Signs of the end of summer

It was too good to last. Yes, summer is trying to escape here in RehabLand. It didn't even get to 90 degrees today, and for August, that's cool. The pools are still open (mostly on the weekends) but many are getting ready for the last weekend: Labor Day.

I escaped today as I usually do. I have to go on rounds at Washington, so if I'm not feeling adventurous, I just hop on a shuttle bus. The trip is short, so I don't see much. Standing outside is the part I like if the weather is nice: seeing the sun and soaking up some rays (even if I'm wearing heavy-duty sunscreen to avoid both cancer and wrinkles). Today was glorious. The potted plants aren't wilted and the flowers are blooming again as if it's spring.

The patients like this weather too. When you can convince your therapist to take you outside for a game, or to go wheeling around campus, you've won. We call it community integration and on days like today, it's a good thing.

Why? Because you learn how to get up and down curbs (and how to gauge where the water will be when it rains) and despite whatever illness or injury put you in a wheelchair, for the moment, you're free to hang out and be a lounge lizard. Don't worry, our patients get sunscreen too. Orders for sunscreen are harbingers of spring around the Hotel, just like the swallows coming back to Capistrano.

However, the shuttle trips never last. I'm always dropped off at the door to reality. And today, someone is waiting. Waiting for me, the resident expert, to help them solve one more problem, before they go off into the summery, yet cool sunshine.

I'll take it any day! Hope you enjoy every minute of gorgeous whenever it comes your way.

More later...

The incredible lightness

The weather since Friday has been lovely. The oppressive heat of the week before has left RehabLand for a couple of days.

I certainly enjoyed sitting outside drinking coffee with Bubba and my sister (Bubba drinks lemonade). Last week when we were outside, we were desperately trying to keep iced drinks going down because the heat and humidity was stifling.

I will enjoy the reprieve. Hope you enjoy your weekend wherever you are!

TGIF fun

It was gorgeous! The pollen may be high and driving Bubba crazy, but it was beautiful. I took my friend K. to Washington to get some admin stuff out of the way and I checked in on a new patient in our acute wing. We stopped by and grabbed lunch on the way back to the Hotel, so I could sit outside at work on the patio and enjoy the glory of a bright, sunny day.

K. had lots to do so she had to go back to her desk in the inventory department. It was sad we couldn't enjoy lunch together. I really miss her now that she's back in that group full-time. We don't see each other often, even though, we're on the same hospital campus.

I got a lot of work done, because I opened the blinds to look out regularly, and whenever I could, I stepped out the front door and just looked around. As my Irish grandma used to say, you need to go outside "and get the stink blown off you." Maybe life's not a smelly, but yes, fresh air is good!

My favorite specialist (Dr. E.I.) came to see us for a Grand Rounds that Hippy Nurse planned on her favorite topic. However, HN didn't quite complete her task: she forgot to show up today. I'll remind her (and her nurse manager) that she's really not too good on completing tasks. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated event. Working behind her on the floor is a nightmare. Some things she does beautifully (she can get an IV in just about anyone) but some things really vary (like charting, turning and paying attention to detail).  They vary because  it depends on how enthralled she is on Facebook that day. Other staff and patients complain, but nothing (including her work) never seems to get done some days. Needless to say, other shifts get angry. This is just one (of many reasons) I don't miss working the floor.

But nothing could stop me from running out the door when the day was done. It was just too pretty.

Hope your weekend is beautiful, too, wherever you are.

Heat and furry friends

Yes, in summertime in these parts, you always hear stories about people leaving their dogs (and  sometimes their kids) in the car "for just a minute."

Since WildDog is getting older and belongs to the Loyal Order of Double-Coated Dogs he needed a good bath and grooming.

He now looks a lot lighter, and he's happy he's escaped those groomers, even though they were very nice.

I bribed him with cookies before and after. I'm just hoping he doesn't leave as many hair clumps all around the house.

Misspent youth

I spent a good chunk of my free time at university, sitting under a sycamore tree, propped up on the luxurious green grass, letting the wind blow through my hair.

When I wasn't in the breeze outside,  I jammed my Walkman in my room to all sorts of stuff, including these guys, way back when...

Water, please!

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My day seemed like a desert at the Hotel. It was hot, and I was thirsty. If I move another bed from room to room because we keep having odd isolation situations coming up, I think Mike the housekeeper can, and will take his mop bucket and dump it over my head.


My orientee and I ran from patient to patient and got everyone taken care of, including getting one another bed, since he needed a new one for a couple of reasons.


Besides moving everyone around, we got to take one of our patients outside to our garden and patio area. A few patients congregated out there and had a good old time. We checked on him from time to time to bring coffee and check his water pitcher. It had been a very long time since he was allowed up and he relished every moment of it.


I finally slaked the never-ending thirst for moment by getting a diet soda at lunch. I hate diet soda, but this one was actually pretty good. Gradually, I'm getting used to more fruits, and especially vegetables in my diet. I love bread, but I cannot eat much of it anymore. I have to save it for special occasions.

Now, it's back to studying...more later...

Spring has sprung

There's no patio furniture outside, but with all the stretchers and wheelchairs on the back patio, you'd think we were having a party.

At least, it keeps people out of trouble...and gets some of the nurses outside on "business". It's rough when you have to eat your lunch with a patient outside.

More to come...stay tuned

Some want out...

Others want to get into the Hotel Rehab.

Here's the latest installment of Heard on the unit from the mouths of sundown.

"Get out of here, b*6tch. You're trying to poison me." Demented character #1

He/she screams so loudly, we had to move him/her to a end of the unit where the sound is a bit deadened by open space between rooms. Besides poisoning, we were also attempting to commit murder according to this character.

"Move that sheet. I need to get up and get going." Demented character #2

Oh, no you don't. It's not time to get up I had to remind Mr. Night Shift. You just went to bed and you're not driving that truck over the road any more.

Thankfully, turning off the overhead lights, and then turning on his night light quieted him.

A bright, sunshiny day

It certainly was in our neck of the woods. Patients were escaping in droves--going on various trips or just sitting outside. The weather was glorious...I just wish I could have enjoyed more than the trip home outside in it.

One patient is leaving very early next week. I probably won't see him before I return to work. Another patient I had was his usual talkative self. He complained about a lot, but that's par for the course.

I'm still reading away on my cert books. I have a few DVDs to look at, so that should keep me busy this weekend. The weatherman says the weather will be rainy, so at least I'll have something to keep me entertained.

Stay tuned...more later.