Just come on in and help yourself to the food and drinks,





Grab a partner and dance






Or just hang around the juke box and listen

Dad has been back in the hospital since Wednesday. Sent home Friday, back on Wednesday, not a bad track record for this hospital. The problem is, way back in July they gave him an infection known as MRSA. That's staphylococcus bacteria that has developed into a Superbug. Fortunately he doesn't have the flesh eating strain, but it still is an antibiotic resistant bacteria that never leaves the body. It just goes dormant, and reoccurs wherever your body has been compromised. He acquired it back in July when he broke his hip and they installed the plate in his hip. Somehow or other the hospital has him convinced that once the plate comes out the problem goes away. They can't take the plate out, because of the MRSA his bones have not knit well enough to take the plate away from them. Dad thinks that taking the plate out will "cure" the MRSA.....wrong.

He's always going to have it, which means every illness he gets will put him back in the hospital because regular antibiotics will NOT take care of MRSA. The major contributing factor to Mom's death was the bacterial pneumonia that she would get every month during the winter, which was caused by MRSA. Thirty four percent of the people who contract MRSA die within the first month. Twenty seven percent within the first year. Mom died eleven months after diagnosis. These statistics are why hospitals now have infection control programs headed up by a doctor that is knowledgeable about infection control. So, how is this being spread? By the nurses and the aides that DO NOT use proper hand washing techniques after handling patients. I had to wear a gown and gloves to visit my Mom and now my Dad. MRSA sufferers are placed in private rooms, once the bacteria shows up somewhere. Simple precautions like gown, gloves and handwashing will prevent 30,000 people annually from catching MRSA. So explain to me why it's so hard to prevent the spreading of it?

Nurses and aides go in and out of the rooms, handling the patients with MRSA. They wear gloves, but seldom take the time to gown up. So, the patient sneezes while the nurse or aide is bending over the patient adjusting the pillow. The person providing care now has it on their clothes. They remove the gloves, use the sanitizer, outside the room they brush something off their clothes, and then go on to the next patient. My best guess is that half the nurses and aides on any given day do this 100 times during a shift. Plus the number of doctors that examine their MRSA suffering patients without even gloves or handwashing. Next time you are at the hospital visiting someone, watch how many employees come in and handle a patient wearing gloves, or do a thorough handwashing with the sanitizer. A thorough sanitizing includes wrists, palms, back of hands, between the fingers and the tips of the fingers. NONE of them will do all places. What I see them missing is between the fingers and the tips of the fingers.

Mom had numerous hospital stays before she got it, Dad got it on his first stay. The infection control doctor told us that Dad could have gotten it anywhere and there's no way of telling where he got it. I did some research last night and there is a way of telling. You have to have a lab test which gives you the identity of the strain. Hospital or nursing home acquired MRSA is one strain, community acquired MRSA is another. There is a way of proving it. It won't help my Mom now, or Dad, the damage is done. Suing the hospital is not the answer, the answer is to watch that employees use proper handwashing techniques and if they don't, report it. If you can't get any satisfaction on the hospital level, document what you see, and report it to your state department of health. Who knows, the person you are preventing from getting MRSA might be yourself.

There are days when you feel trapped by circumstances beyond your control.



There are days when things weigh heavily on your mind.



On those days all you can do is pray for guidance and the strength to continue.



Too bad you can't always trust your friends.

It's amazing what a good nights sleep can do for you, it's also amazing how much you need it after eight hours of working in the office. The company I work for was founded by a woman who was sharp, no nonsense, in control and always on the ball. There were times she made bad decisions, but she made them. she did not go around to the employees for their input, she stood or fell on her own decisions. If they proved to be a bad one, she cut her losses and kept on. The problem is, she did not like interference from anyone, including her kids, so she found jobs for them that allowed her to control them and then she retired and left them in charge. She was forced to retire because of Alzsheimers Disease. The last year that she was in control was pretty scary. You'd tell her something, she'd make a decision then down the road she wouldn't remember that it was her decision and the proverbial stuff would hit the fan. It never affected me, she didn't see anyway that I could have made the decision, but the people in the office were the victims of a lot of paranoid accusations. She realized that she wasn't effective, so she retired on the last day in 2001.

She turned the reins of the business over to her two adult (supposedly) children. Her youngest son who is self indulgent, lazy, and a dreamer is in no way capable of running a business, but he thinks he is. He also owns the controlling stock shares. She wanted a Momma's boy and that's exactly what she got. Her oldest daughter is too jealous of her brother to be effective and for the most part has spent the last 5 years and one month complaining that he doesn't do anything. She's right, he doesn't, but I'd have more respect if she was doing something while lodging these complaints. For the most part the attitude seems to be that if the other won't do it, why should I? So, five years and one month after Momma's retirement, they've finally realized that they weren't going to be able to live high on the hog for too much longer if someone didn't take the reins.

So, he spends his time yesterday complaining to me about how overburdened he is by the business, his Mom, and just life in general. He's a hypochondriac that has no friends, no life and he's 40. She is starting to step up to the plate and do something. Of course, she has to see that it's something worthwhile before she tries it. There are numerous little things that she can't seem to make a decision about, but I will give credit where credit is due...sometimes. She is trying to rebuild what they managed to lose, and she has figured out which of the office staff to listen to. Now, if they can keep her on track and keep her nose to the grindstone, they may manage to save the business. It also helps that the insurance clerk has quit. She was doing much of his work to keep information out of the hands of her and her two children. Her son and his sister have stepped up to the plate and started paying attention to what needs doing, so that instead of supporting her bad decisions, they are now able to tell her when they won't work.

I'm interested to see where this is all going, and as long as I manage to not have to work in the office too much I'll be less tired. Most of my tiredness stems from spending much of my time there trying not to strangle someone. I never realized how exhausting that can be. On the other hand, if I lose it and do it, I'll be spending my life locked up. Three meals a day, better television reception than I'm getting. Not having to worry about finances and bill paying. Sounds like a pretty good deal...Oh wait a minute...no blogging...can't have that.

The office coordinator was sick today, so I had to go work in the office. The Bosses were all there. Fortunately I found 2 tasks to do that kept me out of their way. Unfortunately, those two tasks were tremendously boring, and made me want to take a nap. Everytime I have to work one or the other of the bosses or their family start talking to me and telling me how this is bad and that needs changing. Seems to me since they make more money than I do at this, and they OWN the company. One or both of them should have figured out that if you make a decision, then communicate this decision to the employees, then something might get done. Well, hopefully I won't have to work tomorrow there, I might take my helmet off and stick my head in the trap, I suspect that would not exactly be a good thing.