Full moon fever

Oh, the natives are getting restless, and for a moment, I didn't know why. Ah, the full moon!  It was one of those days recently. Everything and nothing goes right.

One patient I follow is still ditching me for his/her monthly follow-up. Since I have to report to his/her provider re: progress, this makes things sticky. Try, try, again.

I am finally (maybe) getting resources to start a program I proposed earlier this year. Got clearance from the local committee and everything. If all goes as planned, the key pieces will fall into place next week. I'll still be sending prayer requests to my favorite nuns, monks, and old ladies, though. Working in this arena is rewarding, but endlessly frustrating with the amount of backtracking I have to do.

Thank goodness some of my folks still love me!

And speaking of the love, my next door neighbor and I found out our abstracts have been accepted to one of our favorite conferences.

The show WILL hit the road again, just in time for hurricane season, Labor Day and a family wedding. Why not have everything big happen in one week's time?

Stay tuned and enjoy your weekend! Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

More later...

Let it go

I'm singing that song in my head a lot lately. Since we've had a full moon this week, I think some of our more melodramatic, er, crazy folks have been living up to the hype.

One of my favorite moments: the idiot who said, "We really shouldn't help you. You're not in our department and you're too much work."

"Really?" I said? "We work for the same company and have the same patients." It's a good thing this was a virtual meeting (i.e. he was nowhere near me). It made things really interesting for the new MD who just joined our group. I will remember this when said idiot needs paperwork help soon. 

I love it when 1) someone neglects to tell you when they have a problem, 2) when you find out, you go to all the proper people to resolve it and get a root cause, then finally 3) said melodramatist decides, in her best Scarlett O'Hara routine to tell everyone, "I just can't do it because nothing works right."

I have one potential job on the horizon, I turned down one, and another in the wings.

So very ready to let all of this BS go.

Stay tuned...

Brrr!

Curses! The Arctic Blast is back. In a crazy week with a full moon, quirky coworkers and several threatened AMAs, you just need something else to keep you busy.

I think I'll just close my door all day tomorrow and hibernate in place.

That is all...

Harbinger of things to come?

Sunday started with a migraine, which did not go away. It just subsided here and there until the migraine drugs came out (thankfully, no nausea and vomiting!)

Went over by the Hotel and saw one of my coworkers, F., getting ready for the night shift. Long discussion. Had to cut it short to do what I had to do and get two friends to bring home for Dahey and Bubba.

Those friends: Ben & Jerry. Yes, we ran out of ice cream (found this out yesterday) and you would have thought the world would indeed end.

But alas, as I'm leaving I saw it. The harvest moon. 

I hope F. has a really boring night.

That is all. Stay tuned...the night (and the week) is young.

Yes, it's coming!

Whatever you want to call this month's full moon, it's here.I should have known it when I got to work and my day started off smoothly.

The rest of it, got wild and crazy.

First, I got a lot of strange requests, and those were just from the people who came to my door. We had orientation in our conference room, so we always have those lost souls looking for the conference room.

Next, our doc had his clinic in the SU. One of his characters, after a procedure, decided to sit outside my office and say, "I don't feel so hot. Can you get me some candy?" He thought his blood sugar was low so one of the nurses took his blood sugar, then another got him candy. He bounced up, and our clinic RN checked him out.

Why didn't I do this? I was managing a few other fires:

1. A meeting for one of our patients was abruptly cancelled when one of the interdisciplinary team members didn't show up for work. No one knew until the last minute. It's always a joy rearranging schedules for people eight hours driving distance from you who won't answer phone or e-mail messages before you leave.

2. Another patient thought he had an appointment, while our sugar guy lounged on the chairs in the lobby. Nope, I told the therapist, I'll have to talk to him later.

3. Finally, a few minutes later, when I thought all was finally quieted down, I had to take a family over to another unit, because they were picking up a discharged family member. They had just driven in from far away and their relative was wondering if they ditched him because they ended up in our end of the Hotel, instead of his.

All went well after that. One of the nurses I know from one of our other clinics came to see me. We had a nice chat and I showed her all the stuff. She enjoyed it.

I was so happy to leave. Now I just have to wait for the full moon to be over...more to come!

Yes, it's here!

The weekend, the weekend, the weekend.

It was a pretty productive week with a little weirdness added in for good measure. (What is that full moon for, anyway?) Yes, if you want to use the VPN client  for Hotel work, you have to have the blessing of the Information Security Officer. It would have been nice if they'd have told my doc that before he/she left with a computer without access. (I got to play "scramble" to get things done.) I love HIPAA!

I got most of the work I'd started completed by the end of the week and lined up even more. For entertainment, we bet each other sodas (my favorite is Dr. Pepper) on the number of folks Dr. Q. would discharge by today. He was hoping for 6, but we did get 4. I guessed 5, so Mike, our nurse manager, won the prize, a Mountain Dew from me and two other folks who participated.

Now to face laundry and teach Dahey how to use his birthday present (an iPhone).

The fun never ends.

Stay tuned!

Think pink

Now it all makes sense. Monday madness was just a harbinger of the full moon at the Hotel. But this one is special. It's pink and in some areas (not RehabLand, though), there's even a lunar eclipse.

No dogs eating girls this time, but it should be interesting!

Stay tuned...

One thing after another

I thought we'd chalk up all the weirdness last week to the full moon.

However, it surely was a crazy Monday...for teeth. I had two of my coworkers break one (or more) teeth today after start time.

Oh, right before open season. At least, they can start planning for some of that dental work ahead of time.

Back to work and what a welcome it was. Lots of happy campers...

Is the moon changing?

Maybe not according to these folks, but you would have thought otherwise recently at the Hotel.

The big cheese of Madison actually replied to an e-mail I sent to him. We're getting all progressive and the Manglement is trying to "do a system redesign and talk to the people who do the work." I nearly fell over, since he actually asked me for feedback on one of the SU's projects.

The patients, however were not patient. One character was just not happy. One minute, he was mad. Then he was sad. This repeated  over and over again for a while. Somehow I wonder if that lithium was really working.


Another character was about ready to turn vigilante on me on the parking lot. Mr. Explodo was really agitated when some of our fine (and incidentally, not visibly disabled) Madison employees parked right in front of the building in the handicapped spot. Mr. E. got in front of the car in his wheelchair to wait for security and the driver nearly ran him over. Just makes me wonder...ugh!

Thankfully, Mr. B. was a bright spot on my schedule. He came to his appointment in a cheerful mood and he was happy to work with us. It was bliss!

I wish I could order a few more like him. Stay tuned...

If you're bored...

And you're on our unit, you just might...

1. Cut your G-tube end off, because it was way too short anyway. What does Mr. Snip win, Vanna? Why a free trip to the ED, Pat!

Yes, it really is not RN scope of practice to float in a Foley instead, Mr. GI intern. That's your job to do it...or not, since you are on call for that specialty service.

2. Fall out of your wheelchair and require stitches. Yes, another trip to the ED and lots of incident report paperwork.

3. Tell your nurse on the daily health and welfare search, that yes, you do not have any more of a particular substance because you ate it. And no, you did not have any brownie crumbs on your tray.

It's not a full moon yet, but  it seems like it is! Stay tuned for more fun updates from the luxurious Hotel Rehab.

Full moon Monday

And to think, I'm not at the Hotel! Darn!

Ah, but it was crazy enough here. Bubba did not want to spend the day with momma and daddy and go to the Kidsmuseum with all the climbing stuff, dinosaurs, animatronics, etc., you can think of, so off he trotted to day camp, where he cried a river before Dahey dropped him off. Not just bawling, but the whole throw yourself on the floor drama queen spectacle. Glad I missed that one. He was still crabby by the time I picked him up this afternoon. Now he's sulking with a root beer float and watching the Yankees play whoever. My child a Yankees fan...eek! That's not kosher in this part of the country, son, but at least he's not asked for an A-rod jersey or a cap yet.

I vegetated and then Dahey and I went to lunch. Didn't end up where we should have, but got lunch nevertheless. Fancy schmancy ethnic was closed, as it is on Mondays, so we went to another nearby eatery owned by Mom and known citywide for her sandwiches. The smell of the marinara drew me to the meatballs...yum!

Dahey went to transact some business. He's an inveterate shopper--goes to auctions, trolls Craigslist, you name it. He drove far away looking for the ever elusive antiques. No dice. Nice man on craigslist who said, sure go to lunch with your wife got a better offer minutes before Dahey arrived and sold the stuff as he was driving up.  Pissed off husband ensued.

Nevertheless, I had a lovely day. My partner and I worked on our group paper and got most of it done. At least we have time to give it a thorough look over for all those APA pitfalls.

A little more bliss, maybe some rain, and hopefully, an interesting lunch or two. Stay tuned....

Monday Friday

I love Mondays when they follow the weekend I work. The moon was huge last night, in between those storm clouds, but not full yet.

Can't wait until this day is over...not long now!

Shufflin' through...

The full moon blues...it's always something interesting at the Hotel.

Recently, the character we sent to Saint Suburbia got intubated. Just makes you wonder why we take people back to rehab in the first place, when they're too sick to be with us. Can you say making a full house?

Mr. Demented was demented again and so loud, security came by to make sure we were taking care of him. Nice. Maybe the boss will move him to the other quiet area of the unit, where he won't disturb security...and everyone else going in or out of the building. Makes that poster welcoming visitors to our 'quiet, restorative environment' look a bit off.

If I ever get my wish of a genie in a bottle, it's aerosol Ativan for all, including staff!

And...I can't say it enough...thank you, thank you to all the folks with links to this blog, especially AtYourCervix. Want one? Go right ahead. Let me know so I can link to you, too.

I guess it is true...if you post it, they will come!

More to come...stay tuned!