And yes, the title is not just a teaser, today was the first full day of summer and the weather was appropriate to the season. Good for cheering the soul. I was supposed to have worked today so that would account for the sunshine and comfortable temperatures likely. Got up at 8:15 a.m. instead of three hours earlier and puttered a bit until the cleaning lady arrived. She advised that she's been burning the candle at both ends and is giving up her housecleaning jobs as she has moved her mother from the city to live with her, listed her mother's condo in the city and is really just dragged out. It doesn't help that she's a multi tasking community volunteer and spent about seven hours yesterday at a major fire trying to keep the volunteer firefighters hydrated. More on that later. Rest assured her position WILL be filled, this is not a government agency here.
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| It is worth about $180 too |
As I await the middle of the night return of the shore captain from several days of fishing industry/marine biologist meetings in St. Andrews bye the Sea, New Brunswick I was reminded of his recent luck. He apparently had filled in a raffle ticket being sold in the entryway of the local hardware store a week or so ago and was called with the good news of his win. When I asked what he'd won he couldn't remember and didn't want to admit to the caller that he has no memory so was going to claim his prize and be surprised he said. It reminded me of last week when the internal medicine specialist was conducting a weekly clinic in the ER and he told me that the local pharmacy was celebrating 'national memory awareness week' by conducting memory testing. I told him that my husband shouldn't partake as he has no memory and he corrected me (although he's never met the life partner but must know this as 'man' information) saying "he doesn't have a memory problem he has a concentration problem". Oh, very difficult to argue with that as mister gets a numb thumb from 'flicking' through the TV channels with the remote. It was even funnier when he arrived home with a bucket of car cleaning products. Well, I guess you'd have to actually SEE his truck to get that joke, but you can use your imagination. He also won a lovely white Makita cordless drill (yes I said white - refer to the truck joke) in a zippered case like this one above. Ahhh, he is good entertainment sometimes.
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| Highway 103 - June 21, 2011 |
And we can always use a smile with all sorts of grim news. I worked a LD on Tuesday which consisted of a number of 'interesting' situations until about 2:30 p.m. when things went bad in a big hurry. There was apparently a serious MVC (motor vehicle collision - no longer called MVA as there is no such thing as an accident, that infers bad luck not root cause analysis) on the main highway involving a car and a full tanker truck with extrication required, fire and the road blocked as you can see to the left. Calls from EHS stating a female in the car was seriously injured which caused us to ramp up planning in our small Emergency Department first by clearing it out (the LPN working with us was seen sprinting at a good speed towards the elevator behind a wheelchair with arms waving from it in protest) as she headed for the inpatient unit to drop off the human cargo. With adrenaline pumping we quickly began preparing supplies and alerting the x-ray and lab techs. As we worked several of the staff phoned family to ensure all were safe. Thinking all of mine were accounted for I busied myself setting up IVs when the phone rang yet again and the ward clerk answered it, then called my name saying "phone for you". Thinking it was another nurse I said "who is it?". She said "I don't know, they asked for you by both of your names". My legs would hardly carry me to the phone as my knees were weak, I identified myself to the female caller and she said "this is Nova Functional Assessments you have an appointment tomorrow at 3 p.m." I grunted my confirmation and hung up. I later told the internal medicine specialist that I did not require a cardiac stress test as I had passed it! In the end our preparations were not required as EHS transported to another center but it was a tense while until we were advised. So with the highway closed we took the scenic route home after work as well as all the heavy traffic rerouted through the coastal road. By this evening the road was fully opened and the environmental assessment and cleanup under way. Apparently the tanker contained 31,000 liters of gasoline and 9,000 liters of diesel fuel so the gas burned the trees at an extreme temperature and the diesel still smelled really strong over 24 hours later. It was an eerie view.
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| Manger of what chair? |
Today on my way to the physio appointment I stopped at Staples and laid down some cash for a new computer chair. Especially important as I've been spending time in it staring at my online course and it's not good for the back. The boy captain (who is in the process of getting ready to go fishing) cheerfully offered to assemble it (saving me the $10 cost) and was thrilled when I jokingly offered the original as he pronounced it "great for a coiling trawl seat". I won on both fronts. I also made a stop a Wal-Mart and scored a great deal on memory cards for the camera I purchased on eBay. I've been having good luck with my bidding lately (to the point that I've been sent 35 cents U.S. through PayPal) having also scored some neat medical collectables, a cocktail dress and an iPod Shuffle as a grad gift for my Cuban nurse friend. My main beef is with Canada Post and the strike/lock out that is presently going on. How is a gal supposed to get her parcels? The Purolator courier arrived the other evening with the iPod and of course rang the doorbell (or as we say the dogbell) setting Keely off in a frenzy of announcing we were being invaded.
I spent three hours at the physio appointment today, well actually the first hour of it was waiting as it was a very busy clinic. After the physio put my back in alignment again (I had leaned over to straighten sofa cushions the day after my last visit and popped it out - proving that housework of course can hurt you) the rheumatologist arrived to do the injection. There were discussions about the size of the area requiring treatment (with the physio advising it was 'much better') and then they drifted away and talked quietly about how long these treatments would be needed. Hmmmm. I've done that maneuver myself as you wander out of the patients range of hearing when you don't want to upset/depress them with the treatment plan. The injections weren't particularly painful and I had a nap with the ice pack afterwards so we shall see what the next few days bring. The physio advises that this is fixable and I keep focusing on that. In the meantime I am wearing a less than comfortable brace, am taped up securely, have to go for a recheck next week and am booked again for August. Enough whining, I shall pretend I am Xena the Princess Warrior with my armor on. At least I'm not dealing with dental extractions as a friend is... if this affected my ability to eat that would be really terrible!
One of the summer neighbours has arrived and is conducting her 'opening the summer estate' rituals which this year includes some mold and mildew thanks to the very damp spring we've endured. Plans for a cup of tea tomorrow to catch up on all the news. Heading in for two night shifts after that so will perhaps get some work done on the course as we move from chest tubes to fluid/electrolyte balance - what a great way to spend your summer eh? Off to bed so I shall sleep in adequately. I leave you with this travel article on being a visitor not a tourist:
http://bit.ly/iZRRN0
