Sometimes, I'm amazed.....

There's so many bad things in this world. It's not getting any better...and it's not going to! It's really great when people are kind just because they can be, but it doesn't happen very often. It's happening alot at my hospital lately!

Our sweet little transplant kiddo who was "Mr 100" is a HUGE Red Sox fan. The surgeon promised him that if they made it to the World Series, she'd find a way to take him. Well, thanks to the kindness of Grace Flights of America and the president of the Red Sox, Andrew will be sitting in the Red Sox president's box seats tomorrow night for the game! There's even talk that he may get to throw out the first pitch! WOW!

We've had a few frustrating heart outcomes lately, and not necessarily just transplant kids but heart kids in general, and that's SO hard! Thankfully, many of our transplant kids who were SO sick, are doing well right now! This weather change hasn't seemed to affect anyone yet, and we're very thankful for that! It's nice to catch a break every once in awhile, right?

Tomorrow, Michael and I are going to Washington Mutual to see if they will give me the almost $400 they charged me in late fees for something that was not my fault (unauthorized transaction took the money I had in my account and I had written checks using some of that money!). I don't know if they will do anything, but I'm prepared to take my business elsewhere if they don't. I'm taking Michael for moral support, and it doesn't hurt that he's a finance lawyer! :) SO, pray I don't lose my temper...or cry!

Liberty and Oliver are happily playing. They've just finished a wild romp around the house and now Oliver is shredding toys. I am having a Grey's Anatomy party here tomorrow (well, not party...just gathering!) and I was trying to clean the house so my friend's aren't shocked and disgusted. Oh well. There's string and toy carcasses everywhere!

K. I'm out. Hope your week is going well...and it's almost the WEEKEND! :) I'm going to Arizona next week so I'll have a 4 day week! Excitement! :)

Random stuff and some Shakespeare...

Lots of things have transpired this week! I got back from Nashville last Wednesday after 2 days of doing nothing but sitting in meetings and eating! I think it was a very worthwhile conference, and I hope to be able to implement some of them in my practice. I had Thursday all to myself (well, Liberty and I!) and ran errands and things that can't be done when you work M-F. Friday, my parents came into town! My brother/sister in law, my parents, and I traipsed off to the fair for afternoon delights! Saturday, we got up and went back to the fair! I was absolutely faired out by the end of the day, but it was fun! Saturday night, I kidnapped my favoritest transplant baby's mom and my family took her out to dinner! She and I have become friends during the six months she's been in Dallas. (She's from Odessa)

Sunday was an absolutely wretched day. I got a phone call that my favoritest transplant baby (the one whose mom I had kidnapped the night before!) had coded multiple times and the family had decided that the baby had enough and was withdrawing support. This baby is an absolute angel. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and adorable smile. I have grown so attached to her over the last few months! Needless to say, I didn't have full control of the tears at that moment. I drove up to the hospital to spend time with the mom and her recently passed baby. I helped mom give her precious angel a bath and dress her in her finest while she waited for her husband to arrive from Odessa. Everyone who had ever cared for this sweet diva was absolutely crushed and it's gonna take me a long time to recover from this one. It never EVER gets easier to lose patients, but it's especially hard when you've gotten attached. Monday, I was able to help this baby's mom grieve by going to the scrapbook store and helping her pick stuff out for the last scrapbook. Again, mothers and fathers should NOT have to bury their own children, but what a blessing it is when they know that they will see them again someday! This precious mom told me Sunday she could never have gone through all this without her faith!

I really love one of the last quotes from Hamlet, and I thought it absolutely fitting for this little angel...
"Good night, sweet princess, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"





Rest in the arms of Jesus, my precious baby. You've earned it!

Nashville romping!

Hello from Nashville! Apart from the very small viewing of the GORGEOUS mountains outside, I have mostly been stuck in meetings all day! I am staying at the Gaylord Opryland, which is POSH and FREE (to me! SO glad my hospital pays!). I've got a beautiful king size room with windows overlooking the atrium to this horrifically gaudy hotel! I would have been happy with mountain views, but I get views of the beautiful waterfalls INSIDE the building! :) Guess I better be careful what I romp around in!

Conferences always leave me INSPIRED to do my job better and more effectively! I always learn so much! I am very excited to share my knowledge, even though most of the people I work with on a day to day basis are resistant to change! I get to go to another conference in Arizona in three weeks, and that will be even BETTER!

Okay, guess I should go frolic in my fabulous room. I mean, really, wouldn't you? This place is AMAZING! I'll post pics if I figure out how to send them to my email! :)

A time for celebration!

Oh, I am so sublimely happy right now! :) I'm off call! After an absolutely horrible week last week, I finally have started sleeping through the night. This week hasn't been so bad. I've hated my job a lot less this week, too! After being so exhausted at the beginning of the week (from lack of sleep either for reasons of weird insomnia or busy with transplanting kiddos), I've gone OFF call and HOPE to have more sleep! Not quite sure what I'm planning to do the rest of the week, but I know tonight I'm doing absolutely nothing!

Next week is going to very interesting! I'm actually going to Tennessee next week for some transplant conference. I kinda got pulled in at the last minute! I'd already taken some time off next week so I could go to the fair with my parents when they come to town, so I won't be at work from Tuesday to the following Tuesday! HOORAY! I absolutely need a break! Ta DA!

This week, the hospital has been overtaken by the Joint Commission, a group that audits hospitals to make sure we are following rules and regulations. This means a bunch of people who know nothing about our hospital are traipsing about examining everything. They're pulling people into every nook and cranny to explain all rules and stuff we do on a daily basis. It's quite nervewracking. Thankfully, all reports we've received so far say we're doing a good job, and they haven't found anything big.

So, now I eagerly await my pizza delivery (hooray for pay day!) and watch House. It's a grand life I lead!

The One Hundreth.

WOW. What a fabulous job I have. I was present today for the 100th pediatric heart transplant at Children's Medical Center. It was an AMAZING experience. There were TV cameras EVERYWHERE and I just couldn't seem to get away from the cameras. This precious family were such good sports, too! Sweet boy just gave interviews like he'd been doing it his whole life!

www.cbs11tv.com

Here's the site to the story. It's in the right hand column under videos. Just look for the sweet little boy!

How blessed am I to be a part of this program!

Dumping ground.

I don't like to use this blog as a dumping ground. I enjoy sharing all the little nuances about my mostly boring life...and try to keep things light and cheery. My life is normally wonderful, and I don't usually have much to complain about.

BUT...that's not the case right now. If you're not interested in hearing how my life truly is this week, this might be the point where you click over to one of my lovely friends blogs. BUT, if you're fully prepared to experience the week of disaster, please read on..especially since I'm needing support from my friends!

These are in no particular order, except the order they come into my warped and crazy stressed out brain.

1. My manager is taking another job. For most people, this may seem like a wee thing, but my manager literally keeps me from killing people. Well, I guess people is not accurate. PERSON is accurate. I'm extremely worried that the new manager is going to let the person in question get her way all the time. I'm not asking for much in life...just for some equality and organization. I have until November 2 (when I leave for a conference) to convince her to stay. I don't think I'll be successful in that one.

2. I had to take a sweet patient off the transplant list because she's too sick to be transplanted. I held her mother in my arms while she was absolutely losing it over this daughter. To see how much she has done for this child, and to still hear her say "I wonder if I did everything I could and if I am a good mother" broke MY heart. She told me that she has been praying that God would keep letting her know what she needed to do about her daughter, and today before she even knew what was going on, she thought God had told her it was time for her to come be with Him. What do you even SAY to that?

3. I walked by a room today that was undergoing full code. Compressions, intubating, bagging, tons of drugs, you name it. Seeing that stopped and a baby that can't be saved being placed into its mother's arms is a sight people should not ever have to see. Watching that mother weep into the wild head of her child's hair will absolutely mess you up.

4. I opened my mail yesterday and got a stupid red light citation. How retarded. They have all these stupid pictures with the red light blown up so you can't possibly refute the charge. They do give you an option of disputing it in court. How retarded. Who would POSSIBLY do that? There's $75 I'll never see again...

5. Another precious transplant baby had a really hard day after a procedure yesterday. She's very special to me, as is her family, and it was very sketchy for awhile as to how she was going to do. She's doing better today, but there's no telling. I wish she'd behave.

6. I feel like garbage. Let's just say, I'm really wishing God had decided to place the child bearing duties on men. Enough said.

7. I can't sleep. I not only have problems falling asleep, but I wake up between 1-2AM every night and can't go back to sleep for another couple of hours. My REM cycle is completely off, and I have no idea how to fix it. I've tried making it hotter in my bedroom, making it cooler, sleeping in shorts vs pants, no caffeine vs caffeine. All of it doesn't seem to make a difference. A very easy way to fix this would be taking something to help me sleep...BUT the big kink in that plan is that I am on call this week. I'm afraid I wouldn't wake up if I got paged, and that would not be acceptable. The lack of sleep combined with my increased stress and very increased hormone levels is not making me not a nice person.

Okay, the complaining session is done. Please pray for my spirits to lift. It's getting really old...

Whirlwind.

Last week at work was a BREEZE! I had taken off Monday and Tuesday for birthday fun so I only worked three days last week! The last three days were still VERY busy, so I guess I kinda made up for the shortness!

Oliver came back to the house yesterday. He and Liberty are curled up in a ball on the couch. Every once in a while, I hear some sort of noise to let me know they are still alive. I have just awakened them, and Liberty's angry growls have made Oliver scamper off to sleep in the very wee dog bed across the room. They are pathetic.

This week, I'll be alone in the office! My very annoying co-worker has decided to scamper off for another vacation, her THIRD set of time off this month. Oh no, I am not bitter at all, I just find it ironic. I've been off all call for 2 weeks, so it was my turn to go back on starting Friday morning. So far, it's been fine. I can't complain!

Many exciting things happen this week! First of all, THE FAIR STARTS! I do love the fair! I need to go get my season pass from Kroger this week so I'm ready! I know my parents are coming up later in October to play at the fair! Michael and Jennifer and I are already working on our plan of attack for the wonders of the fair! This weekend? BoysIIMen is playing! Does that not bring you back to high school? I have very fond memories of trips to district competitions listening to someone's borrowed tape on my Walkman. Such great times...

Anyways...guess I could go do something productive before the day goes completely away..

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!