In the news this week

It's a new year, so lots of things going on. It must be fundraising season, because my alma maters all called me up to say hi...and ask for a big contribution.

The nightmare of rehab hospitals
As a new nurse in an urban rehab hospital, I had a few patients who were not on the hospital registry (aka being on blackout). One in particular stands out. When people called for him/her, they had to give a password to get any sort of information.

For this patient, the spouse who caused the fall that led to rehab called me at least twice asking about him/her without the password. I never gave out any information. The patient recuperated with us and left the state to live with other family members.

I thought of that and someone coming back when I read this article today @nursingpins had in his Twitter feed. Oh, the insanity and the sadness of domestic violence.

On the research front
Some of these folks are seeing promise with spinal cord injury patients regaining lost function. As Martha says, it really IS a good thing, indeed.

Other uses for fruit
My coworker, C., is our wound specialist at the Hotel. She found this gem on staging wounds which compares apples to the different NPUAP wound stages.

And last but not least, Dahey's cousin the psych nurse is cooking around the world. She recently asked about strange looking fruits, so I found the one she was cooking via Google.

Enjoy your week!

Ah, the weekend!

It's  a lot of work celebrating Easter at our house in RehabLand, but we have fun. Lots of stuff going on. I got up and assembled all the ingredients I needed. I found out that Dahey ate one of them (you just can't leave him alone with certain kinds of canned fruit), so that went on the shopping list.

Next, it was run over to one of Bubba's soccer games at 0800. (So glad it was not an 0700 one!) Bubba got up early anyway, and asked me if I saw what was outside. RehabLand was covered in a huge fog.

Once we got done with soccer, it was back home to start some of the baking, with Dahey on watch (and warned not to eat anything else.) so I could go to the store to pickup the missing items and a couple of other things.

While I was out, I also returned a movie. I'd wanted to see The Intouchables forever. I finally did with Dahey last night. As a rehab nurse, it was an absolute riot. I especially loved the references (and reactions) to teaching the caregiver about bowel programs.

It would be a riot if any of our folks had a Maserati. I can only imagine what might happen with a similar setup.

More later...

Nuggets for March 26

Here are a few items of interest that I've read recently. Hope you find them useful!

If you haven't heard it already, your risk of cancer goes up if you work the night shift. (from cnn.com)

Are you getting ready for spring by dropping a few pounds? Here's a great list of cost-effective ways to do it from the Mayo Clinic's Low Cost Ways to Shape Up.

I had to chuckle when I read this one last week. It's not from a health publication, but it is entertaining: Old age begins at 27. (from the UK's Daily Mail)

There's been a lot of stuff in the news the last few months about new artificial sweeteners, particularly stevia (aka Truvia). However, just recently CNN did a story on miracle fruit, which alters your taste buds. It may sound like a marketing ploy, but there's some interesting research going on with cancer patients undergoing chemo. It seems, for some, that this little berry, helps food taste better while they're receiving treatment.

Breathing is a really good thing. If you can control your breathing effectively, you can reduce your blood pressure, especially with gadgets like these. It sounds crazy, but it looks like it can work with some people.

Finally, an article I truly enjoy: Caffeine: A legal performance enhancer (from www.nytimes.com). I'm not going to run a marathon, but boy, does coffee help my marathon at work!