About 15 minutes after I got there, the phone rang and it was my clinical coordinator calling my CI about some forms that he still needs to fill out for my midterm review. She apparently mentioned to him over the phone that I was supposed to be fever-free for 24 hours before coming back to work (I had emailed her that I was sick and missed Thursday because we are required to let her know). It would have been nice if she had told me that I was supposed to be fever-free for 24 hours, because I never knew that. But my CI just laughed about it and said not to worry about it.
We had a meeting at the hospital yesterday afternoon, so while we were on the way, I noticed that I had a voicemail. I checked it and it was from my clinical coordinator. She was calling to tell me that I should not have gone into work yesterday because I should have been fever-free without any medicine for 24 hours. I'm not sure where these rules are coming from, but I've never heard any of them! And here's the kicker - she goes on to say that she would have been lenient with me for the days that I missed and that I probably wouldn't have had to make them up if I had stayed home an extra day. UGH! I definitely would have stayed home if I had known all of this! I love how she waited until I was already at work to call me and let me know this! So frustrating. So then I felt like crap for even going in to work, because apparently that was the wrong decision. So I tell my CI what the voicemail said and he just laughed and said not to worry about it and that he would just let me leave an hour early after we were done seeing the double-booked patients and all my charting was done.
So we get to the meeting at the hospital and I start feeling miserable. I'm getting stomach aches and nausea again throughout the entire thing. Bleh. After it was over, the rehab director came over and asked me if I was going to this seminar thing that they are putting on this weekend (today and tomorrow from 8-5). I told her that I was not going because I was still feeling a little sick and felt it would be better to just stay home and rest. She agreed and told me to "stay away" from the seminar.
We get back to the clinic after the meeting and my CI asks me if I am going to the seminar. I tell him that I am not because I am still not feeling that great and I think I should just stay home and rest. He starts giving me a guilt trip - BIG TIME. Telling me, "well...if you really don't think you need to be there..But I really think it's good to expose yourself to as much new information as possible so that you keep an open mind about new techniques." and "remember, this is a $300 course that you get to go to for free." um...HELLO?! Did I happen to mention that I feel like absolute crap and that I could quite possibly have H1N1?! Yeah, let me just spend my entire weekend at some seminar where I will not earn any CEUs and waste my time with muscle energy techniques that I will not even remember in the long run while I get everyone at the seminar sick with whatever I have. Ugh. Well, guess what? I didn't go today. And I'm not going tomorrow either.
So about an hour into seeing patients yesterday afternoon, my CI starts coughing and hacking. He begins to realize that he is getting whatever sickness that I have (and maybe he will finally realize that it wasn't just all in my head and thinking positive isn't going to cure it). He starts blaming me for getting him sick and going on and on and on about how he caught whatever I have. Well guess what? That's why I called off yesterday. And he's the one that told me to stay yesterday after my clinical coordinator told me to go home, so I refuse to feel sorry for him. He spent the whole afternoon holding his head and talking about how miserable he felt. Welcome to the club! I tried not to whine about it because I knew he would get annoyed, but all I did yesterday afternoon was listen to him go on and on about it. Well, I still left about 45 minutes early after I got my charting done. There was only one patient left for the day anyway and that patient hadn't even shown up, so I'm assuming he was a "no-show" and my CI got to go home early also.
Last night I went to bed about 10pm and woke up this morning at 9:45. That's the way it's been going lately. I either go to bed around 8pm and wake up at 8am or somewhere around there. It would be nice if I could get to the point where I don't need to sleep 12 hours/night because I feel that's all I do. Today I actually felt good enough to go to Kroger and get some much needed groceries. Although I am still hacking and coughing and occasionally feeling crappy and need to lay down.
I'm not sure if this flu is changing the way I taste food or if it's just giving me weird cravings, but I have been wanting to eat the weirdest foods lately (weird for me anyway). The week before I got this flu, all the sounded good to me was BLTs (with the T), and I used to hate tomatoes, but now I want to put them on every sandwich I eat. Crazy. After I got sick, I couldn't eat anything at all for a couple days (except for one peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie...weird I know) and then last night I finally felt ready to eat my first meal. There was only one thing in the world that sounded like it was even worth eating and that was a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese and fries. Now, that doesn't sound so weird, but I HATE American cheese on my hamburgers and the quarter pounder comes with 2 slices. And it tasted soo good. Today, the only thing that has sounded good was vanilla ice cream topped with some homemade peaches that my cousin Paula canned for me, and some whipped cream. So, I went to Kroger for the ice cream and whipped cream and that's what I had for lunch. Crazy! Although, it did make my sore throat feel much better.
One bright spot to my day was the fact that when I returned from Kroger, my neighbor came over and introduced himself and his daughter. He lives in the condo that is attached to mine and we haven't really had a chance to meet since I moved in because I haven't had time to get out and about with my weird clinical hours. He is a super nice guy. He told me that if I ever need anything to just let him or his wife know. He said they'd be willing to take care of anything that I need and if I ever go away for a few days and need someone to take care of Ramona, they would do that also. It was so reassuring to know that I have nice neighbors who are willing to help me out. It made me feel better to know that there's someone kind of "looking out" for me next door.
So my plan for the rest of the weekend is to just sit back and relax. I wish I had some chairs to sit outside, since it's such a beautiful day out, but I just opened a window and I'll have to enjoy it that way for now. I do have clinical homework to get done, but it's technically not due until Wednesday and I just might have to procrastinate on it and do it Tuesday night, because I really do need a couple days of just rest and relaxation.
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