Nurse Jess here

Wow! You all have been so great at posting recently! And here I was a couple weeks ago feeling like a blogging loner! Ha!

Birgie, so glad you are home and feeling well considering everything you have been through. You are a trooper, and I might have, if you were my patient, deemed you my star patient! hehe Keep up the hard work and determination - it will get you far fast! :) Al, I haven't literally seen you help Birgie physically or emotionally, but believe me, I know your heart well enough and your love for Birgie, and because of this, I think everyone feels overwhelmed with appreciation that you have been such a rock for her! Yuo really deserve a big hug! :)

Ang, that was super sweet you took a drive to visit Birgie, Al and Omi today! I bet with the traffic being kind to you, it was a pleasant experience! Seems nice out too! And from your other entry, I agree with all you said about denial and our eating mentality. We certainly need to gain more self awareness at times, and really strive for clarity when choosing what to eat and why we choose to eat what we eat. I am really guilty in this area. My weakest is at work because there are times, like yesterday, that I didnt have time at work to eat or drink a thing for 6 hours. That is far too long. Mind you I haev gone 10 hours at work without eating, so 6 hours didnt seem so bad. But what bothers me about my strange eating times is if I wait too long to eat, I get this desperate starving feeling and I eat probably too much, and of course allow myself to reach for crappy food just to feel better - and all beause I am yes, hungry, but mainly because my brain isnt registering to slow down, think, and allow myself to be rational in food choices. Plus, I hate it that I dont eat often enough (in small meals) because when so hungry, your body stores current fat cells and makes things worse because it expects to be going into a state of "no food for god knows how long", and therefore holds all the bad fat cells! Funny how if you eat well, and in small portions more often, you will lose weight faster than if you starve yourself. I couldnt willingly starve myself anyways cause not only do I understand the implications, but I LOVE eating! haha

Janine, you are so precious, and DAMN girl, if only you would give yourself some kinda break and stop beating up on your emotional state. I know you know your emotional patterns, and I concur with Angie that with this Europe trip comes only great things!!!!! You are going to feel refreshed in every sense I think! You are going to come back a happy happy girl, and you deserve that! If there is anything at all I can do...let me know. Come to think of it, I know we would both benefit from hanging out...and especially if we did something extraordinary (please, no Coba though man! hahahaha)! Hmmmm, should we look up trampolining? We can let out some energy, laugh a lot and have bum wars!! Ya! I will get in touch soon. I just want you to know you are so great, and I love you in my life.

Dad, Harvey is proving to be a great tool for you in your weight loss journey. I am really thrilled that you have taken this on with such open eyes...and because this is a healthy (the only way I think) weight loss, you look great and like you are full of life! Keep it up as I am SO exicted for you.

I am working today (had the day off initially as yesterday was SUPER stressful...but someone called in sick so at midnight last night, they asked if I could come in)...and I am in stepdown. My patient had major complications post operatively, but he is doing fairly well now (stable to say the least)...and I tell the doctors it must be my decent nursing care bringing him around again! :) TE hehehee! Good humor is the name of the game here believe me! :) Anyway, ya, this job can be super stressful at times, and like you said Birgie, multi tasking is important. In fact, it is part of my everyday here. That was my struggle as a student...learning how to time manage and do a million things at once. It is especially difficult for me because I am hyper aware of people and have this longing feeling to do everything and anything possible to make a patient happy... and that added to the mix makes for a never ending, and never boring, day at work! Oh, and because we are a teaching hospital, every few mths we go through new residents, and honestly, majority are amazing and they learn fast (and we develop great rapport and relationships with them), but right now we have a new resident that is HORRIBLE to us nurses. We haev realized it is a gender thing - he looks down on women. It makes your life difficult as a nurse when the once peaceful well oiled machine was working so well is now all messed up, full of anger and poor communication. There has not been one nurse that has not had a rotten experience with him. I asked him to see a patient of mine last week who is a nurse herself and was nervous about her condition and requiring some MD reassurance, and he said, "I am the Doctor, and I will not go see the patient unless I see fit, you are the nurse should go see her". I told him right then, in a professional way, that that behavior was not going to work here. He has been asking us nurses to do things that are illegal (but he is defensive when we question him), so we had the chief Md talk to him. Anyhow, just goes to show that it is vital to have a positive and healthy working relationship with those you work with, and I think it is paramount in good patient care! We have been working hard recently to make sure patients are ok and that things are getting done properly d/t this doc. That's all I will say for now on that. This job is so complex!

Well, my patient seems to be waking and I need to obviously get to him, so all the best today to you all!

Love and snuggles, Jess