Day 2 - 298 -- Unexpected Events

Today began with an unusual situation and it seemed to seep into parts of the remainder of the day. It began with a trip to the hospital lab for the annual bloodwork. Now this includes the need for a 12 hour fast. I eat into the evening for two reasons -- to take one med and to stop me from waking at 3 AM needing to eat. I have done this for the majority of my life. So -- I don't go to the lab for 8 AM. Today I showed up just after 10:30. Usually this means I'm out in about 30 minutes depending on the number of other people there. Well, it seems since August there has been difficulty filling a position to increase staff numbers to full staffing. Lab technology seems to be a profession with inadequate trained individuals to fill the jobs available. The admin has begun lab services at 6:30 AM and will stop registering people at 11:30 AM. All those registered by that time will have their lab requisitions completed on that day. I stayed for an hour. The people on either side of me had been there for 2-3 hours and my number was 30 past their numbers. During that hour only 3 people were seen. There was an added difficulty of someone being off sick today, so there was only one woman for the outpatients and she also had to stop and head to the floors when stat orders arrived. I was beginning to feel very hungry and cranky so I took my requisition and stickers back to the desk -- gave them the stickers and kept my req for another day. At least now I know that I have to find 2-3 hours just in case this additional shortage occurs again during cold and flu season. In their defense this was a very busy day with unusual circumstances at their end. All this was followed by some great things, mediocre things and a couple of bad news items.

What the day showed me was that the simple smile and wave from a student and the bits of sunshine through the clouds today really can give one moments of positive thought in the midst of the chaos. There was really only one song for a day like today -- one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's wonderful melodies. Enjoy!

Unexpected Song -- Michael Crawford