Miscommunication Fumble/Rehab Week

Ever have one of those days where miscommunication just totally messes you up? That is the kind of day I had. But in this case it is misreading the info. I thought that today was the day of the Rehab potluck lunch at the home of one of the other therapists. I stopped at the store on my way in to work to get the bagged salad to make a cesaer salad and also got precooked sliced chicken to add to it. I brought my ice chest to keep it cold. I had my salad bowl, tongs, a cutting board and knife with me as well. Just being safe since they recently moved in.

So I pick up my schedule and start seeing patients. Since we had a inservice scheduled in the afternoon I was trying to overlap the treatment sessions so I would not find myself working late into the day. Lunch was supposed to be at 12. No one appeared to be getting ready to leave. Especially the one who was the host. And it was getting closer to 12.

Finally I asked, "Are we having the lunch today?"

Someone else told me "No, it is tomorrow"

"WHAT?!?"

So I checked the posted note. Sure enough it said the 24th. Not the 23rd. Darn!

"Oh great, I did not bring a lunch of course."

Someone else told I me I would just have to eat out. Oh well. Then to top it off, I also did not bring my book like I usually do, since I figured I was going to be too busy to read during lunch. Well, I will tomorrow. I played games on my Sidekick II while eating lunch.

It just really bummed me that I messed up. Because I did not bring my lunch, I also did not have my waterbottle with me that I usually sip from on the drive home. I keep them in the freezer, that way it acts as an ice pack keeping my lunch cold. Then it is just perfect to drink from it on the way home. Not having it with me seemed to make me extra thirsty.

On the plus side the inservice went well. This week is National Rehabilitaion Week. And we did the inservice to educate other staff on sensitivities. My portion of the presentation was on "How to improve communication with someone who is hearing impaired". As a hearing impaired person since birth, I can give some qualified tips on that. The sun was coming in the window and one person was sitting in front of that window. I pointed out how we could not see his face which would then make lip reading impossible. That was a good opener, besides explaining why I knew what I was talking about. I got compliments on my portion of the presentation, so I guess it went well.

There were two other stations. One was about understanding how to position people who have troubles swallowing with a chance to taste thickened liquids and pureed food. The second was attempting to do lower body dressing with adaptive equipment because you had a total hip replacement with 3 pairs of gloves on and sunglasses with vaseline smeared on them. The purpose of this was to help them realize how hard it is for people who are losing their eyesight due to glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other reasons, to do every day tasks. Also with the gloves, especially with 3 pairs, you can get a sense of how it feels when people are losing their sense of touch due to neuropathy. The focus of the inservice was to help the staff aware of how hard it is for our patients who arrive for therapy or to live there long term and to be more sensitive to their needs.

The day ended on a good note, until I realized I did not have my water bottle for the drive home.