If you call getting prepped for the upcoming full moon wonderful. Sure!
My day in a nutshell:
1. Go to do your first rounds and they're looking for Dr. X. I go to the clinic Dr. X is usually in, and they say, no, Dr. X is off today.
2. Get on the elevator to go to your next part of rounds (your unit) and Dr. X. sends me a text saying "I'm here, where's the patient."
3. Call the cavalry, explain Dr. X. really is here now, so go find the patient. Cavalry is successful.
4. Run down several flights of stairs, find Dr. X and then see the patient coming in. Whew!
5. Return back to the ranch to figure out what is going on with a pending problem. No one is around. Finally get answers after two text messages and three phone calls. Problem not resolved until tomorrow.
6. Find out person you have worked with for five years is leaving her current job.
7. Find out people are retiring in droves due to pressure, illness and just plain ready. Sad on some, not on others.
8. Try to fix a patient's problem, but the help for that is not working today.
There were some good things, though.
1. The day was beautiful.
2. I went home for lunch and made a BLT. It was good, even though I set off the smoke detector.
3. I saw an incredible Buckeye butterfly today. It stopped long enough for me to snap a photo and send to my dear husband Dahey who collected butterflies as a child.
4. My friend's husband is getting stronger. He will also be getting a longer course of treatment. Neuro wanted five more doses, nephro wanted no more. They decided to meet (almost) in the middle: two.
Sure beats watching a neurologist and a nephrologist duke it out in his room.
I'm resting up hoping tomorrow is even better. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lost. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2015
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Maybe...
I was just SUPPOSED to lose my watch when I went through the Las Vegas airport earlier this year. It was a Mother's Day gift, not terribly expensive, but it worked. It had a second hand, was dressy enough, and I could read it in the dark. The present part made the loss upsetting to me.
A month or so later, I bought a similar replacement. It looks pretty close to the other one, but I realized that the date window was really little compared to my old reliable. Some of my friends joked that since I'm getting old, I probably just need glasses.
Being the good nurse that I am, I knew I needed to make an ophthalmology appointment, but I do not have eye problems. Dahey does. Dahey has worn glasses forever and has always had the distinction in our house of having the most expensive glasses. I talked to my traveling partner and she recommended a doc from her old hospital, Dr. K.
Dahey saw him, had a good appointment and passed all the tests. That was in April. I said I'd have to do the same.
Of course, time got away from me and finally I decided to call their office and schedule an appointment on Veterans' Day, since I happened to have the day off. I thought, this won't last too long. Dr. K is very nice and is a veteran himself.
But it did. Dr. K.'s tech did a lot of tests, but a couple of them, Dr. K. redid himself. So we had another long discussion. I hope my eyes did not bulge out of my head, because what I really wanted to do was shriek.
The words, "you have a condition that will cause glaucoma", weren't really what I was really planning on hearing. Dahey, my veteran, and I were planning a nice lunch somewhere, since he was off work, too.
After the almost three hour appointment, I left. However, I count myself lucky. I never served on a frozen battlefield in Korea, like the man I talked to today while waiting for some labs. I felt like I was there when he talked about prisoners in "cotton uniforms and tennis shoes." I understood when he said, "I still won't eat rice." because of the memories it brought back. He is in his 80s and still working, even if he needs a rolling walker to get there.
I may have been bombarded myself yesterday, but I want to let all the veterans out there know I thank you every day for your service. This year it's even more special, because one old Navy doc made sure I'll have a chance to see more in the future. I am so very lucky because it is treatable (which starts today) and I have no vision loss.
Losing that watch was probably the best thing that happened to me this year.
More to come...
A month or so later, I bought a similar replacement. It looks pretty close to the other one, but I realized that the date window was really little compared to my old reliable. Some of my friends joked that since I'm getting old, I probably just need glasses.
Being the good nurse that I am, I knew I needed to make an ophthalmology appointment, but I do not have eye problems. Dahey does. Dahey has worn glasses forever and has always had the distinction in our house of having the most expensive glasses. I talked to my traveling partner and she recommended a doc from her old hospital, Dr. K.
Dahey saw him, had a good appointment and passed all the tests. That was in April. I said I'd have to do the same.
Of course, time got away from me and finally I decided to call their office and schedule an appointment on Veterans' Day, since I happened to have the day off. I thought, this won't last too long. Dr. K is very nice and is a veteran himself.
But it did. Dr. K.'s tech did a lot of tests, but a couple of them, Dr. K. redid himself. So we had another long discussion. I hope my eyes did not bulge out of my head, because what I really wanted to do was shriek.
The words, "you have a condition that will cause glaucoma", weren't really what I was really planning on hearing. Dahey, my veteran, and I were planning a nice lunch somewhere, since he was off work, too.
After the almost three hour appointment, I left. However, I count myself lucky. I never served on a frozen battlefield in Korea, like the man I talked to today while waiting for some labs. I felt like I was there when he talked about prisoners in "cotton uniforms and tennis shoes." I understood when he said, "I still won't eat rice." because of the memories it brought back. He is in his 80s and still working, even if he needs a rolling walker to get there.
I may have been bombarded myself yesterday, but I want to let all the veterans out there know I thank you every day for your service. This year it's even more special, because one old Navy doc made sure I'll have a chance to see more in the future. I am so very lucky because it is treatable (which starts today) and I have no vision loss.
Losing that watch was probably the best thing that happened to me this year.
More to come...
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Finding the lost
That was a lot of my job recently. Because our office is right off the beaten path, the lost seem to show up there a lot.
People come to our area by mistake. This week the clinic they missed the most was...(drum roll, please) the wheelchair clinic. Oh, I was calling our friend Ralph over there, a few times to say "I've got another one for you." Ralph, being the nice man that he is, was waiting down the way with the door open whenever he could. You just look down the hall, and there you go, I said, about 30 times it seemed like one day.
Some lost souls make me sad. The little guy with hemiparesis in his wheelchair who came all the way from Faraway at 0300 to make his appointment at the Hotel. He got dropped off right next to the elevator, but couldn't get on it. That's where I found him. I got him on it, took him to the clinic he needed to go to, got him his paperwork, helped him get it done, then I handed him off to the clinic nurse who was free. M. our clerk, even stuck around to get his paperwork.
A little later, I met an elderly band leader who was wandering through our building. He was with his wife. He was a little confused on where to go, but I got the two of them on their way, too.
It's not really my job to lead people around the building. We have transporters for that. I tell all the students, though, that it is my job to take care of patients.
If that's the only care I get to give them some days, I figure some care to get them to their appointments on time and happy, is the best care I can give.
Stay tuned...
People come to our area by mistake. This week the clinic they missed the most was...(drum roll, please) the wheelchair clinic. Oh, I was calling our friend Ralph over there, a few times to say "I've got another one for you." Ralph, being the nice man that he is, was waiting down the way with the door open whenever he could. You just look down the hall, and there you go, I said, about 30 times it seemed like one day.
Some lost souls make me sad. The little guy with hemiparesis in his wheelchair who came all the way from Faraway at 0300 to make his appointment at the Hotel. He got dropped off right next to the elevator, but couldn't get on it. That's where I found him. I got him on it, took him to the clinic he needed to go to, got him his paperwork, helped him get it done, then I handed him off to the clinic nurse who was free. M. our clerk, even stuck around to get his paperwork.
A little later, I met an elderly band leader who was wandering through our building. He was with his wife. He was a little confused on where to go, but I got the two of them on their way, too.
It's not really my job to lead people around the building. We have transporters for that. I tell all the students, though, that it is my job to take care of patients.
If that's the only care I get to give them some days, I figure some care to get them to their appointments on time and happy, is the best care I can give.
Stay tuned...
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Always a sobering thought...
You go out for a walk and your kid gets away from you...lost.
Got stopped by the local PD today. A little boy in RehabLand is out there alone with his dog. The cop thought Bubba (running ahead of course, since WildDog is so geriatric...) might be him.
It's frightening to even think about it.
More later.
Got stopped by the local PD today. A little boy in RehabLand is out there alone with his dog. The cop thought Bubba (running ahead of course, since WildDog is so geriatric...) might be him.
It's frightening to even think about it.
More later.
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