munchkin392

Shelbi-I am really good at the whole JCHOA restraint checking thing since I am an ICU nurse! (You know us ICU nurses think a good patient is a restrained patient, preferably on the ventilator so they can't talk back to us! Ha ha! A little warped ICU nurse humor for you there...bear with me, I just got off work and I am a little punchy!) On a more serious note, I am glad that new med seems to be working for you without any really horrible side effects. Antidepressant side effects can really pack a wollop at times. Have a good Sunday!

Mini-sounds like this one may be the doggie for you! She sounds adorable! I soooo hope her and Keeley get along!! I am telling you, both my abused dogs are so grateful they have good homes now, I think they would do anything for me. You won't regret adopting her if she is the dog for you. (Although you may want to hunt down her previous owners and kick them around a little to show them how it feels! I know I have been tempted every time Brutus hunkers down because he thinks someone is going to hit him, or even if he just hears a loud noise! HOW can people treat animals like that?????)

Adork-I am glad they figured out what is wrong...and even though it is another operation, it is an easy fix and you will feel much better!

Adork- WOWZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You look fantastic sweetie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbdown::thumbup: I miss your blue tonge avatar too, I was going to ask you where it went also! It always made me giggle too! (Dee, sometimes I think we are too much alike!) Dee-That is very cool about the lunch and the cute little old man. I don't think you're wierd, I have little old people I want to take home with me all the time because they are smart, witty, and full of stories!!

Adork-that is a GREAT idea! Dee should be the patient liason for out of town patients!! How cool!! Congrats on your four pound loss!! Dee-that was as always, so nice of you to look after Bellas daughter. I went to Target yesterday too! Get anything good? I love, love, love Target! Mini-I am sorry the fur baby didn't work out. You will find one when you least expect it that will be the perfect fit. I found my dog Reilly running down the street in the middle of the night. We found his owner who didn't want him any longer, and he came to live with us. Now he is Brutus the Mastiffs very best friend in the world, so I believe I found him for a reason. You never know when this might happen to you! Maybe there is some doggy out there running around that is destined to be Keely's pal! Ok folks, so as you know I went to my PCP the other day. He did a lipid panel on me, because in September my triglycerides were high and my HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol) was low. They called me last night to tell me my triglycerides were completely within normal range, and while my HDL is still a little low, it is much better! Woo hoo!!

Lotza and GBear-Congratulations!!!!!:confused::thumbup::thumbup: Bella-I know you won't see this before your surgery, but good luck and know that I am thinking about you. You are in good hands with Dr.K, and of course, Miss Dee!!

Bella-I am so excited for you to be there awaiting your surgery. Dr.K will give you a scopalomine patch behind your ear which will help with nausea and motion sickness, and I believe he also gives you Zofran which is dissolved under the tongue. Zofran is an antinausea medication that usually works pretty good. IMO, the scopalomine patch was a lifesaver. I usually get very naueous from anesthesia and I didn't have any nausea this time at all. A HIDA scan is a nuclear medicine test that shows if your gallbladder is emptying the way it is supposed to empty. Mini-your tent is sooooo very cool. What a view. Wow!! I was hoping we would get to hear about the potential new fur baby, but I guess I will have to be patient. :frown: I saw a Mini Cooper yesterday and grinned from ear to ear because it reminded me of you. (It was not nearly as cool as Penelope though!) All I could think was "There's a Mini mobile!!" Adork-I hope your test results are ok! Shelbi-Hey lady!! Sounds like you are doing great on your mini challenge! Keep up the good work! You and Dee rock! Mal-Give that Buster dog a hug and kiss for me!! My doggies are all sacked out right now, sound asleep (like I should be)! Lap-You are an AMAZING artist!! Beautiful, absolutely beautiful!!:eek: Brandy-how is your FIL? Well, I went for my appointment with my PCP. He said he only wants me to get down to about 160 pounds, which would mean I only have to lose approximately 30 more pounds!!???:eek: While that would be nice, I would still like to lose a little more than that. But wouldn't that be great to only have 30 to go? I keep meaning to ask my fill doctor what goal weight he would like to see me reach, and I forget every time. Sigh...old age and memory loss are a b*tch sometimes! (Another thing night shift is good for...blaming your memory loss on sleep deprivation!)

Lap, Your daughter is beautiful. You always take such great pictures!

Wow, I don't even know where to start, other than reassuring you that you can vent away with us-we all have pretty broad shoulders! (No pun intended) If you need to vent, scream, cry, etc, that's what we are here for! How can they raise your taxes $400/month? Good God! You all need to move to Iowa or Illinois with me, we don't have tax increases like that (unless you live in a gazillion dollar home). I guess there are some benefits to living amongst the corn! (That sounded wierd, I made it sound like it's Children of the Corn here or something!) Anyway, I think you are totally on the right track with working out, talking to your friends, and coming here for support. If there is anything we can do other than let you vent, please let us know. And if it makes you feel better, I HAVE been emotionally eating a little bit this weekend, so you are already one step ahead of me! Hang in there!

Shelbi-Aww, more hugs coming your way my sweet friend! I truly know exactly how you feel. I quit taking my antidepressants in Feb and I need to go back on them. My temper is so much worse when I am not on them. Moody, moody, moody! I go to my PCP tomorrow and that is one of the things I was going to talk to him about. Mini-I read your science lesson, and as always, found it to be very interesting!! Thank you! Way to go on your weight loss, and good luck with the new potential fur baby! Dee-I am so excited for you!!! (He better not break your heart though or the Munchkin will be dealing with him...) I agree with Brandy, don't pull a Mini because we would miss you far too much!! Brandy-Hang in there, you are just having a little plateau, which is understandable with all the things you have had going on in your life. You have done AMAZINGLY well, and I think you look absolutely beautiful anyway even without losing any more weight!

Sidann, The cost of plane tickets is CRAZY right now, eh?? I almost fell over last night when I was looking on Expedia!!

Happy Birthday Brandy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Hee hee, you are catching up to me now!! Wink wink!!)

Well, she has said she will pay for my plane ticket if I come with, but I just don't feel right letting her do that! And there is nothing wrong with being odd birds! I kind of like being an odd bird! Kick back this weekend and RELAX and get off your feet...get your mind off of work, and take time for yourself.

My friend Shelbi, I am sending a huge HUG your way!!!

Dee, I forgot to tell you I am down 1 pound this week. I would have liked to have been down more, but considering I gained 5 pounds last weekend from that stupid metoprolol,then lost it again, I guess it's all good!

Adork- I am not really sure about the feeling in your throat, other than your fill may be too tight? I really honestly don't know! Your health insurance must be like mine, I have a lot of $30 copays also, and yes, it is alot for a copay. Ok everyone, my nursing supervisor I told you about is wanting to have her surgery done at the beginning of September. I was all excited and wanted to come out with her since I will still be off work for my foot, but I was just looking on Expedia and Travelocity at plane tickets & hotel rooms, and YOWZA. I must have gotten a really good deal last time I came out there! Things are so much more expensive! So, I am thinking I probably will not be able to come...which means I might need to utilize the bat phone list for you locals if she needs anything!:cool: I was really psyched, I thought maybe I would get to come and visit! It would have been right around RR time too!

Marcy- Looking awesome you are!!! You are doing an awesome job!!

Dee-I will look into my medical insurance covering it. It would be nice to have so I wouldn't wake up with headaches anymore. Do you wear yours regularly?

Yes, Happy Belated Birthday Woofay!!:cool: Mal, I personally would totally buy Doggie Ice Cream from you! I think it's an awesome idea! My vet is a house call vet, and my dogs LOVE it when she comes over because they know they get a treat when she is done. It would be the same premise, only at the actual vets office. Maybe puppies would like going there a little more then! They would think..."Ok, if I endure this and get my shots, then I get to go outside and have...Doggie Ice Cream!!" (Lots of tail wagging and butt wiggling to follow...) I love that Buster is getting on your desk! How funny! One time we were at my ex's moms house, and my 80 pound chocolate lab jumped up on the patio table and just sat there, looking at all of us sitting around the table like "What? You act like you've never seen a dog jump up on a dining table before!" It was mortifying but hilarious at the same time! One of those situations where you DON'T want to encourage the behavior, but at the same time you can't help but start cracking up! Little stinker!

Adork,Sidann,FW, and Mini, Thanks for your two cents regarding my employment dilemma. I have decided to stay put, mainly because I like my routine, hate change, and like the money! What can I say, I am greedy! (Hey, I have to pay for new clothes and these doggies are expensive!) But thanks for everyones input, it reinforced in my mind what I was already leaning towards. Adork-I am so glad about your new PCP, he sounds awesome! I am glad he ordered the HIDA scan, and even more glad he gets the whole lapband thing! That rocks! Hold onto him, as I am sure you already know, a good PCP is hard to come by! (Sad but true...) Let us know what the HIDA scan shows, ok? Have a wonderful Friday my friends! And you are my friends in every sense of the word...when I started having this dilemma with my job, I wanted your opinions more than anyone elses, because you are such a bunch of wise, educated, funny, and truthful women. I am thankful to have met all of you!

And yes, you should be able to eat sugar free fudge pops on your preop. Brandy-I am watching my new DMB Live At Piedmont DVD! It rocks!

Thanks for the advice everyone. And Mal, if I lived closer I would take you up on your offer because I know you would take good care of my babies! So here is the deal, I talked to one of my dog sitters, and she is talking a day shift job (she is a tech in our unit). But she will be working Mon-Fri so it will not be an issue. However, my other dog sitter is my friends 14 year old daughter, and once she goes back to school in the fall I will have no one to let them out on Fridays (unless I hire a "real" dog sitter). Once my friend who is a tech in our unit passes her boards and becomes a nurse, every 3rd weekend will become an issue. Sigh....this is what I get for having so many fur babies. FW, I can tell you are a mom because that is exactly what my mom said when I talked to her today! It makes me feel a little better that your sister in law doesn't like days-everyone just thinks you should love day shift, but I truly am not a morning person. As for the lady that came in your store, a few things. First, if her uncle had his surgery in January and has lost 40 pounds, he is right where he needs to be with his weight loss. Second, if she is eating candy and not changing her eating habits, she likely will gain a good portion of her weight back. On my old floor, we had several nurses that had bypass. The majority of them have not been successful keeping the weight off. One is bigger than she was before she had her surgery. Why? Because she eats horribly and still drinks pop like it's going out of style. Third-research shows that at the 2 year mark the average weight loss for the lapband is about the same as for bypass. And, we can keep adjusting our band! So, I hope that gives you some things to consider. Are there days I regret not having a different surgery? Sometimes. But then I think of the effects of some of the other surgeries and I am over it very quickly. I also think of all the patients I have had to take care of that have had complications from bypass, and that makes me give up my second thoughts quickly! I am not saying one surgery is better than another, I just know what I have observed as a nurse.

Ok my friends, I need help making a decision. My current job is a weekend night shift position, meaning that I work 7pm-7am Fri,Sat,and Sun nights. I get paid $7 extra per hour, plus 2nd and 3rd shift shift differential, which works out to be about $200 per pay period. My day shift counterpart is leaving to take another position, so now I am able to have his day shift job if I want it-it is essentially the same job, same days, just on 7am-7pm instead. So I would not lose my weekend differential, just my 2nd/3rd shift differential. This is my quandry-I think I would feel more human if I worked day shift, but I have worked nights for so long that I know I will have an incredibly difficult time adjusting to days. I also don't like days for other reasons: it is much busier, there is lots of hospital management wandering around bothering you about stupid things,there are always lots of family members there,there are far more doctors to deal with on days, etc. But, there are advantages to working days also, such as not losing a day out of your days off to sleeping like I do every Monday. (And I have often wondered if I would have an easier time losing weight if I worked a normal day shift job...) Basically, the only reason I would take the day shift job would be so I could have some semblance of a normal life, and to make it easier to find dog sitters to let my dogs out on days that I work. Are these good enough reasons? Remember, I will be giving up $400 per month in shift diff also. Also, I like the people I work with on night shift. I like the nursing supervisors on night shift. Help me out here ladies, I am having a hard time making a decision!:thumbs_down:

Deb-Thanks for the other mouth guard suggestion, $22 beats $350! As for your potassium test, I wouldn't think it will be too much, just call one of your local labs and ask them, they will be able to give you a price. Hmmm...Miss Dee, Shelbi, and myself are all nurses. Did I miss anyone?

Mini-thanks for the mouth guard suggestion, I will try it. Brandy-I am glad your father in law is ok. All in under 2 hours, impressive! (Our goal at our hospital is to have a pt from ER door to cath lab in under 30 minutes for an MI, we usually accomplish it, they are usually in the ICU by the 1-1/2 hour mark!) It is great that they caught it so fast and got him to the cath lab. And in my experience, while diet/exercising/etc does make a difference in risk factors for an MI, some people just seem to draw the short straw and are predisposed to it anyway. Tell your FIL to make sure he takes his medications and goes to cardiac rehab!:redface: No skimping on the Plavix! (If they put people on Plavix there, I can't imagine that they don't!)