Updates and other things

Thanks for your prayers for KLM and her spouse. He is doing well and is to leave the hospital soon. But for him, the work is just beginning. Please continue to pray.

It is great how folks rally if given the chance around folks in trouble. KLM sent out a request the other night for any leftover durable medical equipment that might fit their situation--why buy if people have it laying around unused? The cool thing was that the hall in front of the rector's office simply was littered with items of the requested equipment even before the 8 am service. I just grinned when I saw it.

I guess I still don't understand why helping people out in time of need is called welfare by some.

Yesterday I had an incredible burst of energy and cleaned my part of the office. It took all morning. Taciturn came home from an outing and about fainted when he saw it. I always tell myself that I will not let it ever get that bad again after one of these cleanings--yet I always do!

The nurse recruiter at my hospital and I chatted yesterday afternoon about how one might transfer within the hospital. I have to admit the irony of my situation; I do not get nearly enough hours--every time I go into work I feel as if I am going in for the very first day. When I go into work on Friday, it'll be the first shift I've worked in 3 weeks (though to be fair, I canceled a shift for which I was scheduled due to the blizzard). But, the nurses who are regularly scheduled are strained, to say the least. I spoke with the full time day nurse for a while yesterday and she said she was so overwhelmed with taking care of twelve patients by herself that she to step away for a little bit this past week. And remember, we have no ancillary support over there. We do our own lab draws, we sometimes stock the medications, we are our own unit secretaries, we do our own respiratory therapy treatments and artificial airway cares, etc. During this past blizzard, the full time day shift nurse even was asked to find salt for the parking lot! At the main hospital the nurses have all of those tasks done by others so they can concentrate on their patients. No one ever gets a lunch break or leaves on time. For example, the day shift ends at 3:30 in the afternoon. When I work, I usually don't leave until 5:30 or later. The full time day shift nurse lives that five days a week.

We don't mind working hard. Abuse is another story.

(My Republican husband has absolutely no sympathy. He says they are lucky to have jobs in the first place. But I did work full time in a situation like this many years ago; the nurse manager attempted suicide and three marriages broke up. It was horrible [it was in the military so no one could quit]. I swore I would never be in this situation again.)

Anyway, it actually is harder to transfer than it was to apply in the first place. I have to submit a resume, which I do not have. They cannot just reprint an updated application and submit that. So, I'm scrambling to write a resume--something I've not done in over ten years! I think I'll head to the hospital library today with my laptop and use some books over there. It is difficult to fit 30 years of work onto one page, and I need guidance.

A Democracy in Action meeting beckons, so all for now!