Monday, March 27, 2006, nearly 7 p.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

I am sitting here, trying to keep from thinking about what I witnessed today in the Emergency Room. We had a very bad one come in today: a man was crushed to death by a huge load of steel at his job, and he was killed instantly. When the remains of his body were brought into the Emergency Room, most of us got physically sick, including me. It was all I could do to keep from losing my lunch; but I tried to do my job to the best of my ability.

I had the grim task of telling his wife and sons about his demise, along with the doctor in charge. As you can imagine, the family collapsed into a state of disbelief, shock, and grief, and it was all I could do to keep from bursting into tears myself. Ever since, I have been in a very sad state of mind, and it was a grim reminder of just how quick life can change when one least expects it. I guess it was his time to go; still, it doesn't make it any easier.

When I got home from work this afternoon, the first thing I did upon stepping inside my house was hug my family. I then proceeded to make supper, but I hardly ate any. My stomach was still upset, and it is even now as I write this down. I have a can of 7-Up by my side, and I am chewing on Saltines to try to curb the nausea that still rages inside my belly.

Now on to more pleasantries:

Today, I heard from my friend in England, Roaamunde Alcorn, who lives in London. She is married to a chemist (pharmacist), and they have three children, three boys (Alastaire, Brighton, and Peter) and one daughter (Millicent), who was adopted from China.

She was saying that one of her boys had a stomach virus, but he is now recovered; however, the other three children are now down with colds, so she has been very busy playing nursemaid to them. Her husband was recently ill himself: he had his appendix removed when he had a sudden attack of appendicitis, but he is now recovering, and he has since returned to working (on light duty, but he is still working again).

I have enjoyed being a nurse, but lately I have been having second thoughts. I am thinking of leaving nursing for a while so I can spend more time with my family and concentrate more on my writing endeavors. It has been something I have been contemplating for a while now, and I think it is because I have had to deal with so much in both the work and home environs. I don't know if I will do it, but the thought of staying home with my family is a nice thing to think about. Today's incident with the man being crushed by the steel certainly didn't help matters any.

Well, I will go now. I am going to lie down and see if I can get some sleep. I don't know if I will be able to after seeing what I did today at work, but I am willing to try anything.

I will write in here again as things develop; stay tuned~

Love, your friend, Louie Mayrah. :( >tears<