Hospital Experiences - Part IV

This is the fourth post in a series with thoughts about my recent experience having an elderly family member in the hospital - focusing on how life continues on with that disruption.

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The joy of finally being released from the hospital was dashed by readmission in less than 24 hours. Now - two days later - we can see that the hours just before release from the hospital and then at home were steps backward. I am glad that now the steps are moving forward again but there are lessons the family has learned: 

• Be very reluctant about a Friday release from the hospital since there are not as many medical people in their office on the weekend. The primary option on the weekend is to go to an emergency room.
• Make sure that the sign off for release from the hospital is holistic. Our relative was sent home with swollen feet and trouble breathing when she laid flat (enough that she could not sleep easily).
• Patient advocacy is a role that family members should learn quickly. Be diplomatic but be assertive on the patient’s behalf because they may not have the energy to do it for themselves. Some examples from our experience are:
  • Waiting alone for more than a few minutes on a gurney should never happen. Ask to remain within hearing distance.
  • Multiple blood draws in short time proximity (ordered by different specialists) should be consolidated. Talk to the nurse about it and they can help make the request.
  • Ask questions - with the patient present and participating if they want and are able. In our case, the patient was interested in all the answers but was too ill some of the time to think of all of the questions.
• If there are multiple family members in the advocacy role - create a log that stays with the patient to make the transitions easier. 

Now that I am looking at this list, I am realizing that these lessons apply for anyone trying to assist a loved one in the hospital. They are certainly true when the patient is elderly.

On a personal level, I have developed some hospital room activities to keep myself collected and positive: taking a few minutes to observe life outside the hospital window, light reading, and doodling on 3x5 cards. There is a construction site outside the window that was active even on Sunday.

Snow in Dallas, Texas

There was a lot of wind during the night and a dusting of snow on the still green leaves of plants in the flowerbeds. Snow was caught in the cups of leaves and gave fall leaves topping a flower pot an extra beauty.  Enjoy the snow images I captured in a series of photos below!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 8, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

Quinoa Craze Inspires North America to Start Growing Its Own - I use quinoa in the place of rice almost all the time now

Exploring Crabtree Falls In The Blue Ridge Parkway - One of those potential places to fit in a spring road trip

Exploring The Parks: Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail - another destination to add to the list for a spring road trip

Cannibal Lobsters - behavior noted in captivity is observed in the wild too

Top 25 Photographs from the Wilderness #1 - from Africa - my favorite photo is the elephants and the setting sun

3-for-1 Match for Internet Archive Donations - since I enjoy so many books the Internet Archive has made available online, it is something I support with a donation

12 Healthy Holiday Recipes - from Marlo Thomas

Boucher’s Birding Blog: Winter Birding – The Irruption Begins! - this year is an irruptive year for  birds that are normally in Canada and northerly states in the winter. That means there are already sightings of these in the mid-Atlantic and even some southern states....and a continuation of interesting bird watching through the coming winter

Environmental First Lady Honored by USPS with Forever Stamps - we are still benefiting from her efforts to clean up cities and highways

Stained Glass Cookies - looking for a holiday craft project? These look beautiful

How (Not) to Photograph Prairie Dogs – Part 2 - narrative and photos from The Prairie Ecologist

Hospital Experiences - Part III

This is the third post in a series with thoughts about my recent experience having an elderly family member in the hospital - focusing on how life continues on with that disruption.

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It is wonderful when all the changes start turning in the positive direction ---- and how focused physical therapy improves mobility almost magically. Even after 7 days in intensive care, the improvements come quickly with the increased physical activity seemingly speeding other aspects of recovery as well. Of course, it helps to have a patient that is anxious to leave the hospital and is willing to follow directions!

On the home front - we are graduating from a sustaining focus on eating and sleeping enough to getting the house ready for a walker and more guests. It’s easy to see that the homecoming will be quite a celebration...between rest periods.

The rose by the driveway is blooming and will be one of the first things she’ll see when we bring her home. After illness, the beauties in life are all the more appreciated both by the patient and the rest of the family.

10 Years Ago – In December 2002

Many years ago I started collecting headlines/news blurbs as a way of honing my reading of news. Over the years, the headline collection has been warped by the sources of news I was reading…increasingly online. Reviewing the December 2002 headline gleanings - I forced myself to pick 10.   

1. Combining Key Ingredients Of Vegetarian Diet Cuts Cholesterol Significantly – soy, nuts, leafy greens
2. According to the most comprehensive global analysis ever conducted, wilderness areas still cover close to half the Earth's land
3. The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza consists of one million limestone rocks. The number is under half of the previously estimated amount of 2.3 million stones, indicating that the Egyptian pyramid builders were even more organized and efficient than previously thought.
4. The Eves of the dog world are five or six wolf females that lived in or near China nearly 15,000 years ago
5. The Olmec initiated many of Mesoamerica's cultural traditions, including urban settlement and monumental architecture…it makes sense that they would be the first to use a system of writing
6. Ebola shares a closer relationship with several bird viruses than was previously thought, bolstering the case for a common ancestor and hinting that birds might carry the deadly virus
7. NSF-supported researchers drilling into Lake Vida, an Antarctic "ice-block" lake, have found the lake isn't really an ice block at all. … Antarctic Lake Vida may represent a previously unknown ecosystem, a frigid, "ice-sealed," lake that contains the thickest non-glacial lake ice cover on Earth and water seven times saltier than seawater.
8. This year, the United States suffered the biggest reported outbreak of West Nile encephalitis in the world, killing 232 people across the country.
9. Someday stores may sell a jacket that senses your slightest chill and heats up before you even notice the cold.
10. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming fell by 1.2 percent last year, the largest decrease in a decade, due in part to slow economic growth and a milder winter

Hospital Experiences - Part II

This is the second post in a series with thoughts about my recent experience having an elderly family member in the hospital - focusing on how life continues on with that disruption.

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Modern medicine is full of specialists and it is not always clear which - if any - are caring for the whole patient. There is a “who’s on first” confusion that occurs for the patient and the family as each specialist comes by to assess the patient. Our family eventually started keeping a log to track it all so that we could ask questions rather than simply accept everything that was going on. The family was thus able to point out to the doctors that one medication intended to be calming - was causing heightened anxiety and agitation instead.

The food in this particular hospital is upscale - presented more like a hotel room service than institutional fare: a menu from which to order via phone (the kitchen knows the dietary restrictions as soon as they are told the patient’s name, black trays and plate covers….delivered by people in black uniforms. It is quite an upgrade from the stereotypical hospital food.

On the ‘life goes on’ front - we have finally finished decorating the Christmas tree. Enjoy the photographic show below.

I’ll write about the experience of our family member moving from ICU to a regular room….a move in the right direction.

Revisiting the Scene of Career Beginnings

Today I am celebrating the place where my career began…..this place launched the career that I pursued (and enjoyed) for the next 40 years. Now that I am making the shift to the next phase of my life - and next career - I am more objective about tracing the threads over the years and a lot of those threads go all the way back to this place.

When I first started in Information Technology almost 40 years ago - the building was as new as my career. The grass was newly planted. The trees along the sidewalk were spindly saplings. I moved away from the area 30 years ago but had an opportunity earlier this week to revisit the place.

The picture at the left is what the building looks like today. Now the grass is thin from soil compaction and too little sun. The trees are showing their age. The bushes that were planted around the foundation are gone but the flood lights that made the side of the building bright still exist. They helped me feel more secure when I arrived for test time on the computer at 4 AM 40 years ago. The brick has cracked below the large windows and been repaired. The railings along the sidewalk to the front door and the likes on poles are still the same. The whole scene looks remarkably enduring after 40 years.

I didn’t go inside but I could tell some things from the sign our front that the building is no longer used for a computer. It is a support building for the hospitals in the area so the original design for providing abundant cooling is still probably in use.

Hospital Experiences - Part I

This is the first post in a series with thoughts about my recent experience having an elderly family member in the hospital - focusing on how life continues on with that disruption.

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Our initial strategy was that we approach the hospitalization as an event that trumped anything else going on in our lives. Now that is has been ongoing for weeks, we are in the mode of developing ways to sustain that high level of support and stay healthy (emotionally and physically) ourselves. In retrospect - that should have always been the strategy.

Even with help from extended family - developing a ‘shift’ mentality for who is at the hospital - everyone is tired and somewhat frazzled. Tempers are frayed, requiring considerable will power to maintain. Everyone wants to behave in a way that will not cause later regret…but that does take energy.

As I write this - the family Christmas has been partially unpacked for the past 4 days. There are still boxes and bags of ornaments - ready to be hung but no one has time to do it. There were needles shed from the artificial tree as it was put up on the floor for days. Finally they were vacuumed up.

Everyone is achy because we are more sedentary than normal being in the hospital room. I am planning a walk to look at the building I worked in almost 40 years ago (when it was new) that happens to be across the street from the hospital.

Is this post a little disjoint? I attribute it to mild sleep deprivation!

Bradford Pear Trees

The Bradford pear trees are in full fall colors right now around Dallas, Texas. Many of the trees are quite large. The tree was very popular for medians and yards 20 years ago. More of them have survived in this area than in Maryland where there have been enough instances of high winds to take most of them down….and they are replaced by other types of trees.

Today I am enjoying the beauty of the trees in fall - remembering them full of flowers in the spring - but glad that I no longer have one in my yard.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 1, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

Benefits of gratitude -infographic

Lens, retina and optic nerves of a Daddy long-legs - image that bridges science and art

Who (and Where) is Happy? - Richard Watson’s highlighting of a ‘Happiness Planet Index’ graphic originally reported in New Scientist in June

Actin filaments - fancy biological photography

Mesa Verde Park Guide - from National Parks Traveler

Ancient Butterball - domestication of the turkey by the Mayans

Iris of the human eye - photo showing fibers that open and close the pupil

Medical Society Approval for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing - replacement for amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling?

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #30 - Which is your favorite? Mine is the black-headed heron.

Wildlife with Marvelous Mustaches

November 2012 Doodles

In November my focus was on creating doodles that could be included in my decorating for Christmas. Quite a few of them were done on a light weight fabric that is suitable for display on windows which are visible in some of the photos below.

Enjoy the November 2012 doodles below! Doodle posts from previous months are here.

Yucca Seed Pods

This time of year - the seed pods of the red yuccas are splitting open in the gardens around Dallas, Texas….even while there are still colorful blooms on the stalks. I like the curves of the pods and the blackness of the seeds contrasting with the striations of the pod.

Christmas Decorations as Heritage

As I got out Christmas decorations this year, thoughts of how and when they became part of the collection contributed to the joy of unpacking the bins and boxes.

The oldest ornaments were acquired when I was in elementary school in Wichita Falls, Texas. The caroling girls candle holder (minus a candle) was a gift from a friend. The gold and red tree was part of a set purchased by my mother and then passed along to me about 20 years later; I remember the drug store as a place we got a special treat for me: ‘cherry limeade with plain water.’

The felt birds were among the first ornaments for our tree as we moved into our first house almost 35 years ago. It was a red and white themed tree for years - birds and apples and lights.

The dough ornament is part of a set made by my sister almost 25 years ago - before either of us had children.

The ‘old woman’ ornament was purchased by my mother-in-law over 20 years ago; there is an ‘old man’ too. They were just a small part of her contribution to the one Christmas she lived with us. She really enjoyed decorating for Christmas!

The ‘tomato’ is part of a set of vegetable ornaments that we got by saving labels from cans - my daughter enjoyed them as a baby and now - 23 years later - our cats sometimes take them off the tree.

I am celebrating the memories of the many Christmases these decorations remind me of today.

Butternut Squash, Kale, and Pomegranate

Butternut squash, kale and pomegranates are foods of the season. This year I am making the effort to enjoy them more frequently.

My grocery store has tubs of chunked butternut squash that makes it very easy to cook just the amount I want. I buy the largest they have and freeze what I am not cooking immediately. Butternut squash cooked in broth - mashed when it is tender - makes a great base for a hearty soup. Adding some dried onion, pepper, basic and bacon bits is delicious. One time I added a few spoonfuls of cranberry orange relish and dried parsley just before pouring it into the soup bowl; the tartness of the cranberries and orange contrasted with the squash (and the red flecks of cranberry made the orange soup even more colorful. Another cooking method is to coat the chunks with olive oil and cinnamon then bake in the over. Since the chunks are relatively small - it takes less time than a potato or whole squash.

Kale is a new vegetable for me. It is a hardy plant that thrives as the temperatures get cooler. This is my first year to experiment with kale chips. They are tasty and easy to make; simply cut up the leaves (discard the tough central stem), coat/spray with oil, season, cook for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I’m still experimenting with ways to avoid getting them too oily (spraying is probably better than putting the leaves in a gallon Ziploc with the oil and seasoning)….and trying different seasonings.

And finally -- the pomegranate. I simply cut the fruit in quarters and enjoy every red-jewel seed. They are a food that is beautiful and tastes good too - a worthy fruit to enjoy fresh and celebrate the bounty of the season!

November Sunrise

Sunrise in November….possible to photograph from my front doorstep now that the leaves have fallen from the trees. It happens about 7 AM so no need to get up any earlier than usual. It does tend to be cold. This morning - when I took these pictures - it was below freezing; there was frost on the lawn.

The early part of the sunrise has the most red - it’s my favorite and means that my favorite photographs are always 15-20 minutes before the actual sunrise.

Sunrise is always the hopeful beginning of the day but some are interesting than others. Patchy clouds near the horizon reflect the colorful light. The ones this morning were moving too. The silhouettes of trees give us scale and stabilize the context of the image.

Of course the color of the light itself enhances other images. I captured the frozen day lilies - my confused plant that bloomed in the spring and then again in the late fall. 

Enjoy the Monday after Thanksgiving!

Unpacking Christmas

Rather than shopping on Black Friday, my family unpacks Christmas. We have plastic bins and aging boxes of decorations. Last year I did some cleaning out so this year my strategy was to get out everything - enjoy it or donate/trash it. The unpacking is taking several days. The traditional arrangements from years past are not adequate to display everything in the boxes! Here are some examples of items from the boxes used in new ways this year:

The collection of small boxes from jewelry purchases and gifts (I always save them thinking I will need them for something) and small pieces of wrapping paper became a ‘decoration’ - as they filled baskets and a sleigh used in the past for a floral arrangement (and still containing pine cones and chili pepper lights). 

A collection of Christmas cookie cutters used 20 years ago for play dough was hung on the tree.

Several extra strands of lights were bundled up and put in large bowl to light up a coffee table.

Packages of glittery blue and green pipe cleaners purchased years ago at a $1 store were transformed into spirals to hang on the tree by wrapping them around a wooden spoon handle.

And the mantle is loaded up with garlands of 20 year old tinsel that has not been out of the boxes in 10 years. It fills in all the gaps between the snow globe, ceramic figures, and clown music box. I'll have to put the Christmas cards that arrive in the mail somewhere else this year.

Unpacking Christmas has been uite a creative experience this year!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 24, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

Studying Granite At Yosemite National Park - a video from Steven Bumgardener about the dominant rock in Yosemite

Willow the White Whale - video of a white humpback whale

The Big Apple's Mayor Makes a Very Scary Video - Bloomberg’s video to help us understand the magnitude of our Carbon Dioxide emissions

harvest pumpkin scones - a recipe from King Arthur Flour

There’s More To Space Than Freeze-Dried Ice Cream - a panel discussion of why space exploration is important

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #29 - my favorite images in this group are the malachite kingfishers and the robin (reminded me the arrival of flocks of robins that always signal spring in our area).

Four Family Cultures of America Identified - From a 3 year study by the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture: the Faithful, the Engaged Progressives, the Detached, and the American Dreamers. A key finding: American parents from all four family cultures want their children to become loving, honest and responsible adults of high moral character (i.e. no ‘death of character’ trend).

Can You Move It And Work It On A Treadmill Desk? - It may not work for a whole day - but what about for part of the day?

Pumpkin Cheesecake - sounds yummy

Women in IT: How deep is the bench? - Not as much as you would think. In 2011 women made up 57% of the US professional workforce but held just 2% of the jobs in professional computing occupations. Women graduates feeding the pipeline for computing professions peaked in 1985 at 37%; in 2010, it was down to 18%.

Brookside Gardens in November 2012

Brookside Gardens in November is sliding toward winter. Most of the trees have lost their leaves. There are a few maples still holding their red leaves - like the tree near the tea pavilion at the left.

I’ve selected my favorite photos from the rest of my walk through the gardens for the slide show below.

There was one rose bud trying to unfurl in mid-November and new red leaves were at the tips of the rose bush stems. Some pumpkins and other squash that had been inside the conservatory in October had been moved outside to make way for the model train exhibit that will open later in the month. Kale - purple and green - is planted to give some color through the older months to come. Mallard ducks are enjoying the ponds. And - there are still plenty of yellows, reds and greens to enjoy.

Thanksgiving Day Past and Present

Food and family are the essential elements of Thanksgiving for me. That does not mean that they are the same every year - far from it. Some years it has 10-20 people in my parents’ house. Other years only 2 or 3 were together and myriad telephone calls were part of the day.

From a food perspective, there have been some changes over the past 40 years as well.

Past	Present
Turkey or roast	Roast
Mashed potatoes	Baked potato
Candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top	Baked butternut squash
Cranberry sauce or jelly	Fresh cranberry orange relish
Orange jello salad with carrot and apple slivers	-----
Yeast rolls, plain or with raisin filling	Spice muffins
Green bean/mushroom soup/fried onions casserole	Caesar salad
Iced tea	Iced tea
Mincemeat or pecan pie	Apple chunks baked with mincemeat
Pumpkin pie	Pumpkin custard
Kolache and cinnamon rolls	----

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2012

Back in mid-August I posted about finding things to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and getting into the habit of writing it down each day reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starting. I had my outline and spreadsheet of character notes ready to go; it was a relief to finally start writing on November 1. I celebrated at the end of the day because I had successfully reached my goal of 3000 words.

Hot chocolate on a cold day. I celebrated that there were packets of hot chocolate mix in the pantry left from last winter. It is a nice contrast to hot tea.

Raking finished in the back yard. I celebrated even though I knew that it was only ‘finished’ for the day. There were still too many leaves on the trees.

Forest near at hand. Even though I live in an area that is full of houses and businesses, there are forested areas too - along the rivers and creeks, around catchment basins, in the medians and along the sides of roads. The forest has the effect of hiding the population density - a cloak of beauty over whatever flaws our ‘civilization’ has made.

The election. However fractured we are politically - the US held an election that told us more about ourselves than the polls had been screaming for months in advance. That is something worth celebrating.

Brookside Gardens could be on my celebration list every month of the year. There is always something new to see. The ‘river of leaves’ under the gingko tree was one of my favorite images this month.

Perfect score on a weekly quiz. I took a Coursera course on Obesity Economics and finally - managed to get familiar enough with the jargon to do well on the 3rd of 4 weekly quizzes.

50,000 words mark on my NaNoWriMo novel. The NaNoWriMo goals if 50,000 words and I managed to write them in the first 12 days of the month - and discovered I still had a lot of my outline to go. It took me another 7 days and over 20,000 words to finish the outline. I have had mini-celebrations all along the way; there are so many personal firsts.

A family medical emergency that ended well. I had a family member than was rushed to the hospital - had surgery the next day - and went home two days after the surgery. It was an emotional roller coaster for a few days….but turned into a series of little celebrations.

Gift wrapping. I volunteered to gift wrap packages at a local Nature Center shop to advertise the Friends group for the Center. It’s a great way to start off the holiday season - and I learned how to make a pretty bows with paper ribbon.

Previous ‘little celebrations’ posts can be found here.