2004 Story Set
| Date: June 18, 2004 It is Friday. He does NOT want to wake up. He rolls over. Three times. I am three-sheets to the wind (three trips to San Jose yesterday - first Stanford, then work, then team in training for my son to show up as honoree). So - it's a running-late morning. It's that time of the month that I want to go to LA and hunt down a certain tall blond Italian Adonis for a hug. Oh why not. So what if I am a fat old bat. I can dream as well as the next one! I make a lovely egg omelet with mushrooms. (I will eventually reheat this with added sliced and diced ham and he will eat a little bit. Eventually.) I make croissants from a can - sprinkling them with Splenda and cinnamon before rolling up. He will eventually eat about 5 of these. I will pork out on three (one for breakfast - two for lunch at 2PM). I grab water bottles (since I just filled four of five ice cube trays and wrapped them in Saran Wrap). And I note that I need more blood pressure medication for him. Forgot it doing refills on the other stuff. (One of mine is dead too.) One medication stops in a week. GOOD! I toss clothes at my child and go shower, which steams up my room. Not wanting mold to return, I open the window and turn on the fan and leave the door open. The cat takes the time to run in, get in the window, yanking down the drapes as he goes. I find this mess after discovering my flower vase on its side and the two stems of Glads from my garden on the floor. The other mess they have made just for me. Damn cat! I run to pack up the PC (I am on a databook deadline) and find my child undressed - or partially undressed - because he "can't find his socks" - laying on the bed next to him. Great! I get him back up and toss his socks at him. I get his meds, a drink, my stuff and run for the truck. I get him sort of into the truck. I lean over to get stuff off the floor (he tosses tissue on the floor) and lean my arm where a mother's arm should not go. Thanks, he says. You are welcome I reply. So I grab sun block (the wrong one at first - he has a preference) and rub down his head and face. I enjoy this. He does not. I claim it's the only time I get to fondle my kid. He growls. I get to Stanford (car pool lane) and we run in. We are late and it's training day. I will now hook up a gravity feed IV. Practice for tomorrow. I wash my hands (about 6 times) and use gel, and I get to stick the line connection into the bag (known as spiking the bag) and then prime the tube (get air out). Wash again and use alcohol swab on his port - and stick the other end (after removing it's little cap) into his line - it screws shut. Adjust the thumb screw to drip at a set rate. 125 drops per 15 seconds. Except I have a macro drip (I will have micro at home). So I take a wild shot at the rate. (A touch fast but OK). Home pharmacy arrives and sees I've done it. I fetch him soup (Cup 'o Noodle) and set him up (food, drink, pills). OK. Get a coffee, set up computer, chat with doctor. and wail away at the databook with the PC balanced on the rolling stool. After nagging the child to take his pills after eating something. Anything. The doctor says, "Your mother nags, but whatever she's doing, keep it up because you are doing great." This after scaring me (he moved my coffee) and the doctor (who thought he was actually drinking the coffee). After about two hours, we are about done and I start hunting the Heparin. They do not give it to me - but check back over and over (just give me the damn tube!) until we are "close enough" - you always leave fluid in the bag. Wash again - and now the nurse says use a swab BEFORE disconnecting. OK. And swab again and prime the Heparin. I was so nervous that the hep tube slid off the port and hit my thumb - toss that one! (Never done that before!) Start again with a swab and prime a new tube and insert a that one. (I have 200 at home.) If I were saving the tubing - I would have put a red cap on the end. The tube stays primed - you just re-spike the new bag. At home I will be doing this. Now we wait because Home Pharmacy delivery is late. I get annoyed (they are like 24 hours late). I have a history with them - good most of the time but when they screw up - boy, they really screw up! They come before too long (we had called to check) and the nurse comes in with an armload. Four bags - heavy as a small child. OR a bunch of babies. Thank heavens I have the rolling suitcase for the laptop. We pack up. I have to switch arms going to the car with his bag, two liters of water, another of seltzer. My purse. My computer. And the babies. Who needs weights? I have also hauled this stuff in. I have also climbed the long flight of stairs - carrying my coffee. I stop at the pharmacy and get his drugs, plus Magnesium (he is low) and Ma-lox (he gets an upset stomach sometimes). I get home and toss lunch together, quickly. It is nearly 2PM. I am NOT driving to PLX on a Friday afternoon. I would get there by 3 and I need to release the doc before COB (close of business). So - grab the PC and type like mad and fight FrameMaker - which has randomly put weird character on some pages. Some are easily deleted. One took me an HOUR to get rid of. I won't bore you with the conniptions I went thru to get that little stray bracket. I ran spell-check - which is always fun since technical terms are part- and company-specific and you have to teach the software that this and that weird term is OK. Then I looked for "will" - since future tense is not allowed. Active voice is preferred. And then "'s" since inanimate objects cannot possess anything. And fix page numbering so the preface has roman numerals and the other pages pick up and run. And edit the table of contents since FrameMaker tosses things wherever - ignoring page breaks. And make sure I have bookmarks. etc etc etc. (This is really desk-top publishing at this stage - techwriting is compiling all the stuff and making it up if necessary. I made up a lot of headings and figure labels. All but two stayed in the doc. And a little re-wording, art clean-up and hunting data.) Voila. By nearly 4 PM - I have it. Good enough for a first release. I ship it. I would have been at work until 6 (and on the freeway until 7:30) if I had driven in. Never deny that telecommuting works. So does flex hours. Saves my behind. Now to fix up my invoices - because I am, again, three weeks behind billing for my services. I really, really need to get on salary! I just hate doing the paperwork! |
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