NursesNotes

Another outbreak of E Coli O157:H7 in Florida. Many of the victims are children. Please ensure the food you consume is washed really well in clean water or cooked thoroughly. If you take your children to a petting zoo, please make sure their hands are washed and sanitized after touching the animals. There have been outbreaks of E coli O157:H7 in kids who were at petting zoos. E coli is from poop, and we all know what animals like to roll in. Protect your kids, wash your hands and theirs. E.coli O157:H7 is a form of this but with many more serious consequences.Use hand sanitizer, keep wet wipes in the car and your purse/backpack. There's a lot of bacteria out there and it's becoming more resistant to treatment. In the case of the E coli O157:H7 outbreaks, there are usually no antibiotics to use, it can make it worse. The outcome of the illness is usually kidney failure and sometimes death. We all need to be vigilant with our health and that of our loved ones. How safe are you today?
Nurse Nancy's tip of the day.....Don't eat poop or let your kids eat poop. Are you sure you didn't?

Now that Easter is over, it's time to clean up the Nurse's residence! There's lots of raking to do on the lawns, getting all that old 'thatch ' off the lawns is a good work out. It's an even better work out when teenagers do it!! Then there's outside painting that needs to be done. We're just waiting for a warmer day. I am planning the all time best tag sale ever, again as soon as it's a little warmer. Our town loves tag (or yard or garage) sales, and the folks around here get up early on Saturdays to do the sales and get a good bargain! Sometimes, folks have them on Sunday afternoons, but I don't like to do things like that on Sunday. When we were kids, we weren't even allowed to go to the store on Sunday!! My dad was a preacher, and wouldn't use the phone, read anything except his Bible and would never ever write a check on Sundays. I still enjoy having family time on Sunday and want to instill that feeling in my kids. There should be at least one day a week that's special.

I love a good hot cup of coffee. Especially after being on the road for the past three hours. I returned our eldest daughter to her dorm at university and home again. I'm having a quick ham sandwich and a wonderful hot cup of coffee.
Our other two girls joined me so we had a nice girls drive to the college. They helped their sister carry all the stuff and her clean laundry in, and flounced around a bit pretending it is they who are the students there! Oh my! In a couple of short years it WILL be them going! I'm hoping that they will attend college closer to home. My oldest girl is quite a dancer and is in the dance company of her university, so that's one of the reasons she chose that particular school.
Now that I am home, I'm going to run out again to pick up a few things at the mall. The day started out nice and sunny with temperatures around 50 degrees. Now it's clouding over and the temperature has gone down to less than 40! Once the summer is here, I'll be griping about the heat!!
Yesterday went well. We attended church, got spiritually recharged, and returned home to a lovely ham dinner. The ham was beautiful, with the pineapple slices adorning it. We had potato scallop, mixed veges, with cheese and wine sauce, salad with a mustard vinegar dressing, rolls, and the black forest cake for dessert. Everyone ate to satiety, drank a fair amount, in fact, I was down right fond of my in-laws by the time they left!!!
Actually, they are really good to the kids and brought lots of green Easter Bunny gifts, the best kind, the kind that folds!! Now with money burning a hole in their pockets, we are off to the mall!!
Everyone have a great week, I had today off but it's back to the grind tomorrow. After being in Boston last week, I know I'll have a lot of work piled up for me. I go to Philly next month for 4 days, so I am looking forward to that.

Saturday is always a busy day in the Nurse household, so this is my quickie blog for the day!! The skating/hockey stuff is coming to an end, but we still need to be up early to drive to Salisbury to skate for a couple more weeks. After all the early morning stuff was done, we went to the mall and got some groceries and some Easter Bunny stuff. Then MrNurse and I went to pick up one of our daughters whostayed at her friend's place. This friend lives on a farm way out in the country, so we had a nice drive there and back. After I've been home for a bit, I've made three sittings of lunch for various people drifting in and out of the house, Our 2nd son and his girlfriend arrived and our oldest son and his "lady in waiting" is arriving later on. All told, all the kids are home, plus the two friends/significant others, and the in laws are coming tomorrow. HOOOHA, the old Admiral is arriving. Get out the hooch! I wish my folks could come here for Easter, but my dad has been asked to preach at a church on the other side of the state so they will be having Easter with my sister. Tomorrow, I will go to church and pray for patience with the in laws ( or "out laws" as the case may be!!) because , and this is stolen from my favorite cartoon old lady Maxine, "if I pray for strength, I'll just beat them to death"!!!
Actually, I'll prepare my ham tonight, with the pineapple rings and cloves and put it in the oven on low before we go to church tomorrow.
I love Easter Sunday. The most important Christian Day of the year, and the day of a new beginning for all!! Plus all that chocolate!! I've got two nice bottles of wine for dinner and a bottle of scotch for the f-i-l. It should be fun!!
Wish y'all were joining us! Well, most of you, any how.
(There is still a dirty pup out there leaving rot on my blogs comments. Phooey to youie, pal. Hope the Easter Bunny leaves lots of Brown Jelly beans for you!!!)

I'm back from Boston where we spent two very LLOOOOOONNGG and boring days learning new applications that will supposedly save our facility lot's of money and allow us to do powerpoint presentations at our quarterly meetings!! It was pretty dry and long slogging , but the hotel was nice and we had a nice dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We also got a chance to catch a few tunes on Wed. Night at a jazz club one of my colleagues was familiar with. The name escapes me, but it was pleasant. Not busy ,so that suited me fine.
Got home yesterday at 4 PM, so had to scurry to be at church for Maundy Thursday service. We have been for early Good Friday service already, and of course Sunday is the Highlight of the Christian calendar! Easter Sunday. Halleluia! He is risen. :)

I hope everyone has a Happy and Blessed Easter!!

The bunny may just hop through the Nurse household tomorrow night. And the famous Nurse Family Easter Egg hunt after church on Sunday is a neighborhood favorite!! Then , my in laws are descending, er, arriving for Sunday dinner!! I have a long weekend off this year and do not go back to work until Tuesday, so plan to relax as much as possible  but still need to go and get my Virginia Ham for our dinner on Sunday. We are going to have Ham, scalloped potates, caesar salad, green beans and baby carrotts! SoundYummy? Then for dessert.....( drum roll) Black Forest Cake!! ,slurp!!!!

With apologies to my more right wing tblog buddies!!

"Because, he's hiding"

President Bush, when asked why the USA can not find Osama Bin Laden.

I was driving home from my daughter's college, late this afternoon, singing my heart out to a great program of eighties hits. Hall 'n Oates, CCR, Fleetwood Mac, and tears in my eyes listening to Live Aide, (Xmas 1985?).I was close in age to what my daughter is now, we were going to change the world. I wonder how we've done?

Today is Palm Sunday,  and we are on our way to church. the children will work with Palm leaves to bring home as we remember the triumphant return of Jesus. This is the week of Easter and next Sunday is Easter Sunday. We have some church activities this week, the kids are busy finishing up skating and hockey seasons and our other daughter is getting ready for a ballet recital in May. Our eldest daughter is finishing her first year at university and will be home for the summer within a month or so! The year has gone by quickly, I've "met" some neat people on Tblog and been exposed to racist and vicious slamming from a few sick and twisted  cretins of darkness.
But on this gorgeous Palm Sunday, as the Nurse family heads out the door to our church and we watch our children serve the alter and sing in the choir we will be blessed and spiritually refreshed!

I've had the opportunity to watch vicariously as people have grown, matured and moved on during this past year of blogging. My own career has settled now that my boss (the "B") has also moved on n her endeavors, so there's not as much humor in the workplace. My new boss is a guy I used to work with who is an ace manager and a terrific boss. We are friends outside work and usually hang with another couple, one of the doctors I work with and his wife. We all go to the same church and live in proximity to one another. I've been taking courses towards a Masters in Health Admin. so I have hopes of my own career going in a different direction, if I want it to.

I want to thank all the nice people who have visited and left nice comments, especially mnash, scubadiva, April - in what ever incarnation she may be- rinna - may you always be strong, and a lot of others who are fantastic  people.

Wonderful Sunday to you all!!

As a nurse who has worked in the emergency room, I've had the opportunity to see and hear all sorts of weird tales ( my favorites are the ones where things get "stuck" in certain places.) I've always thought that I had seen it all or heard it all. I, apparently, have not!

Vibrating sex doll sparks bomb alert
Reuters
March 18, 2005

BERLIN: A blow-up sex doll sparked a bomb alert in a German post office after it started to vibrate inside a package awaiting delivery, police said.

"Workers were unsettled when it began vibrating and made strange noises," a spokesman for police in the eastern city of Chemnitz said. "They were worried the package might be a bomb."

Officers brought the sender to the scene and discovered the source of alarm was an electrical device inside a life-size female sex doll. The man told police he had wanted to return the doll because it kept turning itself on at the wrong moment.

Order was restored after the sender removed the doll's batteries so the defective product could be returned.

One would think that the owner would be a little embarrassed, no?

Well happy St. Patricks day to everyone, I'll shake the shelaghlie (sp?) with you!! We had a fun day at work. The family members of one of our patients brought in shamrock shaped cookies with each nurse's name in icing on it. What a cute idea, and I was very touched that they would go to all that work to bring in something nice for the staff!!
Don't forget your nurses, folks! If you have a loved one in the hospital or a nursing home, bringing in a little something for the staff goes a long way in showing your appreciation! It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. Chocolate is always welcome, but we enjoy fruit
( healthier!!) really good coffee, cookies or anything homemade! Cinnamon buns are always welcomed, too!! Needless to say, Nurses love food. We never get enough time during the shift to eat properly so tend to pick at things left in the staff room.
Today, I had to run over to our extended care unit for a few meetings. I love our little residents there. They were all sitting around the lounge singing Irish songs and wearing little leprechaun hats!! One little old doll gave me a big hug. She had been one of our patients for quite some time last year, but she stabilized enough to go to our ECU and now is doing really well. It's a sign that sometimes long term care is helpful to older folks who would otherwise be lonely and have little contact or health care available to them.
In my next career I will definately work with the elderly. In the mean time, I'm still working really hard at work, home and school! I got some marks back and was pleasantly surprised by them! whew! It's always a relief to pass, once you pay all the money it's nice to be able to show the employer the successful completion, so as to claim the reimbursement!
It's still cool here, but I think I can feel spring in the air today! Next week is Easter so that's a good time to know that the nice weather is not far away! I have some business trips to go on next week. Doing a meeting in Boston next Wed and Thurs. In April, I get to attend an AIDs and Infectious disease conference, in Philly. Lot's of work, but good rewards at the end of it all, too! MrNurse and I are going out with some friends to an Irish pub for supper. They have a good Irish ( lamb) stew served in a hollowed out round bread loaf!! I need my ale, too! cheers!

This is an oldie but goldie!
I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different than the other kids' also. But at least, I wasn't alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did. My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, that we be gone one hour or less--not one hour and one minute. I am nearly ashamed to admit it, but she actually struck us. Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. That poor belt was used more on our seats than it was to hold up Daddy's pants. Can you imagine someone actualy hitting a child just because he disobeyed? Now you can begin to see how mean she really was. We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insults because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did we have to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends? The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn't sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept-my mother actually had the nerve to break
the child-labor law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us. She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if it killed us- and it nearly did.

By the time we were teen-agers, she was much wiser, and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the horn of a car for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates and friends come to the door to get us. If I spent the night with a girlfriend, can you imagine she checked on me to see if I were really there. I never had the chance to elope to Mexico. That is if I'd had a boyfriend to elope with. I forgot to mention, while my friends were dating at the mature age of 12 and 13, my old fashioned mother refused to let me date until the age of 15 and 16. Fifteen, that is, if you dated only to go to a school function. And that was maybe twice a year.

Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not lie in bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school. If our friends had a toe ache, a hang nail or serious ailment, they could stay home from school. Our marks in school had to be up to par. Our friends' report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out. My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have ever been arrested, divorced or beaten his mate. Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country. And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You're right, our mean mother. Look at the things we missed. We never got to march in a protest parade, nor to take part in a riot, burn draft cards, and a million and one other things that our friends did. She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults. Using this as a background, I am trying to raise my three children. I stand a little taller and I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Because, you see, I thank God, He gave me the meanest mother in the whole world.

Written in 1967 by Bobbie Pingaro at lpingaro@interconnect.net

Words Women Use


FINE

This is the word women use to end an argument when they feel they are right and you need to shut up. Never use "fine" to describe how a woman looks - this will cause you to have one of those arguments.

FIVE MINUTES

This is half an hour. It is equivalent to the five minutes that your football game is going to last before you take out the trash, so it's an even trade.

NOTHING

This means "something," and you should be on your toes. "Nothing" is usually used to describe the feeling a woman has of wanting to turn you inside out, upside down, and backwards. "Nothing" usually signifies an argument that will last "Five Minutes" and end with "Fine"

GO AHEAD (With Raised Eyebrows! )

This is a dare. One that will result in a woman getting upset over "Nothing" and will end with the word "Fine"

GO AHEAD (Normal Eyebrows)

This means "I give up" or "do what you want because I don't care" You will get a "Raised Eyebrow Go Ahead" in just a few minutes, followed by "Nothing" and "Fine" and she will talk to you in about "Five Minutes" when she cools off.

LOUD SIGH

This is not actually a word, but is a nonverbal statement often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot at that moment, and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"

SOFT SIGH

Again, not a word, but a nonverbal statement. "Soft Sighs" mean that she is content. Your best bet is to not move or breathe, and she will stay content.

THAT'S OKAY

This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before paying you back for whatever it is that you have done. "That's Okay" is often used with the word "Fine" and in conjunction with a "Raised Eyebrow."

GO AHEAD!

At some point in the near future, you are going to be in some mighty big trouble.

PLEASE DO

This is not a statement, it is an offer. A woman is giving you the chance to come up with whatever excuse or reason you have for doing whatever it is that you have done. You have a fair chance with the truth, so be careful and you shouldn't get a "That's Okay"

THANKS

A woman is thanking you. Do not! faint. Just say you're welcome.

THANKS A LOT

This is much different from "Thanks." A woman will say, "Thanks A Lot" when she is really ticked off at you. It signifies that you have offended her in some callous way, and will be followed by the "Loud Sigh." Be careful not to ask what is wrong after the "Loud Sigh," as she will only tell you "Nothing"

Help Wanted Ad for Mother

POSITION: Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Ma

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT &PROMOTION:
Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:
Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

Send this on to all the Moms you know, in appreciation for everything they! do on a daily basis, and let them know they are appreciated!!!

Author: Unknown

I've added a link to our church. I'm very happy in this Church Family. The diversity is wonderful and the Christian good will is palpable. After having a week at work I'm ready on Sunday to recharge my spiritual batteries!

After being bummed out by the a-hole who left the racist comments, I decided to blog about my daily life anyhow. I went for my massage,yesterday after work, ahhhhh..... it was lovely! I have a very tense muscle in my lower back that needs a lot of work every now and then. I try to be careful at work but sometimes I end up pulling my back helping a patient move.
Last week I had a paper due for my courses I'm taking, so now that is out of the way I've been able to partake in a little family time. That included being up at 0500 hrs this morning to drop youngest son at the arena for hockey, come back get second youngest and take back to the arena for figure skating. Pick up youngest son, go get something at Dennys, come back get daughter. Come home and go get other daughter at ballet. Take all three kids with me while I go get some groceries. Then down to the Italian bakery for hard rolls. ( Pasta tonight!) Home for a bit of lunch. Then off to the Home Depot for the hardware we are putting on the kitchen cabinets. They were all out of the ones I wanted, so have to wait for the new order to arrive on Wednesday. Bought another gallon of paint for my bedroom and bathroom. Pale yellow. Looks nice on the chip anyway!! Dropped the kids home then dashed out for a hair fix up!! I had relaxer to the root area and a trim. Whew! now I'm home and trying to get something together for our church committee tomorrow. I'm on the committee to sell the Easter Lilies for Easter Sunday. Members of the congregation can buy a lily and dedicate it to someone's memory and then have the lily after the Easter service.It fills the alter up with the lilies and looks so beautiful on Easter Sunday. My kids are in the junior choir so it will be a special Easter service this year! Being in church on Easter Sunday singing "Christ the Lord has Risen today" is such a spiritual lifter! Halleluia! Our church has services leading up to Easter. So I'll be busy with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and of course Easter. We are having a big crowd here for Easter dinner, and of course I need to get ready for the Easter Bunny!! We don't go all crazy like some of the children's friends. It's like a mini Christmas at some houses, with tons of presents and candy etc. My kids get a chocolate egg with their name on it, a small toy or CD, makeup, or something, something new to wear and we have a family egg hunt in the yard. Mr. Nurse always puts the eggs out. One year when Easter was later in April, it was hot out and the eggs all melted before we could find them! Don't think we'll have that problem this year! It's as cold as can be out there. I think it might have got up to 28 today!! and another snow storm coming!

Why would an outside user want to post such vitriolic "jokes" and spew such venemous poison on Nurse Nancy's blog comments? See my "Kinky Stuff" blog and the comments.I was going to blog about something else. I read "my comments" and I saw that the cowardly , so called " outside user" is such a yellow dog that s/he can't even log in with their own blog name. Well, I have news for you, chump, I've heard all those jokes before and the only thing "funny" about them is the fact that the inbred Jed who posted them is an idiot. Loser, go write on your own blog so all your hood wearing, inbred, slack jawed yokel buddies can try to read it.
Oh, I forgot. You need more than a first grade education to do that. Well, go play with your like minded idiot friends. You certainly deserve one another. Why not do a little target practice on one another? Your gene pool is showing how shallow it is and you need to do the world a favor by adding a little chlorine to it. Why, you might even qualify for a Darwin award! Wouldn't that be special?
Or, even more special, the next time you have an accident ( and stupid people have many more accidents) and you show up in my emergency room? I'll make sure your blood transfusion comes from an African American donor! I make sure that I and all my family members donate blood on a regular basis. Our biggest hope is that someone like you will receive it. And sooner or later, you will need a transfusion because it's a documented fact that stupid people who do stupid things get into more accidents than those of us who have a brain and use it.
Have a great day, hoser.

My back is so sore,with a huge kink in it :( and I am going for another massage this week. :)I blogged about the massage I had last week. It was wonderful!! :)In my next life I think I would like to be a massage therapist, or a really, really rich broad who goes for massages all the time!! I have tried a variety of treatments for my 'nurse's back' ( a back condition caused by lifting and lugging stationary and usually really heavy patients) and find massage therapy the most useful. I've had physical therapy, chiropractic treatments and osteopathic treatments, too. I keep going back for my massages. It's such a terrific feeling to have someone just rubbing you the right way - for a change!!

Yesterday, at the doctor's brunch, there was some dicussion about the former director of our section. ( the boss formerly known as Ms. Beech, the B boss, beeyotch etc) After a few glasses of wine, it was pretty hilarious!! I'm glad to know that it wasn't just me who found her difficult!!
BTW,our new manager is great. So far, anyhow!! Since he was there, it wasn't something we could really discuss in any great detail, but some people ( NOT your's truly, though!!) got in a few good jabs at the expense of the former Ms. B! It was so worth it!

I can't wait to go for my massage and get these kinks ironed out! I need a hot pack! :)

I love being invited out. We went to an open house given by one of the doctors where I work. He and his wife have an open house for all the staff on our units a couple of times a year. It's nice. Good food, friendly chats and lots of wine. Mr. Nurse and I went after church and took a bottle of Chardonnay, as a hostess gift.This doctor and his family attend the same Episcopalian church that we do, so we socialize with them a fair amount. We stuffed ourselves with lots of good food so did not need to make supper when we got home. The kids got domino's pizza, $5 each when you buy 3. We always buy three, anyhow, because the kids love their pizza!
Now, I am going to move my dining room table and chairs and roll up the rug, so we can strip the wallpaper in that room and paint the walls. I have picked out a creamy yellowy beige color. Sounds horrible ( like baby caca) when I read it here, but it looks very warm and cozy, believe me!! I'll be glad to be rid of the blue floral wallpaper that we put up in 1989!!! I had big hair then, and wore shoulder pads too! ewww!

from a nurses joke going around email:......

I was caring for a 22-year old newly diagnosed insulin dependent diabetic who was extremely noncompliant. In my effort to illustrate that compliance and good control of blood sugars generally will delay the onset and severity of long-term complications, I shared the clinical picture of a young man who, due to his denial of his disease, by 32 years of age was blind, on dialysis, had lost his testicles and was about to have his feet amputated...the patient cried out in horror, "How can you live without testicles?".

I have had a career full of dealing with the obtuse, the stuporous, the backward, the uneducated and the truly, truly stupid. At the risk of getting fired from my job, I have decided to tone down any direct mentions to my work place. However, I enjoy reading other medical workers blogs and this particular rambling is from the delicious writings of the yummy Dr. Kevin Pezzi: I can so identify with this. The fact that TSTL (too stupid to live) should be a medical diagnosis is very obvious in his full blog which can be found at his web site of ER stories by Dr. Kevin Pezzi. And BTW, Kevin, you are HOT!!

"The fact that a patient is "mentally challenged" is not an acceptable means of defense in a malpractice trial. In reality, it is obvious that there is an increased risk of a diagnostic error being made in such a case, when the patient can give a history that is no better than that which could be obtained from an earthworm.
However, malpractice defense attorneys would be loath to suggest such a thing, as this might appear as if the physician were guilty of intellectual snobbery. Actually, it's just life in the real world. ( the bold is my emphasis - NN)
PEOPLE WHO ARE STUPID HAVE AN INCREASED CHANCE OF DOING STUPID THINGS, AND MAKING ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT (AS WHEN THEY ARE DRIVING A CAR, FOR EXAMPLE) FOR WHICH THEY MAY PAY DEARLY. IT IS AN INDISPUTABLE FACT THAT THEY HAVE A HIGHER DEATH RATE, AND NO AMOUNT OF LIBERAL PRESSURE TO PHRASE THEIR SHORTCOMINGS IN EUPHEMISTICALLY ACCEPTABLE TERMINOLOGY IS EVER GOING TO BENEFIT THEM. ACTUALLY, BY ATTEMPTING TO MITIGATE THE STIGMA OF THE INTELLECTUALLY VACUOUS, THEY ARE PERPETUATING THEIR MISERY.
A problem cannot be overcome unless it is recognized, accepted, and dealt with. Anyone's intelligence can be improved through effort. Coddling the incompetent merely predestines them to a life in which they will never reach their true potential." well put Dr. Pezzi mmmmmuuuhhhh! :)

Ahh the joys of a good massage!! As a nurse, I suffer a common bond of pain with a lot of nurses. I regularly go for massage therapy because my health plan reimburses 100% of up to $500 per year. Having suffered long enough this year with neck, shoulder and back pain, I booked an appointment with a new therapist and went after work yesterday. AHHHHH! Bliss.:) While she worked on my shoulders and back, that is. I kind of didn't like the neck aspect, but because I'm so tight there, I tried to relax and let her do her thing for a full hour. She incorporated some relaxation massage into it, as well, and even massaged my feet!! Wow! did that feel good! I go again next week because my neck is still killing me. The only problem I had was, after a long day at work and not having a bathroom break when I "should" have, I relaxed to the point that I needed to * ahem* break wind. (oops!) I stifled that urge, but wondered if this is a common affliction. I'll make sure that I don't eat any gaseous food next week and use the bathroom prior to going. I want to really be able to relax. Hard to do when you are 'holding back!' :)