Life is short. We are seeing that in the news today. A celebrity and her mother die within days of each other. Some people say you can't die of a broken heart, but yet, some people do.
This year has flown by quickly. I'm happy that in the grand scheme of things, I've had some time to reflect and relax. It's a privilege not granted to everyone and I know it and cherish it, especially this week. There just aren't enough nurses at the Hotel, or anywhere really. Bedside nurses are a rare enough commodity in these parts, they are paying five figure bonuses to get to work in various institutions.
The mood of this country has been tentative and taxing. The elections didn't really help anything. When I heard about history and Hoover and trying times of the Depression my relatives talked about when I was a kid, I now think, "Wow! Some of this stuff is really happening here to us now."
A lot of things will end this year. New ones will begin next year. I'll work on what I can and do my best. Hope you enjoy the rest of this week and this year. May we all be here to discuss it all again in 2017. There are no promises but we can hope for the best.
See you next year.
Showing posts with label short. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short. Show all posts
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Thursday, July 3, 2014
A day (or two) late
But, at least, not a dollar short (yet!)
Happy belated Canada Day to all my friends over the border. I did find and wish my real-life Canuck friends good wishes on the actual day.
But alas, my brain has been cramming.
Yes, I'm going back to school...as the teacher for a very short class next week.
We shall see how it goes on the other side of the desk. I'm working away on my lesson plan and reading as we speak...
Stay tuned!
Happy belated Canada Day to all my friends over the border. I did find and wish my real-life Canuck friends good wishes on the actual day.
But alas, my brain has been cramming.
Yes, I'm going back to school...as the teacher for a very short class next week.
We shall see how it goes on the other side of the desk. I'm working away on my lesson plan and reading as we speak...
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Choices
My travelling partner was not feeling well Monday. Her blood pressure was up when I checked it the other day, by machine and manually. She came in because we are short of staff. "This vertigo won't go away." she said. Yesterday, it was so bad, she went to the ER. They admitted her.
He was one of our regulars. A mustachioed man with a syrupy accent so heavy, I was occasionally called in to translate (because I'm good at translating) for the new nurses who don't recognize the cadence and drawl from his part of the South. One nurse I worked with had known from the time he was injured. He knew our programs so well he could have taught them, she said. We were the safety net: if he got sick, he always came to us (even drove himself this time).
But he was more than sick: he was septic, so the Hotel was not the place for him. We sent him on to Washington for more acute care, and he got worse. He survived some crazy cardiac stunts, but the last procedure set off a cascade from which he did not survive. His car sat on the parking lot when I arrived the other morning. The family came and picked it up yesterday.
Today, I read this story, passed along from one of my coworkers. He didn't want to live like many folks do at the Hotel. He just wanted to die, and with his family, he did. It was so sad because he chose to leave when his wife was pregnant with his first child. "He'll never hold their child.", the article said.
He'll never see that child, either, or make a difference in his/her life. That is the part, to me, which is the saddest. I have worked with rehab patients who have raised children (yes, they need help), and they do parent them. They do discipline them. They do care, even if they cannot lift a finger.
The choices we make can change things forever.
He was one of our regulars. A mustachioed man with a syrupy accent so heavy, I was occasionally called in to translate (because I'm good at translating) for the new nurses who don't recognize the cadence and drawl from his part of the South. One nurse I worked with had known from the time he was injured. He knew our programs so well he could have taught them, she said. We were the safety net: if he got sick, he always came to us (even drove himself this time).
But he was more than sick: he was septic, so the Hotel was not the place for him. We sent him on to Washington for more acute care, and he got worse. He survived some crazy cardiac stunts, but the last procedure set off a cascade from which he did not survive. His car sat on the parking lot when I arrived the other morning. The family came and picked it up yesterday.
Today, I read this story, passed along from one of my coworkers. He didn't want to live like many folks do at the Hotel. He just wanted to die, and with his family, he did. It was so sad because he chose to leave when his wife was pregnant with his first child. "He'll never hold their child.", the article said.
He'll never see that child, either, or make a difference in his/her life. That is the part, to me, which is the saddest. I have worked with rehab patients who have raised children (yes, they need help), and they do parent them. They do discipline them. They do care, even if they cannot lift a finger.
The choices we make can change things forever.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving eve
Yes, this is the night yours truly spends chopping, slicing, dicing and baking. And vexing over a house that's never clean enough!
I have decided to just go with the flow this year and live with it. Life is indeed too short.
Stay tuned.
I have decided to just go with the flow this year and live with it. Life is indeed too short.
Stay tuned.
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