Mischele, RN♥

My father in law has had a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis since September. He's gone downhill fairly quickly. We didn't think he would make it back in December but he miraculously recovered fairly well and was doing well with chemo and radiation. About 2 weeks ago he was taken back to the hospital (this is his 5th hospitalization) with shortness of breath and was doing ok the first several days. Now the doctors say that there's nothing more they can do, the cancer is getting more aggressive and he's now on hospice care. I just had a baby last month so today was the first time I'd seen him since he was in the hospital and I give him 2 weeks MAX.

My 10 year old nephew who is fairly close with my FIL is taking it really hard. My SIL keeps taking him to the hospital and it's got to be excruciating to see his grandfather being put through some of the things he's gone through. He often cries and it's heart breaking.

My daughter is almost 8 and it's been a hard year for her. My grandfather who she was close with died this time last year after a long hospitalization. Then my uncle died, my husband's grandmother died and then my husband's uncle died, so she's had a lot of loss to deal with all of a sudden. She seems to hold her emotions in check. She never cried. She almost seems emotionally stunted and sometimes I wish she'd just let it out. Her birthday is in 9 days and she made a comment about my FIL being sick and how she's going to have a 2nd year in a row birthday with someone sick. Last year my grandfather died on March 4th and was burried on her birthday. We took her out to dinner the next day which my husband's grandmother attended and she died last year, so she remembers all of that death related to her birthday. It's so sad.

Both kids are dealing with this so differently. I haven't told my daughter that my FIL is on hospice and that he's dying. She knew he was sick and that he was never going to get better and we did tell her that he was going to die in December (we thought he was - he was on a ventilator and not doing well).

Does anyone know of any activities that I could try to get my daughter to do to help express her grief. I feel like I can't help her if she won't discuss it. Also I want to help my nephew as well without going above and beyond my sister-in-law. Thanks in advance.

I've got an american staffordshire terrier mix that we adopted at 7 weeks old 2.5 years ago. Before her we had a cat and a bird, so the dog wasn't the first animal and we have a daughter who was 5 when we adopted the dog. We had a baby last month and tried to prepare the dog as best as we could - by not letting her up on furniture the month or so before the baby came home, bringing home things that smelled like baby before the baby came home and letting the dog sniff the baby all she wanted (without being in the face or licking the face). By the end of the first week the dog started peeing and pooping on our carpets again and just out and out not wanting to go outside even though we didn't change anything about her eating and bathroom schedule. We tried to give her as much affection and attention as we used to before the baby so she wouldn't associate bad things with the baby. After 2 weeks when she just kept soiling the floors we went back to crating her again, but she resists it all the time now. When we try to get her outside she runs to her cubby under an end table where we set up a bed for her and she needs to physically be pulled out of there and will often pee on the floor on the way outside. I hate seeing her like this and it's worse at night than during the day. We don't know what else to do, but we can't keep her crated forever and we can't keep dragging her outside. A few nights ago she actually snapped at my husband when he tried to put her out and she's never snapped at anyone. We're afraid if this keeps going on like this that we're going to have to find another home like this. I'm constantly reminded of when I was about 12 and a friend of mine had an 'oops' baby brother and they had a Doberman that was about 8 years old that they had from birth. Well one day when the baby was in the crib and the mom was in the kitchen the dog mauled that baby to death at 2 months old. Their dog was never aggressive or anything. We'd like to keep our dog because we really do love her, but we love our new son more and one day our son is going to be crawling on the floor where our dog is now peeing, even if we do have the carpets cleaned....... Help!

I've got these prints or paintings (I haen't taken them out of the glass to see if it's paint or print) signed by LeBailly. They're scenes of Paris and the landmarks are written in pencil on the back of the pictures in the same hand as the artist signature. I love these prints and wanted to see if I could get my hands on more of them, but I can't find anything about the artist to see if I can get more. Everything is written in French on the picture. If anyone can help me find out who this fantastic artist is, I deeply appreciate it! I could get a picture of the art if it would be more helpful.

I'm 29 weeks, 5 days. My hips (especially the left one) has been killing me the last couple of weeks. Last night I could barely sleep because my left hip just kept aching no matter what position I slept in, pillow between legs and without. On that side or the other side or on my back. I took Tylenol last night and it barely touched it. Walking is becoming rough which sucks because I'm a nurse and I work 12 hour shifts, so walking a lot is a must. Is anyone else having this and if so what are you doing about it? I know my pelvis is spreading out and my body is trying to adjust to the growing baby and what not, but I didn't have this with my last pregnancy.

I've had this parakeet for like 8 years now. Last year she laid a couple of eggs. We removed them. A few months later she laid a few more and we removed them. About 2 months ago her butt started to get big and round, and she started shredding her cage again like last time. Well I had no idea the gestation of parakeets. She's never had a problem before. I'm only just reading today it's like 2 weeks and then they lay eggs. I'm only just reading about egg binding. At this time a vet is impossible and the ones we called locally said they can't do anything for a parakeet. For a $20 bird I'm not going to fork out $150. She's not people friendly (never was) so I'm afraid to take her out and put her in some warm water/oil, but is that my only option to help her? She still chirps, eats, drinks and swings on her swing. She's not all lethargic and huddled in the corner. I was starting to think it might be a tumor. Help!

OK, I think my husband shorted out the car for starters. There was a broken window button on the back passenger side. It had been broken for years (this was my mom's car given to us when she got a new one). He didn't know that. He took out some screw, re-aligned the button and put the screw out. Now nothing in the car works. No lights, no ding, no radio, no lights - nothing. The battery is about a year old and he wants to take it out to have it 'tested' to make sure the battery isn't dead. My thing is he screwed the car up when he "fixed" the button.

So now he's trying to get the battery out. He's got the bolt out from the wheel well, but he can't get the bolt out along side the air cleaner out. He called the local chevy dealer for any hints on what tool he needs and they said they have a special tool and he'd have to bring it in. Of course they'd say that. My mom took that batter out herself last summer, so they can take a flyer on that one. So he told me to ask out there if anyone had any info. He is thinking all he needs is a rachet on an extender. Is this so? Thanks in advance!!!

I had an ultrasound a few days ago and this has been irking me to no end. It looked to me there was little to no amniotic fluid around the baby's head. Asked the doctor about it. He said that it looks mostly pooled around the baby's feet, and did agree that there was little around the head/torso but that there was an appropriate amount overall. I asked him if this would post problems later on and he was very tight lipped. In fact he told me that he didn't have a crystal ball to tell the future. Well I didn't want a prediction, I was looking for an 'in his experience' kind of answer. I couldn't google anything to where there was more fluid on one side than the other - only too much fluid or not enough fluid. I've got an anterior placenta and the baby is facing it. I've been trying to be conscious of laying more to my left side as the fluid was all to the right. Any ideas? I've got another ultrasound scheduled for another 2 weeks.

Well the overall fluid level was 17, but the area around the head was a 2-4. The MD didn't seem worried, but I've experienced otherwise....

I had an ultrasound a few days ago and this has been irking me to no end. It looked to me there was little to no amniotic fluid around the baby's head. Asked the doctor about it. He said that it looks mostly pooled around the baby's feet, but that there was an appropriate amount. I asked him if this would post problems later on and he was very tight lipped. In fact he told me that he didn't have a crystal ball to tell the future. Well I didn't want a prediction, I was looking for an 'in his experience' kind of answer. I couldn't google anything to where there was more fluid on one side than the other - only too much fluid or not enough fluid. I've got an anterior placenta and the baby is facing it. I've been trying to be conscious of laying more to my left side as the fluid was all to the right. Any ideas? I've got another ultrasound scheduled for another 2 weeks.

I'm 19 weeks. I realized last night that I hadn't felt the baby move the last day or two. Granted I don't feel movement every day, but I at least feel it every other and I know I haven't felt anything in about 3 days. So this morning I wait and see. Lie down, have some breakfast - still nothing. I call the doctor. They have me come in. Can't find the heartbeat on the doppler. They whip out the ultrasound machine. We see the baby and they show me the heartbeat, but the baby isn't moving and it looks like there's no fluid around the baby TO move. I saw one twitch of a foot but it looks like it whacked right into the edge of the placenta. They didn't check how fast the heart was beating and it was just an office staff member (a nursing student!) who did the ultrasound. She said "well you are just ONLY 19 weeks" and that just drove me mad. I told her that it looked like there's very little fluid and she was unconcerned. She printed me out a few pictures and off we went. So now I've left a message for my perinatologist who is also monitoring me. (I hate not getting a live person!!!) At my last ultrasound with them (2-3 weeks ago) for a cervix check, there didn't look to be a lot of fluid then either! I told the technician it didn't look right and she didn't say anything. I'm irritated. I'm trying to advocate for myself and this baby and everyone is poo-pooing me. I'm a nurse. I know my body. I know how I've felt and I know something is amiss and I want someone to do a really good ultrasound to check fluid. I don't want to be super paranoid, but I've had 4 pregnancies, 2 miscarriages and pre-term labor with my daughter (who is 7). It took us a year to conceive this one and I don't want any mishaps going on and certainly not by my doing. What would you guys do? What do you think?

I have satellite radio, so I seldom listen to the local stuff anymore, but this week I've wanted to listen to regular radio. I turn on the radio in the AM and there's NO Booker on Q102 - in fact NONE of the original people are there and the newbies all suck!!!! They all sound like high school AV junkies.

I've barely slept. Last night around 8 (it's now almost 4) I started to have some light cramping over on the right side, down low. It's intermittent. It only lasts a few seconds and it can sometimes come every few minutes to a half hour or more. I've been contemplating calling the doctor but I don't want to bother them and plus I've got my 3 hour glucose tolerance test scheduled for this morning because I failed my first one - which was a surprise. I just don't know what to do. I'm not bleeding - i keep checking. I don't want to be a nervous nelly, but........

I'm thinking of waiting until I'm at that test (the lab is just a few doors down from the doctor), calling them while I'm there and then see what they want to do - like have me come in after the test. But that is a good 8 hours from now (until the end of the test. What do you all think?

Ok I bought a EasyShare Z 712 IS and the Series 3 dock to go with it. The dock came claiming that it charges the battery. Took my camera off the dock the other day and guess what? Battery dead. I put the camera on the dock and turned it on - and there's power. Take it off and there isn't. What is up???? I'm so frustrated! I'm going away this weekend and now my battery is dead! I've only had this camera like 6 weeks!

I need suggestions as to how to fix it or what alternatives I can use.

I'm going to be out between Allentown and Lancaster next month for a week. We're picking a day to go to Dorney Park/Wildwater Kingdom. We're going to be up there from Monday to Saturday and I want to go on a day that isn't overly crowded as I'm going to have my daughter, husband, mom and grandmother with me as well. I know from working at Six Flags in the past that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the slowest, but that was like 10 years ago.

Thanks!

OMG! On sunday we were in the pool, my daughter (7 yrs old) hopped on my back a little too forcefully. I felt ok on Sunday. Monday I woke up and couldn't even move. I went to the chiropractors. Tuesday felt a little better, went to the chiropractor again. Also went to my primary MD who said that because I'm so early in my pregnancy that the only thing they recommend is Tylenol and rest. I've been taking Tylenol every 4 hours for 3 days. This morning it was just as bad as Monday. I could barely move my left leg. IT's not shooting down my leg - I've had sciatica before and this is not it. It's the worst pain I've felt other than labor pain. I've been putting heat on it and it's put me out of work tonight and tomorrow night. I can't keep taking days off and just laying around the house. I'm not a lay around the house type of person. And when I do lay, I get stiff and when I try to sit up I have horrible muscle spasms. There has got to be something OTHER than just Tylenol!!!

A few years ago I had seen that you could pay a few hundred dollars and have a home put on the national home registry and have the home named to where the USPS would recognize the name of the home as it's own unique address as well as it's physical address.

My grandparents house is 103 years old this year and for Christmas I want to have their home put on the registry and have an iron sign made to attach to the house with it's "name" and est. date of 1904. Now I'm googling for the home registry and I can't seem to find it other than the historic home registry which isn't what I had seen a few years ago. Can someone point me to the right direction?