brillohead

Wow, that is BALLSY!!!!

Just like "Harlequin" style romance books. Very formulaic, but sell very well. Some people like predictability in their entertainment life to off-set the utter chaos of their real life. I watched the tv show "Battle Creek" with Josh Duhamel because I grew up in Battle Creek (Michigan). A very few rare scenes were actually filmed in the area, and the entire show was entirely un-Battle-Creek-ish in every way, shape, and form. I wasn't surprised when it was announced before the end of the first season that there wouldn't be a second season. To give you an idea, there was a murder where someone was drowned in a vat of maple syrup, and to catch the killer they made another huge batch of maple syrup in the space of less than a week, including tapping the trees, gathering the sap, and boiling it down.... AND IT WASN'T EVEN SPRINGTIME!!!! I forget if it was summer or fall (I want to say fall), but it definitely was NOT sap-running season! Also, in the opening scene, a main character brought a box of donuts in a pink pastry box to work.... there aren't any donut shops in Battle Creek that have pink boxes. Disappointment right from the very first scene.... especially since we have a multiple national award-winning donut shop here that they could have promoted!!! I have the same problems watching pretty much any show with a medical scene (I'm sure OB and Lionesss can relate). Every show/movie will have a "medical consultant" listed in the credits, but I swear that they never allow the person to give any input to the script or scene settings. Hollywood is probably one of the biggest contributors to health illiteracy in this country -- don't believe ANYthing you see in a tv show or movie!!!

You all know who this made me think of!

The machines do have caffeine free diet Coke, diet Sprite, diet ginger ale, and flavored waters. Oh, and the diet Barq's root beer is caffeine free, too. You do not have to both purchase the soda package -- you can have just one person in the room purchase it.

Just ran across this, reminded me of the earlier conversation about flying!

Hopefully things start rolling soon!

It's probably the most common surgery we see at our hospital. I think it's also the most common surgery I see in my patients' charts for past medical history. As @DaniDanielle said, it's a laparoscopic surgery that's pretty easy as surgeries go. A friend had hers taken out while she was seven months pregnant!

We should check to see if we're related.... I usually finish packing about three seconds before I have to leave for the airport!

When it comes to putting them in, men are MUCH easier. Only twice have I ever failed to get a Foley in, and both times were on women who had tumors in the way (urologist had to do both of those). So far (*knock wood*) I've yet to meet a prostate that I couldn't sneak past.

I tell every surgical patient that they're going to want to take plenty of stool softeners (Colace and/or Miralax) as soon as they get home, and adding some senna and a fiber supplement would be a good idea, too. It's a lot easier to get stuff going again BEFORE there's a concrete block sitting in your abdomen. Between the anesthesia slowing down the gut, and the pain pills slowing down the gut, and the decreased movement (walking, etc.) right after surgery, it's the Triple Crown of Constipation! 👑 If you have a Sam's Club membership, these gummies are a palatable way of adding to your fiber intake. Two gummies are considered to be one serving, with 5g of fiber. A small handful of these a couple times a day can help get things moving without the cramping that can come from a laxative. (And they're on sale right now, too!)

It also tends to create a bloody mess (says the person who has to deal with the bloody mess). It's going to feel a heck of a lot better than it did going in!!! Honestly, once that balloon is deflated, it just kinda slips out.

That's why I like to buy pecan pie... I'm the only person who eats it, so I get the whole thing! 🤣

I have a couple recommendations regarding pharmacies / prescription medications. First is Sam's Club, if you have one in your area. I know my local club's pharmacy isn't open at all on Sundays, and they're closed for an hour at lunch (I think from 1:30-2:30 or something like that, not during the normal noon hour), but I have always had excellent service, and I've never been more than third in line to pick up a prescription, and can usually just walk right up and be first in line. You also do NOT need to be a Sam's Club member to use their pharmacy. My other recommendation, particularly for "maintenance" medications (things you take every day, so you can order them in bulk in advance and have them delivered), is the Mark Cuban website: CostPlusDrugs . They don't have ALL medications, but the ones that they do have are probably significantly cheaper than what you're paying locally (and they are continually adding more meds to their inventory as they make more deals with manufacturers). I have prescription coverage through my health insurance at the hospital, but it's still cheaper for me to get my meds through CostPlusDrugs versus at my hospital's pharmacy using our insurance. They charge a per-pill price (cost plus 15%), plus a per-fill fee ($5 per medication), plus a per-shipment mailing fee ($5 per order). So it works out the most cost-efficient if you can get your "provider" (quote marks for OB's sake... my primary care provider is a Nurse Practitioner rather than a physician) to write your prescription for 90 or even 180 days' worth of pills at a time. This way you can get all your prescriptions filled at the same time, and pay the "fill" and the "mailing" fees less often. For example, if your pill costs $.02 per pill and you take it once per day: --A 30-day supply would be $.60 for the pills, plus $5 for the fill and $5 for the mailing, or $10.60 (about $.35/pill). --A 90-day supply, would be $1.80 for the pills, plus $5 for the fill and $5 for the mailing, or $11.80 (about $.13/pill). --A 180-day supply would be $3.60 for the pills, plus $5 for the fill and $5 for the mailing, or $13.60 (about $.07/pill). If you order four different pills all at the same time, you only pay the $5 mailing fee once for the entire shipment, so that further reduces the cost per pill. And every dollar you save can be used to pay for more cruises!!! The website has a page you can print out to take to your doctor/provider that details exactly how to electronically send your prescriptions to the CostPlusDrugs pharmacy. The company also participates with a limited number of insurance companies (and adding more all the time). My "surrogate mom" has a med that her gastroenterologist has to continually fight with her insurance company to get them to cover it -- every year they need to mess around with "pre-authorization" paperwork, and there are delays until they finally decide to cover it again. I looked up the med on the CPD website, and she can get 90 pills for $9.50 plus $5 for mailing (or she could get the whole year at one time for under $30 including mailing!!!!). Why on earth her insurance company is spending tons of time and money jerking her around every year for pre-auth on a med that costs less than $50 a year is beyond my comprehension... especially since she's been on it for over a decade and they end up approving it every single year. Anyway, give Sam's Club or CostPlusDrugs a look, especially if you're not happy with the service you're getting from your local pharmacy.

Can you ask him what the winning PowerBall lottery numbers are going to be? 😉

A local bar has a seasonal specialty cocktail made with apple cider and Fireball, garnished with a cinnamon-sugar coated donut hole on a stick. I'm not much of a drinker, but that one is quite tasty!

A friend of mine repeats that line every time she sees a Carnival cruise ship, in tribute to the Carnival Triumph cruise where they lost power and the toilets were overflowing while they drifted aimlessly at sea!

There are all kinds of vehicles that can be retrofitted for "drive in" capability (versus a lift being installed), and they don't all necessarily have to be lowered. In my work with disabled patients as a private duty nurse, I've seen a few different types. Some have installed / automatic ramps that work with the press of a button, and some have manual ramps that just unfold and hook onto the doorway. Some load from the side and some load from the rear. This webpage shows some of the many options that are available -- Clock Mobility is a local (Michigan) company, but a Google search will help you find a similar company closer to home.

Do you have a history of urinary retention after surgery? I'm used to Foley catheters being removed while you're still in the OR, before you even wake up, unless it was for a urological type of surgery (like John/Bella's dad recently had). Even with a urologist inserting the catheter due to BPH, unless you have a history of post-surgical retention, I can't think of a reason to continue the catheter beyond the surgical procedure itself. Maybe @Ocean Boy can think of something I'm missing? We (meaning the hospital I work at) have to track the number of days people have a Foley and how many UTIs are contracted hospital-wide related to a Foley, so unless there are extenuating circumstances (urinary retention, health issue requiring strict intake/output tracking, sacral wound healing problem on an incontinent patient, etc.), a Foley gets pulled immediately after it's no longer absolutely medically necessary. (Foleys are a huge infection risk.) Glad to hear you'll soon be home with Linda and the pups!!!

We had a sprinkling in my area when I left for work last night, and by the time I got to the hospital it was coming down pretty heavily. Not much stuck, though, because the ground is still on the warm side.

Those dang lighthouse cookies will live on in this thread forever, just like the can opener at the rental! 🤣

It's amazing, isn't it? It makes me wonder if those people can find any of their belongings at home.

Found on FB and had to share here for @Ocean Boy and the rest of the Swifties! 🤣

I have an even easier way to peel eggs... https://www.samsclub.com/p/great-day-farms-cage-free-hard-boiled-eggs-peeled-single-serving/prod24622070

I would get a private driver for the day. I've used Let's Go Roatan Tours probably a dozen times, very reliable, safe drivers in safe vehicles. Contact them at https://letsgoroatantours.com/ to set it up. The driver will stay at the sanctuary the whole time you're there. You can pay cash at the sanctuary (make sure you bring bills with absolutely NO tears/rips in them, as the bank won't accept them so the sanctuary can't take them) with no reservations needed.

Anything that crosses the border that might have been purchased elsewhere is subject to customs.