Robin's Eye View

I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their well wishes as I try to get back on my feet and battle this beast. I wish every one of you a safe, healthy and happy Christmas and New Year. I will be back shortly after Christmas to entertain you with a morphine induced post! Have a Great Christmas!

Here I am! Ahem, again.

My humble apologies for ditching the blog for over a month now. Thanks so much for all the well wishes, I really needed (need?) them. Allow me to explain, and feel free to take a nap in between paragraphs, as I was never good at giving the Readers Digest version.

A few months back I had another follow up with the oncologist. As everyone is aware, I’m still battling this “incurable” cancer beast, and for the last couple months, it has really been a rally to see who was going to win. Some days it still is, but being the stubborn woman that I am, I refuse to concede defeat. I hold true to the saying many of my cancer sisters have adopted – Cancer can kiss my ass. Sorry if the profanity offends, but ‘ass’ sounds way meaner than ‘butt.’

Anyhoo, the beast has invaded a few more areas of my body, and is making an attempt to use me as its puppet. Up to now, I have had 3 separate rounds of chemo, and enough radiation to single-handedly power up half of Canada…Christmas lights and all. My body has taken it all in stride, and my immune system behaved itself rather well under the circumstances. Well, then I got an infection that knocked me on me arse. I landed in the Emergency Room because my temp spiked to 39.8 one night, only to find that my temp had come down to almost normal when the triage nurse checked me. I informed her of my cancer vixen status (I prefer to refer to myself as a cancer vixen/cowgirl rather than “patient”) as well as the fact that I am a nurse (if only so they would not talk in circles around me.) I was assured that I wouldn’t be left in the waiting room long, and that I would be taken to a quieter area of the ER soon due to my immune status. I’m sure it was the immune status, rather than the RN, because not only do we NOT get lovely Christmas bonuses as nurses, we also don’t get to bump to the front of the line  just because we save lives and actually work there, just in case you were wondering…

Let’s skip ahead…5 AND A HALF HOURS LATER! I’ll just say now that, while I’ve always been an amazing advocate with a big mouth for patients, family and friends, I’ve never been good at doing it for myself. After watching every single person go in ahead of me, including some that came in later, I wondered aloud if I would need to fall out of my chair and whack my head on the floor in order to get seen. I’m quite sure I was getting delusional from the fever, and my hubby had had just about enough. He went up to the triage desk and inquired as to whether I would be seen before hell froze over. They looked at me funny and then I knew. THEY HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME. I kid you not, I was taken into the back within 5 minutes, had my temp taken and was spiking at almost 40 degrees again. That earned me a private room with a door. I think it had more to do with them being afraid I was contagious rather than their concern for my status as an immune compromised cancer vixen… I was admitted rather quickly, had the required IV started, and then hubby and I were left for over an hour and a half before anyone came back. Ahh yes, nobody offered ice, water, or the very first and basic safety rule of nursing - THE CALL BELL. I felt so awful I didn’t even have the energy to bitch about it. The next person I saw was the resident, who informed me I needed IV antibiotics and told my hubby I would be there for the night, he might as well go home and get some sleep. This was at 0030h (1230 a.m. for you laypeople.). Nursey came and started the drugs, shut the door and left. After she left, I realized I still had no callbell. So there I lay, drifting in and out of sleep, waking up when I heard footsteps walking by my door, foolishly thinking someone was going to come and check on me to make sure I wasn’t having  a reaction to the antibiotics, hadn’t peed my pants, had a coronary or otherwise. Nice try. The next person I saw – at 0330, with a completely dry IV, was the doctor. He took my temperature and informed me they were discharging me home – ahh yes, and that I had to be back at 0830 for IV antibiotics. Seriously.

After dragging hubby out of bed and waiting, we arrived home at 0530. Yup, lots of sleep that night.

What did I learn from this experience?

1. I have GOT to strap on a pair of cajones and take control of my own health care, because it is blatantly obvious they couldn’t give a rat’s rump whether I live or die. I went through a whole list of  “shoulda, coulda woulda’s” regarding things I should have said in the ER. Namely WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING while I’m sitting here going mad with fever and pain??? Had my best friend been there with me, they would have been cowering in a corner when she was through with them.

NEVER assume that your health care team is going to go to bat for you. Take responsibilty for your own well-being or you could be very, very sorry.

2.Duckett should have been CANNED long before the  cookie incident. Something every single person in health care (but for those who were busy kissing his arse) knew and weren’t allowed to comment on under threat of disciplinary action. Guess what? I’m mad and I really don’t care anymore.

3. Our system is very, very broken.Making new beds is a nice idea, but until you have the staff to actually do the work, what the hell is the point?

4. To the staff working in the ER of the Royal Alexandra Hospital that night, I say this: Is it any wonder people complain about the treatment they receive in your ER? I was absolutely disgusted by the lack of care shown to me as both a CANCER PATIENT, and a fellow nurse. I didn’t expect preferential care, I expected CARE, period. Now that I’m feeling a bit better, I will be writing letters, and perhaps even making a phone call or two. If you treat all(or any, for that matter) of your patients the way I was treated, you don’t deserve to be nursing. I have been fighting to get better so I could return to my career as an RN because I love it. If you no longer do, perhaps you should get a job somewhere else where you have no direct contact with patients, thus taking away your ability to give the rest of us who truly care, a bad name.

So there you go. My ER experience in a nutshell. There is more to tell, but I must save it for another day as I have reached the end of my energy for the moment. I will be back again, to entertain you with more stories from the last couple of months. Trust me, there are a few.

Thanks for hanging in there and patiently waiting for me to return. I’ll write more soon!

Hi everyone. Yes, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been neglecting my blog. My humble apologies. I’m not going to make excuses, but there has been alot of *&*^ going on. I’ll have a new post up for you to read with your coffee this weekend!

Hope all is well with you,  and we’ll chat soon!

Robin

Hello my loyal blogees and blogettes. I know this next rant was supposed to be about my emerg experience, but I had to shuffle it to the back so that I could share with you my most recent letter to the Editor. This topic really pissed me off, and I felt I had a responsibility to share a piece of my mind with those who may, from time to time, get a little slack in their job. I”m sorry, but when your job is keeping track of sex offenders, best make sure you’re doing it properly…Incidentally, the piece of garbage I discuss in this column actually got picked up last night, according to my best friend. One less piece of trash on the roadside.

Read on….

Robin

Last summer, my best friend discovered posters in her neighbourhood, warning that the boyfriend of her neighbour was a sex offender and should be kept under close watch. My friend, being the Mom of a young child, called the police to discuss it with them and was told this was not an issue, and if it were, they wouldn’t be able to tell her, due to our lovely privacy laws which protect the criminals rather than the citizens. In speaking to the girlfriend of the accused, my friend was assured that this was the result of an ex-girlfriend looking to get revenge.

Over the months this supposed “wrongly accused” person did odd jobs for my friend, and was in her home from time to time. One time her daughter was dancing around the house the way little girls do, and I remember saying to my friend that I didn’t like the way this guy was looking at her.

Imagine my surprise when I get a call from said friend, telling me to look at our local “Police Beat” section in the paper, and this person is listed as one of their most wanted for, among other things, failing to complete his annual registration with the sex offender registry in February of this year. I was stunned into silence. This disgusting pig had been in my friend’s house, around my goddaughter countless times, and had also since fathered a child with the neighbour. I’m sick not only because of the circumstances, but also because the Police Service knew where he was the entire time, and did nothing. Recently as 2 months ago, this man had agreed to sell a vehicle for my friend’s husband, and took off with the money. The police knowing who and what he was still said nothing.

And they wonder why people resort to vigilante justice to keep their children and neighbourhoods safe? Is it any wonder, when someone like this has been in breach of his conditions for months, and yet roams free, neighbours and parents being none-the-wiser?

Furthermore, why are sex offenders given any leeway when it comes to their annual registration?

This is not rocket science. The public needs to be made aware when such offenders are in their areas, around their children and homes. The Registry and the Police Service have some explaining to do on this one, and need to put on their ‘A’ game to ensure this doesn’t happen again. I guarantee if it was in their neighbourhoods, where their children play, they’d be taking it a little more seriously.

Hi Everyone,

Here I am!  I’ve been under the weather and the covers. I haven’t even checked my Facebook or updated my Twitter since Thursday, something that is almost unheard of  in my house.

Since I’m just getting back on my feet – literally, I’m working on something for the weekend. In honour of what I have gone through this past 4 or 5 days, I was thinking we should perhaps address the wait times in Emergency, to start? Yes, yes that’s exactly what we’ll do.

Stay Tuned!

Hi Everyone!

In addition to writing another column so I can keep your attention, loyalty and comments, I am also in the process of putting up a photography site of the same name. I figure why mess with a good thing. Robin’s Eye View Photography is in the works, and I will let you all know when it is fully up and running!

Robin

p.s. If anyone knows of good freelance work coming down the pipe, send me a message!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new blog. As many of you know, I was one of the unfortunates cut from Sun Media’s columnist/journalist repertoire. This can only mean there is something more in store for me – something bigger and better. I’m now getting back up on the soapbox, but this soapbox has no word count or subject matter restrictions. Unfortunately this also means I no longer have my own personal column editor…Yes, I’m pulling out my “Strunk and White,” as well as my “Grammar and sentence structure for dummies” yet again.

As many of you know, I have strong opinions on many topics, and I’m not afraid to voice them. I will continue to format my column like a friendly conversation one might have over a cup of coffee, or Sunday brunch.  It’s great to be back, and to have you along for the ride. Enjoy, and stay tuned for my first column!