The Easy Life

Mother. Dairy cow. Dishwasher. Cook. Adelae(4) and Archer (1) keep me busy as a SAHM and occasionally I get some alone time with my handsome husband Doctor E.

[tarpo]

Take a moment and let that sink in.

[julierthanyou]

😭🙌

[stilljewelss]

😭😭😭😭😭

[mom2adelae]

Right in the feels.😭

[laughingsquid]

Revogi Smart Bluetooth LED Bulb

[fabwithfibro]

[mom2adelae]

Also avoid the nightshade family plants. Anytime I eat spicy peppers in my food or potatoes I can tell my joints hurt like crazy the next 2-3 days.

[laughingsquid]

Incredible Animals of Immense Stature Crafted From Straw, Wood and Rope

[actualdogvines]

[mom2adelae]

This dog totally looks like Michael Bolton.

[mom2adelae]

He's growing up so fast. Now that Addy is in kindergarten we have a chance to really explore and focus on him learning something other than just what his sissy does.

[whisky-smiles]

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and that none dies. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got. And at one point you’d hope the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neutrons whose energy will go on forever. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy’s still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you’re just less orderly.

Aaron Freeman   (via brain-food)

[king-the-kween]

One of these people is regarded as one of the most attractive in the world and the other as one of the least, but for one brief, shining moment, they looked exactly alike.

[jedavu]

[mom2adelae]

Beautiful wave shots!

[generalistherbalist]

I really wish someone had warned me that breastfeeding may not come naturally and it could be very difficult. And very painful. And very frustrating. Once you get into the swing of it, it can be very beautiful, but you're not a failure if it sucks for the first... bajillion times.

consider this message disseminated. 

Medblrs, as you move onto OB: please do the breastfeeding modules from stanford, and let your words be gentle and kind. It often takes a mama about 3 months for her supply to regulate (which will feel diminished to her) and some babies are lip/tongue tied and some nipples are inverted and some women have insufficient glandular tissue and some mamas have horrible hormonally related depression that happens with the let down reflex, and…it goes on for a while. 

The TL;DR is breastfeeding can be hard. There are a lot of factors to why it can be hard. The way that you talk about it can have an impact. 

[aspiringdoctors-blog]

Will do.

[cranquis]

The Stanford breastfeeding modules (includes videos) are found here.

[mom2adelae]

And most importantly be helpful, caring, and supportive however the mother may choose to feed her child. moms need to remember this too. Breast may be best for baby but moms have to take care of themselves too.

[laughingsquid]

Special Effects Video of ‘Action Movie Kid’ Building a Homemade Rocket That Is Then Eaten by a Dinosaur During Launch

[foodffs]

ONE BOWL JALAPENO CHEDDAR CORNBREAD

Really nice recipes. Every hour.

[mom2adelae]

Need this for later! Will be great with some white chili!

[astrodidact]

via ScienceAlert

Titanium dioxide breaks down smog particles in the air, and students in the US have shown that in one year, one roof coated in it can break down the smog from a car that’s driven 17,000 km(10,500 miles). And every day, 21 tonnes of smog could be eliminated by one million treated roofs.

http://txchnologist.com/post/88500055810/students-show-common-compound-breaks-down-air-pollution

[hellaswawesome-deactivated20170]

Kawai Tam, Chun-Yu “Jimmy” Liang, Jessica Moncayo, Edwin Rodriguez, Carlos Espinoza, Kelly McCoy, David Cocker and Louis Lancaster. From UC Riverside. Not just “Engineering students”.

[jackaloup]

This is important.

[tastefullyoffensive]

Artist Martin Bruckner Turns His 3-Year-Old Daughter’s Cute Sayings Into Funny Illustrations (images via imgur) Previously: Artist Telmo Pieper Repaints His Own Childhood Drawings

[wayfaringmd]

Do doctors really order unnecessary lab tests regularly out of fear of getting sued? I recently read an article claiming some alarming statistic that a lot of the tests performed are done solely out of malpractice fears. That seems so sad, that this system is broken to this extent.

Umm… yeah, we do.

So, remember earlier this year when I found out I got sued? It was because we didn’t do a bunch of labs that, though completely medically unnecessary and against the standard of care, the family thought would have “saved” their loved one from death. 

There are certain things that have become standard out there, and if you don’t order a certain test and you mess up, you WILL get sued. This happens a lot more in the hospital than in the outpatient setting. As a general rule, the sicker the patient is, the more unnecessary tests they get. 

Patient says they have the worse headache of their life? Doesn’t matter that they come to the ER for that same complaint once a week for Dilaudid. They’re getting a CT scan to rule out a bleed.

Patient has burning chest/epigastric pain that is obviously coming from their severe chronic esophagitis? Better get a stress test or a cath just to be sure it’s not their heart. 

We do this stuff ALL the time. One of the things I love about doing medicine overseas is that this burden to CYA is lifted and you can practice medicine in a logical, common sense, prudent way while still treating the patient completely appropriately for their condition. 

But as long as we judge the quality of a doctor’s care by patient satisfaction scores and we allow people to sue for ridiculous things and ask for ungodly sums of money, doctors will continue to practice defensive medicine. 

There is a point where it gets out of hand though. In my opinion, if you’re draining the system or potentially causing harm to the patient with all your CYA tests, you’ve gone too far. And I think a lot of doctors order tests without talking to the patient first because they assume all patients are litigious, but if you and the patient can come to an agreement not to do an expensive unnecessary workup, then it’s fine. 

[cranquis]

And that’s why I talk (and LISTEN and EXPLAIN) to my patients before ordering tests — it has helped me cut back on a TON of “just in case” orders over the years.

And of course, documenting the heck out of that conversation is important too.

[eisforedna]

On May 28th, my sister, Edna, turned 31.

  Her mental age is about three years old. She loves Winnie the Pooh, Beauty & the Beast, and Sesame Street. Even though the below picture is unconvincing. 

Edna and “Cookie.” I think she was trying to play it cool. 

My name is Jeanie. I’m Edna’s younger sister. I’m also her guardian and caregiver. 

That’s me on the left. (Hey, you never know. After a year of writing a blog about online dating - Jeanie Does the Internet - I’ve come to learn that there are A LOT of fools on the internet.) 

ANYWAY, I’m not “doing the internet” anymore. I’m taking care of Edna full-time, after completing my MFA in Writing for Screen & Television at USC.

May 16, 2014. I wanted a picture. Edna wanted breakfast.

In case you’re wondering where our parents are, they’re dead. Our mom died of breast cancer when she was just 33. 

Us with mom before she died. (Obviously.)

As for our dad, he peaced-out around the time my mom got sick. His loss - we’re awesome. 

Here we are being awesome at the beach. Pushing a wheelchair in the sand? Not so awesome. 

In case you’re wondering “What’s wrong?” with my sister - as a stranger once asked me on the street  -  NOTHING. Yes, Edna has a rare form of epilepsy - Lennox-Gastaut syndrome - but I don’t know if that’s anymore “wrong” than people who don’t have manners. 

Basically, Edna was born “normal,” and started having seizures as a baby. They eventually got so bad that they cut off the oxygen to her brain, causing her to be mentally disabled. Or impaired. Or intellectually disabled. Or whatever you want to call it - except “retarded,” because in 2010, President Obama signed Rosa’s Law into effect, replacing that word with “intellectually impaired.” 

Which is cool and all, but services for the disabled and the people who care for them are SEVERELY LACKING. Also, there’s a bunch of people working in taxpayer-funded positions who are supposed to help families like us, but don’t. (Big surprise, I know.) They just fill out paperwork (whenever they feel like it) with asinine statements like this: 

YUP. I transport my sister down the stairs in her wheelchair, because that is not only safe, but TOTALLY PRACTICAL. Why doesn’t everyone in a wheelchair just take the stairs, for God’s sake? Stop being so lazy, PEOPLE WITHOUT WORKING LEGS! 

But, as it says above, Edna’s legs do work. Whether or not she wants them to, is another story. 

Edna refusing to go inside. 

These are the stairs that I have to carry her up - by myself - on a daily basis. That is, until one of my legs break and both of us are just sitting at the bottom of the stairs, helpless. 

For six months, I have begged - BEGGED - the State of California to help my sister, which they are required by law - The Lanterman Act specifically - to do so. But they’ve told me “these things take time” and that I “need to amend my expectations.” (That was said to me when I refused to place Edna at AN ALL-MALE CARE FACILITY. Because yes, that was an “option” that was offered to me.) 

Prior to Edna moving in with me in my one-bedroom apartment, she was living with her amazing caregiver, Gaby, back in Tucson, where we went to high school and I did my undergrad. Edna’s reppin’ the Wildcats below. 

But back in November, Gaby also died from breast cancer. (FUCK YOU, BREAST CANCER!) This picture was taken a month before she died. She never even told me she was sick because she didn’t want me to worry. 

By the way, we were raised by our grandma. Edna and her were very close.

She’s dead, too. Surprise.

She died when I was 20 and Edna was 21. That’s when I became Edna’s legal guardian and Gaby stepped into the picture to help me out with Edna. 

So, six months ago, after Gaby died, I moved Edna to California, where I tried to get the folks over at The Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center to help me. I’ve told them I’m worried about our safety - that one of us could get hurt on the stairs -  I’ve told them I can’t afford to pay the private babysitters $15/hour because the ones social services sent me who make $9/hour were unreliable (they didn’t show up on time or at all so I could get to school and work), untrustworthy (one of them let Edna go to the bathroom in the kitchen and then took her into the bathroom because “that what I thought I was supposed to do.”) 

But the people over at the FLRC don’t return my calls, they don’t file the paperwork on time - and the first caseworker that was assigned to us actually LAUGHED AT my sister when he came to our home to evaluate her. When I reported him to his supervisor, she told me, “That’s just [insert name of said jackass].” 

He was one of the two caseworkers that contributed to the report I mentioned above, which also included this: 

So let me get this straight - I have to feed, bathe, dress and help Edna in the bathroom and you can’t deduce whether or not she is able to vote? What in the fuck?!

Now I realize I seem angry. And you can bet your balls I am. I’m also sad. Sad for those who don’t have family to stick up from them and who waste away God knows where, monitored by no one. Or monitored by people who physically and sexually assault them. 

I’m also sad for the caregivers who are SO EXHAUSTED - trying to take care of their loved ones - while also trying to take care of themselves and battling a system that is supposed to help, but does nothing of the sort. And I know a lot of people give up. They let their dreams, their marriages, their friendships slide. All while trying not to resent the very person you’re doing it all for.

Edna wanted to sit next to me the other day while I was writing. Clearly, she’s not impressed. 

Here’s the thing: I REFUSE TO GIVE UP. I’M NOT GIVING UP ON HER OR MYSELF. I’m going to pursue my dreams while taking care of her, AND while ensuring that the people paid to do their jobs ACTUALLY do them.

That’s where you come in. I need you to help me get my story out there. Because I know I’m not alone in this. I want to connect with families who are in similar situations and also show people who have no idea what it’s like to care for someone with a disability (or even a loved one who is sick) that it can be rewarding. Super fucking hard. Exhausting. Painful. Isolating. But, rewarding. 

I’m going to get help for my sister - and others. My hope is that by sharing our story, I can bring awareness to the lack of services and help for the disabled. 

Thank you, 

Jeanie 

Facebook:  facebook.com/eisforedna

Twitter: @EisforEdna 

[itsindigowhite]

This made me cry

[team-elias]

SIGNAL BOOST

[congalineofdurin]

STOP SCROLLING. THIS PERSON ISN’T ASKING FOR MONEY AND THIS POST WON’T MAKE YOU SAD.

This is a really uplifting and inspirational story of a family sticking by each other and making things work despite a whole lot of shit

They just want to find other people in the same position they are, for a sense of community and to feel like they aren’t alone.

I know out of all of you, some of you have followers who are living with and taking care of intellectually or emotionally disabled family members, and this lovely and unbreakable pair of sisters need to find them.

SIGNAL BOOOOOOOOOST

[iwouldsellmysisterssoulfor1d]

SOMEONE TEXTED ME WITH THE WRONG NUMBER AND I PLAYED ALONG I’M GOING TO HELL I KNOW IT

[mom2adelae]

Seriously some of the funniest shit I've seen in a while.