Wednesday January 7th 2026

Tweety, BSN, RN · 2026-01-07T14:10:25Z

Good morning!

I may be part of the problem, but I have never been one to be antagonistic in expressing myself in meetings. I choose my battles and generally keep my mouth shut in staff meetings. I don't go to town hall meetings and I don't join committees except for this one. I feel as a leader it's a good meeting for me to show support for.

I do send emails to people that I think need to hear my complaints and perhaps do something about a situation. But it's always in a tone of understanding and not of anger. A recent example is a patient complained of a "horrible experience" in the ER. They've been overwhelmed and I understand that but.......

Once I fired off an email to the VP of nursing how we flighted patients from out of town and then left them to their own devices to get back. This did not serve the homeless people or farm workers with no resources and I was able to get a program started that we would cab them to the bus station and get them bus tickets back to their town. The VP mentioned that when presenting me with "Nurse of the Year" that year. LOL. Now we mostly use Lyft. I was able to get a Lyft for a patient that came here for a speciality and he lived two hours away and a Lyft driver actually picked it up. (We paid for it)

Anyway, I had my three-month required visit to my PCP to get my benzo renewed and she did so without hesitation. She told me she had a similar situation with her groin and these things take 3 to 6 weeks to heal. I will see her for my annual physical in six months and get a lot of blood work done. This time she's also checking a Vitamin D level. I guess because of my age.

My hip/groin pain is significantly improved from two days ago and I'm hoping that was its peak and the NSAIDs are helping. Even though the pain was pretty mild this AM I still took it and might take it for a couple of days to see if it knocks it out.

Waffles woke me up at 5:30 when I wanted to get up at six. I made her wait to eat. She is not to be rewarded for waking me up.

I am meal prepping and didn't know I dropped my oven mitt in the over and it set itself on fire. There wasn't much smoke at all but the first alarm went off when I opened the oven door. DOH

Otherwise, I'm sitting pretty. Over the last couple of days cleaned the bathrooms, mopped and did laundry. Have to go to the grocery store for a few things and then relax.

Have a great day.

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · 2026-01-07T16:28:40Z

I try to be judicious about addressing issues. I sometimes perceive (rightly or wrongly) foot-dragging on the part of leadership. Not wanting to address things that might hurt feelings. Anyway,..

Nephew finally got over to the hospital in the evening. I told him I was curious to know if sister's WBC and lactic acid were improving, how her kidneys were doing. All has progressed well. The EGD was done. In the evening she was taken for a head CT. I asked why and he said because of agitation/delirium. He and my brother were taking the position that since they didn't call him all day "no news is good news." Nephew pointed out that he had taken sister's cat in for dental surgery yesterday and had received multiple updates about that. A friend of my sister's called me and is planning to spend time at sister's house when she is discharged. She and I can coordinate to extend the amount of time we have someone to help.

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · 2026-01-07T18:45:46Z

Knees (gneeze), thighs and hips aching like nobody's business. Prior to going to bed, I rubbed Capsaicin on my front thighs and knees, and down the shins. At some point in the middle of my night, the backs of my knees were hurting, so I put on some more Capsaicin..... not a very good idea, as the skin on the backs of the knees is thin and tender, and I woke up several times with the backs of my knees feeling like they were burning. When I finally got up, I washed down my legs twice and left off the capsaicin. I had to put something on the aches and pains,so I applied some spray lidocaine. So far, nothing is happening, pain-wise. I am sitting on the sofa hoping things will quiet down because Tinker is wanting to go out in the yard and walk, she is looking out into the backyard with that very attentive 'watch-dog' look.

In a while I have to go out to Walmart and get some supplements I am almost out of, and to pick up a refill, plus the usual dogfood and yogurts which seem to disappear so fast, you'd think someone was coming in and helping themselves. Also the usual dirty dishes are clogging the kitchen sink. I could probably wrangle up some of my own laundry to take care of, but I am kind of ignoring that. I'd like to go back to bed and sleep some more, but that's not likely to happen. When I get through with the errands, I have the Nannie-pickup to deal with.

I NEVER get out of making supper and putting her to bed! And of course I am thoroughly sick of that part of the routine! I see no reason to have to sit here while she sleeps through 2-3 hours of the evening after supper, in her chair. At 10 I started in on getting her awake enough to cooperate with the PM routine. She didn't want to open her eyes and I told her she could not walk with her eyes closed, to which she replied, 'I can't open them." I told her she better try again, because she was NOT going to spend the night in her recliner. Earlier than 10 PM she did NOT want to go to bed, even though she'd been asleep for 1-2 hours already. When she is asleep she is certainly not aware of the time (even when she is awake she doesn't always seem to know if it is daytime or night time!) Anyway, she gets p.o.'d with me, and then when I am removing her wet clothes she tells me how happy it makes her that I am there to help her. If I let her do it herself, no telling how long it would take or what ridiculous outfit she puts on to go to bed. Sometimes she gets up early and puts her clothes on OVER the wet pj's, then goes back to bed. which makes everything even MORE FUN when I get her up to get her dressed and she complains that she already got dressed.

So I am once again grousing about Nannie, and I have 3 more hours to myself before I have to go get her. It's like some people say about the Trump Derangement Syndrome, but it's the NANNIE Derangement Syndrome, she LIVES IN MY HEAD and it is hard to evict her since I can't get away from my 'responsibilities' looming ahead of me.

Cusswords, cusswords, cusswords!!

And so, now I will go walk Tinker.

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · 2026-01-07T19:28:04Z

When I got back from Tinker dragging me around the yard, the phone beeped (it is charging) and it was a message from the surgical ***'t, calling to tell me that I will have to pay my deductible of $285 for the cataract surgery. It is possible that my supplement will carry it, but I don't know for sure 'cause the guy talked so fast! Will have to re-listen to his message. I have not got the $$ for the deductible right now, so YIKES and FUDGE-RIPPLE! I think it will all work out eventually but currently I am just holding my breath. Maybe BiL can give me one of the two checks he writes for me every month, but about a week earlier than usual. I should leave him a message now so I will have it in checking when I need it, on Monday. That's all I can figure out right now. Have to call the automatic teller # for the bank, to see how much is in my checking acct. There are things I have told myself I have to STOP purchasing because they aren't necessities, but so far I haven't listened very well to myself, so, once again I am walking on a string of dental floss trying to keep my balance and not lose my s---. I need someone to take care of my finances, but on the other hand, I sure wouldn't want somebody else to do so, for me. I am aware that I am rather stubborn and drag my feet too often, but that doesn't seem to propel me into the right mind-set to keep things from falling through a rabbit-hole AGAIN. You'd think I would have learned by now, to avoid repeatedly getting myself into money trouble. Apparently *I* don't think about this even though I DO know better.

Well, at least this post is not a Nannie complaint.

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · 2026-01-07T19:31:12Z

Just wanted to say, I can't believe that TOS bleeps out the first three letters of the abbreviation for the word 'assistant'! It looked like I was calling the surgical assistant a bad thing!

nursej22, MSN, RN · 2026-01-07T20:21:43Z

its too quiet in here! I took the dogs to daycare thinking we would be at the demo garden for the morning and weed class in the afternoon, but garden is flooding, so thats canceled. So I came home, folded clothes, and started drafting a newsletter. I am trying to stay away from the news.

There is a nice dusting of snow in the foothills. I be the skiers are tearing up the fresh powder. That brings back nice memories.

Annie, I find that so confusing to get medical updates from family who are nonmedical. But sometimes, that the best you can get. My SiL is having some sort of vascular issue with her eyes, but what she my MiL tells me makes me even more confused. I know she gets awful headaches, and near syncopal episodes.

Oldest sis called last night to ask if I can transport her to cataract surgeries. It works fine with my schedule. I sort of the family Lyft, LOL.

I talked with other sis's doctor office yesterday, trying to schedule tests. Argh. Eva, at the call center, is going to forward my concerns, which I already did through the patient portal. Double argh. Anyway, I see a trip or 2 to Seattle in the coming weeks.

Time for class!

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · 2026-01-07T22:23:47Z

Latest update on my sister is that the head CT was OK but she has a duodenal mass. Nephew said that was found on abdominal CT (I didn't know they did one) but surely they would have seen it (and done a biopsy) during the EGD?

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · 2026-01-08T03:26:03Z

That's it! I am firing Nannie! She asked me why I was limping and groaning with each step. I said, "I have very bad arthritis." (easier to explain.) and she LAUGHED at me. I said "What is so funny about hurting with every step?" and she grinned. Yuh, right, she has dementia and no memory, but she also has no good opinion of anybody, always has been like that forever, regardless of her mental incapacity degrading even further. I am not p.o'd, but I am rather appalled at her. Like, sure, I really WANT to continue on with this 'care'-giving while I feel like something brown and smelly on a shingle. I hope I don't implode or explode, but I would not feel badly if she did, I know, that's not very nice, but neither is she.

Hope I don't get kicked off here for saying that.