Thursday August 18th 2022

nursej22, MSN, RN · Aug 18, 2022

Hi. It got really warm yesterday, up to 85, and likely to get that warm today. And humid and sticky. I went by a different grocery store yesterday, in search of items that our usual store never seems to have. I got most of the things I was looking for, for camping this weekend. But I was looking for some street taco kits that they didn't have, so I will go by Costco tonight to look for those. Work is frustrating today. My computer keeps locking up, the state dept of health is sending me forms I can't open, and very nice OCD co-worker is fussing about "mistakes" that newer coworker made, like leaving an empty line on the progress notes. I don't see the big deal. And the contact investigation we are working on is rather muddled, so I am going to leave that for newer coworker to sort through.

And working with my car insurance is a little annoying. I am playing phone tag with trying to get paperwork done and turned in. The fellow across the street left me a note about getting info on his damaged trees. I have no info on the driver who caused the accident, so I directed him to the police.

I hope Mr. No Stars gets the treatment he needs, whatever that turns out to be. I know the feeling about watching people do things that are not in their best interest.

Joe, I need you to come and help me out!

I hope everyone is have a fantastic day.

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 18, 2022

Might I just say For cryin' out loud!!

So, no call from the Imaging Center and hubby was squawking about that, and was not inclined to call them to say WTH? So *I* called the primary doctor's office to say he was supposed to have the xrays done today and we hadn't heard anything about an appointment. Then they told us that all he had to do for the chest x-rays was walk in to the Imaging Center and give them the copy of the order the doc gave him. Would've been nice if we had known that! Then, he has an appt w/ an alternate doc at the PCP's office on Friday, which set him off to squawking again! I listened and said "Uh-huh," a lot. The primary doc he usually sees is apparently booked up.

I told him that I understood about the eff-ups making him mad, but, I said, "You KNOW what the doctor told you yesterday (that he is killing himself), so NOT doing anything about it doesn't help you at all." Then, amazingly enough, having been reminded about how serious the doc said things were, he said, "If it is a walk-in appt for chest xrays, you don't suppose if I went over there now, they would do them?"

YAY! I said, by all means, do it! That way you won't have to get up so early for your appt tomorrow at 11:20 AM to see the alternate doc at that practice. Hubby wanted to know WHY he was being told to see the other doc tomorrow, and I told him that maybe there was something in his blood-draw that needed discussing, or if they get the xrays sent to them, then the doc can decide how to proceed from there.

Lordy-Lord! SMH....a LOT! and *sigh* , RME ? out loud, and OH dam WELL!

I swear, sometimes I think I need to hold his hand, or put a ring through his nose to lead him around.

Nannie c/o her right foot hurting (last time it was her left one) so I gave her an Advil and rolled the little, thin blanket to place under her ankle to take the pressure off her sore foot, which we all know she could avoid by just MOVING her foot/feet to a different position every once in a while.

I think my halo is tilting at a precarious angle.....

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 18, 2022

A-HA! Hubby walked into the Imaging Center, handed them the copy of the doc's order, and he was done and out the door in four or five minutes. Now he sounds happy (at least for this little while, anyway!) He is going by Zaxby's to pick up our supper (at 4:20 PM!) and Nannie and I can split a plate. (w00t?)

Mr Perfecto, our next-door neighbor, is out riding his lawn mower around his yards AGAIN! He must mow every other day. That's what you get for having a lawn service come to seed and fertilize your lawn. Yesterday he trimmed the bushes along the front of their property. I suggested to hubby that the neighbor could have just whinged off the obvious growths of branches and not have to trim the whole thing, but that would have been too easy, I guess.

Time to wake up Nannie so she can eat her early supper, and sleep again until it's time to turn on the news. We will hear Nannie's comments about the color of newscaster's and weather guy's ties. Then when the game comes on, she will tell us that the announcer who used to play for the Braves (he didn't, he has been a Braves announcer since his dad retired) is "so good looking". And how "chunky" one of the Mets players is. And she will ask because she just wants to know what nationality this or that guy is, and what race they are. Why it makes any difference I do not know, but it is one of the things she has to make a comment about, every. single. time. she. sees. them. on. the. TV. screen. OY!

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 18, 2022

This is a SOAP-OPERA!

At supper hubby mentioned he was called by his primary doc after he'd left the x-rxy place. He said that he was supposed to go to him in the morning instead of seeing the other doctor. Then hubby said he'd been told he had to go to the hospital and THEN to the doc's office after that. But he didn't know where at the hospital he was supposed to go, or who he was to see. (Guess who'd been drinkin'!)

It was 4:20 so I called the doctor's office and got the "Umbrella" Answering service. After I explained to her what we didn't know about tomorrow, she had to call the practice office while I was on hold. I had to listen to hubby grousing about how "They just want to make more money." Well, my gosh, Medicare and his supplement are taking care of that! SOOOOO, The down-low of the up-shot is this:

All other appointments are off! Monday at 8 AM, I take hubby to Primary doc's office. Maybe or probably after that he will go to the hospital or outpatient center and have that little drain inserted into his left pleural cavity and they will teach him how to empty it and all that stuff (which I already know how to do).

Then, just to throw a wrench into things, a drugstore where we got our last boosters called hubby to find out if he had had or needed a Pneumonia shot. They were doing a follow-up of their records, I guess. I told hubby to just quit fretting, we can ask the doc Monday AM about a pneumonia shot for him.

GOOD GRIEF! I hope there are no more changes for the foreseeable future. I need a paycheck for all of this, and at least now I know not to trust hubby's memory for details!

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Aug 18, 2022

Gma was up in the middle of the night insisting she was going home. She had thrown up in her bed, too. Hubs is tired. Neither of us slept well after being woken up about 3 am. Of course, we're worrying over stepson as well. The lawyer I reached out to referred me to another lawyer so I'm waiting to hear what this one will have to say. I'm also not coping well at work today. Has not been a very productive day and I hate that. Our administrative assistant (who's 33 weeks pregnant) tested positive for Covid. I was going to sit with her to get my flights arranged for Boston. They apparently don't trust me with a credit card yet ? I could just put it on my credit card and get reimbursed and I might just do that.

Hubs picked up the 2005 Sebring convertible today from the repair shop that fixed the engine. But then it was making an odd noise so he took it back. He complained that just when we get the convertible, it is cloudy and rainy. I am not complaining. For one thing, we *really* need the rain, and for another it is 80 degrees instead of 105.

Stars, I hope your dh takes to heart what the doc is trying to tell him and realizes he can change that course. We had a patient once who was admitted for withdrawal. He was kind of high profile in his community and no one knew about the drinking (or at least he believed they didn't). He didn't want to do inpatient rehab because I guess he would have had to justify his absence from his job. Part of me really wanted to tell him that from what I've seen people are very willing to to be gracious, forgiving, and supportive if you are up-front with them about the problem. On the other hand, if he waited until everything went down in flames, that is what people would remember. Something like that. But I didn't really think it was my place to tell him that.

Good evening, all!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Aug 19, 2022

Wise words, Annie.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2022

People are judgmental of alcoholics and addicts and consider it a weakness of character. "They did it to themselves..no will power" etc. This stigma keeps people from getting help. It's also hard to watch and understand why people surrender everything, family, money, reputation and health for the bottle.

I had a really busy day. One of my patients flipped on me and told a coworker she wasn't comfortable around me and that I didn't know what I was doing. On and on, nothing could make her happy. At least she waited to shift change and I could dump on them. It's demoralizing to buss your butt and to be shot down.

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 19, 2022

Last Chapter for today...

Hubby began squawking again that he didn't know why he had to go see "that other doctor" tomorrow. He wanted to argue that he had an appt for tomorrow with the other doc. I told him he did not. I had to sit up and look him in the eyes and say, "The ONLY appointment you have now is for 8 AM on Monday morning. All the other appt's have been cancelled." Which disgusted him because he didn't remember that *I* had made the phone call and got everything all straightened out.

?Then he started squawking about having to have a catheter put into his lung and how the last person who'd done it to him had hurt so bad he wanted to punch her in the nose. I told him he needed to stop fretting about everything because it probably won't be like what he is thinking it will be like. He insists that he knows what it feels like when the pleura is full and he swears he doesn't need to have the cath put in his lung, the doctors just want more money.

I personally am hoping that the doc will get this lung business straightened out so that he can address the withdrawal problem.

And we have 3 more days to get through before his ("too damn early") appointment on Monday. I will be getting him up and driving him there so I can see and hear for myself, again. He really is .... something else.

Man-oh-man, and shake my head.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2022

Stars you really have your hands full. Hang in there.