Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag?!?!?!

Many more posts to come in the very near future! I've had a whirlwind couple of days that I will definitely be blogging about. But for now, enjoy this adorable picture of Lucky the Cat enjoying the hospitality of a Target bag!

And Because I Wasn't Homesick Enough...

As if on cue, my father-in-law sent us some recent pictures of the pups and of the adorable nephew, Yoni! Enjoy...



(Don't the dogs look like they're shooting laser beams from their eyes?)



(From top to bottom: Mama Mitzi, Bass, Janey)



(Mime School Class 1: Get yourself trapped in a box...)

Missing Home...

Days like these really make me miss my house, my dogs, my family and the wide open spaces of Austin, Texas! This has been a horrible week at work. I'm stressed, I have demanding patients and I'm struggling with one of my coworkers. And the worst part of all, I have no supervisor this week, and I sure could use one. Did I mention that I miss home? Thank goodness my mom is coming in town this weekend, so I'll get a little taste of the home I dearly miss. My husband has been feeling a little homesick too, so he sent me this video and it couldn't have been better timing. So I share this with you all...

Just When I Thought it Was Safe...

Just when I thought I was comfortable in my position. Just when I thought I was happy with 1 Hospice patient, 10 Palliative Care patients and 2 new Health Plus at Home patients, they go and fire one of my favorite co-workers and our small social work team must divvy up his 23 patients. Now keep in mind that this is the person that I recently transferred my Hospice patients to. So, as of today, I got my patients back (minus the two that died). This is all on the heels of the announcement that we could get potentially tens to hundreds of new patients just for me. I have spent today taking deep cleansing breaths! I really need to ask for a raise. Even though I don't have very many patients, it's the fact that I have patients in three different programs and have to attend three different team meetings each week. It doesn't leave me much time to see patients. Did I mention that I am also the go-to person for ALL administrative duties for the Palliative Care program. You might remember when my other co-worker was fired at the end of April and I was told I would only assume a few of her caseload. I assumed almost all of her patients and I'm running the program that she was part of. Don't get me wrong, this is amazing experience, and I'm appreciative that my supervisors are so trusting of my abilities, but I didn't ask for this! I can't handle it if they decide to fire another social worker. Hopefully they'll fire a nurse next!

Tomorrow is an incredibly relaxing day of knocking on potential enrollee's doors (Relaxing? Ha!). We have fourteen scheduled doors to knock on and as far as I can tell, none of them speak English. Maybe I'll magically develop the ability to speak Spanish, Russian and Turkish by tomorrow morning. Here's hopin'!

Can't wait for the weekend. Need to de-stress!!!

Exciting Updates from the Worker Bee!

It's been an exhausting week and it's only Wednesday. The project that I was hired for is up and running. We officially have two - count them - two patients! We had our first clinical meeting today with our funders (they're the ones giving us the patients) and they were very pleased with our progress. They plan to give us a ton of new referrals, to the point that we will have all of the patients needed to complete our research project. This is terribly exciting and completely stressful at the same time. I was asked today by the VP of Research to write up a "vignette" or "case study" to be included in the quarterly report to the major funders. I was told this afternoon to create this by tomorrow afternoon. For some reason, I got a wild hair up my ass and worked on it at home (I never work at home!) I'm including it in this post in the hopes of some feedback! This will also give you guys an idea of what I actually do.

Here it is, my first foray into publishing:

"Julio" is a 58-year-old male, a native of Puerto Rico, who has been living in Brooklyn since he was eighteen years old. Several years ago he was diagnosed with high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. He has Health Plus managed Medicaid and has been receiving disability benefits, as well as welfare assistance in the form of food stamps. He has lived in the same one-room cluttered apartment for seventeen years, sharing a bathroom and kitchen with the other six residents on his floor. He was referred to the Health Plus at Home program for management of his chronic illness, psychosocial support, referral services and assistance in maintaining his Medicaid.

Attempts to contact "Julio" by phone were unsuccessful due to the lack of a working telephone number. The Health Plus at Home team consisting of a Nurse and Social Worker contacted him by arriving at his apartment unannounced in the hope of enrolling him in the program. He was appreciative of the home visit and pleased with the offer of in-home case management. During the initial contact it was revealed that he also had coronary artery disease, damage to his liver, glaucoma, and cataracts. He revealed that he was an alcoholic and requested assistance with making medical appointments.

During the initial psychosocial assessment, he admitted to consuming 12-18 beers per day in order to "forget". He suffered depression resulting from the loss of a young son, a bitter separation from his first wife as well as the death of his long-term girlfriend and most recently, the death of his cat. He exhibited symptoms of anxiety stemming from a crippling fear of the possibility of injury while venturing outdoors. He would like to overcome his anxiety and reduce his depression as well as his alcohol intake. Supportive short-term counseling will be provided by the Health Plus at Home Social Worker prior to making an outside referral for continued psychotherapy in the community.

During the initial nursing assessment, he expressed his concerns about foot pain as well as an inability to read his medications or his insulin due to his poor eyesight. He noted that he misses most medical appointments as a result of depression and not wanting to leave his home. He has difficulty re-scheduling missed appointments and scheduling new appointments because of being put on hold and not having enough minutes on his cell phone to wait. His first request was for assistance in making a podiatry appointment. The Health Plus at Home team contacted his podiatrist and made a last-minute appointment for him to attend. Even though he expressed concern about leaving his home, he attended the appointment and received a much-needed prescription for orthopedic shoes.

The Health Plus at Home team initiated dialogue with his primary care physician and made plans to further assist him in making and keeping medical appointments. The Nurse created a large-print medication list and schedule to promote continued medication follow-through. The team will continue to educate "Julio" about his illnesses and to act as a bridge, fostering better communication between he and his healthcare providers.

It's Tourist Season! (Isn't it always?!)

My hubby has a few buddies in town for a few days, checking out the sights and sounds of the big city. While wandering the streets of SoHo, the East Village, etc. with them yesterday, I encountered many obnoxious tourists. Given that I have been living in NYC for two years now, I tend to be somewhat unsympathetic to the visitors, as I now consid myself to be a New Yorker. It doesn't take much to spot a tourist - the wide-eyed stares, the smiling faces, the looks of confusion. When we first arrived in NYC, we were given many tips of what to do and what not to do from our family and friends who had lived here much longer than us. I thought I would take it upon myself to offer some tips on "How to be a Good Tourist". It has been my experience that not ALL tourists are bad, just a few. The following is only an offer of guidance...take it all with a grain of salt. Feel free to add more!



Here goes:

1. No fanny-packs, oversize handbags, rolling bags, and especially, NO MAN PURSES ("murses") - carry a small purse or keep everything limited to your front pockets.

2. Know where you're going - please do not feel that you can get to your destination by drifting along the sidewalk, staring up towards street signs and looking hopefully into New Yorker's dead eyes - this will only get you trampled.

3. Keep moving - you may feel like cattle, but if you stop in the middle of the sidewalk to stare and ooh and ahh, you'll only upset the herd!

4. Refrain from saying "Excuse Me", politeness has gone out the window and basically - no body cares.

5. Learn to use your elbows - this will signal to those around you that you are a force to be reckoned with and this will allow you into the inner circle of the natives, not to mention that it will allow you to move along the sidewalk.

6. Pretend you are "Frogger" - weaving in and out of traffic, whether it be cars or human, will get you everywhere. Walking a straight line will get you nowhere.

7. Ask directions from MTA employees (MTA = the subway workers), restaurants, deli's, street vendors, etc. Do not look to fellow humans on the street - most likely they are also tourists and just as lost as you.

8. Obey Walk and Don't Walk signs - NY Drivers are crazy and they WILL hit you!

9. When walking along a sidewalk or up the stairs from the subway, attempt to stay to the right (this goes for native New Yorkers too!), if everyone would just do this, we could avoid running into each other.

10. Learn to bargain, haggle, ask for a better deal from street vendors - price tags are merely suggestions.

11. If you give up on walking and decide to take a cab, take care in directing your cabbie: Do not give an address unless you know the streets that it is between, cabbies are not equipped with Mapquest. For example, Allen between Houston and Stanton, not 196 Allen Street.

12. Know the difference between "Uptown" and "Downtown", we don't operate as north or south.

13. Be prepared to walk - it's faster, cheaper and you get to experience more sights and sounds, not to mention it's good exercise.

14. While on a subway, street, just about anywhere, be prepared to be hounded by "homeless" people. You will be met with requests such as, "Please donate to the United Negro Pizza Fund" or "Excuse me ladies and gentleman, my name is Jessica and I am homeless [insert sob story here]". Give if you'd like, but keep in mind that they make a pretty good living pandhandling...

15. Do NOT attempt to drive in NYC - leave it to the professional psychos that get behind the wheel of yellow "demon" cabs!



And most of all: Enjoy the sights and sounds of this amazing city. Most people, you will find, will be nice and helpful, but not everyone. Welcome to New York, please enjoy!

Would You Drive 99 Miles for a Cheesesteak?

Well, would ya? With the addition of the "Red Rocket", out of town trips are easier, more accessible, and the options are endless. Sam wanted to test this theory. We visited Philadelphia just over a year ago for my cousin Dave's med school graduation from Penn. Sam was excited about taking the trip because he really wanted a cheesesteak. Unfortunately, we weren't in charge of our schedule, our time, or our choice for meals, which resulted in Sam missing out on the cheesesteak! This has bothered him for more than a year now, so his idea for our first trip, was to take a jaunt across Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New Jersey into Pennsylvania for no other reason than patronizing the famous "Pat's - King of Steaks" and "Geno's", home of the Philly Cheesesteak!


When Sam spoke to friends and family, they thought we were stupid for making this trip for a sandwich, pointing out that we can find cheesesteaks in NY! Well, Sam wouldn't settle for just any cheesesteak and to make it more fun, we invited Jen and James to accompany us along.



We crossed over the Ben Franklin Bridge to Philadelphia and were met with gorgeous downtown Philly. First stop - Pat and Geno's. Let me mention that these are two separate cheesesteak places located across the street from each other. Weird huh? Due to the pretty colors and lights at Geno's (not to mention the shorter lines), we ordered up cheesesteaks with cheese whiz, cheese fries and birch beer!










Well, we couldn't leave Philly without checking out where it all began. We walked around Independence Hall, checked out the Liberty Bell and stood on an old-school burial ground (under a gorgeous park).







But the best part of the day was re-creating "Rocky" and his training by hauling our asses up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. What a stunning view...and once you get to the top of the steps, you can see for days (okay, so you can see down the street, not to mention the Philly skyline!).



And then it was back to Brooklyn for the evening, but not without a stop in New Jersey to fill up the tank. Did you know that you can't pump your own gas in NJ? How strange...

So the Red Rocket successfully made her first trip with no problems! We had lots of sun, little traffic and good company. Next stop....um, we haven't decided yet!

Happy Birthday Jennifen!!!

Girly-girl!!! This is a quick birthday shout-out on your special day! Wow, 25 years! Quarter of a century!! I am so glad that I met you and we became friends. You are awesome! You're my favorite guitar-playin', southern-hospitality havin', music therapy doin', all around good-time gal! You have become my main support system, sounding board and co-conspirator and commiserator at work!



We've already had some crazy adventures! Who actually goes to Philadelphia for a cheesesteak?! (Or California for a coke?!) I'm so looking forward to our Times Square experience tonight at The View! Thanks for inviting us along. May all of your birthday wishes come true -- although I think we can safely say that a few have already come true. Congrats on the engagement!! Can't wait for the wedding...

Love to you on your special day!

Post Script to the Birthday Evening...



We had an amazing dinner at The View, in the rotating restaurant on the 47th floor of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Great food, great company and of course, all of the lights of the city. Here are a few pics of Jen's very romantic birthday, courtesy of fiance James: including the bouquet of roses delivered to the table, the birthday serenade with dessert and last but not least, the presentation of James' great-grandmother's wedding band for Jen to wear as her wedding band. Sam, are you taking note of all of this romantic stuff???