I'm still a kid

When I think of that day 30 odd years ago. I was on my way to school. I knew my mother was dying of cancer, but I didn't realize that I wouldn't make it there before she did.

I came into my grandmother's house and all I heard were laments. My father was silent and hugged us. He let my brother and I see Mom before my uncle called his friends at work (who were the undertakers). My father was always the one who was there, when his mother and his wife died.

My grandma was a mess. My mother was her youngest child.

There are a lot of things that are a blur, but a lot of things I will never forget. I learned much later that I could spend all my time thinking about the horrible things a teenager could have to witness (the stretcher, the body bag, the death rattle), or I could choose to remember the things my mother left me.

Her happy disposition despite many trials. Her stubbornness and relentlessness to see things right. Her wavy hair that always curled when you wanted and sometimes, when you didn't. Her enjoyment of the little things in life, like the salami sandwiches from our town's Italian section. The jello (red and green) that Santa left us at Christmastime.

My mother also left me her faith. Her faith that we are all actors in our own story and a little divine intervention never hurts. Sometimes we need to help and be helped. Those traditions of perseverance were more helpful than I ever knew later in life.

So while my mom is no longer here to be celebrated, I look every day for the places where she left her mark on my life. And I see her every day. I put a photo of happy times on my refrigerator, so I remember that. She and Dad took us to get family photos. It was the last group family photo we would get.

So I can mourn this day, or I can live it as Mom would want me to do. My mother always wanted me to be a nurse, so I know somewhere in Heaven she smiles. Even with my detours and stubbornness, she got her wish.

RehabRN book club: The TGIF edition

Yes, dear readers, it's been a while. Books just take forever anymore, especially when I spend an inordinate amount of time with my new baby computer, trying to get everything where I want it. Online backups are wonderful, yet slow.

However, I must say, I've found some good stuff to read. As I may have mentioned earlier, Brief by Joseph McCormack is a keeper. If you're a fan of the Elements of Style, it's more concept than rule. It really does give practical advice. I'll be buying one (since I got threats from the library if I didn't return it).

My most recent finish (on Wednesday) was Presence by Amy Cuddy. To me, there's a lot to like in this book. As a rehab nurse, you'll be cheering for Amy because she's a rehab patient who's made it (she had a DAI for all of you who are interested.) As an escaped business person, she went to work at Harvard Business School and changed up a lot of things with her research. Overall, Amy's book is stories of how presence changes things (see her TED talk for the rest of the story).

Trust me, I'll be posing it up before my next set of meetings. Why not?

Have a great weekend! Enjoy every minute.

Rooting for the underdog

I was perusing a bunch of online articles after another exciting day stirring the pot (and seeing patients) at the Hotel, when I saw this article that struck me. It's title: Fat Guy Across America.

He started over 500 lbs and is heading out to see America. And there's an interesting back story along the way.

I hate smoking and the horrible things that come with it (not the smoker). I've had to work with people who were far too sick because of those "coffin nails" as one of my relatives calls them.

Here's hoping he stops by the Great American Smokeout and makes it all the way across the country.

If you're going to set goals, sometimes you gotta go big.

Stay tuned...

The story of my life

I shall not change my course because those who assume to be better than I desire it.~  Victoria Woodhull 

I really wonder why some people just can't mind their own business.

That is all...more later.

I need a t-shirt that says

"I survived jury duty". I did. I did. I did.

What did I miss in the years I did not get called and picked to serve on a jury? Not much.

A few things I learned though, were very important.

1. Don't let your lawyer clown it up on the opening arguments. He/she should be reasonable and convincing, but bouncing binders in front of the jury to get their attention is not the way to do that. It gave me a headache.

2. Tell the truth. Or at least be expected to use the same story over and over. You know that oath "thingy"? Yes, it applies to you.

3. Related to #2, never swear that you never use the phone. There are records.

4. Don't hire one of your own employees to serve as your "expert witness". It is a little thing called conflict of interest for him/her to participate.

5. Don't repeatedly say your client knows nothing about business, because he/she has been at it for a few years...like 40. Despite everything, the business is solvent, so who's at the wheel?

6. Always be explicit. Some folks, for whom English is a second language, may not understand things that are implied, especially in e-mails.

7. Don't use easels to display e-mail quotes that you've circulated ad nauseum in the courtroom. I got tired of looking at your not-so-hot quotes on foam board.

And finally, one of the most important things I learned from jury duty:

Take every moment you can to enjoy a moment outside in the sunshine. You will never get enough of those. Criminals and crazy relatives tend to stick around, but sunshine doesn't, so enjoy it while you can.

More to come...

I think of arm wrestling

Or a juxtaposition of life where you wonder about things. For entertainment purposes, I checked out some interesting books at the library. The latest one: You are a badass: How to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life.

Yes, this is indeed a book title. I didn't make it up.

When I read this opinion piece in the New York Times recently, it struck me for a few reasons. One, it's written by a doctor. Two, it's written by a young doctor with cancer. Three, it reminds me of a character at the Hotel struggling with his own diagnosis.

We can't give him time. We can only tell him that if he gets treated, he will most likely be cured. If he delays, he jeopardizes that chance of living until his grandchildren graduate from school.

He's cheated death a few times, so maybe he's jaded. Or maybe he'd just believe us if we could give him a number.

We can't.

So he's just going, as Becket says, to keep not going, and going along.

This week's In the news

I've got a personal connection to some of the items I've found this week. Hope you all enjoy

I knew it!
Ever have horrible migraines when it's ready to storm? You're not alone. Researchers have correlated migraines to all sorts of things, including lightning strikes, according to this CNN story.

Sad story
A teenager gets an elective surgery to stop sleep apnea and some other things, then ends up brain dead, according to this CNN story. It may be simple, but as a parent, so sad.

Throwing your money away?
You may be if you believe this Medscape article on multivitamins and cognition.

Were you hoodwinked?
Maybe once or twice? Mashable tallies up these social media hoaxes which got a lot of mileage this year.

Finally...
And last, but not least, just in case I win the Mega Millions prize (even a sliver of it) tonight, I may play hooky tomorrow from work, but I just want to let you know I won't stop blogging. It's too much fun.

That is all...more to come.

Animals make life interesting

I  thoroughly enjoyed this story about the bears that trashed a vacation home for some really good smelling human food.

I also thank my lucky stars that Dahey did not take that job in the wilds of Washington state, or I might have the same problem.

More later...

You thought you had a bad day

Imagine everything you eat makes you drunk. That's right drunk, not full, sated or stuffed, but drunk.

It's an old story, but is back in the news again.

Happily, once treated with antifungals, the syndrome went away.

More to come...stay tuned.

Real life ethical dilemmas

I've been following this story intermittently, and I thought it was quite telling that it took so much effort to get to the bottom of it.

Sometimes it's very frustrating to see things happen for ego stroking and for money.

Scary...

For that one patient...

Who claims to have met lots of famous people. This story reminded me of you.

I know you'd deny it, but it would have been fun to share. Nevertheless...I digress.

More to come. Stay tuned.

The road to rehab

There are a lot of roads people take to get to me at the Hotel.

Some people get old, fall down, and never get back up. Some go to the hospital for an operation and suffer a heart attack in the operating room.

Other people dive into swimming pools and hear a crack. Others are shot: in battle, in the course of a robbery (and they might be the perpetrator or victim), and some, are suicide attempts.

Many suicide attempts are fueled by PTSD, job loss, divorce and hopelessness.

Some folks make an attempt to free themselves from the weight of being a survivor. Being the only survivor of an ambush, a fire, a plane crash.

And finally, others, like Jeremy, are survivors of military sexual assault.

I hope you will share his story, so his dream can come true, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice once and for all.

A topper

I really did think when I called my friend N. on the Left Coast, that I really did have a story that could top anything that happened to her.

N. is a manager of a Borg Pharmaceutical vendor, who will remain nameless.

My day was fine and dandy until Mr. and Mrs. Lost came to my door. I figured it was a simple, direct-them-to-the-SU kind of thing that normally happens. Nope.

Mr. Lost told me that he was going to kill someone. (Ding, ding, ding -- alarm bells) To top it off, he had a plan.

Hello...there went my beautiful boring morning. Calm Mr. and Mrs. Lost down and call the psych people.

No one is answering their phone. (Maybe that lunar eclipse thing messed them up?) So I went looking for the mental health staffers on our team. After much searching, I found one.

Mr. Lost stayed in my office while J., our mental health staffer, called the "Heightened state" team. Chief says, "Send Mr. Lost to the ER for evaluation."

Surprisingly, Mr. Lost was okay with that. J. stayed with him until the ambulance came. Mrs. Lost went home to collect some things and call Mr. Lost's daughter.

And so, J. had a teaching moment with the student today.

I'm so glad I got to be the lucky person...stay tuned for more.

In the news

 A few different stories out there recently on my internet meanderings.

Nurse chooses palliative care over aggressive treatment (Washington Post)
I read this article today in one of my newsletters and I agree with the saying that good doctors treat the disease and the best doctors treat the person.

Death of a Charger (from espn.com)
Could the death of Junior Seau be related to concussion syndrome?

World's fastest toilet (from bbc.com)
Who knew? I would have never guessed.

Moral of the story: It's all about the patient

Dear Pissy Nurse:

Yes, I suspect I stayed over one minute recently in the conference room you had reserved because I had a patient in there.

The rule in this facility is when I need to use that expensive piece of equipment, which is used frequently for patient care, but stored in a conference room, I can (and will continue) to use it. I even rearranged the appointment so you wouldn't be disturbed. Why you wouldn't give me one extra minute to get out is odd, because I was done exactly when your appointment started.

It's a tragedy that meeting got moved again, but let's remember, in the grand scheme of things, what it's really all about.

Sincerely (I will bump you again, if it's for a patient),

RehabRN

What a time it was...

A human life is a story told by God. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

Dahey's Aunt Gracie's story ended yesterday. She was 90 years old.

Aunt Gracie was a sweet lady who welcomed me to the family a dozen years ago when I first met her at her son's house. It was like she knew me my whole life. She and Uncle Ralph were very sweet when we visited them down the street from where my cousins lived. We did not know that they lived about half a mile away from them.

Uncle Ralph died almost four years ago, and she started going downhill. After a while, Aunt Gracie couldn't live alone, and she got too bad for family to take care of her. She spent the last years of her life slowly slipping away.

While it was sad, she was comfortable and with family at the end. Since one child is a physician, and her daughter-in-laws are very good nurses, we knew she was well cared for. We may be sad, but we rejoice in the life that was hers, and was shared with us all: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and even in-laws like me.

Stories

I was at work recently when we had a bunch of people talk about their work. I was very surprised at some of the things the non-clinical things people mentioned.

One of our housekeepers told a story about how she was totally unprepared when a patient died. H. was one of the last people to talk to Mr. Z. before he did. She said it was the first death that ever hit home at the Hotel. Not the last, because she still talks to patients while doing her job, but one of the ones that really affected her.

Another technical guy remembered a request he got while he was fixing some equipment. A nurse pulled him aside and said her patient had only one wish: to talk to a faraway relative who was in a hospital. Bob the tech guy searched high and low and was able to pull off a videoconference between the patient and her relative. The patient was so stunned she was shaking, smiling, reveling in the moment that had evaded her for so long.

Not long after the teleconference, the patient died peacefully, her final wish fulfilled.

Ringing bells

'Tis the season for bells ringing on television and out at your favorite stores by the Salvation Army.
 
And even a rehab nurse can find a topic of interest in the non-medical press. TBI is common among topics in rehab, mainly due to issues in young men and veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In this week's NY Times, there's a series on hockey enforcer, Derek Boogaard, who often 'got his bell rung' in many, many hockey fights. Repetitive traumatic brain injury can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

After reading this story, this is one bell I wish would not get rung.

More later...

He was, and still is a hero...

To many people on our rehab unit, Christopher Reeve is gone, but not forgotten. He brought spinal cord injury and related research a spotlight with star power. Who could ever believe Superman could become a SCI patient?

His son, Matthew, is running marathons in his honor on Team Reeve. Check out this story in the NY Times for more information.