toastyfrog.net

I was raised in a very conservative Christian family. I still believe in what Jesus taught, which I suppose still makes me a Christian, although the “conservative” part was permanently revoked when I got myself a tattoo for my 45th birthday. These days, however, I’m finding myself more and more reluctant to admit to being [...]

One of my responsibilities as a psych nurse is patient education. I help my patients learn coping skills, teach them about their medications and how they work, and help them find ways to change the thoughts and attitudes that keep defeating them. It’s not a one-way street, though; my patients teach me, too. They show [...]

The time for choosing sides for or against a candidate is past. Now it’s time to unite as Americans and move forward. I’ve had enough of the badmouthing and doubt-casting and the “just wait, you’ll see!” doom and gloom negativity. What’s done is done. There is no longer a choice of candidates before us – [...]

There’s something about this song that has always reached right down through my brainstem and grabbed me by the soul. I had heard the story about the author before, but I didn’t know the part about the black notes.

Since I haven’t had much time for blogging lately, I thought I’d share something I wrote for school. This is an excerpt from a paper for one of my nursing classes. I hope you like it. It was compassion that precipitated my journey toward a career in nursing, and like many of my peers, I [...]

A common theme has cropped up recently in discussions with a couple of my friends. One friend is trying to quit smoking; another recently stopped drinking. They both made statements that were nearly identical: “I just can’t imagine never [smoking|drinking] again!” It got me to thinking about how we humans are so good at defeating [...]

I had a patient recently who will stay in my memory for many years to come. He’s not an old man, barely middle-aged. He’s a homeless drunk, “frequent flier” on the hospital unit where I work as an aide. He’s admitted on a regular basis for various injuries and illnesses. Now he’s got cirrhosis and [...]