September 6, 2014

I'm temporarily deaf...

In one ear, anyway.  Ear infection.

I tried riding it out as most of the time, you can't do anything for an ear infection other than comfort care.  But after 2+ weeks, it was time to pack up and go to the doctor.   Which of course, did not have any appointments on Friday--in fact, they close early on Fridays.  So I headed for the nearest Minute Clinic.  This was not an ED-worthy illness.  I also figured my CVS would be faster than going to urgent care.  I figured it'd also be cheaper too:  should my insurance end up denying my claim even after I explain that it's not my fault my doctor's office closed at noon, I'd only be out $100.

So I leave work early on Friday and go right to the clinic.  There's a few people waiting there and they are very happy to see me.  I'm wondering why considering they're all complete strangers to me...until one finally asks me if I'm going to be seeing them next.

I had come straight from the hospital, so I had my scrubs and ID badge on.  I realized that they saw the "RN" placard and got excited--they thought I was another nurse coming to man the clinic.  I had to explain that I was the patient today.   I declined the offer to read someone's TB test for them.

It's not a long wait:  I'm seen in 30 minutes.   Nurse practitioners run the clinic, which is nice because I can speak Nurse to them and they don't think I'm crazy.  It's a quick visit:  she looks in the ear, declares it's not a very happy ear, gives me ear drop antibiotics and instructions to keep taking Motrin 800mg, forwards my script to my own pharmacy for pick up by the time I get there, and says she's always happy to help a fellow nurse.

The problem is that antibiotics take a few days to work, so until then it's Motrin, warm compresses and closed captioning on the television.

September 4, 2014

So!

The transfer was an interesting process.  They talked to my supervisor first, had me fill out paperwork next, then gave me an interview.  After I signed the transfer paperwork.  The whole process really did go in reverse.

Weird.

So I'm transferred to the float pool at job #1.  And to be honest, absolutely nothing has changed.  Same old stuff, different job title with better pay.  Mind you, I did already screw up with staffing...twice.  Both times were unintentional and in all innocence, but still, not the way I would have preferred to start my new position.

Meanwhile, job #2 has some drama going on...I'm not involved, thank heavens, and I'll leave it at that.  I do have to throw them some days soon, though.  Maybe later in the month.

Meanwhile, job #3 is wondering if I would be interested in orienting to their chemical dependency unit.  It was all I could to to not throw myself at them screaming "God, yes!"  I need to call their program manager tomorrow to try to set something up.   If this parlayed into something full-time down the road, I could die happy.  Working in addictions...*sigh*

No word on the psych ER position.  I've pretty much written it off.  This is just not my time...perhaps down the road.

In other news, all week my patients were pleasant psychotics.  They're my favorite.  They're seeing the floating mushrooms and hearing the squirrels talk about baseball, but they're all so mellow about it...at times even chipper.  One has a party going on in his head 24/7, but he's not bothered by it.  In fact, he told me, "it's all part of the schizophrenia."  I had to respect his attitude.