Tuesday August 23rd 2022

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2022

Good morning!

Joe, glad J is feeling better and hope you have a quieter day.

Ado, sorry to hear about the shingles. I've had my vaccines because my mother had it

J22, I hate those kinds of iservices where you can barely stay awake. Sad about the unhoused persons.

Stars, getting that much fluid off has to make him feel better. I've had the unpleasant experience of detoxing many a patient. Librium helps ease withdrawals and hopefully stops serious things like seizures, but it doesn't stop withdrawal symptoms altogether and it's going to be rough for sure. You can always call 911 if it gets bad. I think the concern I would have would be that he would be so uncomfortable, or you be so concerned, the temptation to drink to ease the discomfort would be too overwhelming. Still you have to try right? I'm sure he's not the first person his doctor has dealt with.

Doc's visit went well and I got a clean bill of health. He decided not to do labs every six months since the low platelets have been the same for years and checking them yearly is enough. He renewed my sleeping regimen with a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it attitude". I am sleeping better, even if I don't sleep through the night.

I decided to keep my same and expensive car insurance but still might shop around. I was excited at a rate Progressive was giving me until at the end the system said what I said didn't match the records. I had forgotten about a fender-bender I reported to my current insurance company. The person I hit never made a claim, but I guess there's a record that I reported it. I should have kept my mouth shut because the guy never made a claim. Anyway their rate wasn't all that much less. I hate Florida, I've been reading that car insurance has gone up an average of 22% here the last five years.

I went to the gym and the doctor yesterday but otherwise didn't accomplish much. Today I hope to go to hot yoga and the movies later. Best friend wants to see "Nope" which is in the horror genre and getting good reviews. Not my thing though.

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Aug 23, 2022

Tweety, you've reminded me that there are compensations for living in Oklahoma. Car insurance is, relatively, cheap. Insurance in general, though, is a large part of our monthly expenses. Is "Nope" the one made by Jordan Peele who made "Get Out"? We kind of enjoyed "Get Out".

Joe, I have a book I need to return to the library, which is a short walk so I'm determined to walk it over there rather than make it part of a round of doing errands by car. Dory-dog still likes to go for walks. Darby won't.

Work today is kind of a slog. I really must respond in writing to some patient complaints. I haven't done this yet. I gather that I'm not supposed to say "You're ignorant. Of course a doctor saw you in the ER. He in fact made an appropriate diagnosis and it is completely unrelated to the thing you're now complaining about that you think was missed because you never saw a doctor"... ? Or "No, the lab did not make up the results of your UA. Really? Why would you even think that?" People.

Editorial Team / Admin · Aug 23, 2022

Hello all!

I have read over the past two days' posts, trying to keep current. Though we did have cell phone service at the campground, I didn't bring the computer. Good thing, because I never touched the books I brought! Apparently, I will read when we are camping, but not during a festival - there's just too much going on!

We had a good time visiting folks, catching up. Attended some good jams, and some OK jams. Heard some good bands and some OK bands. ? The weather was great, it never got above 82 degrees, humidity 55%-ish. The past two mornings, we woke up to marine overcast layer, which was very nice! It's always sad to leave a festival, to watch people pack up their campsites and drive off, and then finally pack ours up, and drive away... Good memories remain, though!

Joe, what is the convention's subject?

Tweety, good you got some insurance, and it's expensive here in CA too. ? Enjoy the movie and meal tonight! Hi to G!!

Ado, you must be master of diplomacy, to answer patient complaints! // A walk to return the book sounds nice! Hope the shingles isn't too uncomfortable, and that it fades soon.

No Stars, good your dh got the effusion drained. Fingers crossed for the detox proceeding! Hope your gypsies remain at bay.

We had an uneventful drive home yesterday, and got food and supplies unpacked from the RV. Camping laundry is half-done, I need to finish it today. Am just sitting, going over the last few days, enjoying the memories. The pie-tasting: Eight pies were presented: a Pineapple pie, two pecan pies, a lemon meringue, an apple pie (cooked in a skillet), a couple I can't recall, and mine: Fruit of the Forest (green apple, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, and cranberry, double-crust). The servers used a small melon scoop to distribute small tastes of each pie to everyone who paid the $5 fee. If you paid the fee, you were allowed to vote for your favorite pie. They apparently mis-calculated how many ppl would show up to taste the pies, for they ran out of pies and still had a line of a dozen ppl waiting! I stayed just to watch how they operated the tasting part, and then went back to the RV. Later I met one of the ladies (she brought the skillet apple pie), and she told me we (she and I) had tied for second place! The pineapple pie got first in votes. Well, it was fun to do, and dh loved the extra pies (I had baked four, total) -- he had pie whenever he could!

One night we were jamming at a friend's campsite. It was about 1100 at night, and a group of musicians walked up, out of the darkness, and started playing with us. Turns out they were one of the featured bands, had arrived the day before from North Carolina: Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road. We had a great time pickin' with them, and visiting. Enjoyed their segments the next day, and bought a couple of their CDs. Very nice ppl, and good musicians, -- they had GREAT harmonies!

As a fund-raiser, the festival always raffles off a few instruments, and I entered to hopefully win a Martin guitar (not that I need another guitar! Could always donate it to a kid's program). There was a mandolin, a Martin guitar, a Furch guitar, a Deering banjo up for raffle. One purchased tickets (12 for $20, one for $3, etc), and dropped the tickets into a bucket for that particular instrument. Well, once again I didn't win! But the ppl who won were very excited! ?

Have a good day!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Aug 23, 2022

Hi. Just another ho-hum day at work. I'm trying to contact former prison inmates who may have been exposed to TB, and most of the info we've been given is inaccurate. Oh, well, we'll go through the motions, phone calls to non-working numbers and letters to wrong addresses. The weather is nice, was actually rather cool this morning due to fog. I spoke with insurance about the wrecked car. They actually valued it at more than I thought. I still don't know if the guy who hit me is insured or not. I suppose the insurance will make up the difference in deductible when they get the police report.

Annie, you could just respond the way our local hospital does to complaints. What ever it is, its the patient's fault. You got aspiration pneumonia after your c-section? Well you shouldn't have vomited when you were flat on your back with a spinal on board. We nearly injected contrast dye even though you went into anaphylaxis last time? Well you should have made sure that your records were updated, you can't really expect us to screen for that.

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 24, 2022

Good early evening ~

Ballgame is about to start (they won last night 2-1).

I had my hair cut this afternoon.. ?‍♀️...I think it's a bit short but my hair grows fast anyway, so by next week it will (to me) look better. And I FEEL better. Since my hairdresser retired, I have been looking for a place/person to go to. Hubby asked around from folks he knows here, and came up with Smartcuts which isn't too far away. But the prices! Well, the haircut costs $18, and the shampoo costs $6, and if I wanted a blow-dry using a brush, THAT ALONE costs $20 !! OY!, right? So next time, I will take a clean head of hair, and let them "dry fluff" my hair with their hand, instead of a brush. ("If we put a brush in your hair while we're drying it, it costs an extra $20" is what they told me and my jaw dropped down to the counter, that is RIDICULOUS!) It is a good cut, though, and the woman was fast! They don't make appointments, they said; you get on line and are given some times to choose from, then once you have picked a time, you have an hour to get there at the appointment time "before the system dumps you." Isn't that weird? Have you ever heard of THAT before? I may decide to go elsewhere next time, or not, who knows? When they start charging by the hair (ie the # of hairs they cut) I'm in trouble because my hair is thick!

Tweety, Don't know when hubby's next Dr's appt is. Don't look forward to the Librium taper; I'm sure his moods/complaints will be unpleasant and hard to listen to. I really would prefer him to get the worst of it over with ELSEWHERE!

I wouldn't mind taking care of Nannie by myself; she is not as aggravating as she used to be. We had a funny convo today.... She said some verbal salad, I said "What did you say?" and she stopped a moment and replied, "I don't know!" So I said, "Well, in that case, let's let it just slide and we'll go on to something else." She said that sounded good to her.

Ado, I had shingles when I was ?18 or 19...and was fortunate because it was only about 5 or 6 red spots on my left shoulder-blade. The doc I went to said there wasn't anything he could do for it. He said he could prescribe some cream for it, but it was expensive. The year before, I was dx w/ mono, which I had for 4 months. Now that was TOUGH.

Joe, after a lovely week of temps in the 70's, now we are in the upper 80's and disgustingly humid. Sit in the shade for less than 5 minutes and sweat is just pouring and streaming off, all over, and everywhere. ICK!

j22, loved the suggestions you made to Ado about what to say on the phone to the complaining patients! And aren't you lucky, phoning former inmates who aren't where your paperwork says they are. Do you get to leave messages identifying yourself as the TB Police?

dianah, sounds like you had a great time at the festivities. Should I go to some campground and leave the gypsies (from my left knee this time) with someone else's caravan, and sneak away?

So anywayz-----?----see yez laitah------

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 24, 2022

Ado, yes "Nope" is the Jordan Peele movie. Best friend loved it and thought it a brilliant commentary on a variety of social ills. I liked it too, good acting and unique story.

$18 sound good to me for a haircut. My barber increased his fee to $30 a hair cut, up from $25.

Yep, back in the day there was no treatment for shingles other than to suffer through it. A friend had a really bad case of it and all his doctor told him to do was to drink a bottle of wine and stay drunk.

Dianah, glad you had a good time.

I've seen some patient complaints on Google about my hospital and have to shake my head sometimes. One said that we gave him a used bedside commode to take home, which was a lie because we use an outside company for DME. One lied and said no one would answer his call bell. I remember him and his daughter called me and told me her father called and needs attention. I went in to ask him why did he call his daughter and not use the call bell. He said that was easier, but yet he then lied and complained no one would answer his call bell.