This week...

This week, I have been enjoying the sun. It has been super warm here and I am loving it. We are also putting up a fence at my sister's house so my two autistic nephews can play outside. Fafa likes to run, is fast and nobody can catch him when he gets going, making the fence a necessity when he is outside. Marcos is getting to where he wants to run too.

Putting the posts together.


My sisters and mom putting the posts in.


Marcos when I asked him to take a picture. He was distraught, but he's so cute when he poses!

Other than that, I've been doing yard work and I have my final chemo class and test this Friday. I'm not that stressed about the test. It's an open book test and we have hands on stuff that we're working on in the morning and that is how I learn the best!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to take pictures...and I take a lot of them. Of everything and anything because you never know what will look really good. Well, I took some pictures of our fire pit, my favorite tree in the yard (which is actually a combination of like four trees), my lilacs (white and sensation) and the garden (including our fake owl.)





The tree at sunset and the fire. We put copper in the fire and it made it turn green. I couldn't get a good picture of that though. :(





















































Okay, that is all the pics that I have for today. I love the rhubarb, asparagus and strawberries in the garden. We had to re-plant them all, which means we might not get any yield this summer. On to more planting...tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelon, carrots, radishes, onions...I think that is all. Our garden is about 1/4 acre, so we usually have lots of room for things. You can see in some of the garden pics that we are surrounded by fields, and I think that helps our crops grow. :)

Yeah for Spring!!

I am so happy to be having warmer weather. It is so exciting to see everything growing. Mom and I planted beans and peas in the garden this week. I just cannot wait to get everything planted. (There is still a threat of frost for next week) Hopefully, our crop will be better than it was last year. It was just too wet last year and things didn't grow well...except for the weeds, of course. They grew just fine. Here is a picture of my flower garden. I love all the tulips and daffodils.

I had my first of three chemo classes today. When I am done, I will be certified by the Oncological Nursing Society to administer IV chemotherapy. Going to the class was kinda difficult because I'm used to being awake at night and sleeping during the day and now I have to take a class that starts when I normally am going to sleep. The class went okay, but I was super tired! It's a lot of information and I'm sure I'll grasp it eventually, it just seems like I am drowning in a wealth of oncological knowledge right now. (Good thing I have a manual for review!!)

The classes are on Friday for the next two Fridays. It's good because then I only have to work two days a week and then the class. Boy am I glad that it is getting warmer! Yeah for Spring and Flowers!!

Happy Nurses Week!

In Honor of Nurses Week (May 6-12), I thought I would share my two favorite poems on Nursing. They make me smile because of how accurate they are!




Being a NURSE means...

You will never be bored.
You will always be frustrated.
You will be surrounded by challenges.
So much to do and so little time.
You will carry immense responsibility
and very little authority.
You will step into people's lives
and you will make a difference.
Some will bless you.
Some will curse you.
You will see people at their worst...
and at their best.
You will never cease to be amazed
at people's capacity for
love, courage, and endurance.
You will see life begin...and end.
You will experience resounding triumphs
And devastating failures.
You will cry a lot.
You will laugh a lot.
You will know what it is to be human
and to be humane.

Copyright © Melodie Chenevert RN, MN, MA



When God Created Nurses


When the Lord made Nurses He was into his sixth day of overtime.

An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."

And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order?

A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying person,

and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child and not wrinkle their uniform.

They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight,

work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail,

console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby

they know will never breathe again.

They have to be in top mental condition at all times,

running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals.

And they have to have six pairs of hands.

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way!"

"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord,

"It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have."

"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. "One pair that does quick glances while making

note of any physical changes, And another pair of eyes that can look

reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say,

"You'll be all right ma'am" when they know it isn't so."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow."

"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model

that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been

hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured,

and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."

The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly,

"Can it think?" she asked.

"You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses;

recite drug calculations in it's sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate,

and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keep it's sense of humor.

This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a

multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their

door,comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper

how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse.

"There's a leak," she pronounced.

"I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."

"That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear."

"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.

"It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save,

for commitment to the hope that they will make a difference

in a person's chance to survive, for life."

"You're a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," He said.


Copyright © 1998 Alabama