Flowers on Saturday, #8 - November 13, 2010

Flowers on Saturday, #8 - November 13, 2010

I am participating in Flowers on Saturday, #8 - join the fun!



Flash 55 Friday - Sick Sad Sack - November 12, 2010

Flash 55 Friday - Sick Sad Sack - November 12, 2010

Last Friday found me far too ill,

To do my fifty-five,

I grew worse every single day,

And barely felt alive.

Once again, I found myself,

A patient , not  a nurse,

And wondered if I'd exit,

In a shiny big black hearse!

But, nursing care and magic pills,

Have almost cured all my ills!

Carmen Henesy

 

Copyright (c)  Carmen Henesy

November 12, 2010

All rights reserved

 

I am participating in Flash 55 sponsored by Mr KnowItAll

Alphabe-Thursday, "H" Is for Hospital, November 11, 2010

Alphabe-Thursday, "H" Is for Hospital, November 11, 2010

"H" is for hospital,

I hate going there,

Even when given,

The very best care!

They give you a gown,

That never stays tied,

And gapes open often,

To expose your backside.

Early each morning,

You suffer great pain,

When the lab tech arrives,

And misses your vein.

It's almost impossible,

To get any rest,

You're constantly bothered,

For some kind of test.

I'm the grouchiest patient,

With the surliest mood,

When I get these infusions,

Instead of real food.

To tell you the truth,

There isn't much worse,

Than being a patient,

When you're also a nurse!!

It really is scary,

To be feeling so sick,

And the road to recovery,

Isn't so quick.

And if that's not enough,

When you're given your bill,

You'll suffer a relapse,

And really feel ill.



Carmen Henesy

Copyright (c)  Carmen Henesy

November 10, 2010

All rights reserved



I am participating in Jenny Matlock's

Alphabe-Thursday

Check it out and join in the fun.

 

This poem is written in jest, of course.  As a health care professional myself for nearly

half a century now, I applaud the quality hospitals with which I have been affiliated and

am honored to be in the ranks of so many fine physicians, nurses, nursing assistants,

and other staff, clinical and ancillary, that are essential to providing quality patient care

in our health care facilities.  Twice now, in less than six months, I have experienced

being a patient, both times at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California.  I was

just discharged Tuesday after after a weekend stay on the 10th floor,  I could not

have had better care from all involved in caring for me.  I want to take this opportunity

to express my gratitude, first of all, to my primary care physician, Dr. Alice Yan, who has

looked after me so well now for a number of years, to Dr. John Lai, and Dr. Chin.

 

Thank you to EVERYONE who was part of my care at Seton, from the ER staff, to the

admitting personnel, to the absolutely outstanding nursing staff, to all the nursing

assistants, dietary personnel, housekeeping staff, chaplains and to anyone else I may

have forgotten to mention.  I hope I do not ever have to return as an inpatient but, if I

do, I feel certain of the same excellent care.  God bless all of you.

Rokuon-ji Temple Gardens, Kyoto, Japan - Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Weekend Reflections, November 10, 2010

Rokuon-ji Temple Gardens, Kyoto, Japan

Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Weekend Reflections,  November 10, 2010



This is linked to Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and Weekend Reflections.

Alive But Ailing - November 9, 2010

Well, welcome to the club!

 This is one habit, I must break!  Two hospitalizations in less than six months is more
than anyone should have to endure!!  Not that Seton Medical Center isn't an

excellent facility, with superb nursing staff but everyone one knows nurses shouldn't

be patients. 

This whole mess started on Sunday, Halloween night ( clearly I was spooked by

something! ) when I began having violent chills while sitting at my computer ( what

else does my life involve these days? ) .  Plagued by Monterzuma's revenge ( and

I hadn't even been as far as San Francisco ) that night onward, I finally went to my

doctor on Wednesday, very dehydrated and very unhappy.  By Friday, with a weight

loss of seven pounds in five days ( normally, that would have merited sending out party invitations ), I went back to Dr. Yan's.  She took one look at me and found that the

antibiotics she'd started on hadn't seemed to make a difference and sent me off to

the emergency room.  Eight hours and a CAT scan later, they admitted me. 

Of course, my beloved 26-year-old, Jeremy, comes to the hospital about 11PM and

starts the lecture about, "if you just took better care of yourself"...."if you'd exercise

more"...."if you'd lose some weight"...."then you might be able to fight these things

off.  All I could mutter, was, "I know you're right, son, but could you hold this till I'm

feeling better?"

For three days, I was on only a clear liquid diet, ie, tea, jello, broth, clear juices.  They

did allow Jeremy to bring me udon broth from my favorite Japanese restaurant, with

him clearly telling them NO meat, noodles, vegetables, just broth.  When he arrived and

opened the container, they had included noodles.  It was hysterical watching this 6'4"

young man, who I will forever call "the noodle police" fish out those 12" udon noodles

with nothing more than a couple of straws.

It turns out I have a campylobacter infection of the bowel, usually caused by ingestion of

contaminated food, undercooked or poorly handled poulty ( rare poulty is not one of

my food choices ) or contaminated water.  No one else in the family got sick so I don't

know how I acquired it ( my tremendous luck ) but, let me tell you, it is one illness best

avoided.  I was discharged on a no fiber diet for two weeks, then low fiber for

two weeks, then, after a colonoscopy, I hope I'll be back to my abnormal normal.  I

met with the hospital's dietician and this two week stint is tough - vegetables cooked to

mush, no grain or fiber bread - try finding that in this day and age - so I bought sourdough

white bread, canned or cooked ( peeled fruits only ), no salads or anything raw.  Still, it

all beats clear liquids!

I want to tell you how how very much it meant to me to get the wonderful wishes from all

of you.  I didn't take my laptop to the hospital because I knew I was too sick to blog but

my birthday present Droid 2 came in handy to read comments and feel connected to

everyone.  However, I think I have permanently damaged my eyes from squinting at that

little screen.

I have to say a huge thank you to my beloved friend, Joanne Olivieri ( aka Poetic

Shutterbug ), for posting on my blog to let you know I hadn't been whisked into outer

space by Martians.  She also arrived in my hospital room, armed with cheery hot pink

Gerbera daisies and, then, she left and came back with the most beautiful purple

pashmina, found at the hospital gift shop.  While she was there, we laughed and

carried on so much, I forgot I was sick and I'm sure the nursing staff wondered just what

was going on in my room.

Slowly but surely, I'll get around to visiting all...just hope the two kidney stones the scan

showed lodged in my ureters stay put for now.  I've had enough of hospitals for the time

being!

Update on Carmen

What? No Eye Shadow? That hospital needs to start dispensing cosmetics :)

Carmen looks great and is in fantastic spirits.  She actually had a banana today which is a good sign as they are starting her on solids.  She is still in some pain but we managed to occupy the day with silliness and laughter.  She very well may be going home tomorrow, on Tuesday.  She will have to go back in a month for a colonoscopy (I hope I spelled that correctly) to determine exactly what is going on.  She also has some large kidney stones that have to be dealt with.  She has most of her stuff packed and looks like she'll be home probably by the time many of you read this.  Once she's back, make sure to comment and ask her about the "noodle police." :D

She thanks you all for your concern, thoughts and beautiful kind words.  Once she is home she will be visiting all of you, commenting and posting on this blog. 

Thanks,

Jo aka (Poetic Shutterbug)

A Macro of  the Gerbera Daisies I Brought Her - Now you all know I had to get a shot of a flower in there somewhere :)

Seton Medical Center in Daly City, CA

Send Your Best Wishes To Carmen

This is Jo aka (Poetic Shutterbug) writing to all of you.  As you may already know, Carmen has been ill since last Sunday, the 31st.  She experienced violent chills and has been having severe diarrhea of which resulted in passing blood.  She spent 8 hours in the ER and has now been admitted to Seton Medical Center. The phone number there is  (650)992-4000 room 1021.  They are doing all sorts of tests and blood work on her.  They do not yet have any results.  She is being fed through an IV.  

I just spoke with her and she is in great spirits - nothing can get her down :) She is worried about her blog that she is not able to create any posts or comment on any of your blogs.  She wanted me to keep you all updated about what is going on.

She is in a good hospital, one of the best in the area. She is being taken care of very well.  So, I'll be keeping you updated until she is back home.  She hopes she can go home tomorrow, Sunday but has not yet talked to her doctor today.  If she is still there tomorrow and Monday, I will be going out to see her. So, this is the latest.

Thanks and keep her in your prayers.

Jo

Alphabe-Thursday - "G" is for Graceful - November 4, 2010

Alphabe-Thursday - "G" is for Graceful - November 4, 2010

"G" is for graceful,

Something I'm not,

When God dispensed attributes,

That's not one I got.

My parents tried hard,

I wore ribbons and lace,

But I'd always end up,

Falling flat on my face.

http://kaalchakra-pictures.blogspot.com/2010/07/cute-baby-girl-pictures-beautiful.html

They put me in dancing,

With dreams of ballet,

I couldn't even master,

 A basic plie'!

I worshipped Grace Kelly,

And fancied a life,

With a most handsome prince,

Taking me for a wife.

I tried out for sports,

Perhaps, tennis, I thought,

But, no, it was judo,

Where I fought and I fought.

http://www.neoclipart.com/

And wouldn't you know it,

It was my destiny,

I wanted a daughter,

Three sons came to me!

Carmen Henesy

Copyright (c)  Carmen Henesy
All rights reserved



I am participating in Jenny Matlock's

Alphabe-Thursday

Check it out and join in the fun.

Dear Followers and Fellow Bloggers -

Please forgive me for my absence for the past few days.  I was supposed to

be at a CA Sexual Assault Investigators conference in Napa, meeting up with the

best nurse buddies of my life, getting the 20 continuing education units remaining to

renew my nursing license in November, sampling lots of good wine, staying at the

lovely Napa Valley Marriott ( which my dear friend, Kris Bleything was footing the bill for )

and I was down for the count.  I haven't really felt well for a long time - wasn't even up to

par in New Orleans but we really didn't do that much partying and I slept a lot.  Since my

return, I've had the blah, achy all over, then Sunday, I felt like I'd been on a month long

trip to the fringes of a third world country, eaten a bad batch of frijoles and couldn't keep

anything down.  Napa was out of the question and I begin shivering violently - couldn't

even hold the mouse in my hand.  With the space heater next to me and under my heated

throw, I just couldn't get warm.  Turista, Montezuma's revenge, Delhi belly, all of them

combined seemed to be attacking and, for three days, I consumed nothing other than

sips of chicken broth, water, gatorade and jello.

Today, I finally made it the two miles to my doctor who looked at me and ordered all sorts of

labs including blood cultures and stool cultures and started me on Cipro and Flagyl for

ten days.  No alcohol on ten days with the Flagyl but, right now, if someone offered me a

bottle of Kristal, I think I'd upchuck.  The positive thing is that I've lost five pounds in three

days.

The tremors have subsided a bit but I can't sit up for more than a few minutes.  The trip

to the doc nearly did me in.  Fortunatley I had my "G" post for Alphabe done last week.

I beg your tolerance and understanding in my absence from your wonderful blogs.  I will

get back when I can stay out of the bathroom long enough to write.  I love you all.

Carmen