What a week!!!

Wow!!! What a week it has been.  I am a person that does all that I can not to have to call in sick to work.  I have gone to work with severe sinus infections, severe headache, and even gone in while feeling extremely nauseous.  This week however, I called in sick to work for three days straight.  I hate the fact of calling in but I was sicker than I have been in years.  I couldn’t tell you the last time that I ran a fever. That is of course before this last week.  It started Friday; I went to the doctor for a checkup and was feeling fine.  About two hours after leaving the doctor’s office I started to have a tickle in my throat and was coughing just a little bit.  I didn’t think much of it and thought it might be the fact that I was at my grandma’s house which she keeps pretty cold.  It wasn’t until Saturday morning that I starting feeling a little worse.  I woke up fairly early to help my sister with some stuff.  At that point of the day I was extremely tired, this is not too unusual since it was Saturday.  After helping my sister I returned home to take a short nap.  After my nap I decided that I wanted to go get a pedicure.  I first went to the house that I was dog-sitting to let the dog out and then headed to Webb City to get a pedicure.  The first place that I stopped at had taken their last pedicure appointment so I got in my car and decided that I would try somewhere else.  I couldn’t get a pedicure at the second place either because the lady that did pedicures was off that day.  The day was not going as planned…..I just wanted a pedicure!!  After leaving there I decided to wait on the pedicure because I just wasn’t feeling very good.  I made one more stop before I headed back to dog-sit which was by my sister’s work.  When I walked in I told her that I wasn’t feeling good, to which she responded, you don’t look like you feel very good.  Not really the answer that I wanted to hear, that just validated the fact that I might be getting sick.  I got back to the house to walk the dog and all I wanted to do was lay down, so I did.  After that I starting chilling and running a fever.  What is this, a fever?  I don’t get these!!!  Wrong, I got one!!  I was so miserable and couldn’t do anything but lie on the couch and wait to be able to go home.  Once I got home I took some Advil and Mucinex and went to bed.  I stayed home from church on Sunday and stayed in bed all day.  I then began to get a cough and had the body aches.  I knew something wasn’t right.  I called my boss Sunday night and told her that I wasn’t going to be at work on Monday and that I was going to try to get into see the doctor.  So, first thing Monday morning I called the doctor’s office to see if I could get in to be seen.  Of course, they were booked solid and couldn’t get me in and advised me to take Advil and Mucinex and get rest.  I informed her that I had been doing that and she suggested going to an urgent care or the ER.  I took that advice and went to the Urgent Care.  Turns out that I had the flu!!! I was frustrated that this had happened especially since I had received my flu shot for the year!!  I was finally able to get rid of my fever on Wednesday and return to work Thursday.  I had never been so glad to be able to go to work!!  I am still a little worn out but am getting better and I was finally able to get my pedicure today!!   

Abuse

There are many different types of abuse.  There is physical abuse, emotional abuse, and verbal abuse.  All of these types of abuse are serious.  I hate seeing people go through any of these types of abuses.  The really sad part of it is that most people that are being abused either do not think of it as abuse or they are too scared to leave.  I have seen people that have been physically abused and have obvious marks from it and they find an excuse or they say that it was their fault that they got beat.  I think mental and verbal abuse happen a lot more often than most people realize.  I hate seeming a man or woman belittle their significant other in public or even at all!!!  I have a person close to me that is separating himself from a relationship that there was a little of all these abuses.  The most obvious was the physical.  Not only was he on the giving end but also on the receiving end of the abuse.  Ranging from a 2X4 to fists.  This has gotten him in some legal trouble and he now has to live with that.  There are many resources for people that are victims of abuse of any kind.  However, many people do not utilize these resources.  I worry about people that are in a dating relationship with abuse and then proceed on to marriage.  It is then even harder to remove yourself for that type of relationship.  Divorce is hard on its own and even worse if you are afraid of your spouse.

I had a coworker that was abused by her ex-husband in unbelievable ways.  I only know of some of the situations but just knowing those makes my heart break.  The last straw for her was when he beat her so bad that she was put in the hospital.  She now has a lot of trouble with her knees and has to walk with a cane.  That man ruined her physical abilities!!!  Thank goodness, she utilized the resource of the Lafeyette House.  She was eventually able to get her own place and her own car.  She still worried about her safety, which was tough to see.  She does not have to worry anymore about her safety because a few months after she left him, he passed away of natural causes.  It is sad for anyone to lose their life, but I am glad that she no longer has to worry about him hurting her.  I am glad to say that she finally starting dating and found a wonderful man that treats her like the princess she is!!!  She was very lucky to survive the entire trauma that she received. 

I know that when you are "in love" with someone it is hard to see if there is abuse happening, but i wish people would step back and evaluate their situation especially when their loved ones have voiced concerns.   

It Breaks My Heart

This has been a long week for my family.  My grandmother was admitted to the hospital last Sunday night.  She was having a very hard time breathing.  This is especially bad since she is on oxygen 24/7 already.  Earlier in the week she got to the point where she was to weak to walk to the bathroom so she had to use a bedside commode.  If that wasn't bad enough she also got to the point where she was to weak to stand up and wipe herself.  I had to hold her up and my mother, being the great daughter that she is, had to wipe her.  Even after having us to help her she was struggling to breath because of the stress on her body.  The doctor finally ordered a catheter so that she would not have to get out of bed.  In order to do this they had to lay her down, which caused her to have a major panic attack because she was unable to breath.  She starting yelling "Dear God I am going to die".  This is was so heart breaking!!! It is so hard to see someone that you love struggle to catch a single breath.  She was finally able to calm down some.  After this episode the doctor order her an extended breathing treatment in addition to the breathing treatment that she normally takes every four hours.  He also allowed for her to have a treatment every hour as she needed.  They still do not know exactly what is causing all of this.  She has COPD for as long as I can remember.  Her having this is probably part of the problem but not the main problem.  They did a chest x-ray, which came back fine.  In the meantime she starting having blood in her urine.  They took her in to clean out her lungs this morning, which hasn't really changed anything except that her lung are a little more clear.  They were going to do an MRI to see if they could find a tumor or any signs of cancer but decide to do a CAT Scan instead since her breathing was so hard and would have messed up the MRI results.  The CAT Scan also can back fine.  However, the blood work came back showing her CO2 levels very elevated.  To help reduce the CO2 levels the doctor order her to wear a BiPAP.  She had this put on at 5:00 and has to wear it through the night and then they will check her leaves in the morning.  Seeing her have the mask put on was another hard thing.  Grandma is very claustrophobic and started freaking out when they put the mask on her.  In order to calm her down they had to give her a Valium.  She is finally asleep and doing pretty good with the BiPAP machine.  She will occasionally wake up and try to rip the mask off and my mom has to pull her hand away and then she is fine.  Her blood pressure is also elevated.  All we can do is pray that she gets better and that nothing happens to her.  We just lost my grandpa in July.  I am so thankful for my family that has been here to take care of her and make sure that she gets what she needs.  I love her and hate seeing her this way!!!

My baby has four legs!!

I always thought that it was odd how some people could love a dog so much. After all, they are just animals. That opinion quickly changed after I got my dog, Roxy. I had a co-worker that had to get rid of a dog that their son had brought home and she knew that I wanted a dog so she told me that I should stop by and meet Roxy. I asked my husband if we could stop by and he said yes but informed me not to get my hopes up about taking home a dog. We get to her house and go out back where Roxy was playing with the other dogs and I set on the deck. As soon as I set on the deck Roxy comes up to me and starts loving on me. I knew at that moment that she had to go home with us, so I turned to my husband and said “I want her”. So guess what?….Roxy had a new home!! I was so excited.
It is amazing how I can have the worse day and come home to Roxy and everything be better. She helped to keep me strong through some tough times. Without her around I think I might have gone crazy. I am not the only one that has a strong love for Roxy. We recently moved in with my parents and they too love her. Roxy gets to go to work with “grandpa” everyday since he owns his own business. She loves it!! I can tell this only because on days that she does not get to go to work with him because of him having to go out of town her whole attitude changes. She also has my dad’s secretary wrapped around her paw.
Roxy loves going on car rides, camping, and playing. She doesn’t quite like wearing sweaters or shirts but she loves her coat. I only put it on her when it is cold outside but she likes to wear it. At least I think she does. She gets to sleep in bed with momma and is definitely a bed hog. I am not sure why since she is only a 12 pound dog, but it is probably just that she likes to be close to me. I know that makes me sound sure of myself but it is true. It is amazing how smart she is. She know that if she goes outside and goes to the bathroom that she will get a treat most of the time when she comes back in. It has got to the point that she will go outside just to come back in to see if she could trick me into giving her a treat. If she can’t trick me then she will try my parents. Just like a child, if one parent says no they go to the other.
I will say that I have not gone to the point of creating Roxy her own Facebook page and have promised never to do that. I think it is a little silly. Not that people don’t think that I am silly now with how I treat Roxy.  Anyway, more on Roxy later.

School Dress Codes and Clothing Bans

Recently Fremont School District put a ban on certain clothing brands. This has cause a students and parents to be upset with the district. This is not the first school district to ban certain clothing brands. Within the past few months, Murrieta Valley Schools has been approached by Metal Mulisha Sports Gear about a possible lawsuit for banning their clothing from schools. The school said that the ban of certain clothing was because of the possible gang association and that some students might be intimidated by these clothes. Metal Mulisha states that their clothing was not designed as a racial statement as some people believe it was. The clothing line was actually designed as a dirt bike clothing line with no intention of racism. A couple other brands that were banned were SRH and Tapout.
The Public School Parent’s Network address the pros and cons of having a school dress code. One of the pros that they mention is to help prevent gang association in school. Another pro is that it would prevent student for being bullied for their clothing. However, they also focus on the cons of dress codes which includes limiting the students self expression. Some people believe that if students are prohibited from wearing certain clothing to express themselves that they will find other inappropriate ways to express themselves.
I understand that schools are concerned about gang association and other problems that are associated with dress codes but I also know that limiting brand name clothing isn’t going to fix the problem. I completely agree with not allowing students to wear clothes that contain beer, drug, and/or sexual content or even clothing with profanity. I think that the only way a school is going to be able to completely avoid negative associations from clothing is to go to a set dress code like private schools. Children are told to be themselves and not worry about what other think about them, but if dress codes were forced they would not be able to do that. I would enjoy the fact of not having to figure out what I was going to wear everyday since it would already be selected for me but I would not enjoy the fact that I could not wear my favorite shirt or jeans. Also, uniforms can get expensive. Especially since you would still have to buy the clothes that you would wear outside of school.

All in all I would disagree on the fact of banning specific name brand clothing from school dress codes. I think that it is a little extreme and that the parent should be responsible for the clothing that their children wear to school, not the school district.  

A little bit about me

My name is Stacey Myers.  I love spending time with my family, friends, and dog.  My dog, Roxy, is like my child since I do not have any children.  She is extremely spoiled!!!  Most people would think it is pathetic but I can't help it. :) I have recently decided to go back to school and am majoring in Elementary and Early Childhood Education.  I can't say that I live a very exciting life but I am happy with it.  I work full time, go to school and am also a youth sponsor at my church.  I enjoy being around people and helping people.  I am excited to see what my future holds!!