Anyone who has ever had to share a bed with someone understands the unwritten rules in this battle. The object is to be comfortable and asleep for the maximum possible time. It really doesn't have anything to do with the other person in the bed, except that their comfort and sleep will frequently prevent or postpone yours. Two people in the same bed will never have the same preferences, and someone will always be snoring, guaranteed.
Not-So-Pregnant (my sister) was one of the more challenging people I've ever tried to share sleeping space with when we were kids (and yes, things have improved slightly). In addition to the usual temperature battles involving the covers, she would steal my pillow and sleep diagonally across the bed. Being the older sister, I would occassionally dump her onto the floor to reclaim my space. Seemed fair, we'll call that one a tie.
Even sharing a room can be a challenge as my first college roommate demonstrated. She slept in flannel pajamas, under flannel sheets, with a down comforter, and assorted other blankets, in a dorm room where the temperature was generally set to "broil". Still, if I had the audacity to open the window even a crack because my bed was more like a water bed from the sweat, she would wake from a sound sleep less than 5 minutes later and close it again and gripe at me in the morning. Really, I timed her - less than 5 minutes. How the air could even get to her that quickly through all those layers is still a mystery to me. This one is definitely a loss for me as I could never stay awake long enough to open the window every time she closed it over the course of a year.
I guess my subconcious has decided to win a battle for once, because last night, I rolled over and impacted K with something equivalent to a knee drop from the top ropes. Yes, he was quite soundly asleep and didn't do anything to deserve it. No, I didn't do it on purpose but actually just forgot he was there. Between working and traveling lately, I haven't had to share the bed in quite a while. And I actually was somewhat awake enough to think about it before I rolled over, and honestly thought he wasn't there.
So say hello to the new reigning champion, at least for a little while...
30 November 2005
29 November 2005
0430 wake up call
K and I went out this morning for a girl having a seizure who was reported to be unresponsive but breathing at the time of the 911 call. Nothing gets me out of bed for this sort of thing like the thought of a kid in trouble. Running through my mind on the way out the door are all the things I hope I remember when I get there, and a checklist of clothes to be sure I'm actually fully dressed. K being with me takes a lot of the pressure off because his experience and higher level of training means he can take charge, but I feel like I'm not going to improve my skills if I don't at least think through what is going on.
Travel at this time of morning was less than easy as there was thick fog and once off the main route the roads are slick with melting snow and ice compacted to the road. After the first couple of minutes, I was able to relax a little because K was driving slowly and promised me he wouldn't crash us because then we wouldn't be able to help anybody. En route, we hear the update that the patient is now awake and responding, although still dazed.
We're first to arrive (barely) and we work on getting all the important info out of girl and mother and then eventually K starts to explain what is going to happen when the ambulance arrives, what might happen on the way to the hospital, and what might happen when they get there (including the long wait while the hospital locates the on-call neurologist). We work under the assumption that the patient is going by ambulance, mostly because it would generally be a bad situation to have a parent driving to the hospital and have another seizure happen. It wouldn't necessarily be bad for the patient, but it tends to panic the driver and cause accidents especially when the mother is already agitated.
Although one of the other staff that K knows and likes is on the ambulance when it arrives 10-15 minutes later, she mentions to the mother that they don't have to go by ambulance if the mother feels comfortable driving the girl. K is visibly biting his tongue at this point, and eventually that is exactly what they decide to do. The whole way home I get an earful about what might happen to these people, how there isn't even cell phone coverage so the mother could call for help if she needed it, and how disappointed K is with the "sign her off and clear the scene" attitude.
I'm not sure where I fall on the issue because I know that they wouldn't have actually done anything for the girl in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, so essentially it would be a really expensive taxi ride, but I agree that if she had another seizure while the mother was driving, that would be bad news. I do know that if anything ever happens to me or anyone I know, I definitely want K right there because he's the best patient advocate I know. He even made a call to the emergency department to let them know the patient was coming so that they might actually start locating the doctor before they arrived.
Travel at this time of morning was less than easy as there was thick fog and once off the main route the roads are slick with melting snow and ice compacted to the road. After the first couple of minutes, I was able to relax a little because K was driving slowly and promised me he wouldn't crash us because then we wouldn't be able to help anybody. En route, we hear the update that the patient is now awake and responding, although still dazed.
We're first to arrive (barely) and we work on getting all the important info out of girl and mother and then eventually K starts to explain what is going to happen when the ambulance arrives, what might happen on the way to the hospital, and what might happen when they get there (including the long wait while the hospital locates the on-call neurologist). We work under the assumption that the patient is going by ambulance, mostly because it would generally be a bad situation to have a parent driving to the hospital and have another seizure happen. It wouldn't necessarily be bad for the patient, but it tends to panic the driver and cause accidents especially when the mother is already agitated.
Although one of the other staff that K knows and likes is on the ambulance when it arrives 10-15 minutes later, she mentions to the mother that they don't have to go by ambulance if the mother feels comfortable driving the girl. K is visibly biting his tongue at this point, and eventually that is exactly what they decide to do. The whole way home I get an earful about what might happen to these people, how there isn't even cell phone coverage so the mother could call for help if she needed it, and how disappointed K is with the "sign her off and clear the scene" attitude.
I'm not sure where I fall on the issue because I know that they wouldn't have actually done anything for the girl in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, so essentially it would be a really expensive taxi ride, but I agree that if she had another seizure while the mother was driving, that would be bad news. I do know that if anything ever happens to me or anyone I know, I definitely want K right there because he's the best patient advocate I know. He even made a call to the emergency department to let them know the patient was coming so that they might actually start locating the doctor before they arrived.
28 November 2005
Family visitation
Holidays are always weird to me. It seems lonely if I'm not with my family (more than just K) and generally stressful if I am. This one was different. Maybe because my immediate family was all sick with a nasty cold so they spent most of the time sleeping and much less time being annoyed with one another, maybe because my nephew is the most adorable baby ever so everyone was focused on him, maybe we just finally hit the right alignment of the stars and planets, I don't know. It was odd to have a real holiday without K, who worked 120+ hours last week, it has been years since I've done it.
It was great to see the PA relatives since it has been at least 4 years since I made it back there. My cousins are now seniors in high school, driving themselves, and much more social than before - although it would be challenging to be less social with relatives than 14 year old boys. It was nice to be able to talk with them and start to get to know them as adults, they seem like very nice young men with great things ahead of them.
Seeing my grandmother in the nursing home was harder than I expected even though she was in about the condition I anticipated. It is always the little details - the incontinence pads on the bed, the need for assistance with everything - that make real what her daily life is like and how frustrated she is with not being on her own. Also interesting to see the shift in the burden of care. My uncle who had lived with her previously seemed much happier and well rested, more like a man in his 40s than the man in his 60s he seemed before. My aunt who lives closest to her now seemed a bit strung out (although I'm sure all of us camping out at her house contributed to that) and acknowledged the burden of visiting every day, trying to stay on top of the staff, and the guilt of knowing her mother had to be there even though she didn't want to be. I have to say that the whole thing worries me a bit because I'm not sure how I'd hold up in a similar situation, so I'm just going to stay on top of the parents to take care of themselves so I can avoid the whole thing as long as possible.
It was great to see the PA relatives since it has been at least 4 years since I made it back there. My cousins are now seniors in high school, driving themselves, and much more social than before - although it would be challenging to be less social with relatives than 14 year old boys. It was nice to be able to talk with them and start to get to know them as adults, they seem like very nice young men with great things ahead of them.
Seeing my grandmother in the nursing home was harder than I expected even though she was in about the condition I anticipated. It is always the little details - the incontinence pads on the bed, the need for assistance with everything - that make real what her daily life is like and how frustrated she is with not being on her own. Also interesting to see the shift in the burden of care. My uncle who had lived with her previously seemed much happier and well rested, more like a man in his 40s than the man in his 60s he seemed before. My aunt who lives closest to her now seemed a bit strung out (although I'm sure all of us camping out at her house contributed to that) and acknowledged the burden of visiting every day, trying to stay on top of the staff, and the guilt of knowing her mother had to be there even though she didn't want to be. I have to say that the whole thing worries me a bit because I'm not sure how I'd hold up in a similar situation, so I'm just going to stay on top of the parents to take care of themselves so I can avoid the whole thing as long as possible.
27 November 2005
No place like home
Made it home from PA this afternoon in time to head to basketball and help us lose by 20+ points. Strangely, I didn't think we played that poorly, but we got thumped anyway. I'll try and put some thoughts together about the weekend and update tomorrow...but tonight I'll be enjoying the silence of my house and the softness of my bed, ohhh yeaaahhh!
20 November 2005
No news is good news
Thankfully, we've had a quiet two days. K had a class Sat and Sun, so he's been riding around the rental car. Both of us are still a bit sore and achy, especially in the neck, but some extra sleep and ibuprofen have been taking care of it, so I think we're on the way to recovery.
We went to hockey Saturday night and it was a blow-out for the home team. Kind of disappointing because it is fun to watch a good game, but at least they finally got their second win.
I played basketball today, and we finally won also, 47-48 against one of the teams that is traditionally pretty good. I feel like I actually had a pretty good game, and I won the tip-off. At the rate I'm going, they might actually let me keep jumping - which is odd because I don't usually start. We even had some team bonding after the game and every one left me alone about not drinking with them when I commented that after the week I've had, I'm not taking any unnecessary chances.
We went to hockey Saturday night and it was a blow-out for the home team. Kind of disappointing because it is fun to watch a good game, but at least they finally got their second win.
I played basketball today, and we finally won also, 47-48 against one of the teams that is traditionally pretty good. I feel like I actually had a pretty good game, and I won the tip-off. At the rate I'm going, they might actually let me keep jumping - which is odd because I don't usually start. We even had some team bonding after the game and every one left me alone about not drinking with them when I commented that after the week I've had, I'm not taking any unnecessary chances.
19 November 2005
Week in Review, part 2
Okay, so where was I...Friday, tow truck on it's way, state police roused from bed, hanging out with strangers. This is when K turns to me and says, "If I came up on this call in the ambulance, there is NO WAY I would let those people leave without going to the hospital." And here we were, planning to drive ourselves in later. Looking out the window, we see yellow flashers down by our car and assume the tow truck has arrived, but when I got out there, it was actually another wreck - in the same spot. The woman was able to drive away with some damage to her front bumper, but she simply slid straight into the concrete part of the guardrail.
Finally, we finish the police report and ride back with the mechanic, who sends us in the car with his wife on her way to work so we can get a rental car. Then we finally go to the hospital. K gets x-rays for both his hand and his shoulder which are each extremely tender and swollen (which equals possibly broken), but ultimately no broken bones, just muscle pain, cuts and scrapes. Thankfully, only one day off work for each of us, but unfortunately K still can't go to turkey day which we were thinking he could if he had actually broken anything because he certainly wouldn't be working.
We start making all the appropriate phone calls back at the house, and eventually, it gets to the point where we can't even put the phone down because every time we hang up from a call, it rings again.
Good news for Friday, the electric meter-reader came for his monthly rounds, and then comes to the door and asks if we actually have electricity because the meter is broken. Yes, we do, and no, we didn't know it was broken. Score! Free electricity for maybe close to a month! He quickly replaced the meter.
Okay, I'm pooped from yesterday and heading out to save the world today, so everyone else take care and be safe!!
Week in review
Sunday - Basketball team lost by 9 to a not-so great team. I was puffing and wheezing and had to resort to the inhaler to breathe. But I did get to do the tip-off and that was pretty cool.
Monday - Worked all day, felt too sick for yoga. K gets invited to interview next week for one of the local jobs.
Tuesday - I don't remember it, so it probably wasn't too bad. Took Clunk & Bang to the mechanic because it was making another noise.
Wednesday - I had the pickup because Clunk & Bang was in the shop and the Civic was getting new snow tires. Hit a deer with the pickup. No human injuries, one dead deer, one undriveable pickup on it's way to the body shop until mid-December.
Thursday - I took K to the ambulance to work, then drove myself the 1/2 hour to work. Worked all day and then some. Picked up dinner and K from work. K and I went to basketball practice and ran around a little.
Friday - I was supposed to be working at the ambulance rescuing people and K was supposed to be working 1 1/2 h away from the house, but we had a minor transportation problem since C&B is still in the shop, and the pickup is undriveable. K was going to drop me off at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. and then head to work. When we head out, there is snow and ice on the roads.
About halfway to the ambulance, K hits a patch of black ice causing us to slide toward the guard rail over a small creek. He manages to steer us away from that one, and now we are headed toward the one on the other side which has a lovely section of concrete in the middle. He makes a last over-correction and sends us into a spin and directly into a telephone pole. We impact at the driver's side door and come quickly to a stop from approximately 35 mph. We're both covered in shattered glass and K is bleeding, but amazingly, we seem to be okay. No cell phone coverage here, so we head up the road to find someone to let us use their phone at 4:50 a.m. I don't know about you, but if someone knocked on my door at that time of the morning, I probably wouldn't answer, I'd just call the police. These kind folks let us in, offered us coffee, and made coherent conversation for that time of morning. Ahh, the joys of small town living.
State police are not on-duty at that time of morning, so we have to wait until they can rouse one from bed and send him our way. We call the mechanic where C&B is, who still has our pickup on the flatbed tow truck in his yard, and ask if he'd like to come tow our next car. He asks if we're kidding. K says not at 5 a.m.
Hate to do it, but I've got to head out to the ambulance right now, so this will have to be...
To Be Continued...
Monday - Worked all day, felt too sick for yoga. K gets invited to interview next week for one of the local jobs.
Tuesday - I don't remember it, so it probably wasn't too bad. Took Clunk & Bang to the mechanic because it was making another noise.
Wednesday - I had the pickup because Clunk & Bang was in the shop and the Civic was getting new snow tires. Hit a deer with the pickup. No human injuries, one dead deer, one undriveable pickup on it's way to the body shop until mid-December.
Thursday - I took K to the ambulance to work, then drove myself the 1/2 hour to work. Worked all day and then some. Picked up dinner and K from work. K and I went to basketball practice and ran around a little.
Friday - I was supposed to be working at the ambulance rescuing people and K was supposed to be working 1 1/2 h away from the house, but we had a minor transportation problem since C&B is still in the shop, and the pickup is undriveable. K was going to drop me off at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. and then head to work. When we head out, there is snow and ice on the roads.
About halfway to the ambulance, K hits a patch of black ice causing us to slide toward the guard rail over a small creek. He manages to steer us away from that one, and now we are headed toward the one on the other side which has a lovely section of concrete in the middle. He makes a last over-correction and sends us into a spin and directly into a telephone pole. We impact at the driver's side door and come quickly to a stop from approximately 35 mph. We're both covered in shattered glass and K is bleeding, but amazingly, we seem to be okay. No cell phone coverage here, so we head up the road to find someone to let us use their phone at 4:50 a.m. I don't know about you, but if someone knocked on my door at that time of the morning, I probably wouldn't answer, I'd just call the police. These kind folks let us in, offered us coffee, and made coherent conversation for that time of morning. Ahh, the joys of small town living.
State police are not on-duty at that time of morning, so we have to wait until they can rouse one from bed and send him our way. We call the mechanic where C&B is, who still has our pickup on the flatbed tow truck in his yard, and ask if he'd like to come tow our next car. He asks if we're kidding. K says not at 5 a.m.
Hate to do it, but I've got to head out to the ambulance right now, so this will have to be...
To Be Continued...
17 November 2005
Put the hubby on hold
See, this is the problem with medical research. One group tells you to do something and the next day someone else tells you not to do it. Oral sex can lead to mouth cancer. So, fellatio reduces negative pregnancy outcomes but increases your risk of cancer (due to HPV infection similar to cervical cancer).
I wouldn't normally think of oral sex as a dental problem, but apparently I would be wrong.
I wouldn't normally think of oral sex as a dental problem, but apparently I would be wrong.