Natural History of My Job Change!

Another crazy week in the Miller house, Colin keeps telling me one day it will settle down, I have yet to see it, when it does settle down we will undoubtedly go crazy with boredom. For some reason clinic was crazy this week, just full of really sick children, very time consuming and complex cases. But I have to say this is my preference to be busy and to serve the under served, overlooked and downtrodden. This is a relatively new job, I have only been in post for 6 months and loving every minute of it. I am the Neurofibromatosis (NF) Coordinator in a Neuro-Oncology Clinic. NF is a genetic condition that can cause benign/malignant tumors, ADD/ADHD, chronic pain, renal/orthopedic issues... the list goes on. As a result they are a challenging population to deal with especially if the parent also has NF ( which happens 50% of the time) as their organizational skills tend to be lacking due to their disorder so they are nearly always low income, low functioning families. We have a great deal of these families in Philadelphia (the disease is more prevalent that Cystic Fibrosis but not nearly as well publicized). But because the clinic I work at is one of the best on the East Coast we tend to get patients from all over the US and Internationally. I love working with these families as they just need that extra "care" to help them navigate a very complicated system, so I walk them through their consultations with Neuro-Oncologists, Orthopedics, MRI, Neuro-Pysch, Neuro-Opth, Social Work.... the list goes on, you can see why I am busy. Sometimes I feel like I am running all over the hospital, I work with a great bunch of physicians and nurse practitioners who have been so supportive of this new role. It is very refreshing to be in a collegiate atmosphere where everyone is keen to help their colleague be a success professionally and personally. For the past 8 years I was working in community health. Thought I would be there forever, loved going into peoples homes and staying as long as I needed to give care to sick children and their families. I especially loved being in the poorer areas of Philadelphia because despite the cockroaches and the extreme poverty I really felt like I was making the most difference. However, March 2007 I was attacked in a bad neighborhood one early evening, no great injuries but I knew I was loosing my nerve in a job I had previously been fearless at. Then 6 months later I narrowly missed being carjacked ( talked my way out of it with my Off-With-Your-Head accent), then I think my days were done in the community. When I saw this post I wondered if I could transition back into the hospital - it had been years, but it really has not been that hard and I love working with a team again rather being isolated in the field which is what I have been doing.

So, I still have a passion to serve those who live at or below the poverty line but now I am having a go at 3rd World Medicine, hence the trip to the Dominican Republic in October, after that I already have my eyes on an AIDS clinic in Africa - watch this space, you never know what I will get up to next.

We did manage some fun this week though, last night we went to watch the Phillies Baseball downtown, tons of fun, made even better by the fact that they won. And its true a hot dog really does taste so much better when eaten at a stadium. Today (Saturday) more car pooling, laundry and groceries - such fun!!!!!!

A Work Widow Week

So Colin came home from a business trip to Montreal just long enough to get his laundry done before he got on a plane to Rome - sometimes I do wonder why he does bother coming home. All I know is I spent the whole weekend on my own again and I did not enjoy it one bit, so have been feeling a little sorry for myself. Elliot kept me busy though, tis the season for school dances and 18 birthday parties and so I was usually carpooling him from one to the other. He gets his license in about 6 weeks and I am feeling bittersweet about that, great that I will not have to car pool him to his (many) social events, sad that I will not have that cartalk with him whilst he is forced to breath the same air as me, I love that connection with him so much. Great that I will not have to set my alarm to wake up at 10.30pm to go and get him from some event, anxious that I will not be able to even close my eyes at night until I know he is home safe and sound.

Before you know it he will be heading off to college too. Ahh, boys at college now theres a phenomena that keeps me smiling every week. Text from Joe this week "Mum, changing the sheets on my bed and the spare ones you sent are too short - so I am throwing them out -ok" Well first of all I am actually shocked that he is even changing his sheets and of course I was soon screaming down the phone NO don't do it!!! Then for several reasons I had my cell phone by my bed last night and at the ungodly hour of 5.45am it does it supervibrate dance on my nightstand, which woke me up. When I investigated it was a text from Joe stating "Just climbed a mountain and watched the coolest sunrise on the spot where the sun hits the States first in the morning" - wow, could he not have waited until at least 10am to tell me that!!! Although I am thrilled he is having the full on college experience.

So, this sad sad woman whose most exciting event on a Saturday night is writing this blog is going to sign off now and go to bed with the dog - because its the best offer I am going to get tonight!!!

Fun At A Wedding

So, Jane, one of the docs in clinic was getting married and we were all invited - great I love a good party any day of the week, only problem was my hubby would be out of town at a conference in Montreal. Not so much fun to go to a wedding by myself but I took the opportunity to have a girlfriends sleepover at my house afterwards. Cindy took me up on the offer because she lives in New Jersey and the wedding being in Doylestown that would be quite a long way to go home!!! We had a wonderful time, I really do work with a cool bunch of people and quite uniquely we enjoy each others company. Jane looked beautiful on her special day and I was very grateful to be invited - even if I did have a closet crisis 12 hours before the wedding and had to go to the mall looking for a dress like a crazy woman - found one in the end, always room in my closet for one more dress!!!

This week was my final week of my grad school class and I am happy to report I got a final grade of an "A". Next class is a nursing practicum so I have to think of a project at work to dig my teeth into and then write it up. Looks like we are about to acquire another kitten. This one will belong to Katie who is a gorgeous 17 year old girl, bright and beautiful and full of incredible potential. For several reasons she is living with us right now and for the foreseeable future, she found these kittens at the barn she horse rides at and we agreed to take one, not because we need one more cat in the house but because Katie really needs something of her very own to love right now and she is crazy about animals and because I am a big softie.

I continue to miss Joe but he has been in constant contact and knowing he is having a blast really makes me feel better. He has joined the climbing club, the outdoor club and snowboarding club, is out every night with new friends and loves the campus he is on .......er......homework!! Have not heard much about his classes but knowing Joe he will have it all organized any day now.

This week I also went to another orientation meeting for my upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic - every time I go to these things I wonder what was I thinking when I signed up. Malaria, typhoid, parasitic worms, infected scabies are just a few of the friends I could bring home with me. Due to the recent and vigorous hurricane activity down there we are expected to see many water borne diseases and devastation. I am sure it will be a life changing trip for me ........cannot wait!!

Homework and Hurricanes

So, a couple of years ago I decided it would be really cool to go to graduate school and get my masters in nursing. My poor husband did warn me, how are you going to manage work, home, boys, your essential wine drinking habit!! - no problem was my reply. I should have listened to him. On the whole I am having a wonderful time in grad school, I am energized by my peers, learning some really cool concepts and theories that are directly related to my job, it helped me get my dream job (more on that later) but you have to do that dam homework!! And so for the past 2 years whenever I am in class the family lives on frozen pizza, everyone does their own laundry, the iron and ironing board are obsolete and the dog looks at me morosely as if to say "Am I ever going to get walked again", and then Colin looks at me morosely as if to say "Am I ever going to get walked again!!!". So right now I am in a particularly intense class dealing with scarce resources in nursing, recent legislative interpretation - wont bore you but it has been very time consuming and lots of research and writing - end result is I have not slept much for the past 5 weeks, one more week to go and I can get back to semi-normal living (if that is ever possible in our house).

So, what with crying about Joe (down to one box of Kleenex a day now - yeah for me!!), work being crazy and an intense grad school class I was sooo looking forward the concert we had tickets for on Saturday night, Ben Folds and the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra in an outside arena - marvelous, love Ben he is raw and funny has great lyrics and wonderful melodies, and I have to say in our old age we are becoming a little cultured and like the odd spot of chamber music. We were really looking forward to it and then.....we found out the remnants of Hurricane Hannah were going to hit us the exact time the concert was going on. Because we are the epitome of mad dogs and Englishmen we did not even consider to cancel, we even got 2 wonderful friends, Dave and Kristi to come with us!! No, we just shoved on the waterproofs, a disposable pair of flip flops and out we went. Rained cats and dogs, wind blew a gale but we had a wonderful time, and Ben was awesome!!

Now looking forward to another crazy week, dealing with adolescents at home and at work. Final week of my class (pray I get good grades), Colin leaves on a trip to goodness knows where ( cant keep up) but I am looking forward to a wedding next weekend, one of the docs in clinic is getting married so the whole of clinic is going to cheer her on - should be a good bun fight!!!

Transition Time

So, even though my boys would tell you I am old and farty and a computer retard, I have somehow figured out (with much help from my 16 year old) how to create my own blog. It was time. My main intention for this page is to keep family and friends up to date during my upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic, where I will go with a team of doctors and nurses from the hospital where I work in Philadelphia to help run a primary care clinic is a Haitian refugee camp. The trip is in 6 weeks, I figured I better practice on this blog thing before I go.
Also, I am inspired by friends who blog, especially Sarah and Sandra and thought I could join in the fun because lets face it Face Book just isn't enough. Now I just have to figure out how to load photos and make my page look pretty ( I have my priorities you know)

Another reason to blog was to document the transition in our lives. Just dropped my firstborn off at University. I have been asking myself all summer, how did I get to this point? I mean it does not seem like 5 mins since I was bringing home this premature baby and now he is a strapping 6ft something man who has been ready to leave home for sometime, it just took me a little while to catch up. Really truly I am not worried about Joe at all he is bright and resourceful and responsible and has shown us time after time that he can deal with life the right way, no I am worried about me and how much I will miss him. What will Colin and I talk about now, and will Biggles (the dog) who is so bonded to Joe ever get over the loss. Because Joe is over 6 hours away in New Hampshire we do not expect to see him until Thanksgiving. Too long, way too long. I am just going to have to blog my way through it.