FLAG DAY
JUNE 14

It's been a rough week for everyone in the office this week. I didn't have it nearly as bad, as 3 of my days were infusion days.. but I could tell the others were working with very thin life lines.
I slept poorly again last night.. coughing, what else? I had no way of contacting my one patient I had to infuse to tell her I would cancel today, so I went on in and did her infusion. I told the boss I would be leaving at noon. I don't think I made a lot of people very happy.. sorry about that.. but sometimes I just have to stop and rest a while.. I did this today after I got home. I slept again till 4pm.. peacefully. The office manager is stressed out from the move and all the responsibilities.. I know this is so because twice today I handed her papers stating what I did and the results.. and then told her verbally. 10 minutes later, she appeared in my office and asked me if I'd done anything with those 2 charts.. hmmmm.. methinks a day or 2 off will help a lot. The doctor is now out of town for 2 weeks so things will be calmer I'm certain, though I've already been approached to work Monday..but Wendell has a doctor appointment and I'm going with him. I originally told her I wouldn't be there Monday, but with patients coming Tuesday, I guess I better show up after lunch to make sure things are as they should be.

Well it finally happened... that which I've been dreading. We got a bill today for Wendell's health insurance. I've been begging for a form to fill out since February.. actually before that. I retired in February. Our insurances were paid that month, but from March till now.. I couldn't get the person responsible for sending out the paperwork to actually do so. So I found out the address and the amount of his insurance, and in May and June have made payments.. good thing, the bill says we owe $1900+.. but actually it'll be just over $1100 to bring us to the end of July.
We have the $$ to pay it, but mine will be an extra $500+ when the first bill arrives for me- my guess is mid-July.
The sad thing is that this is my California cash that I was planning to use when I visit Nicki. I may have to postpone that trip a little while till this mess settles.
I had said to Wendell at one point.."God is preparing us for a big bill in the future, elsewise we wouldn't have this cash reserve and I wouldn't be working all these extra days." He provides for all our needs, and so on faith, I know when the time comes for me to make the trip to see Nicki, He will provide it all.

Warm here even yet..it was 81 degrees about an hour ago.. it was a sunny day and I loved it all.
Glad the weekend is here. I'm very anxious to go to church this week. Please pray that I'll sleep well Saturday night, without coughing, so I can make the trip on Sabbath morning.

It's Thursday and that means it's Biologic day for my patients. . there are 12 today and Kathy and I are splitting the day.. am and pm.. I have the pm group including her. She'll appreciate a recliner after all the patients this morning. We still have some planning and organizing to do.
So I ask you to pray for Kathy and me today.. that no unexpected events would occur, that the patients would safely receive their biologics, and that our accuracy would be perfect.
Tomorrow there is one patient scheduled.. and then I'll do general office when I'm done.

With another whopping good dose of Robitussin last night, I've again slept through the night waking up to the alarm clock. I'm so thankful and grateful for this.

Have a super day, bloggers!

Someone has been praying for me. I know this.. I feel it.. and I slept most of the night without coughing. Thank you for caring for me.
This morning I woke up to the sound of the alarm going off. Happy day!

It's foggy this morning and we should reach about 84 degrees. That's a warm one for sure. I am going to the office, but after lunch. Bills need paid, and I haven't had rest enough to think, nor time enough to just sit down and do just that.

The task ahead of you
Is never as great
As the POWER behind you

Today I got to be a nurse again. I do love my job.. no kidding. This was our first infusion day in the new office. The 8 recliners were delivered and 5 patients (guinea pigs) were infused by me. I can see a definite need for a stool on wheels and a basket on wheels too. The good doctor says the stool will be purchased for me for sure. I need to find that basket though. I used a chair to move my 5 completed charts to his desk- my back ached so that I could bearly walk. I had to bend over each patient every half hour for vital signs.. and that took a toll.
My 2 newly sanded/painted IV poles were used and all the patients were impressed that we got NEW poles. I told them about how Paul took a tour of the office on Saturday and ended up taking the poles home with him.. the doctor was VERY impressed and even he thought they were new! Thanks Paul..you are a gem!!
Tomorrow I'll do an afternoon there.. the morning is mine to write up our bills.

Still not sleeping here.. but I did get some sleep last night after taking a whopping dose of Robitussin. By 4am I was coughing almost continually and that's when I decided to get out of bed and get ready for work today.

Tonite I'm really weary. I need some sleep badly. I wonder if I'll get that much needed rest?

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.. sunny, bright and HOT!
It's already 74 degrees and the anticipated high is to be 92.. WOW! Now, that beats snow, ice, and sleet any day.
I will again repeat that I am thankful for our house AC and in my car and in my new office.
I'll be headed there shortly.
I missed church yesterday.. I coughed all night and got no sleep.. it was a repeat last night.. don't know how to handle this allergy thing. I know I don't like it. I'm so weary again today..not refreshed as I should be. And I'm still coughing.
Pray this goes away soon..

YOU GOT ICE KEEM GRAMMA?

At 89 degrees this afternoon, I got out the end of a tub
of chocolate ice cream
and we all enjoyed a cone

Annabelle had just wakened from her nap and was sweaty and warm.
Ice cream just hit the spot!

Paul and family stopped by this afternoon and while they were here, the kids located Charlie's new baby chicks. They weren't the least bit afraid of the children, and each one picked one up and had a picture taken..

Daniel and David

David

Joyce

David and Paul

Power in Prayer

The power in prayer

[Jesus told them,] "Now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven."
Luke 24:49 NLT

Though the Bible be crowded with golden promises from board to board, yet they will be inoperative until we turn them into prayer.
F. B. Meyer (1847-1929)

Golden promises

Before Jesus sent out the disciples to take the message of the gospel to all nations, he assured them of his promise to send the Holy Spirit.
That promise motivated them to continue with one accord in prayer (Acts 1:14).

God's promises are provided to stir us and inspire us to pray.

Those precious promises—there are hundreds throughout the Bible—show us things God has purposed and wants us to ask for, just as he wanted his disciples to ask for the Holy Spirit so they would have power for ministry.

These golden promises teach us about how to pray, and they build our faith.

"If I am to have faith when I pray," said American evangelist R.A. Torrey, "I must find some promise in the Word of God on which to rest my faith.…If there is no promise in the Word of God, and no clear leading of the Spirit, there can be no real faith."

Today, ask the Lord which of his promises he wants you to pray about. The Holy Spirit will fill you with power from on high to accomplish what needs to be done.

THANK YOU, FATHER, for the promises in your word. May they be incentives for me to continue in prayer so that your will may be accomplished and your kingdom will come in my life, family, nation, and world. Holy Spirit, thank you for dwelling within me and for filling me with your power. Let my prayers be pleasing to you, Father, as your Spirit leads me in praying in light of your promises.

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Praying through the Bible by Cheri Fuller, Tyndale House Publishers (2003), entry for April 29.

Looks like we are in for a summer day again today.. This past week we had mid 90 temperatures, and today it's to be 91 with a small chance of thunderstorms. I'm thankful for air conditioning.

I had my first gas pump shock yesterday when I filled a nearly empty tank in my car. I never let it go much below half before filling it up, but yesterday was different. At just a little over $37 for my dinky little tank that holds just a tad more than 10 gallons at best, I nearly choked when the pump stopped there. When I bought the car new a few years ago, I remember boasting that I could fill the empty tank on less than $12 ! Those days are gone forever I suppose.

Monday our new office opens for patients. It's been a busy weekend putting our individual offices together and then the general office. Those girls have really put their hearts into this project. They deserve a medal for all the work they have done and without any temper incidents at all. Each one has been kind and considerate, realizing that this is a mammoth job and little time to put it all together.

My own office needs a few personal touches yet.. and a few boxes emptied onto the bookshelves. My big infusion room felt a lot bigger yesterday when it was my responsibility to sweep the floor.. oh, my aching back! I bought a Swiffer to keep in my office for general cleanup. Out of sheer necessity, the office will be open today for those who need to finish preparations for Monday. I'm not one of them.
Paul was kind enough to take pity on his Mother.. he stopped by for a tour of the building and to pick up some empty boxes.. While on the tour I showed him my 2 rusty IV poles that I needed to refinish before Monday. He took them home with him. He and his buddy were going to try to sand blast the poles and repaint the chrome. WOW! It saved my back and a big project for yesterday afternoon so that I could finish my own preparations for Tuesday.
Wendell has a doctor appointment Monday, and then I'll be going in after to help get the 'opening day' moving. I'll likely be answering the phone after I mop the infusion room floor and pull my charts for Thursday. It'll be an interesting week.

I've updated my BeautiControl page

Wow!! Hot one today! It was in the 90s and so very very sunny. A really gorgeous day if you were inside looking out.. Joyce and I were inside for the most of the day. She came to work with me and set up my files for me. What a peach! We moved the biologics from one refrigerator to the medicine refrigerator in the new kitchen at the office, made an inventory as they went on the shelves and it was so neat when we got done. This morning I bought bins for the big cupboard, and she put the IVs and tubings in the bins. Then we rearranged the whole cupboard for the 2nd time. We had pizza for lunch .. compliments of one of our Reps. Nice! She's coming next week to see the first patients in the new office receive their treatments while resting in comfort on new recliners. WOW!
When we left, my new phone was installed and the desk was cleared off nicely. We boxed a lot of stuff that goes on the book shelves since we lost the "doodads" that hold the shelves in place.
All the files were in order and the new hanging file frame was holding the files perfectly. I had time to make out 2 weeks of schedules before we left. I'm going in tomorrow to do more paperwork and to try to get my old IV poles presentable for the new infusion room. The plan is to dig off the major rust, sand the minor rust, and smooth it out .. then I got chrome paint to complete the "look". I hope it works. If not, I'll be calling on someone for a sander.
I took my paycheck to the bank and then Joyce and I went shopping at KMart. I found some things I needed for tomorrow and I think I'm in pretty good shape to get started back on Tuesday. Wendell has a doctor appointment Monday, so I'll go in later after he gets home. The setup of the new office isn't the easy job the last move was. This one involves many more computers, faxes, phones, and all sorts of equipment. The file clerk was all set to go by 3pm, and was working on pulling charts for later this week.
We worked so tediously today, I totally missed taking pictures.. sorry Joyce. Maybe you can visit my office and I'll take your picture in my chair?
I'll try to get some tomorrow.

OFFICE MOVING..DAY 2

Thursday the movers came to the old office and packed everything into the big van. Around 11am, it arrived at the new office and the organized chaos began. Though P3 had carefully labeled every box of mine with a big "RN".. only 4-5 of about 15 boxes actually arrived in my office or outside my door. I had taken Daniel with me as a helper, and his one spectacular accomplishment for the morning before the movers arrived was fixing the bottom drawer on my desk in my office. It was off the slide, but worse than that, had 3 pennies and a thumb tack stuck in the track. He figured out the problem with the slides, and when he set it all up straight, the drawer moved in and out with ease, and they lined up perfectly. If he had done nothing else the entire day, this was the most important and the most appreciated. Atta Boy Daniel!!
He spent a lot of time doing general cleaning, wiping things down that were dusty.. and then after the movers arrived, he unpacked boxes and put items on shelves. Very good helper and worked hard. We found some leftover chairs on wheels and used them as carts to transfer our lost boxes from one end of the building to the other.
There was a snag for him.. Elijah, the 7 yr old son of the PA arrived with toys and a hand held playstation.. and this drew Daniel's attention in a big way. He found a new friend.
It was okay.. I had a lot of office unpacking to do and putting things away.
Today, Joyce will be coming with me to help set up my files in the drawers. After we finished yesterday, we went to Staples and bought the things necessary to complete that task today.
It was a matter of the frame for hanging files, a 2 hole punch, and then our tabbed file folders.
By the way, I'm looking for a small 2 drawer file cabinet to put next to my desk.
My bookshelf arrived in good shape, but most of the shelf holders were gone. I wonder where one would buy these?
I have 2 IV poles that HAVE to be sanded and painted before next week. I'll need steel wool pads and some spray paint to fix them up as they should look.
My phone should be installed today, and by the end of the day, I should be able to make phone calls without difficulty.
Today my big medication refrigerator will be defrosted and I'll plug it in with the hope that all the refrigerated biologics will be there at the end of the day.
It appears I may need to buy a long table for the prep room.. we'll see. That can be done this weekend if need be.
So.. gotta get things ready to take in today... More tomorrow on how things go

THE BIG MOVE 1

Today started the big move to our new office. It's so thrilling to be moving to a place with 4 times the space of the present office.. We now have room to spare and then some.
I picked up little Paul this morning and we took off for the old office and joined right in packing all my supplies and marking them accordingly. He was a super helper. I couldn't have done it without him. He not only unloaded the major closets, but packed the boxes with expertise and sealed and marked them for me. He was a great packer.
After one of the reps brought us a pizza/salad lunch, P3 and I packed up the extra boxes of stuff and drove down to the new office and he unloaded them all. He assisted me with getting my new desk put together where it needed to be..and helped clean up too.
The movers arrive tomorrow and will be bringing us all the boxes we packed carefully today. Daniel is coming with me to help unpack my supplies and put them on a shelf in the big storage room. Then there is a matter of getting down under the desk and wiping it down so it's clean.
I hope my file cabinets arrive tomorrow too.. and I'll have a bookcase all to myself, and a huge locked cupboard where my other supplies will be kept.
On Friday, Joyce will be going with me to get the files started. It should be fun and busy.
The telephones were being installed all day today.. I'll have one for just me in my office. I'm hoping to have things in order by Friday so that on Monday I can be 'in business' and have patients in by Tuesday. The new recliners are to arrive Tuesday, so I hope the first patients will be able to enjoy them.
More tomorrow...

I was just thinking about creating a new blog for myself.. one private one that I wouldn't have anyone else have to read with my whining and complaining.. and realized that these things are actually a red flag to others and myself to pray. We are told in scripture that we are to be content, and though I am for the most part, I also have physical ailments that I never dreamed I'd have. Consider this "whining and complaining" as part of a road map for others.. what's happened to me, may happen to you, and how I deal with it all. Ultimately, when I fall flat on my face with whatever befalls me, you can depend on the fact that while I'm down there, I'm praying and crying to my Father for help. He's always there and He lifts me up.
Monday was bad. No, worse than that.. horrendous. I found myself with more than just the gravel throat of Sabbath day.. I'd begun to wheeze, and my peak flows were plummeting deeper into the critical red zone where one is told to seek medical assistance.
By Monday night, I was not able to sleep because of the coughing and wheezing, and by Tuesday morning I was feeling like I was breathing through a straw. Try that if you want to know the way an asthmatic feels when they are having an attack. It's scary to say the least. I know how Wendell feels now when he can't catch his breath. Monday night we talked about just going into the local emergency room for treatment, but then, my doctor would be back Tuesday morning and I was concerned that I might be admitted if I went to the ER. So I held out.. and made the appointment for early afternoon yesterday to see my PCP. It was about 2 hours before my scheduled appointment that I again gave consideration to the ER. Major bronchospasms were leaving me exhausted.
My doctor confirmed what I already knew.. that the asthma was out of control.. and said the wheezes were everywhere- much like a wind tunnel. I really love my doctor..he's so sympathetic and goes out of his way to be considerate and helpful.
He took away one steroid inhaler and gave me something different to see if we could get things controlled better. He gave me a bag full of sample meds to take and try for this month before I see the allergy doctor June 25 for allergy shots. He also gave me a nebulizer treatment before I left the office. I had a handful of scripts when I left.. some for things I had to have filled now, and some for later if the samples work well for me, and some for free scripts from the drug company.
Wendell drove up the street to my employer's office and we parked in his lot. Before I went in, I sorted the scripts between those to be filled now and those for later. The 'now' pile I placed in the recess under the radio in the car. Wendell saw one of my scripts slip through a micro slit under the radio and into the dashboard. Wouldn't you know it was a 'scheduled' drug and now it was gone. We talked about going to Country Motors to have them remove the dashboard to get to the script. UGH.. I really didn't need this.
I went into the office to see my doctor employer about taking P3 with me Wednesday to help me pack for our move to the new office, and told him of my dilemma. He told me to go right back to the PCP's office and though there are signs everywhere that they don't replace scripts, to tell them what happened and request a new script. The girls in the office, giggling and shaking their heads at my story, wrote out the new script. Even the doctor got a chuckle out of the situation.. but I got the script reissued thankfully.
By the time we got home, I was beginning to feel more relaxed and human again.. the wheezing had begun to settle, and was handleable. I went to sleep..
This morning, after a fair night's rest, I'm ready to go to work.. I'm not over all of this, but I'm improved somewhat and that's a good thing.
I'm hoping I can make a trip to California yet in the next month or so.. the doctor says 'not yet'. So we'll just wait it out a bit and see what the day brings forth.
Gotta get moving.. Need to stop for some cash for lunch for P3 and me.. pick up P3, my meds, and get tools together and some cleaning supplies. I'll know better tomorrow what I might need.
Can't wait to see my new office all done. I'll take some pictures to share.
I thank the Lord for good doctors and remarkable medicines to get me from the nightmare of yesterday to the glory of today.
May the Lord bless you all today as He has me..

I noticed yesterday that I was getting more and more stuffy. Allergies.... does it ever end? This morning I got up wheezing. My PF was in the critical red zone at 200, and I called the doctor only to find out he's on vacation and won't be back till tomorrow. UGH. I made an appointment for June 25 with the allergist. I don't want to do this all again all summer.
It's kinda sad when you feel good but can't breathe.

Okay.. no more whining. My problems aren't even close to so many others.
I did go to the office today and helped out. Couldn't do the phone thing since I have no voice., coughing, sneezing, dripping.. yechhhhh!
Have a great day bloggers..

The masterminds at work here trying to put an expensive little kite into the air.. unsuccessfully.









































Elmo Rocks.. as does David as Elmo dances and sings to SHOUT.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy

Well, yesterday wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated. In going for gas and the Farmer's Market for chicken, we stopped at several garage sales. It was nice. I came home with a worship CD, and some VCR movies, and a few games for the kids.
I was able to put a few more rows on an afghan I'm working on, and then start a new one for David. That's 3 that are in the works for now. Hehehe.. busy lady. I like to take the crochet with me to appointments and get a lot done while waiting for the doctor or whomever.

Allergies are my big problem this morning.. PF is only 320, which isn't bad, but I've lost my voice pretty much.. more like gravel throat. I know that the wheezing can follow at any time, so I have to be more careful.
Picnic today.. after church. Just the family meeting for supper. How delightful that is. I'll take some pictures and post them later.