Catching Up

One of the soldiers I've met through anysoldier.com sends awesome pics of Iraq, thought I'd share:)

Sorry that I don't post when I work several 12 hour days back to back....gee, wonder why I don't?lol. It's because when I finally make it home, I just want to veg playing Mahjongg(addicted, where are the Mahjongg 12 step groups?)before I go to bed to get back up & do it all again.

Interesting end to the day at work yesterday, the call bell system went out again. It had gone out of service on Thanksgiving, which led to someones' family member getting in my face & screaming at me after I had only been there 15 minutes on Thanksgiving. (and I only worked 4 hours:)Some family members respond to the guilt of placing their loved one in a nursing home by screaming at the staff....lucky us.

Anyway, the humorous thing was my CNA's told me"hey, the bells are not working" so I went over to the other unit where the computer is to see if I could figure it out...there was a screen that said "Press Contol,Alt,Delete"....I'm capable of doing that! however, there was NO KEYBOARD!I'm looking around for the keyboard & trying to figure out how to press control,alt delete WITHOUT a keyboard??

The other nurse comes up & I say'hey,how do we do this without a keyboard?" Well, we tried to hook up the keyboard from the other computer, but that didn't work either. I start saying"we're going to have to call the help desk." The third nurse walks up & I say'hey, check this out" her face just registers total shock...'where's the keyboard?"

I place the call to the help desk, & THAT guy is shocked 'why don't you have a keyboard?'Me'I don't know'. He is saying 'I don't know how to tell you how to fix this without a keyboard, how do I fix this?' I am falling down laughing,I say"I am talking to the HELP desk, and YOU are asking ME for help???!!"He starts cracking up,too.

Then he tries to spell my name after he asks me for it,I keep saying S-E-E' he is trying to add a C and all kinds of stuff. This is my computer expert, who can't spell a 3 letter name??I finally say,'look, it's just too easy....S-E-E....as in see the dog run' He's like'OH!',he finally gets it.We are getting sidetracked by the name I have been saddled with due to my former marriage from the main issue..which is, without the call bell system, we have no way of knowing which patient is calling for assistance!

The next shift nurse arrives for report & I give up...I am handing this call-bell dilemma off to someone else and going home. My day started out with sending a patient to the ER with chest pains promptly at 7 a.m cause it was a new graduate nurse working night shift & she didn't catch on to the seriousness of the situation. I'm not bitching, I was new once,too and that's how you learn what's serious and what's not.

But this meant that I did not get report in the morning until almost 7:45, which means I was an hour late getting started on my day! I never caught up with myself, until just in time to discover the missing keyboard. In another addition of 'dorks r us', I also managed while trying to give a tube feeding to knock over the container of tube feeding onto the floor instead of pouring it into the tube...my little lady I was trying to feed was laughing hysterically, glad I could make someone's day a little brighter:)

Our belated Thanksgiving was wonderful, thanks to Tony who handled all the cooking!Ben & Kyle floated by at different times to catch the leftovers.

One of my other soldiers has become my 'Iraqi connection', she read that we were trying to get 'Lost' on DVD for April(which we did, thanks to the Sam Goody kids in the family)and said she can get DVD's over there....I told her to look for CSI for my little fanatic.I am bummed that she got extended to being over there thru Christmas, but their mail stop was Nov.1, so no way to send a card or package...am sure SHE is much more bummed!!!

We already heard back from one of the groups we sent a package to,so that was nice(that the package made it) I have volunteered to pick up 2 extra names a week to write to for awhile for Soldier's Angels, they are getting inundated with extra names.(plus this will help use up my 37 cent stamps before the increase...see, it's really 'all about me':)

I am getting ready to be a helpful mom & do Kyle's laundry for him,he is backed up on laundry & working lots of hours....Tony said"I knew it was coming sooner or later!that you'd do his laundry!"Tony's truck part is FINALLY sposed to be done today,yay!

Well, if you have gone to sleep, you can wake up, because I'm done now!!! Love to all. Kath