4:50 AM: Addison Road's "Hope Now" blasts out of my phone. time to wake up...
5:00 AM: crawling into the shower...more music blasting from the iPhone to help me wake up.
5:46 AM: heading out the door on my way to work. the drive is usually about 25-30 minutes depending on traffic, but it's nice to have a little time to listen to music or sing or pray or whatever. if it weren't so early in the morning, i might call a friend and have a catch-up conversation. :)
6:11 AM: I pull into the parking garage a little ahead of schedule. I get my stuff all together, and then here we go...
I was pulled back to junior high when i walked into the area where staff lockers and the lounge are. every locker has a combination lock on it...something i haven't used since high school! i bent down to stick my stuff in, praying that i would remember how to use them and not have to ask someone...and i did it! it was kind of awkward in the lounge...nobody really said anything to me, but i could tell they were all curious as to who i was. i found out where the assignments are posted. call me a dork or call it significant, but when i found myy assignment, my heart warmed a little...beds 21 and 22. 21 is my lucky number...maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was God giving me a little push and saying, "hey, get out there and be yourself...you're going to be fine!"
my nurse was running a little late (i found out later that her kid started getting sick at 5:30 this morning) so the transport nurse got report for her. we were taking care of a set of twins born at 25ish weeks, now 31ish weeks. the incubators were the biggest noticeable difference. the monitors and IV pumps are also different, and of course, the computer charting. they still do paper I&O's and the orders are written on paper, but all of the assessments and the MAR on on the computer. i had a class today to learn about all of that, and it makes sense so far.
since i wasn't even in the unit the whole day, i mostly just observed the nurses and oriented myself to my new environment. i left around 11:15 to get to my class (in a different hospital across town). the nurses were great once we got through report and into their routines. im excited...i can't wait to get into my real orientation with consistent preceptors and start LEARNING!
okay, now a rewind...
TUESDAY: second day of hospital orientation. also, i finally got ahold of my original contact with nationwide. i reiterated my frustrations and general disgust with the carrier, and he apologized profusely and asked me to send him a written copy of my experience and all of the photographs i will be sending to the claims department. i agreed. (still working on those...hopefully i'll get everything finished up tomorrow while i'm off.) that afternoon, i called Express to verify that they would FINALLY be bringing me my vacuum. the guy told me that the driver left houston for san antonio around 4:15. the drive takes around 4 hours for a big truck, putting the driver in san antonio around 8:15. the dispatcher gave me the driver's phone number and told me that i needed to call him around 8 to give him my address, which i thought was retarded...but ok. i mean, they just delivered my stuff a week ago...they've already lost my address? whatever. well, naturally, i forgot...i called the driver around 10. he said he'd left san antonio two hours before, because i hadn't called him. i know it's probably mostly my fault bc i was supposed to call him, but it just makes me mad bc that shouldn't be my responsibility. that was the first time in this whole experience that i was truly ANGRY. i'm just so sick of dealing with these people and their idiocy. they're the ones who forgot the vacuum in the first place; they should be the ones keeping up with how it gets back to me! stayed up for a couple more hours sorting through paperwork, and then off to bed.
WEDNESDAY: off. stayed in bed until 2. fantastic. got up and ran errands and mailed mom's birthday present. that night, i decided to take a field trip to Whole Foods and see what i could see. here's what i found...good times...
they have a MASSAGE PARLOR in the GROCERY STORE!!!! i can just see it..."relax, just breathe deep; in and out...*PRICE CHECK ON AISLE FOUR!!!*...in and out..." HELLO?!? go to a place where you can get commando and not worry about an overhead loudspeaker or hearing twenty people walk by talking on their cell phone! just sayin'...
crystal deodorant. hmm. so how do you know when you've put enough on? does it scratch your armpit? 
frozen dog food. in tubes like they put hamburger meat in. interesting concept. do you have to fry it in a skillet, too?
digital price tags. how very cool!
as i was preparing to leave, i decided to run back by the soup and crackers aisle to get some water crackers...good snack. as i made my selection, a lady breezed by me and down to the soups. then...i saw the most bizarre thing i have ever seen. she took a can of soup and, while cupping it in the palm of one hand, she took a little arrowhead looking thing on a small chain and swung it over the soup. she put that can back, took another of exactly the same brand and type, and swung the chain over it again. apparently that one met her satisfaction, because she took it and walked on, never noticing that i was behind her. i called michelle to see if she had ever heard such a thing. she had not. i didn't want to offend the lady by asking her "what the heck?", but michelle made a good point...besides punk rocker goth people, hippies are more than willing to share their stories and and answer your questions, and are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. true that. so i get off the phone and yes...i track this lady through the grocery store. yes, only me. i find her, apologize, and say that i by no means intend to offend her but...what the heck was she doing? she starts telling me about her pendulum and how it helps her find foods/vitamins/etc. that mesh with her system and her body's energies. she says its an art that she began learning from a naturalist in albuquerque back in the 70s (shocker!). then, another lady she met a few months ago who happened to walk up start talking about this blood type diet...not a lose weight kind of diet, but like, if your blood type is O, you follow this diet, etc., etc. it was...enlightening. very interesting. like michelle said..."only at whole foods!"
THURSDAY: on wed. night, i couldn't find my schedule for where i needed to be thursday. i knew i had a meditech class for half a day thurs and half a day friday, but i couldn't remember what times and didn't know where. so i crawl out of bed at 5, get ready, and get myself to the hospital by 7ish. hung out around HR until 8, when i find out (at 8:20) that my class starts at 8...at medical center. i am at city center...downtown. med center is a mile from my house...in NW San Antonio. so i get in the car, haul it, at get to the classroom at around 9. i apologized profusely to the the instructor, and she apologized right back, saying that there was no way she could get me caught up as late as i was. could i come back at 1? sure. go figure. again...only me...
okay kids...it's wicked late, you're all caught up, and i'm wiped out. g'nite...leave me some love!
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