Carin's Gratitude

Hello. Hello. Here I am again this week. Back with a thankful post, I did not feel like writing. My oldest child (18) surprised me with an old car he bought a few days ago--a Dodge Stratus 2003, sedan, with a sportsy look. Never mind the paint that needs to be redone. That is just cosmetics. But the windshield has cracks in two spots. In addition, the front tires are bald, and the first time he introduced it to me, it did not even start. "Oh, I must have left a light on." Maybe. The car is operable again but I am still nervous. He was supposed to work today at 4 pm, I thought. At 3:45 pm, I got hold of him. He was about to drive from a park to home. He said he'd go home to change his shoes before work. Half an hour later, I could not concentrate. My head is hurting and I was almost certain he got into some kind of trouble. He came home for a couple minutes. He seemed OK . He works at 4:30 pm, he said. I wished he would have told me earlier. Communication. W

Join us in ABC Wednesday in its new home. The letter of the week from ABC Wednesday is the letter A . For the lack of ideas, I am writing about the new (to me) grocery delivery service through   A mazon called A mazon Fresh . I promise I am not getting paid by A mazon for writing this post. How timely is that that I have just received my first grocery today with A mazon Fresh. What did I order? See the picture below including five grocery items not included. Here is a review based on my first try with Amazon Fresh Grocery Delivery by Amazon in Denver, Colorado. Pros: One a dvantage of using the service is the convenience. I ordered online without having to walk the isles of the store and standing in line waiting for the cashier. The groceries are delivered right to my front door--kinda like the Uber or Lyft for my groceries. This service can a ttract home-bound a dults, busy folks, or some people with transportation issues, like, maybe college students who

I am joining Six Sentence Stories for the first time. The prompt word is skip . I just realize it is more challenging to write a story in only six sentences. For my son, who would type 1.5 pages out of required 2 for a high school assignment, this would have been a breeze. :) Anyway, I am writing another story of a fictional character, Carlos, RN. My first one is here .  With similarities to my experience with patients, this stories will give you a glimpse of what a shift in intensive care unit looks like. It is gross a lot of times, and not for the squeamish. I apologize. It is another day. I am once again assigned to Mrs. P who had bleeding on two areas in her esophagus. The areas where embolized yesterday, and she has been stable ever since. She did not throw up any more blood. There is no need to keep her intubated. We were about to extubate her (remove breathing tube and take off ventilator support)  when bright red blood started coming out of her mouth like water from

What am I thankful for? There are many as before As I head out my door I had a chance to explore I hiked with my nurse friends It was a great time to spend Just talking and walking I did not want it to end Oh, and last fourth of July I hung out with my guy We just looked up in the sky Watching a show of fireworks up high And then my last day in Cali That I spent with my family Walking by the beach merrily And dipping in the pool lazily

festival together wore only poems  fruit walked favorite wine listened before shades  I am joining Sunday Whirligig today, using the some of the word prompts assigned. I am writing a short story inspired by my experience as a nurse. This is my first try. It's been slow in intensive care unit this week but not today. It is Thursday. I knew it even b efore hitting my floor as the employee parking lot is almost full. "Carlos, I am giving you this patient with GI bleed (gastrointestinal bleed). Immediately, I admitted Mrs. P from the emergency department (ED) to an ICU (intensive care unit) bed. Her blood count is normal but per her report, she started throwing up blood several times since she took 600 mg of Advil six times in a day four days ago for left arm pain. From the ED, she received liters of normal saline through her intervenous access (IV) and the first blood just got started. The GI lab nurse called me. "Can we come up at

Meet my hiking partner, Velvet, in this z estful open space. The letter of the week from ABC Wednesday is the letter Z . I choose the word zippy. I belong to a Facebook group on body transformation where each member defines his or own transformation. Whether the goal is to lose weight, shape your body, add bulk, etc, we all want to work on our goals with eating and exercise. We talk about, among other things, what gives us energy or motivation to exercise and go to the gym. What makes me zippy and energetic? I tell them my secrets of having the energy to exercise or workout. A breakfast with 20 or more grams of protein makes a difference. It gives me this satisfied feeling and not feel hungry for hours. When I go to the gym, I do not think about hunger or food because I am not hungry. How do I get 20+ grams of protein? I cheat by adding protein powder to my green smoothie. I eat yogurt or eggs or ham in the morning. I drink lots of water . By the time I hit the doo

We flew to and drive through California to visit my teens' relatives from both sides. We met at like the In N' Out burger with its fresh burger and fries. It is a joint we don't have in Colorado and one that my young nephews and niece like. I also saw my cousin who just arrived from the Philippines with her new husband. For my hyperactive son, we went to John's arcade with all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, and dessert. He spent a good two hours playing football and basketball there. He had a great upper body workout for two hours. My sister and I hit the food bar of course. I also went for a virtual ride with my daughter a couple of times with its moving seat and fan going and played bowling with one of my nephews. I get to pick calamansi fruits in my sister's backyard in Bakersfield. It is a citrus fruit sweeter than lemon that is common in the Philippines. I also enjoyed the early morning walk with her in their quiet neighborhood. There was nobody walkin