Nurse Annie

Well, it's been two weeks since my interview with Dr Smith and he still hasn't called. I guess it just isn't where God wants me to be right now. I can accept that. Some things just are not meant to be. I feel like writing today, so I'm going to tell you about one of my residents. We'll call her Annie (for privacy reasons). Annie came to us from a local hospital a little over a month ago. She had been found in the floorboard of a vehicle covered in feces and urine. She was catatonic and would not speak. Annie is young....about 49 or 50 years old. My heart went out to her before she even came to me because of the situation she was in. Apparently she had had mental issues in the past and had not been taking her medications. I guess that's how she ended up in the floor of someone's car. Annie is great! And the real kicker is that Annie is (was) a nurse. A few of the CNTs I work with can remember working with her at another facility in the past. Annie still won't say much, other than "yes", or "I don't want to" but she certainly remembers being a nurse. I guess it's just one of those things that are burned into a person's memory. Annie is considered a fall risk, yet she walks as well as I do, so she often accompanies me on my med pass, carefully watching me dispense the pills to the residents. At shift change when we count the narcotics, she is present, watching us closely for mistakes in our counting. I often stop and look at her and ask, "Are we doing this right?" She smiles and replies, "Yes". I often wonder if we will ever be able to pull her out of the fog she is in and get to speak. But I just don't know.

The Job Interview

Ok, so I met with this doctor at St Thomas today. Well, actually I met with the HR director first, then his office assistant, then him. His name is Dr M. Kevin Smith. I really think I will like him...we seem to be alot alike. He says is an old fashioned type doctor who likes to spend time with his patients and typically will only see about 16 patients a day. He says likes to spend 30 minutes with each one, and when it's time for a yearly physical he gives them one full hour. When he asked how soon I would be available to start, I told him I would have to give two weeks notice to my current employer. That impressed him. He said his last nurse had been with him three years and just left him in a lurch. So he knows how that feels. He says I will definitely be hearing from him. He wants me to meet with the office manager before we make any decisions. She was out sick, but he said he will have her call me tomorrow. The HR director was very nice and upbeat. She was going to look into bridgeing my time from when I left St Thomas. I could have told her not to bother. I know I have been away too long for that, even if she does not yet know it. If it is meant to be, it will be.

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted so I figured today was as good as any to give it a shot. May was a busy month for me and June is shaping up to be the same. In May I was named "employee of the month" and given the traditional parking space (which I never used!) and got my name put on a plaque for all to see. I sort of felt like that raised the bar for me.....I would have to work harder now to continue with that reputation of excellence that was bestowed on me. And work harder I have! I have been in and out of the Director of Nursing's office (which I affectionately term "the principal's office") complaining about all the sloppy nursing taking place on all three shifts. I guess my type-A personality is just getting worse and I am becoming more anal about things as I get older. It's getting harder to tolerate things that might not have bothered me so much in the past. I thank my anal-ness (is that a word?) to all the wonderful type-A personalities I worked with at St Thomas for all those years! And speaking of St Thomas ( Ireally did leave my heart there!), those folks may be seeing me once again! I have been doing some job hunting recently and I have an interview with a physician there on Tuesday at 4:00pm. So, all of you reading this....please, please say a small prayer that they offer me this job! I love St Thomas and would never have left there had they not had to downsize. But everything happens for a reason, or so I believe, and I feel I have touched the souls I was sent to touch and now it is time to move on.

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” Albert Pine