All in one day

I try to cram things into certain days, and others, I just use them to do administrative tasks in peace and quiet.

One day recently was a combination of both. I need peace and quiet to get things organized and completed in an efficient manner, so it worked out relatively well.

The first part of my day was great, until I got one of the patients who rarely stops in. He comes in occasionally. He really needs us more than he'll let on, and now that he's got a new health condition, it's obvious. To add insult to injury, while he's not homeless, he could very well be soon due to an issue at home. Homelessness is scary, but even more so when you are disabled.

When our meeting was finished, I actually think he learned something. I am hoping he'll see the need to get help. Technology is a great tool for this gentleman, but he needs to come see us, too.

As I run around the building, I often encounter folks who are visiting our outpatient clinics or other programs. Many of them never avail themselves of my area's services (it's optional).  I say hello and sometimes chat as I go by.

Friday, one of these characters liked what I wore to work (a sweater and dress pants). He rolled up and knocked on my door. I asked how I could help.

He said, "I just wanted to tell you I think you look more beautiful today than ever." Frankly, I was stunned by the compliment. We chatted some more about the services of the SU, but he declined as usual. I told him (as I tell all the patients), "If you change your mind, let me know."  and he rolled away smiling.

It made my week.

Hope you enjoy your weekend wherever you are and someone sees your beauty too!

Tired

I haven't been shoveling snow like some of my friends on the East Coast, but the exercise routine is certainly guaranteeing that I sleep soundly at night.

In addition to that, I'm working on a few other projects at work. I have to see if the tests work. If they do, we will certainly have a great way to get things done and get our patients the care they need at home.

Looking forward to every day, even if I feel craggy and tired.

Stay tuned...

Happy New Year

A new day, a new year. Thankful for a warm, dry, home and healthy family and friends.

Let it begin!

All I want for Christmas

Yes, it's a song, but it's chorus resounds in the Hotel.

On the floor, all most of our folks want is to go home for Christmas. As nice as it is in the Hotel with all the volunteers and goodies and Santa (we even offer some shopping), most people want to go home for Christmas.

The folks who have no one, or no real home that looks like Currier and Ives, however, want to stay with us. Someone to take care of you is a happy holiday for them.

Some folks want a diagnosis for an illness that just cropped up. One minute, you're healing up. The next, you're sick, sick, sick and no one seems to know why even after multiple consults.

My office mate and I are still awaiting things to do our job, namely window blinds. That HIPAA assuring privacy thing really is a big deal, Mr./Ms. Hospital Interior Design person. We cannot do all of our jobs without it. So we rearrange, we encroach, and we crash in other areas. This makes for some other unhappy coworkers, but we manage. 'Tis the price of improvement and remodeling the Hotel, we say.

However, my relative is asking for something big: an accessible neighborhood. One in which you can ambulate by walking, your walker or your electric wheelchair, without fear of being hit by cars on a busy street. And since it's not far from the Hotel, it matters to us, too.

The social media campaign began yesterday. The news story airs tonight.

It's a big Christmas wish, but one that really should come true. Somebody's life may depend on it.

Stay tuned...

Almost home

The office mate is at a conference. His/her previous office mates dropped off the rest of his/her stuff yesterday. Why people don't move EVERYTHING when they move is beyond me. I'm just surprised they haven't asked to change the locks yet.

We are still in a fishbowl with no window coverings (blinds, etc.) which means no patients in our treatment area. One of these days our interior design staff will get a clue.

I'm hoping that clue comes special delivery today.

The patients that pass do like coming in to look around. Most folks in wheelchairs can do a 360 in the space in front of our desks, which is nice.

It's nice to be almost home.

Wheels of change

The construction still continues. Our administrative leader is optimistic it will be done early. It helps when our folks get early finish bonuses.

I run back and forth, round and round in the interim. I found out last week, when I went to get something ordered for a patient, that the item I was looking for wasn't available to order. It makes me wonder if I'll even be able to do the things my management wants, if I don't have equipment.

Dahey hopes his TDY duty will be done before Halloween. The fun aspect has worn off. He wants to come home. Bubba and I had a pretty good weekend. We roamed around town and even saw a hot air balloon land in one of the local parks. It was unscheduled, so all the kids in the neighborhood came out. (We were driving by, and went to look). We even fixed a fancy meal he planned and that went well, even though he could have done more work.

More motivation and fun this week. Stay tuned!

Why you need insurance

***SOAPBOX ALERT**** (aka something to consider)

There are lots of insurance products out there: life, homeowners, renters, automobile, motorcycle, health, disability insurance you name it. Some are required by law, like automobile insurance, or homeowners, because they protect a valuable asset (your home or your car). This is mostly required by creditors. Life insurance protects you and your family. We know that nursing is a hard, sometimes dangerous profession. Disability insurance is another thing to consider, since nurses are very likely to be injured on the job vs. to die at work.

However, many nurses practice without insuring something just as valuable. They practice without nursing malpractice insurance. In the few years I've practiced, I've heard a lot of stories about lawsuits and the judgments that often come with them.

Many people rationalize why they don't want insurance. They are not "those people". If they buy insurance, they'll be sued. The hospital will protect me, since I've been a good employee and never disciplined. My state board will protect me.

Unfortunately, those people or nurses who get sued are very nice people just doing their jobs like you are. If you are like me, you live in an "at will" state. You can be fired at any time (and you can leave at any time). This means even with your stellar record, your facility could let you go. Finally, most state boards may discipline you if you are found negligent. If you lose your license, you lose your livelihood.

If you love your job, your family, your house and your car, you need to consider carrying malpractice insurance, too. There are many good firms out there, some specifically for nurses. Seek them out.

Your career may depend on it.

More to come...

Sometimes, you really can't

Go home again. You can't go home without it changing you.

In this article in the NY Times, they discuss how many Africans who believe in female genital mutilation are sending their daughters out of the country for the process to occur in their former home countries, such as Somalia or Mali (including a few others).

I learn something new every day...

Happy Thanksgiving

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  ~Melody Beattie

May you enjoy your day wherever you are.

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...

Perspective

One day you get a terminal diagnosis, like Mr. X. Madge, our NP, briefs the staff by saying, "Mr. X. may complain of a sudden pain and that will be it." Lots of people are worried, about you, but we do a pretty good job of bluffing sometimes.

You finally realize that maybe you should go to hospice, because, even though your siblings love you, they just don't know if they can take losing you by themselves at home. As usual, for some people, the Hotel becomes their home for many reasons, as it did for Mr. X.

Our docs get ready to send you to the hospice unit. You say you're okay with that and wheel around in your chair. Your relatives come and even bring your little dog, Fido, who's missed you ever since you've been gone on this odyssey of one life-threatening event after another.

That day, your sister comes for lunch and brings you the biggest burger from Burgers-R-Us nearby, which you tell us are the best ever (just like the sign out front says) and you eat your lunch out on the patio.You go to bed, telling staff you're happy, after a wonderful, sunny day.

Early the next morning, Sasha, the night nurse, finds you. Unresponsive. Gone. She wept and wept. It was her first death on the unit.

She wept for all of us.

We'll miss you, Mr. X., your family and your little dog, too. Godspeed...

So happy...

I'm no longer cleaning. My husband's sibling and family have left the abode. I'm no longer expected to entertain, or clean heavily. Everyone had a wonderful time, even if I did not get the windows cleaned for their arrival. It wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Back to reality...and work. And work was still the same. Just hoping and praying someday I'll find out about the new job and will get to leave the Hotel. This time of year is always so hot, especially in temperature and temperament.

Now I'm vegetating while the Dahey, Bubba and WildDog play in the yard. I love a house that's still, and full of peace and quiet.

More to come...stay tuned.

Should I stay or should I go...

The news today: ice, ice, ice everywhere.

Hence the reason that Clash song is reverberating in my head...decisions, decisions.

Home for the holidays

That's what I told K, the charge nurse today, when Mr. B. came back to us. As usual, he was a thin, straggly mess, and on top of it, sick. It was so sad; a flashback to Christmases past. I've been at the Hotel for a few years now and I can only remember one Christmas without him. Scary.

Since we take in patients from other hospitals to our lovely Hotel, one of the feeder hospitals and their bright medical staff decided a patient we sent home on hospice needs to come back. For what, pray tell? Why their doc seems to think Mr. I. needs more surgery to address his wounds. Do you remember us mentioning that metastatic cancer thing? Or that Mr. I has a very greater than normal chance of dying far away from home, without the support of his family no matter what we do?

No, Dr. X et al think we are Mr. I's (and Mr. B's) family. It's a shame that a) we actually are closer to some of these people than their families and b) we do our job so well.

The only good thing about all of this: at least Mr. B. will get a hot meal tonight. I worry about him every single time I see him.

Stay tuned...more to come.

A little light cynicism

Oh, it's the latest initiative...put everyone in a room, have them bring their lunches and talk. Yes, they've brought back the famous "lunch and learn" but not on any topics you want to learn about. (I'm just hoping most people aren't bringing this lunch along, or it will probably negate whatever they learn.)

No, our topic is, in a nutshell, "how do we get along and play well with others without acting like primadonnas." Guess we gotta start somewhere.

Thankfully, none of these are mandatory...and many are planned on my regularly scheduled day off. I'll be thinking about the stress relievers as I relieve my stress at home cleaning or at the salon getting my regularly scheduled services.

As they say, charity does really begin at home.

And then there was one...

I started the day with two patients and I ended up with just one, and I'm not even in ICU! Woo hoo!

First, I had to send Mr. R. to a nursing home in a nearby state. It's probably the last time any of us will ever see him. I got his big dressing done and was very careful with it. It was really messy because it was leaking all over the pad he was on when I got to him. Just before that, I had to do a dig stim on him, too, since he didn't get his bowel routine (daily suppository) today. I did this in an attempt to get him cleaned out a little before he left. I cleaned him up, put his theraboots on and a clean gown so he'd be ready to go.

He's not doing well. He was stable, but we don't know how long that will last. He didn't tell us today, but I know he knows he's going home to die. I think it was bittersweet for him and A. was upset that she forgot to say goodbye since she was busy with another patient. I packed all his stuff carefully, put his AM snack in with his lunch and made sure the paramedics knew where everything was. He should see his family today, or so he told me. I hope it all works out for them. We know we did a decent job because he told us he'll miss us. I pray for my patients and he'll be one of the ones on my list. I'll never forget him.

Once I got all Mr. R's paperwork done, Mr. HIJ #1 was my patient for the rest of the day. He was needy as usual, but I got his bath done, his dressing and then I hooked up his IV. He wanted a soda, since none of the volunteers came around today with any, so I went downstairs and bought him one. I even caved in and bought myself one while I was at the machine.

Our boss was gone today, so most of the staff scattered from the nurses' station for most of the day. The slackers, including the Slug, never came near the nurses' station, because you might end up doing some work if you hang out there. I don't care. I'd rather do work than spend my whole day hiding just so I can do nothing. Our charge, P., was busy ordering blood and going with the docs on wound rounds this morning. Thankfully, we don't have tons of people to be inspected, so this went quickly.

I ate my lunch in peace around 1130 before the trays came and I set Mr. HIJ up when his lunch arrived. A the NP and I planned our itinerary for our conference in November. It should be fun. We're on the same flight and we plan on getting some sightseeing done near our hotel before the conference starts. We'll have to start out from here really, really, early, but I think it will work out well.

By the afternoon, I even remembered the other stuff I had forgotten earlier, so Mr. HIJ was happy. He was feeling hot (but afebrile) by the end of the day, so I got him all situated with his fan and everything in his room and he got very comfortable and fell asleep. After that, I finished off as many orders in the computer as possible and then I went on my way home.

Back tomorrow...we'll see how many admissions we really get (supposed to be five!).