Cat drama

A few months ago, I rescued two kittens. They are so much fun to have around. I never thought of myself as a "cat person" but I appreciate the low maintenance cats require. With my schedule, a dog would have been a lot more work. Now that I know how fun they are, I wish I got cats sooner.

This morning, just as I was about to head downstairs when I heard Wes (the white cat) sequel and hiss. There was all sorts of commotion in the spare bedroom. I knew this wasn't going to be good. I rush in the room to find the cat hanging by his paw. I think he was sitting on the ironing board, which was by the open window. Somehow the cord from the mini-blind got caught on his leg. When he jumped down, it tightened around his leg and now he was stuck. At first I wasn't sure how the cord was tied and thought it might be around his neck by the way he was wrapped up and off the ground. I scooped him up and tried to pull the cord off his foot but it was to tight. Plus the cat was hysterical and wouldn't stay still. The sound he was making were terrible. Thankfully the scissors were in arms reach and I was able to cut the cord before he tried to jump off the ironing board again. But it was to late, the damage was done.

My left arm took the brunt of the damage. The worst of the cuts is on my hand, in the fleshy part of my thumb. Its pretty deep and bled for a while. I did my best to wash it off; while trying to make sure the cat was ok, who was also covered in my blood. I wish there was some way I could have gotten the cat to understand I was trying to help him and if he stopped clawing me he'd be alright.

I knew the wound was deep and needed a real good cleaning, so off I went to my doctor's office. She took one look at it and said its beyond what they can do in the office and sent me to the ER. Now I had a choice; go to the hospital I work at which was 45mins away or go to the one in town, 10mins away. Off I went to the closer of the two. Both are about the same size so I wasn't expecting a long wait. I was also a little embarrassed and didn't want the whole hospital I work at to know what happened. Especially if I was over reacting.

Maybe in hind sight I should have gone where I worked. Isn't it all about who you know? The care I got was fine but it took forever. The ER doc explained they were short staffed but as a paying customer I'm not sure I care. I know my injuries weren't a true "emergency" but you still want to feel valued as a consumer. The process in the ER doesn't seem to work. I tried not to use the ER as a doctors office but didn't have a choice. I know not to go to the ER unless you really need to. But still the process doesn't to be efficient at all.

At one point the doc said he was waiting for the lidocane and would be back in a few minutes. An hour later he came back. I told him I was just about to tell him to do it without the medicine because I was tired of waiting. I never saw a nurse until I was discharged and she came in to review the instructions. I know the data they track; left without being seen, door-to-provider time and then patient satisfaction. My guess, they failed on meeting those goals with my case.

Thank God my cat is fine. Imagine how long the vet would have been???

Moving Day

Two weeks ago I moved out of my parents and into my very own home. This is the third time I have bought a place but this time there was a little more stress.

First, the rules for getting a mortgage have changed. Suddenly lenders are much more critical of who they are willing to lend money to. My credit was/is fine but the application has expanded and there is even more paper work to fill out. I felt like they were scrutinizing every financial decision I have ever made. Part of me feels like the lenders should have been more careful all along but that's just my opinion. It did amaze me how much money they were willing to lend me. I opted to stay on the lower end of that range since I don't want to be house poor and I'd like to be able to go out to eat, turn a light on and furnish the place.

The second stressful part was explaining why I spent a year working in Afghanistan. Apparently banks aren't eager to lend money to someone who as they said "had a real salary, didn't and do again." I was offended that I had to explain my choice. Yes, I agree it isn't something many people do. Yes, they do need to be careful in who they lend money to however doesn't my financial history demonstrate credibility? It must because they gave me a mortgage or maybe they aren't as stringent in their lending decisions as they would like for us to believe.

The move went well and many thanks to the friends that helped.

Its been exciting to unpack and get settled in. My stuff has been in boxes for almost two years -it was a little like Christmas opening each box. I forgot what I saved. Only a few times did I ask myself "why did I save this?" Its also been fun to buy the stuff I sold or gave away; couch, chair, plates, silverware and TV.

The picture is of my first uninvited house guest. Last weekend I was sitting on my patio and a wild turkey came down to welcome me to the neighborhood. I am so thankful for my new place. Its more then I expected and I truly feel blessed. I am looking forward to living in this town and in this house for as long as this chapter in my life will be.
Keep Smiling

Artifacts

I've been at my new job for 4-months and finally don't feel like a tourist anymore. When I was in pre-field training for Afghanistan the facilitators talked about how it takes 3-4 months for you to start to feel like you "get-it." You develop habits and start to settle into a routine. The danger is, the excitement wears off and you realize "jeez this is my life." When that happens the things that were "new and exciting" can become little stresses that wear on you.

I would say I have adjusted to the 45-minute drive. Its a pretty drive and the biggest traffic issue is getting behind a school bus on Rt 6. I count the hawks and the dead deer on the side of the road to pass the time. It still amazes me that there are dead spots for the satellite radio along the way and it never fails that I hit these spots during my favorite part of a song or during the most interesting part of a news story.

It's been a interesting few months as I learn to navigate the waters of working in a small rural community hospital. This is a good fit and I am going to get a ton of experience. It seems like everyone has either worked there 100 years or less then 5 years. Just about everyone is related to someone who works at the hospital, except for me. When I first started, they pegged me as the "city girl" since I live near Hartford. That made me chuckle because I wouldn't consider Hartford a major metropolis. But compared to the quiet northeast corner of CT, I guess it is. It is a very different environment then working in a teaching hospital. Not better and not worse, just different and equally as challenging.

Some of the challenges are the same when compared to Kabul; such as a very limited budget and the poverty. The poverty isn't as extreme but a large portion of our patient mix are under insured or self-pay. We struggle to maintain a census and are looking to grow those programs that generate revenue.

One thing that has been amusing is figuring out the nuances or artifacts of the women's bathroom. In any "culture" there are those unspoken rules that we are left to figure out on our own and the ladies room on the 4th floor as its own set. There are two stalls and at first look, nothing stands out. They look like average stalls: doors lock, toilet and toilet paper. But it appears only one person is allowed in the whole room at a time. Which begs the question, why the two stalls?

One women, locks the main door every time she goes in. I learned that the hard way by walking into the door because I was expecting it to open and it didn't. A few times I have been at the sink washing my hands when a second women came in and very awkwardly said, "I'll let you finish" and turned away and walked out. I don't understand, I was just washing my hands. And just yesterday someone walked in and when I flushed they walked out. Maybe there is a schedule and I'm only allowed to go at certain times? Who knows.

Keep Smiling!

Debriefing

End of January I went to Colorado Springs for a week long debrief. I was supposed to go in November but the class was filled. Wasn't able to go in December because of the holidays they didn't offer one. The "rules" for the debrief were we needed to disconnect from the world and be in the moment. We needed to use this time for us and focus on us. During the day they encouraged us to not check emails, turn our phones off and really pay attention.

I was not looking forward to going. Excited to travel and be back in Colorado but not looking forward to what I knew this week would involve. I called a friend from the airport who I worked with in Afghanistan and had gone to pre-field training with. She's back in the States and she told me this week "would be like a good enema, uncomfortable but in the end you'll feel a lot better." My friend isn't a nurse but as a nurse I really appreciated the analogy. It ended up being the perfect description of the week. It was uncomfortable to talk about all I saw but in the end it was exactly what I needed.

There were about twenty people in the class. One of the couples had been working in Afghanistan, I had actually met them while I was there as they were passing through the city. Another couple who worked w/my sending organization but if a different country and a couple who I had been at pre-field training with. It was great to see them. The rest were people who had been all over the world working for various lengths of time.

We laughed a lot. We cried at times and we learned a ton. It was amazing to be with so many people who really knew what it was like. Who really understood how this experience has changed my world view.

One couple had been working in a country for 4-months when the husbands life had been threatened and they pulled the whole family out. Her and I spent a lot of time talking during the week. He joked with me that I was the crazy one for working in a war zone. I thought he was crazy because he brought his children to live in the jungle. Guess its all relative.

The week was just what I needed before I started my new job. I can't articulate fully how being able to debrief and really talk about it helped. It still is helping because now I feel like I have to tools to be gracious with people around me when we can't understand each other.

It's been much harder to be back then it ever was to go. I was really excited to go and being back didn't make sense. I was and am very glad to be home. But it wasn't what I expected. Oh well, life isn't what we expect. Hahaha.

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I got a job!!

Whoop Whoop, let the celebration begin! The waiting is finally over. I accepted an offer to be the Director of Nursing at a hospital in Connecticut. I'll start next month. I am extremely excited and a little nervous. Its a big responsibility but I think it will be a good fit for me. I agree with the hospitals mission and vision and am excited to bring their nursing department to the next level.

My parents, my sister and me all had a little champagne toast to celebrate that my retirement is over. It was fun to be able to enjoy the good news with them. The timing was perfect.

Its a little switch over working in Kabul but the patient population is diverse in its socioeconomic status, which excites me. The hospital is involved in their community and who knows what opportunities will present itself.

Now I have to decide where to live, and if I should rent or buy. But before that I have a trip to Colorado planned for some de-briefing and then a vacation in Hawaii!! Which is just a little treat to myself.

Keep Smiling!

Waiting is the hardest part

Still waiting to hear about a job. Trying to be still and enjoy this time of rest and refilling of my cup. Yes there are some perks to staying up late, sleeping till 10am but it sure would be nice to have job. The danger with my current circumstance is I am starting to feel like I'm running out of motivation to do anything. I'm also a little worried I may have forgotten how to do my job.

The week before Christmas I interviewed at two hospitals. With the first facility, this was my third "call back". The first interview occurred in Nov. The process has moved forward and the communication between them and me has been decent. The second facility conducted the interviews in a day and a half. I haven't decided which way is better. Get it all done in a day or have the process carried out over 6-weeks. The one perk to the 6 week process was I felt like they must like me since they kept calling me back. The perk to having the interviews occur all in one day is; it's only one day and I only had to wear one suit.

Both places said I'd hear after the holidays. I know one place has contacted at least one of my references. As for now; I wait, I sit still and rest. I am also truly thankful that my circumstances don't require me to just take any job that comes along.

Keep Smiling!