Can't see straight...

Well, let's see. I think in my last post, I was saying how TIRED I was...well, that's NOTHING compared to what I feel like now! I have been awake since 5AM YESTERDAY morning. Ah, the life of a transplant coordinator. I had no sooner walked in my door at 6:30PM yesterday evening when I got a call from the transplant surgeon saying we had an organ offer for one of our kiddos. That started a long night of endless phone calls and traipsing around the OR which finally finished around 11:00AM today! :) I finished up pressing matters at work, and then scooted on home to SLEEP! Hooray! :) I'd love to take off tomorrow, but I have clinic, so I'll be bright and shiny at 8:30AM! :)

Okay. It's time for sleep.

I long for uninterrupted sleep....

I've been on call for a week. It's been mostly okay, with the exception of a few sleepless nights for transplants that haven't happened. All I can say, it will be very nice to not sleep with a 2 phones, my computer, and my pager next to my bed! I've got a week and half to go. This week should be more structured, especially with the transplant doctor back in town and on call. Hooray for structure!

Other than that, there's not much else going on. Oliver met Max today with no serious issues. He mostly just sniffed him and tried to get him to play, but Max was more interested in hiding.

I've been trying to plan vacations so I'm not stuck here in Dallas all summer, but so far it's not working out. Everyone's schedules are crazy, and it looks like it will be after my birthday before I can go have fun! Ah well, everyone needs a break at some point! :) I'll just save up my fun until then!

The thing I need to learn about being on call is how to LIVE while on call. Ever since I got a call last night, I've been staying close to home, almost afraid to do anything because I might miss a phone call. I even entertained the idea of sleeping in my living room last night so I would be sure to wake up if I was paged! I guess the newness will wear off eventually....I just hope it is sooner than later!

Puppies need love...gotta go!

All alone....

Well, the time has come. I am all by my self at work. Of course, I've always got back-up in case I need it....but I'm essentially alone. I've got the fancy palm phone, just waiting for it to ring and say "Hey, we've got a heart, call in the family". Now, just my luck, we'll get all the kids transplanted while I'm alone and I'll be busier than I know what to do with. BUT, that hasn't happened this weekend. It takes me longer to get ready to go now, there's not an option of leaving my cellphone at home. I have to have my pager, cell phone, and palm phone at all times...even in church! Today, I got paged in church, and I was rather surprised that my heart didn't jump the way I thought it would. Thankfully, it was only the floor saying hello, but it was still weird to get paged in church! :)

The next couple of weeks aren't as busy as usual, mostly because the transplant doctor is gone as well, but I'm okay with that. So, aside from going everywhere (including bed) with a host of phones, I'll be learning how to do the job alone. Then, when I'm not alone anymore, we can split up the tasks and not have someone in my business at all times! HOORAY!

Well, I'm sure there's a puppy around here that would like some attention. Guess I'll go find them. :)

Heart Update

I got a call from the cardiologist's office today. My stress test was NORMAL! :) My echo looked beautiful! NO Mitral valve prolapse! :) All the tranmissions I have sent them with my event monitor have been basically normal! I've got a lot of periods of tachycardia, but no premature beats out of my atriums or the ventricles. ALWAYS a good thing! So far, so good! I still have two weeks of monitoring. I DO know that I have a murmur, which at this point is innocent. I'm sure I'll be back at the cardiologist after everything is over, but at this point, my worry level is much less!

All is well here at the ranch. Hooray!

Birthday Girl

No, It's not my birthday yet. I've got three more months to play in my 20's! It's Liberty's birthday! I know all of you who have children and mortgages are probably rolling your eyes at the celebration of my dog's birthday, but hey...I don't have any of those things. I can take a moment to celebrate the being that's lived with me for almost 5 years!

SO, Liberty Grace is 5 years old today! She is still one of the most bright spots of my day! We did a lot of travelling today! We went to buy her some special food for her birthday dinner and ended up buying a birthday shirt as well. A little girl wanted to pet her in Petsmart, and when she was told it was Liberty's birthday, she said "Hey! It's my recital today, so that's TWO special things in ONE day!" How hilarious is that!? Kids are so fun!

After the shopping trip, we went to visit Sam and Max. Lib had never met Max until today, mostly because I didn't want her catching the neverending cold Max has had. ICK! So, today they met, and I'll say that Max was much more interested in Liberty than she was in him!

Liberty and I also went and visited her sister and brother. They shared birthday greetings, and then commenced with the sister attacks. After the bonding, we went to Home Depot to buy a curtain rod. A Home Depot employee followed us out to the car, asked me if he could hold her, and then carried her to the car for me. Of course, I was juggling a purse and a very large curtain rod, but whatever buddy! Just carry the dog! :)

Anyways. It's the end of a very long day, and I am looking forward to sleeping tonight. YAWN! Here's a picture of Liberty in her birthday shirt! Isn't it perfect?

Rainbow day!

Beautiful disaster....

Three years ago, it rained every single day in June. I had just moved into the duplex, and I was convinced it would never stop raining. This is pretty much how I have felt the last couple of weeks. It seems to not only rain, but bring large sheets of torrential downpour onto my house/car. I know that North Texas is getting out of a drought, but PLEASE! We've had ENOUGH! :) I did end up getting the most beautiful pictures of rainbows, but my computer is being evil at the moment. If it finally lets me, I'll post them. As a result of the rain, the mosquitoes are out of control because it never seems to dry out. It seems to be a festering ball of mosquito births. EW.

I had my appointment at the cardiologist today. I had an echocardiogram (sonogram of the heart), a stress test (lots of running on a treadmill), and placement of a 30 day event monitor. It was a busy day! It really made me feel for our kids who are poked and prodded with all kinds of monitors day in and day out. I don't know about our echo techs, but mine today was ready to HURT me! She poked that stupid wand into me so hard I have bruises. Ah well, if it helped her get better pictures, I'll just keep quiet. She said everything looked "Basically okay", but I'll take what the doctor says over her. The nurse who did my stress test was pleased with how I did. My heart rate got up to 191, but that's completely in range for someone my age. The event monitor is for me to be able to tell the doctor's office when I am having my weird fluttering/beat skipping episodes. I just press this little guy up to my chest and hit record! I don't even have to wear anything! HOORAY! No stickers! After I hit record, I just have to use a land line phone (of course, which I don't have) and transmit the recording. I asked the nurse and it's okay to use my work phone.

That's IT! Nothing else exciting happening. I'll try to post that picture again...nope. Not letting me. I'll have to try it tomorrow. Until then... :)

Beautiful lazy day!

I forgot what it's like to have weekends off. I have worked weekends since December 2000. I was teaching school at the time, and wanted some extra money. I worked all week at school, then every weekend at a hospital. It's been THAT long that I haven't been working weekends! They are so wonderful! I still despise working 5 days a week...I'd love to just work three again....but that's not in the job description.

I've been busy at work lately. We've been doing a lot of new evaluations. I just think this year is going to be one for the record books! Last year, we only did 10 transplants. We've already done 8, with three more on the list and 2 more in the evaluation process. CRAZY busy!

Today, It was just nice to do some things around the house and play with the puppies! I was supposed to go to the movies, but that didn't work out. Instead, I went over to Amanda's and hung out on her patio and ate brownies :). In talking with her, we discussed the medical mission trip to Honduras she went on in February. I think I'm actually in a job now where it's pretty easy for me to take off and go...so I am considering going with her next year. It's 10 days of HARD work, but I'm definitely not afraid of hard work!

Monday, I go back to the cardiologist. I'll let you know what happens...