Tag: healthcare

How’s Your Spirit?

if I ask someone, “How’s your spirit?” and they answer with anything besides what I always said, “My spirit is great!”, would I know what to say or do? What would the person do who asked me that question?

How Is Your Spirit?

During a recent very unexpected illness which led to an extended stay in the local hospital I was asked repeatedly, “How is your pain?”, “How is your appetite?”, “Have you had a fever?”, and many questions that shall remain undisclosed.  

After my release I had several follow up appointments and home care.  At a couple of visits the same questions were repeated, but time a twist.  “How is your spirit?” 

That caught me off guard.  No one ever inquires of my spirit.  I never inquire of anyone’s spirit.  When I say, “How’s it going?” or “How you doin’?”, do I expect any answer besides, “Fine”?

I work in health care.  Often when I check in with my patient and ask, “How are you doing?”, I mean, “are you comfortable, is there anything I can do to help get you settled?”  Once in awhile I hear a response of, “I’m doing great, how are you doing?”  And again, it catches me off guard because at that moment I am the caregiver, not expecting anyone to be the least interested in my condition.

Our mind, our body, and our spirit are all connected.  If one is out of balance the rest is as well.  When someone is suffering from pain, loss, or stress, it affects how they think, how they feel physically, and how they are coping spiritually. 

On the other hand, when there is a joyful occasion or anticipated happiness, something to look forward to, the aches and pains are often reduced.  The mind becomes content or excited.  The spirit is positive and encouraged. 

Things like unexpected illness or tragedy profoundly affect our spirit.  That internal place of peace, joy, kindness, love, and hope can be deeply troubled.  My spirits were lifted with each text and inquiry from family and friends on how I was doing and what was happening.    

From my hospital room window, I could see my co-workers and patients coming and going as I had a clear view of the parking lot of where I work.  There was one day where I was feeling like I would never return to “normal” life and it was discouraging but the care I received was absolutely treasured.  Each encounter made a positive impact during my stay.

Now I wonder, if I ask someone, “How’s your spirit?” and they answer with anything besides what I always said, “My spirit is great!”, would I know what to say or do?  What would the person do who asked me that question?  Are they prepared to counsel me, to encourage me, or to get me the help I would need?  If I were to ask that question, what would be my response to, “I am so depressed”?  or “I feel lost”. 

I pray that I am prepared to come along side anyone who is low in spirit and I pray that if I ask you, “How’s your spirit?” that through me the Lord would give you comfort if needed. 

So, how is your spirit?

2020 Perspective

As many people hunker down in their homes, following the mandates to “shelter in place”, a skewed perspective of the world outside your very own small world may develop. There are life-changing, funny, sad, devastating, and interesting things happening that may get lost. So here is my perspective:

As many people hunker down in their homes, following the mandates to “shelter in place”, a skewed perspective of the world outside your very own small world may develop. There are life-changing, funny, sad, devastating, and interesting things happening that may get lost. So here is my perspective:

It occurred to me that in the past few week I have met or imaged multiple people whose world has been shattered by news that had nothing to do with Corona, COVID-19 or lack of toilet paper. Not the news on the television or the latest Facebook post about the corona virus or the ever-increasing numbers constantly showing on the sidebar of many website in a red, scary graph with 5 digits, then six digits.

There are people who have been shattered by my job, by findings in a clinic, by a report on a page, by a phone call from their doctor. They have been crushed and tried and tested. There is a loss of control, their loss of hope, their questions of faith, their cries to God. Anticipation of pain, healing, loss, treatment, change.

There are the others who have been given a clean bill of health, a new baby, a plan of hope for continued wellness, or an answer for their pain.

There is the new mother who had to be induced because her 100 pound frame couldn’t take the pressure of that nine pound little human inside her. While scared to be anywhere near a hospital, the light of new life in the midst of all this death, doom and loss must be beyond amazing. Perspective.

There is the young lady with her first pregnancy that sits at home all day with severe nausea, vomiting, and aversion to raw chicken and makes me laugh with stories of trying to make dinner. While she has been laid off and that is hard, she cannot imagine working under these conditions. She is bored out of her mind and I am longing for time alone! Perspective.

There is the lady who was home finding ways to make surgical masks but had to come in for a check for metastatic lesions from a former cancer. Perspective.

There is the elderly lady who felt a lump in her breast and is now finding ways to cope with the chemo and radiation treatments she is getting ready to endure. Yet that may get delayed due to the virus. Perspective.

There is the young man who has been having neck pain and finds out it is a tumor in his spine that has metastisized from an unknown cancer in his body.

The lady who had a stroke yesterday but does not want to go the the emergency room right now. I would hope not to ever have to go to the ER, but sometimes it’s necessary! Yet at times like these it’s like a cesspool in our brains … a virus just waiting for us at the door. Ready to attack anyone who enters, we fear. And yet someone I know personally is now diagnosed with covid-19 and is admitted. The first person I actually know and now it is real. Heartbreakingly real. Perspective.

There are silly things like someone going to a walk in clinic to get a huge earring removed because she needs an MRI of her head but the earring causes too much artifact and her husband, who is a pipe fitter, can’t remove it. Two days later she finally returns for her imaging and is so sweet and kind and laughs. Perspective.

There is the funny story of a patient who hurt his elbow. I ask… what happened? “My cow tipped over”… so hard not to crack up at the thought of this 400# man with his 500# cow which had gone off to visit the neighbor cow. She didn’t get the message, apparently, that you cannot go visit the neighbors! No, she got mad (ha ha .. mad cow) … and he tried to get her home by pulling her with a rope. She tried to go in circles around him and fell over. He hurt his elbow trying to get her back up. Poor guy … made me laugh. Perspective.

Around town there is quiet on the streets as I go downtown to my studio after my abbreviated days at work… to let my mind go for a few hours in piles of flower petals and every manner of adhesive as I try new designs and ideas and methods. Why create? I wonder. There is no one to see it, no art walk, no buyers… so I create for the pure joy of it. And if I don’t create that means I am going home early to sit around with my two people trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Too early for all that… Create a new perspective.

As I drive from here to there I hear traffic reports that are no longer needed because there is no traffic. I hear commercials from restaurants that can’t wait to make me dinner and news reports about the latest recommendations from the CDC, the President, the FDA, or the Governor.

I see people driving around with masks on in their car. They are the only one in the car. “You don’t need a mask!” I shout inside my head. Wait, was that my inside voice leaking out again?? … “You cannot give yourself the virus!” I pick up dinner for our planned once-a-week take out, doing our part to support these people who work so hard to feed us excellent meals… and so I don’t have to help my two people figure out what to eat for dinner… again. Thank goodness!

There is a 10 acre parking lot at the theater with zero cars and two people walking down the sidewalk … the only two people within a two mile radius… and they wear masks as they walk together. They probably live together and went out to get some fresh air… “YOU DON’T NEED A MASK TO DO THAT!!” I shout and my son laughs.

Meanwhile… These things float around in my thoughts – so many things that have a different perspective:

There are homeless people being housed in the high school that can’t be used for teaching students because you can’t have so many people together in one space.

There is an overpass in Las Vegas painted with rectangles six feet apart where homeless people are expected to sleep while a multitude of hotels sit empty with food rotting in their refrigerators because there is no buffet to overload.

And a guy got in trouble in California for going out on his sail board… all alone in the ocean he is a risk to what? The jellyfish? What kind of rule is it that a few people can’t go to the beach? Man the parking lot, if you must, Costco style… let 5 people park three spaces apart and go find their quiet place to ponder, frolic, or surf.

Soon we will carry our little certificate with us showing us to be COVID-19 free so we can go get a haircut, sit in a cafe, or walk on the beach? Meanwhile I press up against one person after the other getting them comfortable for their MRI, holding their pillows under their elbows until they feel secure, and giving them sips of water, words of encouragement, and cleaning like a mad woman between each encounter.

That’s my perspective on the matter. I’m blessed to be out in the world seeing things that others are hidden from. Yet, the introvert in me loves nothing better than the thought of being sequestered in my studio for weeks on end. I wonder if I would get bored. I long to write for hours and tell the stories of long ago with uninterrupted chunks of time where I can get emotionally connected to the characters. But from this perspective I am grateful for my job, my patients, my absolutely amazing employers… whatever happens as long as I don’t get sick, of course!

Stay well.

Unenjoyment

When I was a kid I heard people say they had applied for “unenjoyment”. It was a family joke and I know that my mom, because she worked seasonally in the canneries and food processing would have to apply for it whenever the season was over. I worked in the canneries, too, but never applied because I was in school and could always pick up work doing something.

In the 1970’s I suppose there was a lot of lay off situations and from time to time someone or another would be looking for work because they were on “unenjoyment” and were required to apply for so many jobs per week to get their benefits. It always had a negative connotation, eventhough the reason for applying is not questionable. You can’t apply unless you lose your job, right?

I have worked at least part time since I was 16. I have never had an extended period of time that I was without work except for the brief years that my kids were babies in the early 1990’s, and that was by choice. I have never been through a situation where I was unable to find work of some kind and fend for myself financially. I have been very blessed to do the work I love to do and get paid for it for the past 20 years.

Healthcare is always a stable industry because there are always sick people, hurting people, or injured people. But I didn’t start a career in healthcare until I was in my 30’s, and not because of the stability, but because to me it is the most meaningful profession, personally satisfying, helpful to others, technologically dynamic, and always interesting.

The past three weeks it has become something else. I don’t work on the frontlines of this epidemic/pandemic we are currently experiencing globally. I am not a nurse. I don’t work in a hospital environment. While many of my patients have cancer or some kind of chronic disease, my modality is not part of the screening process for this new bug called COVID-19.

We started wearing masks that make our ears hurt, our glasses fog up, and make it difficult to breathe. We have gone through cartons of gloves and virusides and spent countless hours deep cleaning. We clean often but now it is every piece of equipment multiple times a day just hoping our patients aren’t hiding the fact that they’ve had a fever, cough, or sore throat. Our part isn’t critical and can wait for the majority of patients. We do not want to use up resources but we don’t want to make people suffer waiting either.

Doctors’ offices that aren’t part of diagnosing, treating, evaluating or testing for COVID-19 are not seeing many patients, most surgeries have been cancelled, and resources that would be needed for patients with the virus must be rationed, some of the chronic pain and disease screening modalities must be closed down or drawn back to minimal use.

Over the past three weeks I have sent half of the employees I manage to the “Unenjoyment” lines. At first it was, “Don’t worry, it’ll just be a couple weeks and we can take turns”. Then it was, just hang on a couple more weeks, we can’t take turns because more have to take off. And now it’s the majority are asked to go online and sign up for the “Emergency Unemployment – Standby” benefits.

In my head I know, don’t feel guilty – it is necessary, it is temporary, it is our money that we have contributed for many, many years. It is not a government handout, it is our very own dollars coming back to us.

But here’s the deal. We don’t mind putting that money in there for those who need it. We have all worked hard to get where we are. We studied, we sacrificed, and we all love to do what we do. And it killed my soul today to tell two more people, then three more, including myself, that we are cutting back staffing to a minimum. And when my boss felt so bad it made me cry, then it was real. Up to this point it was just a bump in the road. Now it’s unenjoyment for the majority.

I’ve called the girls every week to check on them. The first three didn’t leave the house for the first ten days. Didn’t even go for a drive. I scolded them and said, get outside, get in the car, roll down the windows and DRIVE … get some fresh air, inhale some cow poop, go through a drive through. Walk around the block! C’mon, ladies.. we’ve got this. It’s just for a few weeks.

And now it’s just for another month. Then won’t we have a lot of catching up to do?? Then won’t we have patient schedules packed to overflowing picking up where we left off? Won’t it?

Will it?

God bless each of us as we find our “new normal” in this abnormal situation. Help us to find the JOY in Unenjoyment….