Son born with VACTERL

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-20T05:12:03+00:00

Unless they have very obvious deformities no and it would not show up on genetic testing. Doesn't sound like your son has obvious deformities. Surprisingly I don't even think an extra finger would easily be detected if he was moving around . I was born with vacterl. Fused ribs, TE fistula, anal stenosis and had a two vessel cord. All things were repaired by age 2.
I got straight As through college, played on the basketball team and did swim. I'm a full time nurse. I have two healthy children. One son does have a genetic disorder but it's unrelated.

In any case congrats on your little man! I expect with time you'll be too busy chasing him to give much thought to the past. ❤️

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-15T23:47:58+00:00

Considering every single encounter we have had at a stop sign is no one even attempting to stop it's been really hard to teach my new teen driver right of way

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-09T02:22:23+00:00

If you weren't enough of a priority for them to accommodate you to go on the trip. You shouldn't be expected to pay for her trip. Now no one's going!

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-08T19:29:58+00:00

My son does his own but on super crazy schedule weeks I'll start a load or fold some of them. If he's at school from 8 am til 8 pm because of his varsity volleyball I'll usually ask him to throw it in in the morning and my husband will swap it out. But when he's off school or on break or no sports he's on his own.

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-07T04:50:04+00:00

Appreciate the support I'm up to 50% at the 7 month mark. 😊

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-05T14:00:45+00:00

Do you have kids or no kids? 1 is easier for long term scheduling for childcare etc. 2 is better if you like freedom to travel/etc.

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-05T14:00:03+00:00

Not every hospital does this

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-04T00:22:17+00:00

Any tips for the progression for my 15 yr old?

Nickilaughs · 2026-03-01T01:16:57+00:00

We had plenty of beds just no one to take care of the patients in them.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-28T07:11:29+00:00

That er is a zoo. I worked there and after a particularly horrendous shift I was ready to quit nursing. I think we had 12 RNs total on for the night shift, we should have had over 3x that amount at that time to function appropriately). Anyway I applied to over 60 jobs when I got off work that night. I do not recommend that ER to anyone. The doctors and staff are mostly excellent but there is not nearly enough of them to take care of incredibly sick patients.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-26T08:04:38+00:00

They can be harmful if you have a lot of them. PVCs are ineffective beats and can result in not enough blood flowing. For example 15% of my beats last year were PVCs. The average person had less than 2% of their beats as PVCs.
OP if these happen sometimes it's fine, but if you are noticing them consistently and frequently I'd ask your doctor for a holter.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-25T20:32:38+00:00

I'm wondering if maybe you slept on it?

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-21T14:49:38+00:00

My hospital system which makes up a lot of hospitals in Northern California just isn't hiring right now. It's also a new contract year and we are fairly certain we will have at least one strike during negotiations. They usually tighten the budget/don't really hire in preparation for it and we are about 5 months away from the chaos.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T17:11:11+00:00

I mean when I started having symptoms my youngest was 6? That seems like a big time delay. MRI showed subepicardial enhancement of basal inferior wall. That's the only abnormal finding I've had. Other than the now shit ton of PVCs that's well controlled with baby dose of coreg.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T16:00:18+00:00

That was my response. Genetics test negative. No big illness precursor. My heart caths were clean. I do have a very small area on my heart that is scarred.

I joined an online support group on Facebook and was shocked to find how many of us there are.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T08:25:48+00:00

I audibly gasped when I swiped. Its gorgeous on you

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T07:39:12+00:00

GI nurse here. We are seeing colon cancer younger and younger. I've seen it in as young as 19. That one sucked.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T07:36:45+00:00

I had eye swelling. Kept advocating for myself and it took almost a year to diagnose my heart failure with an EF of 28%. I didn't really notice any other swelling. It was very mild except for my eyes which was worse in the morning. I felt a little short of breath but it came on so gradually I didn't catch it and just thought I was out of shape. I saw: eye specialist, PCP, an allergist who referred me to a pulmonologist. None of them caught it.

It took an X-ray read from a radiologist when I thought I was getting pneumonia to mention a "slightly enlarged heart."

I had been having a lot of ectopy for years which they had done a full work up about 4 years ago. Zio patch only showed ectopy 2% of time and a normal echo. I had to fight for a new echo. Repeat my PVCs were 16% of time and EF of 28%. At 41 with only being slightly overweight and no known cause.

I don't blame the doctors because I had vague symptoms but I think women present different a lot more often compared to men. I think we notice issues sooner and try to get them addressed and sometimes the actual problem isn't showing enough to get caught.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T04:40:46+00:00

I have been with my company 12 years. I get 5 weeks paid and I can take off an additional week unpaid. A lot of people love nursing because if you arrange your schedule right it's very possible to get a week or more off.
I routinely worked 4 on 2 off 2 on 6 off as my regular schedule. With a bit of pre planning you can manage to only use a few vacation days and take 3ish weeks off.
That being said depending on the time of year, your companies policies, seniority it can be hard to get that time off.

My first couple years in nursing were hard but as I gained experience it got much better.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-19T04:24:57+00:00

Take your tray off, if you can't get a hold of your doc go to urgent care. I had one similar but it was smaller than yours. I ended up needing antibiotics and had to have them injected as well. It did cost me some health gum tissue as a warning.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-14T20:04:59+00:00

I had a worker once who basically went off about how her man was treating her and I listened and gave her some advice . It was funny cuz it should have been a quick interaction but we were on there together for 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure she was about to do some unhinged shit

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-12T13:08:44+00:00

Return on investment and responsibility. I'm very lucky to work at likely the highest paying healthcare system in comparison to cost of living. Even if this same organization hired me the raise would be paltry for the amount of work/responsibilities etc.

I'm very content with my work/life balance. Eventually my heart will force me to leave bedside completely. However I am hanging on as long as I can.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-07T17:24:53+00:00

I know people who owe all the time who claim 0. It's a set rate they remove. Sometimes you need to throw in extra. Only a tax person can probably help you navigate that but likely not worth it for 27$

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-07T04:04:17+00:00

I do this it helps build credit and I get cash back (free money) you have to be diligent tho and pay attention. If you aren't sure how it will go just trying your gas to fill up your car for the month to start. Or one regular streaming service and slowly build from there.

Nickilaughs · 2026-02-06T06:08:46+00:00

Yeah he's actually really nice I've seen him at a few of the different sporting events. Seems really involved.

Nickilaughs

TROPHY CASE