I'm leaving on a jet plane.....

.....and will be landing in Hawaii! Woo! Hoo! I'll be gone for a week snorkeling, sunning, snoozing, and socializing.

And then when I get back, I'll leave for Missouri to work for 2 1/2 weeks. I'll be doing some training of new employees and bragging about my tan. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post pics and stories of Hawaii here. I'll try to do so in between my training, but no promises.

Dovizhdane! Ciao! Adios! Adieu! Auf Wiedersehen! So long, farewell, goodbye! Aloha!

Keep your health sharp!

We had a health fair today at work. Check out your blood pressure, glucose, HDL, cholesterol, weight, and get a flu shot all provided by my place of employment. And they had yummy, healthy snacks!

I absolutely hate getting shots. Actually, anything to do with a needle. In fact, the Blood Mobile (yes, they call it that) asked me to stop donating blood because of my adverse reaction to needles--I swooned each time. Don't you like that word, swoon? It sounds so much better than faint, or pass out, or fall down and bust your bum. Anyway, I don't like needles.

Of course, the first thing they do is give me a flu shot. This nurse was good at her job--she distracted me from my childish fear of a little, bitty, sharp thing that hurts less than a paper cut.

Then they take my blood pressure. Hah! Normally, I have very good blood pressure. At my physical each year, either the doctor or nurse will comment on my excellent BP numbers (I think it's to find something positive after they check my weight). Obviously, they've never introduced me to a needle at my yearly physical. Because today, my blood pressure was VERY high. They took it 3 times--twice with the automatic cuff and once with the manual cuff.

I'm not worried about it since I normally do have good numbers, but I had to sign something that said they warned me of the danger of high blood pressure and advised me to seek medical attention. What do they know? My cure for high blood pressure is relaxing on a beach with the sound of the waves. Someplace like Hawaii would be an expensive cure for hypertension. What a coincidence--I'm going to Hawaii this Saturday!

Medical Humor

I read medical records all day long. Ok, not all day, but a good part of the day. That means that I understand medical terms and use them quite frequently. One of those is when someone has heart bypass surgery. The medical term is Corornary Artery Bypass Graft--or CABG, pronounced cabbage, for short.

Once upon a time, when my mom had to go into the hospital, I had to fill out the medical forms for her. Did you know that you have to complete the same forms no matter how soon you filled them out? She was in the same hospital about 2 weeks before where I had to complete the forms, and I was told that they had to be completed again. You'd think they would have record of it since it was the same hospital!

Anyway, I got to the section about previous care and surgeries. I knew my mom's medical history pretty good (after all I just completed the form 2 weeks previously!), but couldn't remember when she had her CABG. So, I turned to mom lying on the gurney (she was conscious and aware, thank you) and asked, "Mom, do you remember when you had your CABG?" She thought for a moment and said, "Honey, I think your dad and I had sauerkraut last Thursday." Since I was the only one that really understood medical terms, she and dad couldn't figure out why I was laughing so hard that I was crying.

Why me??

So, you saw what I had to come home to the other day. Some green, wriggly thing. I got up this morning and behold, what did I see? Another bug! This time a wasp somehow got into my house and was crawling on my floor.

Seriously, buy stock in Raid, because my use of it is surely driving up the stock prices. That boost on Wall Street the other day had nothing to do the bailout from the government. Nope, Raid Company, has had a huge increase in consumer demand.

Language of Love

I love to hear my dad talk. He has lived in this country well over 50 years. But he still speaks with a thick accent. When he is excited or angry, the accent gets thicker. I've already shared a couple of examples of his word usage.

Here's a quick dictionary to help you understand him if you speak with him:

Pilla = pillow OR medicinal pills
Bolla = bottle
Maffew = Matthew
Watta = water
DVD = DVD or CD or anything recorded
Alfa Alfa = alfalfa
Oprah = Oprah or okra
Prawly = probably

I'll have to add more later because (the scary part) I don't hear the mistakes anymore. They sound natural....hmmm....I wonder if I sleep on my pilla??

Eww, eww, ewwwww!

I came home to this yesterday. Have no idea what it is and from whence it came. I used my Raid on it and then "picked" it up with 2 pieces of junk mail. (shudder) I hate, hate, hate creepy, crawlin', flyin', things.

Bossy Beef

I recently had a good friend be hospitalized for a very serious heart attack. We had some leftovers of Hurricane Ike on Sunday and as a result, my place of employment had no electricity. So I got a free day off yesterday. Then I found out that my friend was in the hospital and not doing well.

I'm friends with his wife and him through her. He's younger than I am and almost lost his life several times. I spent the day at the hospital to give my friend a break so she could go home and rest.

As I sat in that hospital waiting room (I came prepared--I brought several different reading materials and Mountain Dew) I was reminded constantly of my mom and the difficulties and waiting I went through when she was so sick. I realized that as I sat there yesterday what a strange blessing it was to go through that hell. I was able to help my friend in a way I never would have before. I knew how exhausted she was--how much she needed to know someone was at the hospital while she left for a little while--how to help her think of what questions to ask the doctor--what to expect now that he is doing better and will live with some serious cardiac problems--how to offer compassion and understanding with practical advice.

It was a weird moment for me as those thoughts ran through my mind. I hated having to see my mom in that situation and deal with everything that went with it. But I remember thinking at that time, that I was grateful to know what kind of person I was. I react very well in a crisis--I handle the moment and then fall apart. I always thought I was the opposite--falling apart and then trying to deal with the crisis. Now, with my friend's situation, I realized I'm the same way when it comes to other people's crisis. So often I want to help, but honestly don't know what to do. This time, I knew what to do and I just did it--didn't ask her to help or make any suggestions. Just told her I was coming and that she can leave to rest.

I suppose I wouldn't be a good Mormon if I didn't find the learning moment in this experience. What I learned was that sometimes my bossy nature is a blessing.