Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Here it is almost a week later and life is just going along normally.  You'll get no complaints from me on that account.

Handle with Care on Friday was a challenge.  The room we held it in is in the oldest part of the hospital (Pennsylvania Hospital is the oldest one in the US, started in 1751 by none other than Ben Franklin) and is not insulated very well.  We did have a/c but after the room filled with 18 bodies, it was only cool if you sat still.  And since this is about how to both verbally and physically handle aggressive patients, some movement is necessary. 

It was a good group (except for one person who was bound and determined to let us know how much she resented being there, I've never heard so many sighs).  We had a decent discussion about incidents people had witnessed or been involved in and how they could have been handled better.  After lunch, we decided to finish up in our building because our a/c is usually high.  Not that day.  The engineering wizards came in and turned it up but nothing was happening so we discussed restraints and called it good.

I went and got my hair cut short and we picked up some cold dinner and went home to hibernate for the weekend.  The laundry got done but not much else.  The house was like an oven when the temps outside crested 100 degrees.  We watched Mummy movies and I moved the spinning wheel to the bedroom.  We had meals cooked in the crockpot or taken out of the fridge. 

We had to go out on Saturday. We got up early and headed to the Women's Imaging Center.  I got the pelvic ultra sound done.  I asked the woman when she was buying me dinner because anyone that intimate with me should be buying me a meal. (in a trans vaginal u/s, they use a long thin probe.  It's an experience)  She let me look at the screen.  You know that ovaries are roughly the size of olives?  Well, I have two cysts on each side roughly the size of quarters.  They don't seem to be doing anything but hanging around but we'll see.  The walls of the uterus are thicker than they should be since I just had a period.  I'm not sure what that means but I'm sure the doctor will let me know.  I did get an all clear letter on the mammogram so that's good. 

We took ourselves out to breakfast and then right back into our nice, cool cave.  We came out blinking into the heat/sun on Monday morning to go back to work and although it was still warm, it wasn't as bad.  The rain came Monday night and swept the humidity away.  Today is about as lovely a day as you could ask for.  It's 75 degrees and sunny and beautiful.  I'm thinking a dinner in the park might be called for.

I have some finished socks but since I'm putting them away for the holidays, I'm not posting any photos.  I have done very little knitting/spinning lately.  It takes a lot of energy to keep my body cool in all the heat so there was a lot of napping.  Pk was getting cabin fever. 

We have today and then tomorrow and Friday and the weekend are supposed to be wicked again.  Pk is heading down to Washington DC for his annual galoot fest.  I don't know why these supposedly intelligent men don't hold these outdoor gatherings in a cooler month.  They hang around outside and use handtools and sweat.  If the weather holds, we've taken Monday off and are heading to the beach for the day.  I love the beach.  Like walking in the woods, it makes me feel peaceful all the way down to my core. 

Other than that, life is quiet.  Kate has a birthday coming up. My youngest child will be 22 (how did that happen?).  She is having us all for dinner and Patrick is making the cake. I told him that whatever he did for Kate's birthday, there had to be cake.  She didn't get one last year and has mentioned it for the entire year.  Birthday cakes are de rigeur in our family. 

And I thought I'd report on the Keurig.  I like it.  I'm not fond of their k cups and will probably not buy them.  I will invest in a second filter to use my own coffee.  It's nice to come downstairs and put my travel cup under the spout and push a button and within a minute have a cup of hot coffee.  Pk can put a tea bag into a cup and have a hot cup of tea in a minute.  I set the timer to come on at 6 am and go off at 12 so for those hours, the water stays hot.  Any other time, you just hit power and it takes 4 minutes.  Not too shabby.  Their k cups are ok.  They have name brand coffee available but it's the same amount whether you choose a large cup or a small cup so either it's strong or weak.  We have a selection of decaf cups for emergencies. And I can get them at the grocery store.  It's a convenient machine and there is less waste of coffee so it's all good in the long run.

Time to pick up the phone messages and get some charts and start work.  I have group today and have yet to decide on a topic.  I hope your weather is as nice as ours is today.  When it's this nice, I want to share it with everyone.

7 comments:

roxie said...

Napping is a splendid way to deal with the heat. Call it estivating and it's even better. You could discuss how to help your clients deal with the heat. (A cool bath is my fave.)

amy said...

Never any wasted coffee here in the summer--we keep the fridge stocked too, because I like iced coffee in the afternoon. I put a scoop of coffee ice cream in it. Even better!

Galad said...

Glad you brought up the coffee conversation. You reminded me that I need to make a grocery store run or I'll be very cranky in the AM!

Saren Johnson said...

We've had cooler temps the past two days, but it's gonna change tomorrow. Not looking forward to that.

Olivia said...

That ultrasound sounds pretty confronting. I hope your cysts keep doing nothing much (or go away? is that too much to hope for?)

Anonymous said...

i like the sound of your icy cave. and im glad to hear you got a bit of a break from the heat. hopefully it stays that way for a bit. we have no proper air con in our bldg and summer is an exercise in dealing with fellow workers grumpy craziness. ugh. and im with amy, coffee ice cream. mmmm.

Alwen said...

It's been so hot here (hot for Michigan along the lakeshore, cooler than what much of the country's been suffering through) that the movie theater, famous for having the AC so cold you needed a sweater in July, had actually warmed up a little!

But man, is it humid here today. I put Glockchen out in my hot car to dry, but I'm not sure if it will. Maybe inside in the dry cool AC would be better!

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...