Perspective

Today was the first day that I went on visits during my orientation. Remember what I said about vicious lap rats? We went to 3 homes, and saw 3 Daschounds! Only one was a slobbering, snarly little pile. All I really have to do is about 2 hours on Wednesday, then follow a nurse on Saturday, since that is when I will be in the office. They have a type of "1/2 laptop" I guess that is new since I last did this type of home visits. Since I will only be working 1 weekend a month, I'm not going to have the office support to figure things out, but I really have a hard time learning by having someone tell me or just reading. So, this afternoon I plunked down in front of a computer hooked to the server, the 3-ring binder and fiddled away. Fortunately, I like computers.....my manager looked at me strangely when I said I wasn't quite a "geek", but that I could find my way around a server. It will be really strange to not have ANY paper with me....no field charts, or anything. I just hook my little gizmo to the server in the morning, import/download whatever charts I will need (or suspect will call) and away I go. I plan to carry several yellow sticky pads for a while to take short hand on so I can look inept in private at the office when I'm trying to input my data. Then we just hook the do-dads up to the server and export the "charts", printing a copy to put in the "office chart". How advanced we are!

There was a sad story, though. Our first visit was to a woman in her 40s who has been battling cancer (GI with liver mets) for about 1 year. She'd been off of her chemo for 6 weeks for some reason, and had to resume last week. She became violently ill, and had decided that her time off of chemo was worth more than whatever more days she would earn staying on chemo but feeling miserable. She obviously had a close relationship with the nurse (I was the tag-along) because she told her before she told her own doctor. She and her husband will be trying to bump up a special cruise they'd planned because her feeling is that she won't be here for very long. She asked us "What can I expect?" She was choking as she was telling us about her son (who is very nearby) that refuses to visit her because it makes him to sad. It inspired some thoughts in my mind about her son that are best left unsaid! It was a very emotional visit for her and her husband. It puts into perspective what is really important. Regardless of what happens with jobs, finances, and stresses of moving, etc., at least we have healthy loved ones and close relationships. After my morning, I came home for "lunch" and to feed Lucy. Kevin, Tavin and Simon were all here, as there was no school. The big grin on Lucy's face and Simon telling my co-hort "I love you!" more than makes up for the small cost of this morning. It is wonderful to have a loving family, and as I've said before, PERFECT children.