First Day of Vacation

My long awaited vacation arrived yesterday at 1:31AM.  When I left the hospital the sky was dotted with many twinkling stars and the drive home was cool.  As I walked into the house, I didn't hear a sound from Chris or the three dogs.  All were fast asleep, so like them I crawled into bed & feel into a deep sleep.  This vacation is going to be so different from any other vacation for the past 10 years.  I'm not going any where in a plane, or a long car trip, or really outside of the Great Lakes area.  I guess you can call it a "stay-cation".  Last time I did this, I was unhappy as all I did was sleep and go see a few movies, but this time I actually have done some planning & intend on doing at least one thing every day that is different for me.

Me and Chris at the ribbon cutting ceremony

Opening of Ohio Health's new Emergency Room

Yesterday we decided to head to the ribbon cutting ceremonies at the new Ohio Health stand alone Emergency Room here in Westerville.  I work for Mount Carmel, but it is always interesting to check out some of the competition.  And what a lovely building it is.  Each patient room is separate so there is no laying there miserable listening to others in misery too.  Chris & I both were impressed with this as in the past, we've always felt terribly uncomfortable while in the ER hearing everything going on with others.  At St. Anns it is not so bad as there are individual glass in cubicles for each patient, but still you can hear things.  I don't mind, but there are times when people not involved in the medical profession get frightened by the goings on in a busy Emergency Room.  The new facility at Ohio Health looks like it will be better for people's privacy and care.  We went upstairs, and I naturally want to see the laboratory.  When I told the guide standing in front of the lab that I was a Med Tech, she invited me in and gave me a grand tour of the whole place.  WOW!  Brand new lab with all new instruments, counters with lots of room, and everything so brand spanking clean.  It was VERY nice.  We then had our picture taken and stayed for the actual ribbon cutting. As I was walking away, three of my former colleagues who worked for Mount Carmel and had left to work for Ohio Health saw me & we had a great chat catching up on gossip and sharing stories.

I had time to finish Jessie's bracelet for the party tomorrow

What then makes a great vacation?  Oh could it be nice napping?  Yes indeed!  It was wonderful to sleep while the warm air blew through the windows.  I slept so hard with nice dreams enveloping me in slumber land.  The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing with Chris and the dogs.  I spent a nice leisurely time chatting with Cynthia catching up and then took a trip out into the field with Chris to watch the International Space Station fly over head.  After a few episodes of Downtown Abbey and three separate walks with the dogs, it was time to say good night to vacation day number one.

Yes!  our first tomato is growing

I see teeny tiny cucumbers on their way too.

Another thing that happened was that Dr. Randall (Arwen's vet) called to tell me that she's researched drug protocol on a medication that Anne on Facebook had told me about that was helping her Scottie's bladder cancer.  If you've followed me for a while or are new to my blog, then I have to tell you that Arwen is a cancer survivor.  She was diagnosed in October with Transistional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder.  The survivor rate is grim and unfortunately Scottish Terriers have a 20% higher rate of acquiring this cancer than any other breed.  Last October, we were devastated upon hearing that her tumor was occupying 50% of the bladder and was inoperable.  Then my Scottie friends from years and years all came to my rescue giving me support and information.  Also, one of the Vet Techs at Worthington Woods also has a dog just diagnosed with bladder cancer.  Scotties don't do well with radiation therapy or chemotherapy, so we decided to go with drug therapy to keep her quality of life at a maximum.  She's now into her eight month of survival.  One person especially has been such a support for me.  Her Scottie is a three YEAR survivor.  Arwen keeps having bladder infections which are making her miserable.  I actually was thinking of taking her in for the last visit as we are so upset, but once again Anne came to the rescue with another medication that works for her dog Sydney.  My vet was intrigued as the drug up until now had only been prescribed at their practice for cats.  But she did research and is not going to try giving Arwen Phenoxybenzamine.  It is suppose to relax the urethra so she'll not strain so much.  I know this is going to help our sweet girl.  It is times like this when I praise the Internet and what a community of caring people there are there.