Family'll kill ya
Aug. 19th, 2006 09:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fredericksThis morning my brother came to my room to tell me he was worried about my father. Bro'd been downstairs and saw dad acting erratic, putting around in the kitchen, non-responsive when talked to, and generally acting odd. At first I thought bro was exaggerating a bit but when I came downstairs dad looked *odd*. Nursing assessment skills weren't required to see his memory and comprehension were off: he couldn't name various items I asked him about, he didn't know the day or date, he hadn't remembered what he'd been doing the night before (he went to AC with his friends and returned around 5AM). I stood there questioning my dad in the kitchen while my brother stood in the living room watching Sportscenter. Dad, of course, thought everything was fine. He never knows when he has a seizure, you see. After five minutes I told bro to get his car ready as we needed to get dad to the hospital. The bad signs? dad smelled of alcohol. He's supposed to be on Keppra for the seizures. Bad bad. Then again, you worry less about his seizures and possible bleeding if he's NOT ACTUALLY TAKING HIS MEDICATION. I'm fairly certain he's not been taking the meds, hence the seizure. This is how it goes with him. He keeps odd hours and none of us besides mom really like to be around him most of the time. If my brother had stayed at Martha's Vineyard instead of coming home yesterday and hadn't been getting ready to go to work no one would have known dad was acting weird. No one would have known he had a seizure.
So, fine. He had the seizure. My concern was for LT effects because I hadn't seen him disoriented for that long after one. I told my brother to go get dressed and give me and dad a drop to the local hospital before going to work. I told dad to sit on the couch (at that point he was disoriented enough to be fairly pliable when it came to listening to commands) and I went upstairs to get dressed. Getting dressed and packing material to keep myself occupied at the hospital took *maybe* three minutes. God forbid it had been an actual medical emergency, though, because it took my brother FIFTEEN minutes to get his suited ass downstairs. By that time dad had recovered enough to get argumentative. He adamantly *didn't* want to go to the hospital, he *hadn't* had a seizure, and something was wrong with *me*, not him. The fact that he hadn't been able to recall my name twenty minutes before was lost on him. Mom called and I told her what was going on. Now, I didn't want to tell her anything as she has a tendency to flip out (the woman's nerves are always an issue) but I thought she'd be able to help persuade my dad into the car. No dice. Mom told me forget it and that was that. I went upstairs to attempt sleep? study? headache combat? and bro went to make cash money. Dad stayed downstairs and snoozed on the couch. At that point I was pissed at him and mom and didn't care anymore. That was my morning.
Fucked up morning but DAMN, yesterday was niiiiiiiiiice. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to read through my paper before submission (I used my brother only because I didn't wrap it up until the early morning), and to those who congratulated me. Here's the thing - I know my paper isn't the Second Coming or anything, but all that matters is that I'm damned proud of the work I did. A professor who I respect thinks it's important and good and I'm going to run with that. It's nice to feel like you're not an incompetent git sometimes, you know? I'm going to work on it and try to get it published but even if I don't manage to get it into any journals I'll know that someone believed enough in me and my abilities to think I *could*. And that? makes me smile.
Before the e-mail that had me floating on Cloud Nine was breakfast with Jo. I'd managed four hours of sleep before she called me up and asked me if I wanted to head out. We did IHOP (country-fried steak is the shiznit, yo) and I had tons of fun. I think the lack of sleep loosened my tongue considerably, to the point where I'm this side of embarrassed. I found out Jo's much less sexually adventurous than I'd thought, and she found out that I likes the mens kissing. And the ladies kissing. And anyone kissing. And...yeah. Wouldn't have taken her for that level of prude. Mind, I'm plenty prudish myself, but I like what I like.
Next was school to pay the remainder of my bill and to meet up with the lass with whom I'm co-authoring the speech. We spent more time bitching about the program and classmates than actually writing, but it was all good. I should probably finish some part of my speech tonight, I think. When she headed out I stayed in Starbucks to work on some classwork. I've become quite enamored with working on reports in Starbucks. Something about using the iMac and the net and not having all the annoying family distractions that lends itself to getting work done. Too bad the laptop is my brother's. A body could get addicted to this thing.
Right. So that's about it. Two more postings for 624 (I plan to get at least one done tonight), the HESI on Monday (I should do a bunch of review questions tonight, right?), and that's it for classwork. Whoo! Home stretch.
P.S. - Whose Voodoo Would You Do, version Spinal Tap. Voting is FUNdamental.
P.P.S. - What's with family planning what you're going to do with your paychecks when you're not even licensed yet? They really want to jinx a body, don't they?
So, fine. He had the seizure. My concern was for LT effects because I hadn't seen him disoriented for that long after one. I told my brother to go get dressed and give me and dad a drop to the local hospital before going to work. I told dad to sit on the couch (at that point he was disoriented enough to be fairly pliable when it came to listening to commands) and I went upstairs to get dressed. Getting dressed and packing material to keep myself occupied at the hospital took *maybe* three minutes. God forbid it had been an actual medical emergency, though, because it took my brother FIFTEEN minutes to get his suited ass downstairs. By that time dad had recovered enough to get argumentative. He adamantly *didn't* want to go to the hospital, he *hadn't* had a seizure, and something was wrong with *me*, not him. The fact that he hadn't been able to recall my name twenty minutes before was lost on him. Mom called and I told her what was going on. Now, I didn't want to tell her anything as she has a tendency to flip out (the woman's nerves are always an issue) but I thought she'd be able to help persuade my dad into the car. No dice. Mom told me forget it and that was that. I went upstairs to attempt sleep? study? headache combat? and bro went to make cash money. Dad stayed downstairs and snoozed on the couch. At that point I was pissed at him and mom and didn't care anymore. That was my morning.
Fucked up morning but DAMN, yesterday was niiiiiiiiiice. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to read through my paper before submission (I used my brother only because I didn't wrap it up until the early morning), and to those who congratulated me. Here's the thing - I know my paper isn't the Second Coming or anything, but all that matters is that I'm damned proud of the work I did. A professor who I respect thinks it's important and good and I'm going to run with that. It's nice to feel like you're not an incompetent git sometimes, you know? I'm going to work on it and try to get it published but even if I don't manage to get it into any journals I'll know that someone believed enough in me and my abilities to think I *could*. And that? makes me smile.
Before the e-mail that had me floating on Cloud Nine was breakfast with Jo. I'd managed four hours of sleep before she called me up and asked me if I wanted to head out. We did IHOP (country-fried steak is the shiznit, yo) and I had tons of fun. I think the lack of sleep loosened my tongue considerably, to the point where I'm this side of embarrassed. I found out Jo's much less sexually adventurous than I'd thought, and she found out that I likes the mens kissing. And the ladies kissing. And anyone kissing. And...yeah. Wouldn't have taken her for that level of prude. Mind, I'm plenty prudish myself, but I like what I like.
Next was school to pay the remainder of my bill and to meet up with the lass with whom I'm co-authoring the speech. We spent more time bitching about the program and classmates than actually writing, but it was all good. I should probably finish some part of my speech tonight, I think. When she headed out I stayed in Starbucks to work on some classwork. I've become quite enamored with working on reports in Starbucks. Something about using the iMac and the net and not having all the annoying family distractions that lends itself to getting work done. Too bad the laptop is my brother's. A body could get addicted to this thing.
Right. So that's about it. Two more postings for 624 (I plan to get at least one done tonight), the HESI on Monday (I should do a bunch of review questions tonight, right?), and that's it for classwork. Whoo! Home stretch.
P.S. - Whose Voodoo Would You Do, version Spinal Tap. Voting is FUNdamental.
P.P.S. - What's with family planning what you're going to do with your paychecks when you're not even licensed yet? They really want to jinx a body, don't they?
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Date: 2006-08-20 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-20 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 04:30 am (UTC)Good luck with the speech!
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Date: 2006-08-21 05:03 am (UTC)Thank you! Your comment reminded me that I haven't worked on it since Friday. Oops.