I was looking through Facebook this morning at family pics that I hadn't seen and came across this one of youngest grand daughter. She will be 2 next month. She has a very Irish name due to both our ancestry and her parents visit to Ireland before she was born. However, seeing this picture made me think that perhaps she does have a bit of the faerie dust about her. This was not taken in Ireland, but if I close my eyes, I can almost see the ancient stones in the background. What do you think?
My daughter went in to have some bloodwork taken this morning. She called to tell me she *blacked out* while they were doing this. She has done this before, but it's been years. She said that it hurt terribly and that she tried to hold it together, but finally lost the battle somewhere between the 4th and 5th vial. I told her that it shouldn't hurt terribly... that perhaps the tech doing it was not very good. With my C history, they take blood all the time, and it doesn't hurt . The one time it did hurt was when my veins had probably collapsed due to dehydration as part of the preliminaries for a colonoscopy. At that time none of the nurses could find a vein... and that *digging* did hurt.
And talking about techs and nurses, we just heard that a second nurse that worked with Duncan (the Dallas Ebola patient) has become ill. They are testing her for the Ebola virus, but more than likely she is also infected. I tend to trust that the CDC knows what it's doing, but I really wish that these Ebola patients would be sent to the 4 CDC hospitals throughout the country that are equipped to handle this type of thing. Other hospitals are being *trained*, but those CDC hospitals are already trained and equipped. Since the number of cases at this time is so low, it seems that it would be safer to have the patients contained there then at hospitals that are in the mist of being trained. Later it may be necessary to use any and all hospitals available, but for the time being it seems sensible to use the CDC facilities (IMO).
Closing with a poster I came across on someone's site and thought it was great. I'm sorry that I forget where I saw it or I would post the original source.
This is what our kitchen floor looks like on grocery days...
Darling pictures, both of them, but especially your little Irish faerie.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joanne.
ReplyDeleteI also just learned that the second nurse traveled by plane the night before she was diagnosed! What is going on? Why are these people who are supposed to be observed for the virus traveling in an enclosed place like an airplane?
ReplyDelete... and with a fever. Yes, apparently when you are self-monitoring, you can travel?? This whole situation reminds me somewhat of Katrina. When a city is facing something devastating that they have never faced before, there are bond to be mistakes and loopholes. That's why I'm really glad they are transporting her to the CDC facility in Atlanta. They know how to handle the situation. I'm not sure we do... even though our hospital is in the process of *being trained*.
DeleteWhat a perfect little cutie your granddaughter is.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Olga. She is a hand-full...
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'm sure there's a wee bit of the faerie dust about your granddaughter. A wee cutie. I enjoyed your poster too, it's funny how cats like getting into paper bags ans small boxes.
ReplyDeleteDiana
I'm beginning to think so too, Diana. And yes, boxes, bags, small containers... cats want to squeeze right in. I read somewhere years ago that cats can be schizsophrenic. Possibly.. as we've had some psychotic cats over the years. But due to their love of small spaces, I would dare to say that they are definitely NOT claustrophobic.
DeleteThat photo is magical, just precious. :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope there's nothing untoward going on with your daughter, that it was routine blood work; fingers crossed all is okay.
RE: the Pred: Honestly, your comment makes me feel sick. I don't know what to do with Nicki, it's a huge worry. He's only 8. If he were 12 or 16 for example, I would just go with it, but at 8? I still wonder if it's something in the house, like the upstairs carpet, dust mites, whatever. I've got him on 0.15 ml (1.5 mg) every 36 hours, and even that doesn't keep the bouts of coughing at bay entirely, though limits them to every handful of days or so, for the most part. I've had the furnace ducts cleaned, I bought the carpet cleaner and did the two heavy-use rooms upstairs, I've got a vacuum with a Hepa filter on order....Don't know what else to do and boy, the vets aren't any help. Anyway, thanks for the comment, I do appreciate it, and I'm glad the meds gave Jack the quality of life. BTW, did he end up with Diabetes? You've probably posted about it before, but I don't recall off the top of my head. Thanks.
Take care.
Kim
As to the Pred: Jack was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia at 4 years old. (They suspected he got it from his feral mother in utero as none of his siblings ever got it and he was tested as a kitten before we brought them inside and none of them ever set foot outside from that time - about 4-5 weeks old). The Preds kept most of the symptoms at bay for 6 years. He did eventually develop jaundice and had episodes where his blood count was very low (no appetite and very lethargic). At these times we upped his Pred and he seemed to bounce back. However, the upped Preds would cause paranoia type symptoms where he would act frightened and run and hide in unusual places. (It was almost as if he were in pain and running from it - during these times he would sometimes run onto our laps and occasionally urinate. It never lasted longer than a few hours, but it broke our hearts to see him like that.) We always reduced the Pred and he seemed to do fine for a while until his blood would get so low, we'd have to raise the dosage again, then taper off. It wasn't until the last year that he started showing signs of loss of muscle mass. It eventually caused him to drag his back legs and cripple him. So, to answer your question... no, he didn't end up with diabetes. But he was on larger doses of Pred than you give Nikki. Jack took 5mg sometimes twice an day... tapering off to once, then 1/2, etc. We tried to keep him on as low as possible that kept his symptoms at bay. One thing that did happen which we can't explain was that when we switched him to some chewable 5 mg Pred (instead of the regular pill), he never got the paranoid symptoms again....??
DeleteThanks for the reply. I sent an email to the addy listed in your profile -- I appreciate that you took the time to answer.
DeleteTake care,
Kim