Usually I like my job. Like most people there are days when I dread going into work, hearing patients complain about their various maladies (especially the "black holes" that suck all the life from the room), trying to be empathetic and patient without losing my mind. But then there are days when I love my job.
I work in Cardiac Rehabilitation and we recently started a new group of patients. There's always a little chaos trying to match a face with a name and diagnosis. But this particular group has a woman in it that has recently had a heart transplant. That in itself is not unusual.....neither is the fact that she is fairly young (early 40's). The unusual part is her medical history which I can't share here for privacy reasons. But let's just say she's been through quite a bit with her heart health for someone her age. She went through a couple years where she couldn't do much activity at all because of her health and this is after spending years as an active exerciser and weight lifter.
Anyway, she came in like most heart transplant patients do....with a mask on. They have to take so many anti-rejection drugs that catching a cold is serious business. I handled her first day of exercise and began by explaining the 12 minute walk test we were going to do to get a measure of her current fitness status. When I told her I'd be putting her on a treadmill she reacted like a kid being told they're going to Disneyland! She was SO excited!! She started crying happy tears and hugged me multiple times!! It was so cute and sweet!
Once we got started on the treadmill, she just couldn't get over the fact that she was actually exercising. She walked for about 20 minutes and I wasn't sure if I should put her on a bike or not - I didn't want to tire her too much. But she was gung ho for the next event! Having patients excited to exercise is something we almost NEVER see! It was great to see her excitement about the whole program and she is continuing to progress wonderfully!!
Sometimes I LOVE my job!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Date Much?
I have been using online personal for dating in San Diego on and off for several years now. It is always a different experience meeting people from online! Many times it ends up just being a first date that is pleasant but not memorable, therefore not requiring a second date. I recently ended a five month break from online dating and signed up on yahoo personals. I had a memorable date last week but memorable in a bad way.
I had been talking to this guy, we'll call him Ron, for a couple weeks over email and he came across as charismatic and nice. He is a swim coach that was living in L.A. but was laid off due to budget cuts. He came back to his native San Diego area and was lucky enough to get a job at a local high school in the North County area. We talked on the phone a couple times and agreed to meet up. He lives in North County (which is about a 45 minute drive from me) and had some great cafe that he wanted to show me. I had an appointment for a haircut and told him I'd call him around 3:30 when I thought I'd be done. The haircut took a little longer than I expected and he had called at 3:30 to find out if I was done. I called him back and mentioned that I needed to go home and change clothes before heading up to his area. We agreed that I would call him when I reached an exit on the freeway so that he would have a better idea of when I'd be at the cafe.
Ron ended up calling me before I left my place to find out if I had left....then called again about 20 minutes later when I reached the exit we were going to use as the calling point. Then he wanted me to call him when I got onto the other freeway that would take me to the exit for the cafe. Instead he called me right when I was getting onto the freeway and changed our meeting place. Apparently he decided that the cafe wasn't good enough and wanted to go to a better restaurant. That's fine but a little annoying after all the phone calls. As I pull into the parking lot for the new meeting place, I get yet another phone call from Ron stating that he had something come up and is running a little late.
So I went to the bar and got myself a beer, luckily I only waited about ten minutes before he showed up. He apologized again for being late and explained that his sister accidentally cut him on the arm with a knife (why they were playing with knives, I have no idea). At this point I also learned that he was currently living with his parents and his sister.....he's 36 years old. So we ordered appetizers and drinks, after which he told me he probably wasn't going to eat because he had a late lunch with a friend and he wasn't hungry (nice,huh?). So this was basically my dinner which I didn't eat much of because it's AWKWARD eating in front of someone who is NOT eating!
Aside from that, most of the conversation was good except that he kept jumping in with compliments. Normally that's fine...who doesn't like a compliment? But when he kept repeating the same compliment about five times throughout the night (my haircut looked really good), it gets a big insincere. That and he kept asking me why I was single...."why is such a beautiful, great woman like you single?!" Thanks for the compliment and for rubbing it in my face that I am still single after all this time......I ALWAYS appreciate that!
We ended up going to a different place and had a couple more drinks....at this point Ron is getting tipsy. Tipsy leading to loud and obnoxious....and more complimentary. Maybe he was nervous, maybe my beauty was just SO overwhelming!! HA! I don't think so.....it was annoying. So we walked back to the parking lot where he kissed me (once on the lips which I ended rather quickly). Ron wanted to know if we could talk in my truck. Seriously? I flat out told him there wasn't going to be a make-out session! Nice try buddy. I ended up driving him home because he was too drunk to drive! Yet another point for Ron.....doing great on this date! Upon dropping him off he gave me directions for getting back to the freeway, since I am unfamiliar with the area, and told me to call him if I got lost. Whew! Done with all that!! But then five minutes later, as I am getting on the freeway, he called to make sure I found it. Ok, that's nice and all.....thanks for that. Then about twenty minutes later he called AGAIN! This time I don't know why. I figured it was him and picked up my phone to check the caller ID. When I picked it up I accidentally answered it but still held the phone away from me. I hear him calling my name.....I've definitely had enough at this point, so I hung up the phone and then turned it off.
That was the end of a VERY long night!! I don't know if he had self esteem issues or was desperate to be with someone or what his deal was! He called me the next day and left a message saying he had a great time. Uh-huh....sorry I can't say the same! That was all a bit overwhelming!! Thankfully I have not heard from him again and interestingly enough, he deleted his profile on the personals site. Hmmm.....maybe it's time to deal with personal issues?
I am hoping the next date will go better!
I had been talking to this guy, we'll call him Ron, for a couple weeks over email and he came across as charismatic and nice. He is a swim coach that was living in L.A. but was laid off due to budget cuts. He came back to his native San Diego area and was lucky enough to get a job at a local high school in the North County area. We talked on the phone a couple times and agreed to meet up. He lives in North County (which is about a 45 minute drive from me) and had some great cafe that he wanted to show me. I had an appointment for a haircut and told him I'd call him around 3:30 when I thought I'd be done. The haircut took a little longer than I expected and he had called at 3:30 to find out if I was done. I called him back and mentioned that I needed to go home and change clothes before heading up to his area. We agreed that I would call him when I reached an exit on the freeway so that he would have a better idea of when I'd be at the cafe.
Ron ended up calling me before I left my place to find out if I had left....then called again about 20 minutes later when I reached the exit we were going to use as the calling point. Then he wanted me to call him when I got onto the other freeway that would take me to the exit for the cafe. Instead he called me right when I was getting onto the freeway and changed our meeting place. Apparently he decided that the cafe wasn't good enough and wanted to go to a better restaurant. That's fine but a little annoying after all the phone calls. As I pull into the parking lot for the new meeting place, I get yet another phone call from Ron stating that he had something come up and is running a little late.
So I went to the bar and got myself a beer, luckily I only waited about ten minutes before he showed up. He apologized again for being late and explained that his sister accidentally cut him on the arm with a knife (why they were playing with knives, I have no idea). At this point I also learned that he was currently living with his parents and his sister.....he's 36 years old. So we ordered appetizers and drinks, after which he told me he probably wasn't going to eat because he had a late lunch with a friend and he wasn't hungry (nice,huh?). So this was basically my dinner which I didn't eat much of because it's AWKWARD eating in front of someone who is NOT eating!
Aside from that, most of the conversation was good except that he kept jumping in with compliments. Normally that's fine...who doesn't like a compliment? But when he kept repeating the same compliment about five times throughout the night (my haircut looked really good), it gets a big insincere. That and he kept asking me why I was single...."why is such a beautiful, great woman like you single?!" Thanks for the compliment and for rubbing it in my face that I am still single after all this time......I ALWAYS appreciate that!
We ended up going to a different place and had a couple more drinks....at this point Ron is getting tipsy. Tipsy leading to loud and obnoxious....and more complimentary. Maybe he was nervous, maybe my beauty was just SO overwhelming!! HA! I don't think so.....it was annoying. So we walked back to the parking lot where he kissed me (once on the lips which I ended rather quickly). Ron wanted to know if we could talk in my truck. Seriously? I flat out told him there wasn't going to be a make-out session! Nice try buddy. I ended up driving him home because he was too drunk to drive! Yet another point for Ron.....doing great on this date! Upon dropping him off he gave me directions for getting back to the freeway, since I am unfamiliar with the area, and told me to call him if I got lost. Whew! Done with all that!! But then five minutes later, as I am getting on the freeway, he called to make sure I found it. Ok, that's nice and all.....thanks for that. Then about twenty minutes later he called AGAIN! This time I don't know why. I figured it was him and picked up my phone to check the caller ID. When I picked it up I accidentally answered it but still held the phone away from me. I hear him calling my name.....I've definitely had enough at this point, so I hung up the phone and then turned it off.
That was the end of a VERY long night!! I don't know if he had self esteem issues or was desperate to be with someone or what his deal was! He called me the next day and left a message saying he had a great time. Uh-huh....sorry I can't say the same! That was all a bit overwhelming!! Thankfully I have not heard from him again and interestingly enough, he deleted his profile on the personals site. Hmmm.....maybe it's time to deal with personal issues?
I am hoping the next date will go better!
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