Please be patient...

God's not done with me yet." -- sign on a door I saw recently.

With the influx of people recently to our unit, I'm reminded that my services are important where I work. Sometimes I get frustrated because I see people working as if we're in an assembly line. Do the tasks, run to break, go back and then clock out. I have to work daily to remember a few very important things.

First, I'm dealing with people, not auto parts on an assembly line. Deviations can, and will occur on a regular basis, because of the all the people involved in the process.

Second, I may have that task list in my mind, but I'd like to do things better and try new things. Many times patients can clue you in to tricks you never may have thought of employing. One patient told me recently, "Hey, I can't move that arm, but if you put it on a pillow, I can wiggle my shoulder some if I need to and that helps me." Hey, I'm no rocket scientist, but if it makes you happy and keeps you from hurting, let's do it!

Third, patients can and will speak if you let them. Sometimes the best thing to do is shut up and listen. Here are a few of them speaking on the internet. I hope you take the time to listen to them. I did and thoroughly enjoyed these stories and sites.

I found Astrid in the Netherlands from my sitemeter log. I was equally impressed that I made her blogroll. She's got a great blog with loads of posts about dealing with blindness and her other diagnoses. Don't miss it!

Patient Dave talks about you owning cancer or cancer owning you amid other interesting posts.

Steve's got lots of information on Adventures of a Funky Heart, as an adult congenital heart defect survivor.

Leslie has a great blog called Getting Closer to Myself. I really enjoyed this recent post called Everyone wants to be a 10, but no one wants to be a 710. You'll have to read it if you want to know what a 710 is!