A loooong day

When I originally started this blog, I thought I'd write about past and current patients. If you put the blogs of all the interesting ones together, you could make a book. Somehow, it became more of my family and the "Girls." (Molly, by the way, rolled in eau de dead bird last week. Lovely. Necessitated a late-night bath. We both hated it.) Tonight I'll write about a patient.

I was called to clinic at 11:15. Seems there was a patient acting strangely, and some of my staff thought perhaps he ought to be informed that we couldn't help him. I decided to try some of my kindness, since at times, there are a few of my staff who can over-react and/or exaggerate.

Sitting in the interview was a tall, thin black male with a scarf on his head, the type that hugs the head tightly and ties in the back. He was completing his history. I asked him if he was ready for me to take care of him. No answer. I repeated the question. He looked up, finally, and shook his head "no." I told him to open the door when he was finished.

I thought this may require extra safety, so I asked the deputy to come nearer to the clinic area and be alert, where he couldn't be seen, but come quickly if needed. I finally had the pt. come to the exam room, and the next hour consisted of me s-l-o-w-l-y completing his exam and treating his affliction. Suffice to say that he exhibited obvious signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (it took him 15 minutes to adjust his shirts in prep to leave the exam room) and paranoia, and there may have been other problems as well; I suspect schizophrenia; he spoke of someone breaking into his home and putting a cream on his penis that changed its' color (color was normal.) This was a poor dude. Took me an hour to do what would have taken 5 minutes on a "normal" patient. And afterward, I was exhausted. He told me several times that "he was angry" because I "hadn't allowed him to finish." He would explain something and take a long pause, I thought he was through and would answer. I almost wish we had walkie-talkies, so he could say "over" and I'd know I could answer. That was the longest hour in years. I felt exhausted after that. However.....

.....I had to later do a "formal counseling" session with an employee who has found it ok to speak rudely and loudly to her supervisor. Not with me. Naturally, she thought this was our fault and mentioned a grievance. I told her to do what she had to do and dismissed her. Such is the life of management.

Well, Searcher just came home from "Iguana Mia." She and Ripped turned 20 today! They all went to the restaurant to have dinner with their friends, and the twins ate free. Nice.

G'night, y'all. Gotta do it all again tomorrow, but I hope not like today!

Later.

REAL sadness

For those of you who have had the pleasure of waking up to t.v. news and weather in southwest fl, i have some sad news: Jim Syoen, the best weatherman ever, is leaving nbc-2. No reason stated. I sure hope he wasn't fired. He was not the usual staid guy, not at all. And he's always voted "best weatherman" in our local paper. I don't know why he's leaving, but it's time for me to either stop watching the morning local news, or switch stations.

Sad day.

ssssssmokin'!

Received at work today:

The wild fire situation in Florida continues to worsen going into the weekend. Red Flag warnings, brisk easterly winds and lightning-producing thunderstorms will combine to bring smoky conditions and increasing fire threat to much of the state. There are currently 208 active fires burning 192,593 acres in the state and conditions may rapidly deteriorate around any of the Florida and/or Georgia fire complexes. The drought also continues unabated in the state and will continue to hamper firefighting efforts. Currently there is no need to change holiday weekend plans, but, this is a good opportunity to make sure your emergency contact and staffing information is current.

Yes, we've had several wildfires in our area, and the sky is often gray with smoke, and of course, that makes a lovely fragrance (insert sarcasm here.)

We need rain badly.

~~me

OK, where was I?

Much has happened since April 1st. Let me think. My Mom (bless her soul) treated my sister and I to a cruise. We went on Voyager of the Seas and took the Western Caribbean route. Let me digress by saying that I pronounce Caribbean with the strong emphasis on the second syllable; all other syllables receive little emphasis. Come on, think Lauren Bacall a few years ago, that husky, throaty voice saying, "You've got a little Royal Caribbean coming!" That's how she pronounced it, so it must be right.
Anyway, we had a great time. It was a perfect first cruise for my sister. Mom and Dad have cruised 16 times on RC alone, and many times on other cruiseslines. Yes, they were quite the gallavanters. And I could write blog after blog on their escapades alone.
My sister, Deb, didn't seem too excited about the whole thing until she saw the ships. If you come out of the Port of Miami, there is a point where you're downtown amidst tall buildings, then you go over a bridge, and suddenly - there are the huge cruise ships. It is quite impressive. Deb had a great time. We wend snorkeling, her first time, in Grand Cayman. We figured out how to do it on the cheap. On the way back from Cozumel (one of our four stops: Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Grand Cayman Island) we (the captain and staff) found two life boats floating, so we checked them out. They were empty, so the guys deflated them and brought them aboard, so as not to confuse the next cruise ship. About 30 minutes later (and this is not too far from Cuba) we were stopped dead-in-the-water again when we came upon an inverted catamaran. It looked so small from our 6th-deck room, but turned out to be a 35 footer. The passengers were all curious about a possible relationship between that and the empty lifeboats. Face it, they were agog! When I got home, I found this on a google search: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,132022,00.html Check it out.

One week after I got home, I had to go to Orlando for a State nursing director's conference. I thought it was going to be boring, but it really was pretty good. I was glad to get home, though, and stay here until.........

.......next week, when my Mom and I travel to MD by car, leaving May 11th. We are taking her border collie, Shadow. She is a great dog. Mom has trained her to be a certified therapy dog, and she really helped take care of Dad.

In between, Dreamer graduated from FSU last Saturday with a Bachelor's in Early Childhood Education and a minor in Japanese. Go figure. Her hubby, who I have finally named Bear, is already seeking employment here, and Dreamer has applied at our local school board. Pray hard! They want to live here, and we'd love them to. We enjoy them. The graduation was well-organized, and we had fun spending time with the kids.

Ripped is engaged (as faithful readers know - all two of you!) to be married May 17th, 2008. I have spoken with him about making sure he won't be plum broke, my only concern. Sweetness is definitely the right girl for him, and we love her dearly.

And.......blow the trumpet!.......Searcher landed that job at the Sheriff's Dept.!!!!! She looks so cool in her uniform. And the stories she tells..... I just laugh and laugh. Today is her first day with a Field Training Officer, so I can't wait to hear how that went.

OK, you're all caught up.

Later!