Traveling the woods of Wisconsin.

My family for decades have vacationed to Northern Wisconsin in the summer. My Great Grandpa, and also my Father, have property on the lake. The lakes in Wisconsin are beautiful, the fishing is also awesome. We catch Muskies, Northern Pikes, Bass mostly. The eating is delicious. The scenery is absolutely peaceful, I love the trees. I like taking a walk around the lake with the dogs. My favorite is boating, and swimming. We have grown up going every year. My Dad, me, and the rest of the family. We make a trip to Duluth Minnesota, to watch the ships come in under the Ariel Bridge. I have many pictures for you to enjoy, this wonderful vacation spot, and I recommend it as a vacation spot. It is very peaceful, and good for the soul. The Chippewa Flowage, Spooner Lake, and Shell Lake. The lakes are clean, and clear. Also beautiful leaves in the Fall. It’s a great vacation spot for the kids. Plenty of farm animals, nature, swimming, kayaking, and playground equipment. Great learning experience for kiddos, and unplugged from technology.

World Pneumonia Day is November 12. (My awful journey through pneumonia).

I take care of the elderly population, and their immune system is suppressed. So in turn, they are sick a lot, and sometimes I catch what they have. I've had pneumonia twice in my life. It is horrible. I also have asthma, and I would smoke sometimes, that could be a factor. Smoking increases your risk for having pneumonia, and so does having asthma. I felt sick at work one day, with just a runny nose, and no appetite. I was driving and I felt weak and I was nodding off. They next day at work I was so sick, and incoherent my manager let me go home early. I accidentally fell asleep in the bathroom. She was asking me how's everything going? As in do I have all my work done? I didn't understand her, I was like work is going fine. I was so out of it. I was doing laundry for a resident and getting everything mixed up. I went home, laid in bed, and my heart was beating out of my chest. I just stayed in bed, and slept all the time, and didn't go to work. I didn't eat and lost a lot of weight. I would wake up thinking that I needed to call 911 because I couldn't breathe so I took my enenubulizer, but then that would help. I felt so sick, I told my husband to take me to the hospital, but he didn't. I think I stayed in bed for four days without going to the doctor. I get sick a lot in health care, and it is usually a virus that just goes away on it's own. I'm pretty healthy. I had a fever and I was hallucinating. I woke up out of sleep and was walking downstairs but I didn't realize what I was doing. The fever was bad, I would sweat, I just plain felt awful. Finally I went to urgent care, and she didn't really help me, she just gave me steroids, and said she "hopes that she doesn't catch it". Then I went to my PCP, and I told her about my fevers and chest pain, and she took an x-ray of my chest. She called me a day later to tell me that I had pneumonia and gave me antibiotics. I went back to work and I recovered soon. The next time I had it was last May. I had influenza A in March, then in April bronchitis, which turned into pneumonia. My place of employment forced me to work with pneumonia and I got so sick. I worked an overnight, and I slept on the couch the whole time, while my co-worker took over. I left work at 6 AM and then I came back at 2 PM. I felt horrific. After work I went to the hospital and they told me I had low potassium. Luckily the manager that forces me into work went on vacation, and the more understand one was in charge. I took a week off. My couch was horrible, and I was taking my rescue inhaler all the time. I was weasing in my lungs so bad. I've been on steroids for bronchitis for a month and on an antibiotic for a week. It wasn't strong enough to get rid of the pneumonia so I got put on another antibiotic, Levaquin. That one finally worked and cleared it up, but I had extreme fatigue. I mean extreme. I could not stay awake at all. I could sleep for days and feel like I just ran 5 miles. My doctor did a complete blood count and everything was fine, I was just recovering. I went back to work on restrictions, but they weren't able to follow my restrictions. I finally recovered, but that was rough to go through. I got a pneumonia shot, since I have asthma, I hope it helps. Fingers cross. I do not want to go through this ever again! I am so glad that I am alive this day in age, with breathing medicine, and antibiotics. When I an on Ancestry.com I see that a lot of my ancestors cause of death was pneumonia. November 12 is world pneumonia Day. 50,000 people die every year from pneumonia in the US. Pneumonia is the worlds leading killer in the world of children aged 5 and under. A child dies every 20 seconds from pneumonia worldwide. Vaccines can help prevent this.

November Thankfulness

For the month of November, I'm going to list 30 things that I am great full for in my life. Being great full is good for your brain. It rewires your brain not to think negativity and helps with depression. Day 1: I'm thankful for my husband. He is very kind hearted and sweet. He takes good care of me and my daughters. I was a stay at home Mom for 7 years, while he supported us. He takes the girls to school and picks them up after I work late at night, and doesn't make me get up and take them when he is off. He will do anything I ask, and cooks for us. I am very blessed to have a great husband, with a nice disposition. No wonder we have been married for almost 16 years. Day 2: I am thankful for my two daughters, that are 2 years and 9 months apart. They fill my heart with love, they make every day count. They have truly blessed my life. They are so sweet and funny. They each have their own personality. Day 3: I love my parents so much. I am so grateful for them. They have been so supportive of me all my life. Both are so supportive emotionally, and my daddy is a handy man, he doesn't have to, but he works on my house, like fix the furnace and put the swamp cooler in. He has installed new lights. They baby sit my kids, and without this I would not be able to afford day care. I will take care of my parents as they age, since I work in assisted living, I want what is best for them. I will definitely take care of them as they have taken care of me. Day 4: I am thankful for my job. That I have a job to support my family. I am an caregiver for the elderly. It is very rewarding, and brings meaning to my life, but at the same time exhausting, and there ratio to caregiver to resident isn't what it should be, it can be stressful. I am glad that God blessed me with this gift to have patients to care for the older population, and make their last days count. Day 5: I am thankful for the friendships I have. I have fun with them, and I feel connected when I have someone I can relate to. Social support is wonderful. It's nice to have someone to rely on. Day 6: It's 30 degrees out and drizzling. I'm freezing. I am thankful for the heater in the car, and the furnace in my house. Thankful for heat, and a job to pay the electricity bill. Day 7: I fell today, so I am thankful for my massage chair. HAHA! Seriously I am, because it helps me with pain. My job as a caregiver gives me pain from improper lifting techniques, when I lift the elderly. Day 8: I am thankful for my furbabies! My dogs that knocked me down yesterday! They are so fun and playful. They give me a good exercise, (they are my jogging buddies) keep me entertained and have protected my kids from someone that has tried to attack them. They fill my heart with love and offer companionship. I am thankful for my loving cats that purr at me and cuddle me in bed. They are so sweet and funny. Day 9. I'm thankful for the ability to walk, and be physical because I have a friend that is a paraplegic, and I have taken care of a quadriplegic. I am very active and cannot have a sit down job. I feel depressed if I cannot get up and walk. I can't even sit through a movie unless it is interesting, but it really has to catch my interest. I must have ADHD like my daughter. It was hard making this post, I need to learn to have gratitude more.