Happy Jerry

Jerry at Atlantic Shores- sorry it's blurry- picture of picture will redo later. I guess it's appropriate for a flashback

Flashback - Halloween with Uncle Jerry 1999

This was a very special weekend for me. I was down in Ft Lauderdale, Florida with my Uncle Jerry for a couple of weeks. Jerry had primary CNS lymphoma which had been treated with Radiation. At this point, his condition was pretty variable. Some good days and some bad, and some terrible. He also had some dementia and pretty much needed supervision most of the time. A wonderful friend of Jerry's, Rick came down and stayed with him full time but I would come down when he needed a break.

Anyway, most of the week Jerry had been pretty under the weather, very low energy, pretty fuzzy, sleeping a lot. But then he perked up a bit. I really wanted to do something special for Jerry because physically he was still in pretty good shape and I knew all the supervision and restrictions were making him nuts. So there was a celebration going on down in Key West called Fantasy Fest which I was told was a pretty good party. We decided to go. So we reserved a room at the Atlantic Shores Resort. We took Jerry's VW Vanagon and took off for Key West.

We had a great time. It was a gorgeous day and it's a beautiful drive down the keys. The water is an amazing vibrant, bright, aquamarine color. Jerry surprised me by commenting "Wow, the water is so gray" He was color blind and it never occured to me what something like that would look like to him. He said it was beautiful so I guess he could see the clarity and brightness of the water but just not the green color. The Atlantic Shores is a great place. The pool is clothing optional and they play great music. Jerry was doing very well. So well that I could almost forget how sick he was. We went out to eat, watched the beatiful Key West sunset, and enjoyed all the fantasy fest crazyness. Jerry loved hanging out by the pool people watching and listening to music. He was extremely lucid and we had some good talks, too. When we got back to Ft Lauderdale, there was a Halloween costume dance, we dressed Jerry up as a construction worker and some of his friends took him dancing. When he came home, he just flopped on the couch and said "I danced my ass off!"

I will never forget the time we had together that weekend. I feel it was such a gift. It was the last time before he died that I really had the "old" Jerry to be with. It was great to see him having a good time. Shortly after I had to go back to New York. The next time I came down was about a month later and he had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Then I stayed with him until he died, about two months, Jan 31 2000. There were still good days mixed in with tough ones. There were still times when the Jerry's sweet personality would shine through. But things just got harder and harder for him.

Long time no blog....

Busy week. Studied like mad for an A&P midterm at least I do not feel like I did dismally this time. I am not sure how well I did - there is so much material. Sometimes it gets a little scrambled in my 40 year old brain. I am so much more interested and determined now than I ever was about school before. I just hope I can back it up. I am surrounded by younger, more energetic people...aaargh. Focus..

Smell the rose... 

Leeloo, supreeme beeing... 

Loser!

I lost another 5.2 pounds at weight watchers. I am soooo psyched. Total 9 lost. I am studying for another Anatomy test - midterm next week. Boy there sure are a lot of bones. Not to mention all the features on the bones which each have names..... Just the skull alone has something like 85 "features" - yikes. Plus I have a major Nursing paper to write - 50% of my grade... and then another Chemistry test. So the pressure is mounting. But it's all good. Learning new things, meeting new people, I am stressed but it's "good" stress.

Good Day!

Not a bad day- all in all. Good Chemistry test results- 90% - YAY! I am starting to feel a little more adjusted at school. It's still interesting to be about 15 years older than most of the other students. They are good folks, though, and it is very enlightening to see the variety of new and different perspectives I am discovering each day. People from so many backgrounds all ending up in the same place (almost). I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to reshape my life and try something new. It's never too late. I could just sit around and complain about how much I hate my job, but this feels so much better. I'm doing something about it for better or worse. I even like my job better now. I guess anyone could handle 20 hours a week of most things. Midterm coming up and a major paper. I still need to work on my study focus, notetaking...I will get there, somehow. May have to shoot my TV.

Launchcast Radio

Tunes to study by (or not)

My Launchcast Station

Faceplant revisited

Surprise, surprise. I thought I did much worse on my A&P test than I actually did. 87% I can live with.... At Weight Watchers my weight went up .8 but I can live with too. I ate cupcakes last week so I can't really complain... Gotta pay for the cupcakes somewhere. At least I am below where I started. I feel much better now that I know I passed. I also got a useful tip on reading textbook reading... a method called SQ3R. I can't believe I got through an Bachelor's and a Master's degree before without learning it... Check out this site for an overview:

SQR2 Info

Early morning musings

Well, I think I did much better on my chemistry test. But I will find out how I did on my dreaded Anatomy test today. Have decided to spend more time in the library to avoid distractions at home. I Have a big paper to write for next week and then, soon, midterms. Trying to do this and hold down a job is certainly a challenge! Well gotta get to it and prepare for class.....

Useful Nursing Links

Here are a few interesting nursing related weblinks I have found:

http--www.nursingworld.org-
NY's largest union and professional association for Registered Nurses | NYS Nurses Association
HPNA
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
Nursing Students' Association of New York State
Welcome to ASPMN
Oncology Nursing Society
Oncology Education Services, Inc.
Students Virtual Community Students Home
Cancer nursing information cancer news, patient education, drug information
allnurses.com!
Nursing News, Nursing Jobs & Travel Nursing Resources at NurseZone.com
RN Central - Where nurses gather on the Web
NursingCenter - Home
NTN NurseNet - The Database of Nursing Opportunities
PDA cortex The Journal of Mobile Informatics
Selected PDA Software Resources
Skyscape Solutions
Medical Dictionary, Hospitals, Pharmaceutical Company and Medical Associations Searches
MerckMedicus Your Key to the Medical Internet
Uniforms Scrubs Cybernurse.com Links for Nurse by Nurses

Faceplant

It's my blog and I can cry if I wanna

Total face plant on the Anatomy test. I am so bummed. I can't believe how hard I studied and then... when I came face to face with the test my mind just blanked. Well, it's been almost 20 years since I did any serious science courses. I better buckle down. I haven't gotten the test back yet, but I know it is going to suck. And I have Chemistry test Monday, too. Sigh. Well, what did I think, it was going to be easy? Well, yeah, I was kind of hopin'... On the happy side, I went back to Weight Watchers. Second week back after reaching my lifetime highpoint. A number way too scary to see in print. I lost 4.6 pounds. So at least something is going right. And my bird Leeloo, is sitting on my shoulder cheering me up. Yes, she is named after Leeloo in the Fifth Element... And it is a gorgeous fall day in NYC so.... things could be worse.

Jerry

Uncle Jurgen

This is my Uncle, Jurgen, known as "Jerry" to all his friends. He is one of my primary inspirations for wanting to become a Nurse. Jerry died on January 31, 2000 at 54 of AIDS related Primary CNS Lymphoma. Jerry was lucky enough to live an active and healthy life for at least 15 years that he was HIV+. But in the end he developed a brain tumor which ultimately killed him. I miss him terribly. During the time he was sick, I met and worked with many wonderful healthcare professionals - aids, nurses, doctors. I saw how much of a positive difference they made to him and the rest of the family. I was also adopted by his many absolutely incredible friends. Without them I never would have made it through a very tough time. They are the most loving, brave, kind, funny people I have known. Not surprising, considering the kind of person Jerry was. More on this later...

Jurgen "Jerry" Muller, 11/6/1945 - 1/31/2000 

Messing with pictures

Yosemite This is a picture we took last year in Yosemite. I was just procrastinating and it looked like good blog fodder. Everyone should go to Yosemite at least once - it is breathtaking. You could also spend years exploring there and not run out of things to climb, hike and explore.

Halfdome from the Yosemite Falls trail 

Fountain

Beauty is all around if you look

I saw this fountain on my way home from school the other day. It looked very pretty to me with the gaslights and all. It's great to have a camera in my phone! School is going well - Anatomy and Physiology test Monday....study , study, study....

Fountain at dusk