Just an update on my back-to-work program.

I had my progress meeting for my back-to-work program  last Monday.

My hours are divided up between 2 hospitals. One where I'm going to actually be working, and another where I'm working in a research position in the medical records entering chart data into a computer.

There was initially some problem with my insurance company only allowing me to work a 0.8 (8 out of 10 days) combined between the 2 places, even though I wanted to do 2 more days at the research job. The research job is sedentary and nothing more than I do when I get home and sit at my own computer. So I was frustrated that they wouldn't let me pick up 2 more days because I so desperately need the hours by the end of December so that I can renew my nursing license for next year.

My union rep was there and she said that the union has no problem with my working additional hours at the other hospital. Their concern is that my hours at the hospital I will be working at do no exceed 0.8. They said that I should be able to work as many hours at the other place as I want to because it has nothing to do with my actual job! So now I'm 100% assured to get my required nursing hours in by the end of the year.

The manager of the ward I'm working on was in attendance. She said that the feed back from the nurses I've been buddied with and the charge nurses has been extremely positive about my attitude and work performance.

I'm already up to 1/2 a patient load for an assignment. You get between 5 and 7 patients and I've been caring for 3 each shift for the last 1.5 weeks and today I took care of 4 patients.  The hardest part for me is finding my organization again. Today I managed pretty well.  There is room for improvement though, but that could be because I feel so rushed only being there 4 hours and having to cram a full day of tasks into 1/2 a day.

At the meeting we talked about increasing my hours because I feel that I can do more than 4 hours 3 times per week. So my back-to-work schedule has been changed.

Now based on the new schedule I will be finishing my back-to-work program on December 2nd and returning to the payroll on December 3rd!  A full 2 to 4 weeks earlier than they had planned for.    I'll get my first actual pay cheque on December 12th for a whole 3 days of work, and a full pay cheque on December 26th!

I'm so chomping at the bit to get back to my job and out from under the thumb of the insurance company! It's the last step to actually getting my life back!

PS:  I've started 4 IV's and I got every single one!    That was one skill that I was afraid that I had lost my touch with. And the one that I was most anxious to have to do again.  But I'm so happy that I haven't lost my touch with IV insertion!

Oh, the manager was quite happy to learn that I am  a "Chemo Nurse" so I am also going to be sent for a 3 day refresher for chemotherapy. You have to be certified to give chemo and I used to be, but it's been several years since I last gave it.  The original course is 2 weeks in Cancer Care, so instead of taking someone off the ward for 2 weeks (we are very short staffed)  to train them, they are going to send me for a 3 day refresher after Christmas.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi