Monday, January 9, 2007, 10:30 a.m., C.S.T., Nashville, Tennessee~

Dear Jeri~

Hey! Thanks for your letter; 'twas good to hear from you! I am glad that y'all had a good Christmas; we sure did, but for a while, we didn't think we would, thanks to Johnny and Ronee' 's being in the hospital. Thank GOD they got out in time; that is not fun when you have kids in the hospital during the holidays! The holidays are stressful enough; having sick kids in the hospital only makes it worse!

I am having problems with my computer; for some reason I am getting directed to sites for medication that I did not even hit; strange how the computer has been acting today! I am going to have to call my computer provider to see what is going on; it is driving me nutz! It all started last night; I thought it was me that was having the problems; turns out that it is my computer! I may have to write letters longhanded for a while until my computer problems are resolved...

I know I am a nurse and all, but this is rediculous!!

I am at work; very slow today. I only have two patients (both in the MICU). I have two women I am taking care of: a woman who is recovering from the aftereffects of necrotizing fasciitis ("flesh-eating disease"), and another woman who was in a tornado; she ended up having a broken neck and is now facing paralysis from below the shoulders down. She may never walk again. Otherwise, the MICU is empty. We nurses are sitting around twiddling our thumbs trying to scare up something to do between taking care of our patients. I may end up going home early today (but somehow I always end up staying my entire shift or end up getting roped into working extra hours!).

How is the weather there? Here it is sunny; very pretty out, but it is hard to enjoy it when we are in the confines of the hospital environment. I may end up going out to Chili's, which is close by, but I also may end up just eating here at the cafeteria; it is more convenient. Chili's is always rather busy, and I may end up overstaying my lunch break, which would not make my bosses too happy!

The kids are back in school, but I am not home to enjoy it. *Siggh* I have to work all this week (even this weekend; had to work this past weekend; worked for Kerry Weaver, who sprained her ankle while ice skating at the rink; she is now hobbling around on crutches, and will return tomorrow). She will be on crutches for at least a week or so until her ankle heals. I will have to do her heavy lifting since she is incapacitated right now, in addition to my own work! *argghhh!!*

Well, the emergency tones are going off again; seems that there is a factory fire going on, and there are reports of injuries. We will expect to get hit within the half  hour to an hour. *Sigghh* So much for the slow day; may end up staying in the E.R. all day, depending on the nature of the people who have been injured; hopefully the injuries aren't too serious! Take care, Jeri, and God bless!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tennessee, Louie May. :)