My Maniacal Misfit Menagerie

This post is actually being written at the request of my coworkers. Plural. More than one asked last night. You'll need a little background to understand, but they assured me that my misery should not be self contained; but rather, placed out into the world for all to enjoy. I'm a special care nursery nurse. I take care of premature and sick babies. Last night my patient assignment consisted of 2 babies. They had feeding tubes in place and would only be attempting to eat by bottle 1 time each for my entire shift. It should have been an easy night. Of course, it wasn't. You see, I've also been dubbed the human laxative. Last night I was having a particularly productive night, much to the unending delight of my loving and supportive colleagues. In an effort to try and promote growth, especially for our most fragile patients, we try to let the infants sleep, only waking them for care time. That's when we do our assessments, vital signs, feedings, changes,  etc. We try...

We got Winnie shortly after we lost our cat Larkspur. He was a lovebug and rarely got into things he shouldn't. Winnie is not cut from the same cloth. After posting about our loss on Facebook, a friend suggested Winnie might be perfect for us. I was reluctant, because it was far sooner than I was ready for. But it turned out to be just what I needed. I sometimes refer to her as my therapy cat. Not because she's well behaved, you understand, but because she is a great distraction. She is my shadow. Even now as I write this, she is at my side to "help". In the beginning, she was still in her tiny-kitten-sleeps-all-day stage. Coincidentally, I was going through yet another med change which left me inclined to sleep all day as well. We were soulmates. Because of my fibro and a side order of Reynaud's, I am always cold. Always. Even in California in August. Since Winnie has no body fat, she is constantly looking to snuggle, especially under the covers. As such, I br...

Just over a year ago, my husband took me to New Orleans for a surprise anniversary trip. I had never been and we were only going for the weekend, so I decided that we would need to average about 46.279 tourist stops a day to cram in a small portion of what I wanted to do down there. It was Friday night, so I figured Bourbon Street would be a great place to hang out. Saturday morning I wanted to wake up early and try this charming cafe that sold beignets. We got off the plane, checked into our hotel, and my downward spiral began. I felt like someone had attached a vacuum to me and sucked out all of my energy. Just moving was an almost insurmountable task. To be fair, I work nights, so I assumed I was just a little "off". No big deal. Bourbon Street would still be there tomorrow. We didn't wake up quite as early as I planned, but we still made it for my beignets. Holy moly. Well worth the trip! We managed to do a couple of things here and there, but not nearly as much as I...