I wonder if...

The moon is changing. Lots of weirdness going on in this neck of the woods in RehabLand.

1. I was doing a patient visit today and I thought I was going to hear a sad tale of woe. Said patient got one of those "grandkids need money to stay out of jail" scammer calls. He almost fell for it, but his daughter called some of my friends (yes, I do have some) at ReallySwankySuburb PD and they told her not to do anything, since it's a scam.  It's a very good one, too, with multiple phone calls, etc. The patient was pretty proud that it was Senior 1, Scammer 0, and so was I.

2. The boys at home are crabby. All day, every day. Bubba forgot his lacrosse stick and missed his last game. Puberty is driving everyone nuts.

3. My equipment I wished for is messed up. Hopefully, our guy in safety can get it fixed. Hurry up and wait for the specialty mechanics.

Will Friday get her sooner? If only...

Stay tuned.

Some you win...

I felt like I was winning today until I got to my patient as arranged today. When I saw him, he was a mess. Bedraggled and anxious. Terrified. Lonely. I worked with him the best I could, but it didn't seem to be enough.

I called one of our other staffers to help.  I did everything I could.

Finally, I wrote my note. I finished my work that needed to be done. Even though, I accomplished much, it didn't feel that way.

I tried. It was all I could do today. I will do the same the next time.

The weekend is here again

Next week is a short one. Dahey returns from his travels. We have a holiday.

Can you say stress? RehabRN hits the road to visit patients in their homes (I occasionally see patients with our super home care team) all by myself. Yes, I'm going in a company car and I'm a nervous wreck. I have to get to the farthest patient first, see the next one (who can be a curmudgeon) and see if I can get the last one in before that day is over, so I don't have to go through the "request a company car" thing all over again.

I admire all of you in home care who do 5-6 visits per day. I don't know how you do it.

However, it's now Friday night. I am off this weekend, which makes me incredibly happy. I'm not going to be stressed about getting ready. I'm just going to do what I can with what I have.

Hope you have a happy weekend too, wherever you are.

Add a little on top

So, since we've had the eye saga of late, I now get to add a little more fun to the mix: sleep apnea.

Yes, sleep apnea can indeed affect your eyes. Dr. X, our CPAP prophet, would be patting me on the head for getting my doc to get me a home sleep study. Unfortunately, I get to go spend the night with the sleep specialists. The prep sheet doesn't sound too bad, but I am sure I will not sleep well.

And yes, it had to happen. Someone may be infected with ebola here in RehabLand. 

Can you tell I'm glad tomorrow is Friday and I'd like to do this (see below)?

More later...

Getting older...

Not better if you feel like c#$p from headaches. Not to mention, these symptoms stink. At least, all the tests came back negative.

The week has flown by in a blur, which always seems to happen the week after vacation.

Friday won't get here soon enough.

Stay tuned...

Friday flashback

Ah, the 1990s. I was young and carefree and unattached.

I was working in another world, where I planned to travel and market products everywhere, just so I'd get to go on trips. There was no such thing as travelling without my favorite Swiss Army knife that I bought in Switzerland.

I eventually went on a few trips, but alas, my employer never paid for them.

From my desk, via fax machine and the occasional local meeting, I met people from around the world  in my office in RehabLand. When I travelled, I visited my coworkers. I always planned a year in advance, got super cheap fares and even stayed in a youth hostel or two.

I had a blast learning about the places where my coworkers came from. I saw mountains, valleys, stadiums, fireworks, suspension bridges, and even a shoe museum. I visited castles and candy factories. I met butchers, greengrocers and bakers.

I worked for a boss who had a mental disorder. It was crazy, but it was fun.

Wonder if I'll say the same about right now one of these days?

Oh uh oh...or fun on the evening shift

TGIF all...enjoy your night!

Happy Friday!

It's the last Friday in July. You won't get another until next month.

Need any other excuses (reasons)? I am going on a field trip with the home health team today AND the weather is beautiful.

Here's hoping it's a good Friday wherever you are. Cheers!

How many more days?

Yes, it's only Thursday, but as one patient relative said to me yesterday, "The days are all running together." Yes, that happens a lot at the Hotel.

So is it flow, as this theory says it is? 

Not sure, so, c'mon Friday!

Back to work...

It's like deja-vu, all over again.~ Yogi Berra  

Yes, going back to work after escaping from the Hotel sure is like deja-vu. Today was a crazy, hair on fire kind of day. And tomorrow will be much of the same.

Wonder how fast Friday will get here...or my next vacation.

Will be counting the days. More updates to come.

Signs you know the weekend is near...

1. Your NP traveling friend is growling a lot and the bags under her eyes have suitcases.

2. Everyone is saying, "Is it Friday yet?"

3. The heat was turned off in the building (or it seemed that way, anyway).

One more day...

So glad it's Friday!

I have to say, I like Fridays. Not just because they signal the end of the week, but because, overall, since I've started this gig in the SU, Fridays are usually the least obtrusive and most easy-going days of the week.

Today was one of those easy-going days. I got to talk to patients and teach, which, incidentally, is one of my favorite parts of the job. (Guess I missed my calling!)   I led an in-service for the unit staff for patient education. It seems since there's been turnover, a lot of the newbies are still learning. I wasn't planning on educating the newbies, but the nurse manager insisted. So away I went...

My secret: props.  I like props. So I brought mine: handouts and I rolled in a COW (or WOW if you're politically correct) to do a live demonstration. I also come with prizes, because people tend to pay better attention when they think they'll win something.

I brought  the usual goodies: pens stolen, er given out at the best conferences in interesting hotels at some of the places I went to last year. The good prizes (bags, books, journals) this time went to the two lucky people (each shift) who got the copies with a special mark or photo (I had Florence Nightingale on one page hidden among the pages.)

When I was done with the in-service, I was able to talk to one of the regulars. He/she was in for therapy, so I got to bug him/her about one of our new programs. This regular has a plan: to get more education so he/she can do more work suited to his/her functional ability right now.  I really admire this patient. He/she keeps progressing and keeps on moving forward.

Finally, I finished the day with an appointment with another patient. He loved our technology. While it may have been cold here in RehabLand, it was sunny and bright, and so were most of the folks on the unit.

Happy weekend all! More to come...

It's Friday

And one day, I'm glad is over. My very last paper of grad school is finally done.

But nothing today could be as noteworthy (or notorious) as the school shooting in Connecticut today.

As a mother of a child who could have gone to school there (Bubba's the right age group), I am numb. Numb to think that someone would kill his mother, steal his brother's identity, then go and kill as many as possible in an elementary school.

I could somewhat understand if the shooter chose adults with whom he had a grievance, but he did not. He killed defenseless little children.

Some things I just can't understand...the terror, the grief, the unspeakable sadness for families, first responders, for all the people of Newtown.

I will just pray. For all of them.

Totally TGIF

Maybe it's something in the air, or some thing about the winds of change, or the coming weekend that makes people edgy.

I wanted to strangle the group that made an appointment with some of our folks at one time and told me another (at a later date). Not going to work, kids. If you leave me out of the discussion, I will not get what you need.

Sometimes, you just see things you don't want to see...

Driving from Washington for a meeting, I see a person who looks vaguely familiar. He's one of our customers and he's surrounded. Turns out an ambulance turns the corner and picks him up.

So I go back to work and ask Madge, our NP, "Have you gotten any calls on Mr. X?"

"No. Why?" she asks.

"I saw some guy getting picked up by an ambulance near Washington that vaguely resembled him."

I leave and come back. Madge gets a call.

Yes, indeed. It was Mr. X. He was diverted since Washington's ER could not take him.

Happy, happy Friday to me.

Wild Friday

Yes, I'm so, so glad this week is over. My Friday was really, really weird and probably just the culmination of an extraordinary week.

Besides all the brouhaha of the new digs opening, one of our nurses, who works the home health side had to call an ambulance for herself from a patient's home this week. We still don't know what happened to her.

The boss's boss came over to inspect again. S/he's just so friendly--only talks to the people she wants to. I've given up doing anything but speaking when spoken to. Why bother when s/he doesn't acknowledge you anyway?

And on top of this, my sibling who was coming to town got delayed and so did our hospitalized relative who was supposed to be discharging this week. Logistical nightmare trying to get him/her home caused a problem that could not be resolved until Monday. I personally don't believe it was all logistics, but then again, just call me a cynic.

I know a long weekend when I see one, so I'm taking one, myself.

Stay tuned...it should be a fun weekend.

Some people...

Just get my dander up being veritable 'holes, if you know what I mean. They are the "holier than thous" who really are downright mean to patients and don't even notice.

Unless, of course, you do something really damaging to a patient, like move the internet router from his/her room so it can be shared across the hall for others.

This particular hole is very irritating. So glad tomorrow is Friday...and I'm sneaking out early.

I'm sure you're jealous...

Yes, I actually had a couple of people say they were jealous of me today.

I am terribly lucky. I have a job I love that has intermittent idiotic things happening. That saying "you can't fix stupid" really is so true in my day-to-day life. I just strive to work around it. My favorite idiot this week: our surly office secretary. Yes, she's supposed to answer the phone, file, sort mail and process time cards, but heaven forbid she do any more than she has to do. Her job includes providing customer service to phone callers. She's so useless in that regard, and I'm tired of the complaints, that I'm asking all those wronged to file formal complaints because that's the only thing she seems to understand. (Reprimands are expensive at Madison...)


On a beautiful spring day, I headed up to our mother ship, Washington and was working on a site-wide demo with the kids (our new techs) from the SU. It was fun. I got to meet one of my nursing counterparts who works in another rehab unit. A. got me plenty of marketing materials for one of our programs (and hers) so I worked it over and put it out at the Hotel. She was thrilled.

I took my time on the way back. The sunshine-filled day had me taking the back roads to the office, so I made sure I called my favorite restaurant and picked up lunch for Dahey, my travelling partner and me.

Happy Friday all. Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are.

Wild Friday night

Boys off to a hockey game. Me and Wild Dog listening to quiet.

Ahh!

I'm so excited

And I just can't hide it, so Happy Friday to all!

Rumor has it

We will have a Fun Friday, yes indeed, even if last Friday was one for the record books. (As in how many nurses/docs/therapists/social workers can you get to play air guitar...)