Today I met a little boy who his doctors have diagnosed with autism. My sitter called and said that her daycare could not take him today so Missy told her to bring him with her. He sat with me and we looked out the window, we watched some TV, but not really.

I tried to hug him but he yelled. I tried to hold his hand but he pulled away. We finally connected making my jewelry. He separated all my colors for me. He strung pearls, and he straightened out all my threads in matching colors. He never looked at me in the eye, just past me…but I talked all day to him. He never answered, but he knew what I was saying. I talked about my grandchildren, my daughter, I sang, and even told him a secret. A secret I told him no one else knows but him.

When he left, he patted the top of my hand—his version, I think, of holding my hand. And he brushed up against me. I want to think of it as a hug. I gave him the pearls he strung and he gave them to his mom…he put them around her neck and I saw he was proud. Read more…

Her tiny, delicate face haunts me
Perfect round structure
Purple bruises line her cheeks
Closed eyes, left one black

Wild dark brown hair
Fine and Full
Flat in the back
Long, wispy and straight out

Red lips in a perfect pout
Closed mouth
What truth is trapped inside?
No more breath

Creamy white skin
Limbs that lay limp
Ten fingers and toes
Soft and cold to touch

Metal and Plastic equipment
Mucous and blood
Sea green sheet
Everything lifeless next to her

Photographs and swabbings
Gloves
Police and investigators
No family

Nurses, EMT’s and techs
Anger, frustration and sadness
Tears that won’t fall
Tightened throats

Hold her tight Lord
Kiss her tiny, delicate face
Heal her bruises
Give her life Read more…

This morning I woke up to my mother singing. She was like a child, still in her crib, waiting for their parents to get them up in the morning, she was entertaining herself by singing and talking to herself. I came in the room and she looked at me and smiled and lifted her arms up to me to get her out of bed, to start her day. She said, “Hello sunshine, I love you, I am so happy.”

It didn’t matter how terrible I felt, after being up all night with terrible MS spasms and pain…now seeing her so happy, especially to see me. And then she said, “Oh I love Mondays, today is Monday. Mikey is home all day long.  Oh boy, oh boy.”

I can not explain in words the love I have for my mother, the joy she brings to my life everyday…all the bad days of her Alzheimer’s…all my pain in caring for her on days I can’t care for myself…wiped all away by just a “Hello Sunshine.” It’s going to be a good week. Thank you GOD.  Thank you for our miracle. Read more…

Being a patient patient: cultivating fortitude and calm.

pa-tient
n. a person who is under medical care or treatment.

adj. bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like.

Okay. After this week I am officially over it. I am tired of taking pills x number of times a day and at certain hours; going to doctor’s appointments and waiting; my body changing and worrying about every little change and what it might mean and if it is permanent; chemo therapy; the threat of hospital stays, and therefore hospital food; looking into the future and seeing more doctor’s appointments, more chemo, more prescriptions. Bah. I want this to be over. I am not patient, so I don’t want to be a patient.

Emily Sorman, LPN will be traveling to Cusco, Peru with the organization A Broader View. There, she will be working in a small community clinic or hospital providing basic medical care. Most indigenous people, especially the children, lack medial attention. These clinics provide necessary health care including dental check ups and immunizations free of charge.

In her own words,”I am excited to be submerged in another culture where I am
not completely comfortable. I want to understand what it is like for those who don’t have access to the resources we have in the United States. I want to learn and brush up on my Spanish skills. Most importantly, I want to help others who are in need. This is my life’s passion, and it is why I became a nurse. I am looking forward to applying to an LPN to RN program in the fall. Many require volunteer health care experience. I can’t think of a better or more unique way to get this experience.”

Emily feels fortunate to have worked for Swedish Visiting Nurse Services as a Home Health Nurse. Due to financial constraints, the company closed its doors April 27, 2012. This job meant the world to her, but she refused to let it get her down. Read more…

Recent testing of mercury concentrations in three national brands of canned tuna found that:

“55% of all tuna examined was above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safety level for human consumption.”

And the problem appears to be getting worse. Previous studies on canned tuna, in 1993 and 2004, showed concerning levels of mercury contamination, but not as bad as it is now. See my profile of the paper in my 2-min. video Which brand of tuna has the most mercury?

Given the average level of mercury pollution found in canned tuna, researchers suggest that your average 9 year old would exceed the EPA limit even if they only ate a can of tuna every 6 weeks! They conclude: “These results indicate that stricter regulation of the canned tuna industry is necessary to ensure the safety of sensitive populations such as pregnant women, infants, and children.”

Some question whether the federal safety limits are even sufficiently protective. A recent review from researchers at Harvard and elsewhere on the adverse effects of mercury in fish proposed that the exposure limits set in the United States should be cut in half. Already, current regulations in the United States allow up to 10 times as much mercury in fish as the EPA limit allows, and so our fish is allowed to have 20 times more mercury than may be considered safe. Read more…

Trivia Question: Which state has the highest rate of obesity?

• West Virginia
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• South Carolina

Answer: West Virginia has the highest rate of obesity, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Its obesity rate (35.3%) is accompanied by the highest rates of diabetes and high blood pressure. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for adults, overweight and obesity ranges are determined by using weight and height to calculate a number called the “body mass index” (BMI), a number which is calculated based on a person’s height and weight. If a person has a BMI of 18.5-25, he or she is considered to have a normal weight range. People with a BMI of 25-30 are may be considered overweight for their height and weight, and people with a BMI over 30 are considered obese. The CDC estimates that over one third of Americans are obese, leading to $190 billion in annual medical costs.

  Read more…

By now, so many months later, I’ve heard mostly everything that has been said about strokes, including upsetting rumors, dreadful untruths, and uplifting myths. Let’s take these issues one at a time. The comments in parentheses are mine. I’ll give you examples, too, even though it’s sort of painful to do so. But, hey. I’m here to teach you about strokes, so I’m obligated. But it’s so hard to hear that stuff, from people who just don’t know.

Upsetting rumors

When I was at Rehab X, I overheard (yes, I was eavesdropping) two stroke patients conversing.
“Could I get worse than this?”
“Sure. I heard from a nurse that sometimes, a stroke can turn into measles.” (Measles come from a virus. The nurse doesn’t know jack! The scary thing is, why doesn’t she know?)

Or this one, heard from a CNA:
“If you don’t brush your hair regularly, you’ll lose most of it.” (Hair loss comes about for many different reasons, and one of them is trauma. If you’re “out of the woods” as far as strokes are concerned, most likely your hair will grow back).

Dreadful untruths

Untruth: A stroke survivor who was giving a talk said, “Stroke patients die more often than not.”
Truth: Nope. Read more…

On the show this week is RN, humorist, author Terri Tate. What makes all the wrong things funny? Terri Tate will tell you. Terri claims that humor saved her life. Most people wouldn’t find two bouts of disfiguring oral cancer, 30 plus hours of surgery, 7 weeks of radiation, endless complications and a 2% chance of survival all that funny. Terri wasn’t laughing the whole time but claims that her sense of humor never completely deserted her. Nineteen years after treatment—alive and laughing, Terri talks about her remarkable path and her new book, As Is.

Wiz kid Cameron Harris is stops by for a visit. Some of you may remember Cameron, at the ripe old age of sixteen, started a podcast company (Harwood Podcast Network) that now boasts over 900 different shows. The line up includes IN RANGE Cameron’s show with his advice about how to live a healthy active life with Type 1 Diabetes. Cameron himself was diagnosed at the age of eight.

Also with us is D.C. Correspondent and National Nurses United Legislative Advocate Donna Smith. Donna gives a great answer to the question–why don’t we see the following headlines in the media?

• “For Profit Healthcare Poses Threat to Medicare, Federal Deficit, and Overall Economy in Coming Decades”
• “Social Security Trust Fund Even Larger Than It Was Last Year”
• “Growing Wealth Inequity Will Lead to Social Security Imbalance Later This Century”

And of course…Lynn Ruth Miller talks about her mother’s use of vinegar in her award winning segment, In My Day. Read more…

“Yes Ma’am” he says over and over during my triage of him. His accent is thick and Southern. He tells me he is “here in beautiful Maine with a Christian group doing some work at China Lake Christian Camp and that he has a little problem with some chest pain.” This young man—early 20’s—is a big burly kid with a smile that lights up the room. He is jovial and kind, but nervous about his pain. He tells me about an irregular heartbeat that usually doesn’t cause pain. As I talk to him he continues to call me “Ma’am” and just smiles every time he says it… He calls the doctor, “Sir” and the lab tech “Sir”…he is so polite I can barely stand it. (He is not our usual patient.)