Grandpa dying...and other various updates on things that I haven't posted about for a while, or just random items I wanted to throw in, just to make y

our day, since you checked my blog again...so faithfully.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”-C.S.Lewis.

What an awesome quote!!! I totally love it.

Well...my dad's dad is slowly dying. He had been in a nursing home for numerous reasons. He had a massive heart attack on Friday morning, and was admitted to the hospital immediately. Tuesday, they found out he had double pneumonia, and kidney failure.

We went up to visit both grandma (who's also in the nursing home up there) and grandpa on Sunday. As far as I know, Grandpa is a Christian. Of course, that is only really known between him and God. I kind of think that it would be best if Grandpa died pretty soon. No more suffering for him. And most of the family is either already there, or coming in this weekend. We'll just see what happens. I'll try to update the blog if we find anything else out. (i.e. major changes in his condition).

I worked at the S-'s new house on Monday and Tuesday. I was working with J, L, S, J, J, and W. Plus two sheetrockers. We sheetrocked almost the entire upstairs walls and ceilings. I am sooo sore. I am totally not used to working with sheetrock up over my head. In fact, I'm not used to working with sheetrock at all. :) I had a massage today, so that made up for a little bit of the soreness.

Last Thursday, I had my 2nd clinical rotation. I was on the Post-Surgical ICU ward. Okay, so last time, when I approached the nurses station to find out what I was doing, the stuck me with a nurse for the 2 hours that I was there. This time, in the ICU, they told me to do whatever I wanted. Just walk around, visit all the rooms, talk to whoever I felt like talking to, etc...So I did. I helped with a bed turning, and helped clean a room out. And I watched/helped with a lung suctioning. I almost passed out at that one. The fellow doing the lung suctioning was a student at a local college. He was being supervised by a respiratory therapist. Anyway, he was up the nose and going down the back of the throat with this tube, suctioning the whole time. Then all of the sudden the junk he was suctioning up changed colors, and the RP in charge said, "I think you're in the esophagus." Yeah...the room started to get a little warm feeling at this point. I'm holding down this poor old lady's hands so she wouldn't grab at the tube going down her throat. She was coughing and gagging. So the student tries again..."nope, still in the esophagus. Pull it out a little until you can feel that you're in the back of the throat. Twist the tube around if you can't tell." Here's where my vision starts to tunnel. It would have been just fine if I was the one doing the operation, but to sit and just watch while feeling this old lady struggle under my hands was almost too much. After the guy got done, I went out into the hallway, and took a few deep breathes. The awful feeling went away pretty quickly, but I'm glad I didn't have to watch multiple lung suctions in a row.

Next week I have 2 rotations on the same day. One is watching a surgery, and the other is the same as my first, Neuro Nursing. So hopefully my feet and back won't give out. Then I've got a piano recital the next day. I'm playing a piece by Chopin, called Nocturne. The actual song itself isn't too difficult, it's just getting the style and accidentals right. And all the stinking trills. Actually, the trills make it easier, cause if you mess up, then you can trill or chromatic up or down to the right note. :)

We had our family picture taken a couple of weeks ago. Here's a couple of the results.

Don't we look grand?? Or at least like a hundred dollars?

And here's the good-looking bunch of boys. Except for....well, I won't write that. Just use whatever your imagination brings to mind. :) And here's me...trying to look smart. Notice the light bulb above my head is not lit. In fact, it almost looks burnt out. :)

And finally, here's a picture of some clouds that my sister took.