Spidey's mom

Many thanks Dianah for updating here about Viva's death. She and I have met in person a few times. She, another AN member, and I chatted frequently together on Messenger about all things, big and small; funny and sad. I'm grateful to have known her. She definitely made an impact in many ways and will be greatly missed. ❤️

Hello all from far Northern CA. I only occasionally check out AN but may change that. I have some time on my hands now that I took a break from hospice nursing. Although, I'm busy being grandma too. Spidey is married and has a 7 month old daughter. I think he was just a few months old when I found AN. Crazy. I still hang with many of you over on FB. I know Tweety is headed to a great vacation. I've actually become a vegan due to his influence (and trying to get my cholesterol down). Nice to see that so many of you are all still here. steph

Hey, hello! I rarely visit AN much but did today and of course this thread intrigued me. I see you are still on the ball TMB! Good job on this thread! (I see I'm still considered a "Guide". Thank you AN).

Hello folks! Tweety gave a few of us a "poke" on FB about not coming to AN much when some of us mentioned we didn't know Dianah was retiring! So he motivated me to log in! Dianah - I am happy for you and really want to retire as well but I'm turning 65 this Summer, 66.5 is the retirement age for full SS benefits, and I still have a (damn) mortgage. My husband is 4 years older and technically retired but works for a local farmer from March to October every year. He loves farming. I want freedom from a work schedule that makes it hard to see my grandkids. I have four now; two from oldest son in Idaho and they are 6 (boy) & 8 (girl) and two from 2nd son in Mendocino, both girls, 2 and 1. Plus, I'm tired. The last two years have been tough, as I know you ALL know. Did I check in since Spidey got married last August? steph

Gave me a good chuckle Davey! If I were to wear gloves into a grocery store (which I wouldn't) . . . I'd use antibacterial foam that I keep in my car. I do that anyway when I leave my car to go to the store and when I get back to my car. Also, at the entrance to the store when I wipe off the grocery cart handle.

Not a fan of living room interviews or Zoom meetings. There is a TP commercial, the ones with the Bear family, letting us know they are working hard to make sure we have all the TP we need. ? And yes, I don't see the need to wear a mask out in the open on a trail, while riding a bike, or jogging. Or in the car. My mask comes off when I'm working as soon as I get out of the hospital. There is a handy-dandy trash can outside just for that purpose. And no, I don't wear it while driving. I'm in California so there is always road work - the flagmen/women do have to wear masks but it doesn't make sense to me at all. I love Zdogg too. He's done some great interviews with Dr. Paul Offit and others, plus the music videos. Yes to DryBar Comedy.

I was thinking about you a bit ago! Thanks for the update. Yes and thank you.

Thinking of you and sending positive vibes as well!

That does sound scary. Thanks for the details. Your mild case of flu is most likely due to getting the flu shot as it can lessen the severity or keep you from getting the flu. I'm glad you will be observed and hopefully this was simply a fluke.

I'm not torn. 38% chance of effectiveness is better than zero. Plus, if you do end up with the flu, you will most likely have a milder flu. As I'm nearing retirement age, I'm working with hospice patients, mostly in their homes. Their health is fragile and I'm going to do everything I can to not hasten it by bringing flu into their home. Also, I have a family member in remission from cancer whose immune system was blasted by chemo prior to a stem cell transplant. I protected him as well. Not to mention, a new baby coming in a month and other grandkids. I'm going to protect those around me. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2019-2020.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fflu%2Fseason%2Fflu-season-2019-2020.htm

I'm curious about what your reaction was . . . ?

I heard a dermatology presentation a week ago that talked about the ramifications of how we older (ahem) folks worshiped the sun using baby oil. And yes, got that "base tan" and hated white legs. Really fascinating look at skin cancer, increasing rates, and how to protect yourself. They did talk extensively as well about the unsubstantiated fears about the ingredients in sunscreen, the scientific research into safety of sunscreens, and I have no qualms about using them. I've also seen some rather extensive surgeries related to removal of cancer on the face. Including a family member who had about 1/3 of her nose removed due to melanoma. She had a skin graft that look a bit like Frankenstein's monster for awhile with a vein snaked down from her hairline to her nose to feed the graft. She was lucky in that it hadn't spread but melanoma is pretty famous for spreading to other parts of the body before you realize something is wrong. Put on sunscreen, wear a hat, long sleeves on a hike, etc. Way better than having part of your face removed.

Just saw this. I'm soo jealous! Best wishes and don't stay away forever! steph

The comments about your infertility issues from others I agree with. I do have to comment specifically about your husband though because I have experience with abused women and men. You should really consider whether you want to stay with a man who treats you so disrespectfully. Do you want to raise a child with a man like that? If he is verbally abusive to you, the child will grow up hearing that. And he might also be verbally abusive to the child. I'd advise you to think hard about this. Is this really the way you want to live between now and when you die?

YES, keeping a sense of humor keeps a marriage going! And yes, strip poker would be fun. If I didn't have a kid in the house still. ?

Agreed Ruby . . . and I hesitated due to the subject of this thread. We've been around awhile and seen a lot of threads about bullying and come to find out, it wasn't really bullying. (I laughed when I saw the footnote to your posts. COB's indeed!)

Good question . . . all in jest of course! ? That sounds good. I don't mind a pat on the shoulder or arm but massages make me really uncomfortable. Speak up. Unless we communicate, no one can tell what we are thinking. (Good marital advice too). ?

I'm with Davey and Old Dude . . . this was funny. And no, don't divorce your husband for having a sense of humor. ?

Interesting timing . . . I'm laying on a heating pad tonight. Lower back pain all day so Ibuprofen and heating pad. As to using them at school, when I was a school nurse, nope.

Same kind of thing happened here. Kindergarten, newly diagnosed male. Mom came to school every day for a couple of years but we put her to work as a teacher's aide. First in her son's classroom and then as she became more confident in our ability to care for the child, she worked in another teacher's room as an aide but would come back to care for her child's insulin needs, his carb counting at lunch, his insulin then, etc. Finally, she stopped coming to school at all. It took some time for her to feel confident as it was a scary time for her and her husband when their son was diagnosed. I kinda liked having her around.

I attended a training on the use of Marijuana while breastfeeding called "Breastfeeding and Bongs" last week. ? I've also attended many trainings related to use in hospice. Marijuana (Cannabis) use, whether it is THC or CBD, has not been studied well in children regarding potential positive uses. The issues for kids and babies in utero is the brain. There are some links between marijuana use of pregnant moms and babies who don't meet developmental milestones at the appropriate times and an increase in behaviorial problems. THC can affect parts of the brain having to do with ability to remember, multitask, and pay attention. I just don't think we have enough scientific information at this time to say it is safe for kids to use medications made from cannabis. Our local policy is no, we don't allow use of products made from cannabis (CBD or THC) on campus.

Hello! Welcome back. I come and go as I retired from school nursing a few years back. Still work hospice though. I'll gladly accept the title COB or dinosaur! ?

I'd just like to add after reading the last two posts that I think what makes a nurse a good nurse is more than taking a CNA class or working as a CNA. The example used above is something I can remember happening with one nurse who started as a CNA, then became an LVN, and then an RN. She was very lazy and really hard on the CNA's. It was her personality, not her history of working as a CNA/LVN. Many of the men and women I worked with and work with now are for the most part really wonderful and hard working co-workers. Being a CNA prior has nothing to do with it, in my experience. That doesn't mean being a CNA first is a bad idea. I just am glad I didn't do it.

Like everyone has been saying, it depends. This subject has come up many times here on AN and I've answered it before but thought I'd weigh in again. Lots of good comments so far. My mentor, a wonderful nurse who was also our DON at the local hospital where I would work, advised me not to go the CNA route. She had been a nurse for over 20 years, trained in the "old school" days. She told me not to bother becoming a CNA and working as a CNA because for the 1st 6 weeks what we learn is basic patient care, like what CNA's do. And when we start clinical time, we start our with basic care as well. And work our way up to IV's, med passes, and other nursing duties. I went back to school in my late 30's to become a nurse. I was a stay-at-home mom and didn't want to add anything else to my life that would take my focus away from my kids, who are/were #1 in my life. I did work as a MA for a local doctor who took me under his wings and let me do so many "nurse" things, let me help with small surgeries, I gave shots, drew blood, and started my 1st IV there as well. I graduated at 40. I'm glad I followed my mentor's advice.

Once I ended up figuring out some bad news in my life and driving home on the usual highway with my two young children. I was so focused on the bad news, that I missed the turn onto a different highway that goes to my home and I ended up 40 miles down the road to a small mountain town. And all of a sudden, realized I was in the wrong place. I have no memory of driving there. I was on autopilot that didn't work very well.