Hot and Lazy

Since I have been home from work last Tuesday, Matt has been in California working.  Even though I miss my husband, I have been enjoying the lazy days.  All my workout clothes thrown on the bed with my favorite blanket and computer.  I laid in bed a lot and browsed the Internet, snacked and napped.  It was a good recovery from that long stretch of flying.

I did manage to clean things up before Matt got home tonight.  I hate coming home to a messy house and so I try to have things cleaned up before he comes home from out of town.  The black spots on the carpet by my bed? That is Ted hair.  We vacuumed 3 times today.  We have brushed him over and over again.  Poor guy.  Poor vacuum.

Another look at Audrey3.  I put a bungee cord up for her to grow along the porch.  We'll see if that works.  I'm pretty sure it won't hold a pumpkin, but I like to see how far it will grow.  I'm fascinated by how big it is!!  Nothing we planted in the garden is busting out like this.  Maybe I should plant my garden in the front flower beds?

Left a little later then I wanted to this morning, but I made it to Liberty Park to do my speed work.  I did Yasso 800 Speed work.  When it comes to running and training it seems that everyone has an opinion.  I've read that they are a waste of time and don't predict anything.  As far as speed work, I love them!  I can push myself without dying.  I am up to 6 X 800. The way I do them is I warm up with a 1/2 (which is 800 meters) mile walk/jog and then run as a pretty good pace for 1/2 mile.  My training pace calculations put me at an 800 meter time of 4:20.  Today I did anywhere from 4:02 to 4:45. After each one I walk for a bit and then slow jog for 1/2 mile.  I finished my 6 miles with an average 11 min/miles for my recovery and around 8:30 for my 800's.  Not too shabby and I burned 612 calories.  Woot Woot!

Today after my 2nd 800, I really needed to pee.  I passed the restrooms when I was running an 800 and I thought I'd make it around again.  Not so much!  The park is big and has wonderful running and bike paths.  About the time I finished my 800 I knew I needed to hit the pottie.  I walked through a short cut to the bathrooms but alas, I'm getting old and barely made it.  Meaning I peed my pants a little.  TMI?  I wouldn't want any other runners who have this happen think that it is totally unheard of.  Luckily it wasn't too much so I finished my run then got home to shower - instead of running errands.  No one wants to smell like pee!!!

It was definitely a beautiful day!  It was almost 90 degrees, but this park has awesome water fountains and I was able to stay hydrated and kept pouring water on my head.  Love the dry heat!

By the time I finished I was hot!  You can't tell in my pic, but I'm pretty wet with sweat.  That worry wrinkle really bothered me when I took the pic, but now that I look at it again, it's not too bad!  At least the braces come off in 3 months.  That will feel so good!  

I came home to shower and do some housework.  It helps to have some music to jam to.

This is the cable that is attached to our stereo/DVD player in the living room.  It's definitely old, but it works and I hate spending money for something just because it's newer.  Unless it's running shoes...of course!!  

Matt gave me a new iPod Nano for my birthday this year.  I find it almost too small.  I need to get a wrist holder so I can quit dropping it.  Trying to hold it and change songs etc, I feel like Zoolander with his little phone!  (great movie BTW)  I took this picture because it's funny how tiny the iPod is and how huge the cable is.  It works great!  

Shootings:

Most of today has been spent rehashing the shootings in Colorado.  Lots of posts on Twitter and Facebook addressing the tragedy.  It is horrible.  Unfortunately I see tragedy way too often.  This is just bigger proportions.  The family that looses a loved one to an accident, sudden illness or a personal attack hurts just as much, but society is a little complacent about these deaths.  Victims who die because they were hit by a drunk driver do not get news channels everywhere to proclaim that alcohol should be banned.  

Accountability cannot be legislated and neither can kindness and compassion. We can only do our best to be kind and compassionate and hope that our Karma is catchy.  

I really could go on and on..but it really is just my view of the world.  Someday I will post on my views on politics.  Maybe. 

Sending peace and love to all the victims and families of tragedy.  All of them.

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Little Shop of Horrors

This plant, which shall now be known as Audrey 3 is what we have guessed is a pumpkin plant. I have mentioned her briefly in a previous post. Matt and I have no idea why three pumpkin plants started growing in our front yard flower bed. We don't carve pumpkins at Halloween and have no idea where the seeds came from. 


I can be a little eccentric at times and I wanted to ride this out. Of course Matt, the linear thinker, is insistent that we keep them trimmed up. Plants aren't suppose to touch concrete or house!! (and I'M the OCD one!)


There is no fruit yet but lots of "male" flower buds. It grows a foot a day and I need to figure out a place for it to go.


I'm enjoying watching it. See where this high risk crazy behavior takes us!


Go Audrey 3!!

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Lights and sirens

I spend a lot of time in the back of an ambulance. To and from various airports and small hospitals, I am getting pretty good at working in that crazy atmosphere. My entire career as a flight nurse (7 months after training) I've never taken my patients lights and sirens to the hospital. It's dangerous and not that much faster in most cases. My last transport - we went lights and sirens.


I obviously can't talk too much about my patient transports. Their privacy is very important. The details of this post include changes protecting my patient and my job.


It was a pediatric patient. That blond hair and perfect little feet and toes. Subtle clues of the active life precluding the tragedy. I knew it was coming. I did my best to prepare for a sick pediatric patient, but studying means nothing unless you can show up and put your knowledge into practice. Keeping myself calm around a small ER that was in Mass Casualty mode for its limited resources. Dr.'s nurses, EMT's, respiratory therapist - everyone they could get was there. And boy, we're they happy to see us.


I was pretty sure I was going to pee my pants or shake so bad I couldn't function. Fake it til you make it, I always say. Children, babies! I have to do it. I can't panic. Thank god my medic was calm and confident. He admitted to me later he was just as scared and that I was so calm. Amazing.


They ran us around the corner to our patient. Around us we saw siblings, all victims. Concentrating on what we had, we went to work. I was given a rundown of injuries and interventions. Let me clarify - multiple people yelling and talking very fast giving me as many details as they could remember. All the while working around the bloodied and broken child.  My call to the accepting physician was constantly interrupted with more information, giving the receiving team a clue as to what was to come.  I was lucky, I had an awesome and calm physician on the phone giving me great information and answering any questions I had.  


Less then 30 minutes from our arrival we had this child packed and on our way to the airport.  Making a verbal "to do" list with my medic, we prioritized our care.  The most important thing was keeping our patient stable and getting to definitive care.  No more tests or interventions were going to help more then a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center.  


The flight was a what they call a "yard sale".  We are in a loaner plane and all our supplies and equipment that we didn't carry with us was all shoved in the back.  Getting to it was tough and then you drop things and open stuff and drop some more, all the while stressed out of your head to get whatever you need to do done quickly.  Our pilot mentioned to me later that he turned around to tell us to sit down because of possible turbulence and we had stuff in both hands and looked super busy.  He was awesome and snuck around the clouds so we could continue to do our jobs safely.    


I'm sure I'm making it more dramatic then it really was in the plane, it was probably more of a controlled chaos.  Whatever we did, we finished the list and our patient stayed stable.  


After we landed we hustled, lights and sirens, to the children's hospital.  We had done everything we could.  I re-medicated for pain, reassessed and then I said to our little patient that we were almost there and keep doing awesome.  To hang in there.   I pushed that blond hair back from swollen eyes and a bloody face.  


We arrived to the magic of medicine.  Watching 6-10 medical personnel do a specialized choreographic dance that I have seen dozens of times with adult patients.  I updated the team.  I watched them work.  My medic and I pulled it off.  Together with our combined knowledge and various experience we raced up that learning curve and did our very best.  

Children give us all a different sense of urgency and compassion.  All those wonderful ambulance drivers, EMT's and our pilot were suddenly ready to rock. Rock in a very quiet focused way.  I'll never forget this transport.  Just like I'll never forget my first code, my first trauma and my first death and withdrawal in the Surgical ICU.  If you watch TV shows like ER and Grey's Anatomy you miss the very best thing about saving lives.  It takes a village.  Sometimes it feels like we are a village of idiots, willing to do insane and crazy stuff to save lives of people we don't even know.  There is no big star doing just one thing, it's everyone. Everyone that touched that child wanted to do their best.  


Even if it means, lights and sirens.


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