havybeaks’ Neighborhood

Twittering

hp
17 minutes ago
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Automatic posting from my Twitter Account:

17:36 Skipping way ahead to the #bba Panettone. Drake always buys during the holidays. This year, homemade, even tho I'm nervous about it...
17:40 ...I did buy SAF Gold Instant Yeast for the Panettone (plan to use also for other sweet, enriched, or sour #bba breads)...
17:49 With purchased Christmas presents in the hallway and backlog of mail from being out of town, our place feels a bit chaotic...
17:49 ...feeling overwhelming urge to get this all organized.
18:53 Listening to Christmas music on KING-FM. First real time we've listened to holiday music.

Career growing pains.

Katiebell
Yesterday
9 comments

Whew. What a Week. It was exciting, but not really a good kind of exciting!

I went back to work on Sunday which was rather uneventful. I worked triage which is nice because it's kind of removed from everyone else but the tech with you.

On Tuesday I found out with everyone else that my friend Lynn had been fired on Monday. Admittedly they said the fantastic euphanism "Moved on from the hospital" but they knew we knew and we knew they knew, etc etc. I know it's sort of a sad thing, but frankly she had become very difficult to work with and was not really promoting the mission of the hospital. It's hard to admit that about a friend, but the truth will set you free yes?

I also found out that the job at Celebration Hospital had never been a job. It was one of those myths that are posted. I had to call Human Resources and complain that I had heard nothing to get that news. The Human resource gal was extraordinarily apologetic, stating that the Manager did want to hire me but the job didn't exist. Celebration then offerred me "PRN" as needed employment. This rather stinks because that just then means they get you to work for them when they need it. No Benefits, no paid days off. I refused. I mean, the manager didn't bother to call or email. He clearly didn't care that much about me, so.

So. This week was mostly spent navigating onwards in my career.

Nurse-at-helm1111

I called the local hospital. I had interview there on November 5th. At the time the manager told me she had offered the full time days position to another and was waiting to hear back. She offered me the PRN position. So, I figured it now being a month later, the position would be filled or not filled. HR called me then next day and told me (ANd I QUOTE! "The manager has offered the position to someone and is waiting on a reply, but she really wants you PRN" Well. That hospital pays less than what I am making now, the only reason to work there is the short commute and the Health insurance bennies. PRN workers aren't eligible for those. I told the HR person no thanks. The lady then acted very surprised, stutterred and said, "Well it's just until after the holidays and something might come open" and actually begged me to keep them in mind. Clearly the PRN thing is the preferred way to go for Managers these days. They don't have to pay any benefits or commit to the growth and development of that staff person. It is definitely a sign of the times that things are not really that great with the economy.

I won't lie. I was really disappointed. Even though all the hospitals so far have offered to employ me they didn't offer the golden ticket, the Full time employment.

Oddly, I remembered that there is a 200 bed hospital, owned by my hospital system about 30 minutes from my house.

It's a rather new facility. I checked and they had 4 positions posted. I clicked on the apply for this job button and everything started to roll again.

ArmyNurse2003-11-24

The above photo is just about what my current job entails every day.

I have an interview on Thursday. I'm sort of hoping against hope that they actually offer me a position that I didn't apply for but I saw posted after I applied. They initially had just the 4 positions. But the next day when I was trolling around, I saw a Charge nurse position posted for Days. I would hope that within their organization they actually are planning on promoting someone and just have to post the position for legal reasons. On the off chance though that they do want to hire someone in from the outside, I am hoping it's me! It would mean a pay raise and also a chance to move up a bit, and have the ability to shape the culture of the place I am working a bit more.

Staff_nurse_sally

I love nursing, but I am getting a little tired of being Staff Nurse sally all the time. So I am feeling positive again about things.

I really hope that this job offer comes through even for the staff nurse. I would be so so humbled if no one wants to hire me!

Nothing else really going on. Weather is too gray for good photos...I can not run, going back to the MD in 2 weeks.

TIme is just creeping away on me! BUt I gotta say my house is getting spectacularly clean....all that time not runnign translated into cleaning things!!!!

Sorry to blather on. I had to vent out the frustration somewhere. I hope you at least enjoyed the vintage Nurse pictures as much as I did!!!

Ready for it

City Chicken
2 days ago

It's going to start snowing around here one of these days. And I will not have much confidence that I will have seen the last of it until around the middle part of April 2010, at the latest.

I feel ready.

Ready for it

Melody's Happy Tail

Imabug
2 days ago
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Yay, another happy story from one of my former foster dogs, Mel.

Dear friends at Wild Heir, It has been a year now since we adopted Melody from your group, and wanted to let you know we are doing great!! She has really come out of her shyness for the most part, and is a joy to our family!! Enclosed are pictures, one at Sullivan's island, on the beach, which she loves, and the other with my son's dog, Izzie. They are best friends, love to wrestle and play tug of war as you can see. We live in VA, but out son lives in Charleston, so we were there to visit last week. I wish you could see her in person, you would be so proud, as we are!! Thanks for taking care of labs like Mel, and providing a place for families like ours to find a wonderful dog. Keep up the good work!

First Snow of the Season

Amanda
2 days ago
2 comments

After a relatively warm November winter has decided to make an appearance. When we went to bed last night there were a couple of inches of snow already on the ground. The dogs loved it. They were chasing each other around. Haven was eating snow. Beacon was chasing snowballs.

Things were a bit different this morning. With snow up to their bellies the dogs weren't as eager to hang out in the stuff. I'm sure we'll take pictures of them playing in it over the weekend.

Moo, glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, and Omega 3

Anne
2 days ago
2 comments

Moo is home. YAY!

She is looking rather pitiful and is very glassy-eyed from the pain meds and probably still a bit from the anesthesia. The vet said that when they got in there, her cruciate was "gone". They use a new procedure now - instead of a figure 8 wrapping with fishing line (OK that is an over-simplification of it, but is generally what was done), they now use a sheath that is crimped at the top and bottom basically wrapping the joint to keep it stable (I am envisioning shrink tubing - anyone who has messed with electronics and wiring knows what I am talking about).

The vet also said he's started using surgical staples instead of stitches when closing up the incision - his claim was that his wrists are giving out on him and this is quicker and easier. Poor guy! He is SO great with the dogs, but he gets SO nervous when talking with people. He had finally gotten past most of that with me because I had been in there almost weekly last year with Moo's ear problems...I think maybe having Neil with me this morning made him nervous again. Hehe! Neil is very intimidating looking if you don't know him.

He also told us about new advances in what they know about pain and how it works - what they now know is that anesthesia affects the consciousness, but that the pain pathways were still active for patients under anesthesia, so though you weren't aware of the pain on a conscious level, you were still feeling it. Now, after the anesthesia, they inject a local pain killer into the joint before beginning surgery. They also use a systemic painkiller throughout the process.

This all has gotten me researching glucosamine and chondroitin formulas again. He highly recommends the one they sell there (at $54/120 tablets)...but after some digging, I think for long-term maintenance, my Costco ones for $30/300 tablets is better all around. My two main concerns being that the vet pills have 400mg of flaxseed oil in them. While that is a good source of omega fatty acids, animals (including humans) do not process it as well as omegas derived from fish oils. Also, the vet pills have sucrose in them. While I am sure it is a negligible amount (it is the second to last ingredient), it is still there and is unnecessary. It also has a ton of MSM and no chondroitin. And the research I have found on MSM is very inconclusive as to any benefits and little is known about its long term effects or side-effects. So anyway - I will give her the week's worth that the vet provided to us with her antibiotics and pain meds (Rimadyl) and then we will switch back to her regular ones with added salmon oil (which runs me about $17/month for both dogs).

SADIE is being such a good big sister - Moo went to lay down and made a loud groan/whine (she was laying on her sore leg, silly dog) and Sadie came racing into the room to check on her. The cats have been circling and are very wary of her - I think she smells funny and they know something isn't quite right. Mostly now she is resting under the desk here with me. She's moving slow, but is getting around OK when she needs to. Her poor leg is all shaved and looks funny but, I think she will be just fine. We go back in about 10 days to have the staples removed and to let the vet have a quick peek at the incision to make sure it is looking good.

It's as important, if not moreso

City Chicken
2 days ago

When running through the Rules of Fight Club, many people remember firstly and seem to recall what was identified as Rule No. 1 (and 2), the order requiring one not to speak of fight club. But, often overlooked is the highly underrated yet wholly applicable No. 7 rule.

7. Fights will go on for as long as they have to.

Making sure of it.

Twittering

hp
2 days ago
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Automatic posting from my Twitter Account:

12:23 On our floor, we have a chronic epidemic of personal cell phone usage in the hallway. The conversation snip-its are at times... interesting
17:17 Packing it in for the day. Tonight: more knitting. Gotta get the gifts done.
18:45 Normally, not a huge fan of Guy Fieri, but love his Bumped-Up Brussels Sprouts bit.ly/4ttAQV

bronc with rider

navelgazer
3 days ago
1 comment

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"Rescuing Sprite"

Anne
3 days ago
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So, another tear-jerker dog book. As I stated in my last post, this one is much more "to-the-point". It is the author's recollections of his family, and dogs, and having to make the tough, end of life decisions for one of them (one of the dogs, that is). There really isn't a story to it or a plot, it was just a guy talking about his love for his dogs, but it was still a good read. My only real gripe with it is that there seemed to be some serious name-dropping going on in a few sections. But it could also be that this guy really is good friend's with these folks and that they played an important part to his coping with his grief. The problem is, I didn't get that sense from it...it really just seemed like name-dropping in the middle of a sad memoir.

If you have dogs, I would recommend this as a good read...it touches on the inevitable and as the author even says, it is nice to know we are not along in our fears of losing our favorite pals.

Oh yeah, and this one is SUPER short...he even states that it started as an essay...which is pretty much what this book is, an expanded essay.