Imagine this conversation:
Karen (to accountant) Hi there – I’ve printed out all my profit and loss statements for last year. I wasn’t sure if this was the balance sheet you were looking for. Does that look right to you? Do you think I need to include the receipts for the new computer software I’ve been running?
Accountant: Ummmm…are you wearing pajamas? (looking disdainfully at my fuzzy pajamas with coloured clouds all over them with the words “sweet dreams” everywhere).
Karen: Yeah – ummmm….do you think I might be audited if I have too many healthcare receipts?
Accountant: I think you have some drool on your face.
Yeah…so kind of weird right. However MOST of my professional conversations these days involve a group of doctors and nurses (completely dressed I might add) discussing important issues while I’m trying to look somewhat respectable wearing my sweet dreams fuzzy pajamas and wiping drool off the side of my cheek. To compensate, I try to look extra intelligent and thoughtful, which is difficult because I really haven’t had to think much since I’ve been here, so it’s like not using your legs for five weeks then trying to sprint all of a sudden. It’s not pretty.
So now I have started setting my alarm for 6:22, so I can at least throw on some clothes and run a brush through my hair before they arrive. This works sometimes, but it seems the team has an internal sense of awareness when you are ready for them and when you are not (much like a waitress asking how everything is when your mouth is full), so usually the days I am up bright eyed and bushy tailed they don’t show up til later. Other times, I come out of the bathroom brushing my teeth to find 8 people standing in my room waiting for me. It’s terrifying!!! Is ninja training part of the general course requirements for medical personnel? How can so many people move so quietly. With bad conversation skills, tacky pajamas, and awkward gasps of terror, you might think I am not impressing anyone here, but YOU ARE WRONG!!! Read on my friends!
My responsibilities around here have tripled (that’s right – tripled!), which is obviously quite exhausting. (In other words, I now have three responsibilities.) I have been put in charge of decorating the playroom for St. Patrick’s Day, which, for the record, is a HUGE responsibility because St. Patrick’s Day in Montreal is ginormous (I think) – they have a huge parade and everything. Obviously they wouldn’t pass on this type of responsibility to just anyone. My second responsibility is that I am the only one allowed to make adjustments to Ben’s bed besides the professional traction bed adjuster. This is a huge responsibility and requires a specialized key to do so. I am the only one to hold the key on the weekends. I have attached a picture of the “key” below. It’s obviously a complex technical tool. The third and final responsibility I have undertaken here is Ben’s “pin care”. Yeah… – I know what you’re thinking and YOU ARE RIGHT!!! That’s fancy nurse speak for “we’ll teach you how to clean the screws on your kids head”, to which I replied “why in the name of St. Peter would you ever think I was capable of that” to which they laugh. ???? Give me strength!!! Now when they come in I say “what now – you need me to scrub in for surgery?” Having said that, I do have to say that I think Ben might have the cleanest screws on the planet – yay me!!!
Anyways, as far as medical stuff goes, nothing is really going on these days. I will check back towards the end of the week to give you an update, but we are not anticipating anything new over the next few weeks. Thanks for checking in with us. We so appreciate all of everyone’s kind words and thoughts.
Your willing to do anything and your awesome Gartner!! That’s why your getting all the responsibility!! Get some green beer for St. Patty’s Day!! You deserve it!! Thinking of you and Benny all the time!!
Shockingly they will not be serving green beer here! Who are these people? Thinking of you too toots!
K
Sent from my iPhone
You go girl!!! Love the updates.
Sarah
Hi Karen and Ben!
Love the updates and I read them as soon as I see them 😊 I think you’ll do a great job of the decorating too…thank-goodness they don’t know what a fantastic cook and foodie you are, or you’d be in charge of all the party food too 😜 I’m glad that you are on the same page as the doctors, with regards to the postponement. It must’ve been frustrating hearing that, but I’m glad that he is in the care of ninja-like, skilled healthcare professionals. Hugs to you both!
Thanks for the note Leilani! I think of you about 20 times a day because I hung your Hey Ben Get Better Soon pic on our door. Hugs to you back! I hope we connect this summer!
Hi Karen and Ben,
Just wanted to give a shout out to you both from Jack and I. I’ve read some of Ben’s adventures to Jack and he is impressed, both with Ben and Ben’s gear (halo). Please remember he is 4 so at this point thinks Ben is part Transformer. Keep an eye on that key, looks like its easy to misplace!!
Keep on trucking.
Haha! I told Ben Jack thought he was a transformer. He said “I am a transformer”. I laughed and said “so what do you transform into?” He said “a human”. Sometimes my children frighten me! Thanks for the note! 🙂
K
Sent from my iPhone
Love the updates/shudder at your job with they key … St. Paddy’s Day Party! How fun! You are the best person to do that! By the way, I was thinking about you today, when I couldn’t walk without stepping on the worms all over the sidewalk! 😎
Oh my goodness…mmmmmmm….spaghetti! It took years of therapy to get over eating spaghetti on rainy days! 🙂
K
Sent from my iPhone
Hi Ben , Hi Karen !
Wish you a good week, leaving tomorrow to Victoria .I am religiously following your blog, thank you for doing this.
You are a talented , resourceful and courageous woman. I am certain with your creativity and imagination you will transform that room into a masterpiece. This is not the key I had in mind when I was looking for the picture of it , it is BIG . Soon you are going to need a tool box !
A big hug to Ben and Happy St – Patrick ‘s Day!
Lol…I know…these “keys” in Montreal are quite big. Have fun in Victoria! Maybe we will both be home around the same time?
How does one go about getting the job of professional bed adjuster? Maybe you will have to charge for your services. I used to think that hospitals used more specialized tools but you have opened my eyes. I can just head to my husbands tool box. Although the tool in the picture looks much cleaner than any I have seen at home. You have such a wonderful sense of humour. Thanks for sharing it with us all.
I’m thinking of wearing my Key around my neck. The nurses don’t have one, so I like to rub their faces in it. I think it’ll make me look kind of gangsta!
Sent from my iPhone
Thanks for the updates Karen, thinking of you guys all the time. It sounds like you are in good hands and they are beginning to realize your true potential. Hang in there. Hugs.
Haha! Who knows…maybe I’ll become a professional traction setter!
You are obviously the best person for those jobs! I loved that post!
I love it…fuzzy pjs meets the professionals! You have obviously risen to the challenges given to you. I’ll bet the playroom is the best decorated ever. I think I have a “key” like that here at home, but thankfully I don’t have to adjust anyone’s bed with it. You’ll come back with a whole new set of skills in your “toolbox”.
Haha! I love a great metaphor!