Laughing It All Away

What more can I say?

I've just been given two-weeks notice from another job (gol darn these non-profits, I'd say, but that's the way of it), and yesterday my van gave up the ghost finally and completely so I am wheelless.

Obviously it is time to start dancing.

It doesn't feel like hard times and as I'm able-bodied and my eyes and computer still work, I'm not too worried about finding ways to earn a dollar. Meanwhile what is the harm in furious dancing? It keeps your spirits up and kickstarts your energy. Even when it's only around your own kitchen.

In other news, my cousin Jolene is at her home for the weekend and will return to the hospital tomorrow to pick up her belongings and get properly discharged. She has been there two months and is more than ready to be done with it. There is one nurse that plays power games and bullies the patients while with her fellow employees butter wouldn't melt in her mouth; and overall it doesn't seem as if the medical staff are on top of their game. For instance, they didn't know (and neither did she) that she had a broken kneecap among all the other fractures. It was on an x-ray ... so ... what the ...? And when her doctor ordered a blood test to see why Jolene's had a mid-grade fever for two or three weeks, the nurse told her she didn't need it, and didn't take her for the test.

There are a number of these kinds of stories, which make you wonder if Jolene is getting the care she deserves and needs. Being at home will be no picnic either, as she is not supposed to be cooking and doing dishes, among other things, and ends up doing them anyway. Sleeping in a bed that isn't best for her back when she was specifically told to sleep on a firmer one they have; handling a difficult eight-year-old; why, if it weren't for the bumbling of the medical staff at the facility she's been at, being back there could almost be considered a holiday in comparison. If Jolene didn't still have so much pain and difficulty breathing, that is.

We talked on the phone quite a while yesterday and my conclusion is that she is between a rock and a hard place. Fortunately we all think she is as feisty as they come, so we don't worry too much about her. We believe she has it in her to get what she needs. I hope this hasn't resulted in people not offering to help her, thinking she doesn't need it. Even so, we had quite a few good laughs at the situations we find ourselves in (the nasty nurse verbally abused an elderly patient and made her cry, but Jolene was "in the can waiting for my ass to get wiped so I couldn't do anything but listen," for example) and the foibles of us all.