Blog #2. Spending so much time away from home I've discovered some very important timeframes in the new norm that I'm living. One is the ultimate one called the "shift change." It happens every eight hours at 7am 3pm and 11pm - when nurses turn patients over to the next shift. This is a special time. When you want to know what's going on in your life just listen in as your previous nurse shares with the nurse coming on duty all that's going on for you and what's scheduled. It's something you really don't want to miss! These are the important times to get in and find out what it is you're going through.
Now do realize that doctors in the end are scientists - they're statisticians, so they want to have all the answers and until they get that next test done that gives them those answers, they're continually promoting everything they can to get the information they need to make their decisions. This has extended my process somewhat, but I'm perfectly willing to be open to it, though it has brought me close to a really new relationship involving pain - and I stop and pause because it hurts so bad.
Besides the shift changes, its really important to know at least at Kaiser they tend to run a person called a Patient Care Technician (PCT). PCTs assist nurses by helping you to the bathroom, adjusting your bed, and bringing you food and snacks. Nurses take breaks and lunches so there is another team of backup nurses on staff as well.
I think it's absolutely critical that you learn your nurse's names and some of their background. Because I always try to make it when they come to help me that they leave feeling better. It is a nice visit that tends to put you in front and points up if you have to negotiate something. Today, for instance, I got a tuna fish sandwich that wasn't on the menu because I had been chasing that tuna fish sandwich for a while.
As I live and learn the routine of my facility, I must say there is a bittersweet there, because I really don't want to know the routine of the hospital - I want to go home! So anything I can do toward that goal is where I push my effort.
It is such a strange and different place to come from this place. The rest of today again I have another procedure and then tomorrow I'll talk to both doctors to get some feedback on how the procedure worked. We'll have to wait and see - but I do know one thing, I'm taking one breath at a time. It is a rollercoaster. There are times that are up and times that are down. It is an adventure and a journey, and I've got to tell you that out of all of this, I keep meeting the most spiritual people in the world.
But then I'm again reminded of the Michael Moran story about the gatekeeper sitting at the entrance to a city. A visitor came and asked him, "what kind of people live here?" The man said, "what kind of people lived in the city where you are from?" And the man said, "they were awful and they stabbed you in the back." Then the gatekeeper responded, "we have the same kind of people here." Ten minutes later another visitor came and asked the gatekeeper the same question. But the second visitor replied, "my people were loyal, they had your back, they did such a good job working with you, and were the most friendly people in the world." And the gatekeeper replied, "that's the same kind of people who live here."
So it is true - our lives - our world - our daily situations are a prefect representation of how we show up.
So take a look at some of the ways you show up, and if they don't work, hey, stop it!
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