HOW DO THESE PEOPLE SURVIVE?

ONE Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets

TWO I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "divider," looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

THREE A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."

FOUR
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

FIVE Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.

SIX I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in "Twister." I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the "cruise control" and then went in the back to make a sandwich.

SEVEN My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"

EIGHT Police in Radnor, PA, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.


NINE A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and should be fine, the mother says, I just gave him some ant killer..... Dispatcher: Rush him in to emergency

Working overtime.

I worked overtime today. First time since December of last year. I earned every penny of the goddamn overtime. I have four female patients and only one was decent. Three prima Donna, pains in the asses. My only one male patient was a nice man of 90 with scabies. What a set of patients, immediately, I know it will be a long day.

A long day is one when a nurse doesn't get a break unless you sacrifice getting behind in your work. I decided to get behind. I'm losing my patience and I need to keep cool. The new building's air conditioning isn't keeping up with the heat outside. There are work areas where it was hot and humid. There are places where it is nice and cool. This send waves of inconsistency to my body so I ended up sweating and then freezing. The good thing is that my feet are not bothering me. A first for a long time. I think it's stress causing them to be in pain. I tend to curl my feet when I'm stressed. Weird but true.

Patient 1 was an adult woman who was a victim of diabetes. She has lost her kidney and was given a transplant. Her right leg was then amputated. She is suffering now with phantom pain. Intense pain to an extremity that she no longer have. Now that is hell on earth.

Patient 2 was an adult former nurse. Victim of motor vehicle accident. She is paralyzed from her chest down. She's on a ventilator and a tracheostomy. Picky as hell about her care. Needs constant catheterization because she can't pee by herself. Another reminder to slow down and be careful with driving.

Patient 3 was a middle aged woman who had a total hip replacement. She had clotting complications and had a mild stroke. Her speech is affected in a way that she sounded like an old answering machine. Monotone and boring. She still dreams of having a farm in Texas.

Patient 4 was a middle aged woman who was in for deconditioned secondary to depression. Deconditioned is a term that caused a person to lose strength and ability to move. She is on high dose Zoloft. While in that bathroom having a bowel movement she asked me to look for a tube of balm ointment. She insists it's in the drawer. When I told her it's not there, she started crying and moaning. Jeez, what the fuck is going on? They later found it in the bathroom where she's at. Psycho.

Patient 5 was an elderly man. He should be dead by now but we are doing therapy on him so he can ahhh..... die later. Whatever, I don't care. He is nice so I'll take care of him.

All day long I gave out enough narcotic to kill an army. No wonder drug dealers love what they do. There is a constant need for addictive substance. You don't even need to advertise. Considering the pain they experience is true and unbearable. I'm a will participant in this legal way to kill pain. I will not wish what they are experiencing to my worst enemies. It's just pure agony.

I learned about a lot of new meds. I have to crack the med book open to know what the heck I'm giving.

An older Filipino nurse wanted to chat. She wants to know where else I work and other stuff. Man, I have to chart, but she insists that we talk first, just relax. Arrgh, I can't, I don't want to stay over just to chart. She's really nice. She was telling me that she's tired of Casa.

I went home 30 mins late but that's not too bad. It was a very busy day filled with stupid requests for stupid things. Since these people can complaint and the good old supervisor is a micro manager, just do what they want but let them wait for it. There are priorities and stupid request are always at the bottom of my list.

HOT HOT HOT

The weather continues to be hot. California has a power grid that supplies power to tens of millions of people and industry. The third largest economy in the world needs Megawatts of energy. We are encouraged to conserve energy. Some people even signed up to the power companies not to turn on their ac this summer. Bad idea. The power company installed a device that limits the energy to their homes. One physical therapist at work signed up and when he turned on his ac, no cool air came out. He later on found out that a device was installed somewhere in his electric line.

The idea of saving electricity is a noble one but when the heat goes up in the 100's, screw that idea. We are not cave people, we live in valleys with poor air due to pollution. Heat waves are not too common so I'm not going to panic. There are nice summers in the past. Hey accroding to Pres. Bush, there is not such thing as global warming. It's just a cycle of the earth's ecosystem that is causing all the heat. Not fossil fuel.

It still amazes me how people still buy Ford F150 pickups. It's the hottest truck there is right now. How this is amazes me. People must have loads of money or going in debt faster than they can spell Ford. I refuse to drive 20 miles to work as there are jobs around my area. I know an LVN who drives for 60 miles one way. She must be desperate for work. They are phasing out LVNs and maybe it's hard to get work. She also said she remodelled her house. Great, a nice home is always the american dream. Mine is cars. I love cars. So if you can afford it, buy it. Life is short. When you die, who gets to use your hard earned money? Hah, who gets it? If you dream of sitting in a BMW or a Benz you better get one while your innards are still young. Once you get old and can't afford this luxury items you wish you did. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. BUY IT NOW. LOL

My house had a few touch ups since I moved in 8 years ago. I hired someone to paint it and to add gutters. The paint is still good but the gutters are starting to fall apart. It's hard to find a decent contractor. Many out there are thieves.

I have a neighbor who is fixing up everything. The only thing he hasn't replaced are the walls and the roof. Everytime I go out, there is some work going on in his house. The poor dude is going in debt maybe because the wife wants all this shit in her house. It's always the fucking wife who wants everything. Nothing for the poor guy. He works hard at his business and he's paying for everything the wife wants. Shit, divorce the fucker. I'd rather be alone than work my ass of for eveything she wants. I sure he'll be dead soon. The wife worked him to death. She will then get everything. She will probably buy the BMW or Benz when he dies. LOL what a life. Must be love, what else is there? Stupidity? nah..

The weekend was a busy and hot humid one.

I worked the weekend. Like most weekend it should be a nice flow. Nothing busy, just passing meds to the rehab patients. Not everyone is getting therapy. Some even get to sleep in.

Saturday was a different story. I was floated to the orthopedic side also called East wing. I was hired to work at the spinal cord injury side or West Wing. I got a fresh set of patients and I need to get to know them. It takes time to know the little quirks of each patient. Three of them were in isolation for MRSA or VRE. Resistant organism that can infect wounds and immune compromised patients. I need to wear isolation suits to enter their rooms. Its time consuming but I'm organized enough to deal with it. I also have blood sugar checks. Another time consuming task. To make things worst, one has a bowel program. Bowel program I found out is to give them a dulcolax suppository and colace. Potent laxatives. I talked to the super about the bowel program. She said give the suppository and then after half hour, stick my hand to the rectum and coax the shit out. Luck was in my side as the patient already moved by the time I checked. The patient was happy that he actually went. I was pissed I have to do it. Thinking that if I help sick, fat, non compliant diabetics, and ungrateful patients I will go to heaven and have my pick of virgins it's all worth it. Wait, that's the fanatic muslim belief. Wrong religion. Oh well.

I also have the lazy CNA that is just the most stupid, barely speaking english, ugly, smelly, and disgusting. Looking at her makes me want to throw up and have a large bowel movement at the same time. It makes the day seem long.

Okay enough rambling about incompetence and poor attitude. Waiting for that bonus makes things a lot easier to tolerate. So I click my rubber shoes and recite "bonus bonus bonus"

Weather wise, it was hot and humid. It even rained just to add to the humidity, Sarge was indoors, enjoying the airconditioned house.

My friend's going to the big D and it ain't mean Dallas.

My best friend J served his wife divorce papers. After two years of her yapping about getting a divorce, he granted her wish to her surprise. What a stupid whore.

I was j's best man when he got married. I had bad feelings about the wife to be as she was suspicious about my friend. She checks on him every second when he's out of her sight. She never did trusted him. When he decided to marry her I have a negative feeling about it. Next thing I know they have a kid and things seems to be okay. Not really, they had a lot of fights about his loyalty to her. BTW, she is a widower, her husband committed suicide. (hint, she is a psycho)

After the beast/bitch/whore was served the divorce papers, she threw all his clothes to the dumpster. He went home and he can't go in the house as she changed the locks. He found some of his clothes but missing are two sets of expensive suits, set of golf clubs specially ordered for him, and other stuff he doesn't even know missing. She is now depriving him of seeing his kids. She even called the police and told them he was beating her, the cops didn't see any evidence and told them that if she calls again both of them are going to the station.

The bitch/whore also has a place in Riverside where she keeps a truck the she bought with another man. How did J found out about it? Boy #1, the bitches son from the first marriage, told him that they went to Riverside and drove a truck with a man. J found the plates arrive at his house. When he opened it, it was for Ford pickup truck. Apparently, the bitch bought a truck with this man, apparently her boyfriend, and they will split the payments. She reports that her father owns it. Well, father is legally blind and lives in Compton. How can a blind man drive a truck parked in Riverside? Oh, he's blind so how can he drive? LOL She's so stupid.

Bitch also scratched his brand new Suburban. He went to the parking lot after she was served the papers and it was scratched from end to end. Both sides, very deep scratches. A black suburban don't look nice with deep white metallic scratches. He can't prove she did it so the police said they can't do anything.

After all this good things, the bitch called him up and told him not to go through the divorce and things will be better. LOL A true psycho. Only a fool will go back to a bitch like her.

Back ground info. They went to counseling and the counsellors (yes plural, they have been to several counselors) told her to change, otherwise the marriage will not work. She told the counselors to "go to hell". One counselor even told them the problem is so deep and bad that they need legal counseling. Ahh, another hint that it's all over.

I really feel sorry for J. He is a very nice guy and doesn't deserve any of this. He made a wrong choice and he is suffering for it. His kids will also suffer as the psycho bitch doesn't care about them. It is important to choose one's partner as she can be a cunt/pussy/bitch/whore. It is good that there is such a thing as divorce. Nothing is final, there is always an escape clause somewhere.

More notes on rehab nursing.
Being an RN in a rehab hospital doesn't make me a rehab nurse. I don't know anything about bladder and bowel training. Everything is on the job training. I'm learning a lot about rehab. The therapists (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy) work on the patient most of the day. The patients are bombarded by endless therapy sessions.

As a nurse, I pass meds. Pain meds, meds for seizures, meds for constipation, nausea, meds to kill infections (antibiotics), and other fancy meds to decrease cholesterol and control anxiety. You name it we have it. If we don't have it, we'll get it, at least the pharmacist will.

I also change diapers, and give the patients reassurance that things will be better. Yessire, I am the hope and the light at the end of the tunnel. The service with a smile. If they fuck with me, I just leave, apologize for the inconvenience and call the supervisor or case manager to make it better for the patient or the family. I can only do so much. The rest of the day I joke with the other staff member who themselves felt like the crap has just dumped on them. I like joking with the CNA's the people who does all the hard work. Hard work means lifting, cleaning poop, serving food, transferring patients from wheel chair to bed when PT is no longer there. Most of the patients who can't ambulate weigh in the 200+ lbs. range. No wonder they can't walk. It's up to the staff to move these behemoths. It's like tug boats moving a cargo ship.

I kinda like when the patients are in PT. It gives me some time to talk to the other patients waiting for their therapy. There are a lot of life stories going on out there. One patient was a special education teacher. After retirement, she has some orthopedic problems and ended up hurting her knee. She had surgery and is now in rehab. She is reflecting on how we used to help people with disabilities and now she is the one disabled.

Another patient was about my age and his car (a new mustang) ran into an SUV that is running away from the cops. They hit head on and he ended up with broken legs and now in rehab. He had his birthday a week ago and he looks 20 years older than I do. He said the reason he looks old is because he is an asshole.

Most of the younger patients in rehab had been in a car accident or fell of a ledge while on the job. This kinda taught me a lesson to slow down a lot while driving. Reckless stupid driving is a dangerous activity. People who survive ends up with scrambled brains. Literally speaking. They lose their inhibitions depending on what part of their brains gets scrambled. Some will not talk again, others will be in nursing homes for the rest of their lives and some will be quadriplegic or paraplegic.

Falls are common to older folks. We have 80+ years olds here and they can be either very nice to devil incarnate himself. Most are women and some are just pain in the ass. It's good the average stay here in rehab is 4-6 weeks. Any longer and people will start disappearing. I swear to God, a pain in the ass (PIA) patient is like having a 12 hour root canal. I admitted a 90 year old and every time she calls she wants it yesterday. I found her crying and accusing a CNA for being rude. I told her that we will improve on our service and that I'm sorry about what happened. I talked to the CNA and I told her that I told the patient that we will take care of the bitch CNA that treated her like shit and the CNA will be flogged to death. The CNA laughed.

An interview with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life,
by Paul Bradshaw.

Rick Warren said:

"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a
nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last
forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body -
but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am
going to spend trillion of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act,
the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do
forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life
isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are
in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go
into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in
your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making
your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's
not the goal of life.

The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the
toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life
was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the
mountaintop, back and forth.

I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys,
I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at
all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something
bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your
life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,
which is my problem, my issues, my pain. But one of the easiest ways to
get rid of pain, is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and
others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for
her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened
her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a
testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people...

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For
instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million
copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of
notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God
gives you money or notoriety for you to own ego or for you to live a
life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this
money, notoriety and influence.

He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do,
Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from
the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace
Plan - to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the
sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since
I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be
able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism?

Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God,
if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and
love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do
list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings." __._,_.___

Afritadang Manok.

Ang sarap ng niluto kong afritadang manok. Home made ata ito. Kulang ng sanggap pero masarap parin. Hindi na ako gumamit ng patatas kasi wala eh, anong magagawa ko? Nagsaing ako ng kanin at kompleto na. Hita ng manok ang ginamit ko par walang pitso. Hindi ko tipo and pitso ng manok. Okay, kain na ko. Bigyan sana kita pero layo mo eh. LOL. bye.

Hot day today.

I drove past the bank in San Dimas with the clock and temperature sign. 100 deg F at 5 p.m. Thank God for ac. It's nice and cool inside my car but hot and dry outside. Dry is good as himid is additional suffering.

Talked to my sister by phone and she said that my older niece is playing with the twins. E would follow her mom's direction to look over the twins while she does her chores. She found the three clapping together as E was doing her hand clapping mannerism. The twins didn't know that their sister was not clapping but it looks like clapping so, they mimmicked her. E will also hand over her bottle if one of the twins happens to cry. How cute. It's always a wonder how a child with a disability will carry on as a normal child in the very basics of human excistence. E is truly an angel.

Car maintenance.

Keep your car in shape and it will keep you from being stranded in the desert. I don't know if it's luck (knock on wood) but I've never been stranded because my car went out on me. I've left my light on and left the car keys in the ignition. Two things that can get you stranded with a dead battery and locked out from your car. This site will guide yout o 5 things most neglected in car care. Check it out.

Who needs to work?

Just turn in any of these people and you can make a lot of money. Up to $25M. Easy. Warning! Some of these guys are armed to the teeth and have armies surrounding them. Other than that it's really easy. Hihihihi.

Frasier's Eddie passed away.

Headline: Frasier's dog Eddie dies aged 16

Road Rage.
Here is an article that explains why people get mad behind the wheels. Check it out.

By my experience, it's the large trucks and large SUV drivers that are the cause of the problem. They think they own the road and drive like assholes. I laugh everythime I see a big truck upside down on the free way. LOL.

Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery: STS121






I always enjoy watching a shuttle launch. The unbelievable power of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and the main rockets just sends excitement up my spines. It's one heck of a machine. May the astronauts return safely. If you can see a launch live, go see it as the space shuttle launches will soon be extinct. To learn more about this mission go to NASA's Website.
Enjoy.
Picture obtained from NASA website: Copyright NASA

Independence Day 2006.

Another 4th of July. I'm staying home and cooking kare-kare. yummy. My friend M. called and he is meeting up with his brother and sister-in-law in San Diego. He drove to Union Station to take the train to S.D. unfortunately, he can't reach them by cell phone so he was hoping to find them in their hotel. Good luck to him.

The pool is looking good. I can see the bottom and the new filter seems to be working just fine. The company who installed it was supposed to clean my pool in a weekly service but they never showed up. I guess I can do it myself. So far so good. Saves me $80/month.

I was thinking about going to Casa to eat free food but it looks desperate. I have food here at home. Talked to my brother and he showed me a website called youtube.com. A cool site to check out. serch for mentos and coke and view a great fountain of diet coke. See it to believe it.

House, a tv series on Fox is showing 2 episodes per day every Tuesday. Nice way to catch up with shows I missed last fall. Another of those medical shows like Quincy MD, Medical Examiner from the 70's. Except this one the patients survive.

New system at work.

The assignment board shows teams instead of nurse's names. A "new" team nursing is being used without further instructions. A lot of people wants to go home but no one did. All talk and no action. We did what we did and no one complained, I guess that's good enough.

After two days of frustrations, I almost didn't show up for work. I was so disappointed from the previous days that I really don't want to go back. It was actually a better day as our CNA was a really good one. The bad CNA from the other day was there too but she wasn't in my team, thank God.

First thing that happened was my patient was obtunded and breathing irregularly. He ended up in the hospital. We called 911 and paramedics and firemen showed up to pick him up. There was about 7 people there. What a waste of resources but that's how they work.

I am down t0 4 patients and the LVN with me has 5. We took turns taking care of our patients as needed. It worked fine. It just happened that my LVN was also new and she was with me in my orientation 2 weeks ago. Everything worked fine. I hang her IV meds and IV pushes and she took care of my accu checks (blood sugar test for diabetics).

I met 2 former co-workers from the dialysis company. S, was my previous supervisor and she wondered if I ever came back to dialysis. I told her I never got comfortable doing dialysis. She said it's not for me and that is just fine. I feel the same way.

Can' wait for my day off. 4th of July.

Family names.

When my grand father was alive he requested my mom to have his grand children sign their names with his last name included as a middle name. I was more than obliged to do so as my grandfather is someone I respected and loved.

As the years go by, I started to skip the V from my signature as it is faster to sign my name without it. Today I should reconsider that as I heard from the grape vine one of my close relative might not be using our last name with his kids.

If for example my wife is a doctor and she is known for that last name before we met then that may be fine as long as in other non professional aspects of our lives she is using my last name. For my kids not using my last name is a slap in my father's face and tradition.

An uncle of mine changed his las name from Pascual to Pasquale and it shook the very foundation of my father's family side. Relatives were pissed to the core. He was joked upon and laughed at in family events. Until finally he was forgiven as an old senile man.

My mom's grand father has three kids. Two girls and a boy. The girls will never have their fathers family name as they get married so my grand father still had hopes on his son's kids. Guess what? He had two girls. The death of the Valino family name. That's when he started requesting that the V be used with our names. Poor grandpa, I wish he knows that I am a proud Pascual and a Valino. I call myself a mix. ILOCALOG - Ilokano and Tagalog. I am proud of the traditions of both families and if I ever found someone to marry and have kids, I will incorporate all traditions of the families.

Keep family names is a sensitive issue but I guess it all depends on who is really wearing the pants. That is the issue for another blog called under disaya.

Farewell uncle Syd.

An uncle of mine passed away three weeks. He and my aunt helped my parents in getting their visas to immigrate to the US. They treated us as family and we have been close for about 25 years.

Uncle is a mild mannered man. He only gets excited when politics is discussed and the Republicans are blamed for the ills of society, economy, and what ever else here in the states. He is the only conservative in our father side of the family that I know of.

Visiting with them guarantees home cooked meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With occassional trips to chinese restaurants, life with my uncle was always good. He never criticized me ever. A rarity now a days, someone will always want to have me married or lose weight.

I remember a time when we made a trip to the grocery store so he can smoke. He told me not to tell auntie. We laughed about it. I will also miss the times when he cook goat meat at my request. They sell frozen goat meat at a local grocery store in Daly City.

I will miss him for his passionate for life. He never did worry about his illneses. He took care of himself and lived a long life of 77 years. Cancer took over his body but his memories live on to all the people he loved and touched. God bless uncle and thank you for all the years we enjoyed with you and auntie.

Not everything at work is bad.

Okay, it's true that some people are not motivated. Maybe they know I have a sweet bonus waiting for me every 4 months so they are making me work hard for it. Who really cares? No one. The beauty of being a nurse is that there are incentives available to lure us to the lair.

The monsters of this lair are the nursing staff. Not all them are bad but nursing produce toxic people. Prima donnas of health care.

I talked to one of the staff yesterday and she went on to a litanny of switching jobs and finding her nirvanna. So far she only lasted 4 months at Casa and switched to per diem. She works full time at Good Sam in LA. She is selling her house in Pomona and bought another one further inland. She did it for her kids as one of them wants out of the parochial system and wants to try public education. She didn't like Pomona's school system.

I know I'm not alone in my search for my nirvana. I will find it and Casa ain't it. For now my challenge is getting the bonus. LOL

I met some neat people here in Casa, not staff, patients. They said there were a few purple heart ceremonies here for the iraq vets. I am yet to meet those soldiers. For now, I've met senior citizens that are going through rehab due to a fall, hip replacement, and other orthopedic surgeries. All of them are nice. They have stories to tell that sometimes take all of my time. They too are intrigued about my background. Most are surprised I'm not married and without kids. I see why they said this is a special place.

One patient has Guillain- Barre syndrome he is young and just had twins the same month as my sister had hers. He had paternal twins, a boy and a girl. He asks for pain meds on the clock. His legs are paralysed but fortunately he can move his arms. I will show him the twins pictures as he ask to see them.

Another patient, AT, is going through a lot in terms of being unable to care for herself and trying to sell her house. She transfered to a nursing home yesterday and the social worker has notified her son in Nevada about the transfer. She is depressed as she felt deserted by her family and friends. She's been at Casa for 2 weeks and started to feel safe there but now she will end up in a nursing home. I told her that hospitals are not safe as there are a lot of opportunist bacterias in them and food is horrible. I try to make her laugh or even smile in her depressing days here in Casa.

AT's room mate, BQ, is an unhealthy 330 lb woman whose gastric bypass has long ago failed and she is back to her old self. She has degenerative joint disease and that means her joints are no longer nice and slippery. She suffers from back pain and is totally dependent of others to care for her. She's only in her early 50's. She loves eating junk food as after a meal, I will find her chomping down on her box of cookies or bag of candies. One morning during her assessment, I found cramel coated popcorn all over her. She reports her family brings her the treats.

BQ was on an electric scooter during a PT session when she had an accident. She ran to a wall and injured her left toe. A pool of blood was observed and a chunk of meat was torn off her toe. An example of wheelchair versus wall collision. She didn't blame it to anyone. I figured she's too big for the scooter and her right leg activated the joystick. He thighs are so big, the fat is flowing over the arm rest where the joystick is located.

A 96 year old lady, CR, is pleasantly confused and wheel chair riding bad momma. She orders me around like a plantation slave. The word "please" comes up only at desperation time. Believe me nothing is desparation at Casa. only her dementia is in desparation mode. She wants to get in the bathroom every 15 mins as she can't remember when she was just there. I have to remind her about that and she will yell at me. I remind her again that I have done a lot for her and she appreciates that and that I'm a nice man so "please help me to the bathroom" It's 12 hours of demented hell for me. The CNA is ofcourse hiding somewhere. I just have to laugh.

These are just a few of the many personalities at Casa. It's a pleasure to serve these people.

Another bad day.

My second day is not as bad because it's a weekend. Not a whole lot of therapists are around and some of my patients were taking their breakfast in bed and going back to sleep.

When the patients call, the secretary will page that so and so needs a licensed nurse of just plain pt need help or assistance. The problem of the team nursing approach is that the CNA dosn't answer all the calls and lie about where they are. My CNA was telling me we need to work together. I told her that I haven't done any of my RN work so I can help her with her CNA roles. I suggested that she moves faster and be more efficient. I tracked her where abouts and she just plains disappears.
The situation here is what one will see anywhere in America. CNAs that is used to having their way because none of the RNs have found the guts to discipline them. The younger Filipino male CNA that replaced the day CNA was no better. The worst thing was the day CNA worked a double. My god! she worked another 8 hours and she just sat around with out anyone complaining. They just rewarded her laziness with overtime pay.

It will be challenging to change this type of culture as the older RNs was telling me that that CNA is worthless. They know about her ways and no one did anything about it. I don't feel sorry for them now. i understand the administrators position. If the CNAs are just going to hide from work and let the RN so all the care then, just replace them with real RNs and get rid of them. An RN with 4 patients will be a better bargain and will be better with the patient care. Team nursing of and RN, a LVN and a CNA is plain stupid.

The LVN that worked with me doesn't know her ass from her mouth. She is stupid as stupid can be. Clueless and just plain dangerous. I feel sorry for her patients. She also keeps telling me that she is just an LVN and she will make me liable for everything. Wow what a way to tell the RN that is covering you. I've never met such a moron in my life. I know LVNs in my previous jobs and they are great. This one is a disgrace of the profession.

I don't think that changes in this cultue at Casa is easily changed. The vision of the CEO just get overshadowed by the incompetence of the staff in this great place. There are great LVNs and CNAs here too but I guess the new guy gets the morons and lazy ones. This is bad as they probably lost plenty of great nurses.

The night shift is still sharing a lot of job search results. They are willing to take lower pay just to get out of this place. The CEO with the vision to provide the best medical care has fell short of meeting his expectations. There are bad seeds in his garden and preety soon the beautiful plants will be overgrown with weeds.