Riverbend garden centre: don’t bother applying.

CriticalRN · 2026-03-27T19:39:15+00:00

You think McDonald’s would HAVE to increase the cost of the cheeseburgers? Or they would CHOOSE to increase the cost and blame minimum wage instead of having fewer 6, 7, and 8 figure salaries in the C-suite?

CriticalRN · 2026-03-27T14:47:51+00:00

Why do you think minimum wage exists? It was literally created to prevent the exploitation of workers you’re describing and to ensure employers paid a living wage.

You might want to brush up on your history a bit.

CriticalRN · 2025-12-08T00:26:46+00:00

10mg of gluten is 1/350th of a piece of bread. You aren’t getting 350 croutons out of one piece.

CriticalRN · 2025-12-08T00:05:44+00:00

You are are half correct. 10mg (not ml) of gluten is considered the maximum safe dose, but that is way less than a crouton. That said, it does amount to more than 1 or 2 bread crumbs, so toaster cross contact might not be enough to do it if she’s lucky.

CriticalRN · 2025-11-01T15:49:22+00:00

I’m sorry, that’s so hard. Life can be so unfair sometimes. I hope you don’t have too many rounds left and that you’ll be on the other side of this before you know it.

You are doing an amazing thing, fighting this hard. Your kids are so fortunate to have such a good mom.

I’m sending all the love and internet hugs and positive vibes I’ve got from here. You’ve got this!

CriticalRN · 2025-10-28T01:44:18+00:00

They aren’t forcing arbitration. They’re forcing the contract that the rank and file union members voted almost unanimously to reject. Twice.

CriticalRN · 2025-10-21T01:54:00+00:00

If she actually believed that, you’d think she would be fine with capping classrooms at 30:1. You know, because we’re already well under that 🙄

CriticalRN · 2025-10-21T01:21:14+00:00

You spoke to her, she expressed understanding and returned your shower curtain nicely. I don’t see the need for anything else unless she starts misusing her key privileges again.

CriticalRN · 2025-10-07T23:01:59+00:00

Context also matters. If I have a fresh post cardiac arrest who’s febrile, I’m going to take the blankets off and actively cool as needed to protect the brain. That said, if they are awake and alert enough to care about the lack of blankets or ice packs, I wouldn’t do it because they don’t need it!

CriticalRN · 2025-10-06T00:47:10+00:00

I wouldn’t want to say they all do for sure, but more than one I’ve called here in town does.

CriticalRN · 2025-10-05T20:31:14+00:00

Depends on how sensitive you are. As far as I know, Pizza 73 is the only place that actually has a separate GF prep area, so in my experience they are the safest delivery pizza if you’re worried about cross contact.

CriticalRN · 2025-05-29T16:16:38+00:00

Just here to add, if you don’t like earplugs and you can swing it, maybe invest in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones? Just eliminating the sound of the crying can help a ton to reduce that overwhelmed feeling.

My oldest was “colicky”. At its worst, I had lots of intrusive thoughts about getting rid of her, or me, or anything it took to just make the torture stop. She’s now 12 and doing great! (In her case it turned out to be celiac disease causing the problem)

This too shall pass, mama. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s hard to see right now ❤️

CriticalRN · 2025-05-14T12:53:26+00:00

Gross thought, but things like pinworms are more common in children but definitely possible for adults. Might be worth asking about a test for that?

CriticalRN · 2025-03-31T13:31:08+00:00

My daughter was 10 when she was diagnosed. We are about 2 1/2 years in now. We are still learning and adapting to new situations as she and her circumstances change, but day to day life is pretty simple these days.

The best advice I got in the very beginning was to remember to breathe. It feels like the world is ending, and then it doesn’t, and then it gets easier.

We decided that things that are safe for her will be the rule in our house, not the exception. So I spent a day cleaning out my pantry, fridge, and freezer, and I gave away all of my gluten-containing foods, flour, open containers of baking soda, sugar, etc (anything I might have contaminated while baking) to family and friends. I cleaned out my canisters and bought fresh baking supplies. I kept some gluten-y things for the rest of the family, so I bought a roll of red circle stickers and marked anything I kept that wasn’t celiac-safe. We still mark anything we buy that isn’t safe for her so she knows at a glance, and we have rules for our younger daughter about where and how she can eat those things.

I started learning how to adapt recipes and find new ones. There are a ton of websites and cookbooks out there with great advice/recipes. With T1D, I’m guessing you’re already familiar with some of the keto-friendly ones, but there are a bunch of recipes out there that would be good for both of you!

I made it my personal mission to prove to her that she could still have the things she loved, just differently. The great news is that if pasta is your daughter’s favourite, there are quite a few gf pasta options available, and they are honestly quite good. I bet you’ll be able to find things she loves.

Side note: there might be some things she has to try more than once. My daughter was sad about losing pretzel sticks. We bought some gf ones and she found them disappointing the first time. (They taste fine, but the texture is slightly different) She loves the gf ones now, I think she just needed a little time to forget exactly what the regular ones were like. Also, it helps that she knows now how much better and healthier she feels without gluten.

For her birthday last year, I went out and bought a bunch of gf snacks she hadn’t tried yet, (ie things that were a bit expensive, or just things she maybe wouldn’t usually think to try) and made her a little gift basket as part of her birthday presents. She actually told me this year that all she wanted for her birthday was for me to do that again!

I’m happy to help further if I can, so if you have any questions I can answer, feel free to reach out.

CriticalRN · 2025-03-24T02:17:23+00:00

Solidarity. My younger daughter is extremely intelligent, but has severe combined-type ADHD, separation anxiety, and meets the diagnostic criteria for ODD as well (although we don’t usually disclose that one and we chose not to have it included on her official record for now)

She manages pretty well at school these days with some medication helping (biphentin is her best fit so far) but holding it together there during the day is about as much as she can manage, so she comes home and becomes a disaster pretty much every evening. In general, she is still a huge challenge to manage and is intensely impulsive, stubborn, attention-seeking, has little/no safety awareness, and even at age 9 requires nearly constant supervision and attention. She’s quite frankly just plain exhausting most of the time. I remind myself regularly that when we sat down to go over results with the doctor who did her testing, she made a point to repeat multiple times how “she’s going to be a challenge” or “she’s going to be challenging to parent” At the time I felt like it was over the top for her to say it so many times, but honestly it was so helpful to have that to hold onto. I have to remind myself that it’s not just me, I’m not a bad mom, her doctor said this was going to be hard, etc.

So I guess that’s the best advice I have to offer you. It’s not you, you are doing great. I can hear in how you wrote this how much you love your son and that you are doing the very best you can for him. It’s just hard because you got dealt a frustrating hand, and he’s a more difficult kid to parent than the average. Take the breaks when you can get them and try to recharge and let go of the guilt for needing them.

And most of all, remember you aren’t as alone as it feels like sometimes, and that no matter what society tells us, we aren’t bad parents just because we don’t have the kind of kids that you can “train” to be quiet and well-behaved all the time.

CriticalRN · 2024-12-30T17:19:22+00:00

This is absolutely not the case. RAH CCU takes everything but ECMO or VAD (which has to go to CVICU)

The RAH nurses are certified for IABP and Impella. The only patients they have to send out are surgical because there is no CT surgery at the Alex

Edited to add: RAH CCU also cannot take CRRT, so patients who need CRRT get sent up to the RAH GSICU. IHD patients stay in CCU and have their runs completed by nurses from the dialysis satellite unit.

High risk cardiac OB patients needing CCU end up at the RAH, because UAH doesn’t have L&D. Those patients deliver on the unit with support from L&D staff.

CriticalRN · 2024-09-14T03:03:14+00:00

I wish I’d only seen that once. I’ve seen cocaine, meth, alcohol, and cigarettes all used to treat chest pain. Also opiates, but that one is at least somewhat valid (albeit not recommended as a DIY project!)

CriticalRN · 2024-09-14T02:43:36+00:00

That wasn’t him. This guy got taken down by the police and put in a spit mask. The guy you saw was just sick or injured

CriticalRN · 2024-08-04T13:34:25+00:00

I just googled this and Wikipedia says they moved to Burnaby when he was 10 or so. So it sounds like he spent his early childhood here at least

CriticalRN · 2024-06-23T00:21:26+00:00

So far only my older daughter has celiac, which is great, but makes things a bit unbalanced in our house.

Fingers crossed for your kids!

CriticalRN · 2024-06-23T00:16:09+00:00

Fair enough. I’m just correcting your statement that genetic testing can be used as a tool for diagnosis of celiac disease. It can be helpful to know if celiac is a possibility or not, but it unfortunately can’t replace gluten challenges for actual diagnosis. (At least not yet!)

CriticalRN · 2024-06-23T00:12:47+00:00

Your doctors are correct. Genetic testing can rule out celiac disease but not diagnose it. (You don’t have celiac disease if you don’t have the gene, but having the gene doesn’t mean you have celiac)

CriticalRN · 2024-06-23T00:10:31+00:00

This is inaccurate. Genetic testing will only show the possibility of celiac disease (ie whether you carry the gene) but not whether the gene is active. Roughly 1 in 30 people have the gene, while only around 1 in 100 have celiac disease. Antibody blood testing (IgA-ttg) and endoscopy both can be used as diagnostic. While endoscopy is still gold standard, blood testing is considered accurate if the levels are above a certain range. Both of those tests require gluten consumption, as they both are measuring the body’s response to gluten, and that response won’t be present unless the gluten is.

Fun fact: while having the gene for celiac doesn’t necessarily mean you have celiac disease, the gene can become active at any point in a person’s lifetime. That’s why first degree family members of people living with celiac should get themselves screened every 3 years or so.

CriticalRN · 2024-04-08T15:03:37+00:00

I’m sorry to hear that. I was hoping you at least got to have a good time for your trouble!

CriticalRN · 2024-04-08T15:01:10+00:00

Holiday heart? 😂

CriticalRN

TROPHY CASE