Nurse Rosenberg

Here we are at the end of February, and I feel pretty good about how the month has gone, despite the physiotherapy exercises having done very little to improve the knee situation. Other things have been very helpful in lifting my mood, including Zooming with at least four different groups of friends, walking with another friend and his dog, and some pretty inspirational online talks.

I have completed my first shift as a Covid-19 vaccinator. It started with me going to the location on the first floor of the hospital where the e-roster system indicated I would be working, to find the door locked and everything inside looking dark. So I returned to the Portakabin in the car park, only to find that locked too, but with someone waiting outside who let me into the secret of access to the first floor ward (knock hard on the door). So I went up there again and managed to get in, only to be told that I was actually going to be working in the Portakabin. A good start.

There were about ten of us working there as vaccinators plus about four doing reception and admin on my shift, which ran from 7.30am to 2pm. Reception and admin are about checking that people are who they say they are and are entitled to receive the vaccine, answering basic questions about the process, enabling them to avoid being charged for parking, supervising them for the 15 minutes they must wait afterwards in case of adverse reaction, and setting a date for the second dose.

There are three different roles for which I needed to be supervised and signed off. One is going through the protocol and ticking the boxes on the paperwork to establish entitlement to the vaccine and any contra-indications to be taken into account - for example, people with clotting and bleeding disorders are not necessarily disqualified but vaccinators need to be aware. The second is the process of diluting the vaccine and drawing it up into syringes for administration, and the third is checking paperwork before sticking the needle in. 

The paperwork role is pretty straightforward, the main skill being remembering to ask all the questions and providing the necessary information - it takes two weeks for the first dose to reach full effect, you can still catch Covid, you need to carry on taking all precautions. Reconstituting the vaccine is fiddly. There are many, many steps - drawing up saline, mixing with the vaccine in a particular way, then getting six doses out of one vial, and timing everything to make sure no doses are wasted. When I did the first part of my training a month ago we were only being asked to get five doses out of a vial, which is obviously much easier. I got the hang of it with a bit of practice.

Sticking needles into arms was obviously the most nerve racking for someone who has always been pleased that being a Dietitian does not require you to touch people at all, and certainly never expected to be performing this role! The supervisor was really good and took things just at the right rate, and my first victim was very calm - in fact, they all were, even the one who said she sometimes went a bit funny with needles. I did get some strange flashbacks later in the evening of needles going into arms, but nothing traumatic.

The most interesting experience came when one of my victims was sitting ready to be injected, and I was running through the information he'd provided on the form. In the place where you state your role in order to ensure that you qualify for our clinic (which is for health service and associated roles only) he had written 'Transport'. When I asked what sort of transport, he said 'Uber'. So I went off to fetch the supervising nurse.

I'd been warned that the taxi drivers of the area had found out how to play the system and were presenting themselves at the clinic despite not being entitled to a vaccine. This chap had got through the reception and the paperwork stage, where I would have thought his entitlement would have been challenged, and nearly got his jab. He was turned away unvaccinated. But it does expose the weakness of a fairly loosely defined protocol operated by well-meaning health workers who are reluctant to deal with conflict. Much easier just to let people get away with it than challenge their entitlement.

This decision was made more difficult because it was not very busy in the clinic that day. We are reaching the end of the wave of first doses, and second doses are about to become available at which point it will turn busy again. We only have a certain allocation of vaccines, so it's important not to give too many first doses otherwise we will run out of second doses - hence the criteria for entitlement. I was lucky to do my first shift when I did, because it would have been much more stressful if lines of people were forming outside and there was pressure to operate quickly. As it was I had time to practise and get things right in my own way. I've now booked a day a week for the next six weeks and two days on the weeks when I'm on leave from my main job.

The latest 'road map' out of lockdown has made me feel slightly better because of having an idea of how long things will take to change, and at the same time makes me feel slightly worse because of having an idea of how long things will take to change. There is a risk of raising hopes and expectations only to be disappointed. So I'm still trying hard to take it a day at a time, finding ways to tame my increasingly wild hair, and taking pleasure in music, in visiting mum and dad, in walking, in Zooming with friends, and in films. It's hard to remember what it was like to play badminton.

Exercising

Great Dixter, July 2020

More than a week has passed in which I've been fully occupied with nothing that is particularly memorable. Of course I went to work, went to the dentist, had at least seven Zoom calls and travelled down to act as Supervisor of Works with mum and dad. We are rearranging the spare bedroom to make it easier to make the bed, and coincidentally increasing the workspace that dad can use. It's all still very cramped but my campaign to empty the dusty junk out of the house is still very much alive.

I'm trying to do some more reorganisation with my own home but there's a long way to go with that, not least because I want to move some furniture that's a bit too big for me to manage on my own, and I'm not inviting anyone else into the house just yet. And it's really difficult to get rid of things with sentimental value or that might come in handy one day.

I've also had a consultation with a lovely physiotherapist about my knee, which is a service that I can access as part of the Employee Assistance Programme offered by my employer. This meant that I was seen within 2 weeks of filling in the form, but also meant that the first 15 minutes of the consultation were spent trying to make the video technology work, first unsuccessfully on my phone, then unsuccessfully on my work computer. All very unsatisfactory, especially given that she was actually in a room on the same hospital site as I was, but similarly unable to see people in person without prohibitively time-consuming risk assessment paperwork.

We just had a normal telephone call in the end, but she has sent me a link to a very fancy shmancy online portal where I can print text and pictures of the three prescribed exercises. We are going to try using a different video technology for the follow up appointment. I may suggest that we meet in the car park after that, but I don't think it will be acceptable.

She seems to agree with the suggestion first made by a friend that it is probably 'Iliotibial Band Syndrome'. I hadn't connected this with the return of the ache in my right hip that I get when I sit down for too long. Obviously there has been much more sitting down since all the badminton stopped, and this may have meant that my running was off-line because of the right hip pain which resulted in the left knee pain. Anyway, whatever, I'll do the exercises because that's all I can do.

What I've been reading

Foundation and Empire
by Isaac Asimov

"In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, man stands at the threshold of a new, enlightened life which could easily be put aside for the old forces of barbarism."

I can hardly believe that I thought this series was worth keeping for re-reading. Admittedly the twist at the end of this book is a good one, but doesn't justify the 200 pages leading up to it. I'll probably skim the third book of the series for completeness but I won't enjoy it.

Wise Children
by Angela Carter

narrated by Tracey Ullman

"Born illegitimately, spurned by their father Melchior and brought up by their landlady, Mrs Chance, Dora and Nora learn to dance, and begin to forge a career. After the post-war decline of their careers they are reduced to performing in nude revues, while the latest generation of Hazards rise to fame as stars of television."

It wasn't a bad book to read, and the narrator was terrific, but I ended up wondering what was the point of it? Pleasant enough, but nothing has stayed with me after a day or two.

Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman

"Two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home - each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions. "

An academic book written for a lay audience, I was very impressed by this book the first time I read it, but gave it back to the person who'd lent it to me and declined to buy it for myself. Well, that was four years ago and now I not only have my own copy (which I found in a 2nd hand book shop) but bought another to give to a friend for Christmas. With Christmas being cancelled that book is still gift wrapped in my hall. Anyway, I thought I'd re-read my own copy, and what do you know, I found it much less interesting this time. Now I'm wondering whether to find a different book to give to my friend for Christmas.

Ritual and Devotion in Buddhism: an Introduction
by Sangharakshita

"Imagine a world without beauty, myth, celebration or ritual. It seems that to feel fully and vibrantly alive, these experiences are essential to us, helping us to feel in touch with all levels of our being by engaging our emotions, senses and imagination."

My Monday study group is about to embark on a series of sessions about ritual, and this is the textbook to go with that. I'm not entirely comfortable with the Buddhist ritual I've encountered so far, and my discomfort is readily acknowledged in this book as a common reaction. But I continue to enjoy the study, and nothing within Buddhism is compulsory, so I'll keep trying it out to see if it becomes more comfortable over time. And if not, that's fine too.

Plumbing news

January 2021

At last I have a working wet room! Olf's mate and Olf's mate's mate turned up to help finish the job so heartlessly abandoned by Flf.

First things first - they are only the second of all the tradesmen in the past 12 months to wear masks - the first was Dlf 1, the damp estimator who lives round the corner. I set up a DIY hot drinks post for them, complete with hand sanitiser and regular kettles of boiling water. I even bought biscuits for them, which was rather dangerous because they looked like really good biscuits. But unlike all the other contributors to the LTRP I didn't take any photos of them, not wanting to appear even slightly threatening in case they took fright and fled.

They started with the faulty shower, and with the help of the installation booklet that I'd found online they diagnosed a broken part:- 453.10, the Thermostatic Harness Assembly. A phone call to the manufacturer was surprisingly fruitful - the operator understood the part number, reported that it was in stock, arranged to send it out, and cancelled the manufacturer service visit which was due the following day.

Then they got stuck into the tiling that had run too close to the light switch, put the shower screen in, had a bit of trouble finding anything in the wall to attach the retaining bar to but found something in the end, and replastered the consequent hole in the ceiling. Outside they have adjusted some of the drainage and shown me what should probably happen next out there. They worked for the whole day until it was nearly dark, and the next morning the Thermostatic Harness Assembly arrived and they fitted it and finished the job. And Olf's mate took away both the biscuits and my Tower of Plastic Pots resulting from the over-supply of lunches, which I encouraged him to use for putting screws in or whatever.

So all that is left to do in the wet room is to join the light and the fan switches and decorate the ceiling which has taken some punishment over the course of shower transformation to wet room and a bit of tiling I discovered when I was up a ladder in there. I put off the celebratory shower for a couple of days to let the fresh plaster go off. It was brilliant. There is still a bit of work to do outside with rendering and drainpipe adjustment, but that's not urgent and I may wait for Olf to be available or look for another tradesman. It would probably be a good policy to look elsewhere, given that we're not going to be Covid-free for some time and Olf is retiring anyway, so I'll need a new tame builder.

More tragic LTRP news though: the toughened glass on the top of the induction hob has broken! Only in the corner, not in the main heating surface, but it will have to be fixed. So I got in touch with Ylf the kitchen, who told me they would send me the manufacturer's contact details, but I would need the serial number, which will be on a sticker under the hob. Except that 'under the hob' is a series of drawers. I got creative, sending a torch and my camera in on the drawer to see if I could locate the label and take a picture of it. It took a bit of fiddling about but I managed it in the end.

The Ylfs clearly did some back-room work because next day I received an email containing my warranty registration, except that it showed only 2 years warranty for the hob, not the 5 years I was expecting. So more delay while that is investigated.

I sent Flf one more email saying "this is the last you'll hear from me" and what do you know, he sent me an invoice! So he's not dead, he is the no-good low-life that I thought he was, and I shall be deducting the amount I've paid Olf's mate before paying him.