The Connection/What Kind of Children Are We Raising?

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The Connection

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I was once 16--in the last millennium. I'm sure I said, "Oh, Mother!" and "Oh, Daddy!" so often my parents couldn't wait for that magical age when I would turn 25, the age psychologists predicted children would finally become adults and develop a modicum of common sense.

If you read any forums or blogs, you know for the past year there's been much controversy about Sweetwater Mansion, aka the Weeden Home. It seems there's not much middle ground--you either think the restoration efforts justify the means, or you think the owner is a crook and you wouldn't give her the time of day. Surely, there could be some compromise...at least I have felt that way until recently, until I've seen the remarks made by both adults and children concerning this project.

In the past few days I posted some questions on Facebook. These questions didn't denigrate the work the volunteers were doing, but asked if they realized it could be all in vain. I've been quite surprised by one 16 year old, by her language and her attitude.

What do they teach in schools? Do students learn grammar and syntax? Do they learn debating techniques? Do they even learn good manners?

I'm attaching a message I received from the sister of one of the volunteers. At first I debated if I should black out her name in some way, but it's still there on Facebook for the world to see. This young girl insults "Bible Thumpers" and praises Neo-Nazis. What kind of children have we raised? What kind of students have we produced? Perhaps most importantly, are we aware of how many are utterly lost?

Smoke & Die Happy?

Pictured: Advanced Oral Cancer


Nicholas McCormick's picture was on the front page of today's TimesDaily. The Muscle Shoals High School student was depicted smoking what appears to be a 72 mm cigarette. Nicholas states that he smokes a pack a day and thinks that he will die happy. Sorry, Nicholas, I don't agree with you. Let's see how your life will play out.

2010: If you just have to smoke when you eat, you aren't able to dine in any nice restaurants. That's really okay, since you probably can't get a nice girl to go out with someone who smokes.

2015: You tried college, but had to drop out. There just wasn't enough time to study and work enough hours to support your cigarette habit. The average price of a pack of cigarettes is $5.50, so you have to come up with at least $165.00 a month for your enjoyable habit, not to mention rent, food, gasoline, car payment, and car insurance.

It's not like you can find a decent job either. The Human Resource managers can smell the smoke on you, see the nicotine stains on your fingernails. No, it looks like you're going to be living a blue collar life.

2020: You wake up each morning with a smoker's cough. You have to cough up yellow sputum before you can even light up your first one for the day.

By now you're married--to another smoker, of course. You and she drop your child off before going to work, a child that's also coughing because of your smoking. A child confined to a closed vehicle for one hour with two smokers consumes the equivalent of eight cigarettes. You probably haven't noticed how underweight your child is because you don't have insurance at your blue collar job and there's no money for regular doctor visits.

2030: Your smoker's cough lasts for over an hour each morning now--and you sometimes cough up blood. There's still no insurance, so you make a mental note to cut back on your smoking. It's hard to do since your wife still smokes and by now so does your child. That son or daughter you love so much wants to be just like Daddy and Mummy...and that means smoking just like you do.

2035: You're back in the hospital for the third time in as many years. You've lost one lung...or maybe it was the esophagus. That's easy to cure; they removed part of your intestine to replace it so you can eat, but of course you can't speak because your larynx was removed with the esophagus.

2036: You've just pushed the button to the morphine pump again. Your family is standing around your bedside. Well, your wife is sitting since she can't stand long with her COPD. Oh, and your child comes and goes since there's no smoking allowed in the hospital.

Your family decides on a grave side service for you since it has to be a closed casket ceremony. Plus, that way they can smoke as soon as it's over, but at least they're happy.

Are you happy, Nicholas? It doesn't have to be that way...for any of you.


Nurse Nan

Sunburn? Itchy Back?

So far this summer, I've had two friends turn into lobsters--and it's not like they had never heard of sun screen. If you tend to burn, it's best to get the sun screen with the highest UVA rating.

As Labor Day draws near, all the major drug stores will drastically reduce the price of their sun screen. So stock up for next year at a fraction of the price--and use it!

Well, that helps for next year, but what about now? You probably know that our favorite tried and true aloe vera gel with lidocaine is tops for the pain, but what about just itching?

Should you try one of those bamboo or hard plastic back scratchers from Dollar Tree or Spencer's? Don't even think about it. You already have enough damage to your skin without using the equivalent of an industrial grade shredder on it. You need a hair brush.

That's right, but not just any brush. Purchase a cheap plastic brush with ball-tipped bristles. Once you've tried this for that irritating itch on your back, you'll never use anything else. Just be sure the brush has the balled-tips and that you keep it placed safely out of the way of household germs when not in use.

Now, all together, let's repeat the pledge: We will use sun screen the next time and every time!


Happy Dog Days,

Nurse Nan

Is Colored Bath Tissue Safe?

About twice a year someone will ask me this question. The answer is yes and no. If you've ever had an allergic reaction to any dye products or have just given birth, it's best to stick to plain old white. It's also best for the environment, according to green mavens, especially where septic tanks are concerned.

Assuming you still want that extra splash of color in your guest bath, where do you find it? It is still out there, even though Northern discontinued making colored tissue in the early 1980s. Apparently cost was as much a factor as any concern for customers' allergic reactions. Scott still makes pastel tissue under its own brand and for several smaller companies. The top selling bath tissue is white, with pink and peach following a distant second and third.

However, with the advent of new hypo-allergenic dyes, colored TP is making a comeback. The Renova Company offers specialty bath tissue in black or fuchsia, but it will cost you. Six rolls go for around $13.50 plus shipping.

By now I'm sure you're wondering why such a long answer to such a short question. While I was in nursing school, a co-worker had recently given birth and was concerned about using the tissue at her sister's. When I asked an instructor about the safety of such products, I was promptly told that no one made colored toilet paper anymore-period. I decided not to contest her opinion since she held at least part of my grade in her hands; however, I did write her a poem. Did she like it? Don't know--I never had the bad judgment to send it to her, but here for your reading enjoyment:

We looked around and easily found
Umpteen hundred emporiums
With TP in hues galorium.
So, new mothers won't find it sparse,
But is it safe to wipe their arse?

Now, don't all of you want to redecorate your powder rooms?

Nurse Nan

Nurses on Drugs - What You Can Do

A number of years ago I was involved in a serious automobile accident resulting in broken bones and surgery. The standard pain treatment at the time was Demerol--and not too much of that. Now it's common protocol to control severe pain with morphine; a few weeks of sedation will lead to improved healing--not drug addiction as was once feared.

Even though I was fairly young, I remember one nurse who visited me daily at the beginning of her afternoon shift, asking if I needed more pain meds. At the time I thought she was being kind, but I also wondered why she was the only nurse to inquire about my need for narcotic pain killers.

My curiosity concerning her kindness was answered a few months after I left the hospital. It seems this angel of mercy was pilfering from the medicine cabinet, often stealing half of the patients' meds. Was this nurse a rare exception in the sisterhood of Nightingales? Hardly. A few years later a medicine nurse at ECM was killed over a cocaine deal gone bad. I doubt this nurse started her drug habit with cocaine; I also doubt the hospital's medicine stash had never been the object of her quest for narcotics.

Does a drug habit make a bad nurse? Well...I certainly don't think it makes a better nurse. She or he is often impaired while giving patient care and, as in the the two cases we mentioned, often stealing from the hospital or patient. Obviously there have been enough incidents over the years that the general public is aware of this problem, so why am I addressing it now?

Three weeks ago a candidate for the University of North Alabama's BSN program was arrested for felony drug possession. We understand the charges may either be upgraded...or downgraded to that of a juvenile offender. The question is: Do you want this young man to be your nurse? He may become the best nurse in the history of the profession, but do you want to risk that?

We feel for this young man in many ways, but there is also another reason that we have chosen to make a political and perhaps controversial statement considering this would-be nursing student. A friend of ours died at ECM hospital on Monday. I sincerely hope that Bill's nurses were all caring and competent. Let's make sure that we can say that about all of them.

If you have questions or qualms about any nursing or proposed nursing student at UNA, please use the above numbers to make your feelings known. Nurses aren't perfect, but they should at least be drug-free.

Nurse Nan

Kudos to Discovery Middle School Nurse in Madison, Alabama

School nurses deserve a special place in our prayers. Certainly the nurse at Discovery Middle School on Hughes Road in Madison deserves to be called a hero. When she signed on for the job, I doubt she even considered the possibility of attending to a gunshot victim. Yet, by the accounts we have at this point, this is what she did and did well.

I don't know how much training this nurse had in emergency medicine, but unless she had worked previously as an EMT, probably not much. When she reached the scene of the shooting victim this afternoon, she had to make some decisions and make them quickly.

Emergency medicine uses the "ABC" rule. As she approached the wounded student, he would have probably been lying on his back. No matter the direction of a gunshot, a head wound will usually cause the victim to fall backward. Next she would have seen the blood surrounding his head. Using the "ABC" rule, she would have first ensured a patent airway. His chest would have been rising and falling, even with shallow breaths, so she would have known his airway was patent. Breathing, or respiration, is the second part--she would have ascertained this at the same time she checked the rise and fall of his chest.

The third part of the assessment is circulation. The flowing blood indicated that he needed pressure applied to the wound immediately, but that would have meant turning him over. Did he have a second wound she couldn't see? Had he damaged his spine in the fall? She had to consider these things, but still stop the blood flow. The Discovery Middle School nurse did all these things, from what little we have been told, and she obviously did them in a short period of time with throngs of traumatized students looking on.

If you know who your school nurse is, send her a note of appreciation next week. When the name of the Discovery Middle School nurse is published, I hope everyone realizes what a hero she was in a situation no one should have to face.