Hello, My name is Christine and I am addicted to obituaries...

I know it's morbid. Very morbid. It started out innocently enough. A glance here and there to see if anyone I know or knew had passed. Then I got my first nursing job...it became a more often than here or there thing. Move to my second nursing job... now I am hooked.
I see people most of the time at the end of their life, and unfortunately they become their disease, their meds, or their complaints. It would be nice to say that I have time to learn more about these people while they are still alive. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I have maybe five minutes to spend with a resident here or there, to just talk. Most of the time it's patient care, or giving them pills.
So when someone passes on that I knew from the nursing home I will obsessively search for their obit. (ok so when I say I knew them it means I've given them pills or taken care of them in some form or another). When I read their obit I am facinated by the little tiny glance of the person they were before they were the peg tube in room 8, or the diabetic in room 6, or the stroke in room 10.
The thing I REALLY like about obituaries is that they usually focus on the good, or major accomplishments in a persons life. I figure i have seen these people in their most vulnerable state, after their lives have been put into half a room, and they have lost alot of their former abilities. To me it's nice to know that the peg tube in room 8 was once a carpenter, or the diabetic in room 6 is a retired nurse, or the stroke in room 10 spent her life raising many children who are now successful members of society.
I'd like to think that me reading about them after they are gone is a way to honor them. Although I could just be nosey.
I've gotten away from reading only obits from people I have worked with now...I read other ones that spark my interest...people i've never heard of. People are just plain facinating, and so is what people say about them after they have left this world.

Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.

Most of you know that my husband has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Which is a whole lifestyle change and alot of adjustments. You also know that he has served in the United states military in some form for the past 14 years.
Yesterday my husband was told that his last day serving our country would be march 1 2009. They are medically discharging him due to his diabetes and what they call the "inablity to be deployed" He had a chance for an appeal but he needs his commanders backing, and the chance for a non deployable position. His commander told him yesterday that he would be unable to back him because of the lack of a non deployable position.
But to add insult to injury, Chett was told that he can't get a retirement because he's not been there for 15 years. It's a pretty hard time for us. i feel very bad for chett.

A Pox on your house! er...I mean my house

So I had an incredibly long day yesterday. Which included alot of driving, a funeral, a visit with my grandma, and a meeting at work. In the midst of my nice visit with my grandma I got a text message from my husband (who was good enough to stay home from work with my kids so I could go galavanting all over the state.) The text message read "Aria is in touble" My thoughts were...um what's new. This was followed by another text message "bad bad trouble, I am worried" so then my thoughts moved onto "oh great she's done something bad enough to have my husband get worried" but thinking further I thought "well she's three what kind of trouble can there be surely the police aren't involved"
Then another message "we are taking her to the doctor tomorrow" which induced a state of panic in me. I am the OCD one with the kids' health, i have to talk myself out of taking them to the doctor for a hang nail. (yes I do realize I have a problem). So I called him. He tells me he thinks Aria has the chicken pox. So my grandma told me to tell him to put her in the tub it will bring more out. Apparently she went into the tub with three spots and came out with about 30-50.
So I leave grandma's go to my work meeting and then to wal mart for the essentials: calamine lotion, oatmeal and knee high stockings (to put the oatmeal in for oatmeal baths), oh and gloves, to stop her from scratching.
I get home the poor kid is miserable. Spots everywhere. Then she says it hurts when she pees..sure enough...the spots are EVERYWHERE!
So I take her to the doctor this morning ( the last time I saw chicken pox is when I had them at the age of 7). She does in deed have the Pox. Poor baby.
I thought she had the chicken pox vaccine. But upon a closer look at her vaccination records, she never got the vaccine. The doc offered to put her on an antiviral med...but then said it really won't help...so she is home lying on the couch watching She-Ra.
Poor baby!

Intro

Hi all...well I discovered blogspot. So here I am. Just saying hi!