The HealthCare PSI Blog has been up and running for several weeks now and many of you have already visited. Thanks, and keep dropping by! I'm thrilled to report that the blog's companion, HealthCare PSI website is now open. Click on over and check it out; you can reach the PSI blog from there, too. I'm leading the charge of a national Patient Safety campaign and I can use all the support I can muster, so please pass the word. I'll have more news to share on the crusade as it develops.
Cindy from Note: If you're looking for my regular Red Friday post, it follows this one.
I'm happy to report that the hand is better today. This is what? The 8th, almost the 9th? Okay, I'm only a week behind. Ugh!
Mitch keeps telling me to stop trying to catch up with what I think I should be accomplishing, and set a more realistic goal, one that takes into account the condition of my hand. That's a hard thing to do. Feels like compromising. Oh well, moving on ...
Good news. The rest of the team back East has been plugging away on the new HealthCare PSI website. It will be ready to go in a week or so. I'm very excited about this endeavor - it's an enormous undertaking and not exactly my cup of tea. You know I would prefer to sit quietly at my desk and spin fiction for young readers. But since this injury I've heard from scores of people - people with their own hospital horror stories - who have encouraged me to shine a light on the plight of injured patients. So, that's what I'm doing. Should be an interesting year. Stay tuned. I'll let you know when we turn on the lights.
There is one thing I hated about the holidays this year. It happened last year, too, and to tell you the truth, I deal with it every day. I am talking about my injured hand and the compromises I make just to function. I try to keep this blog upbeat, but since this is intruded on my life almost 2 years ago, I post about it every now and then. Who knows, it may help someone else. Today, I thought I'd talk a bit about chronic pain.
Chronic Pain is defined as pain that lasts more than 3 months and does not go away despite medical intervention. The IV injuries I suffered in March 2007 caused pain has been going on non-stop for 21 months now with no sign of letting up. It is a full-time job just to stay psychologically on top of the situation, and to constantly adjust my routine so that I can be productive. Some days I do better than others. The American Pain Foundation is a great resource for anyone living with chronic pain, no matter what the cause.
In addition to the pain, the other major symptom I deal with is loss of strength; I've lost 70% of the strength in that hand, due to muscle damage. That weakness affects every little thing I do - from driving to taking the cap off the toothpaste. It infuriates me to have to ask for help with the simplest things.
The biggest challenge for me this Christmas was allowing my family to help with all the holiday prep. Mitch wrapped most of the gifts and helped with the little bit of cooking I did do. I bought party trays instead of baking. We had a decorating party after Thanksgiving, so I had lots of help with the house. Even with all those changes, I overtaxed my hand and lost at least one day each week in December. On those days, the hand did not function. At. All. The pain was excruciating - think a migraine in your hand and arm. I spent those days in tears, with heat on the inflamed nerves.
I am a big believer in turning lemons into lemonade, and the coming year holds much promise on the Patient Safety Crusade front. If you haven't yet visited my new HealthCare PSI Blog, I encourage you to. And please spread the word. Chances are you know someone who has been the victim of a preventable medical error. The next step is a new HealthCare PSI website coming in January. Is that the end of it? No way; it's just the beginning. More about that soon.
I'm interrupting your holiday cheer for a bit of New Project News. As many of you know, in March of 2007, I was sent to the hospital for a simple out-patient test a week before undergoing major surgery. During my outpatient visit, the negligent actions of 2 nurses resulted in permanent and life altering injuries.
I have blogged on occassion about my frustrating experiences with CoxHealth South , it's risk management and neurology departments, my weeks of physical therapy, and all the steps I've taken trying to regain normal use of my left hand. I haven't blogged a lot about it because, frankly it's been a frustrating and totally depressing experience and I like to keep things upbeat on A Flyover Blog. Now you know the reason for those lapses between posts!
Though my injuries are permanent, I feel fortunate; I am surrounded by loving and supportive people. My husband has been nothing short of amazing. My family rallies every time I encounter something I can no longer do on my own - like decorate the house for Christmas. My friends keep me encouraged and motivated. And my boss is working with me to create a new project, one that will hopefully help me and many other people who have fallen victim to a preventable medical error.
Writing about my injuries and lousy hospital practices is not fun. But, it is something I must do. My mega-author friend, Lois says this is my Schindler's List. Steven Spielberg didn't relish making that movie. It wasn't fun. But he knew it was a worthy project that had to be made. That's how I feel about this one.
We're rolling out this new project in phases. (Yeah, it's that large.) Phase One is a new blog I'm penning; it's called The HealthCare PSI Blog . The companion website is under construction and will be ready soon. Sorry I can't give you any more details at the moment.
I invite you to drop by the new blog, give it a read and help us spread the word across the blogosphere. Though the subject is deadly serious, I think you'll get a chuckle every now and then. Hey, laughter is better than tears, right?
Okay, now you can get back to baking those Christmas cookies.
