bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday-  We were up and ready for the satellite repair guy to arrive. He arrived promptly at 8:30. I went to the scheduled water aerobics, which it turns out is not on the w/e. The newsletter says it is every day! I did my own water aerobics and returned after sitting in the hot tub. The satellite guy was gone by then, and had not really done anything, but the satellite was working well.

We left and went to Lowes to buy a few items and returned for a lunch of leftovers. Bob installed some rebar to support our dog fence. He also put in some solar lights along our sidewalk. We took a short nap and I rode my bike around the park. We ate dinner and watched the movie Olympus Has Fallen ,which was okay, but there were a lot of errors in the movie.

Sunday- We were out the door at 8:15 to go to the Elks Lodge next door for breakfast with MaryAnne and Ray. We arrived at 8:20, and the Elks Lodge breakfast did not start until 9:30. So we punted and went to Under 5 Diner for breakfast, A nice little place with a waitress who was a hoot!

We chatted until 10 :15,when MaryAnne had to leave to go to church. Ray hitched a ride with us back to the RV Park. We dropped him off and returned to the motor home. We walked the dogs, then went to Jiffy Lube. This was a great time to go to Jiffy Lube, as there was only one other car there! While sitting in the waiting room, we realized that the Redskin game was on. We ran to Walmart. We picked up a newspaper for the coupons, costumes for the dogs (they are technically for Halloween, but we want them for the parade/contest in April), Bob needed a new hair trimmer. Then we went to Macy’s, as they were having a big sale. I only bought one new top for work, as most of the sale was for winter items, not short sleeve tops.

We stopped for lunch at In-N-Out burger, our favorite burger place. It must be everyone else’s favorite also, since the place was mobbed. We returned to the motor home and went to turn on the end of the football game. Surprise, It was blacked out! Huh? We have the football package! So Bob called Direct TV. They still had us listed as being in Sioux Falls. We have explained our lifestyle to them numerous times, but they just never get it. Anyway, technical support moved us to Phoenix, for the viewing, although allegedly, our billing is still Sioux Falls. So now, we get the local Phoenix stations on our guide. Evidently the game was on Fox in Sioux Falls. Not sure why, but it was…

Bob worked around the motor home and I was sewing my new navy pants. I needed to hem them and a pair of capris. It took all afternoon, as I was having a problem with the sewing machine. Finally, I gave up and we went to Sonic for hot fudge sundaes. They have the best hot fudge sundaes!

We returned to the motor home and I finally figured out that my problem with the sewing machine, it  was the bobbin, so I installed a new bobbin and finished hemming my pants. I rode my bike around the  park again this evening. So far I have only missed one day. We grilled some salmon and watched TV.

Monday and Tuesday- both days I was off to orientation in Mesa. The drive was a total of 44 miles each way.  Ugh! I am glad that I will not be doing that drive everyday, especially, since it was interstate, and directly into the sun! Monday morning was the usual videos, signing paperwork and basically boring. We all ate lunch at the cafeteria in the building. In the afternoon, we moved to doing modules on the computers. When I left at 4:15, I had 7 left to do tomorrow. When I arrived on Tuesday, I had 34 listed! I wanted to get them all done so that I would not have to go back on Thursday. I could not see what modules were coming up on the list, so I ended up doing module 1-3 of the Wound care modules. One and two were not bad, but I had problems with number 3. It was the solutions etc. that you use. Not something I I would ever have to do in my job, and they change constantly. When the modules for giving blood and drawing blood came up I went to the educator and asked about them. She said I had to do them because I am an RN. Huh? I tried again, so she asked someone else who said, no, they were not supposed to be on my list. So he removed a whole bunch of inappropriate modules and that brought the number back down to 13. I finished them quickly and was able to leave. It turned out I was the first Case Manager to go through the program and they were not sure what exactly to do with me! No wonder they were so confused! I returned home early and took a much needed nap.

Meanwhile, Bob was working around the motor home as I had the car both of these days.

Wednesday- I was supposed to go to another hospital to do the Cerner orientation. Cerner is the Electronic Medical Record(EMR), but Larry, the educator who assisted me  yesterday, had decided that it was ridiculous for me to go to the all day EMR class, as they were going to show me how to chart in the EMR. I need to know how to get information out of the system, not put it in. So he cancelled the class and they re-assigned me to a half day class in two weeks.

Instead of going to the Cerner class, I started at Banner Del Webb hospital. I had texted my supervisor, Joan, and she met me in the lobby at 8AM. She took me to the office on the Observation unit, where I am going to be stationed for the next 13-22 weeks. We stocked up on office supplies and she assisted me with getting on the computer. I do not yet have all of my passwords, but I was able to get on and look at Cerner. It only took me about 1/2 hour to figure the program out. So I cancelled the 1/2 day orientation on the EMR program. I met the floor CM, Heidi, and another traveler, Polly. Bob had dropped me off, so he happily had the car today. He ran some errands and kept putting in job applications.

Thursday- Joan had me go in at 7:45, so that I could attend the rounds on the Obs. unit at 8 AM with Polly. We did the IDP’s ( initial assessments) on all the patients and she showed me how to document them in Allscripts, the Case Management  computer program. I had used this program a few years ago, but of course, it has changed since then. I really had no problem with this part of the program. Lunch was with the other CM’s today, out on the patio. It is so nice in the shade in Phoenix! 

By the end of the day I was beat. At 4, I finally told Polly my brain was full and I could have put my head down on the desk and could have gone to sleep. Bob picked me up  at 4:15 and I laid down when I arrived home. Unfortunately, the dogs wanted to go for their walk, so they would not let me take a short nap.  Bob walked them and I rode my bike around the park.

The drive to the hospital is about 6, very easy miles. The travel in California was easier than College Park, and this is easier than either of those drives.

The temperature has gone up this week, with highs in the 90’s. For the fist time we have had to turn on the air conditioner. But the temperature cools off in the evenings, into the 50’s or low 60’s. We only keep the air on from about 2-6.

Friday-  Basically a repeat of Thursday. I did more of the IDP’s, then after lunch again, out of the patio, with the other CM’s. Heidi, showed me some of the information for discharges. We really start on Monday with getting down and dirty with the hard part, the discharges.

Bob picked me up at 4:15, and we returned home. The 6 mile drive takes about 15 minutes, with minimal traffic. I arrived home in time to be able to ride my bike and read my book before dinner.

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