Why is it getting cold?

Cincinnati is getting cold this weekend and it makes me sad. I want summer back. It is my favorite time of year. I love to spend time at my parents lake house with family. I can only reminisce for now until next year.

This first picture is cousin eddie. When he is older he will be exactly like cousin eddie on National Lapoon's Christmas Vacation. His nickname is Ediot. We love having him with us. He lives in Columbus so we don't get to see him that often. He is a ton of fun to be with.



This is my sis Elizabeth showing us her surfing moves



and this is the wipeout...



Our family has been known to be a little rowdy. Have you ever gone to function and there is a group known as "those people" that are annoying, and you want them to leave. Well on 4th of July we were "those people" at the fireworks. These pics are before things got out of hand.

(L to R) Kyle (Liz's boyfriend), my Tennessee brother Ric, and my brother Charles


Liz and Kyle....this is what happens when the sun starts to go down


Its always sad to see the summer end but always something to look forward to next year.

So is the year over yet?

Its been a crazy year. If it could go wrong it did. I got mono in April that landed me in the hospital and sick for over a month. My dad just recently fell 11 feet and broke everything on the left side of his body. Then there was lots of other random stuff that took this year by surprise.

I was trying to think what to blog about that others would be interested in so I thought up a few things that I'll blog about over the next few months...

decorating... Josh and I moved in our new house a little over a year ago so we are still in decorating mode.

arts & crafts... I love to design and make things and I am going to get back to that. I need to make time and so that is what I'm going to do.

family... my family does some of the most random crazy things and everybody needs a good laugh.

Today I'm going to leave you with a few pictures of my crazy family...

These three are my brother Oliver mastering the flip on the wakeboard this summer!

Random Sevens

My friend Ryan asked us to put up 7 random things so here it goes........
(Click on Random Sevens for a link to Ryan's Random and check out Ava one of the cutest little girls in the world)

1. 7 places I want to visit someday
-Italy (all of it)
-Australia (to hold a koala bear, and site see)
-NYC (I have been all over New York and never to the Big Apple)
-Africa (any country will do: for a mission trip and a safari)
-Brazil (I hear its incredibly beautiful and lots to do)
-Ireland (because I like England so much I think I would like Ireland too)
-Northwest USA: Oregon, Washington (I don't know why)

2. 7 favorite movies from the 80's: movies I've watched 100+ times
-Dirty Dancing
-Uncle Buck
-Adventures in Babysitting
-Troop Beverly Hills
-Back to the Future I & II (I hated III)
-Can't Buy Me Love
-Pretty in Pink

3. 7 favorite TV shows (current)
-The Office
-House
-Medium
-Desperate Housewives
-Brothers & Sisters
-Friday Night Lights
-Law & Order: SVU

4. 7 favorite shows from growing up
-Saved By the Bell
-Full House
-Facts of Life
-Charles in Charge
-The Brady Bunch (I know it was from the 70's but I watched reruns like crazy)
-The Wonder Years
-The Dukes of Hazzard

5. 7 cartoons I watched as a kid
-Smurfs
-Fraggle Rock
-Scooby Doo
-Duck Tales
-Flintstones
-Inspector Gadget
-Dennis the Menace

Enough about TV, you probably think that's all I do...

6. 7 things I want to buy but probably never will
- Mini Cooper
- 70-200 2.8 lens for my camera
- Netbook
- Pool
- Hot Tub
- lasix surgery
-

7. 7 places I love to shop
- Gap Clearance Center
- TJ Maxx/ Home Goods
- Target
- Old Navy
- Anthropologie
- Hobby Lobby
- Tuesday Mornings

True Ethical Dilemma

I often come across things in my line of work that don't sit right with me or I don't agree with what a patient chooses to do with their life but it is their choice so I deal with it. This week I came across a dilemma that had me in pieces.

I have a patient that has AIDS. She is in full blown AIDS for about a year. She is currently living with a "friend" that doesn't know that she has the disease. I asked her if they were having sex. She said no and gave me a long explanation as to how they were just friends. Then I was talking to the nurse who told me she had reason to believe otherwise. So what do you do?

My first thought was this man needs to be informed. My second thought was I can't tell him because I am bound by patient confidentiality. I talked about it with supervisors at work who decided we need to find out legally what we can do. The answer is NOTHING. According to the Health Dept. STD Clinic there is not one thing we can do. If she had Syphilis we have a duty to report and someone goes out and checks on the situation and takes proper action, but with AIDS there is no governing body that says we can't do a darn thing. Why lobbyist for AIDS patients wants complete confidentiality for their patients even at the risk of someone else's.

A side bar: Did You Know: If a patient doesn't want hospital staff to know they have AIDS or HIV it can be removed as a diagnosis from their records. So hospital staff is not even properly protected, or properly treating for that matter. Now hospital staff should always take proper precautions but we all know some don't.

What it all comes down to is I know a man that has cancer and a compromised immune system and now possibly has AIDS because a woman was more concerned about how he viewed her than what was safe for everyone.

AIDS is on the rise in Cincinnati according to AVOC. We as a community need to continue to education about STD's and the effects on someone's life and eventual death in some cases. My personal dilemma is that I know she could be killing him and there is nothing I can do about it. It goes against every grain of my being, but somehow I need to reconcile it in my own mind.