Life is oh so Precious

I have survived the first exam for the semester and am now gearing up for next week!! It has been a tough week because of exams and with the patient I had at the beginning of the week...made me step back and take a look at life and reminded me to enjoy it more and to also keep myself in better shape. I think it is all kind of hard to understand or realize until you see it face to face. This is the second patient I have had in the short time that I have been in the hospital doing rotations that makes me step back and say WHOA!! This week I had an 81 year old lady who had dementia/alzheimers and was in restraints in that she would not pull out any of her lines. She had a bad decubitus ulcer (big open sore) on her bottom from laying down for so long and had many other decubs starting to form. (On a side note, if you have someone in the nursing home and is bed ridden - PLEASE make sure they are turning the patient!) Anyhooo...she does not talk but a few mumbles every now and then that does not relate to what you are asking her. And she can not feed her self and is incontinent. It would take me at the minimum 45 minutes to feed her and she would just stare into my eyes and I would just wonder what is going on in that brain, what is she thinking, what does she want to say, who was this lady or what was she like before the disease?? These questions are not being asked in a mean way, but with the disease what goes on in these peoples minds. This is only a blurb of what my few days were with her were like...but I learned so much about life itself from this patient who could not really communicate with me. My grandpa had dementia but I was not living in town when he had it so I was not around him when he was diagnosed and lived with this disease - and have come to learn how scary and sad it is. I know the Lord is keeping her here for some reason, but still makes me want to ask God why?
I know this is only a glimpse of what I am to see in my future career as a nurse but I am looking forward to it all because it gives me a new perspective on my health and my life. I just pray the Lord will use me and I will allow Him to use me in whatever way!!

On a happier note...J had a good birthday despite where he was and the fact that he had to work. And I can not believe I forgot about his birthday last year and felt really bad when he reminded me that he was working 14+ hour shifts this time last year. So he got home around 9:30pm and had Sonic for his birthday last year! But he is doing well and keeping busy with work!!

Check out our "old" website for some pics from my school. Click on jandmishi in the upper right corner of this page. I can not get them on our new website, so I just posted them all on the old one until J gets home and can show me for the 100th time how to do it!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday Homie!!

Today is Jason's 28th Birthday!!! He is finally catching up with his old lady here!! But to my awesome husband - the Lord has truly blessed me with you. I could not imagine nor live my life without your love, friendship, inspiration and most of all your understanding. I hope you can make the best of today being where you are and can not wait to see you in a few months!!!

**Had to post this picture as I know you are counting down the days to get back on the water!!

And More Company!!

This past weekend my parents came up and brought up "neused" furniture to us. They got new furniture and we got their "old" furniture! And it looks awesome in our living room. We had a fun time hanging out this weekend. It was kinda dreary and really cold on Saturday so we went to the outlets and of course to the BIG Yankee Candle store and then out to eat. Then on Sunday we went to church and made a quick trip to the Seafood Festival on Sunday. It was a bit chilly and windy so we walked through the craft section and then we all had crabcake sandwiches and fries! It was some good greasy stuff for our guts...but it is ok, we had a little long walk back to the truck! Also, while they were here they helped with a few odds and end things around the house. Thankfully (in a good way) it was chilly this weekend because I turned our heat on for the first time only to discover it was not working. So thankfully dad was here and investigated it for us and we were sleeping nice and cozy Sunday night (it was a bit chilly in the house Saturday night - as I thought the heater was working?!!) Also, my dad fixed ol blue and she is up and running again for me to drive. And then my mom and I piddled around the yard - cut the hedges and raked up the first bit of fall leaves.
So it was a bit sad to leave them this morning...but thankfully I have the holidays right around the corner to look forward to!! But we had fun hanging out and just relaxing.
Unfortunately for me....back to reality! The next 2 weeks are slammed with Exams!! Let the fun begin!
J is doing great and he has been really busy so his time is still going by pretty fast. He is currently on night shifts but will soon move to the day shift...I am thinking it will be around the half-way point which will be in about 2 weeks. I sure hope the backside of the deployment goes fast!

Lil Company

This past weekend my brother, Chris, came up to spend a long weekend with me. He came up on Friday and left early this morning. It was nice in that we could just hang out as it has been a while since we have been able to do so....but hopefully he did not get too bored?!! We made a trip to the outlets and found some FAB deals there and then we were to head to Busch Gardens for HalloScream - but the line just to get into the park was ridiculous. And just a side note on that - I found out today from one of my coworkers that people were waiting like 1.5 hours to get into the park just to park their cars only to find out that the park was full to its max capacity and were not letting more people in. So after seeing the horrendous traffic, we ended up driving to the beach Saturday evening and ate dinner there. It was pretty brisk so we were only at the beachwalk for a total of 5 maybe 10 minutes. But had a nice dinner with some funny old ladies sitting behind us talking about their guy problems. Too Funny! Then Sunday we went to church and he helped me with a few things around the house (like cranking the weedeater and edging our yard for us) and then I washed our car and he washed his truck! And then just took it easy the rest of the day as I had to hit the books a bit!! But all in all, I had a great weekend hanging out with my Bro and was bummed to see him go early this morning! It was definitely weird coming home to a quiet, lonely house again!
So that was our weekend in a nutshell! Another festival is coming up this weekend, so I will have to mix a little of that with a lot of studying... EXAMS start next week! YIKESER!!

One Month down...3 to go!

Well, one month is down and we have 3 or so more to go with this deployment!!
This is a pic that J sent me tonight. It was taken shortly after they arrived there.
I pray you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Where has the year gone?!

Today marks exactly a year that we moved into our house here in VA! This year has flown by...despite the slow start and bumps we hit moving back to the states. But just in one year we have been through so much and accomplished a lot. It is awesome, to look back just on the this year and see where the Lord has brought us to and excited to see where He is taking us next!

Also, we will reach another mile marker next week...it has been a month since J left, so I just pray these next 3 go just as fast! His time is going fast for him as well and he is doing great and feeling a bit better!

We hope you all are having a wonderful week too!