing to go to work and come home in the dark. We stopped at a local restaurant after work and it is still light outside.

I guess this is all I know that is happening around here. The past month things have been pretty mundane. I guess that is OK.

Warm and Sunny

Warm and Sunny
Today was very warm and sunny. A few more days like this will lift me out of my doldrums...My ideal weather would be cool enough after sundown that I may need a light sweater and warm enough during the day that I could go without it.Today Chuck and I attended a PALS class, that is Pediatric Advanced Life Support. It is given for prehospital and hospital providers. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3012001Initially a two day course is taken and then after every two years a review is given and a then another certifying class. It is an all day affair. But it is vital when dealing with critically children. I hope I never have to use what I have learned.Tomorrow is to be warm and sunny too. We are going to an reirement party for my friend Patty. When I retire I do not want any party. I do not really like parties, and do not like the crying and all the hoopla. I am the sort of person who likes to keep a low profile. I do not attend the Holiday Parties nor do I want to. I just do not like getting dressed up and socializing with the people I work with.Emily is doing well, she is soon going to start Psych and ER. Then Peds and OB, CCU and ICU and then Nursing Management and graduation. I think both she and I will be glad when she is off the payrole

QUOTE

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

Charles Dickens

This is how I feel today, it is so cold outside, around 5 or 6F. The sun will be shinging brightly, but at least we did not get any snow from the 'Noreaster that hit the East coast.

I like winter till after New Years Day and then I am ready for it to go away, but it will hang around for another three months. Even though I get out I feel like I have cabin fever. I want to go and sit on the deck with a cup of tea and listen to the birds sing. Maybe I will just settle for a cup of tea right now.