"Daily Themes"

It is strange how days at the hospital seem to develop themes to the sickness, or chief complaints, of the patients. I have been recently focusing my time working in minor care, where we see a mix of bumps, pulls, lacerations, fractures, and headaches. The "major stuff", such as MI's, seizures, etc., go to a different area of the department. Each area tends to develop its own theme for each day.

Yesterday for me it was..."Staple removal." At the start of the day, I had never used this fun tool. By the end of the day I was an expert at it. Five patients-and most interestingly, the first one I did on my own was to remove staples from a C-section. When you get thrown into something new, I just feign confidence so as to not scare away the patient. The last thing a patient needs to know is that this is the first time you have done something. Same thing goes for observing while a PA or NP or DR does his thing. It's all about confidence. For the patient, that is. I watch, then ask my questions outside the room. That's a lesson I learned in paramedic school-you don't lie to the patient when they ask, "Are you good at IV's?" and they are looking at you with the "eyes." You say something like, "Oh YES I am.... (while thinking in small print...well, yes, I was good on my practice partner in class...)" I then realize after successfully completing the new task (in my head) that it really wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be.

Other recent daily themes:
boils/abcesses
lacerations
fractured left pinky finger (yes, really)
pediatric major cases
"everybody gets a lumbar puncture" day of bacterial meningitis

Fedex Woes...

So, I purchased a Tungsten T5 from Ebay from a reputable seller. Three weeks ago.

I see yesterday morning Fedex has it on the truck to be delivered. Yay!

I stop everything all day to sit in my front office-keep an eye on the road out front (in case they miss the house.) Don't even make beads in the back studio for fear of missing them.

7:30pm, no Fedex. My husband calls customer service after we see online it was "denied by sender." The customer service person says this too. Says they have initials "JB" who initialed this. He recants it after we said we state how we stopped our day to wait for this package. He then says it was "recalled by the sender." So, we call the Ebay seller, just up the road about 100 miles in Jacksonville. HE calls Fedex to deny he ever did this. Now Fedex says they don't know WHERE my package is....maybe Rockledge FL, I don't know. Now, if they could deliver it today, it would be great. I have work today, and don't want a $400 package left outside all day to the FL elements. Plus, they are claiming it must go back to the sender soon if not picked up. Now, I must race to Fedex after 8am class before work to claim my missing pkg before it heads back to Jacksonville....it sounds all like because the driver got too late with his deliveries last night. I want someone's head for THIS one. Nice customer service... uuugh. I must BREATHE.

The Beginning...

First real day my new site, my new logo, my first Ebay auction are up and running. I am a bit nervous...not because I believe things will not work out, but because it is a big step to jump back into bead-land in a way that I believe represents ME. You see, a few years ago, under the name "kimbocreations," I made a small name for myself in the beadmakers world, then promptly disappeared. Mostly because I really needed to concentrate on my bowling career, but also because it became more about the money, the business of beads, which is NOT the direction I wanted. I did a few shows did some Ebay, and found myself searching for "whatever was hot right now" to jump on the artistic bandwagon. I lost my vision. I vowed to not return until I was right, until the time was right. So, here I am, a few years older and now headed in a new direction in my life.
I never left being a fan of some designers that have carved their artistic niche, and it has been interesting to see how lampworking has just exploded over just the past few years. I live in Cocoa, Florida, and when I started, there was literally me and another lady Terri in the entire county making and selling beads! Now there is a beadmaker with her own store in Cocoa Village, and Art Glass House sells lampworking glass and tools just 4 minutes from my house! My, how times have changed.
My first set back, and now up for auction, is appropriate because of my personal feelings regarding Lance Armstrong. In watching "All that is Lance" over the past few months, one thing is for sure: his work ethic and planning forged cycling into a whole new era of quality. It is this for which I am reminded that it is about the training, the work ethic, and the discipline to find excellence EVERY day of my life, which will propel me in my own forward direction with my beads. From this one reaps the rewards of life.