Thirty years ago this month, we made a life transition. I left my jobs at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Johns Hopkins University as an adjunct nursing instructor. My husband left his job in Delaware at the Nemours Children’s Hospital in Newark and we moved, “home” to Buffalo, New York. We…
health
Gratefulness
It’s been a weird fall. There were days that have been very hard, such as the first day I saw my mom on a respirator in ICU. Or, the day we had to fly emergently to New York because she was in ICU. The day she was admitted to a nursing home, and then, the…
Traveling While COVID is Still Raging
Today, I’m going to offer some tips on things we did to protect ourselves while traveling during the COVID 19 pandemic. We traveled three times in 2021 to see my parents in western New York, twice by car and once – the last time, in an emergent situation – by plane. The trip from Wisconsin…
Slice of Life Tuesday: Personal Effects
Over the last month, I’ve written several times about a health crisis our family had with my mom. It is now four weeks after sepsis landed her in an ICU bed for a week. This was followed by a step-down inpatient unit for a few days, until a rehab bed was secured in a transitional…
Slice of Life Tuesday: Just a Very Long Day
Today has been such a long day. It started out fine. Yesterday, I agreed to get up and walk with my husband when he took our dog for her morning constitutional today to the local nature trail in our town. I walked the same trail yesterday with a good friend in the morning. It was…
18 Days
Last night was the first time I slept in my own bed in 18 days. No, I was not on a trip. I was caring for my parents in another state. Our care involved three, one-way plane rides, three 888 mile trips on the I-90, and staying at my parents and my sister in law’s…
Poetry Friday: Words Won’t Come Easily
Finding time to write in the last two weeks has been difficult. And, when time is found, the words just do not seem to come. This is unusual for me and it is not writer’s block. It is because I have been helping to handle a family crisis. My mom has been in the hospital…
Case Comparison: A Free Verse Poem
Football stadiums are full. Colleges, Big Ten, Big Twelve, and Otherwise. Pro teams large and small, Now fill their seats like Nothing can fall. But, there’s a virus in our midst. High school sports are playing, too. Parents, friends, and fans lined up to fill The buildings and gyms to the walls, Like nothing is…
Slice of Life: A Few Weird Days
It’s Tuesday. I had to remind myself of that when I woke up. It was dark and I heard rumblings in the distance. My husband was already gone with the dog for their daily walk. Knowing I did not have any morning commitments, I got up and ate. Slowly, I started to wonder what I’d…
Sleep and Devices
Last week, my Fitbit device gave me a sleep score of 57 (poor) on a night I thought I had slept well! So far my opinion of my sleep and the technology’s assessment of my sleep had been compatible. Now, I’m re-thinking my decision to wear this advanced wrist-watch to bed. In other words, if…