Such exciting news!

My Nermie is coming home to stay!  

Nermie, Danno, Li'l Buglet and Loudog are moving back to Geebz!

So this weekend the minions and I helped tear down wallpaper whilst singing showtunes.

No, really.  Rocky Horror Picture Show and various other songs.

After a few adult beverages this came up.  It shall henceforth be known as "our song".

Hairballs!

Ever see a lion try to cough up a hairball?  

The kids and I (along with Neighbor Erich) took a trip to the NEW Zoo this evening.  They have free admission from 6:00 - 8:00 every Wednesday!

Anywho, while watching the lions, the male lion began to grunt.  Then grunt louder.  Then roar!

Turned out he wasn't upset or trying to prove that he was indeed, King of the Jungle.

He had a hairball.

I.PASSED. Answers

I'm feeling generous today, so here are the answers to yesterday's quiz questions!

1)  An 18 pound cat named Mr. Fluffy Butt needs a drug dose of a 10 mg/kg.  How many mg of medication is this?

a)  81.81 mg

2)  Dr. Ima Barker decides to give the drug IV.  If the concentration listed on the bottle is 100 mg/mL, how many mL of medication does Mr. Fluffy Butt need?

c)  0.81 mL

3)  Dr. Ima Barker changes her mind again and decides to give the medication PO.  You have 100 mg tablets in your pharmacy.  You need to dose Mr. Fluffy Butt three times a day.  How would you dispense for 10 days?

81.81 mg / 100 mg = 0.81 tablets (rounded up to 1 tablet)  (3)(10) = 30 tablets to dispense for 10 days

4)  780 mL of 20% dextrose is needed.  How much 50% dextrose is needed to make this?

780 mL (20) / 50 = 312 mL

5)  200 mL of 4.5% saline is needed.  How much 9% saline is needed to make this?

200 mL (4.5) / 9 = 100 mL

6)  How many mL of water would you mix with the 9% saline in the question above?

200 mL - 100 mL = 100 mL

7)  A 9% solution is how many mg/mL?

9g/100 mg = 9000mg/100mg = 90 mg/mL

These answers better be right! :)

I.PASSED.

In the Veterinary Technology program I am in, there is a very important Math Competency test we need to take.  

VERY IMPORTANT, as in you get three chances to pass it.  If you don't pass after three tries you get to take the class all over again.

And again...and again...until you finally pass.  

The reason behind this is because you absolutely need to know drug dosages.  We even had to sign a paper before our first attempt that said we understand that if a dosage is off by even the smallest number, you run the risk of killing an animal.  This is why we need to get 100%.

Well today I PASSED.

This was my third attempt so I was scared shitless.  I was literally shaking while I was taking the exam.

I handed it in and waited.  Two hours later I found out that I PASSED.

This means I can continue on with the classes I had registered for earlier this spring.  No repeating classes, no more competency tests (until next quarter,) no more stressing over drug dosages for a while.

I'm so happy!

So if anyone is curious, here are a couple of questions similar to what was on the exam.

1)  An 18 pound cat named Mr. Fluffy Butt needs a drug dose of a 10 mg/kg.  How many mg of medication is this?

a)  81.81 mg

b)  180 mg

c)  0.18 mg

d)  818.1 mg

2)  Dr. Ima Barker decides to give the drug IV.  If the concentration listed on the bottle is 100 mg/mL, how many mL of medication does Mr. Fluffy Butt need?

a)  180 mL

b)  18 mL

c)  0.81 mL

d)  810 mL

3)  Dr. Ima Barker changes her mind again and decides to give the medication PO.  You have 100 mg tablets in your pharmacy.  You need to dose Mr. Fluffy Butt three times a day.  How would you dispense for 10 days?

4)  780 mL of 20% dextrose is needed.  How much 50% dextrose is needed to make this?

5)  200 mL of 4.5% saline is needed.  How much 9% saline is needed to make this?

6)  How many mL of water would you mix with the 9% saline in the question above?

7)  A 9% solution is how many mg/mL?

I'll let you all try to figure these out and let you know the correct answers tomorrow....maybe... ;)

Catharsis

Warning:  It's late.  I'm tired.  Can't sleep.  So what you get is lots of rambling!  Huzzah!

Say it with me friends.  "Catharsis."  

Now take a deep breath in.  Now exhale.

According to Dictionary.com, the word "Catharsis" means: 

1.  the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.

2.  Medicine/Medical . purgation.

3.  Psychiatry .

a.  psychotherapy that encourages or permits the discharge of pent-up, socially unacceptable affects.

b.  discharge of pent-up emotions so as to result in the alleviation of symptoms or the permanent relief of the condition.

 

I come from a rather large family.  Not the "I have 19 brothers and sisters!" kind of  family, but a large extended family.  I have cousins I see once a week and I have cousins I see once every 10 years.  The nice thing about being in my large, loving extended family is knowing that even though we only see each other once in a while we still welcome each other into our lives.

My great-great-uncle passed away on March 4th while vacationing in Florida.  He was only 75-years old.  I say only because my great-grandmother, his older sister by 18 years was 89 when she passed away in 2007.  Thanks to this 18-year age gap my uncle grew up like a brother to my grandmother.  His children grew up with my mother and uncle.

I loved my great-great-uncle as much as I love the rest of my family.  When we were little he would pick UncleBrother and me up to take us swimming at his house.  Then he'd take us to McDonald's for lunch in his little red hatchback.  I remember the pool, the house, and his dog Cubby like I was just there yesterday.  Even the grandfather clock one of his boys made that sat in the foyer.

I volunteered to be a reader at his funeral on Saturday.  While he and his first wife had four children and three grandchildren, I am willing to step up to the plate to take some of the sadness off of their shoulders.  I know how hard it is to deal with the hundreds of people coming to pay their respects as well as trying to stay positive for the rest of your family.  My aunt and I were literally thrown into being readers at my  great-grandmother's funeral (my cousin was asked but while she's an awesome RN she'd much rather listen to me read.  She said she'll have no problem doing CPR in front of a thousand people, but reading?  Not so much.)  My aunt and I rocked it that day.

So this evening, after my mother took me to the United Methodist Women's Salad Supper, I decided to go over the reading chosen for me.

Oh, one thing I failed to mention - my family has a not-so-normal way of dealing with grief.

We laugh.  We laugh, we joke, we smile.

We try to make light of a dark situation.

This is our catharsis.

Yes, I know others do too, but most of the time we get the looks of complete disgust.  For instance, when my father was diagnosed with colon cancer in June of 1998 we dealt with it.  Of course we worried, but after many discussions with the doctor and the assurance that yes, the cancer was treatable, but it ran the risk of him having a permanent ostomy put into place at age 42.  When he was wheeled out of surgery we learned that the tumor had been removed, but yes, he had an ostomy. 

We then did what we do best.  We laughed.

It started off, not surprisingly, with my father himself.  Not being allowed to eat or drink anything until his intestines started working again he was allowed to only wipe the inside of his mouth with a damp sponge-on-a-stick.  To which he exclaimed in his hoarse-from-the-breathing-tube voice "Damn.  This is absolutely delicious."

The jokes and jabs kept coming.  A friend brought Jim Beam in decorative decanters.  People brought plants and flowers.  My grandmother found him a monkey with bendable appendages and promptly stuck its thumb in its nose.  I drew  "One Way" and "No Entry/No Exit" signs for his room.  

People were apalled.

Things like this happen all of the time.  When Bubba was born and had to spend his first three weeks of life in the NICU we made jokes.  Jokes about how my dad decided to call him Bubba, based totally on the fact that he was a 3lb 14oz Caucasian Male, not a 350lb African American linebacker.  Or captain of a shrimp boat.  Or on death row.

 

We laughed.  Some of the nurses didn't.

Tonight while going over the chosen reading for Saturday's funeral my Spidey-senses kicked in.  We were mourning the loss of a great man, but this great man also had that wonderful sense of humor that runs throughout our entire family.

Jesus wore a lamp shade.  God only moons at night.  I even get to say "smite" in a sentence and not have it be because I'm quoting Monty Python.

Mother laughed.  I laughed.  Gramma giggled.

And I know a great man, his older sister and her husband are looking down, watching, sharing a drink and laughing.  All three of them proud of the families they've created.

Weird, Wild and Wacky Wisconsin Wednesdays!

Ok.  So I'm at a loss for words lately.  Mostly because I've been insanely busy with school, which is good, because if you know me you know how much I LOVED school when I was younger.

Ever try to give a badger a bath?  Yeah.  That was my attitude towards school.  It was a "HELLNOYOUCAN'TMAKEMEIREFUSEokfineyouwonwhatever" kind of situation.

My mother loved me.

So, on the insistence of Nermie's Mom, I have made a quick entry.  Once again, if anyone has any time and would like to be a guest please let me know.

It's not like you have a life or anything, especially if you're reading this drivel... ;)

Weird WI Laws:

WI State Law:  As people used to smuggle it in from Illinois, all yellow butter substitute is banned. (Damn FIBS.  Well, all FIBS except Aunt Becky, whom the angels shall hold on high).

Whenever two trains meet at an intersection of said tracks, neither shall proceed until the other has. (Ummm...ok....)

Hudson:  No one may sit on another’s parked vehicle without expressed consent of the owner.  (Good to know).

Kenosha:  No male is allowed to be in a state of arousal in public.  (My only issue with this is that if it was made into a law, it had to have happened more than once...).

La Crosse:  You cannot worry a squirrel.  (I guess this means that you can't tell him that his nuts are showing.).

Milwaukee:  If one is thought of as offensive looking, it is illegal for him to be in public during the day.

Sheboygan:  No person may water his lawn in such a way as to annoy his or her neighbor.  (They need to have more laws in Sheboygan.  In fact, Rick and Len over at WAPL have a segment on their morning show called "Weird Ass Sheboygan County Story of the Day).

These were all taken from the website, www.dumblaws.com  

Well Hello There!

Well hello there neighbor!  How are we all doin' today?

Really?  Well that's just FANTASTIC.

You know, there really is a great need for a "sarcasm" font.

So here are some things that have taken place in the last month or so.

SNOW:  Lots and lots of fricken' snow.  Yes, I can complain about it, but only because I don't sit and whine on a daily basis about how horrible the weather is, how the snow is getting old, blah blah blah.  This is Wisconsin.  DEAL WITH IT! 

Cold/Flu Season:  Yes, we've all been dealt a blow by the old Cold Season Bitch Goddess.  My throat is scratchy, my nose is sneezy, and my Neti pot is having a hard time keeping up with the nasal secretions of Bubba, Pickles and Feewah.

Although Bubba, being the typical male he his, thoroughly enjoys using it every morning.  Nothing warms my heart quite as much as hearing him yell "Holy cow mom!  You have GOT to see the size of this booger!" in the morning.

As for me, school is going well.  I shocked myself - I made Honors last quarter!  Hooray for me!

Toot toot! (That's me, tooting my own horn).

Also, I'm STILL waiting for a Guest Submission!  I try so hard to get an entry up but with homework, Scouts and the kids I have little to no "me" time anymore!