Ever had one of those days (or nights) when everything seems to go wrong?

[nurseangel]

I stayed up all night last night, feeling rough between some type of upper respiratory virus and back pain. I work 3rd shift anyway, so I try to keep with my schedule a couple of nights when I'm off. I decided to go ahead and make an easy dinner for today (tuna salad) and binge watch all the "Friday" movies with Elsie. (Not the scary ones; the funny ones that star Ice Cube.) I have a lot of concerns with my upcoming surgery, plus DH and the cats being sick, so I chose something light-hearted, expecting to take my mind off things. I was in for a relaxing night, all things considered.

A few years ago, DH wanted this vegetable chopper that was an As Seen on TV product. Now I am a sucker for that As Seen on TV stuff, and some of it is really pretty good. I had my doubts about this chopper, however, though it got some really good reviews. We put it in the cabinet, and he never used it. Men! It had taken up valuable real estate in the cabinet long enough. Last night as going to be the night. But as I looked at the unopened box, I got a bad vibe. (I am going to cut myself on this thing, I thought.) I pulled the tape off the box and one of the bladed pieces practically jumped out and cut my thumb! I hadn't even done anything with it yet! It didn't draw blood, but it was like a papercut, which was somehow worse. I washed it, cut the onion in four pieces (one medium onion was much too small to fit on the chopper, which totally contradicted to the picture on the box), and the onion wouldn't go through the blade. I followed the instructions and normally I am one of these people that can put something together with a hundred parts and two pages of vague instructions. Virtually no assembly required with this, but it didn't seem to work. I put this dangerous thing back in the box (it didn't begin to fit into the box it came from, but nothing rarely does for me) and into the trash it went. I hate to be wasteful, but I had no intention of giving it to someone and them losing a finger. I don't know who is giving that chopper all those good reviews. I cut up the onion the old-fashioned way.

I paused the movies as I gradually worked on the tuna salad. When I opened the can of tuna the top snagged and I got into a minor altercation with the can opener. Elsie walked into the kitchen. I know cats aren't supposed to have tuna, but I gave her a little bit before I mixed it with the onion, on a paper towel. Bree woke up, so I gave her a tiny bit, too. She turned up her nose at it, but when I walked back into the living room, I saw that Bob was awake. I repeat, Bob was awake!

Yes, Bob was awake! And alert! "Bree, you woke up Bob," I told her. "Now you have to watch him. You woke him up, you watch him." Sometimes they play nice, but last night they got into a big fight. Not just one fight but fight after fight. Bree is the largest cat we have, but Bob is a fierce little somebody. I kept having to get up, walk into the hall, and call them down. I am not much of a disciplinarian and my cats don't listen to me anyway. I don't really know who was hurting who, but probably nobody. Bree talks a lot and Bob is dramatic. Finally, they settled down and I got back to my movies.

At dawn, there was a loud noise and Bree deftly jumped up on my sofa table to look out the window. It sounded like a large truck. We live on a cul-de-sac, so it's unusual to hear something that loud on our little gravel country road. Bob was asleep on the cat tree, so I messed around with him some because he is adorable and informed Bree that she woke him up and had to watch him again. She ignored me completely and just kept staring out the window. Cats!

I got curious. I peeped out the blind and there was nothing there. I had missed seeing the truck. (Not much excitement in my neighborhood.) As I moved away, I knocked over the largest of my three matching poinsettia candle sticks. They have matching candles with poinsettia imprints on the wax. It fell in the floor and shattered. I almost cried. I know it's just a candlestick, and not even of real sentimental value. Thank goodness it was not the antique clock that belonged to my dad when he was a little (which is also on the sofa table). But I love Christmas and leave subtle Christmas decorations out all year. I know I'll never find another to replace it.

So, I would never do this to a patient. Please don't think I am a terrible nurse. But I went to take my insulin and got my syringes mixed up! I took 20 units of regular by accident. For those of you who are familiar with insulin, you know how bad I screwed up. For those of you who are not familiar, it could have been a deadly mistake. Now, I faithfully cross-check myself three times when medicating patients. I am so careful. However, I am not a patient. I let being upset over breaking my poor candlestick that I got flustered. Had this been my brother, who seldom has to use his regular insulin, and he did the same thing without realizing, he could have gone on the sleep, and I don't want to think about what could have happened. This is the one time I was fortunate that my sugar runs high, and I drink regular soda, and love sweets.

I am at the computer table in my bedroom and just heard that stupid truck again. Apparently, one of the two neighbors that live past my house has started driving something large and noisy. I didn't look out the window to find out. I don't care what or who it is!

For those of you who took the time to read all this nonsense, thank you. I realize it's whiny, but I am worried sick, especially about Bob. If his vet visit reveals something bad, he'll have to be PTS unless it can be fixed. That's probably why I talk about him so much. He's had a bad life prior to us adopting him. He even has nightmares, something I've seen in dogs but never in cats. I think this is really what this post is all about. I want to give him the happy life he deserves, without the health problems he has now. He is a sweet creature who doesn't deserve all this.

 

[Furballsmom]

He is a sweet creature who doesn't deserve all this.

When I have a Betta fish who gets a tumour, --about which there's nothing that can be done other than to feed him or her good food, keep them appropriately warm (they are tropical) and their water pristine, I know that although I wasn't able to have them in my life as long as I wanted, I was able to give them as good and comfortable a life as possible.

 

[catapault]

A long time ago (I was a teenager and no, I'm not telling you how old I am now) I operated on a goldfish that had a growth. Wrapped gills loosely with very wet , sopping wet cotton batting. Sliced growth off at scale level with a previously sterilized double edge razor blade. Applied a dab of Vaseline over the wound. And back into the aquarium. Quick. "Operation" didn't take long at all. As I recall, the goldfish recovered well. Don't think it was a tumor, just a growth. And goldfish are enough larger than a Betta that there was adequate size to deal with.

 

[nurseangel]

I didn't know fish got tumors. I'm sorry to hear it. A woman at my former job had a Betta fish in her office. When she tapped on the bowl, he would come over to her. I love fish, but don't have any now because of my current cat population. I could get a nice tank where they couldn't be harmed, and I have thought about getting a fish and putting him in a large tank. However, I had a little catfish that swam upside down for about two weeks. The vet told me they couldn't treat him and the kindest thing to do was drop him in ice water. We just couldn't do it. We've never had another fish. I'd like to get an outdoor pond and put Koi or goldfish in it.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'd like to get an outdoor pond and put Koi or goldfish in it.

I think koi are fabulous

 

[Mia6]

oh boy, i hope things improve for you.

love,
miaxxxx

 

[nurseangel]

Thank you. Tonight I am staying up again and so far, so good. I have no intention of looking out for that truck.

 

[bobkater]

The thread title "ever had one of those days..." seems overly optimistic to me. I've had many of those days, and I don't want to remember them.

In fact, events often remind me of Murphy's famous Law:
"If anything can go wrong, it will".

 

[Winchester]

Sending you calming thoughts for a better night.

 

[misty8723]

My sister is on insulin and has been know to make mistakes. Until our father died last month, she was his sole caregiver and not taking care of herself. She was forgetting to take her shots. On the night he died, she called me, she was obviously upset and crying, but there was more to it. She was shaky, felt off balance, her legs were heavy. I told her to check her sugar. She did as we were talking and she kept getting confused, couldn't find her sticks, etc. When she did get it checked it was close to 500! I kept telling her to go to the ER! but she was afraid to because of how they had treated our father (not badly, but kept him there and we think that's what caused his decline). She knows what to do when her sugar is high, so she took whatever shot was necessary and I kept her on the phone until it went down to 200. Not great, but way better than 500.

The next day she still wasn't freeling right so I convinved her to call ask a nurse. That nurse told her to hang up and call 911. They did a brain scan and checked her for stroke, but fortunately it wasn't that. She had taken a strong antibiotic for a bad yeast infection and also an extra dose of her anxiety and they figured that might be causing it, along with who knows how long her sugar wsa mega high.

Anyway, all this was just to say that I have diabetes but not on insulin. But because my sister is, I know how bad it can be if you don't regulate it right. When I was first diagnosed they made me a pill that caused mine to go low. I was at work and trying to make copies in the copy room. I started to feel weird but I figured I could finish the copies. But I got a little worse so I went and check and it was 45. I learned a lesson from that one. I'm no longer on that med.

I do hope your days (and nights) are going better now!

 

[Mia6]

how are you feeling today?

 

[nurseangel]

Mia6 I feel much better today.

Thank you all for the well wishes. I am staying up late again tonight. DH went to the animal shelter today and the woman said Bob was fine when they had him. They were giving him B12, which could mean he has IBS, but I am afraid to start trying to diagnosis before goes to the vet. She said she was glad we adopted him, because someone else would have just put him outside to die. Of course, there is the worry that my girls have caught something from him. But they are systematically going to the vet anyway, for checkups and teeth cleaning and whatever else.

misty8723 I am sorry to hear about your dad. I hope your sister's sugar gets under better control. Stress can definitely play a role in blood sugar. In my case, my ex-doctor put me on medication that some people are now using for weight loss. I had done bad on a weekly injection before, so I asked him if it would cause me to have an upset stomach. I worked four tens and would stay in bed from Thursday night when I took that medicine until Monday morning when I went back to work. He took me off that medication, saying it was no quality of life. He kind of brushed off my questions about the second medication. I took it as prescribed and did fine the first two weeks. But he wanted me to bump up the dose after two weeks. I did and immediately started feeling bad. I went on to work, thinking everything would be okay. Instead, I went into diabetic ketoacidosis and ended up in critical condition. Worse, it was during the time of COVID. The waiting room in the emergency department was packed. I won't go into the whole nightmare, but I do blame my doctor to some extent. Long story short, he messed me up to the point that I am now on insulin. And he told me when I started going to him that he was not going to treat me as a nurse, but as regular patient. That's the way I want to be treated. I don't tell most people because it intimidates some people or makes them nervous. I like to quietly watch them. I also want them to do their job, you know what I mean? Usually, the figure it out somehow. A doctor once told me that I was a nurse. I replied, "I didn't tell you that." He said that I didn't talk like other people. I am trying to figure out what he meant so I can correct my way of speaking.

If a patient asked me about a potential side effect, I would take the time to answer their question or find someone that could. If the inmates were in doubt if a medication was correct, I would look it up online. I know that pharmacies can change it up because they go with a less expensive manufacture, but I wanted to make sure and be able to tell them that it was indeed the correct medication. If you've been taking a blue pill for five years and suddenly someone gives you a yellow one, it's definitely a concern.

Gracious, I got into a big IMO about the medical community in general. Sorry.

 

[misty8723]

If a patient asked me about a potential side effect, I would take the time to answer their question or find someone that could. If the inmates were in doubt if a medication was correct, I would look it up online. I know that pharmacies can change it up because they go with a less expensive manufacture, but I wanted to make sure and be able to tell them that it was indeed the correct medication. If you've been taking a blue pill for five years and suddenly someone gives you a yellow one, it's definitely a concern.

Speaking of doctors, I don't actually remember what I went to him for but he prescribed a pill for it. I got it filled and read the insert as I always do. One potential side effect was sudden heart attack or stroke even if you don't have heart disease and it can happen after you finish taking the medicine. When I went back and he asked if I had taken (whatever it was). I said, if that's the one that can cause sudden heart attack or stroke, then no I didn't. He laughed and said he would have to tell them to stop putting the inserts in the packages for me. So that is the attitude doctors have.

That's how my sister ended up on insulin, her doctor messed up with the medicines and told her she had no choice. MIne asked if I wanted to try insulin and I told him no. There's no way I could ever regulate it right, I don't/can't eat like "normal" people. I am on a once a week injectible and that seems be working pretty well.