Christmas prep

Dear Reader:

I don't know about you, but I have been very busy getting ready for Christmas. My side of the room looks very festive. My friend helped me dress up the bears. I've got my stocking hung up, presents are ready to go. It's pretty lean this year since I'm saving up my money so that I can get new eyeglasses. My insurance has a co-pay, so I have to cough up part of the cost for the eye exam and the glasses.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow because it's our resident Christmas party. We'll have live entertainment and food (of course), and then Santa will arrive and pass out all of the gifts under the tree. The Activities Department always does a great job pulling it all together, and I look forward to the party every year. I'm planning on wearing my Christmas cardigan sweater -- I've had it awhile but it looks so nice still.

My roommate has the holiday station on her radio. They started playing Christmas tunes right after Halloween, and she runs it 24/7. When I was growing up we had two holiday albums that my Dad played every year. One was Brenda Lee, and the other was the Chipmunks (Alvin!!) I would hop on my Dad's feet, and we would dance around the living room.

We'd also all sit in our little rocking chairs and watch the holiday specials on our black & white console television. There were more shows than there are now, but I'm happy to see they have started to bring back some of the classics in recent years.

This year I have asked Santa Claus to bring me a Kindle - the e-reader from Amazon. Yeah!! good luck on that one!!! But in my defense, I rarely ask for anything too costly, and I have been a very good girl this year. We'll see. Wish me luck.

My family will come to see me on Christmas afternoon, except for my brother Roger and his family. They are the ones hosting Christmas for my family. They will probably come on Monday. My mom will bring me leftovers from the family's get-together. This year Mim is serving ham, as it is Roger's favorite. It's actually my favorite as well. I love pork - I try not to think about where it comes from.

Hopefully we will get a holiday dinner here too. For Thanksgiving I got both turkey and ham, but sometimes they get it wrong. One year, we got spaghetti for our special dinner!!

Well, I think I'll stop rambling now. I'll be back next Thursday with a new edition to my blog. See you then!!!

Love always,
Darci

Roommates

Hello Fellow Bloggers!! Today's topic is roommates. Over the years I've shared space with a number of men and women. It's not easy to adapt to others habits and quirks. Everyone has various lifestyles. I've lived in both houses and apartments, as well as dorms in college.

Living in a facility you share a room where there is very little space or privacy. I've split a room with women who are here for rehabilitation and are here for a brief stay; the rest were long term residents. Many of my roommates were very ill and ended up passing away, which is difficult if you are attached to them. Most of the women have been much older than I am and not as easily relatable.

I've had some crazy roommates over the years but sharing such a small room with staff in and out day and night seems to really intensify people's behavior. In other words, it brings out the worst in people. I got a new roommate last month who is a perfect example of that. For a change, though, she is closer to my age. She is nice enough to me, but not talkative at all. I've not had one real conversation with the woman since she moved in last month. And she treats the staff like they are her personal servants. She has a hair-trigger temper, no patience and her only interests seem to be food, soda and smoking. In a few weeks we will become a smoke-free building. I'm sure that no smoking will just increase her volatile behavior.

She never watches T.V., but has her radio on 24/7 to a station that started playing non-stop Christmas music in early November. She's the biggest character I've ever had as a roommate!! She's long term like me so she won't be one who rotates through the program quickly. She scares the crap out of me when she's terriorizing the staff. She'll bellow at the top of her lungs and has the foulest mouth I've ever heard. I'm a fairly easy-going person, but it does get to me sometimes. I've always managed to get along with people, and so far have had few problems with a roommate.

I hope this has brought back memories of people you've shared living quarters with, and that this brings a smile to your face. Take care, and be sure to come back here in seven for my next installment.

Love Always, Darci and Skippy

Thanksgiving 2011

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday. I'd also like to share the things I have to be thankful for this year.

First of all, I'd like to thank all of my doctors and the staff of North Mountain. My journey started with the doctors at County Hospital who operated on me, saving my life. They put me in a coma for two months as I struggled to save my life. Since then I have been through many doctors and hospital staff and numerous health issues. I've lost track of all the times I have come back from the brink. I've been at North Mountain since 2007 after cycling through several other facilities. This is a wonderful place!! I'm getting excellent care here. My doctors have really been there for me, and I love the staff. They all are inspirations to me, and are full of God's love and light.

Next I'd like to thank my family. My Mom and brothers take such good care of me, and make sure that I lack for nothing. They do all of my laundry each week, and no matter how busy they are they make sure to come see me several times each week - whether I'm at the facility or in the hospital. This isn't any easy task for them, as my mother (who's in her 70s) still works two jobs. They always go out of the way to make me still feel like a vital member of the family. I love Mom and my three brothers very much.

I'd also like to give thanks to all of my family of friends who regularly visit me. They radiate love to me every time I see them. I couldn't have a better circle of friends.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my life partner, Steve. We met way back in college - thirty years ago, and he's had my back ever since. We live apart, which is very hard on both of us - but I'm crazy about him. He flew out from Illinois in September and we had a commitment ceremony. It was beautiful, and I felt totally surrounded with love. We keep in contact as much as we can, which is difficult because of the trach I have now. The trach bypasses my vocal chords, making it impossible for me to speak much of the time. So on those times I'm able to speak the first chance I get I call Steve on my cell phone. Our relationship isn't easy, and I can't tell you how much I love that he's stuck it out with me.

As you can see, I have much to be thankful for. It may seem odd to some that a person with all of my challenges has so much to be grateful for, but I feel very lucky to still be alive. Anything after that is gravy.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I wish all of you the best life has to offer. Enjoy your day, and be sure to check in with me next week.

Love always, Darci

Family Dinner NIght

Last night was family dinner night here at North Mountain. My Mom, Paul and Bruce came and joined me in the dining room. It was decorated up with a Western theme. They had straw cowboy hats and bandanas for everyone. One of the RTs here put one of the straw hats on top of my own cowboy hat with a red bandana on it. So I wore it like that all night long. There was a man playing a guitar and singing songs from the 30's to the 60's - kind of cowboy western songs. He did a couple of Mills Brothers songs; he did "Lazy River". Everything was in the Western theme, they even had bandanas for us to use as napkins and plastic glasses in the shape of a boot. We had barbecued chicken or beef and corn on the cob and a very good salad, cornbread and cowboy beans. I had the chicken and everyone else at my table had the beef. Dessert was cobbler and ice cream. I could have used a bigger piece of cobbler!!! They do these dinners every few months and the residents can invite family or friends to come. They always have a theme and they always have 'freebies' for us to keep. They always have some form of entertainment. The last song he sang at the end of the evening was "Happy Trails". I had to be pushed to and from the dining room because for some reason my chair didn't charge up in spite of being plugged in all day. It wouldn't budge and they had to push me into the dining room and back.

I have my voice back, after not having full ability to speak for a couple of months. My Stephen Minister says it is really nice to hear me. I am feeling better. I had a fever a couple of days ago, but I have felt pretty good since then.

My brother Roger & Mim have sold all five golden retriever puppies and they will be in their homes by Thanksgiving.

That's all for now. Happy Trails....

Love always, Darci and Skippy

I'm back in the saddle again!!

Two weeks ago I went in the hospital and I woke up in the emergency room. I found out I had been in the emergency room because I had a temperature of 105. I was pretty out of it; when I woke up they put me in ICU for a couple of days and ran tests. All those darn tests!!! Always!! Always!! They found I had pneumonia and infection in the intestines called C-Dif. I also had a urinary tract infection. I was put on a midline so I could get the antibiotic shot into the midline. Also I had to take a liquid antibiotic, which tastes terrible. They had to give it to me as a liquid rather than a shot. Tasted really nasty; it went down easier with yogurt than applesauce. I was in the hospital for five days; after two days I was transferred to a regular room. After five days I was able to come back to North Mountain. My family and my Stephen Ministers had to come find me at the hospital. I would have had to stay longer at the hospital, but they advised me to come back to North Mountain because they have everything I need here. As soon as I got back from being in the hospital, I got really sick here at North Mountain. To the touch I was ice cold, but I was very sweaty. I called the doctor and he authorized medicine to fix me up. The next day after returning from the hospital, I started feeling better and then a couple of days after that I started feeling bad again. I had a very gassy tummy. I had nothing but air in my colostomy bag; then I had a lot of water coming into my bag!!! Don't have an much water in my bag this afternoon, so it must be clearing and they are giving me medicine for that. I hope I can eat pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving - I love pumpkin. What I really miss is my Grandma Spears chocolate pie with whipped cream on top. Not sure what our plans for Thanksgiving are, but they always bring me left-overs and I always get turkey. Hope I don't get anything weird for Thanksgiving like the year we got spaghetti for Easter. There was no meat just noodles and red sauce. I was hoping for ham.





I want to relate a cute story. My former roommate's father got married for the third time at age 84. The lady he married he had dated in high school but did not have a serious relationship. So he thought.... They got married the day before the new bride's 80th birthday. It was his third marriage, and it was her first!!! She waited for him for 65 years!!





Pray I continue to get better. And I will talk to you again next week.





Love Always, Darci and Skippy

Committment Ceremony

Committment Ceremony September 17, 2011
Steve Robinson and Darci Spears


The committment ceremony turned out to be a wonderful event. I couldn't wait to whizz my way down the aisle, leaving my poor maid of honor in the dust holding my vent in her hands. It was all very casual but everybody looked very nice. My colors were blue and pink, and blue and pink balloons. Steve was dressed is a light blue shirt and I had on a dress of blue and white with pink accents in my hair. I carried a lovely pink origami tulip bouquet. Reverend Diana did a lovely service committing our bodies and souls forever. We poured vials of colored water into one vase --I had a vial of pink water and Steve had a vial of blue water and together they made a lovely purple vase of water. We also released ballons into the air, symbolizing our love ongoing forever. Ted Bachelder sang a lovely version of "The Lord's Prayer". Everyone blew lots and lots of bubbles and then it was on to the reception after picture-taking. We had a cake with blue and white frosting, and punch and cookies made from Darci's own recipe. Everyone had a really good time and said how nice the ceremony was. The best compliment of all came from Steve when he kissed me and told me he was real glad I had come up with the idea. It doesn't get any better than that!!!

Love always, Darci & Steve

WElcome ba

Darci has been ill for the last several weeks, but feels somewhat better today, so we are going to try to blog. K - her fellow plogger

Welcome back! Sorry it has been so long, but I have been too sick to do much. The seizures have stopped; they have put in a new trach, which makes it nearly impossible for me to talk, but it makes it easier for me to breathe.
In the midst of all this I got pneumonia and then I started bleeding into my colostomy bag and went to the hospital. In the emergency room, we had a lot of fun; one guy was Polish and one guy was Irish. One guy was singing and dancing; the other was singing a little. I spent 11 hours in the emergency room; I went in at 4 p.m. and finally got a room at 3 a.m. They ran some tests, X-rays, EKGs and stuff like that, and by that point I sort of conked out. They let me sleep for awhile. I woke in a lot of pain. Just as I was pressing the call light for the respiratory therapist, she came walking in. She gave me some useful suction and later a breathing treatment. I went back to the nursing facility that afternoon. They said that I did not have to have surgery right then, but that I could return to the clinic at any time.
And someone would call and make an appointment. That was last Thursday, and so far no one has called to set an appointment, so I don't know what's happening.

To refresh people's memories, I had a wonderful birthday which I celebrated early on June 25th. It was my sister-in-law Mim's birthday, so we celebrated together. Many friends came and I got wonderful gifts, including some new clothing.

Still working on my committment ceremony, trying to get things together. I need help coordinating people and getting things together. The ceremony is to be on September 17th.

That's pretty much it for now. Until next time...

Love always, Darci

Dear Fellow Bloggers: Started off the week Sunday morning which was promising to be a good day. It made those promises and those promises turned out to be a lie By Monday morning, I was a complete mess, trembling and slobbering all over the place. It was so bad I had to have help eating. It still continues today. I got a new trach - larger trach they tell me. But at least it's not falling out all the time so that is good news. But I have trouble with words coming out and problems with the shaking and trembling. So keeping it short and sweet this week, just wanted to update you on things.

See you next week. Till then, take care.

Love always, Darci and the ever lovable Skippy

Dear Fellow Bloggers and other assorted readers:

Greetings from underworld - otherwise known as the nursing home. Good to be back for another week; had a bad day yesterday. Not sure why; just very sleepy and in a lot of pain, but not today. Didn't eat yesterday either; ate pretty good so far today. They always gripe if I don't eat... "you have to eat something." It smelled good but it didn't taste good. Blech!!!
It seems like we have had ham for three days in a row. Must have been a sale! Today it was just ham, no weird sauce or anything on it, just ham. So I ate it.

As promised I had said last week I would tell you about the National Nursing Home Week that we just celebrated. Each day was celebrated by celebrating different countries for five days. The first day was China. We had coolie hats, fans and chopsticks and ordered Chinese food.
They also had a karate demonstration. The second day was Italy. We had pretend champagne and cheese and crackers. And we had Italian pasta. We were able to keep the little plastic champagne glasses. The third day was Africa. They had singers and dancers come and we also conducted a safari, and were given hats and sunglasses. The fourth day was Ireland. We had entertainment, which was Irish dancers. We also had plastic shamrocks hats that we wore while we were being serenaded. The last day was Mexico. We had a marachi trio, a pinata break, tortilla making, and beans. We also had some somberos. That was so much fun!!! I had a great time! I didn't make it for all the events, but I made sure I got up for Ireland and Mexico.

For Memorial Day we are going to have a ceremony presenting ribbons in honor of our past & present soldiers and families; and we will have a military movie and popcorn. Our facility is great about putting things together to celebrate national holidays, state holidays, and religious holidays. There is something for everyone! The Activities Department does a wonderful job!

That's all for this week. Hope you had a good time hearing about the happenings in my neighborhood. See you in seven!

Love always, Darci and Skippy

Welcome back everybody! It's good to finally be back after having so many weeks without posting. Had rough weeks but am getting better now. No more seizures, no more pneumonia, no more bronchitis, and no more high blood sugar. (Which may have been the cause for the seizures.) I am having problems with water weight in my upper body which the doctor gave some long medical term to that I have forgotten. The main thing is it just means I have swelling in my chest, my arms and my face. It makes it hard to move and breathe. I may have to undergo a test but not sure yet.

In other news, my boyfriend and I have fixed a date for our committment ceremony..... September 17th here in the lounge from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Our colors as of right now are turquoise and rose. I found a turquoise dress in a magazine that would look pretty for the ceremony, and asked Steve to be on the prowl for a turquoise polo shirt. Nothing fancy for us. Still waiting to hear from the minister.

To Mom, Paul and Peg in Hawaii: Lucky suckers!!! Hope you are having a great vacation! We will see you in another week when you get back. As always, bring souvenirs!!

That's all for now - I will keep it short this week. Maybe next week I will be more in depth, there is something I am thinking about for next week. I may tell you about International Week next week.

Love always, Darci and of course, the ever-lovable Skippy.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Glad to be back. Hope you missed me!!! I am feeling better and getting ready to party for Cinco de Mayo, so Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. Have a margarita for me!! See you back here next week. Take care!!

Love Always, Darci and Skippy (even though he isn't phyically here.... he is on vacation at the spa!!)

Am finally starting to feel better; getting over pneumonia and bronchitis. I have developed congestive heart failure. I still have that. I still don't know when I will have surgery on my hernia yet, but in a couple of weeks we will find out when it will be, I hope. It has been painful and really been bothering me. I had the last of my antibiotics on Tuesday, so that's a good sign. That's the end of my short update for this week; we will know more next week. I am all decorated for Easter; I have bunnies and chicks and frogs everywhere. The frogs were from activity projects that we made. Love always, Darci and the ever faithful, Skippy

March 9, 2011

The Little Boy with the Special Heart



I was in grade school when I went to my first funeral. By the time I was in high school I had attended a variety of memorials for departed elderly family friends or relatives. But the hardest death for me to accept happened when I was 14 years old, and a freshman in high school.



For nearly two years I had stayed downstairs in our church basement every Sunday to look after baby Darrin, giving his parents the opportunity to enjoy an uninterrupted worship. I was crazy about little Darrin and loved to take care of him. His parents knew they could trust me to treat their only child with special care, as I had a lot of experience taking care of disabled children. Darrin had been born with an enlarged heart, and was a very tiny, frail little boy. He had twinkling blue eyes, a bright smile, and an infectious giggle that always got to me. He loved the one-on-one attention I gave to him, as we had the entire basement to ourselves. I would cuddle him in my arms and sing nursery rhymes to soothe him, or I'd prop him up in his ever-present car seat and act out scenes from his favorite stories. His all-time favorite was the story about the gingerbread man who ran away. He loved it so much that I would reenact it for him every week. Darrin didn't share my enthusiasm for "The Pokey Little Puppy," but I forgave him for that.

When Darrin was approaching his second birthday he suddenly became very ill. His heart began to fail and he needed open heart surgery immediately. It was necessary to transport him by helicopter to a children's hospital in a nearby state for open heart surgery. The surgery failed and Darrin passed away on the operating table, surrounded by teams of doctors and nurses.

I begged my parents to let me attend the memorial for Darrin. I wanted to say a proper goodbye to him -- I felt like I at least owed him that. I also wanted to talk to his parents, who were expecting their second child in a few months. I knew it would be difficult for them to bury one child while expecting another. My mom and dad finally relented, and told me I could go to the viewing at the church before the funeral service began. Since my parents weren't very close to Darrin they chose to remain in the car while I paid my respects to him, thinking there would be other mourners present to help me through the process. Had they know it was an open casket service, my parents would not have let me go in alone. I could only stay for a few moments, as my parents were on a tight schedule to return my brother to school after a weekend visit.

When I entered the church I could see some people in the basement, but there was no one upstairs in the sanctuary. I was there all alone with the tiny pine casket. It was open so I could see his face, and that he was dressed in his favorite blue church suit and red-striped bow tie. His blond hair was neatly combed and his eyes were closed. I moved up closer to the casket, rested my hands on each side of the small coffin, and looked down on his paper-white face. That's when I was startled to notice that he didn't have a nose. Someone had attached a small piece of plastic there and powdered it. I found out later that his nose had been so badly burned by the medications they had to use during surgery, that he only had one small lump of skin where his nose used to be. I couldn't understand why his parents chose to have the casket open -- I still can't. I quietly said my final farewell to Darrin, then quickly went down the stairs and bolted from the church. I was so unnerved I completely forgot that I had planned to speak to his parents. I cried during most of the long drive to my brother's school, and it was then that I decided I want to be cremated after my death. I want people to remember my life, not how I looked in the casket. I have never regretted attending the viewing, although I disagree with his parents' decision to have an open casket. I always try to remember Darrin as a very warm, loving, and happy baby.

Hope you enjoyed reading about sweet little Darrin, as he was very special to me. See you back here in seven!

Love always, Darci and Skippy

Life and Times

When she first got sick did she wait to see a doctor because she didn't have health insurance? How long was she sick before she had to see a doctor, even though she couldn't afford it? Was it sudden? Was she in a lot of pain? Did she make dozens of calls to various charitable agencies - humbled by her need of help? Was the diagnosis quick, or did she endure endless tests, needles, trips to the lab to see "Dracula"? Did she pay the mounting medical bills by selling possession after possession - little pieces of her soul like pebbles on the beach? When she found out did she ask "why me?" only to have that low smooth voice inside her head reply "why not you?" Did she think that God had overestimated her ability to cope with adversity? Did she cry alone in the shower because the water felt like shards of glass shattering her skin, instead of liquid droplets?

Does she walk with a cane, weaving like a sorority girl returning home from a frat party? Do people not look her in the eye - but look through her or past her right shoulder? Do the elderly now open doors for her - smiling that tender smile? Does she hide her hands when they tremble too much? Does she wake up in the night with her limbs twitching and forget where she is? Does she have a best friend she can talk to?? Does she count out her medication carefully so she isn't tempted by those three a.m. siren calls - like mermaids to the fisherman? Does she still hate to ask for help - especially from family? Does she have a cat who will stay with her on those days she's too sick to get up - trying to purr away the pain and hurt? Does she always have a Plan A and B? Does she worry about the future?

Does she laugh and smile because life goes on, and holds promise each day she opens her eyes? I do.

Love Always, Darci

The Prodigal Darci Has Returned

I have once again returned from another journey to the hospital... my third time within a month. I returned just in time to have to go out to dr. appointments at St. Joseph's in the freezing weather. Even Skippy had to wear a heavy coat. It was 30 some degrees out the day I had the doctor's appointment. I really didn't want to go out in the weather but I had to go to my doctor's appointment. My episodes have stopped; no more seizure-type activity for about three days now. So that's good. My doctor said that you can have seizures that are non-epileptic seizures and that when you are having an EEG but not having a seizure it is going to show normal activity. It will not show seizure activity if you are not having a seizure. Makes sense, right?? He did not exactly agree with the staff at John C. Lincoln. So he set me up with a seizure specialist on Tuesday, and the next time I start having episodes he asked me to come to St. Joe's for long-term EEG monitoring.

Onto other news...

Still waiting for more stories of people's nicknames. More on that later. More news in seven; see you then.

Love Always, Darci and the ever-faithful Skippy

Back again

Hi all: Just a note to say that I am back in the hospital. This time I am in John C. Lincoln North Mountain, across the street from where I "live". I was brought over here yesterday because of what they thought were seizures. Apparently, they were not seizures, but spasms emanating from the area where my back was broken. There was apparently a spasmodic nerve reaction and caused a definite jerkiness in my body. I am on an anti-spasmodic medication for my back, and they may have to increase the dosage. I hope to go back "home" tomorrow.

Until next time...
Love always, Darci (Skippy didn't get to come with me this time!)

If your name is Nick, what's your nickname?

As promised, this week I'll be talking about nicknames. Almost everyone I know, at some time in their life, has been called by another name than their given name. Sometimes it plays on the given name; occasionally it can be attributed to a positive asset of your personality or possibly some sort of determent in your personality. For instance, when I was a little girl, not just short but very tiny, most of my nicknames focused on how little I was. When I was in elementary school, most of the kids called me "Squirt", which also happened to be a bottle of soda at the time. Going into Junior High, I was a mass of freckles, my hair had turned even redder, and my nickname at Girl Scout camp that year was "Freckles" because that was what everyone commented on and that's what everyone called me. When I got older my nicknames mostly focused on my given name. Two names were used which I absolutely hated: the first one was "Little Darky" which was a play off of a popular children's story when we were young. The other name was "Dork" or "Dorky", until I not so politely informed them exactly what that word meant in a foreign language (trust me it was not applicable to me). As far as nicknames that I gave myself over the years, the first nickname that I had for myself was "Buddy", based on the name of a very, very tall, but gentle man from my church whom I adored. His nickname was "Bud". My Mom's nickname for me when I was little was "Missy" and that is the original name she had thought of for me. She called me that until I was 12 years old when I finally told her my name wasn't "Missy" it was Darci. She still occasionally calls me that. Both of my parents always called me "Toots" and my Dad was once of the few people who could get away with calling me "Darce". When my mother was thoroughly disgusted with me, she would call me "Helpless Hannah". Small wonder I have never liked the name Hannah.


One of my uncle's friends was always known to have a cigarette in his mouth, and you may easily assume his nickname really was "Smokey". I never knew what his given name was. Another of his friends was called "Diaps" which was short for diapers - aha - he was the baby of the family. He was a grown man who was known by that nickname until he died; it was even mentioned in his obit in the paper. I had an uncle that was known as "Uncle Drag" not because he dressed in drag, it was because his daughter commented when she was a child that he had to wear suspenders to hold up his pants because without suspenders the pants would slip under his fat belly and drag on the ground. "Daddy Draggy Drawers" became Uncle Drag to the rest of the family. I also had another uncle whose nickname at work was "Bugs" like Bugs Bunny but not because of Bugs Bunny or beatle bugs, but because he liked to tease everybody and he was always "bugging" everybody. When I was out and about with my uncle and someone called him "Bugs" I knew it was someone from his work.

Another person who acquired a nickname from childhood was one of my brother's ex-wives whose nickname was "Pixie" because even though she wasn't short she was very tiny, very petite with a short haircut, and looked just like her brothers imagined pixies would look like. When they were married she was 5'8" and she weighed 108 pounds. Darn her anyway!!! (At least she was tall!)

Now that you have heard about me and some of my family's nicknames, I'd love to hear from some of you out there in Blogsphere to write me and tell me about your nicknames or those of your family and friends.

See you back in seven.

Love always, Darci and the ever mighty Skippy

I've been sprung!!

Back home from the hospital. Skippy and I are very happy to be back. But now my roommate, Nancy, is in the hospital. Whereas, I took the long trip into Scottsdale to go to the hospital, she went next door to John C. Lincoln North Mountain, which is across the parking lot from where we are. Like me she has pneumonia and some other infection going on. I just found out she is stable, and will be back soon. A lot of that going around. I've seen a lot of EMT workers coming in and out of the building lately. Our census is low right now with so many people out. The powers that be decided that since our census was low they cut back on the amount of CNAs we have per shift.

I haven't had a chance to work on a topic this week, but I have had several ideas suggested to me. One is how people got their name; and the other one is sort of related to that, and that is people's nicknames. So send me your ideas and I'll include them. You tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine.

Love Always,
Darci and the ever faithful Skippy

p.s. I have a new friend for Valentine's; it is a new bear named Addie. It is white with pink accents.