I just got a call from Graeme's sister to say that his mum has being taken into hospital. We're hoping that it's nothing serious, but we really don't know any details yet.
I'm working tonight, but one of my parents is going to take him to visit her this evening. His step-dad is with her and his sister is staying with her dad to be closer to them.
I'll let you know what happens, but please keep us in your thoughts tonight.
UPDATE: We now know that she has an infection in her pelvis, which is causing the pain. It's not serious and it's relatively common. She's on a 24-hour course of IV antibiotics which will last her until early tomorrow evening. Depending on how she is then, she'll either go home or stay in another night for observation. Thank you for thinking of us during this little scare.
- Mood:
worried
Just finished a book today that really gave me something to think about. It probably won't interest some of you, but I think anyone with an interest in Christianity or religion and theology in general would find it a fascinating read, and since I know some of you on here are, I thought I would recommend it to you here.
It's called The Shack and it's by Wm. Paul Young (to be found on the interwebnets as www.theshackbook.com). It is a piece of fiction, but it is drawn from the real spiritual and emotional experiences of the author.
I first heard about it from my minister a few weeks ago when she used it as the basis of a sermon. She heard about it after hearing some minister friends debating it.
As a brief précis, a middle-aged family man experiences a horrible tragedy that brings on The Great Sadness and disrupts his relationship with God. A few years later, he recieves a letter, apparently from God, asking him for a meeting at the shack where the tragedy occurred.
The book isn't terribly long. Usually I'd have read it in a day or two, but the material gives you so much to think about that it took me a bit longer. I think I need some distance to properly describe the way the book made me feel, but I do know I can recommend it highly.
The website might give you a better description or idea of whether you want to read it or not. I think it even has a sample chapter. Go along and have a look. I think it's worth it.
- Location:55.903404, -4.321993
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
namarie24 . Let's see what a TVphile I am.Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows ever:
1. Bold the shows you watch.
2. Underline the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Post your answers.
I think I'll take shows you watch as shows you've seen the majority of and would make the effort to see the rest of.
50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
44. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI : Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks (well, all of the first season, which is all that's available on DVD)
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. LOST
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01 The Simpsons
- Mood:
anxious
Some of you may recall this day three years ago. A recently bereaved, lonely girl was taken for coffee by a charming, clever young man with his own brigade of stalkers. That coffee meet-up turned into a 9 hour date and was the best thing to ever happen to them.
Today was our third anniversary. We're happier and stronger than ever. Just wanted to thank all of you who have always supported us.
- Location:United Kingdom, Scotland
belsum has requested some photos of my recent stitching efforts. I therefore happily oblige.( Pretty pictures below )
- Mood:
satisfied
Then, write 10 things that you love starting with that letter. Post the list in your journal. Give out letters to those who comment in return."
kaffyr with the letter "S" and here are my answers.- Stitching - I love my cross stitch. I've just finished the most beautiful, but intricate and difficult portrait of Tutankhamun, one of a trilogy of him, Nefertiti and Cleopatra. I have the other two ready to do, but I'm taking a break to do a Popcorn and Friends calendar that my mum gave me for Christmas.
- Singing - I love to sing and always have. I'm not the best, and I get a bit of stage fright singing in front of people that makes me sound like a hyperactive mouse, but I'm improving by singing along to Guitar Hero and Rock Band with my friends.
- Summer - OK, I get hayfever and allergies, but I love the better weather, the chance of sunshine, the smell of washing that's dried outside.
- S - the nurse I work with most often. She's funny, intelligent, talented, hard working and will defend us ACAs fiercely against students who get to uppity.She's kind compasionate and strong - everything you'd want in a friend.
- Sisters - OK, she's a pain in the arse. She's loud, nosy and irritating. But she's my little sister. My earliest memory is of the day she was born. I love her to bits and anyone causing he trouble will have me to deal with. Same goes with Graeme's sister.
- Sharon Penman books - I was recommended them by heatherbelles and loved them. I'm planning on doing a reread soon.
- Sleep - with my shift pattern, a round 7 and a half hours sleep can be a luxury. I appreciate it when I get it.
- Scott - a good friend of Graeme's and now one of mine. He's the sweetest guy you could ever meet and a very kind, gentle soul. He's generous, loyal and has been a great friend to us since we moved back here. Now we just need to find him a girlfriend.
- Sweets - Graeme and I both have a very sweet tooth. There isn't a day that goes by where we don't have some sort of sweet treat. Probably should cut down. Doesn't mean we will.
- Sweetheart - I had to get him in somewhere. My sweetheart. My lover. My best friend. The most wonderful man in the universe and the person I'd be most lost without. I love him. Graeme.
- Mood:
full
belsum . Thanks for giving me something to do while Graeme's at work.First: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.
Second: Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.
Lots of pillows or just one? Two. I could do with three though. They keep sliding away from me.
What kind of books do you read? All sorts. I have a very ecclectic taste. I read a lot of historical fiction, which is countered by the number of non-fiction historical biographies I read. Also a lot of crime fiction, politics, fantasy and classical literature.
What are your most awesome skills? Embroidery, cooking, persuading stubborn dogs to eat.
What's your occupation? I'm an Animal Care Assistant. Which my bosses and nurse thinks mean competent, qualified member of the nursing staff. Which students think means shit-shoveler.
What's really creepy? A dog with no nose. Seriously. Saw one at work that had it's whole upper jaw and nose removed because of tumors. The most bizzare combination of creepy and pathetic I've ever seen.
What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction? Addiction = Stitching. I've just finished the most enormous project and am more than 1/4 of the way through the next. Obsession = passing my driving test.
What flavour ice cream would you choose right now? Cookie Dough!
What websites do you always visit when you go online? Work and personal email, spymaster, Neil Gaiman's blog, Mitch Benn's blog, Knocked Up (
belsum's blog), Waiter Rant, Organ Grinder, Cold Wet Nose (a dog blog)What was the last thing you bought? Well, I'm about to order take-away. Before that... deserts for my dinner party last Friday. I've had a frugal holiday.
What was the cutest thing you've seen today? Graeme asleep. I got up before him.
Do you get cravings? If so, what do you crave? Chocolate, Chinese from the take away down the street, Graeme when I'm at work and tired
What do you do to change your mood? Sew, listen to music, talk to Graeme
What is your zodiac sign? Pisces. Explains my hyper-sensitivity.
Do you want to learn another language? Gaelic.
Five things you can't live without. Graeme, my iPhone, my stitching, my best friend Jenny, books
What's something you'd like to say to someone right now? G, you're crap at your job, you're physically incapable of doing some of it, you're on the verge of being fired, do us all a favour and jump before you're pushed.
What are you looking forward to? Passing my driving test and being able to drive to and from work.
Say something to the person who tagged you: I promise I'll send you a chatty email soon. Hug the kids for me.
I'm always the last person to do a meme so everyone on my f -list who would do it has been tagged already.
- Location:The study
- Mood: satisfied
A short review of my life over the last couple of weeks.
1. Loving the holiday. It is exactly what I needed, though seems to be flying by.
2. Went on a tour of the new hospital last week - it's gorgeous. Can't believe it's ours or that I'll be working there in about a month. Someone get me a map STAT.
3. Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince was great at the IMAX. I hadn't seen anything in 3D since the years when you had green & red plastic glasses. Technology's come on leaps & bounds.
4. Cooked dinner for 6 on Friday. Went very well, though I made far too much. Have been getting appreciative texts & emails ever since.
5. I've booked my driving test. September 3rd. I'm very nervous. The UK driving test is very strict. The pass rate is only 43%. Eeep!
6. My allergies are playing up. Stupid hayfever/rapid erratic weather changes.
7. Enjoying finding TWoPpers on Twitter. Any more of you out there?
- Location:United Kingdom, Scotland
azmatazz and namarie24 Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth full sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
"'It's been the same for years, one thing after another, and they won't listen to - OH, NOT AGAIN!"
The closest book, by about 1/2cm was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. If you can't tell, that was Mrs Weasley talking about Fred and George. It was in a box of books and DVDs that we either have duplicates of, or don't want any more and are planning on selling or giving to charity.
- Mood:
calm
You all know that other than She Who Shall Not Be Mentioned, I get on very well with all my colleagues. In nearly 4 months of working together we've become good friends. Well today, through the power of the interwebnets, I'm asking you to keep one of them in your thoughts.
On Sunday, Karen had some kind of fall from her horse. She's currently in hospital with a suspected broken back.
I don't know many details, but it's not as serious as it could be. She has been able to get up and walk around a little, so the damage isn't crippling, but she will be sore and will take a long time to heal. We don't know how long it will be until she returns to work. But she will be much thought of and missed until she does.
- Location:United Kingdom, Scotland
The best aspect of my job is watching patients that you get fond of going home healthy and well. The worst (other than G) is losing a patient that you liked.
We've just lost 2 in 24 hours, both heartbreaking in their own way. And both with the same name.
The one lost this morning was sad, but at least it was expected. A beautiful Irish Setter (I have a soft spot for them), well behaved, patient, tolerant, beautiful and very obviously adored by his owners when they visited last night. But he had a number of masses through his kidneys and intestines. They chose to operate, but it was always a possibility that they would get in and find there was no hope. And that's what happened.
But last night's loss has devestated all who treated this dog. This Great Dane hadn't been given much of a chance when he came in with a basketball sized mass. Even if he survived the op, he wasn't expected to live through the recovery in ICU. They removed 5 ribs and put in a synthetic chest wall.
And he thrived. After one night with rollercoaster blood pressure he was brilliant. He came out of ICU earlier than expected and was brilliant on the wards. He was due to go home today.
Yesterday afternoon he developed a little temperature. Nothing much to worry about and when I came in at 6:30 it was back to normal. The vet saw him at 7:15 and was very happy with him. S stuck her head in the kennel at 7:30 and was happy he was settled and comfortable. The student nurses went in at 7:45 and he was stone cold. They tried to revive him, but he was long gone. There was no sign of trauma or seizure. He had simply closed his eyes and gone. He was 3 years old.
I love my job but sometimes it makes me cry.
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
- Location:United Kingdom, Scotland
Three and a half weeks after we moved in, we're still waiting for a large chunk of our stuff to arrive from Graeme's dad's. Which I can live with. We've got the essentials, and it means we can both be paid again before we need to buy more bookcases from Ikea. We also still have a spare room/study that is still crowded with boxes. Mostly of random crap, but we've both been to tired/lazy to get through them.
We've also had a series of (apparent) mechanical faults. The first weekend we were here the boiler stopped working. We knew there had been a problem with it just before we moved in, so we didn't look too hard for a fault, just called the landlord. It turned out the fuse switch we thought was for the boiler wasn't (it belonged to the washing machine). The actual fuse switch had been knocked or turned off without us even noticing it was there.
Then the fridge stopped working. The landlord was on the way over by the time Graeme thought to pull the skirting board out and follow the wiring. He tracked it into a corner in the back of a floor level cupboard, where it was plugged into the wall. You wouldn't notice the plug unless you were looking for it. And the vegetable basket had knocked it when it was last put back in there. Now we know about that, we'll be careful, but we thought for a while that we were going to lose all the stuff in the fridge.
Then this weekend the shower stopped producing hot water. Right as Graeme was trying to shower before we went out for a friend's birthday. Fortunately, while the shower is electrically heated, the bath water is heated by the gas boiler so we can still wash, but washing your hair in the bath just isn't the same. We waited until Monday to get in touch with the landlord (to give him the weekend) but he didn't get in touch with us until 10 last night to say he could come over on Thursday afternoon. In the meantime, Graeme has taken the cover off the shower box and found that a switch inside has overheated and melted both itself and the surrounding wiring. Apparently it's a common problem in the model we've got. It's just annoying. We've bought a pipe attatchment for the bath taps so we can sort of shower, but the cable isn't long so we have to hunker down and it doesn't fit too well.
In spite of all this, we are loving being here. It feels like home already. We're both closer to work so we're spending less time commuting which, in turn, means that most mornings when I finish work I'll be home in time to have at least half an hour's cuddle time in bed with Graeme. I think it's just helped our relationship in general. We can be more huggy and kissy without having to consider my parents feelings (and the constant teasing). We don't feel like we're being constantly observed. We're behaving more like we did when we were back in Aberdeen. It's nice to just stretch out, across Graeme, on the couch and sew while he reads or paints models. And we have been able to settle into a domestic routine, which is nice
Work is also going well. All of us have settled in and formed a great team really quickly. I've definitely bonded closely with at least two of the others and we work really well together. At our first monthly meeting last week, our manager reported that the day staff have nothing but praise for the job that we're doing. I just hope that this isn't a honeymoon period and that things don't start deteriorating in a couple of months.
- Location:Living Room
- Mood:
content - Music:A ticking clock reminding me to go to bed
Graeme and I went to view a flat at 10:30 last Friday morning. I had just come off my first night shift and had managed 2 hours sleep before leaving the house again. By 11:00, I was signing the deposit check. Our move in date is this Friday.
The flat is perfect. Not large, but bright and roomy. It's east-west facing, so we'll have sun all day. The little kitchen is newly furnished. There isn't even room to swing a hamster in the bathroom, but the bath is lovely and deep, which is all I care about. There isn't a bed in the second bedroom, but there's a lovely big desk and the matress on our bed is brand new. We've even been told that, despite it being rented, we can hang things on the wall and repaint the place if we like.
On my birthday,
kaffyr wished three things for me - a good job, a nice flat, and Graeme to share it with. I now have all three. I think she's my good luck charm.- Mood:
excited
Now, I've started my new job. What the other new starts who had phoned had been told was a one day induction, was actually an 8 day training and induction session before we started nights. There are 4 of us ACAs and 2 nurses (the rota that's been carefully worked out is going to go to hell as soon as one of them gets sick, but I'm sure something will work itself out). I'm just glad I went prepared to work that day.
We have a four week rolling rota where we work one 12 hour shift and two 13 hour shifts. The rota started on Monday but the way it works out I don't do my first shift until today, and then I'm on tomorrow and Saturday night. Not bad, eh?
Having had the induction fortnight to get to know the other night shift workers. We're all new because they've never employed specific night staff before. It's a new thing to go with the new building we'll move to by the end of the summer. Everyone's lovely. We all get on great and the last two weeks have been a laugh. Unfortunately I only rarely get to work with one of the two nurses and not at all with one of the other ACAs, but people will swap shifts and so on, so it'll work out. It's going to be nice, because we'll be the only permanent night people. The vet interns take turns and the students only do short blocks of nights. We'll be away from the office politics of the day shift and will just be able to get on and do our jobs.
I'm going to be exhausted, but I can't wait.
- Mood: excited
It is going to be a busy time, though. In the next 48 hours, my parents leave on a 2 week Kenyan safari that my dad booked as mum's 50th birthday present and I start my new job. I have everything prepared. My scrubs are washed and ironed. I have new shoes and a new fob watch. I have located and checked my essentials for the job:
- 2 biros (for writing up charts, space one in case the other goes walkies)
- 1 board pen (for keeping track of patients on the white boards)
- 2 loop leads (all patients must be taken for walkies on 2 leads in case of escape attempts)
- 1 pump bottle of hand cream (to soften my hands from the constant washing and alcohol scrubs)
- 1 pack special elastoplasts (since I'm allergic to the regular kind)
- 1 pair bandage scissors (used for everything from bandage cutting to removing staples from weekend paper supplements to paper kennels, keyring attached to prove ownership)
- Mood: nervous
Today she got the call at last. She's having the transplant today.
It won't give her back her sight. It won't cure the diabetes. She'll be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life. But she won't have to spend three nights a week on dialysis. She'll be able to travel without finding a local hospital that will find space for her to have her dialysis while she's away. It'll free her.
I'd just like all of you with any faith, to say a little prayer for her. And also for the family of the person who had to die to give her this chance. What they've done was brave and selfless at a terribly tragic time for them. I wish I could thank them.
- Mood:
thoughtful
belsum, who gave birth to her beautiful little girl on Saturday eveningI More congratulations can be given on her other blog www.belsum.blogspot.com, where you'll also find an adorable pic of the little one.
- Mood:
happy
I have been waiting for this job my whole life. It's not quite my dream job (I have the crazy dream of one day opening my own business. Might happen one day, but not just yet). It is night shift. But the work itself IS something I've loved doing in the past. It's a wonderful opportunity to do that work under less suppervision and with more responsibilities. It's wonderful that my first permanent job outside of Uni is going to use my degree, rather than a starting level office job or going back to retail (God forbid). It's also only 3 shifts a week. Okay, it's two 13 hour shifts and one 11 hour shift, but it means I'll still be able to have a social life and spend time with Graeme.
It also means we can finally look for our own place. We're going to start applying to housing associations and looking at advertised flats for let at the end of the week on Graeme's next day off (because he has horrible shifts this week). We are both so ready to be away from my parents and in our own place. Some privacy. Some space . . . heaven.
- Mood:
ecstatic
More when I can see straight
- Mood:In Shock
I started the day with my parents bringing in presents from them and other family members. Graeme also gave me his presents and he COMPLETELY spoilt me. Then breakfast in bed (made by Graeme, and a substantial one at that), followed by a lovely relaxing morning. In the afternoon, he took me into Glasgow and our favourite Tea Shop. A lovely place called Brewhaha for afternoon tea and cakes. He also bought me some lovely stuff from Lush, where the sales assistants asked where I had found such a "caring and attentive" boyfriend. I managed to resist replying "over the internet". A lovely dinner and home-made birthday cake and then a quiet night watching State of Decay (E-Space trilogy part 2).
And today was the big interview. I think it went well. I was asked to give an example of when I had acted well as part of a team and independently at work. I gave one example for working alone, from when I had been working there previously of a situation I had dealt with while alone on a ward and they told me that that was an excellent example and I needn't give another. I should hear by the end of next week how I did. Fingers crossed.
- Mood:
optimistic
