A body in motion

A body at rest tends to stay at rest, 

A body in motion tends to stay in motion

These were my thoughts when I woke up this morning and was loving being in bed. Loving it. But I got out, went to they gym, and have been "in motion" ever since. Love it!!

P.S. Favorite magazine, read the whole thing every month = happiness!!

Little Miss Late

I am always always late. I was born late (like 2 or 3 weeks or something, you'll have to ask my mom), I wake up late, in high school I was suspended from a few swim meets as a punishment for being late (I had 45 "tardies" in one class - the teacher did openly dislike me which didn't help - and I went to the vice principals office and everything, it was horrible), there have been far too many times I've run after my parents car carrying shoes, a sweater, earrings, and everything else I didn't quite have a chance to put on yet as they were leaving (on time) for church, my first kiss wasn't until I was 19, dates are nearly impossible to be on time for, etc. I'm just late! I try though. Don't think I have resigned to this fact and accepted it as a permanent part of my life, I really do try.  In fact, I have only been late to work once since the beginning of the year! Woot woot! But it requires super-human efforts for me to be somewhere on time. So yes, if I'm on time I feel a little like Wonder Woman.

5 Months

I'm a little disappointed today. I had a patient on Friday who has been in the hospital for a very very long time. When I worked on Thanksgiving (yes, meaning last NOVEMBER! That's a long time to be stuck in a bed) he came down from the floor and was a bit of a train wreck. He was vomiting everywhere, uncontrollably, and it wasn't pleasant (the kind where it hits the wall 12 feet away). He was miserable and very sick. Since November, things haven't really gotten better. He has been in and out of the hospital and nursing homes, including many surgeries and a long stay in the ICU. He came back to my floor this past week and I took care of him again on Friday. Oh how being sick has aged him. His hair has gone from grey and thin to white and scarce; his face is hollow, his body much more frail and weak. He was pleasant and kind and we had a great time. However, he also told me how hard it was for him to see the weather getting so beautiful, he didn't want his window open and he asked not to be turned towards the window. He said it was just too hard being stuck in his bed and not being able to go outside. This broke my heart. If ever I'm feeling sad or frustrated or anything, simply going outside makes such a difference to me. I really feel that being outside, feeling the sunshine on your face and a little afternoon breeze can solve most of the world's problems. For someone to be unable to go outside who would really like to was hard for me. This is something I'm truly passionate about in taking care of my patients, if I ever have a chance to take them outside, especially if it's been such a long time like it has for my poor little patient on Friday, I do anything and everything I can to get them there. Sunshine fixes things. It was too late in the day for me to do anything about it on Friday, but I told him I would tell the next nurse and if she needed me to come in the next day I would be there to help get him outside. I called on Saturday but the nurse was too busy to take him out. I called again today to see if it was possible. We set up a tentative appointment at 3:00 and a little before 2:00 I got a phone call telling me he had refused physical therapy and was pretty grumpy. The nurse told me if he got a little more pleasant or if anything changed they would call me, it's almost 5:00 and I still haven't heard anything. I'm working tomorrow as well so I'll try again, but it's so hard to see someone so miserable, alone, and sick and want something so simple for them. It's quite a hassle getting a sick patient outside and usually they are only strong enough to last 15 to 20 minutes, but it's so good for them and it makes them so happy. I'm hoping for tomorrow, I hope he gets better, I hope he can heal enough to leave the hospital and go somewhere maybe sunshine is a little easier to come by.   

Who Are the Mormons?

There are a lot of questions right now regarding "who are the Mormons?" Or, in other words, members of  

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

If you have any questions, please ask, but I liked this visual representation. There is also a really great website, lds.org, that can answer all sorts of questions and has a lot of neat resources. Hope you enjoy!

When things go pear-shaped

Today in Relief Society the teacher said something that made me think twice, she said "sometimes in life, when things go pear-shaped". I liked that. Pears aren't usually a "favorite" fruit, they are greenish-yellow, tart, lumpy, and mis-shappen. What a great way to say that sometimes things turn out, just maybe funny-shaped and not the way we expected. I come up with such great plans and an idea of how everything is supposed to go, if it were up to me, but then they don't. I have to re-calculate and come up with a new, great plan, that usually doesn't work out either. However, when I look back on things I am truly grateful for the way they do turn out. It's yet another reminder of how much Heavenly Father loves me and directs my path. He allows me to change plans, have experiences, and learn things as I go, for which I am incredibly thankful. I just need to remember to keep my chin up an keep going, because sometimes things just go pear-shaped.

Hands

I love my patients. Most of them are pretty old. I love asking them questions and learning from them. My favorite thing to see is patients who have been married for a long time. They love each other and I love how they show it. They hold hands, they watch each other sleep.

They talk.

I love how they keep each other company. I also love soft, wrinkled hands. Kind eyes. Pink nail polish. Cotton-white curls. Wrinkles. Laughing lines. Chanel No. 5. Fragile. Sweet. Innate strength. Denture paste. Determination. Family. Tissues. Floppy ears. Grandchildren. Nightgowns. Old wedding rings.

But mostly their soft, wrinkled hands.