Chitty Chitty BANG Bang!

I drove my old, elderly car in to work tonight.  Just before I turned into work I could hear a funky noise. 

Uh Oh.
On the first part home it dawned on me that part of the muffler must have come loose.  Okay I can deal with that.  

But as I started up a very steep hill I think the thing came seperated.  The noise was awful, it felt and sounded like I was in a jet engine!  

I had to roll up the window because I could smell exhaust.
So I thinks to myself...say, self, what if this old beastie just up and dies on you?  I reach over and pat my riding buddy, Curious George -- yes a stuffed monkey-- and tell him that I'd carry him home if the old beastie died on us.

I make it all 30 miles and then turn onto the gravel road where I creep along because I can hear the pipe scraping on the gravel and throwing rocks up into the bottom of the car.  

Ewwww!  
Hang on baby!

Putt Putt, clink, clink.  

I crept down the driveway sure that at any moment I'd hear the final death throes of the poor muffler pipe as it rode up on the gravel hump or bump.  Hound dogs started baying, donkeys started braying, and even a mule or two chimed in.  

What good animals I have, they knew something different was going on.  Even the 'yard' pony got up from his nap and pranced in the headlights.

We made it.  Curious George and I.  Another adventure in the wild wild woods ... hmm, I think I may need a muffler!  But heck, life is like that.  Tosses you a curve when you least expect it.

I think I got the Jeep just in time.  I think parts are going to start falling off the old car, but heck, it still runs like a top and gets great gas mileage!

Bang Bang!

Thank you Dr. D. at the VA

I would like to thank the VA ER staff for responding well to my hubby's issues today.

After the 'incident' yesterday at VMH, both of us needed a good night's rest.  We got up and called the VA Triage Nurse on the VA hotline.

She recommended that I drive my husband to Madison and that if he experienced problems, pull over and call 911.

After we arrived we were in the exam room within 20 minutes.  B/P was checked as well as an EKG and O2 reading.

The nurse flipped out the door and in 10 minutes Dr. D. came in to see us.  She sat down on a stool and began to dig through the pertinent information.

She sorted through what my husband was saying, nodded her head as he re-told of his experience at VMH and then examined him. 

She was worried about the B/P and the low heart rate.  She popped out of the room and was back fairly quickly.  She stated that bradycardia was not a concern as hubby's history going back before 2000 was that of a lower than average heart rate. 

Now the concern was the B/P.  His heart was normal on the EKG and she'd already read the EKG's from VMH.  This Doc acted fast, she had gotten all the notes from VMH and had reviewed the latest info from the VA.  No enzymes had shown up in his blood indicating a heart attack.

A Med Student came in and started an IV under supervision.  B/P medication was given through the IV.

Dr. D. asked for and got consent to talk to Mental Health regarding hubby's meds.  She sat down with us [myself and 'daughter' Stephanie] and listened and took more notes.  She repeatedly checked the B/P then decided to do another IV dose.

Bottom line.

Dr. D. thank you for listening to a very upset patient.  Thank you for your extra effort you took to get my hubby's blood pressure down.  Thank you for talking to mental health, for getting information, for setting up follow up appts and testing.

Thank you for being a good and patient doctor.

 

Being a patient Advocate

When you have a loved one who gets ill, you have to be able to become your spouse or loved one's patient advocate.

Not everyone is cut out for this nor do they understand how the MD's work.

Case in point.  

I think I screwed up this past few days.

I trusted the local hospital to keep my husband.  My husband did not want transport to the VA hospital.  I didn't think that was a wise move and told him so when I did see him later that day.

[I'd been out of town when this had occurred.  The scenario would have been much different had I been there in the first place.]

He began taking a new BP med.  Each day his BP rose. He got concerned when it reached 186/112.  The urgent care nurse at the VA told him to go to the nearest ER.

First.  The doctor that took his case decided that it was not the medicine that caused the rise in BP and stated as such to my husband.  My husband was offended by that which set things up for a decline in doctor patient relationship.

I went into the hallway to speak to the doctor [we are talking a nice man, but very small town doc.]

I told him that this had occurred before when the VA changed his meds and that he was having issues with his psych meds.

At one point the doctor indicated to my husband and I that he was a bit reluctant to treat him as my hubby was part of the VA system.  But he wanted to run some tests.  My husband's vitals did come up a bit bizarre and there were some 'things' that showed up 'funky' on his EKG's.

This doctor scheduled my husband for a stress test and echo cardiogram. 

However.

HOWEVER...

No one, not the doctor, not the nurses, not the techs, said a dang thing about bringing his BP down so he could do the test.

When the doctor showed up in the room for the test he stopped it and by a bit of misjudgement on his part 'seemed' to indicate that is was my husband's fault for having the high BP, indicating that the med he did not take [remember this med was the only thing changed and his BP rose drastically while starting it!] was his fault.

Okay, that is how my husband and I perceived it.

Hubby got very upset.  At that point I realized that even though I had talked with this doctor regarding my husband's mental health status, this guy had not a clue as to how to approach a man with severe and chronic PTSD.

This doctor left the room, he indicated that he had other things to do and this was holding him up.

He left a patient that was having a mental meltdown in a room full of techs who had NO clue as to what to do.

We got back to his room and I must say that the Head Nurse was awesome.  She never flicked an eye and went toe to toe with my husband.  She got him calmed down.

We waited for 4 hrs.  Not a nurse, no one checked on him.  I found that curious and went to 'find out the plan' of action.

It was shift change.  The one nurse couldn't give me answers, couldn't give us a plan.  But she did say that he was to stay as he wasn't stable.

I ran home to take care of some things.  The phone rang.

The doctor met up with my husband when he went to the nurse's station to find out what on earth was going on.

The doctor said he would not release my husband that he needed the stress test tomorrow.  My husband asked if he was so unstable why had no one checked his vitals in 4 hrs?

Blubber blubber blubber...whoops.  No answer.

And how was he supposed to get a stress test if his BP was high?

He then told the doctor to 'go somewhere' and said he was leaving.

Looking back, I think he did a good thing by 'firing' the doctor.

Unfortunately, they are calling him AMA.  Leaving Against Medical Advice.  I can't get any paperwork, but the VA can ask for it.

Funny, I think legally they have to give you paperwork.

The head nurse then walked my husband out to the parking lot [after he called me].  I couldn't find him when I arrived.  The nurse and I went looking for him.

He'd gone to ER to have his IV lines removed.

You can probably think what I am thinking of this medical facility...and it isn't something I can put on a public forum.

VMH, Vernon Memorial Hospital... got a very poor score for me yesterday.  The doctor obviously had not a clue as to how to approach a person with issues.

Gettin' There

Sometimes the 'road trip' or the drive is half the fun of going on a visit.

Morris and I were on the road before the sun came up.

At the ridge top we were greeted with a beautiful morning fog that 'hung' silently in the hollows and low parts of the fields.

As I dropped into the valley the world became enshrouded in grey fog.

I only got the see the morning sunrise when I followed the road and ended back up on the ridge tops.

The trip was pretty uneventful but it was actually pretty nice to get away from home and work for a bit.

I got to my mom's house and the dogs were extremely happy to renew acquaintance.

There were a lot of places I 'should' have also pulled over to take photos.  But I was in a hurry to get from place A to place B.

Road Trippin' by Morris

I get to go ... I get to go!  She packed my toys and washed my blankets!

I'm getting to ride in the Jeep!

First I got a bath though.

Not exciting.

 

BUT

After the bath!

Now that was exciting!

What can I say?  I love-hate baths, but feel so good afterwards!

She's Packing AGAIN ~ by Morris

Dang, she is packing bags up.  Again.  
She did it once before and left me with HIM for a very long dog while.


SHE did say something about washing my blankets and giving me a bath.  
Mebbe.
Mebbe, I am going with her?  Oh joy of joys .... not to be stuck with the Grumpy HIM!
I've been laying on her feet so she won't forget me.
I've been putting my hedgehogs in her way.  I even put one in her work bag just in case she needed something to remind her of me.


SHE sort of gave me the eye over that.
But I don't care.
I want to go with her.  And I think that might mean that I get to ride in that fancy thing she calls a Jeep!  Oh boy!
I've marked the tires on it really well, so I can figure out which vehicle it is.


I'm hoping that I get to visit a place where I have dog friends.  Like Teslin or the Grandma dog, Sammy.
Yep.
I gotta keep a close eye on her.


When she packs her camera bag and puts my tie out cord in my travel kennel I'll KNOW!
Truly yours.
Morris

A bit of Abstract

With the weather being so difficult and awfully hot, this summer I've been playing around with abstract art that can be 'made' by computer graphic programs.

I keep going back and forth between 3 wonderful free programs.

Apophysis 7X

Mandelbulb 3D

Incendia EX

I've been experimenting with colors and black and white also.  Sometimes I go all out for the wild colors and sometimes I go for the subdued black and white.

Sometimes I mix Apophysis 7X and Incendia EX 

This colorful abstract was made with an image from Incendia EX and a flame rendered from Apophysis 7X.

I used a .png format for the flame and made more than one layer.  I used Flaming Pear's plug in called Flood to get a watery reflective look for both the flame and the Incendia figure.

The Incendia EX creations I also save in .png format.  That gives me a transparent area to work with.

For this image I used the 'Stars and Hedras' fractal and decided that I just wanted a 'simple' sphere.  I was able to match the colors to an Apophysis 7X flame.

Here is a closer view of the layers I used.

 I really loved how simple this graphic piece turned out.  I messed with it, adding more layers and trying out different twists and turns, but in the end, decided that simple was prettier.

Then in a black and white and something shiny mood, I created this in Mandelbulb 3d and added some simple spheres in layers.

I really enjoyed the metallic look I got from this.  

I think it is fun to just enjoy and create.

After all, if you don't get something you like, you can always delete it.