Course, course, course

It has only been a little over three weeks since we returned home, back to reality and now I'm finally getting to the blog. I have intended on several occasions to put fingers to keyboard to update you but have instead ended up working on my course. This is the paying the piper part of the two lovely vacations. My goal is to make it through all the material once and hopefully a bit of time for review. The first exam will be May 9th and I have one section and a half yet to complete and it's respiratory as in acid/base balance, arterial blood gases, ventilators etc. Arggh.

I jumped back into the swing of things at work and things sure were swinging. We've had a full house for so long that we wouldn't know what to do if we had a bed to admit a patient to instead of warehousing them on a stretcher in the Emergency Dept. The last night I worked we had four ambulance deliveries of really ill folks and there's no way to get caught up with that kind of pace. The friend who has been accepted into the Continuing Care Assistant course can likely handle what health care will throw at her and she (and myself) are pretty excited that she'll be a student in the fall. We'll need new blood as the expansion of one of the local nursing homes is depleting our staff.

We've had the added excitement of our union voting on a contract which passed with only 30% casting ballots and a 55% acceptance. The main point of contention was not the 1% and 1% we were given for each of the years but....standardized uniforms so that patients can tell the Registered Nurses (and in some facilities - not ours - the Licensed Practical Nurses) from the kitchen staff and cleaners. The only problem with voting NOT to accept the collective agreement  would have been the strike vote which came next. I can't really see myself or others standing on the picket line because they don't want to wear black pants and a white top. Those who were opposed were RNs who had graduated wearing white polyester uniforms, white pantyhose, white shoes without another line of color on them and a starched white cap - so that part of the equation really puzzled me.  There were technical and logistical problems as well with voting online or by phone and only 72 hours in which to do so. Glad that the VP, not myself, is headed to the union AGM next month. There will be lots of chatter about it for sure!

I got my act together and voted in the advance poll last week for the federal election as I'm scheduled to work a LD on Monday. The coworker who I took with me said "how dumb are we? everyone else but us is getting a few hours off to go vote" But at least I know I've exercised my right.

I worked part of Easter weekend but at least it was the part which gave me some overtime as I did a LD on Easter Sunday and it was worth being paid for 18 hrs and a LN on Easter Monday which wasn't much better. We were graced with the presence of the baby daughter for an Easter Sunday visit and so the Easter Bunny didn't get to retire just yet - the one time that getting up at 5:15 a.m. is a bonus. The boy Capt. who has found himself in a relationship which includes a three year old told me that he did something he hadn't done before this Easter and when I dared to ask "what was that?" he says "hide Easter eggs instead of look for them, you know you have to hide them low because she's kind of short".

Last week the lad managed to hit a deer on his way to go lobstering and took the front end out of his vehicle. Now the tussle with the insurance company to cover the costs. It apparently was a $6,000 deer. He is driving a loaner (a Dodge so he's not impressed) and dealing with autobody shops, adjusters et al. He and his lady friend dropped in for a visit last evening as she has horses in a local barn and that was a nice surprise.

I had word from the tropical medicine course I applied for in Peru and was not accepted. I did have my name placed on a waiting list but was not on the short list. Sigh. The colleague who I hope to attend with has been doing some research and there is a three week course held in Liverpool, England which looks promising for 2013. It would afford the chance to go to the Beatles Museum as well which would be a nice diversion:

http://www.beatlesstory.com/visitor-information.html

We opted not to try for Tulane which was $10,000 tuition for four months as we'd be 85 before we paid that off. She is attempting to lure me to Amsterdam or South Africa as possibilities. When it comes to travel I could be persuaded I think.
Last week on April 20th was not just the birthday of a good friend but.....National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day, in the USA that is. Not only did we not have that kind of a cake, we had to wait until a week later to celebrate her birthday as we were all so busy. The shore captain saved lobsters and we had them with herb bread and chocolate cake for dessert which was kindly provided by a guest. We had a wonderful evening catching up on the news, until the shore captain fell sound asleep in the rocking chair at 11 p.m. so it was the cue for the guests to head home.

Part of the reason I was too over scheduled to celebrate the week before was that I had to travel to the city to do my skills lab for the Emergency Nursing Course I'm taking. It turned out that we weren't tested on the skills, it was just a review and although I had only six items on my list which weren't signed off I was the last one out of the room. Organization is not these folks strong point. I did get to stay over with the daughter and son-in-law in their new place and they are all settled in very cozily.

Had a nice chat with the oldest daughter yesterday and she is doing well with her electrical course. She's passed her first provincial exam and will be finished with the second part by August. Apparently female tradespeople are a growing segment of the industry.

Well, time to close as I agreed to switch a shift with a coworker who is moving her daughter from one apartment to another this weekend. Been there and done that so completely understand about the need to be off. Speaking of days off I've requested a couple of days in May when friends from Saskatchewan will be 'home' for a few days to visit. Quite a few changes since they've moved on five years ago.

And the quote of the day is...One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries......A.A. Milne