Playing catch-up...

Well, doesn't time fly? Since the last time I wrote there are been tons of new happenings. The one that comes to mind first is that DH wound up back in the hospital. Long story moderately short....he had an abscess that was not fully treated and it wound up doubling in size. Fortunately for him it didn't rupture and they were able to drain it. Unfortunately the consensus was that the time had finally come for him to have surgery to fix the "broken" innards.

I could go on and on about how I think his gastro doc did a shabby job of addressing the initial problem but that would just make me mad and what's done is done. So, instead I'll tell you that DH had surgery today. Right hemicolectomy. Basically they took out part of his large colon and small intestines and stitched the two ends up. My DH, being the unique individual that he is, of course has to have insides that aren't quite the norm and, therefore, the surgeon had a bit of harder time of things than expected. Overall though the end result hopefully should be the same but with a bit more of a scar. Let me just say that I can fully understand how people go broke trying to pay for medical care down here. If we didn't have premium health insurance we'd be crying over the bills right now. Last hospital stay: 4 days = $20,000. I don't even want to guess that this stay will amount to.

Most of my/our time has been spent in the hospital - getting treatment....getting ready for the surgery. I don't think I've worked much in the last few weeks but I've also come to accept that there is more to life than work and family is my top priority right now. However, in between dealing with all the health issues I did find time to consider other options work-wise and will be making some changes in the next few months. Thankfully the healthcare profession is one in which there are always job openings allowing for all sorts of flexibility and mobility.

Not much else to tell about. I did have my 2month post-op eye follow-up. That went well. At one month I was seeing 20/60 in my right eye, 20/30 in my left. Last time I was seeing 20/30 in my right and 20/25 in my left. I'm hoping for more improvement although I can't really complain as, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I can actually see without any visual aids. I think before the surgery I was 20/800 so any improvement is amazing to me!

Haven't found time to do much creatively. Lots of projects got started and then put on the backburner when we found out that DH was going to have surgery. We started gutting the master bath and got halfway done so that's got to be finished at some point. The stairs still need to be done (ongoing project!). Once those things are done it's small finishing touches around the house and then we'll actually be able to have people over. Yay!!!

No beads or otherwise to talk about/show. Maybe in the next week or so.

Hope you're having a good one wherever you are!! Stay healthy and safe :)

Phew....dodged a bullet...

Recently I've been telling DH....keep your cool. Be the "yes" man. You don't have to like everything they're doing. You don't have to agree with all the decisions. Just fly below the radar and do what you have to do. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't make yourself a target.

Good thing he listens to me. They did the first round of layoffs at his workplace today and a couple of his close co-worker/friends got hit. Good guys. I can't imagine what they're going to do now. I Hope they had some sort of plan in place. I feel badly for them but at the same time am glad that DH dodged this bullet. There may come a time when that might not be the case but for now we're chugging along.

It's crazy days I say.

Dual personalities....

Yup. It's official. I'm developing split personalities. I guess when you work in two totally different places where all the policies and whatnot are different you kind of have to learn how to turn off the part of your brain that "belongs" to the other place. Ever since I started splitting my time between two different hospitals I've found that it's a little more difficult than I thought it would be.

Having said that, in the short period of time that I've been doing it I've come to realize a few things about what direction I want to be heading in - in terms of my nursing career. It's been an eye-opener. I find it somewhat ironic that all the things I think I want tend to wind up being the opposite. Do you find that? It's like coming full circle. When I first started nursing I was convinced that the ICU was where I wanted to be. But then I found the ER and that is ultimately where I started. Convinced that the ER was going to be "it" for me I moved on to a larger, level 1 trauma center and here's where the irony sets in. I find myself being pulled back towards the ICU for all the things that the ER doesn't offer me. In the end I think that I thrive on the thinking that you need in the ICU but also on the adrenaline and doing of stuff in the ER. So, the solution is simple......find a job that incorporates all those things!

OK....no more talking about work. What I do want to talk about is the new Blogger tool that you'll find over there on the navigation bar on the right. "Follow the yellow brick road". If you read this blog even semi-regularly why don't you sign up to follow this blog? It's a little bit of self advertising. People read this, see you as following this blog, click on your link, read your blog! Kinda like a blog ring but snazzier. Go ahead....give it a try :)

New job....

So I survived the first week of the new job. Not actually on the job because it was more administrative orientation stuff this week. Next week is when I get to do real on-the-job stuff. I have to say that I'm excited and scared all at the same time. I guess I must have felt the same way the first time I actually had to take a patient all on my own. It's not that I'm not confident I can do a good job it's just that things are going to be so different - a different computer-based charting system, different protocols, different people. I guess it just takes getting used to :)

All in all things are going well. It will be interesting to see how the next 6 weeks pan out. Will I absolutely love working at a level 1 trauma center? Who knows? But I'll try my best to keep you posted.

Enjoy the weekend! I'll be indoors working all day tomorrow.

Don't know what to do with myself....

It's not often that I get more than 2-3 days off in a row. I know, I know...some of you out there may be thinking you never get more than 2 days off in a row ever. I guess my thinking is that I work 12-hour shifts and usually at least 4 of those a week so it's just always happened that my days wind up spaced in such a way that I don't get a huge chunk of time off unless I purposely plan it that way.

Anyhow, somehow I actually wound up with 6 days off in a row! Nice, right? Not for me....that's too many off in a row :D I picked up an extra shift so instead of 6 days off I get 4 off, 1 on, 1 off, then 2 on. I'm a nut. It's not bad though. That's just about the most time off I want to take....for now.

My problem is that even when I have a whole bunch of days off instead of getting tons accomplished I get absolutely nothing done. There are a million things I could be doing but instead I'm totally frittering away my time - surfing the net, vegging, hunting mice on Facebook. Will I ever actually get anything concrete accomplished??

I'll be heading back to Toronto for a couple of days shortly. Maybe I'll take some pics and post them. I can't wait to get back....lotsa yummy food that can't be found here in the south. Can we say "real" dim sum and authentic asian cuisine??? My salivary glands are working overtime!

Hope you're having a great weekend wherever you are :)

Quick catch up...

Well, if I'm not wrong it's been about a month since I last had anything to say. That's pretty sad I think. It's not that I don't have anything to say but just that once I get started it might not be so easy to stop me.

There's always the same-old, same-old going on at work. We're understaffed and seeing twice as many patients as the hospital has capacity for. It's been pretty crazy as of late - most days we're just holding people until they can get a bed and, of course, if they aren't leaving the ER we're not able to get new people in. You can bet your booty that our customer service scores are going to be in the dump this reporting period. Sigh.

With all of the time I'm spending at work I'm falling further and further behind on the creative stuff. The studio is 75% up and running. I can use it fully but it still needs the final finishing touches. My sincerest apologies to all of you who are waiting on goodies from me. I promise I haven't forgotten about you and that they will be coming.

Then there's the spectre of stats that constantly looms over me. The constant running to keep up with assignments and tests is wearing. Luckily I think we're about 1/2 way through. Just gotta stick it out another 2 months and then I'll be done. I can't wait for that day!

So, not much that's exciting from me. Just wanted to stop by to say "HI" and hope that you're all having more fun than I am (not that it would be all that difficult!!). Check back for more on my upcoming trip in September. I'm taking a month off and not even going to feel guilty about it. I'll try to share my planning and thoughts about the trip as much as I can :)

x0x0

Still human...

I don't talk much about work because I figure there are tons of other bloggers out there who are saying pretty much what I'm thinking in a much more eloquent way. However, when I read this particular 2-part post I felt compelled to jot down a few thoughts.

Undoubtedly if you've read any other blogs by healthcare professionals, especially those who work in the ER, you'll have already figured out that we're chronically short-staffed seeing a bunch of people who really are not having emergencies but who have no other form of healthcare and use the ER for their primary care.

We're burned out and short tempered and, for me, alot of the time many things are reduced to how much paperwork has to be done. For example, blood transfusions and moderate sedations are a pain in the butt because you have to fill out so much frickin' paperwork (don't even get me started on people who use the ER for their routine blood transfusions then get made at you because they're going to be admitted and aren't going to be going home right away!). Sadly, even death has become about paperwork.

Rewind to my opening paragraph. When I read the post by DisappearingJohn I found myself with tears in my eyes. Gosh, am I ever glad to find out I'm still human because most days I feel like a robot.

Thank you John!

Why I turn my ringer off....

Because I seriously do not want to get a phone call at 5:25am on a Sunday - one of the few days I just happen to have off this week - asking me if I want to work.

Trust me.

I work my regularly scheduled days. Heck....I even work extras because we're so bloody short staffed right now. When I'm working 4, sometimes 5 12-hour days out of a 7 day period I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to figure out that the likelihood of me 1. answering the phone when I know it's work calling or 2. saying yes if I should make the mistake of answering the phone is absolutely nil.

Why not try calling the person who likes to make calling out of their regularly scheduled shift just about predictable? I mean, heck....they have no problem screwing the rest of us who do show up for work. To them a schedule is nothing but a piece of paper with gobbledy-gook written on it. Nevermind that the rest of us are counting on you to show up because you actually, at one point, signed yourself up to work that day.

Sigh. I could go on and on but what's the point? Obviously there are those who live up to their obligations and those who do not. It just sucks when those who do not are allowed to with no ramifications while those who do suffer the inevitable fallout.

Ask me again why I decided to get back into the workforce????

Monthly Thursday Social

Just a quick shout out to the gals who launched the first of hopefully many monthly Thursday lunches :) We all need some time to decompress from our jobs and it's just fun to see people in real clothes once in a while instead of the scrubs we live in.

I was pleasantly surprised at how many we had show up for this last minute lunch and even more suprised that we managed to get RNs, NAs and PAs all together at the same time! Next month I'm hoping for twice as many folks! This is going to become an institution I tell ya.

Thanks for coming out y'all. I had a really swell time.