outsidevoice

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I have a back issue. At the ripe old age of 39 (for several more months thankyouverymuch) I have a degenerating disc between my L4 and L5 vertebrae. There is nothing surgically that can be done – it is a gift from the genetics fairy – but, as an added bonus, I have a fairly [...]

Hi, Playgroup Dropout readers! Welcome to OutsideVoice. The Swimmy’s pretty damn cute, huh? Yeah. We like her, too. So, my Friday is more Fabulous because it appears my mom has turned the corner. Cautiously. But turned the corner nonetheless. But I will tell you that Thursday did not start out Fabulous (yes, capital “F”). At [...]

This was quite a day. I spent the day at home with The Swimmy today because she woke up with the seasonal cough, sore throat, stuffy head. Because of that, I couldn’t go up to the hospital because I was too afraid to bring any new germs into Mom’s ICU room. About 8am, I was [...]

I have this saying that I seem to use with abandon, “Every day is a new day.” I’m usually using it in a somewhat sarcastic way by giving it as an answer to the question, “How’s work going?” “Well, every day’s a new day.” I believe I’ll retire that phrase after this ordeal. Because, not [...]

Mom was moved to ICU today. When I arrived this morning, her pulse/ox was only at 88 (normal is mid-nineties), which means she wasn’t getting enough oxygen. After a chest x-ray that was ordered “Stat”, we got a radiologist’s report that things hadn’t changed much. Which in this situation was a blessing. Couple that with [...]

Okay, so I’ve missed more than one post in NaBloPoMo. And I might have not told the whole truth as to why. Mom is still in the hospital. It’s been a week as of Sunday. Her pneumonia / infection showed signs of improvement, then it didn’t. She’s going backwards. Whatever antibiotics / anti-fungals / anti-everythings [...]

Seriously. So, my mom has had to go back to the hospital – again. She’s got some mystery infection that is causing problems and they advised my folks to go back to the hospital so that an infectious disease person can evaluate her and run some tests. It seems that even though her white cell [...]

I left Little Rock today. In my rearview was one very tired, beaten down patient and her equally tired, frustrated (and a bit sad) husband. I spent most of my breath uttering the words, “Okay, what do you want me to do?” because, seriously?, I offered very little except a warm body, which was enough [...]

Live from Little Rock – it’s…oh, my G-d it’s Little Rock. Yep, I’m here. First, let me say that Little Rock is a lovely little town. Everyone is very nice. Really nice. Like, cars actually stop and wait for a pedestrian to cross the street nice. It’s unnerving. Rush hour traffic is 4 cars waiting [...]