Month: November 2009

Sunny Days, Sweepin’ the Clouds Away…by Samantha

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Mama is old!

But not as old as Sesame Street!

Sesame Street is so old today that Mama says she watched it as a little girl.

I asked her how she could find time to watch it when she was running from the dinosaurs!

That’s because I think she’s so old.

One of Mama’s favorite birthday’s was sharing a Cookie Monster cake with her Grandma Dodie. They smeared blue, cookie monster frosting on their teeth.

Probably to distract the dinosaurs.

Since Mama was a little girl, Sesame Street has grown to be broadcast in 140 countries. AND it was one of the first shows to talk about and feature kiddos in wheelchairs, with hearing impairments or other disabilities. That’s right, Big Bird’s focus has been on tolerance, empathy, inclusion and what us kiddos can do to make the world a better place.

Perhaps grown ups should be watching Sesame Street with me?

Just sayin’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SESAME STREET!!!!

20 Years

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Like any good Generation X’er growing up in the 80’s, I was a child of the Cold War and the culture associated with it. Who could forget that terrifying movie The Day After with the sobering nuclear attack scene? I can still recite Sting’s I Hope the Russians Love Their Children Too.

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?

Good Lord.

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Still brings tears to my eyes.

I remember sitting in front of my grandparents Curtis Mathis crying as I watched the wall come down. I was 18; going to college in Boulder. I sat in my tie-dyed, patchouli scented t-shirt, young and idealistic and cried.

“This is the greatest event of my life.” I said (I was young!)

My grandfather shook his head. “There is nothing more dangerous than a unified Germany,” he said. “It will be world war three; mark my words.”

I couldn’t believe his words. We just prevented world war three! It’s over! It’s done! No bombs were dropped, no blood was shed.

Twenty years later I can understand his perspective. I don’t agree with it but I understand it. He grew up in the wake of WWI and lived through WWII. His idea of a dangerous world was (and still is) much different than mine.

Twenty years later and a day before Veteran’s Day….what does it mean; a world without this wall? It has been a tough week here in the States; shootings in Fort Hood and Orlando. Many people would argue that they don’t feel any safer in a post Cold War world. Many Eastern Europeans would argue that they preferred life under communist rule.

But you know what the big difference is?

People can talk about it.

People can meet about it.

People can even rally against it.

Last month thousands of Romanian workers rallied against pay cuts and no one was arrested. No one was taken away. It was a different country 21 years ago.

As our own country changes, we meet, we argue, we discuss and if we yell loud enough, we are heard. Town hall meetings are democracy at work, dialogue, discussion, disagreement.

We need to remember this wall….celebrate the meaning behind it; the freedom of a choice, to meet and to have a voice. More importantly, to remember a time when our friends and family did not have these freedoms. Personally, I have pulled out my tie-dyed, patchouli scented shirt…that’s right…feeling a little idealistic.

Happy Berlin Wall anniversary and Happy Veteran’s Day.

Hazardous Material

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Sometimes I forget that our life is a little different than others….

We have had 100 vials of Vancomyacin in our downstairs refrigerator next to the pickles. This was medication left over from the summer…from Samantha’s battles with several different infections. The vicious infection cycle kind of went like this….

Samantha would get sick…..

We would go to the hospital…

The hospital would place a PIC line….

We would go home on I.V. meds….home health care would deliver two weeks of I.V. medications which was stored in the downstairs refrigerator, next to the pickles.

Three days later, Samantha would get sick again and we would be back in the hospital.

This resulted in copious quantities of Vancomyacin in our refrigerator….really, 100 vials….no exaggeration

What does one do with 100 vials of Vancomyacin?

I kept it in the frig for a while; hoping I could think of some wonderful charity to donate it to. Unfortunately, many of the vials expired in July.

And no one takes expired meds. You could be in the deepest, darkest Africa, with a raging infection, in need of Vancomyacin….but if it’s October 2009 and the vial expired in July 2009….sorry, no luck….All meds are checked at the border and they are expired, they’re thrown away.

This kind of bugs me. If I had a raging infection in the middle of no where I would take whatever they gave me but that’s a whole different blog.

I digress….

So, last week in the middle of the snowstorm I decided it was time to take back our refrigerator and throw out the 100 vials of expired Vancomyacin sitting next to the pickles.

And I learned something new……

I discovered that 100 vials of Vancomyacin cannot be thrown out with the milk cartons and boxes of Rice Krispies. Antibiotics are considered hazardous material and handled as such.

I found this information kinda funny seeing that the Vanco has been sitting next to the pickles for the last five months.

So I loaded up our three bags of Vanco in the back of the station wagon and headed down to the Larimer County dump. I found the hazardous material office due to the skull and crossbones on the sign.

Lovely.

I pull out the bags and head into the office.

“Whoa! Whoa! What is that?” The hazardous material guy says.

“It’s I.V. antibiotics. It’s expired. I was told to take it here.”

HazMat guy pulls out these big, thick rubber gloves and gently holds a vial of vanco. “Any needles in here?”

“No”

“Anymore of this?”

Well I certainly hope not “Not at the moment.” I say

“Why you got this?”

“My daughter was sick. She needed this medication but she doesn’t anymore.”

“Good.” And with that, HazMat guy pulls out a big heavy plastic bag and delicately puts the vials of vanco in the bags using his big, thick, heavy rubber gloves.

It’s not going to explode. I think, it’s been next to the pickles

I make a mental note that perhaps I should throw the pickles away.

Chicken Soup! By Samantha

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I’m writing today’s blog because Mama only has one typing hand. The other hand is giving herself a pat on the back….

A couple months ago Chicken Soup for the Soul accepted her essay, The Blessing Bowl, to be printed in their book, Count Your Blessings! Today, the book was distributed. We are very excited to see Mama’s work printed in a book! This is also Mama’s first paid writing gig…which is exciting too!


Here’s Mama in the bookstore with her Chicken Soup book!


I think it’s a nice cover!


And the essay!

The Blessing Bowl is the story of my 1st birthday. It’s a story of sharing, love, family, gratitude and changed expectations. I’m quite fond of it…especially since it’s about me 🙂

Mama also has books! If you are looking for a Christmas gift, shoot her an email and she’ll send you a book….heck, I’ll even sign it 🙂

The List

On By HschichieIn The Samantha Years3 Comments

We have been waiting for the H1N1 vaccine. It’s never really been a choice for us, do we vaccinate? Do we not? It’s always been understood that if Samantha got H1N1, she would probably get really, really sick.

Hospital sick.

We are not fans of the hospital, even though we seem to spend a lot of time there.

So we vaccinate.

I have been calling to Children’s weekly to see if the shot is available. I called on Thursday last week to be told we were close…call on Monday….

So I called today and spoke to a nurse who was filling in for our regular nurse. The filling-in-nurse-situation is always slightly problematic. I admit I am spoiled….I usually call and talk to our regular nurse who knows us like the back of her hand…she knows Samantha…she knows when I have a certain tone of voice that something is really wrong…she just knows.

The filling-in-nurse doesn’t know….

“I’m calling about the H1N1 vaccine.” I say “Samantha should be on the list.”

“Oh, well we only got 100 doses and they have already been allocated.”

“We were told we would be one of the first to get the shot.”

“Can you hold? Let me check with the clinic.”

While on hold I told myself that maybe it was a good thing that Samantha wasn’t on the first 100 list. Perhaps she can wait. Perhaps their were kiddos sicker than her, kids with trachs, kids who were just, well sicker. I had done a pretty good job of convincing myself that another month of Tamiflu wasn’t so bad when the filling-in-nurse came back.

“Mrs. Schichtel? I’m sorry. I was wrong. Samantha is on the top 100 list to get the vaccine. You can come in this week. Let me transfer you to the scheduler.”

I felt a lump in my throat. So you’re not happy if you’re on this list? Not happy if you are?

Yeah, that’s kind of how it works. So relieved to get it…wishing we didn’t have to. Happy to be on the list in order to get the shot….wishing we weren’t on the list. The top 100 high-risk kids at Children’s is not a slot you hold your breath for.

In summary, Samantha will get her coveted shot on Thursday and her mama will breathe a little easier. I guess if you have to be waiting, it’s okay to be on the list.