Will I ever stop saying "later"?
I am a procrastinator. There I have confessed it to the world even if the world doesn't read my blog. It may be a good thing that they don't read as I may have to claim amnesia on the procrastinator thing some day. Easter is two short weeks away and that means April is the same. Which means the next schedule needs to be posted ASAP, so that I know where I need to go with extra help. Two of the most recent CNA hires are not really working out as well as one might hope. And one PRN is a bit on the testy side.
The main reason for having the schedule out ahead of time is to develop a pattern that everyone can follow and they know is their work schedule. This ensures that the residents are taken care of no matter what. Also it will come in handy in the near future for me too. When I go out for surgery it won't be that hard for someone to come in and fill my shoes, hypothetically of course. With long term and short term disability in place I should be able to pace my recovery time... I hope.
Between now and then I hope that DH can stop smoking in the house. I prefer he quit altogether but that is probably asking way too much. Not sure how I can convince him it is important to me... as smoke filters down from the game room upstairs I find myself getting more and more irritated at the smell.
Back to the surgery thing. When I went to the ortho doc he gave me the choice of surgery as soon as possible or an injection. The injection was purported to keep the pain at bay for 3 months or so. Of course that sounded better than surgery to me so I asked at the end of 3 months I come back for another shot? No, the nice doctor responded you then get the surgery scheduled. So weighing my options, both of them, I decided to go with the injection. When I went in to let the good doctor do the "magical" injection, I was unusually embarrassed. As I sat in the cold examination room waiting, it occurred to me I have not been on the receiving end of a sharp object in a long time. The longer it took him to arrive in the room the more I thought about getting dressed again and getting the heck out of dodge!
To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was terrified! Even more so when the assistant brought the tray of goodies in and I thought for a moment that she would be delivering the dreaded pointy thing. She assured me "he" would be back soon. Too soon actually, it wasn't five minutes before he came back in. As he rubbed the target area with alcohol he described that it would hurt a bit as he had to go deep to get his target. He could have gone 100 years and not said that! As he got the instrument ready I unfortunately got a good look at that needle... holy cow! It looked big enough for a cow! I am sure I was visibly shaking at that point. Mostly because he asked why I was shaking so bad.
I was quick to explain that first, I although I was accustomed to being in a room with a half naked patient and a professional, I was not used to being the one without adequate clothing. Preferably I would want to be the professional. Also, I do not like injections. He exclaimed "you're a nurse and you are afraid of needles?!" Frankly, I am just not that acquainted with the delivery end of the apparatus, thank you very much! Of course he recommended that I look the other way as I began to watch him deliver the injection, as I turned my head away abruptly, I saw a full length mirror image of both of us and I exclaimed "there is a flipping mirror there!" And he started laughing, with the needle in my arm! That hurt! He said if it hurt then he hit his mark...WHAT?!
Now I'm laughing.. out of fear, but laughing. Thankfully there is not a second injection. As he removed the needle and said "you're done, get dressed and go out and make an appointment to schedule the surgery" I say thank you. Why? Why do we say thank you when someone just stuck us with a sharp object and we paid them to do it?! They get paid to inflict pain and don't say sorry and we thank them.... I don't get it. But I did it just like everyone else, I said thank you.
The main reason for having the schedule out ahead of time is to develop a pattern that everyone can follow and they know is their work schedule. This ensures that the residents are taken care of no matter what. Also it will come in handy in the near future for me too. When I go out for surgery it won't be that hard for someone to come in and fill my shoes, hypothetically of course. With long term and short term disability in place I should be able to pace my recovery time... I hope.
Between now and then I hope that DH can stop smoking in the house. I prefer he quit altogether but that is probably asking way too much. Not sure how I can convince him it is important to me... as smoke filters down from the game room upstairs I find myself getting more and more irritated at the smell.
Back to the surgery thing. When I went to the ortho doc he gave me the choice of surgery as soon as possible or an injection. The injection was purported to keep the pain at bay for 3 months or so. Of course that sounded better than surgery to me so I asked at the end of 3 months I come back for another shot? No, the nice doctor responded you then get the surgery scheduled. So weighing my options, both of them, I decided to go with the injection. When I went in to let the good doctor do the "magical" injection, I was unusually embarrassed. As I sat in the cold examination room waiting, it occurred to me I have not been on the receiving end of a sharp object in a long time. The longer it took him to arrive in the room the more I thought about getting dressed again and getting the heck out of dodge!
To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was terrified! Even more so when the assistant brought the tray of goodies in and I thought for a moment that she would be delivering the dreaded pointy thing. She assured me "he" would be back soon. Too soon actually, it wasn't five minutes before he came back in. As he rubbed the target area with alcohol he described that it would hurt a bit as he had to go deep to get his target. He could have gone 100 years and not said that! As he got the instrument ready I unfortunately got a good look at that needle... holy cow! It looked big enough for a cow! I am sure I was visibly shaking at that point. Mostly because he asked why I was shaking so bad.
I was quick to explain that first, I although I was accustomed to being in a room with a half naked patient and a professional, I was not used to being the one without adequate clothing. Preferably I would want to be the professional. Also, I do not like injections. He exclaimed "you're a nurse and you are afraid of needles?!" Frankly, I am just not that acquainted with the delivery end of the apparatus, thank you very much! Of course he recommended that I look the other way as I began to watch him deliver the injection, as I turned my head away abruptly, I saw a full length mirror image of both of us and I exclaimed "there is a flipping mirror there!" And he started laughing, with the needle in my arm! That hurt! He said if it hurt then he hit his mark...WHAT?!
Now I'm laughing.. out of fear, but laughing. Thankfully there is not a second injection. As he removed the needle and said "you're done, get dressed and go out and make an appointment to schedule the surgery" I say thank you. Why? Why do we say thank you when someone just stuck us with a sharp object and we paid them to do it?! They get paid to inflict pain and don't say sorry and we thank them.... I don't get it. But I did it just like everyone else, I said thank you.
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