Bad luck, Murphy's Law & the Rule of Three

[maolin]

I started a new job at a new hospital 3 weeks ago. The first week M-F was typical orientation classroom style. Went to see my doc on Tues for nagging leg pain I'd been having x1 mo. I had a DVT few years ago, so hypervigilant about s/sx in that leg. Tend to have sciatica flare-ups in the same leg. Doc rx'd Medrol & muscle relaxants & ordered US in case the steriods didn't resolve pain.

Wed I learned my grandmother was in the hospital (her 4th admission in 6 mos) - she's end stage COPD & went into crisis. I planned to travel to see her over the coming weekend and help arrange for hospice.

Fri my mom called, hysterical, to tell me she was scheduled for a heart cath the following Wed. She's about 60 miles from grandmother's hospital. I left orientation early and let supervisor know I'd be gone the next week to handle both family emergencies. I ended up taking mom to the ER on Sat for CP and they ended up doing the heart cath/stent Sun AM (90% occlussion to RCA). I was bouncing back and forth between mom & grandma's hospitals & tending to both. Grandmother was doing better & at peace with arrangements we'd made. Mom was so much better after stent - good color, relaxed. Committed to heart healthy diet & a new non-smoker.

Headed home to be back in time for my first shift on Mon (yesterday). Mostly did computer training & learning the desk - lots of sitting. By the end of the day, my leg was killing me. Starting to realize that the issue was probably not neuromuscular, but vascular. Felt all to much like my DVT pain. And the first notice of any swelling.

I had today off and went for the US first thing. Sure enough - a new clot. The old ileofemoral clot still had some residual, but mostly unchanged. The new clot is just adjacent i nthe great saphenous at the common femoral junction. Will know more tomorrow about tx plan. Hopefully I can get away with just outpatient LMWH/coumadin & not have to do inpatient again.

Obviously, I had to call off for tomorrow shift. In the 3 weeks I've been employed, I've missed more than half my scheduled time. This doesn't make for a nice or accurate impression of me. The timing and circumstances are lousy. But they have been so very understanding and supportive thus far.

So Murphy's Law states if you start a new job, something will come up to hamper things. Rule of Three: grandma, mom & I. The rottenest luck of anyone I know.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

I think many of us have had new job crisis stuff. At my first nursing job I broke two fingers working with my sheep which I use to train border collies. I worked for 6 weeks with pain and didn't tell the hospital because I had just seperated from my husband and had 3 kids to support and he hadnt paid any child support so far.

My rule of 3, 2 broken fingers and 1 ex-PIA husband.

Maolin, I will be thinking of you...things will work out. And, nice town you live in, one of my sisters lives there too.

[muffie, RN]

well wishes to daughter, mom, and grandma

[maolin]

Snow - thanks for the warm wishes. Going on a tangent - As you might guess from my avatar, I'm a border collie mom myself. We've toyed with the idea of one of these days going rural and getting a handful of woolies to keep her entertained. Our retirement fantasy. Would love to hear more about your adventures - feel free to PM me.