Because of traveling, I'm sad to say I forgot to remind everyone that the family I knew was on Extreme Home Makeover on Sunday. I was able to catch it online and it was REALLY good! If you watch towards the beginning when they talk about Dawn's nursing career, you can see a bald pic of me with her and my brother :). It was great to see some of my friends on there too!
This family is so deserving and I am so incredibly happy for them!
To watch it online go here.
Today, I am grateful for a day with only 1 true commitment, family, friends, God.
Rach
Showing posts with label nurse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nurse. Show all posts
11.13.2008
9.07.2008
Extreme Home Makeover
Very cool news...one of my favorite oncology nurse's family, The Martirezs, was chosen for an Extreme Home Makeover.
They have young twin boys that each have severe disabilities and their house was not properly equipped for them. Dawn, my former nurse, quit working to take care of the boys and their older sister.
The project also includes a new coffee shop for Sam, who is also amazing, who I mentioned on the blog about a year ago.
Read more about it all here: www.extremehomemakeoverstlouis.com/family.php
Congrats Dawn, Emmanuel, Elle, Evan and Alec and for Sam too!!
On another note, please keep my friend Jason in your prayers-he is going through a rough time. His blog can be found here: www.teamjason.org/blog/
Today, I am grateful for: health, love, friends, family and God.
Rachel
11.03.2007
Another Photo Shoot!
A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. ~Eudora Welty
So, I don't think I've gotten a chance to tell you...an essay I wrote is going to be published in a book that will come out in January! It's the same essay that was printed in CURE magazine. I'm so happy that many more people will hear a story about Tish, one of my many incredible nurses!
Yesterday, a photographer flew up from Dallas, TX to take pictures of Tish and I! As you recall, Tish is also helping with my wedding dress so we took pictures of me trying it on and hanging out. Tish isn't so fond of pictures so I told her I was proud of her bravery :). She was, rightfully so, the STAR of the shoot!
It was a beautiful day all around-lunch with 2 very special women- my own mom and another mom of a little boy who is in heaven and 2 other lovely children, taking pictures with an incredible woman and a night with family!
Today hasn't been too bad either! I got to watch 2 men become deacons in the church in the place that my wedding is going to be!
Today, I am thankful for: family, friends, faith, touching lives...
Love,
Rachel
Yesterday, a photographer flew up from Dallas, TX to take pictures of Tish and I! As you recall, Tish is also helping with my wedding dress so we took pictures of me trying it on and hanging out. Tish isn't so fond of pictures so I told her I was proud of her bravery :). She was, rightfully so, the STAR of the shoot!
It was a beautiful day all around-lunch with 2 very special women- my own mom and another mom of a little boy who is in heaven and 2 other lovely children, taking pictures with an incredible woman and a night with family!
Today hasn't been too bad either! I got to watch 2 men become deacons in the church in the place that my wedding is going to be!
Today, I am thankful for: family, friends, faith, touching lives...
Love,
Rachel
10.05.2007
Running Around...
I think I am ready for a nap-what a fun whirlwind day it has been!
First, Tish (mentioned in the post below) -"home care nurse turned personal wedding seamstress" (she really is my fairy godmother!!) came over to look at the wedding dress. I am really excited about the alterations and design changes we came up with! Let's say one of my favorite parts is being able to show one of the scars on my back-I am so proud of and love my 'battle wounds' (feeling this way was definitely something that took some time to grow into...).
Then, lunch was fabulous-catching up on life and wedding plans.
Finally, the phone interview went very well. They are doing a follow-up story in the Winter Issue of CURE magazine. We talked about the engagement and all that good stuff. I got to "brag" about how amazing The Fiance is!
Today, I am thankful for: friends, family, everything feeling so right about the wedding...
Anyways, have an amazing weekend...I'm off to a nap...er..homework, cleaning, etc? What are your weekend plans??
Love,
Rachel
First, Tish (mentioned in the post below) -"home care nurse turned personal wedding seamstress" (she really is my fairy godmother!!) came over to look at the wedding dress. I am really excited about the alterations and design changes we came up with! Let's say one of my favorite parts is being able to show one of the scars on my back-I am so proud of and love my 'battle wounds' (feeling this way was definitely something that took some time to grow into...).
Then, lunch was fabulous-catching up on life and wedding plans.
Finally, the phone interview went very well. They are doing a follow-up story in the Winter Issue of CURE magazine. We talked about the engagement and all that good stuff. I got to "brag" about how amazing The Fiance is!
Today, I am thankful for: friends, family, everything feeling so right about the wedding...
Anyways, have an amazing weekend...I'm off to a nap...er..homework, cleaning, etc? What are your weekend plans??
Love,
Rachel
10.04.2007
CURE Magazine-Prom Night
This piece was published in CURE magazine (a wonderful cancer magazine that is free for patients, survivors and caregivers in the U.S.) this summer (I won a contest that took me to Las Vegas in May to read it aloud and celebrate with my nurse, Tish and our significant others and a bunch of other really cool people). A free-lance writer from NYC is interviewing me tomorrow via the phone for a follow-up story! There is also more exciting info concerning this that I will follow up on!
Prom Night
Tish Mullen—my very own fairy godmother nurse.
By Rachel
I was diagnosed with a tumor wrapped around my spinal cord at the age of 15, and then relapsed at 18 and then again at 19. Over those years, Tish Mullen was not just a nurse—she was my home-care nurse making lots of special trips to my house.
I still remember the first time my family and I met Tish eight years ago. She came to our house when I was fresh out of my first of endless hospital stays. She showed us how the I.V. backpack worked and told us to make sure to change the batteries before bed so it did not scream in the middle of the night from weakness. She also helped my dad give me my first of numerous shots and was sweet enough to try to not do too much instructing because my dad gives shots in people’s mouths every day (he’s a dentist).
You see, I never seem to follow the “rules” when it comes to anything medical, which meant Tish always seemed to be called at the worst times—middle of the night, during dinner, you get the point.
On the non-emergency visits, she would come early in the mornings and slip into my room when I was sleeping and check my blood pressure, temperature, and other vital signs. Then she would take blood from my I.V. line in my chest and change out my I.V. bags. All of this was done in the dark of my bedroom and with me remaining asleep—and I am a light sleeper in the morning!
Many times, my I.V. backpack would break in the middle of the night and the alarm would start screaming. Or I would find that my needle had shifted in my chest and fluid had pumped persistently just under my skin and not into my vein—enough that it looked like I had a third breast. Or my port would just stop working.
She would always be over quickly to save the day with a loving grandmotherly touch.
Everything mentioned would have been amazing in and of itself, but the way she earned the term “Fairy Godmother Nurse” really came about in a different and extraordinary way.
I was extremely sick and in the hospital for most of the second semester of my senior year of high school. Well, when prom came around, it was really touch-and-go whether I would be in the hospital or not. Because of Tish, I was not in the hospital, got to attend prom, stayed out late, and all of this without my ever-present I.V. backpack. This was quite a feat!
She came over right before I got ready and removed my I.V. and I.V. backpack as part of getting ready (sort of a substitute for doing my hair since there was none). I put on my flowing royal blue gown and was whisked off as a princess for the evening—putting the fact that I was going into an intense life-threatening stem cell transplant in a week in the back of my mind.
At about 4 in the morning, I arrived home from the after-festivities and called Tish, as I had been instructed to do. She came over and safely put the I.V. back in like it had never left.
This is a small example of the type of person Tish is—caring, selfless, and trying to help pediatric oncology patients with all of her resources—lots of them—kept in her car. Mainly herself.
Tish Mullen, RN, PNP, works at Provide Infusion in Earth City, Missouri.
-----------------------------------
Also, my presentation in Biology class went pretty good. The class looked stunned that I was a cancer survivor. There was 3 questions at the end: What was life like when you thought you were going to die?, What was the nausea like and how did you handle it?, What are the long-term side effects?
Today, I am grateful for: Being alive, sharing my story, the weekend starts today because I am off classes on Fridays!
Prom NightTish Mullen—my very own fairy godmother nurse.
By Rachel
I was diagnosed with a tumor wrapped around my spinal cord at the age of 15, and then relapsed at 18 and then again at 19. Over those years, Tish Mullen was not just a nurse—she was my home-care nurse making lots of special trips to my house.
I still remember the first time my family and I met Tish eight years ago. She came to our house when I was fresh out of my first of endless hospital stays. She showed us how the I.V. backpack worked and told us to make sure to change the batteries before bed so it did not scream in the middle of the night from weakness. She also helped my dad give me my first of numerous shots and was sweet enough to try to not do too much instructing because my dad gives shots in people’s mouths every day (he’s a dentist).
You see, I never seem to follow the “rules” when it comes to anything medical, which meant Tish always seemed to be called at the worst times—middle of the night, during dinner, you get the point.
On the non-emergency visits, she would come early in the mornings and slip into my room when I was sleeping and check my blood pressure, temperature, and other vital signs. Then she would take blood from my I.V. line in my chest and change out my I.V. bags. All of this was done in the dark of my bedroom and with me remaining asleep—and I am a light sleeper in the morning!
Many times, my I.V. backpack would break in the middle of the night and the alarm would start screaming. Or I would find that my needle had shifted in my chest and fluid had pumped persistently just under my skin and not into my vein—enough that it looked like I had a third breast. Or my port would just stop working.
She would always be over quickly to save the day with a loving grandmotherly touch.
Everything mentioned would have been amazing in and of itself, but the way she earned the term “Fairy Godmother Nurse” really came about in a different and extraordinary way.
I was extremely sick and in the hospital for most of the second semester of my senior year of high school. Well, when prom came around, it was really touch-and-go whether I would be in the hospital or not. Because of Tish, I was not in the hospital, got to attend prom, stayed out late, and all of this without my ever-present I.V. backpack. This was quite a feat!
She came over right before I got ready and removed my I.V. and I.V. backpack as part of getting ready (sort of a substitute for doing my hair since there was none). I put on my flowing royal blue gown and was whisked off as a princess for the evening—putting the fact that I was going into an intense life-threatening stem cell transplant in a week in the back of my mind.
At about 4 in the morning, I arrived home from the after-festivities and called Tish, as I had been instructed to do. She came over and safely put the I.V. back in like it had never left.
This is a small example of the type of person Tish is—caring, selfless, and trying to help pediatric oncology patients with all of her resources—lots of them—kept in her car. Mainly herself.
Tish Mullen, RN, PNP, works at Provide Infusion in Earth City, Missouri.
-----------------------------------
Also, my presentation in Biology class went pretty good. The class looked stunned that I was a cancer survivor. There was 3 questions at the end: What was life like when you thought you were going to die?, What was the nausea like and how did you handle it?, What are the long-term side effects?
Today, I am grateful for: Being alive, sharing my story, the weekend starts today because I am off classes on Fridays!
Tomorrow's adventures: getting my wedding dress (that was my mom's) checked out for the alterations I have planned, out to lunch with a dear friend and the interview!
Love,
Rachel
PS-Thanks for all the terrific comments! Keep 'em coming :).
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