Back in October, I received a promotion at work. It was a promotion from an in-field Case Manager to an in-office Care Coordinator. It was wonderful to be considered for the job and promoted to the position. It always feels good to be valued like that – – to be recognized for your work, experience and knowledge. I accepted the position and started it October. I told myself I’d give it six months to see if it’s something I liked and a position in which I felt I could make a difference. It’s been almost exactly six months, to the […]

Suicide Warning Sought for Antidepressants Doctors who prescribe some popular antidepressants should monitor their patients closely for warning signs of suicide, especially when they first start the pills or change a dose, the government warned Monday. The Food and Drug Administration asked makers of 10 drugs to add or strengthen suicide-related warnings on their labels. The agency insists it’s not yet clear whether the drugs actually spur suicide on occasion – or whether the underlying mental illness is to blame. But FDA bowed to pressure from anguished families who, at an emotional meeting last month, blamed the pills for their […]

I received an email from Lewis at Harvard this evening: Hello Lisa, I thank you for your kind words and for all the help you extended to me as I also worked through an unexpected obstacle with this woman’s donation. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in doing so. When I spoke with Dr. G*****, he informed me that he would not be able to do the brain procurement as the hospital, under new policy, will no longer conduct autopsies of any kind outside of hospital patients. My only wish is that the hospital contacted the HBTRC with this information prior to […]

Continuing with the brain harvest situation – after 8.5 hours of dealing with this, I have gotten exactly nowhere. Well, nowhere in making sure this woman’s final wishes were followed through on. That bothers me. However – if there was progress to be had, it’s the fact that the Harvard Medical College Pathology Department now is very much aware of the fact that there are some real holes that exist within the system. Lewis, the tech from Harvard that I was dealing with tonight, told me that they obtain up to 85% of their brain donations from Wisconsin and Michigan. […]

How did you spend your evening? Me? Well, I had a pretty run of the mill evening. I spent my night arranging a brain harvest. Sounds like fun stuff, no? I’m on call tonight. Why does the odd stuff happen when I’m on call? I had a patient who had a diagnosis of Huntington’s Chorea – a pretty severe and debilitating – and eventually fatal, neurological disease. Prior to her debilitation – she had pre-arranged to donate her brain to the Brain Tissue Research Center at the Harvard Medical College. No big deal, right? Seems like it should be a […]

I finally got my wish – – this week is FINALLY over. It’s been extreme non-stop GO since Monday morning and I honestly thought it would never end. I hate to keep harping on the death thing. What a macabre topic to be discussing in a blog, hey? I mean – blogs are supposed to be fun, aren’t they? Well – I’m not always about fun – – believe it or not 😉 And where better to vent, than here? In September 2002 I made a decision that greatly changed my life. I made the career change from Health Care […]

It’s amazing what a good night of sleep can do for your disposition. I’m feeling worlds better tonight than I did last night. Big thank yous to Lizzijoy and Lori and Grumpy Bunny and Patrick (who didn’t leave a link so will remain linkless unless he has one and wants to send it!) for their words of support – – and to Cam for the e-hug. It’s comments like those that bring me back into the reality of what I do and why I do it. We talked about my experience with the 5 year old girl at work today. […]

My day today has revolved around death. Yes, I know – before you say it, I am a Hospice nurse – so it only stands to reason, I know. However, there are some days where death is everywhere — more evident than other days. It’s cyclic, I’ve noticed. Odd, that. Over the weekend, 7 of our patients died. Today, I’ve had three deaths so far. Being the on-call nurse for the evening – I had to make the calls for each of them. They were all different, in their own way – and I feel drained. I always feel so […]

A group of friends and I got together – they are all nurses. We were swapping trauma stories about some of the weirdest and grossest things that walked into our ER. Now, I don’t work ER anymore, I am now working in home hospice care – – but I have to say that the years in the ER were some of the most interesting years I’ve spent in the last 12 years of my career. I told the story of the poor guy who walked into the ER at about 11am in the morning. He was 28 years old, tall, […]

On-call again. I got roped into it at the last minute. Monday – I slept the entire day away because I was on call on Sunday and up all night. Tonight (this morning?) it’s 2:34am – and I’m up again. Tired and grumpy. Luckily, however – I’m not having to go out. I’m just sitting here waiting for the doc to return my page. I’ve paged him twice in the last hour – – how late do I stay up and wait for the return call? I do know where he lives….I could go pound down his door? It’s seems […]