the evening shift

As a hospital employee I've worked every shift that there is and some combinations that were invented to patch things when a crisis occurs. I first started in '77 on the day shift and soon moved to 3-11 when I got married. He worked it too so it was normal to have somebody to chat with after work. For about the first ten years I was there, the techs shared call on 3-11 and 11-7. With no day off afterward. Weekends were the worst because it was two days in a row of it but, hey. We were young...in our twenties and anything is possible when you gotta. Our boss was a man who knew exactly how to manipulate his "harem" to take care of things while he went out visiting office to office. The only other guy in the lab was one that everybody loved and he left soon after I started. We were county owned first, then sold to a non-profit and finally to a corporation.

My friend was always one to compete and be obedient and I'm just not like that at all. Obedience is a word I find not only offensive but scary. Anywho...when our boss got shipped over to another division, she accepted his job and did it for two years without getting paid for the extra work. But then, we had been doing it all anyway so what the hell! Over the years, I have had rounds with her like the disobedient child that I can be, but only over matters of principle and justice, not what piddly stupid little thing he said/she said. I could kinda sorta see how the whole thing was going to play out, and with a young child I just didn't have it in me to commit that much to work. So I became her supporter because in my opinion it's just easier for everybody to find some middle ground and get along. It was tough for awhile, because she was very unsure of herself and insecure about the strength of her decisions. I remember silently praying in staff meetings that she wouldn't break down while trying to keep the heatherns in order. Several very STRONG willed women, I'm just saying. Hey...I'd have been scared too.

As the years passed under her leadership we learned to be a more moderate caring sort of team. We were terribly understaffed and the instrumentation was out of date and she worked hard to put flex scheduling into place so that the horses wouldn't drop dead before they reached age 50. We moved from a cramped corner cubby to a spacious new lab. I'll never forget the night that we moved. She and I had been chatting about the transition and she was all dreading it and I suggested that everybody be required to be there for the middle of the night move. You know....share the joy, so to speak. Since then we have morphed into a group that is willing to work together by trading shifts when necessary or covering when there's something that just can't be missed with the family. We are a much kinder gentler version of who we were 30 years ago, and I love it.

Our shared history is rich with both high points and lows. Babies get born, parents die and sometimes even a co-worker. For me, the freakiest thing that ever happened was when one of our young pathologists had a wreck and was killed instantly, her son surviving to call his radiologist dad by cellphone. Her Christian Egyptian funeral was at the methodist church and I've never seen anything more unique in my life. I was recently divorced and we attended the same church. There's a playground there now in her memory.

When my friend's Dad was killed in an accident with a log truck, it was somewhat of a turning point in our relationship. I watched her change from a devoted Daddy's girl, still respectful, but no longer willing to take people's crap. And that's when most of us said "HECK YES" and jumped on the bandwagon full force. By the time Gracey came along, she was prime for a big dose of getting her head out of the job and more into enjoying life. Let's hear it for the party cocker!!

We are a middle aged group, the youngest of the techs is in his thirties. Having men in the mix has been very good for us. The healthcare professions have long been populated by women who tend to get a bit testy without some other brain thinking in there to calm things down. The same thing is happening in nursing and I think it's fabulous. The really disturbing thing about lab folks is that statistics show that the bulk of the workforce will retire within the next ten years. Not ME, of course. Not without Sugardaddy ;) Nobody wants to go into the field because of the hard work involved to get there along with the lack of respect and recognition for the profession. We're all nurses to the patient.

My shift with Beck tonight gave us an opportunity to catch up with each others' lives in between clangs of the tube dropping from ER. She's an animal lover like me and has given free vet advice over the years. Speaking of which.....

Daisy from Kentucky will be coming to live with us this weekend, Lord willing and it doesn't snow a foot. Will there be pictures? You bet your sweet ass.

a new year looms

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm about ready to put this one out of its' misery. The challenges of 2009 for me personally and the world in general have been pretty intense. Something tells i need some more fun. Like a LOT more. I'm already working toward my goals of getting organized so that I'm not constantly looking for something or for a place to put it. The first seed catalogs arrived today and there is finally a bird at my feeder on the porch. Life is good on the lane.

My youngest brother's family got literally snowed into their mountain valley home for about a week. Their package to us arrived today complete with pics of Adam sittin' on Santa's lap smiling like the joyous little kid that he is.

Just talked to my friend Sue for the first time in weeks and she's in Colorado! Plenty of snow there too. She said it's the biggest warmest fuzziest feeling to see her kids and grandkids play like that. We work together on occasion but love each other all the time.

Gotta go take the ornaments off the fire hazard of a tree. It's been up for a month and there's needles everywhere!

^j^

poopie's law

We always give Daddy one of the Murphy's law desktop calendar so he can rip off a page a day to find some axiom of amendment to the basic truth that "If anything can go wrong it will." Hey...I've learned a lot from the law about how to not lose the proverbial cool over any little thing. Pick your battles, self. It's the only way to halfway enjoy being alive! I knew today was going to be a bitch when I walked into an IS downtime halfway through. On the day after Christmas...with the ER filling up! Can you say "Noel"? That's not quite what I said but it kinda rhymes.

The day went from bad to worse when the air went out with all of us middle aged women scurrying about trying to keep our heads above water. *sigh* My feet hurt and that's the extent of it right now. I'm about to kick off my tennis shoes and wiggle my toes until they relax like these lazy dogs on the couch.

After all, it's still a holiday.

^j^

EDO

That's shorthand for offering the old heads a free day. Normally I have about six hours of vacation to cover my luxury of working nine days out of ten in a pay period. I mean, gah....it costs so much to pay me to be there to watch over all that donated blood. No overtime allowed...not good for productivity, and certainly not for the investors. If there's one thing my boss can do it's crunching numbers. Lord ya'll...I wish I was smart like that. Most of my old school co-workers have husbands to help with the bills. The other half of my rent went packing about seven years ago. It's a long story...remind me to tell you sometime.

Me and BG and Bubba smooth cooked an excellent Christmas breakfast down at Mom and Dad's place today. His sausage? The best I've ever eaten. I did Gaga cheese grits and splashed some half and half into the scrambled eggs while Lauren and Bubba fried homemade sausage, bacon and country ham on the griddle. Before we went, I ran by Aunt Granny's to pick up her gift for Mom because she's bad sick with the epizootie. Granny made friends with this escape artist named Eddie who can draw people's faces like nobody's business. We told her it was a composite of she and Nancy's and Bill's senior pics, drawn by Eddie and re-created by Johnny. Looks just like 'em.

Don't even consider coming to our emergency room this weekend unless you're on death's door. My senior citizen butt is totally tired of listening to that tube system go off like a tornado warning every time it drops. The chillers don't work very well these days either. I think I'll dress light tomorrow because even though it's cold outside, it's hot up in there amongst all the blood countin' gadgets.

More later....it's almost bedtime ^j^

then one windy christmas eve

This week's weather has been a real strange mixture of frozen fog and now very gusty winds, ushering in the REAL winter. Like the kind that buries the mid-west! Work was steady enough not to be boring today and I've got tomorrow off before heading back in on Saturday. That sound you hear is me taking a big sigh of relief that I'm right where I am at this point in time doing what Big Ernie expects of me. She told me so.

BG and BF are gone to visit her Dad for a few hours so it's me and the animals for a bit. My thoughts have wandered back over the years when BG was growing up and Christmas was a hUGe deal for all of us. Kids make all the difference, with their wonder and awe at the magic of the season. Believing in Santa Claus is a little bit like believing in God in that your practical side says "no way" but your faithful side says.."well, it could happen."

I hope that you all have wonderful family filled moments from now until next Christmas. And I sincerely hope that nobody told Santa that I've been bad because it's simply not true. Not that I didn't try..........

Keep the Christmas faith ^j^

the almost nurse/pharmacist/doctor/social worker

Our village has come to the point where things must be condensed and simplified...any system that has a chance of success depends on day to day commitment and an understanding of the big picture. Oh hell...sometimes you just have to grow an idea and that is exactly what is happening with the fam. We run errands and count pills and figure out which trips are really necessary. The team gets smart and realizes who's milking Medicare for the bucks and who's in it to "help people."

Our census is really low right now which makes for shorter hours and much less scurrying. All the ER patients are at Wallyworld picking up last minute stocking stuffers and they won't even begin to think about getting sick until this weekend. When I'm working. Oh happy day! For this I went to college? Not bitchin', mind you. Just making a well informed observation from the hospital employee standpoint. My company gave me a big old honeybaked ham and a raise so I'm committed to making a difference,at least until the new year.

I'm on the Christmas eve shift this year and have been put in charge of cheese grits which I shall double tomorrow night for work and our family gathering on Friday. Gaga made them every year but I've learned that you don't have to have those little expensive rolls of garlic cheese to make it work. Hey...we watch the food network up in our crib.

I wish for all of us, peace on earth. The practical side of me feels that it probably won't occur in my lifetime, but has sincere faith that it can happen.


^j^

one day at a time

Twelve steppers will tell you that it's the only way to go. I became one of them back when I was in therapy and battling all sorts of demons from the past. Oh, it was nothing bad like physical or sexual abuse, but it was pretty tough work all the same. I'm still learning, if you know what I mean. Take today for instance.

Mama called me at work today and she was crying uncontrollably...you know. The UGLY cry. She went to the doctor last week and told him that it was happening pretty often what with her disabilities and daddy's "mental status". Evidently he failed to hear what she was saying when she called me today..."I feel like I'm coming apart!" I don't know about ya'll, but when my mama calls crying I'm outta there and going to see what's up. For the first time in her 76 year old life, she told me that she thinks she needs help, meaning someone professional to spill her guts to. Something more than a hug and the grocery shopping will take care of.

As with your family, there are things that were never discussed because they were shameful...like feelings. She grew up as the overweight oldest child of three in a household that had plenty of money for extravagance like household help. She married just about the poorest sharecropper's son she could find because he was honorable and loved her to death. Daddy has spent his life busting his farmer ass trying to make her happy when only she can do that. Too bad she grew up in the fifties because she would have made a very nice hippie :)

BG and I met up at the shelter today to visit the dogs and cats for Christmas. They barked and sniffed and looked at us longingly but Butterbean wasn't there. I gained a whole new respect for the staff of this volunteer organization by coming in as a repeat customer. No...it's still two dog night around here. But that might change this weekend.

^j^