Birthday fiesta.

Ah yes, the dreaded thirtieth birthday has come and gone. It was NOT as bad as I had anticipated, which I guess is a great thing, right?

SO, I started my birthday weekend at Grapefest in downtown Grapevine. Tammy, Whitney, and Whit's boyfriend Will wandered the streets enjoying wine and corn dogs. Isn't that a CLASSY combination? We listened to some great music, ate great street fair food, and enjoyed the great weather!

I got up yesterday and went over to Michael and Jen's to see my parents. Mom, Jen, and I got pedicures and then we all met up for lunch. The rest of my DFW family members met us for dinner (LOVE CANTINA LAREDO!). We had this adorable waiter who didn't seem to mind our botched up Spanish! Afterwards, I went with a bunch of girls from work to this beautiful nightclub at the Gaylord Texas. SO new and pretty and clean! We had a great time hanging out and dancing the night away! :) I think someone might have taken some fun pictures of us....but I have yet to see these! :)

This morning, I got up and went back to Michael's house to hang out some more...I think my parents just really wanted to see Liberty. Isn't that always how it goes? Right about now, I'm gonna take a nap! :) Hooray for naps! I have the next two days off of work as well, so hooray for days off!

Home sweet home.

Tonight, I am happy to sleep in my own bed. I am unhappy to have crappy cable again, but maybe it all evens out. It's strange to be in such a small space again...going from over 1200 sq. feet to about 600...but that's also okay.

I am hoping to sleep uninterrupted for greater than 6 hours. Pray for LONG and RESTFUL sleep!

Here's some pics from the week. Hilarious!

I do love to sleep.

Oliver, Liberty, and I are still hanging out in the wonderful land of good cable. The puppies are behaving themselves quite nicely. Oliver spends most of him time either staring out the window into the courtyard or curled up in Sam's dog bed. It's funny because Oliver and Liberty have never had dog beds. They've always just curled up on the couch or in a blanket. After this week, I'm seriously considering getting them one. Who knows.

Work is going well. I've got one of my three recent transplants out the door and the next one is on the launching pad to go out early next week. The third is having a little more trouble, in fact, she landed herself a trip to the ICU this afternoon. Poor sweet baby.

I am NOT ON CALL! :) Not on outpatient call. Not on donor call. There is NO reason for me to be interrupted in the middle of the night! Hooray! We do have some sweet babies on the list right now, and I would love to be there for their life changing experiences, but I do need my peace and quiet! I'm already not sleeping well here, so I'm thankful to get back to my house where everything's the same...that is, except for the fabulous cable. :( I do have to spend much of the evening tomorrow cleaning. Oliver has shredded toys EVERYWHERE and it looks pitiful. I'm sure Jennifer would never let it get this messy, but I have priorities! :)

Anyways. I'll post pics of the puppy frolics once I get my camera cable. So sweet!

Housesitting...

While Michael and Jennifer are in San Francisco, I am happily house sitting. I mean, really, what's not to love? There's FABULOUS cable (any would be an improvement over what I have now!), another sweet puppy (the emotionally scarred one is being boarded, poor thing), and lots of room for my other two puppies to run around! I've already watched Food Network and moved on to Hallmark for old people mystery shows like Matlock and Murder, She Wrote.

At the moment, Oliver is trying desperately to get a bone out of this treat toy Jennifer and Michael have. He is licking it in the hopes of success, but he's not succeeding so far! Liberty is perched on the couch, watching him in case he happens to drop said bone. Sam is circling him and mostly looking for his mom and dad. Silly sad boy.

I'm on call today, both for donors and outpatients. I've mostly been left alone, but have occasionally received weird calls that can TOTALLY wait until Tuesday. I guess I should be thankful I am not receiving them in the middle of the night! I completely expected to have a heart offer on one of our kids this weekend, especially since it seems that all the key players are on call that have been doing all the hearts this year! AND it doesn't help that I've done ALL of the last 5 transplants, and our other coordinator keeps catching a break! Oh well, those sweet kiddos needed new hearts and I wouldn't have traded being there with them for anything!

I am completely exhausted right now, and really tried to take a nap, if I hadn't kept getting called by patient families. I got up at 4:45AM to take my friend Dana and her precious daughter Zosia to the airport. I've got some sweet pictures of the adorable baby, but of course, they are on my camera which is at home. I'll be picking her up tomorrow afternoon, but her plane doesn't get in until 1PMish.

Oliver is still trying to get that treat. I'll say this, he is QUITE determined. I thought he would have given up by now. AH! I am happy to report that he has NOW obtained the treat and is quite done playing with the holder. Silly boy.

Not much else is going on. Guess I'll sign off. Hope your weekend is great!

Puppy craziness

Here's some pictures of the wildness I am currently experiencing...

Weekend warrior...

Okay, so perhaps I'm just a WEE bit overzealous on my title. I would imagine being a warrior meant lots of work, lots of effort, and many things accomplished...none of which has occured this weekend! :) That's okay, the longer I work 8-5, the more I realize how much I need to cherish my weekends! If I am running around wildly all week, I absolutely need to relax! Today, Liberty and I have just hung around the house. I have been reading most of the day, a pastime I dearly love and do not get to do enough of. I still have to finish the Harry Potter book, but today, my goal was to finish out the Shopaholic series. (It's absolutely as classy as it sounds!) I've got about three more books waiting to be read, so I don't know if I'll delve into those anytime soon. I seem to go on spurts with the reading. Some weeks, all I want to do is read. For the last couple of weeks, I haven't wanted to do any! ODD!

Next week, I am completely by myself at work, which is always interesting. It's usually very busy, which is GREAT! I don't mind being busy, and it usually makes the time go faster! I don't end up sitting around going "I am so BORED!". My manager is back in town this week, which is also fabulous. I've got lots of things to talk with her about....

I think that's all that's going on. Have a beautiful week!

Excitement abounding...

After four days of doing practically nothing and having Liberty follow me EVERYWHERE, one would think I'd be more than ready to go back to work....but NO WAY. I'd take another week of this lovely lounging around in a heartbeat. I have no desire to go back. The only thing luring me back to work is the knowledge that I am doing the inpatient side this week. I always enjoy this side more, only because I get to play with all the very sweet inpatients. Hopefully, in my two weeks of inpatient, I'll get to send most of the babies home.

Today, I'm going to find lots of things NOT to do to pass the time of my last day off. I'm NOT going to clean. I'm NOT going to do laundry. I'm NOT going to think about how little I want to go to work tomorrow. Instead, I'm going go to lunch with Jennifer, I'm going to read nonsense books, and sadly, I'm not going to spend any money.

This week should be a good one, especially since I'm only working four days! Shorter weeks always make for happier people. It's also pay week, which is absolutely the way to make people happy! :) The bad part of this week is that Liberty is already being absolutely pathetic. She follows me everywhere, and I'm afraid she's going to be a pile of pitiful doxie after having me her all the time. Oh well, I guess I can undo all the damage I've done the last five days! :)

Such is my very exciting life. I redesigned my blog while I've been off....hope you like it! :)

My maniac baby.

SO, with all my free time, I've been playing on YouTube a lot. I found a video of a baby dachshund, right after it was born. Liberty was so intrigued by it! She kept cocking her head and roaming around the computer, looking for the baby. I never thought she had any mothering instincts, but I guess that's not the case! I actually got it on video...so thought I'd share it with you!




I'm sad that these people named that doxie baby "bruno"...and I wish they wouldn't breathe so heavily on the video....BUT it's really all about Grace's hilarious reaction!


Isn't she crazy?

VACATION! :)

Sometimes the best vacations are the ones where you do nothing but sit and relax. That's the kind of lovely vacation I am currently experiencing. I have not had the chance to do this in several months...more than 6 I think. I know it may seem low-key to most, but oh well.

Yesterday, there were two highlights to my preciously pitiful day. #1: I went to Michael and Jen's and played with their puppies while their mom is away. I watched food network for the first time in MONTHS! :) It was such a happy time. #2: I rearranged my living room and bought a wireless router for my internet.

Doesn't that excitement make you wish you were me? :) Liverty is getting very VERY spoiled with all this attention and mommy time. I'm sure I'll have to undo that next week!

Guess I'll go back to my pitifully boring and perfectly relaxing day!

Donate Life

I have always been a fan of organ donation, even before I took a job in transplant. I think that if you can give life to someone after you are no longer around, that should be your final gift! What an amazing gift it is! Texas has recently started a registry that will let you tell your family exactly which organs and tissues you'd rather not take to the grave with you! :)


www.donatelifetexas.org


The website's really great...it even goes through the myths and facts about organ donation. AND I'm always available to tell you what an AMAZING impact your donation can make.

FINALLY!

I'm OFF CALL! :) Okay, so it's a short lived excitement....but it's all I have. To sleep with my pager and phone in the other room is a lovely concept. I've been having a grand time. Staying out late, sleeping late....all things I haven't had the chance to do while I've been tied to the pager. Again, let me say that I don't HATE being on call, but doing three transplants in 2 weeks really tires one out. I just wish I wasn't the heart good luck charm :)

Oliver's gone back to Becca's this week, and Liberty's quite the mournful creature. I even bought her these bones she LOVES, but she won't touch them. It's probably because Oliver's not here to chew them first. She noses them around, but seems uninterested. Pitiful. Ungrateful beastie.

Other than being off call, there's really nothing interesting happening. I have had a chance to play with an old friend the last couple of weekends, and that's always fun. Last night, we went to the rodeo...oh yes, the RODEO. We saw the most interesting people, and most interesting of all...Whiplash the cowboy monkey. It was hilarious!

Anyways, that's all the fun over here in the grand land o' Dallas. I've got next Thursday through Monday off for what I like to call "relax time". I'm thinking of doing the massage thing, and probably a host of other relaxation things! I'm still sore from taking a flying leap down the OR corridor, so it might be good to relax! :) My manager is very dedicated to me taking my time off, especially since I have more than 200 hours saved up! I've got five day weekends throughout August and September, which will be SO SO nice! I haven't taken any time off since February! :)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Continue to pray for my babies who are all recovering from their transplants....and some still waiting! :)

Job woes.

I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.

Now that I've said that to convince myself, let me further deliberate. I love most aspects of my job. As much as I HATE getting calls/pages in the middle of the night, I don't mind going in to help a child have a new chance at life. In fact, I LOVE it! I absolutely love being there for those families. It is an experience I could never EVER explain. Walking out to those families to tell them "Your child's new heart is beating" is a phenomenal experience. I literally have goosebumps the entire time I am walking out to tell them. I love being able to TEACH all day long...and have it be something worthwhile! I LOVE making connections with the kids and their families. I love having so much responsibility, and having people trust what I say. That's very important to me. I love that I have a great secretary who keeps me on track. I am SO blessed to have great doctors to work with, including one I am quickly becoming kindred spirits with! (Only Anne lovers will get that one!)

Now that I've spoken all the wonderful parts of my job, let's delve into what I don't like. I really don't have much to complain about. Sure, the long hours get tiring. It's very hard on my body physcially to be up for so many hours at a time, but I don't mind doing it. I DO mind my main co-worker. The fact that she gets in my business every minute of every single day is thoroughly bothersome to me. I can't seem to do anything without her having some question "What are you doing? Who are you talking to? When did you pee last?" Does it matter? If I could get JUST a wee bit of praise from her, I'd be absolutely shocked. I've learned never to expect it from her because all I am going to get is criticism. BUT, in the grand scheme of things, it really does NOT matter what she thinks of me. What matters is what the doctors and patients think. Do they trust me to make good judgements and decisions? Does my manager think I'm doing a good job? These are the important things. SO, I'll let her play her passive agressive game, even though I hate it. I'll just continue to see the good in my job, and hopefully, she'll either cut that crap OUT, or quit! :)

Have I told you how excited I am to be off donor call this Friday? The fact that we have done FIVE transplants since June 26, all on my watch, should speak for itself. I was off for two weeks, and of course we didn't do a single one while my co-worker was on call. Let's hope that our two remaining babies on the list get their hearts soon....but only after I go off call! :)

Wow. This has gone on for awhile. I guess I should get to bed. I'm SO ready for Friday. I fixate on it... :)

A klutz to the core....

Never let it be said that I am not dedicated to my job. This weekend, I took a flying crash down the operating room hallways en route to the room where a precious angel was getting a new heart. Aren't I retarded? I've got a wonderfully swollen left leg now, but a new heart is happily beating inside its new owner! :)

Oliver is currently 3 inches from my face, staring creepily. He's very upset that I won't speak to him right now, but would you speak to him if he'd peed outside his crate on your carpet? I didn't think so. Now he's sniffing my hair. Rude! :)

So, let's think of things I want to do this week.....

1. I'd like to have uninterrupted sleep. Uninterrupted by parents going crazy over weird things (Yes, transplants can have diaper rash, you don't HAVE to call me at 2AM to inform me).

2. I'd like to finish the new Harry Potter book. I read the first 6 in less than 24 hours each. This one is taking awhile because I've been so busy doing other stuff, I haven't wanted to do anything but sleep when I can!

3. I want to get a massage at the massage school...anyone in?

4. I'd like to have a moment to play with my friends....and not have to work!

Okay. That's it. I'm sure there's something else, but I can't think clearly right now. Hope your week goes wonderful!

On the homefront.

Is it really only Tuesday? It seems like this week is dragging on, but maybe that's because I've been on call FOREVER! Can you believe tomorrow is August? YIKES! In trying to fix the schedule so we're on call for blocks of time longer than a week, I put myself on call through August 8. I have had mostly uninterrupted sleep, with a couple of completely random calls here and there...nothing serious. I go off call for outpatient on Friday, so I'll only be on donor call after that. Ta DA! :)

We've had busy weeks at the hospital, with all the transplants going on and such. I've been on inpatient this week, and we've had some major milestones! We've had babies get off the ventilator, babies have to go back on the ventilator, and babies get ready to go home.

I have Oliver this week, and he's been a precious baby. He's hilarious. He got into a little bit of trouble on Friday when he bit the vet tech. In Oliver's defense, the guy did sneak up on him and go to put something on Oliver's neck...so it wasn't entirely his fault. Oliver is such a pansy to anyone who knows him. Two hours after he got home from the vet, he had already curled up on my friend Amanda's lap and showed her his stomach. The vicious, vicious beast! :) Now he's completely passed out on the couch with his sister. Sweet baby.




Well, nothing else is really going on around here. Hopefully things will get interesting this weekend, but since it seems everyone around me is going out of town except me, should be interesting. Have a great weekend! :)

Miracles abounding.

Being on call certainly opens up a whirlwind of emotions, which I believe I have mentioned in numerous blogs. This weekend, it was CRAZY! Of course, I hadn't been on what we call "donor call" in 2 weeks. This means I am the one the surgeon calls if there's a transplant. Starting last Friday, I've been on both donor call and outpatient call (when the post-transplants have questions). At 9AM Friday morning, after only being on call 2 hours, I already had a transplant to plan! All went well, and I was able to go home around 1AM. Saturday, I had planned to spend the day reading the new Harry Potter book. Well, our hospital transferred in a patient to be evaluated for transplant, so I spent the day giving orders and getting financial approval. That night, I went to the movies and saw both Harry Potter and Ratatoiulle. SUCH good movies! I got home about 2AM (it was a late movie!) and happily went to sleep....excited to spend Sunday afternoon reading my book. Well, that happy sleep was interrupted by a phone call at 4AM regarding ANOTHER transplant! That's 2 in less than 36 hours! YIKES! :) The second transplant was my precious little angel that missed out on a heart earlier in the week....we had miracles all OVER the place!

Needless to say, I've been spending my week getting caught up on the sleep I missed over the weekend. I'm on call again this weekend, but I am NOT on outpatient call too...so hopefully I'll just get to hang out and SLEEP! Liberty is VERY excited to have me actually sleep in my own bed...so I know she's going to be glad I'm home. I also get Oliver back tomorrow...so there will be PLENTY of fun around here! It's always a little quiet without Oliver. I think Liberty will be happy to see him.

I need so badly to go on vacation! I checked my time off today and I have 200 hours saved up! That is WAY too much vacation to keep to myself! I am planning a trip to Mexico this fall with some friends, but I just need to get it set in stone. I've also gotten a lot more fiesty about my time on call. I was going to have to be on call my birthday weekend, but thankfully, I am not because I said NO WAY and now I'll be free for partying!

No other news to report. Puppies are happy. Babies are getting new hearts. I am finally well rested again. Life goes on.

The pros and cons.

Last night, we received a heart offer for my favorite little baby. I've been there for this family since they were told she needed a transplant. There's just some families that you bond with more than others...and this family is so special to me! I got to be the one to tell them we had a heart for their baby, which is absolutely one of the most exciting things I have been able to do. This mom is absolutely amazing to me. After her initial excitement about her daughter's life being saved, her thoughts went straight to the donor family and started lifting up prayers for them in their time of need.

I also had to turn around 12 hours later and tell them the heart wasn't good anymore and their daughter would not be getting her life-saving transplant that night. I have begun to despise that conversation. Please keep this precious family in your prayers. It's an absolutely emotional roller coaster, and I know they would be so thankful for these prayers. I am just so thankful we discovered the heart was unacceptable before it was placed in this precious little girl.

I go back on call Friday. Nights spent with two phones and a pager. YIPPEE! Should be interesting when we have 2 kids sitting right at the top of the list! :) We tend to get heart offers almost every other day...so I'm sure sleepless nights are in order! I took a nap this afternoon after being up all night, and I feel so much better, but nothing prepares you for the adrenaline rushes of this job!

Well, guess I should find something for dinner...and Liberty is begging!

The calm...

Well, I've been off call for a week now...and I can't say I haven't enjoyed it! How nice is it to go to sleep uninterrupted, and sleep with NO phone/computer/pager next to my bed! It's weird to think how comforting that is! :) I have almost remembered what it is to have a normal existance! :) Of course, I go back on call in a week or so, but I think it will be different this time. Hopefully, it will be for the better.

I have had one of my favorite babies admitted this week. Her mom and I have formed such a bond, and I absolutely LOVE their family. She's sitting at the top of the transplant list right now, and I pray EVERY DAY that an offer comes through for her. She's such a little angel and I absolutely LOVE her parents.

Not much else is going on. I have been very bored at work this week, mostly because my counterpart wont' let me help her...but that's okay. I don't know if I would want to have her help me! It's such DRAMA in the heart transplant office!

Oliver went back to Becca's this week. I think Liberty really misses him! Her grandma was here earlier in the week, and now she's just mourning the loss of both of them. She's currently curled up in a little ball next to me...she's so insane.

Oliver ALSO learned to climb trees this week! At Grandma's house, he was obsessed with finding squirrels...any way he could! If that meant climbing trees, he was all for it! I'll have to post the picture of him climbing the trees...he's so funny!



That's pretty much the week! Working. Bored. That's IT! Pray for heart offers on my three waiting babies!

Only one more day....

After three weeks, three heart offers that didn't go through (but still kept me up all night!), two transplants (one of which I am getting ready to go to right now!), I AM READY TO BE DONE WITH CALL! At least for this one, I got a 1/2 hour of sleep instead of NONE! Hooray for small blessings! Let's just say I will be more than happy to return the stupid transplant phone and not wear my pager ALL DAY! :)

I do love my job. It's just hard to like it at 3:01AM when I know I'll be busy all day...on minimal sleep. Poor puppies. They will be pitiful, I am sure. Ah, there goes the alarm clock. I set FOUR alarms to make sure I woke up. Of course, I got paged an hour before I was supposed to wake up, and wasn't able to go back to sleep. Ah, the 2nd alarm goes...perhaps I should turn them off!

The cry of the unable...

Before anyone gets any wild ideas about me reproducing, let me be the first to tell you I have NO current plans for this. I just have a few friends who are battling infertility and this video was especially moving to me. There are so many people having children who shouldn't be....and so many trying that can't.

Caught up!

You never EVER realize how much value sleep has until you don't get it! Since I didn't sleep a wink on Monday night, I spent the rest of the week catching up! I am happy to say that I am now caught up! :) I've got only a few more days on my own, and then I'm going on a mini-vacation! I leave Thursday morning for my grandma's house in Central Texas and I'll be back Sunday night with my mother in tow! She's gonna spend a few days visiting up here. Liberty and Oliver are very excited to go visit the country...they mostly just like the yard! My grandma says there are lots of foxes and deer out this year...I'm sure that will absolutely torture Oliver. He does love to chase things...

I had an appointment with my cardiologist on Friday. He was mildly concerned that my resting heart rate is usually over 100. It should be 60-80. He gave me a medication to take when I feel it racing. The ironic thing is that since my co-worker has left town, I haven't had one single palpitation! He told me he would write a letter asking for her to be fired if I wanted! :) He also let me look at my echo. It was basically normal with a touch of mitral valve regurgitation. This isn't a problem right now, but we'll see what it does later on. That's why I have a murmur. Overall a good visit! I haven't filled the prescription yet...I'm such a bad nurse! :)

This weekend I got most of my house clean! I even dusted! I attempted vacuuming, which lasted a good hour before Oliver started shredding his toy carcasses all over the house. I gave up on the clean floor. At least I attempted. I still need to finish cleaning the bathroom, but that shouldn't take too long. I HATE cleaning and I really despise spending my long awaited weekends doing it.

Anyways. This should be a nice short week, especially since I'll only be working TWO days! I'm going to be on my first call this week....which means I'll get all the calls from our post-transplants at any hour of the day. I'm sure someone will have a wonderful 4th of July and try to injure themselves and need to call me. That will be LOADS of fun! I don't even know if I'll be able to go see fireworks! I'd never be able to hear a call over those!

Well, I'd better continue cleaning...or at least attempting to avoid it. Liberty is currently being punished in the bathroom for peeing on the floor. She's been in there almost an hour. She's normally decided she's done by now and barked...but no such barking.

Ah, I went and saw Ratatouille this weekend! I HIGHLY recommend it! It was SO SO cute! Pixar does such a great job!

Have a great week!