Major Update!

Alright, back by popular demand.....my old blog! People didn't like that you couldn't comment on the other one so I'm back to posting here. I'll try to keep this short but there have been some major developments in my life the last month or so since I've posted here.

First of all, my new computer, the Mac, crashed not even a month after I bought it. Unbelievable eh? Actually it didn't crash the backlight died on the screen so it would turn on but I couldn't see anything. Luckily it's under warranty so it's off being fixed as we speak. What's even more unbelievable is that my old PC laptop that I thought had crashed, hence the reason why I bought the Mac, is now working again as though nothing was wrong with it! So now I have two laptops! I must say though that I do prefer the Mac to the PC so I'm eager to get it back up and running.

I got a job at the Canmore hospital! My temporary position at the Foothills in Calgary is ending in a few weeks so the timing couldn't be better. I started orientation last Thursday and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's a small hospital so I'll be working in all areas, acute care, emergency and labor and delivery. I'm feeling much more confident in my skills and knowledge than I had expected to feel. I was nervous because I've become so specialized in postpartum and now I'm back to medical, surgical, cardiac, psychiatric, palliative, everything patients. I havn't started my ER orientation yet and that's the area where I'll need the most orientation since I've never done it before. I'm really excited about being in the delivery room again. It's been a long time since I've been in a delivery but I seem to know more about it than some of the people orientating me! I guess my postpartum/antepartum knowledge does transfer over somewhat. So I know own a permanent 0.70 part time position. I've never, in my almost 4 years of nursing, had a permanent job in the hospital. Just another reason why I should stay in Canmore forever! I love it here and now that I have this job, I have no reason to leave.

I bought a new car! I traded in my 2002 Honda Civic for a brand new 2006 Pontiac Vibe. I pick it up tomorrow. There were a lot of factors contributing to the decision to trade in and it was a tough one but I'm happy now that it's all over. I tried to sell it privately but didn't get any interest so I relented and traded it at the dealership. I know I didn't get what it was worth but I didn't do too bad either considering all the km's I put on it commuting all these years. So now in 5 years, if I'm unable to work at least I'll have a 4 door, practical vehicle paid off so it will be one less payment that I have to work for.

I've started physiotherapy for my neck. It's going to be a very, very, very long process and after a few weeks I havn't felt much improvement but I'm still optimistic. I had an x-ray done and it was "normal" well except for the metal plate and screws in there but at least there's no degeneration of my vertabrae below the fusion. That's the risk in the future, having the rest of my neck degenerate because it's compensating for the loss of motion in the upper half of my neck. So we're working on loosening my mid/upper back so that it's compensating for the fusion rather than my neck. It's tough and I have a lot of stretching exercises to do. I've lost pretty much all deep muscle function in my neck so my jaw, traps, shoulders and accessory muscles are all compensating for that loss which is why I'm so sore all the time. I need to build up as much of that deep muscle as I can as well as learn how to fit my limitations into my natural environment. Right now we're still in the very basic stages of loosening my muscles that seem to be tense from my head to my butt and getting more range of motion out of my lower vertabrae. So I'm doing physio 3 days a week and massage therapy once a week. For $800/month in rehab expenses it had better work but really, at this point, I'd pay anything to get my active lifestyle back.

Let's see what else is new with me....that's pretty much the highlights, life is good.