I'm working on a new quilt right now.  A young friend of mine at work is getting married this year and I promised her a wedding quilt.  Her favorite color is teal.  I hope she likes the colors.  I've known this young woman since I started working at my hospital.  She's like a daughter to me and I'm so happy she's found a man who makes her happy and who loves her as she is.

I've only worked two days this week and I am thankful to have today off.  We were short staffed on Monday and it was awful.  We were so busy we had patients waiting over an hour for us to even take them back to our waiting room where they often need to wait for another hour while they drink the contrast before their CT scan.  There was a lot of apologising by us, not by management obviously, but by the nurses who actually care for patients.  It always seems to be the way in hospitals.

Yesterday was a better day but there was still a big hiccup for one patient.  It was his first visit with us.  Patients with lymphoma and leukemia have a problem because cancer cells like to hide in their brains.  The chemo used to treat their cancers can't cross the blood brain barrier so the chemo must be administered through the CSF, cerebral spinal fluid, if they do end up with cancer cells in their brains The patient comes in, 5 mls of CSF is taken out by lumbar puncture and 5 mls of chemo is administered.

Before we can do this we need blood work to check coagulation and platelets, to make sure the patient doesn't bleed.  Apparently the nurse that the patient and his wife saw on Monday didn't think she needed to do the blood work that the hematologist had specifically ordered so when the patient arrived yesterday we had to get STAT blood work done which you wouldn't think would be a big problem except in a cost cutting measure, all of our coags now go across the street to the University Hospital, so STAT usually takes 2-4 hours.  Yesterday I walked the patient and his wife down to the lab and told the manager herself what had happened and I was deeply surprised to have the results back in 1 1/2 hours.  However, we then need to order the chemo which takes another hour to make.  The patient and his wife were wonderful but I felt so bad for them.

I gave them another lab req for Thursday so that this doesn't happen again for them on Friday.  What's so frustrating is that the patient and his wife had both questioned the nurse on Monday about drawing blood because of the IT chemo but the nurse knew better.  Fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The lesson here, listen to your patient.

My grandson is doing well.  My son is back in jail.  Life goes on.  It doesn't upset me anymore when my son goes to jail.  The first time he went to jail was fifteen years ago and since then he's been in and out too many times to count.  There was a period when he did well and went back to school and got his Business Degree but those days are over.  He seems to careen from one crisis to another and I am trying so hard not to take responsibility for his fucked up life.  He is an adult and has been for a long time but I still wonder what I did wrong.  I imagine I did lots of things wrong, like every parent that has ever lived, but I wasn't a bad mother.  I still hope that he becomes a good man and father.

It's snowing here and looks like it will snow for awhile.  It's supposed to get cold this week too, down to -30C which I don't like but which makes -15C seem warm in comparison.  The chickadees are busy at the feeder outside the window and there is sourdough baking in the oven, so a good day.

The woodpecker just showed up too:)