Sending him off

Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality. ~Emily Dickinson

Little Colin was buried today. I took Bubba to his wake. They buried him in his Halloween costume and a bucket to hold the candy was in the casket. 

"Mom, his lips looked funny." Bubba said. I thought he'd be afraid to look at the little boy he knew from school.

"Yes, Bubba, he was probably wearing makeup, too. They do that sometimes when people die." I told him.

The sight of a little kid in a casket in church was bad, but not nearly as bad as the sobs his father cried as we went through the line.

Heartbreaking. 

More later...

The joys of childhood

Bubba declared this to be, "The best Halloween ever."

He got to wear his favorite costume twice, and then go door-to-door with one of his best friends, who decided to be the Grim Reaper this year.

Now all I have to do is keep him out of the seven pounds of candy he managed to bring home, even when they have the treat police (no peanuts, no soy, etc.) at school this year.

And a day off tomorrow...what more could a kid want.

Stay tuned.

Things that make me smile

Yes, even though some of our nurses say we should not nominate people for department awards for doing the little things as part of their job, it is the little things that people remember. It brings back all those lectures on servant leadership. Keeping things stocked and thinking of the nurse who follows you are two things that were impressed upon me in my first nursing job, and  yes, it is everybody's business.

And as a result, the things that have made me smile recently during all this Manglement madness have been the little things.

1. Patient X goes home and calls me recently from a restaurant we talked about all during his stay. I even got the lowdown on the daily special.

2. Patients who say "please" and "thank you". There are just too many barbarians who have forgotten their manners. Mr. X., thank you for thinking of me and being polite, even when many of your other fellow patients do not do the same.

3. Dr. F. brought us all goodies this week. It made us feel important, too.

4. And finally, one of my patients came back to the unit, We had a really nice chat and I told him about his old roommate sending us a card, which was posted on our bulletin board. Before he left, he told me, "You know, I miss seeing you. You are the best."

Thanks Mr. D., and so are you. We loved the candy, even if it means another mile on the treadmill for me.

Stay tuned.

Wrapping it up

Happily, with all the snow, the SU has been slow. I've been busy putting things back together for the nurse I replaced. The crew is all looking forward to her coming back. I'm not looking forward to going back to the Hotel, but I'm dealing with it. At least, my boss let me be on days for a week, so I can float over if needed to help out. Hopefully, her first week back won't be too stressful.

I'll really miss having my own office with a window and relative quiet. I won't miss the psycho secretary, though. We'll see how it goes.

Recently, I went to a unit meeting and it was interesting. The council started giving out candy awards for the nice things that people do and write up on cards for others. It's nice to see the sentiment, but I wonder if it will last. They are giving some other prizes, too, that people really want (i.e. the get out of the office for an hour free cards). At least, it feels like changes are coming. We can only wait and see.

Finally, I got a note from a family member of one of our deceased patients. The bright orange note really made my day. I could hardly believe that they remembered me.

And so it goes...more to come.

Yes, there's relief.

This week's assignments done. Laundry done, dishes in the dishwasher, little kid scrubbed and tucked in bed after a motherlode of goodies in a plastic pumpkin full of at least 5 lbs. of candy, and early to boot! Vegetating listening to this album.

WildDog at my feet after an Indian summer afternoon lounging in the yard, barking at passersby.

Dahey's celebrating his OT today by soaking in the tub.

Wish these hours of stillness could last a little longer!

A little early Halloween antics

Yes, it's been going on lately, but I just have to wonder with the pre-Halloween antics going on at the Hotel. What do you get? A dash of irony in it all...

1. Convince one of your patients not to distribute his candy to everyone. He's really proud of it.

2. We get a "prank call" at the nurses' station that one of our people has fallen in the lobby. We investigate and find no person in the lobby. Turns out it wasn't a prank. The other rehab unit's lobby (on the other side of the building) was the place and yes, one of their people did go down...for you guessed it, trying to pick up candy he/she dropped to the floor. Moral of the story: new amputee + wheelchair + stuff out of reach often equals a tumble.

3. And the best one yet to close....Dr. Z., one of our internists kept telling Mr. C. he should not eat the Halloween candy he got recently. So what does Dr. Z. order on today's round of tests...a HgbA1c and gives him a bag of his favorite mini candy bars.

Oh, I foresee a boo-tiful time in the Hotel until Halloween! More to come...