There is a light...

At the end of every tunnel, if you really look hard. Sometimes, you have to dig through a lot of dirt and excrement to get to it, but you get there.

I had a really crazy last few days. I realize that some of the people I work with really don't work as a team if certain people aren't there to influence them to do so. It really pisses me off, but I can't do anything about it.

So what do you do? You find the people who'll work with you, and you work with them. You help them and they help you. And if you need the other ones, you have to put on the RN hat and delegate. I don't like pushing people, but I'm getting sick of this crap. If they only knew that I don't ask them for help because I get really perturbed about their followup comments, "Oh, she's not very efficient," "Oh, she does it different than I do, " or my favorite, "Why does she talk to the patient before we turn them?"

One of my patients, who is a lot sharper than he looks told me last night, "I noticed a lot of people make you do stuff on their schedule, and if you don't they get mad." Surprise, surprise. I have found that if I give people options and tell them I have to do other things, too, 95% of them will make a choice when given two options. That other 5% is another story, but even they can often be convinced to cooperate.

A lot of people think therapeutic communication is hooey, but I look at it more as negotiation. Some people we work with need control, because so much of their lives are out of control. This establishes some for them, and saves me some time in the process. It may not be old school "my way or the highway", but they can't say I didn't give them a chance.

My day, although I missed a little sleep, has been delightful. Dahey and Bubba took me to brunch and gave me lovely little presents...just what I wanted! We went out to eat and let someone else cook and do dishes. I came home, did a little shopping and now I'm getting ready for day 4 of 5. I'll deal with it as I go.

My light is the fact that after this week, I won't be at work much for the rest of the month, due to vacation days and conferences. When I looked at the new schedule with this on it, my heart leapt for joy.

Plenty of days to recharge ahead...and lots of light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there, wherever you are, wherever your momma is, here or gone. Mom's responsible for this missive today! :-)