Rain, rain, go away

My day since Friday. Will the sun come out? Stay tuned...

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Consumer reports

That was my day today. Providing patient information for Dahey to share with folks at work who recently found out their boss has cancer. Despite everything, he feels good, but is not cleared to return to full duty. He's bored and they found some paperwork for him to do. He'll have to car pool, so it should be interesting.

I also got some information I made in a complaint against a business from the state office that handles those. Nothing significant, but it was nice to know that the process highlighted that the vendor was, at the very least, very "liberal" with the truth. If I could only rent a billboard and not be sued, or borrow this guy, because his sentiment is mine, too.

So glad Monday is over. I'm waiting for all this precipitation to end!

Stay tuned...
 

How you know it's Monday

Signs in the Hotel that it's Monday.

1. Patients are moving around. Can you say bed bingo? No one is where you expect them. I really wish Santa would have brought us private rooms instead of so many doubles (thank goodness triples fell out of vogue).

2. Coworkers get flat tires. Not one, but two of them. Craziness.

3. It rains yet again. I don't care if it's knee high by Saturday, it will get mowed when I don't have to go to work the next day.

4. You find things you don't need to see (or hear about) in the office photo copier, especially things that are not yours.

On we go with the rest of the week. Stay tuned.

Here comes the rain again

April showers do bring May flowers, but after those showers get mixed in with tornado watches and warnings, I get a little edgy. It fits the mood, though. I'm still a little melancholy after this week.

Thankfully, the latest tornado watch was called off so Bubba could go to his track meet, hang out and have fun while Dahey and I had a date night. We went to a neighborhood I grew up in (which has since become moderately gentrified) to a restaurant I've wanted to try. It was nostalgia: some things change and some things stay the same. Thankfully, the food was good, the beer was cold, and the various games were on the (baseball, hockey, etc.) TV so Dahey could follow along.

Since we were on a nostalgia trek, Dahey decided to drive to a shopping mall we walked in a lot while we were dating. A lot of stores are gone, but some old reliables got bigger. They even got an Apple Store in this particular mall. Which of course, made Dahey want a new phone. Thankfully, his problems can be resolved by sending his phone in for repair, which will be done this week (thank goodness!)

Now, I'm back to doing my volunteer homework. Sometimes this is a time-consuming activity, but other times, it's a lot of fun.

Enjoy your weekend wherever you are!

Winter in RehabLand

If deep cold wasn't enough, we got a reprieve. The last two days have been above freezing (32F). Now the weather people are predicting freezing rain.I don't care. I have everything stocked up and gassed up the car. From the looks of the stores, it was mild panic.

Just let the light and heat stay on and I'm good.

Do your thing, Mother Nature. I hope I'm ready. If not, I'll just keep reading all this interesting stuff while I wait.

Stay tuned...

Happiest of Fridays to you

I didn't run away. I've been busy cramming everything in, so I could have a day off. One project plan, three appointments, a consult, a specialty service visit, four phone calls, one patient portal enrollment, one transferred patient and a grand rounds presentation.

So today, I escaped.The sun came out after what seemed like weeks of clouds and rain. I found my sunglasses and wore them.What a day it was!

I visited friends I had not seen in a long time. I shopped and went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which meant no dishes for me to wash ALL DAY. It was like being on vacation at a hotel without leaving.

I also celebrated another birthday this week. It was fun. Health IS wealth, and I feel like a millionaire now that I am almost done with my antibiotics (from whatever URI I got around Thanksgiving.)

Hope you enjoy your weekend wherever you are!

More to come...

In the middle of the pouring rain

This describes my life in so many ways lately.

Scary Halloween

Things that are scary on Halloween at the Hotel Rehab:

1. Doll eyes on a patient.
2. Change management strategies as cuts loom on the horizon.
3. Rain.

Tomorrow is another day. Hope your day is goblin-free!

Rain, hail, tornadoes

Dear Mother Nature:

Who says our Friday night wasn't exciting? I thank my lucky stars that I have a finished basement in which to hide from the rousing storms that were going through RehabLand.

Yes, we missed some fun Friday night stuff at baseball and the mall, because it got windy and spooked a lot of people, but there are bonuses. As I already mentioned the basement, I was thrilled that we still had electric and cold beer.

So let me just say thanks for avoiding my neighborhood. My nerves were frayed, WildDog was stressed, but happy with us.

At least, with a cold Hefeweizen, I could watch the storm reports and chill in a safe area.

Please send the next set of storms somewhere else. We (and all the folks in Oklahoma) have had enough water, hail and wind for quite a long time.

Sincerely (really, if it works...),

RehabRN

Dear Mother Nature

Okay, I have to tolerate the full moon every month.

Please cut out all this rain and snow. Yes, it is almost May and it's NOT supposed to snow here in RehabLand.

Besides, I'm getting tired of my backyard flooding and WildDog refusing to go outside since the porch is damp.

And on top of this, the smokers at work are grumpy as hell. I have enough to deal with this week.

Sincerely not,

RehabRN

Thanking the heavens

It's not good, but it is getting better. One of Dahey's relatives was out in the storms recently and was seriously injured because he couldn't been seen due to wind, rain and darkness.

He and his family were in a car accident and he was the worst injury of the lot (rest of the injuries were minor). The medical staff at PrivateU are watching and waiting since he had to have this procedure and a small part of his brain removed to reduce brain swelling post-injury.

Send all those good thoughts and prayers our way.  It will be a long road ahead, no matter what happens.

Stay tuned...

The good, the bad, the ugly

The good: the sun eventually came out today. The torrents of rain ended before I was ready to leave the Hotel.

The bad: I had to send my slightly squirrely EKG to my provider today. She never called me back, so I take it that it wasn't anything major.

The ugly: The ways people from our interdisciplinary team manage to talk about how nursing is "so unprofessional" and maybe we need training.

I really wanted to bang my head on the table. Why not? It's just another form of not-so-subtle nurse bashing.

And I get to be the battering ram before our group at an area meeting tomorrow. Nice.

I'm taking backup.

To be continued...

Buried

My last semester of grad school started. I am already swamped and the remains of Hurricane Isaac have not even dropped much rain here in RehabLand yet.

Looks like I'll be hunkered down until at least early November...ugh!

Stay tuned

It could have been worse...

I could have had a whole lot of meetings today. Two big ones were cancelled, so I HAD to do my required education at my desk and close the door to keep the rabble out all afternoon

But, never fear, friends, I still had lots of other entertainment at the meetings I did attend.

I got to hear about Dr. R's trip to the Big Ditch and the ride on the mule. In some spots, you can't see the bottom. Good thing for that sure footed creature!

We got to discuss our patients in our weekly meeting (that's what rehab centers have to do on a regular basis). I got to discuss my interventions from my office to keep some patients out of trouble. (Always fun.)
I couldn't do anything about the character offering to "help" another patient with his stash of marijuana.
No matter what we do, some of these folks just don't get it that we are not in a state that allows Mary Jane for medicinal purposes (keep driving west, please!)

And for a finale to my day, I heard rain outside my window. It was only S, the rec therapist with the patients watering the garden below. Everything was fine and dandy, and S. went back to her office and brought patients inside. Well, we thought they all came in...Mr. G., a particular character decided he was going to move the sprinkler. When he did that and started rolling in the front door, he started dragging the hose inside underneath his electric wheelchair.

A man in the lobby saw Mr. G. coming in and helped him get the hose out from under the chair, just as he was dragging the sprinkler inside. Thankfully, only Mr. G. got wet. A Good Samaritan turned off the hose, so Mr. G. wouldn't flood the whole front entrance.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. One (or even two) less meetings in life is a very good thing.

More later...

A rainy postscript

Dear Spirits of the Water:

Yes, I did wash my windows to get it to rain recently.

However, I did not return back to work recently so it could "rain" inside when the idiots from maintenance found out why that shower clogged in the restroom above the office next door.

It's really better for equipment that costs way more than a nice BMW to stay clean and dry at all times, not just on some days.

Thank you maintenance for fixing the problem quickly. I love working in an old building.

Truly dry now, I am,

Sincerely yours,

RehabRN

Hallelujah, it's raining!

Keep it up and maybe my flowers will stop wilting!

No silly, just rain, not men. Hearing that phrase did make me think of this song though...blast from the past.




Happy weekend everyone wherever you are...

I see friends shaking hands
Saying "How do you do?"
They're really saying,
"I love you"
-Louis Armstrong "What a wonderful world"

Yes, friends, it really is a beautiful world, Manglement or not. This is one of Bubba's favorite songs. Who would believe I'm the mother of a boy who loves the "really old stuff" as he calls it. I heard, "Mama, play Louie" more than once this weekend while riding around town.

Enjoy the day! I will, rain or shine.

When it rains...

It pours, the lights flicker, the wind shakes the windows and WildDog starts opening doors to tell us he's not staying in a room by himself.

No, siree, I'm a guard dog and I'm "guarding" you whether you like it or not.

At least he does not destroy things or jump in bed. He just sits on my side of the bed and whines...and I wake up to pat him on the head to quiet him.

I love summer thunderstorms. At least, it wasn't a tornado!

A little coincidence here...

A little bit there could be construed as a little more than coincidence.

What a wild weekend! I escaped from the Hotel, so it's been fun working on the final paper of the semester. The coincidence: when your instructor is also a film maker who made a movie about an area where more than a few of your patients are from. I only got to see the trailer, but it was eye-opening to see the remoteness of the area.

Bubba had a party and the kids had a good time playing soccer until the rain came. At least, no tornadoes came with it.

Who knows what the week will bring. Just hoping it's not a ton of admissions.

Stay tuned.

Don't be a smuggie

It's raining buckets here and yours truly's trapped inside with WildDog, who's fallen asleep on his favorite wooly rug.

Ah, I love e-mail, but that darned Reply All button, and the people who feel they have to use it to tell everyone what they feel about every.little.thing. (including said e-mail)

Just remember, don't be a smuggie. Don't know what that is? Check the article....and have a great day!