aaaaaagggggghhh!

Ok. Thanks. I feel better now.

The moment by moment pendulum swing continued right to the end of the week. Well, still continues if you want to know the truth.

Friday morning I went in to shadow Maren, the person doing day-on-call for the U side of the hospital. Just to see the beginning of the day procedures and talk through how she prioritizes visits on her unit and referrals she has to cover by virtue of the fact that she is on-call.

Then I met up with Ladonna, who is my clinical coordinator, so she could introduce me around on my unit. In the meantime I zipped down to health services to have my TB test read (negative. thank you.) and to find out that my lame-a$$ clinic had not yet sent my immunization records so I had to get a lab order for them to check titers. All this in the name of protecting me and the patients. I understand. It’s just a pain. And if I had the will to do it, I’d write a rant about the high cost of a medical system that can’t keep track of a person’s records even when they go to the same flipping clinic for 20 years!

ahem.

So I sat in on rounds on my unit. Which is COMPLETELY different than what you see on TV people. Maybe the TV version exists somewhere at this hospital but is not what I am involved with. This verison of ’rounds’ takes place in a meeting room on the floor. It’s the charge nurse, the social worker, the nutrition person, the physical therapist, the patient care coordinator and me (a.k.a. chaplain). The charge nurse names the patient, runs down what’s going on medically and the rest of the group chimes in on updates related to new limbs, transitions to rehab or nursing home, etc.

I took mad notes and didn’t say a thing. Except at the end where I asked “what’s a ’sitter’?” because I was pretty sure they didn’t mean like a baby-sitter. Turns out they did. Some patients need a person to sit in the room with them at all times in case they try to pull out stuff or get out of bed. Neat.

OK. So I’ll be at those meetings at least twice a week.

Then, down to the lab where I sat for like 45 minutes (!!!) waiting to be called so they could draw blood. Whatever.

By this time I know I’m getting a raging headache but I still have like 45 minutes before I could possibly leave. So I go back to the office to meet up with Ladonna. We go over my notes from rounds and apparently I have good instincts for listening between the lines to figure out how to prioritize who I should see. There won’t be time to visit with everyone on the unit.

So, before I go to my paying job, I decide to go back up to the unit and visit with one woman who I saw on her intake form had requested to see a chaplain. We visit for a few minutes. I give her a prayer book and we pray. I leave to arrange for the priest to come and visit, since she’s catholic and wanted annointing of the sick and communion. I pop back into the room to tell her he’s on his way. When I leave the room that’s when I realize that there’s a sign saying I should have been gowned and gloved when I visited with her.

SHIT SHIT SHIT!

I didn’t touch her and didn’t get close enough to spit on her. But SHIT!

Now, the tension headache takes this chance to turn into a full blown migraine. nausesia and everything. I make my way back to the office, get my purse and notebook and head out for the shuttle. Oh, yeah. The fact that my unit is on the U side means I have to park on the other side of the river and take the shuttle over to the hospital…and back.

I find Theresa and Wanda also waiting for the shuttle. They can immediately see that I’m in rough shape but they still keep talking to me! I want to ask them to stop but at this point in the migraine, voluntary muscle coordination is restricted to standing up and ambulation. Talking is out of the question except for gentle grunts and moans. Too loud and too hard to form words.

I concentrate on the ride back on 1) relaxing my shoulders and neck and 2) trying not to barf.

An amazing realization is that you really can’t do the two of those things at the same time. I narrow my concentration to not barfing.

I stumble to my car and drive home. (Note: as dangerous as DUI is, driving while under a migraine has to be at least as bad.) I shoved a couple Excedrin passed my teeth and down my throat before crawling into the sweet darkness of my bed, covering my head (but not my nose or mouth) with pillows, blocking out more sound and light. I lay there trying to breathe and untense my muscles for an hour and a half.

At that point, I had to get up because I had to go and get Libby’s perscription refill. Otherwise, she would be without meds as of Sunday and there is no time next week to get them before she would crash. It had to be then because the pharmacy closes at 4:30.

As a treat to her I let her ride along.

Got back home around 4:30, after picking up DS2 on his walk home from school. I returned to my dark haven for a bit more rest…after taking 2 more Excendrin.

By 6 I felt well enough to go to my ISAIAH meeting. I little wobbly as is usual for post-migraine, but basically pain free. Except for the psychic pain of realizing that I had completely blown off SAPLC without calling them and probably missed a meeting.

After I returned home from the meeting, YM and I had warm saki and snacks. That was very good. This morning I’m staying in bed until noon. Of course, I’ve been awake since about 8 and working on emails and such. I also had to help the boys get out the door with their father (which is a whole other entry for later.)

This afternoon: laundry, groceries and to church by 4:30 for the funeral that the choir sings at.
So much for a day off. But it was a half day…sort of.

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

Awe Shucks! 2007
Lazy Saturday 2006

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

Awe Shucks! 2007
Lazy Saturday 2006

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

Awe Shucks! 2007
Lazy Saturday 2006

Posted on September 9th, 2006 under CPE, my crazy life, work. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.