Yes, it's been forever since I've
blogged. Can't say that there's really a specific reason for it.
We've been busy, as always. Haven't really been in the mood I
suppose. Honestly, I don't know why I haven't blogged too much. I
just haven't. Going to fix that now.
Let's talk about one of my least
favorite subjects today: nursing. Seriously, I thought a few weeks
ago nurses were certainly leading me to a nervous breakdown. Being
100% open here, I went into a “funk” for a couple of weeks. Not
really sure if I was depressed, or overwhelmed, or had a case of the
winter blahs, but there was certainly something going on with my
emotional well being. We were having serious issues with BOTH the
home health nurses AND the school nurses. Honestly, the phone calls
back and forth to both agencies and the constant worrying I've had
about finding new nurses, keeping the nurses we have, training new
nurses only to have them quit, etc has been completely exhausting and
has been going on for months. So not even worth the effort up until
recently. I don't like to admit when I feel defeated and/or unable to
find a solution to a problem, but I was definitely there emotionally
for a couple of weeks. Family and friends would ask hey how's the
nursing going, and I was like, please, I can't even discuss it! Every
bad emotion you could have, I had it. Angry at the nursing agencies
for not being able to recruit enough nurses. Furious with the nursing
agencies when they sent out a nurse to train who ended up being
incapable or a total fucking moron. Worried about having new nurses
in our home, exposing Colby to them and how they would take care of
Colby. Upset that my son qualifies for 16 hours of skilled nursing
care per day in the first place. To summarize, it's been rough in the
Colby nursing area lately. I started calling around to other home
health companies to see if they could take Colby's case. Turns out in
our area there apparently is a nursing shortage. Of the 3 agencies I
called, only one seemed confident they could staff Colby's case. At
least the other 2 were honest with me and said they didn't have
enough nurses instead of taking on Colby's case only to under staff
it. However, I stuck with the same nursing agency we've been using
for over 3 years now, and it's slowly starting to get better, thank
goodness! Honestly don't think I can take many more nursing issues.
One day I will flip out and fire all of them in one sweep. Then where
will we be? Nurseless and pissed off I suppose.
I'm at Colby's school today hanging out
in the teachers' lounge, so you know what that means. Yep, training
another school nurse. Going to school with Colby is very tricky. You
have to know how to drive his power chair. Colby is maybe more likely
to have a choking episode when sitting up and tires easily. Basically
you have to be more alert with the kid when at school. We had an
excellent nurse going to school with him 2 days a week, then another
nurse (who is also one of our home nurses and excellent) going to
school with him the other 2 days. The school nurse quit to take
another job. Her last day with Colby was Jan 7, and we are just now
getting the school nursing worked out! It is a never-ending battle!
We had another school nurse start with Colby. After 2 days she quit.
She said it was because she wouldn't be getting enough hours. Ummm,
I'm sorry, didn't you know how many hours this job would be BEFORE
you took it?! Such a waste of everybody's time. However, for the most
part I believe things happen for a reason. Turns out the school nurse
we're training now wants to cut back to part time hours. So maybe
she'll be a good fit for Colby. She has caught on to Colby's routine
very quickly. She's nice, professional, and doesn't seem to be
carrying around a 10-gallon bucket of cra-cra. Fingers crossed this
school nurse works out!
The home nursing situation hasn't been
much better. We had a former nurse come back to work for us, only to
have her quit 5 weeks later. One nurse they sent out here to shadow
just wasn't a good fit for our home. In other words, we all thought
she was nuttier than a fruitcake. They had 3 nurses “in the
pipeline” to work with Colby. Great, fantastic, maybe things will
get better. Oh my, don't be ridiculous! Of the 3, one quit the
nursing agency completely. Said he got his “dream job” and after
being hired, going through orientation and setting up a
meet-and-greet with him, he quits the agency completely. Perfect.
Just fabulous. Then they had another nurse with trach and vent
experience in mind to work with Colby. You'll like her, they said.
We think she'll be a good fit for your home, they said. Well, she
never made it here because apparently she has some sort of torrid
past and once the nursing agency got her background check, they
wouldn't hire her. Even better! So that's strike 2. Then they call
and say oh, we have a great nurse for Colby. He has worked for us for
5 years and has missed only 2 days of work. He “never” calls off.
So he worked here days and guess what?! Oh yeah, you bet your sweet
ass it happened, he called off for the next 3 days he was scheduled
to work here due to a cold. Now of course I don't want anyone sick
coming near Colby. Isn't just so odd that the dude who “never”
misses work missed work during Week #1 of being in our home? Somehow
I think the nursing agency needs to double check his attendance over
the years. Jerkoffs.
But as of today, February 22, 2016,
both of these new nurses are showing up and still working for us.
I've gotten to the point where no excuse or reason a nurse gives for
quitting Colby's case surprises me anymore. And yes, I know there are
far bigger problems out here in this big bad world to have. I really
do know that. Colby could be sick and in the hospital and we wouldn't
need nursing. Or even worse, I wouldn't have Colby and none of this
nursing stuff would be an issue at all. So of course I'll take the
nursing problems over the alternatives. But for the love of corn, can
we just catch a break and find a couple decent nurses who want to
work, who aren't crazy and who will show up for their scheduled
shifts with Colby?! Am I really asking too much?
Okay, I just had to vent and get all
this negative nursing bullcrap out of the way. No more blogging about
this stupid shit. Just praying that both the school and home nurses
we currently have will stick it out for a while. My next blog will be
more pleasant, more positive and about a totally different topic. Any
other topic besides nursing, I promise.
