Certified, baby!

Yes! We got another nurse certified recently at the Hotel. (Thought he/she would take FOREVER!)

C'mon CARF...we'll be ready!

Stay tuned.

Baseball on the brain

Yes, it's not a nursing topic, but in these parts of RehabLand, you know when people have had enough of winter, because they start talking about spring training. It's on television, it's in the newspaper, it's the stuff of discussion on the unit amongst the locals. (The non-locals are all about football and basketball right now...)And even more so since two old ball players got their heavenly rewards this week: Stan Musial and Earl Weaver.

A few of our old timers talked about their memories: radio stories, pros buying an enlisted guy a drink on his birthday, harmonicas, confetti, and screaming matches. One old character told us about his friends from the Negro Leagues. This guy actually showed up to tell the story about how he always was the target of fights since he liked throwing pitches "high and tight".

Nothing like thoughts of spring to help ward off this winter chill. More later...

Another day...

More construction work on tap at the Hotel. More issues found in my trainer's office.

Guess we might end up with a whole lot of people in the emptied out Detox unit really, really soon at the  rate we are going.

Or as Jess, our therapist mentioned, "Just put up a trailer outside."

Just in time for winter...right!

Families

We see a lot of families crossing the threshold of Hotel Rehab. You name it...we get it. We get regular Joe and Jill nuclear families with 1.5 kids, and the whole enchilada of all those plus grandma, grandpa, all the aunts, uncles and cousins. 


In addition, we see families in various forms dysfunction often caused by divorce or disagreement. Since I've been at the Hotel, I've seen examples of the cute family with that 1.5 kids break down because, lo and behold, Wifey finds out (while Hubby is with us) that Hubby has another woman, and she's pregnant with his kid and wants to know who's going to support her now Hubby's been injured. Hmm...calling Social Work and Psychology right now for this one! 


But lately, lots of people are coming in who don't really have a family nearby. They've estranged them for one reason or another, have family members with their own significant health, financial or employment issues, or have simply outlived everyone in their families. We become their families, and they get really upset when they realize that they can't stay with us forever. One character mentioned suicide just to buy more time. 

Some others, however, end up going over to another unit, down the way, with the great view of nature and what awaits us all. Yes, we keep getting more and more people with terminal illnesses, and we are becoming a feeder unit for hospice. One of the non-nursing staff did ask a good question recently: if they stay so long that we're like their families, why do we throw them out when they're dying?


If only I had the time to tell him/her that we do it because we love them. We care about them, but sometimes it's a terrible duty for a rehab nurse to have to admit defeat. This patient will never regain function beyond what they have, and most likely, they'll lose it all before they die. We aren't set up to do hospice, and don't have all the comfort things they have readily available. 


Admitting our job is over doesn't mean we don't care. We do. Sometimes, though, we have to know when to say when and let someone else take over. Some of them will always be in our hearts and minds, especially on days when we remember them, as our unit did recently.



To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.
~Thomas Campbell, "Hallowed Ground"

The holiday season

The holidays can be both happy and sad at the Hotel.

I was a good person today. After a marathon cookie-baking session with Bubba, I delivered some plates to my coworkers at work, just in time before they got ready for their own holiday lunch. Everyone seemed happy to see them.

I also got to talk to a few folks and I found out one of our regular characters died suddenly. Mr. F. and I got along really well, even if I wasn't always assigned to take care of him. He was a very smart guy, with an actual job, and he died with his proverbial boots on at work as he was getting ready to leave for the day. I'll miss those times when he'd ask me about the clues in the New York Times crossword puzzle in the newspaper. He got most of them, but he was always amazed that I could usually find the one he was missing (thanks to the internet). Overall, he was a decent person and never wanted to be a bother to anyone. While I'm sad, I'm not surprised he'd made a quick exit. He went the way he always said he wanted to go.

The holidays will be upon us soon and I'm very excited to see what happens. Stay tuned.

Maybe they get it...

That I try to read my homework whenever possible, so I can get ahead. Yep, that's why. Every page read leads to one more assignment and to one more class to that graduate degree.

The journey of a thousand miles, truly, does begin with a single step.

Heat, humidity, and vacation season

The Boss is on vacation again this week. Should be interesting. Thankfully, so is the Slug. The charge nurses in control don't need any more mayhem than what occurs naturally at the Hotel.

The unit is cool in some spots and hot in others. It's a classic case of quads like it hot and everyone else likes it cool. This is the time of year I hope to take care of all the people who like it cool. Otherwise, I melt. I throw off the isolation gown ('cause it seems like almost everyone in our place is on isolation) and run into the cool hallway to get some relief.

And with all the heat and humidity comes the storms. Nice if I didn't feel like watering the plants, but not so nice when I'm out with Bubba and the scouts fishing. Those fish just don't like to bite during thunderstorms and standing in an open area with a fishing rod, is not the smart thing to do.

So Momma is gonna retire to some nice air conditioning, with a cool glass of whatever looks good.

More adventures later...

Low tech, high tech

This story below is from Giacomo, my friend, hospital chaplain at World Renown, a fancy-schmancy level one trauma center.

Giacomo was at the nurses' station in a certain ICU unit, talking to a fellow chaplain, when he noticed something move on the floor. Turns out one of the resident varmints (aka good sized cockroach) ambled into the nurses' station in the middle of day shift.

Giacomo says to the charge nurse, "What's your policy on him?" pointing to said cucharacha. Charge nurse just shrugged and took off.

Being the manly character he is, Giacomo strolls over to the stopped varmint, smashes him and with a tissue, picks it up and buries it in the nearest garbage can.

Giacomo goes back to his spot with the other chaplain and says, "It's nice to know in this high-tech ICU, some things are still low tech." which caused an enormous roar of laughter from the intensivist sitting nearby.

I'll have to remember to tell our chaplain this story the next time he's on the unit....

Hannibal used to say...

"I love it when a plan comes together." and chomped on his cigar, in just about every episode.
I thought of this very saying when I read Theresa Brown's latest installment called When Nursing is a Team Sport.

Makes me wish this happened more often on our unit. She mentioned some valid concerns--especially ego and too much overtime.

Hope you enjoy this happy phenomenon wherever you are today...stay tuned for more excitement.