Tropical Storm Beryl

Happy Memorial Day! Its been years since Jacksonville has had a direct hit with a storm and thankfully when we finally got hit dead on it was just a tropical storm!! She brought lots of rain and wind with almost no damage to the city.  When weather is nasty it causes for lots of build up energy so out to explore the beach and see the waves we went. 



Being Thankful

I worked today, which does not happen all that often, and up until the last 2 hours it had been a pretty good day.  All it takes is one patient to make a pretty good day turn sour.  As a nurse I have tried hard not to bring home my work and most of the time I am pretty successful at it.  One of my patients came in and the parents thought she had possible aspirated on some chicken because within minutes of eating it she had become really fussy and inconsolable. The fussiness would come and go and had been lasting for about 2 hours. Her breathing was shallow and she seemed to be in some real pain.   In the end she only had an ear infection.  Hahahaha is what went through my mind.  Not because I thought the parents were dumb but because I realized how this is exactly what would have happened to me with one of my children and how stupid I would have felt thinking it was anything but a basic diagnosis.  Very coincidental!!! This was just the calm before the storm.... 

Now this is where my day went down hill. An 11 year old girl came in with dizziness, blurriness, and weakness.  History: post brain surgery removing only part of a tumor and 7 lesions on her spine! Really?? Are you serious?  She is only 11!! When I walked into the room you would have never known she was sick.  Her smile lit up the room.  So innocent and so sweet.  She really wished I wasn't doing the IV and taking blood but tolerated it extremely well!

Come out of the room and have been told that I am getting a suicidal patient who is hitting his mother and basically cussing the staff out! My thoughts: Great! Seriously don't feel like dealing with this today or any day.  I don't understand why people act or do this.  Didn't take long for my feelings to switch from annoyed to extremely compassionate.  Most of my compassion was for the mom.  He was telling her he hated her, F you (including the staff), you ruined my life, if you let them touch me I will put my head through this glass door and cut my head off!!! The mom actually was an employee for our hospital and I decided at the minute it was about her not him.  So I asked "what do you need?".  She said "for him to go to the floor ASAP".  My mission was to make sure we could get him calm and to the floor sooner than later. 

Before I go back to my little girl to draw more blood I hear the doctor say that she will be going into emergency surgery because the neurosurgeon thinks the lesions may be pressing onto her spin causing the issues.  Deep breath as I walk into the room.  All I can think about is how would i be handling this situation if this was one of my children.  I look into these parents eyes and they seem to be handling everything quite well.  While I am in the room drawing blood I am talking to the girl asking her questions to help ease the situation.  I asked her what her favorite color was.  She said cotton candy blue.  Dad said basically baby blue.  I laughed and said thank goodness it isn't gator blue.  The family told me that there was only one gator in the family.  I thought they meant only one family member liked the Gators but reality was they all loved Tim Tebow.  This little girls wish was to meet Tim Tebow.  Her wish was being granted by Dreams Come True and she will go to NY is the fall to see a game and meet Tim.  Of course that all is dependant on how well she is at the time! I told the family that we knew the guy who was in charge of the Tim Tebow Foundation and they knew Eric and Liz Dellenback too.  My thoughts: great now I feel a connection.  Am I going to carry this home with me?  I don't do this!

Truthfully I did carry it home with me! I asked to carry it home.  Before I left for the night I took her a warm blanket and asked the parents if I could take a sticker with her name on it so that I could add her to my prayer list.  The mom began to cry and said yes.  Gave mom and dad a hug and told the little girl that she was in Gods hands. 

You may ask...so did I pray for her yet?  Yes I did!! I prayed for her, her parents and the doctors that would be doing the surgery. 

In a 12 hour shift 2 hours made me stop and think how lucky I am to have such healthy kids, a healthy husband and my own health.  Thank you god for what I have and who you gave me to be my family! Thank you for all that you provide and thank you for everything.

Photo Session of my kiddos

It may seem crazy that I have pictures of my kids taken at least twice a year but since they grow so fast I want to capture every moment that I can.  Plus the girl who takes my pictures is awesome at candid shots and to me those are the best ones!!  Here is the latest pictures we had taken at a local park with old barns and houses. 

There were so many more that I loved but felt I was getting a bit overboard :-)

Having fun in the bathtub

Its so nice that Blake can sit in the tub and play.  Abby loves taking a bath with her little brother.  He loves playing with her too (or stealing all her toys).  There was a time that Blake was not too keen on taking a bath but thankfully he has gotten use to being in there.  The one thing he does not like is us turning the water back on to rinse him.  It scares him to death :-(.