my ex would like to drop back into my sons life after dropping out for a year and then going to Singapore to work without telling us right away.my feeling is to say no.he has ****ed with my son's head long enough...what should i do?

Karen try zicam .it comes in powder form to mix with water or you can get the q-tip ones you put in your nose.it really works!!it cuts a cold down to three days ,i am not kidding.no stomach upset with the q-tips. or just drink lots of fluids ,rest and take an antihistameine to relieve your symptoms.When this is over take airborne or emrgen-c to boost your immune system.remeber wash your hands,dont rub your eyes or face and cough into your sleeve to prevent passing around germs.spray all contact surfaces with lysol twice a day and carry some germ x

Careful with the Zicam - I know a friend whose wife used it in her nose and she lost all sense of smell and even taste for food, this has lasted a couple of years. She researched it and found out it is not uncommon for a side effect, I would not use the nose version of Zicam. Airborne is supposed to be good - but has zinc and vitamin C in it too. Emergen-C has vitamin C in it also and other electrolytes, etc. I think you are probably doing the best you can right now, add chicken soup, as silly as it sounds, they say the chicken broth breaks up the mucous and helps you get it out of your system. Mucinex helps break up phlegm if you can't clear it, but check with a pharmacist before adding a lot more of these on top of what you are already taking because a lot of them also have zinc and vitamin C in them, wouldn't want to end up taking too much zinc. You can't OD on vitamin C, will urinate the extra out, but I don't know about zinc, but be very cautious with the Zicam in the nose, this man's wife has had a terrible time with the loss of smell and taste. Drs. told her she may never get it back. Hope you feel better soon Karen, chicken broth, soup, it helps the stomach too, is soothing. Feel better quick.

Karen, last night went a lot better. The nurse I was working with the other night wasn't there. I have figured out that I just clash with her. I get along better with the manic-depressive nurse who is almost 6 months pregnant now. I had caught up on my sleep, too. That made a big difference. Plus, I got to work with my good friend, Lisa who gave me my little dog. We cut up a lot when we work and I like her husband, too. What was nice is when we have to deal with a resident who wakes up in a bad mood because we can kind of tag team. When one of us can't handle one we just give each other moral support. It really makes a difference. Plus my friend and her old lady was at work last night. I was telling her how lucky she was to have her old lady because her old lady was practical and she informed me she was the practical one in the relationship. One aide is still pulling a lot of doubles there and she can have it. I need the money but I am not going to push myself like she is. She is like a walking time bomb and that is what will happen to me if I work as much as she does. I love my job but too much of a good thing isn't good. I need a break from the place, too.

wow i didnt know that about zicam..thanks marie

Thank you all for the information. I think I will just stick with the vit C and zinc. I only take what the bottle says to take and 1000 mg of vit C. Im doing ok, just lots of coughing and phlem. I think Ill be ok, just uncnfortable for a couple of weeks. I'll get some chicken soup when I get some more money. Right now All I have is a few chicken ramen noodles, so thats better than nothing. I ran a fever biut it wasnt' bad, so I let it go. I heard that if the fever isn't dangerous, like above 100 to 102 it can burn a cold out. I let it go. I have been careful with the Vicks and just take tylenol if the pain gets too bad. IT seems to work.

Love ya guys!

Karen

Hope you feel better soon Karen. Take care of yourself.

Roy - take your break from work. I know what you mean, burnout sneaks up on you. I haven't had a vacation since I came here in 2003, and way before then. I am tired myself. But take care of yourself, don't let it affect your health.

Take care of yourself too, Jax, you work around all those people and during the cold flu season too, you and Roy have to be extra cautious to stay healthy.

My aunt with the pancreas cancer is pretty much comatose, she wanted to go fast and apparently is. Was only diagnosed about 3 weeks ago. She is religious and is not afraid, wants to go be with God. I don't want her in pain, so hope she passes peacefully.

Have a good week my friends. Take care of yourselves and Karen get well, and the rest of you stay well.

Burnout is the right word for it, Marie. I felt like I just couldn't give any more. I am beginning to believe that part of my self-esteem is tied up in my job. That if I am not there that the place can't run without me. One monkey doesn't stop a show. It is like part of my social life is tied up in my job. I kept waiting for the phone to ring last night then noticed the battery was completely drained so put the phone to charging back up. I thought then maybe I should call in to see if they needed me. I never made the call but went back to watching westerns. I am sure the place will manage without me while I enjoy my two days off.

Marie, I thouht all that was taken care of////I hope it goes well and they can get this taken care of! No worries about me. Ill be ok. Dressing warm and making sire I do all the things sick people must do hahaha. Im glad that your Aunt is ok with what is happening. It will make things so much easier on her and everyone else. Still sorry that you have to go through that though.

Roy, enjoy your time off!

Hope you get to feeling better soon Karen.

I got my transcript from high school in, but I'm waiting for my Abilify to come in.........grrrrrrrrrr

My aunt passed about 9:45 pm last night. She went peacefully, so she didn't suffer long with this ugly cancer. I had to tell dad on the way to work, he handled it pretty well. She went really fast, about 3-4 weeks from diagnosis to passing, but she made up her mind that she wanted to go fast, and I am sure that helped her along.

Roy, I understand how your job becomes your social like and you have so much of your life tied up in it. I do the same thing. Heck, my best friends I have are on this site. Don't trust the "friends" I have at work and only have 1 or 2 close friends where I live, so my friends are on this site. Heck, what would I do without the internet?? I don't go to bars, and spend a lot of my time working, so I am really grateful for the good people/friends I have made on here.

Take care and have a good day. I need to get to work.

It is warm outside. I am hanging out clothes on the line. Just came back in to put another lad in the washer. While going through my scrub tops I found the brief and oxygen room key. Trying to figure out how I can get the key back into the med room without the nurse noticing it. I just can't handle her saying that I took the key home again. Maybe I will just make my own copy before I turn it back in. It is like in the 70's today. Really makes a difference in one's outlook to have a sunshiny day.

I am sorry to hear of the passing of your aunt, Marie but glad it was peaceably. My uncle and aunt who live across the road I could hear as I was hanging out the clothes. My little dog was chewing on some deer bones as I was hanging out clothes and if she drags one of my clothes off the line I am going to take one of those deer bones to her butt. I got my eye on her playing out in the yard. What I have to tell myself sometimes is that I am not alone. It is so easy for me to buy into lonliness. Yeah, I don't go to bars, either. I get depressed enough as it why add alcohol to it. Besides my mother raised me on tea. I am a real tea drinker. Tea is good for the heart and since I am an alcoholic I procured a craving for sugar, too. I try to not over sugar the tea because I don't want to become diabetic but have it in the tea. A sponsor told me about the sugar when he saw I was using sweet and low. My friends on this site have helped me to understand my friends at work better. I am going through an organizational phase now. I want to have more balance in my life. A time for everything if you will and not take off half-cocked when I leave the house forgetting things. I work with a calendar but am thinking of working with a day planner.

im getting so tired of my job. my boss doesnt trust us and i know i work my keister off.. i just dont know about life right now

Jeff, you found another job and you didn't like it and complained about the one you have now but when you were back to it saying how much you missed it and the friends yopu made there, all you wanted to do was go back to where you are now..........you confuze me

Im soooooo sick Im such a baby when Im sicka dn I have a very long day tomarrow.....6am to 10pm. Have to do it. Have no choice. I ditched class today, but ended up in the studio anyway...not the same class I ditched. I had to get the legs on my sculpture before she dried out. Then got caught up in talking and well, you know how it can be. !/2 the people in the class were sick too and either just getting over it or not there because of it.

sighhhhhh, I hear the electric blanket and some nightquil calling my name.

sorry to hear about your aunt marie.i am glad she did not suffer..i will say a prayer for her.

Had a good time at the meeting I just got back from. I used to have to ask for hugs. Now at this one meeting or whenever this lady sees me she hugs before I can even sit down. Like I am going to complain about that. I get a different rewarding feeling at work than I do at my meetings. I get a real high from being able to be strong for a resident by helping them and I get a real high for being able to share my strength, experience and hope with people trying to go through the drug court system. With both places no matter how bad I think I got it I find someone who has it worse than me. I was listening to this one lady telling how she had to breathe through this tube before her car would let her use it. Imagine your own car ratting on you. This other lady was telling me that her car the drug court fixed up sends out an alarm if she even puts the key in the ignition. She just thought that the car had something wrong with it when the car started used all its lights. Another lady told her the reason she didn't hear the alarm was because it went directly to the police station. It is always good to hear some addicted actually thank the drug court for saving their lives. Some really do complain about the high costs of their fines and fees of reimbursement. But they keep coming back to the meetings. Some have even figured out if they come to the meetings instead of drinking and drugging that it can even become profitable to them. Some times the reactions or insights are simply amazing.

Thanks for the kinds words and thoughts everyone, I am glad she is not suffering too, but wish I could have seen her one more time. I did manage to get a card to her and say put some of my feelings in the card. I have a really hard time expressing my feelings, but think I did a pretty good job of "saying good-bye" without it sounding like I was "saying good-bye." One of the hardest things I have ever done.

Roy - you need to get your dryer fixed, still a bad time of the year to be wearing frozen underwear to work. Hope you get it fixed soon. Also, be careful of the burnout, it does sneak up on you. You need to take a break, a little vacation to get some "you" time.

Karen - feel better soon, I hope your day goes well. I understand about working through being sick. Had pneumonia 1-1/2 years ago, for 6 freakin weeks, swear I coughed my lungs out, people told me to go home, but I couldn't didn't have leave to cover that much time and couldn't afford all that leave without pay, so I always work through being sick unless I have a fever or am vomiting, then I give myself permission to stay home. Otherwise I drag my butt to work.

Hope you all have a good rest of the week. Stay away from the cold and flu bugs, if you already have it, get well soon. Take care.

well kids i have been out of work for two days due to my bad tooth.i have a dental appointment today.i am gonna take a klonopin before i go to settle my nerves.i hope they pull the damn thing today and this nightmare will be over...

Yup. Still working on getting the dryer fixed. I get paid Thursday so one way or another I am going to have a dryer that works. I have been putting off getting some dental work, Jax. Last time the dentist said I almost waited too long. I got some really good tires but that really doesn't help the dental. I was talking to a lady last night about tires and gas. She had gas to make it to the meeting but is constantly fixing flats like I was. Gas and tires are both important to vehicles. The fangs can really be painful to be pulled. My dad used to tell me that it sure feels better when it quits hurting. I hope you get some relief.