So Many Things... Where To Start?
The Post-Labor Day Week in Review
This last week has been terrible in capital letters with one exception. It's a biggie, too, but the rest of the week was really quite awful. I guess we will just have to roll it all into one post. Time is in short supply at this time of the year, especially for me. I have work (until Thursday, 15 September, anyway), Ren (the New York Renaissance Festival) and riding. That leaves me with very little time to do anything else.
Well, the four day weekend was fine. I had Friday off (thanks to the gods for that!) and had breakfast with Medicine Man and then went to get my hair done. It took a little longer than usual - for some reason, my hair only became brown the first go round, not burgundy. The second time it came out great. And in fit of bravery, I had my eyebrows waxed! It was not a bad experience. It was shocking when she yanked the fabric off but really so fast that it was not truly painful. It looks good, too. And unlike shaving, I won't need to worry about the new growth until November or so!
After that I went to my parents' house and spent time with Ma, Ray, Frankie and Bridget. It was fun. After that, Ray and I ran some errands together - we went to the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions they had, then to Stop N Shop for a couple of things and finally to Toys R Us for a set of planets that glow in the dark and hang from the ceiling. We had a good time and then I dropped Ray off and came home. I hung up the planets and adhered some of the day-glow stickers that came with the kit to the bedroom ceiling. It looks really cool - with and without the lights on!
The three day weekend at the Renaissance Faire was OK. Saturday and Monday were excellent money days with a lot of business and - for this year - big crowds. Sunday, by contrast, was a total bomb. I couldn't explain if I wanted to - the weather was the same as the other two days (perfect) and nothing else was different, so I am at a loss as to how this could be. But it was. Just as well, I suppose. I couldn't keep my eyes open so I went home early. Monday the Phantom was supposed to be there... and nothing. No phone call, no note, nothing. He never came and David, Dorita and I were quite worried about him.
Tuesday was an uneventful day - work was nice and I picked up my check at the agency and deposited a lot of money before going on call - but when I returned home from rig check, all hell broke loose. Flyboy and Quilt Queen had a poor doctor's visit that morning and I called all the numbers I had - Tom's cell, Alayna's cell, their house phone, Flyboy's mom and a coworker and could not find anyone. And then Hamlet, Dave's cat (Dave in Montana), died. He was a mess. And there were other calls. And Phantom called to let me know he was safe and did not say much about whatever had upset him but he worked it out of his system (I guess) by driving. He drove to the middle of Massachusetts and turned around and came home. That is a LOT of driving, especially with gas prices as they are.
Well, Wednesday brought some answers. Flyboy and Quilt Queen had to go to St. Clares hospital by direction of the high-risk pregnancy doctor, who determined that the oxygenated blood flow from the placenta to the fetus wasn't what it should be and she wanted the baby out NOW. Once at St. Clares, it was determined that for such an early birth with a baby as underweight as this one, Morristown would be the better hospital to be in for the neonatal care. With a lot of finagling by my wonderful Lieutenant, Bob Heinzerling, they were transported to Morristown by ambulance and she was thoroughly checked out there. After some monitoring, cooler heads prevailed and decided that the fetus should remain in Mom, and they needed to really carefully watch things. So they were there for the duration. Until the baby came, Mom couldn't leave and Flyboy had the special pink wrist band to admit him to the room at nearly any time.
I went to visit them in the hospital on Wednesday evening and while it wasn't the most gorgeous of accommodations, it was in a good hospital and they were taking good care of them. And that is what matters! We got to listen to the heartbeat thumping away like a galloping race horse (the fetal heartbeat is between 125 and 150 - very fast!). It was a good sound - the sound of life!
Ever since last Friday, after a night with no calls at all, I was filled with a sense of foreboding and dread. It had been too quiet, too easy last week and this week, we were going to pay for it... I couldn't shake that feeling.
Well, on Thursday, I had a busy day. I had to run to two different doctor's offices - my OB/GYN for my Depo Provera shot; then to my GP for my second hep inoculation. Then I ran home and changed to be on call. We did rig check and then I went home. I was home for maybe 15 to 20 minutes when we got a call to go to Rockaway Meadow School for a laceration on a leg. As we were pulling onto the field (my first ambulance off-roading trip!) we heard Car 65 get blown out for a multiple injury MVA [motor vehicle accident]. I had a sinking feeling that we may end up on that call as well. Anyway, at the school, I thought the patient would be a kid. Instead, it was a man my age and some kid had run his bike into him by accident. He was lying on the ground with one ankle very securely wrapped in an ace bandage and propped up on a helmet. We loaded him into the ambulance and I drove off the field, stopped while they replaced the bandage and rebandaged the wound, then headed up to St. Clares with sirens wailing and moving along the highway fairly well. Baby's first patient trip (not really, but first one on my own)!
When we were enroute to the hospital, Car 65 back-up was blown out for the MVA call on Mazdabrook Road, in front of the Care One nursing care facility. After that, it would be us - very few times can either squad get a third rig out on a week night... I had a bad feeling that we would be needed on that call eventually. As it turns out, we were - we had gotten Leg Lac to the hospital and just as I was backing in, we were blown out for the accident. We unloaded Leg Lac guy in record time, grabbed sheets and blankets and while Bob drove like a madman to the scene, Rob and I actually managed to make the stretcher without getting killed in the back. It was not easy!
We arrived onscene to chaos and confusion. Both of 65's rigs were there as well as Car 69, to use the jaws of life on the one vehicle. Our patient was the driver of an SUV with some damage, but not needing the jaws of life - and he was a doctor. I have to say, however, he was the best patient we have had - and usually medically trained people are the absolute worst patients! This gentleman was my age, with no apparent injuries other than a headache from hitting the windshield. He was wearing his harness, but due to his height (or lack thereof), he was really close to the wheel and his head hit the windshield anyway!
So we did all the right things, collared him, boarded him and took him to the hospital. He checked out okay by us - we checked him over for trauma. He complained of a headache but otherwise was stating that he was fine. Still, best to get checked out. He was an excellent patient, though - usually medically trained people make lousy patients.
We got in from that call around 2030 or 2100. I came home and puttered around the house and finally went to bed around 2200. I was very asleep when the phone rang. It was my mother - she was hysterical. I could hear her voice, even though Luis had picked up. He handed me the phone, saying, "It's your mother." When I got on the phone, she wailed, "Frankie's dead!" She said a couple of other things, but she was so upset that I could not understand a word. She told me she was going to put Daddy on (Ray) and then I had to hold on while he pulled himself together. By then I was upset too. Frankie was my dog, too. Ray got on and he was a mess. He told me the whole thing - that Frankie had been in pain during the day and he had called the vet's to ask about giving him aspirin or something. The vet's office instructed him to not give Frankie anything and that they would see him the next day (Friday) to take x-rays. Well, that night just before they called me, Ray came downstairs and Frankie was on the floor. He had been on the bed and Ray thought that maybe he'd fallen out. So he said, "Come on, boy, let's go for a walk." Frankie moved but did not get up. Ray went over to him and heard him give an agonal breath - gasping - and he turned on the light. Frankie gave another gasp and died. Just like that. So they called me. I wanted to go over there, but Ray told me not to - after all, what could I do? So I stayed home - just as well.
I called Phantom and cried to him for a while. There was no sleeping for me. I tried but ended up getting up and writing e-mail.
We were called out at 0240 for a "confused male" who was transported to the hospital and on the heels of that we went out for someone who needed lifting assistance. We got back in at 0430. I had gotten no sleep after talking to my parents and the Phantom, so I was exhausted. I slept until 07:35, then took a shower and went to work. I looked pretty awful. And I was still quite upset. And then for lunch I went to my parents, to help Ray take Frankie to the vet's for disposal.
It was horrible. Frankie was wrapped up in a beach towel in Ray's workroom. It smelled strongly of fecal matter - unsurprising. When a body is dead it relaxes and the bowels and bladder usually let go. Ray uncovered one back paw for us to pet and then broke down and cried and said, "My baby boy is gone." He started sobbing and I did, too. We were both a mess. He gathered him up in the towel and we got in my car and I drove to the vet's. We dropped him off and Ray signed off on the paperwork and paid $60. We were still very upset. We went home and I cried with Ma for a while too. We sat around and talked a little before I returned to work. At work I cried some more and my coworkers told me to go home - I was too upset and exhausted and I should go home and rest. I did, which was nice. I was truly whipped.
I cried a lot over the weekend too but being at the Faire helped. It was a welcome distraction.
On Friday afternoon, Flyboy called. He was very happy and told me that he and Quilt Queen - now "Quilt Mom" - are the proud parents of Matthew Thomas, born on Wednesday night (7 September) at 21:21. He weighed 1 pound, 13 ounces - he is tiny! But he was breathing without assistance and other than being really small and helpless, he was fine - the healthiest premature baby ever! I was delighted to hear it - some happy news after a perfectly dreadful week!
On Tuesday, 13 September we went to Morristown to visit Quilt Mom and to meet Matthew Thomas. He was tiny - tinier than any baby I have ever seen - but he was a good colour, perfusing perfectly with a strong heart beat and tiny hands and feet that moved around! He was perfect. He still is and he is gaining weight and really maintaining his own. Once he is able to control his own body temperature and successfully digest food (including maintaining a high caloric intake than output), then he can come home.
He's beautiful and healthy as a horse!
So we had a death, a birth, an end and a beginning - all in the same week!
This last week has been terrible in capital letters with one exception. It's a biggie, too, but the rest of the week was really quite awful. I guess we will just have to roll it all into one post. Time is in short supply at this time of the year, especially for me. I have work (until Thursday, 15 September, anyway), Ren (the New York Renaissance Festival) and riding. That leaves me with very little time to do anything else.
Well, the four day weekend was fine. I had Friday off (thanks to the gods for that!) and had breakfast with Medicine Man and then went to get my hair done. It took a little longer than usual - for some reason, my hair only became brown the first go round, not burgundy. The second time it came out great. And in fit of bravery, I had my eyebrows waxed! It was not a bad experience. It was shocking when she yanked the fabric off but really so fast that it was not truly painful. It looks good, too. And unlike shaving, I won't need to worry about the new growth until November or so!
After that I went to my parents' house and spent time with Ma, Ray, Frankie and Bridget. It was fun. After that, Ray and I ran some errands together - we went to the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions they had, then to Stop N Shop for a couple of things and finally to Toys R Us for a set of planets that glow in the dark and hang from the ceiling. We had a good time and then I dropped Ray off and came home. I hung up the planets and adhered some of the day-glow stickers that came with the kit to the bedroom ceiling. It looks really cool - with and without the lights on!The three day weekend at the Renaissance Faire was OK. Saturday and Monday were excellent money days with a lot of business and - for this year - big crowds. Sunday, by contrast, was a total bomb. I couldn't explain if I wanted to - the weather was the same as the other two days (perfect) and nothing else was different, so I am at a loss as to how this could be. But it was. Just as well, I suppose. I couldn't keep my eyes open so I went home early. Monday the Phantom was supposed to be there... and nothing. No phone call, no note, nothing. He never came and David, Dorita and I were quite worried about him.
Tuesday was an uneventful day - work was nice and I picked up my check at the agency and deposited a lot of money before going on call - but when I returned home from rig check, all hell broke loose. Flyboy and Quilt Queen had a poor doctor's visit that morning and I called all the numbers I had - Tom's cell, Alayna's cell, their house phone, Flyboy's mom and a coworker and could not find anyone. And then Hamlet, Dave's cat (Dave in Montana), died. He was a mess. And there were other calls. And Phantom called to let me know he was safe and did not say much about whatever had upset him but he worked it out of his system (I guess) by driving. He drove to the middle of Massachusetts and turned around and came home. That is a LOT of driving, especially with gas prices as they are.
Well, Wednesday brought some answers. Flyboy and Quilt Queen had to go to St. Clares hospital by direction of the high-risk pregnancy doctor, who determined that the oxygenated blood flow from the placenta to the fetus wasn't what it should be and she wanted the baby out NOW. Once at St. Clares, it was determined that for such an early birth with a baby as underweight as this one, Morristown would be the better hospital to be in for the neonatal care. With a lot of finagling by my wonderful Lieutenant, Bob Heinzerling, they were transported to Morristown by ambulance and she was thoroughly checked out there. After some monitoring, cooler heads prevailed and decided that the fetus should remain in Mom, and they needed to really carefully watch things. So they were there for the duration. Until the baby came, Mom couldn't leave and Flyboy had the special pink wrist band to admit him to the room at nearly any time.
I went to visit them in the hospital on Wednesday evening and while it wasn't the most gorgeous of accommodations, it was in a good hospital and they were taking good care of them. And that is what matters! We got to listen to the heartbeat thumping away like a galloping race horse (the fetal heartbeat is between 125 and 150 - very fast!). It was a good sound - the sound of life!
Ever since last Friday, after a night with no calls at all, I was filled with a sense of foreboding and dread. It had been too quiet, too easy last week and this week, we were going to pay for it... I couldn't shake that feeling.
Well, on Thursday, I had a busy day. I had to run to two different doctor's offices - my OB/GYN for my Depo Provera shot; then to my GP for my second hep inoculation. Then I ran home and changed to be on call. We did rig check and then I went home. I was home for maybe 15 to 20 minutes when we got a call to go to Rockaway Meadow School for a laceration on a leg. As we were pulling onto the field (my first ambulance off-roading trip!) we heard Car 65 get blown out for a multiple injury MVA [motor vehicle accident]. I had a sinking feeling that we may end up on that call as well. Anyway, at the school, I thought the patient would be a kid. Instead, it was a man my age and some kid had run his bike into him by accident. He was lying on the ground with one ankle very securely wrapped in an ace bandage and propped up on a helmet. We loaded him into the ambulance and I drove off the field, stopped while they replaced the bandage and rebandaged the wound, then headed up to St. Clares with sirens wailing and moving along the highway fairly well. Baby's first patient trip (not really, but first one on my own)!
When we were enroute to the hospital, Car 65 back-up was blown out for the MVA call on Mazdabrook Road, in front of the Care One nursing care facility. After that, it would be us - very few times can either squad get a third rig out on a week night... I had a bad feeling that we would be needed on that call eventually. As it turns out, we were - we had gotten Leg Lac to the hospital and just as I was backing in, we were blown out for the accident. We unloaded Leg Lac guy in record time, grabbed sheets and blankets and while Bob drove like a madman to the scene, Rob and I actually managed to make the stretcher without getting killed in the back. It was not easy!
We arrived onscene to chaos and confusion. Both of 65's rigs were there as well as Car 69, to use the jaws of life on the one vehicle. Our patient was the driver of an SUV with some damage, but not needing the jaws of life - and he was a doctor. I have to say, however, he was the best patient we have had - and usually medically trained people are the absolute worst patients! This gentleman was my age, with no apparent injuries other than a headache from hitting the windshield. He was wearing his harness, but due to his height (or lack thereof), he was really close to the wheel and his head hit the windshield anyway!
So we did all the right things, collared him, boarded him and took him to the hospital. He checked out okay by us - we checked him over for trauma. He complained of a headache but otherwise was stating that he was fine. Still, best to get checked out. He was an excellent patient, though - usually medically trained people make lousy patients.
We got in from that call around 2030 or 2100. I came home and puttered around the house and finally went to bed around 2200. I was very asleep when the phone rang. It was my mother - she was hysterical. I could hear her voice, even though Luis had picked up. He handed me the phone, saying, "It's your mother." When I got on the phone, she wailed, "Frankie's dead!" She said a couple of other things, but she was so upset that I could not understand a word. She told me she was going to put Daddy on (Ray) and then I had to hold on while he pulled himself together. By then I was upset too. Frankie was my dog, too. Ray got on and he was a mess. He told me the whole thing - that Frankie had been in pain during the day and he had called the vet's to ask about giving him aspirin or something. The vet's office instructed him to not give Frankie anything and that they would see him the next day (Friday) to take x-rays. Well, that night just before they called me, Ray came downstairs and Frankie was on the floor. He had been on the bed and Ray thought that maybe he'd fallen out. So he said, "Come on, boy, let's go for a walk." Frankie moved but did not get up. Ray went over to him and heard him give an agonal breath - gasping - and he turned on the light. Frankie gave another gasp and died. Just like that. So they called me. I wanted to go over there, but Ray told me not to - after all, what could I do? So I stayed home - just as well.
I called Phantom and cried to him for a while. There was no sleeping for me. I tried but ended up getting up and writing e-mail.
We were called out at 0240 for a "confused male" who was transported to the hospital and on the heels of that we went out for someone who needed lifting assistance. We got back in at 0430. I had gotten no sleep after talking to my parents and the Phantom, so I was exhausted. I slept until 07:35, then took a shower and went to work. I looked pretty awful. And I was still quite upset. And then for lunch I went to my parents, to help Ray take Frankie to the vet's for disposal.
It was horrible. Frankie was wrapped up in a beach towel in Ray's workroom. It smelled strongly of fecal matter - unsurprising. When a body is dead it relaxes and the bowels and bladder usually let go. Ray uncovered one back paw for us to pet and then broke down and cried and said, "My baby boy is gone." He started sobbing and I did, too. We were both a mess. He gathered him up in the towel and we got in my car and I drove to the vet's. We dropped him off and Ray signed off on the paperwork and paid $60. We were still very upset. We went home and I cried with Ma for a while too. We sat around and talked a little before I returned to work. At work I cried some more and my coworkers told me to go home - I was too upset and exhausted and I should go home and rest. I did, which was nice. I was truly whipped.
I cried a lot over the weekend too but being at the Faire helped. It was a welcome distraction.
On Friday afternoon, Flyboy called. He was very happy and told me that he and Quilt Queen - now "Quilt Mom" - are the proud parents of Matthew Thomas, born on Wednesday night (7 September) at 21:21. He weighed 1 pound, 13 ounces - he is tiny! But he was breathing without assistance and other than being really small and helpless, he was fine - the healthiest premature baby ever! I was delighted to hear it - some happy news after a perfectly dreadful week!
On Tuesday, 13 September we went to Morristown to visit Quilt Mom and to meet Matthew Thomas. He was tiny - tinier than any baby I have ever seen - but he was a good colour, perfusing perfectly with a strong heart beat and tiny hands and feet that moved around! He was perfect. He still is and he is gaining weight and really maintaining his own. Once he is able to control his own body temperature and successfully digest food (including maintaining a high caloric intake than output), then he can come home.He's beautiful and healthy as a horse!
So we had a death, a birth, an end and a beginning - all in the same week!
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