OK . . . I'm feeling little trepidatious.  I'm going back to work tomorrow (Wednesday) for the first time in 2-1/2 years.

I've been "working" here at home taking care of Kobe (who is ventilator dependent), but I'm going to be working out of the home taking care of a 24-yr-old young man who has cerebral palsy.  To top it off, I'm going to work nights --- yikes!  (Maybe I'm too old for this???)

I haven't done "hands on" nursing care out of the home since 1991 when I quit the hospital.  Between then and now I did administrative/supervisory work, so this will be lots different.

I've attached a photo of Kobe "then" at 10 weeks old just before he came home to live with us as a foster child; we adopted him in 2001 and he's now 9 yrs old.

Help!  I need some words of encouragement.

~C.

C

How brave of you , I hope he is a good sleeper!

Well yeah . . .he did sleep.  But he gets Ativan to put him to sleep.  It isn't bad, but just not much to do except check on him every half hour and give him water and meds every hour through the feeding tube, check that his feeding keeps running and that he's "satting" ok (getting enough oxygen).  He didn't need suctioning while I was there.  Seemed once he fell asleep, he was just "out" for the night.

His parents are both very nice.  Mom works in some kind of administrative job at Kellogg's and his dad is an electician at the airport in B.C.  Then they have 2 really old big dogs that snore, sleep and fart all night (eeewwww!)  And a wierd cat that lays on the back of the couch and dreams out loud.  It's really quite amusing there.

Maxim (the agency I work for) is the secondary agency and is there because the primary agency has been unable to staff the weekend shifts.  So Maxim nurses (me) get the "leftovers".  Ah well, it's work for now. This is me after a 12 hour night shift.

~C.

Sounds like you had a good first day (night) back on the job. I'm back from Florida...all went well with getting Mom and Dad back home.  I'm meeting Donna Hull and quilting friends at a quilt show in Archibold, OH on Friday for a quilt show. Should be fun!!

I met Conni Swarthout Adams while in Florida and we had a ball. I'm hoping that she will be here for the reunion in August. Plans are now for she and Steve to be in UC over the 4th so maybe we can put together a little something with them.

Carol~

Glad you're back from Florida and hope your mom and dad are doing OK.  I wondered about you while you were gone and intended to call you, but didn't; shame on me!

So, which 4th do you mean?  It would be great to see Conni and Steve and have a get together with them and other classmates.  Any ideas, anyone?

I received profile info by mail from Colleen Sheridan Perry and Tim Kever.  I'll get their contact info posted soon for everyone to see.

I like the photo of you, Annette and the girls.  Very nice!

Hope to see you soon.  You and Donna have fun at the quilt show.

~C.

Conni and Steve will be in UC over the 4th of July. I'll e-mail her to get some exact dates.

Conni and I had a great time together in Florida. We spent an afternoon visiting quilt and fabric shops and got caught up. It's interesting that Conni and Colleen both show dogs....any other "dog people" out there? 

Yesterday, May 1, Donna Hull and three of her quilting friends met me at a quilt show in Archbold, OH at Sauder Farms. We had a great time and saw some magnificent quilts. Any other quilters out there? Donna has a great story about making a Christmas pillow case as a gift, then getting a thank you note stating that "pillow cases come in pairs and perhaps next year she could make another."  Well...no good deed goes unpunished, does it? LOL

Sounds like you both had fun in QuiltLand.  Couldn't open the attachment of Thelma and Louise (aka Carol and Donna???)

So glad you got together with Conni and Steve and I'm looking forward to seeing them when they're here July 4th.

ANYONE OUT THERE PLANNING TO ATTEND THE ALUMNI BANQUET?

~C.

I should say "new job again" . . . that's the way it is in home care.  I took care of the 24-yr-old in B.C. just one night; that was enough.  Then I drove to Lansing for a month to take care of a 9-month-old on a vent and now I've been taking care of a baby in B.C. since the end of June and think I've found my "niche" with her family.  This baby girl is so cute; she has a chromosome deletion, so she has a syndrome of problems, along with a trache and feeding tube.  She's so tiny; she's the size of a newborn.

I'm still working nights, but think I've adjusted.  Although I did work day shift today because her 19-yr-old mom wanted to get out of the house alone in the daylight!  I've taken her and the baby to appointments twice in Ann Arbor, too.  The mom and baby live with the mom's parents and they all are a wonderful family.

All is OK here too with Kobe.  His ENT Dr. Sterrett, is coming to the house tomorrow to talk to Ross and I about upcoming surgery for Kobe to have his tonsils and adenoids out, a big deal for Kobe, considering all his health problems and being on a ventilator.

So . . . how 'bout anyone else?  Any new jobs lately?  Or tell us about your "old" job!