The Old Folks Home

[bruceha2000]

DO NOT TRUST THE HOSPITAL. Never never never. I'm serious as a heart attack when I say that. They are overworked and understaffed and mistakes happen. They dropped the ball and your husband and you have suffered because of it. I'm so terribly sorry it happened to you.

@lovesfarms What Micro said! Too many overworked people, too many chances for mistakes. Sounds like you got everyone possible

 

[microchick]

I hate to be a Gloomy Gus but it's about to get worst with the pressure building from the Covid resurgence. DW and I are RN's and we shutter to think about people going through the system with no medical background.

Thank you both for your medical service to humanity, Hayden, I don't know if you know it or not but I retired from nursing when I was 60. Graduated as an LPN in 1975. My husband is a retired eye doctor and I have to agree with you....Unfortunately. The nurses and doctors who have stuck it out through the pandemic are heroes in my book and I do not blame any of them if they run as fast as they can from practicing once this is all over.

What do you think is going to happen to the nursing profession in the future? I too shudder to think about what will happen.

When I was working for a temp agency before I went to work with my husband in his practice I worked at a local hospital one night on their rehab floor. When I walked in they told me they were short unit aids and we would be doing complete care of our patients. Then they apologized to me because they had to overwhelm me with 4 patients.

I remember just staring at them speechless and saying '4 patients?' and started giggling. Then I told them that I was used to taking care of 33 people a shift. Four people was a picnic! They were stunned to hear that I was doing meds, doctors rounds/orders, treatments, emergencies charting admissions the whole 9 yards on those 33 people under my care.

What worries me is if the entitled youngsters today will be able to do that job in the future. Somehow I have my doubts.

 

[bruceha2000]

For my favorite logging wench

Poor man's logging winch. I don't do enough "logging" to justify a multi thousand dollar logging winch, far superior as they are.

• The little box on the left is for the wireless controller. It seems to be the only cheesy part but works. Easy to pull the cable out while using it.
• The winch - 4500 pound UTV from TSC. Only 35' of cable though but this model came with the remote, others didn't. Thus it takes several pulls to get a log out to the field. It would be nice to have a 200' cable
• Out front is the wired controller, if you put this on a UTV that wire goes back to the operators station.
• Far right - control block. I swapped the short black and red battery cables for the longer yellow and blue winch to controller cables.
• Not visible but the metal plate the winch is attached to is connected with low stretch rope back to the tractor frame. Thus no strain on the loader.
• The plate is held down on the forks by "C" shaped metal brackets usually meant for sliding a 2x4 through to bar a door. Keeps the winch from lifting.
• I got longer bolts for the battery clamps and added a washer and wingnut. The wires are only attached to the battery when the winch is going to be used. I ran the tractor while using the winch so as to not run the battery down.

Test pull on a small "log". The winch stopped pulling as soon as there was tension on it. I could pick this "log" up. What the heck, a 4,500 pound winch can't pull it??? Took me a bit to realize the clutch was in "neutral" instead of "retrieve". Worked fine after that .... SLOW but fine.


Brought in a larger "log". I have to guide the cable so it doesn't clog up one side. The yellow cone keeps the log from hanging up as it travels.


Small amount of wood pulled in today. The was "standing dead" only not the way most people think of it. 2 trees that had broken off some distance up the trunk, dropped into the ground a good 8-10". Couldn't pull them out sideways, had to cut the "trunk" to get the rest to drop. Yes they were also hung up in other trees.


The plan is to pull a bunch of wood to the edge of the field, remove the winch and carry the logs on the forks up to the the bucking and splitting station by the barn.

 

[microchick]

I salute your ingenuity, Bruce. Do you have end loader spikes on the front of your tractor instead of the bucket if I am seeing that right?

We would love to have a winch to make this wench's ground crew job easier. Did I tell you DH got me a pair of light weight log chains for Christmas!? Talk about the perfect gift. They are quarter inch 14 feet and I love them to pieces. Much easier on my neck and shoulders.

Have you found that pulling with your Mahindra is easier while pulling for the front or the rear of the tractor? Our tractor seems to pull better when it comes to larger/heavier pulls when we pull from the rear of the tractor. Or is that the thinking behind putting the winch on the front of the tractor?

We dropped a dead standing red oak tree today that has 20 inches at least maybe 21 as DH's 21" chain saw blade didn't go 'through' it. Tree was maybe 80' tall. We managed to get the rounds cut out of the center and into the bucket before we looked at one another, wiped sweat out of our eyes (11 AM and in the high 80s already) and said, that's it for today. I'll try to get some pictures of it tomorrow.

I would love to get a winch like yours and attach it to the back of the tractor. I like how you mounted that winch to the plate.

 

[Sally PB]

It took a month for me to get a printed out copy of my blood work from my physical the end of June. I've been getting one for the last 3 years. Now when call to tell you about your results, literally, the person said, "Everything is fine. All your tests results were normal."

Really? I know they're busy, that's why I want a printed copy. (I don't do the online MyChart or whatever it is. I want paper I can look at, write on, compare to info in a book.)

My cholesterol is up 3 points from last year, and a bit over 200 for the second year. One of my blood counts is below the low end of the target range, but has been for 3 years. My urine is very alkaline, and has been for 3 years. My doctor has never mentioned any of these so I don't know if he is unconcerned, or doesn't know about them.

 

[lovesfarms]

Thank you everyone for all your support! I did feel really alone and just didn't know what to do. His papers say his main problem was SIRS (systemic inflammatory response syndrome) His hemorhaging was at the ostomy. Because of all the bleeding and blood clots I thought it was internal. He also had severe back pain (I believe now that it's crohns arthritis) so I just thought the worst. They used lidocaine so that's what I use. It's a new symptom since he was in the hospital. He didn't receive the proper care and his skin& Blood vessels broke. He has an appointment to go for care now. I agree they didn't have enough help. I would assist him with either a walk or shower each day and he was so fatigued he would fall asleep. The hospital didn't give him walks and showers. The dietician recommended I keep bringing food in so he would eat. She said they only have half the staff in the kitchen. He's on ensure, cream of wheat with butter and cream chicken broth with mushy noodles etc. He is feeling much better today,I think the Dr boosted his mood a bit as well!
I wasnt trained in ostomy care but am now! Like I said, he had cognitive decline and wasn't able to care for himself as you would expect from a 62 year old!
Hopefully life will be more uphill now. Thanks so much for all your prayers!

 

[bruceha2000]

I'm glad he's improving but wow what a load of problems!! I hope they can be cleared up or at least managed. No way to live

 

[microchick]

Good news @lovesfarms. For his skin. Get a big canister of bag balm. I swear by the stuff. Every time my mother was hospitalized, she came home with a decubitus pressure ulcer. I was pissed. The first thing they told us in nurses training was that the only excuse for bed sores is sloppy nursing. My aunt died a few years before my mother and her daughters turned me on to the bag balm. For the open wounds I hope they have given you something with alginate in it tegaderm or duaderm patches. Anything with colloidal silver is great. Keep him moving in bed. Every hour get him to turn and don't be afraid to pad him up with pillows. If you have sheep skin heel protectors for him use them.

Once you get the sores healed up, start rubbing the bag balm on all of his boney prominences. Elbows shoulder blades, heels knees, tailbone. Stuff smells like crap but it toughens the skin. Think of what it does to cow udders and you get the picture. Keep up the padding and the positioning. There should be some sites on line that can give you some tips. Even if he is sitting up in a chair, have him lift himself up an inch or two every half hour. Trust me, it will make a difference.

Aren't colostomy stomas fun to deal with? No not really the skin around them can break down too. They didn't do that to him also did they?

I used to get so pissed at the hospitals. One day they called us to let me know I was getting one of my patients back and the hospital nurse caught me in the right mood. I asked her how many bed sores the lady had because she didn't have any when I sent her in and every one they send back has at least one bed sore that we have to spend 8 weeks getting healed up. The nurse stuttered for a moment and said....ummm, I think one...yeah...we are pretty bad about that aren't we?

If I could have crawled through the phone line and slapped her I would have.

You are doing a great job. Doctor told me to do small frequent meals over three squares. No law says you have to eat three meals a day. For chronically ill people, 6 meals can be better.

 

[microchick]

It took a month for me to get a printed out copy of my blood work from my physical the end of June. I've been getting one for the last 3 years. Now when call to tell you about your results, literally, the person said, "Everything is fine. All your tests results were normal."

Really? I know they're busy, that's why I want a printed copy. (I don't do the online MyChart or whatever it is. I want paper I can look at, write on, compare to info in a book.)

My cholesterol is up 3 points from last year, and a bit over 200 for the second year. One of my blood counts is below the low end of the target range, but has been for 3 years. My urine is very alkaline, and has been for 3 years. My doctor has never mentioned any of these so I don't know if he is unconcerned, or doesn't know about them.

I always get printed copies. Which reminds me, I haven't gotten a copy of my labs from next week.

The funny thing is my rheumy told us that they don't worry if labs are a little off. It's when they are 4-5 times above normal that they start to panic. So okay, you can be a little abnormal and still be normal...scary huh?

 

[bruceha2000]

Do you have end loader spikes on the front of your tractor instead of the bucket if I am seeing that right?

"loader spikes"
They are called pallet forks! I use them all the time. Good for moving things on pallets, in my case primarily the wood storage racks I made. Good for carrying larger pieces of wood and logs. Good for digging rocks out and carrying them to a more suitable place. I suppose if one was careful they could even be used to lift a car to put jack stands underneath. I've not attempted this one!

Pulling from the back is great IF you have room to travel a good distance. The tow bar is there for that reason, I wouldn't want to pull with anything attached to the 3 point. Real logging winches mount on the 3 point but sit on the ground.

I thought about how I could maybe mount the winch on the back on the tow bar somehow but having to run 8 gauge cables up to the battery seemed a bit daunting and I don't know how I could keep it stable since the tow bar is quite narrow. I settled for putting the strain on the front frame instead. If I had welding skills I might be able to mount it on a plate attached to the frame itself but I'd have to take the brush guard off. Plus there would then be all those wires to deal with. Given I won't be using it a ton I opted for the easier removable design.