Aftermath

During the last year or so I have been fiddling with three different books all stemming from the same occurrence. The occurrence is the Rising of Atlantis. How would it effect the world if this continent suddenly rose? Would the Atlanteans be considered human or non-human? Would humans, trying to recover from the devastation of earthquakes, tsunamis, and utter destruction, be able to accept a new species or several new species? When did Atlantis sink? Could that coordinate with the Flood of Noah? And if so, could that explain why we no longer have the creatures of myth?

Like I said, I have been working on three different angles. So I decided to focus on one angle. My blogging is going to help flesh out my characters.
I have a series of personality questions - from real personality tests and from ideas that other writers use - to interview my characters.
You won't be able to find the characters in any book - yet. But if you follow this blog, when the book is published, you will be one step ahead of those that haven't.

Also, in the aftermath of Ken's latest strokes, when something good, or fun, or interesting occurs, I'll write about it. We also have a ongoing joke between the two of us - if there was a mistake that could be made in caregiving I've made it.
As I remember them, I'll write about my mistakes like:
I have to use a Hoyer Lift to move my husband from his front room bed to his night time bed - different mattresses, different pressures plus we sleep in the same bed. It's less likely for me to start seeing him as a patient instead of my husband plus the different pressures from different mattresses keeps his skin integrity better. I also use the Hoyer lift to move him to his wheelchair and I have tried to use it to move him into a car.
We used to live in Desert Center. Now, Desert Center is in the middle of the Mojave Desert, all sand and very few paved roads. So, when I had to get him into the car by myself I had to load him into the Hoyer lift, wheel him out of the house, onto the 40 year old board porch, down the wooden ramp, onto a 10X10 cement slab and over to the car. However, as anyone who ever used a Hoyer lift on any surface other than a slick hospital floor knows, The Hoyer Lift is top heavy and unruly. And when ever Murphy is around (his law says if anything can go wrong it will go wrong) the Hoyer Lift misbehaves. In my case, the wheels went off the cement and into the sand which decided at that moment to become quicksand and eat the Hoyer Lift. But only one side.

Okay - Lesson number one for Caregivers - if you are about to drop the person you are helping and you are using a Hoyer Lift, let the person down gently to the ground, re-position the hammock around the person and let the Hoyer Lift do the work of picking up the invalid. DO NOT TRY TO RESCUE THE TIPPING HOYER LIFT WHILE TRYING TO KEEP THE PERSON FROM FALLING.  More injury occurs when you try to do that than if you simply let the person float down by releasing the Hoyer Lift pressure. The piston will slowly lower the invalid.
Of course, if you are a caregiver and use a Hoyer Lift get all the training you can to avoid these type of incidents. And if at all possible don't live where you are forced to push a Hoyer Lift through sand.
Kenneth wasn't terribly hurt in that incident. He got a bruise on his shoulder and not even a large one. he was laughing at me. I was banged, bruised, frustrated, and frantic. We never did get into the car.

By the way, Hoyer Lift is a fantastic piece of equipment. Without it I would be next to helpless in moving my husband from one point to another. It was in no way an equipment problem, it was an operator problem. But then I guess you always learn from your mistakes.  ;-}

Besides Being A Writer

Besides being a writer, which could be called into dispute since I have not published in a very long time, I am a caregiver. My husband of 40 years has been laid low by stroke and congestive heart failure. He is a quadriplegic. I could put him in a nursing home and “get on with my life”, but he would get care that would be substandard to which I can give him. After all, I am a “nurse” who is on call 24 hours a day and at his bedside every day. I don’t have 30 or more patients to care for besides him. I care only for him. I have been doing this 7 years.

There is a down side to this, however.

I look at other blogs and see written accounts about incidents at work, incidents about the strangeness or wonderfulness of life in and among the world.

I am home. I have one chore – besides the usual required to maintain a home – take care of hubby. It is not the thing of blogs. Not many people want to hear about bed-baths, caring for a gangrenous wound, or turning and propping him up with pillows to prevent bed sores every couple of hours. No, most people do not want to hear that. People look to blogs to be entertained, to gain information about whatever, not to be brought down or grossed out (unless it is a gross blog but then it is grossness that over the top and not what is a day to day drudgery in grossness).

So, why do I bring this up? Well, I have tried again and again to write a blog. I have tried to be entertaining. But the problem I have is that the day to day drudgery of caregiving always rears its ugly head and my blog falls to the wayside.

This time I am going to try to blog every day. Be forewarned. This blog is going to include all my warts, wrinkles, and drudgery because I have three things in my life. Caring for hubby, writing adventurous romances, and the rest of the world which occasionally peeks in.

If you check by off and on, you might read something that interests you and at other times you might scratch your head and say Huh? Why did she write that? The reason? It’s the only thing I could think of that day, it was the only thing that happened that day. But it was my day so I blogged about it.

Hope to see you around now and then. Leave a comment so I will know you dropped by.

Charlene