Sucking It Up

Today about killed me. Again. I must have, like, 294 lives.

After a day like today, I really wanted to kick back with a glass of wine. Or a bottle of wine. But my real friends and loyal blog readers know I'd never drink wine out of a bottle. Naaah. I'd need one of those bendy straws. :)

Anyway, I had a 15 hour day today. I started out my day at 6 a.m. at the Fozzie Fields campus, for a day of training. While I haven't blogged about it lately, I've been hot and heavy with the Uncle Mary's endeavor on campus (okay, it's really called Aunt Martha's). St. Fozzie's is collaborating with Aunt Martha's to provide continuity of care and medical 'homes' to patients without primary care providers in south Chicago. It's a great program and we're lucky to have a partnership forming.

Except that it's a heckofalotta work. It's throwing big wrenches into well-oiled processes in the Emergency Room. In the discharge portion of the eligible ER patients' visits, they receive formal referrals to Aunt Martha's. You would not believe the legalities, process improvements, and training mechanisms needed to ensure a smooth transition. Oy! I hosted six training sessions today, going back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth between campuses. The first training session was a comedy of errors, but we pulled it out and it got better with each subsequent session.

So between training meetings, I attended a Mission Board meeting and presented our Ethics/Disaster Preparedness plan to those folks. Then I had to lead a physician partnership meeting. It went well, but not super well. I asked one of the strategic planners to run me a few reports and to include in the meeting packets...except the planner misunderstood my directions and the wrong reports appeared. We salvaged the meeting, but I have to have the reports re-run and communicate better.

Lessons learned, eh?

As I dashed out of the 5th out of the 6 training meetings, my EVOO boss asked me how my day was going. When my answer was "POOF [cloud of dust scattering behind me]," he called me on my cell to tell me my immersion as an acting CNO was going well. Our CNO was away at a conference this week and I basically took over her responsibilities. Except that I didn't realize it until EVOO told me that. Weirdly, it fueled me further.

Despite the stress, I realized a few great things lately. First, this is where God wants me in my life. Therefore, I have no license to complain about my stress and heart palpitations. I need to accept these challenges and have faith that I'm on the right road. Second, I realized how lucky I am. In my fifth training meeting this evening, we were in the ER conference room (right by where the ambulances bring emergent cases). In the span of 25 minutes, 6 ambulances arrived, all carrying mortally ill patients. Sometimes I forget about the cycles of life and death occurring all around me in the hospital. At the end of the day, I have a neat job.

It doesn't matter that I've already worked 50 hours this week, right? Because I'm not going to complain! It doesn't help and just makes me feel bad. Plus, I'm sure my friends get sick of asking me how I am and I always answer, "I'm so stressed out that I want to get kidnapped!"