Etc.

Alyssa's break was over this past Sunday (Palm Sunday) and she was kinda hoping to be able to come home for Easter, but didn't have any extra time off besides the weekend. I was dreading taking her back this past Sunday, then having to pick her up today and then return her again on Easter Sunday. It just seemed like an awful lot of driving, but really wanted to have her home this weekend. At one point, I thought that she might be able to drive back to PSU herself, leave her car at our nephew's house, then drive herself home today. I was nervous even thinking about that, as it would be the first time she drove to and from PSU by herself, plus she's never really driven there in any of our trips up there, and only has driven the car twice on return trips. So for weeks, I went back and forth trying to figure out what to do. It ended up being a last minute decision, as there were forecasts for possible snow on Palm Sunday. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we allowed her to drive. I was on pins and needles the whole time! I prayed that she would be delivered safely to her destination. Turns out she got there without any problems, didn't get lost once, and is back home again today, again without incident. I knew that I needed to suck it up at some point and let her do this, because come August she's gonna want to have her car up there.

So she got home at 7 tonite, and promptly left at 730 to meet friends for dinner. Whoosh....!!! My mom and I will take her back on Monday morning, as her first class on Monday's isn't until noon. That will work out nicer, so we have all of Easter Sunday to relax and not have to worry about a six hour drive!

My buddy Frodo....awake....

and asleep...

What's in that water?!!?!

The tele-monitor used by our local home care agency to transmit vital signs to their office. Reports are then faxed to the patient's physician's office. It records temperature, blood pressure, pulse, pulse oximetry (level of oxygen in blood), weight (there's a scale sitting on the floor beneath the monitor). It is also capable of asking about 40 yes/no questions (chosen based on patient's condition). Once all functions have been completed, the data is transmitted to the home care office via either satellite or phone line. If there are any abnormals, someone calls from the office, speaks with the patient, then either asks the patient to repeat some of the data, or contacts the physician's office with the abnormalities. I was quite interested in seeing how this worked, as I am on the receiving end of these reports in our office, so it was neat to hear how it worked and see what it looked like. A friend of a friend of a friend (and so on and so on) had surgery recently, and this was set up for her. I happened to be there as the RN was getting it ready.