Monday, December 31, 2007

The things I hate about A.D.D.

From the time I was little, I couldn't ever focus on one thing...I was very easily distracted and I could never remember things that I needed to remember and had no problems remembering things I had no business remembering...or things that didn't matter, I had no problems remembering those things...

I dealt with it as best I could, and in school, I would literally have to study for tests weeks in advance...just to get a passing grade...

I remember taking tests and getting grades back thinking...man...I knew that answer...how did I get that one wrong...?? stupid mistakes...but, I wasn't concentrating mostly...

I went to take my GED test at FPCC in St. Louis...I fell asleep during the history portion, woke up in time to answer all the questions without reading the paragraphs...I don't know how I passed that test...but I did...

Going through Respiratory school, sucked for me...TLOML would help me study and he would ask me questions repeatedly wondering how I couldn't remember questions he'd just ask me....I think I frustrated him more than I frustrated myself...by the end of school, on the last day, stars were handed out to the students of all the nicknames that were given to the students by the instructors...my star had "Spacey" on it...I can take a joke, it was funny...but more so...it was so true..whatever I had studied would go directly to the brain, down the arm, out the pen, onto the paper and voila....gone forever!!

I got through it somehow...without medication...I had never taken medication until after I was already working in respiratory...

The toughest part about my job at that time was giving report to the other therapists...I couldn't remember anything about the patients I had treated all night...

I couldn't sleep any more than 4 hours a day...I wasn't used to working nights..

I went to my MD and told him that I couldn't remember anything and that I was getting frustrated because I am sure I looked like a complete moron to my co-workers and supervisors...

You know what his diagnosis was?? he said, "you're just depressed!"....
I'm the least depressed person I know...but if I can't remember stuff, I'm going to go psycho!!..he prescribed me 3 different meds for depression...none of them worked...over 7 months...I finally left him and sought out another physician...

I feel like the little kid in the cartoon the family circus...when they do the boy running through the house with the - - - - - - all over...that's me!!

it takes me days to clean my living room...it takes me a day to do 3 loads of laundry...

anyways...when I met with the new physician, I told her that I thought I had ADD...she asked, what makes you think that? I told her that I was having problems remembering things, I couldn't shut my mind off at night, I can't finish anything and I can't have general conversations with people because I end up not listening to anything they say....all of which I had to write down on a piece of paper to remember to tell her when she asked what I thought was going on...

as she probed more, she realized that it didn't take much for me to go from topic to topic and how I couldn't stay focused on the questions asked...one thing always leads to another...

I get bored with stuff quick...I'm painting my bedroom in my new house and about half way through, I was ready to quit...lucky for me I had TLOML to keep me going...
and finish the job...

anyways...she asked me about my past relationships...I've had many...lets see...1.2.3.4.5.....
the kids dad and I lasted 9 years off and on....

I can't count how many jobs I've had....and I don't want to...

so...just going on with all that, she decided to write me a script for the first med I took..I lasted about 5 months on that, it was great too!! I read the first book for pleasure...(not a textbook) at age 37...and I finished the whole book...I could remember almost everything....phone numbers, football games, players names....wow...jokes...I could remember jokes....it was great...but then the drug caused problems in other areas...so we switched meds....then, I've been happily on that drug for over a year..not at full strength either...vast improvement...

now, another problem...when I took this new position at a different hospital, I had to switch all my physicians and I had to get referrals to specialists...

this physician doesn't want to give me the med I've been taking for over a year...and...she doesn't want to give me a referral for an allergy specialist...

I've been allergic to EVERYTHING since I was 15....I need these long acting steroid shots..I've been getting them 4 times a year for ....ALL MY ADULT LIFE....

and now, I've been without a shot for 3 months, no ADD meds for 1 month and I'm PISSED OFF...I can't breathe, I'm wheezing and I can barely focus...at home and at work....

I can't switch physicians again until tomorrow and I can't do it tomorrow because its a holiday.....


if it weren't for the love of my life....I wouldn't be able to do anything right now...

most of you would be calling him a nag...but I need him to nag me about stuff because if he doesn't do it, I won't get anything done around here....

thank goodness I haven't had to work much this last month....and yesterday I was training someone so I had her to keep me in check...but she's used to me because I worked with her at the other facility and she worked with me both on and off my medication...so before we even started the day yesterday I had to remind her of what it was like working with me in the beginning and then let her know that it would be like that again yesterday...thank goodness she was there...

but she won't be there tomorrow, so I'm a bit worried...but don't worry about that, because like the great ADD'er that I am, I'll forget all about it soon and tomorrow, I'll be distracted by time, leave late for work, forget something like my stethoscope and I'll be finishing all my work up until about 7:15 when clock out time is 7:00 pm.....


how happy for me...yay!!!

anyways, my dryer has stopped for the 2nd time, it's time to go get my clothes out and take a shower...that I should have done an hour ago...

Happy New Year everyone....

Hope that 2008 brings happiness and joy to everyone and God Bless you all!!!

kT

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Fascinating facts!

The Skin:

Most people take their skins for granted. It has always been there and they don’t think too much about how versatile and adaptive it is. The following facts should interest you:

Skin accounts for 16 percent of your body weight.

In one square centimeter on the back of your hand, there are almost three metres of blood vessels, 30 hair follicles, 300 sweat glands, 600 pain sensors, 6 cold sensors, 36 heat sensors 75 pressure sensors, 9000 nerve endings, more than ten metres of nerve endings and four oil glands.

The average person sheds about 18 kilograms of skin in a lifetime.

Skin thickness varies from 0,5 millimetre on your sex organs to about 6 millimetres on the soles of your feet.

The skin cannot absorb water or solutions with sugar or salt. It can absorb a limited amount of oils and fats.

Skin produces its own antiseptics and prevents harmful bacteria from entering your body.

About 10 percent of your blood circulates through your skin.

Approximately 60 percent of the human body consists of water. Skin prevents that water from evaporating.

Your skin has more nerve endings than any other part of your body.

The Blood:

The average adult man has about five to six litres of blood in his body, while the average woman has about four.

Your blood makes up about 7% of your total body weight.

About 95% of the body’s blood cells are made in bone marrow.

There are approximately 1 billion red blood cells in two to three drops of blood.

There are three types of blood cells: Red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, all of which float around in plasma. The blood that you donate can be separated into these constituent parts.

Your body usually replaces the volume of the blood you donate within 24 hours.

Restoring red blood cell levels to normal can take up to two months though.

Whole blood has a shelf-life of 35 days. Red blood cells last 42 days, platelets only five days and plasma up to one year.

The most common blood type is O positive, while AB negative is the rarest. People with AB blood can receive any kind of blood from a donor, while O negative blood can be given to anyone.

Scientists recently managed to change type A and B blood into type O. If this process can one day be done on a large scale, it would go a long way to alleviating the persistent shortage of blood.

If you are healthy, you will be eligible to donate blood up to 330 times in your life.

Sugar:

Glucose is the most widely distributed sugar in nature, although we rarely eat it in its purified form.

Fructose, found in fruits and honey, is the sweetest of all the monosaccharides (sugar incapable of being hydrolysed to a simpler form). When tasted in crystalline form, fructose is twice as sweet as sucrose (table sugar).

Sugar cane and sugar beets are known to have the highest concentration of sugar.

Sugar is simply separated from the beet or cane plant, and the result is pure sucrose.

Fruits don't only contain fructose – they also contain sucrose and glucose.

Pure fruit juice contains 12g of sugar per 100ml; a can of Coke contains 8g of sugar per 100ml.

When you consider the health of your teeth, it's better to eat 10 jelly beans all at once than it is to eat two jelly beans every hour.

Moderate amounts of most sugary foods do not produce dramatic rises in blood sugar as was always thought. Many starchy foods (bread, potatoes and many kinds of rice) are digested and absorbed at a faster rate than sugar.

During World War II, only 120g sugar was allowed to be bought per person per week as part of their rations.

When a spoonful of sugar is added to a vase, it prolongs the life of freshly cut flowers.

Sugar is used as a preservative in jams and jellies. In these foods, it inhibits the growth of microorganisms.

Interesting stuff on the internet there is!!!

have fun
kT

Monday, December 10, 2007

What a freakin' idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!

Employee Admits Sabotage To Ambulances
Created: 12/10/2007 3:46:25 PM
Last updated: 12/10/2007 3:59:58 PM

"A man who admitted to putting sugar water in the gas tanks of 20 ambulances said he feels his actions were justified.

Ryan O'Connor took a job at American Medical Response in Lake Worth, Florida hoping to do some good.

In an exclusive interview, O'Connor claimed that he was eager to do good when he first joined the company.

Lake Worth Police say O'Connor wore a ski mask and broke into the AMR lot.

The 21-year-old admits to using a funnel to put thick sugar water into the gas tanks of more than a dozen ambulances.

The next morning, three ambulances went out and stalled.

Although no one was hurt, management says O'Connor's actions could have put patients' health in jeopardy.

O'Connor admits to feeling guilty about his outlandish actions, but says they were justified.

"I wouldn't say it's crazy. It was meant to be simple and effective and it was," he explained.

O'Connor says he planned this vandalism as a way to bring attention to his complaints about AMR, but didn't elaborate further.

He could now face felony criminal mischief charges.

AMR is now working with borrowed ambulances while their tanks are cleaned.

O'Connor offered a simple apology, saying, "I'm sorry for the damage I have caused."

O'Connor was fired from AMR and police are waiting for an estimate of damages before filing charges against him."






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Why would someone even think of such an evil thing to do??

Some people are just not right!

To all the people who work on the rigs, I'm sorry that this had to happen...what a disgrace..

I love what I do for a living and if someone tried to deliberately sabotage my very much needed and utterly important task of helping save lives, well, hmmmmm

that's just not right!!

I hope that this guy never needs an ambulance!!!
kT

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

My teeny, tiny Christmas List!

When asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, I said, let me think a while and I'll get back to you...

1 week later, that question revisited....

My answer(s).....


1. Lower the fuel prices to under $1.00/gal
2. My father and sister-in-law to be to be cancer free
3. My Children to smarten up and realize that I'm the "good" parent...
4. No more back/feet/knee pain
5. My brain implanted into the head attached to that of an 18 year old body post menopause
6. My bills paid off
7. The troops back home on American soil
8. Better insurance options at work
9. Better Patient - to - Therapist ratios
10. My wedding in Greece to be just wonderful and amazing next July
11. Time.....I want more time...
12. Sleep, I want more sleep
13. More time with my grandmother, she's 92...I want her to live forever...
14. Harmony at work between co-workers
15. 1 of my girls to graduate high school and go to college...just one, it would be so nice....I would really like to see them all go, but I would settle for just 1 of them
16. A bigger house on 10 acres of land
17. Spanky to come when I call him....that's a big one!
18. The love of my life to be happy at his job
19. Spend more time with my Grandson....
20. My whole family to be present on Christmas Eve.....

hmmmmmmmmmmmm is that a lot to ask for??

it's time for sleep....I need that!!!
good night all
kT