Forever: A Lobster Kind Of Love (9 page)

Ethel stopped by before I left and offered up breakfast.

“Thanks Ethel, but I have to head out this morning to pick up my new client’s case file.”

“Oh, that’s great; you are falling right into the swing of things. I will help you get set up if you need help later. Then, we can enjoy our plans and the Maine lifestyle on Sunday.”

“You bet, Ethel, we have a date. I’m headed to the office in a bit.” She gave me a quick hug and headed back to her home.

I had a 45-minute ride to the office. Home Angel Alliance’s corporate offices were located just on the outside of Calais, not far from the Wal-Mart. I double-checked that I had everything I needed related to my transfer: my new Maine driver’s license, Social Security card, copies of my background checks, and my resume. My Pennsylvania office had sent almost everything to them, supposedly, but I took copies just in case.

After I signed on with this client, there was no turning back. I would be a Maine resident. This was just another step toward me living again. I looked at my left hand and fiddled with my wedding band. Was I considered still married as a widow? I hadn’t asked for it to be over. Would it be wrong to take them off? The more I thought about it, I didn’t want to open myself up to questions about Mason. I didn’t want to lose my shit in front of anyone. Mason would want me to be happy, right? I chose to move forward. After my mental debate and some gentle tugging, I removed my rings, threaded them onto my necklace, and tucked them into my shirt. I grabbed my purse, my cell, and headed out the door to my future.

Why did they put these corporate offices in the middle of nowhere? I kept following my GPS, and it said I had another fifteen minutes to go. My mind always wandered when I drove, or cooked, well anytime really. I laughed at myself,
how the hell did I ever make it to Maine from Pennsylvania? It was a miracle I didn’t end up in Mexico
. I really had no sense of direction. Thank goodness for GPS or I would be screwed. Mason used to pick on me and make fun of me about it all the time.

After I finally located the corporate office, I approached slowly. My heart rate picked up speed and I could hear it beating in my ears. I took a few deep breaths to stop the thunder of my heartbeat filling my head and parked my SUV.

As my anxiety threatened to consume me, I tried to calm myself while I pondered the source of my nervousness. I loved being a home care nurse; it was so different from the hospital setting.
I was a good nurse
. I told myself as the thumping of blood in my ears started to wane. I had three cases I’d left behind in Pennsylvania. I had been with each of them for four years; they were like my extended family. It had been hard for me to leave my patients, but it just wasn’t enough the make me stay in Nazareth. Everything else, from the traffic lights to the supermarket to the local bar, just broke my heart and hurt my spirit every day.

I’d managed to make it through yesterday without a cigarette, and I’d left my Xanax at home today. I took a few more deep breaths to keep my anxiety at bay. I had been fine on the way here, but now in the parking lot, shit had just gotten real.

As I walked into the office, I paused for a moment to catch my breath one last time, and then approached the reception desk.

“Hi I’m Lydia Dacanay. I am here to meet Adrienne Smith. I have a ten o’clock appointment.”

The receptionist, Sandy, looked up from her Sudoku and smiled brightly. “Yes, Lydia, so nice to meet you. Have a seat. Adrienne will be right with you. She is just finishing up a call. Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.” I took a seat and gazed around the reception area. They had a board with endless pictures of nurses with their clients and I glanced over it while I waited.

The intercom chimed, and the receptionist popped her head up. “Adrienne is ready for you now. Go on ahead, it’s the second door on the right,” as she pointed down the corridor.

The door was open as I approached it and Adrienne walked from behind her paper-filled desk to meet me halfway and shook my hand. “Lydia, it’s so nice to finally meet you. How was your drive?”

“Nice to meet you, too. I got in a couple of days ago.”

She led me over to her desk and motioned to the chair in front of it. “Good! So are you settling in okay? Have you had a chance to look around yet?”

“I came up yesterday for some shopping and my landlady is giving me the grand tour of Eastport tomorrow.”

“That’s great! Eastport is wonderful. I’m sure you will love it there. Okay, first let’s go over all the fun paperwork.” She said with a hint of a smile. “Your office in Pennsylvania spoke very highly of you and they were very upset to see one of their best nurses go.”

“Yeah, well…” I started and Adrienne waved her hands in front of her stopping me. “Lydia, there is no need to explain. I’m just grateful you are on our team. So welcome!”

“Thank you for having me. I had no idea Home Angel Alliance had so many offices, but I’ve never really worked or lived outside of Nazareth before.”

She continued to shuffle papers and pulled out form after form as she talked to me. “Oh yeah, we are nationwide, the fourth largest visiting nursing agency in the country. Okay, so you have a lot of pediatric nursing experience. As of right now, we have no pediatric cases available close to you or even within two hours drive of Eastport, but we have a new young adult case that needs service starting Monday right in Eastport.”

“Well, that would be great, right in town? The less driving the better, less opportunity for me to get lost!”

She looked up and smiled. “You, too?” she said with a smile.

“I will take it. What info do you have for me?”

“Okay, I will tell you what I know. It’s a brand new case. Have you ever done intakes before?”

“Yes, I have done a few. My last couple of clients I’d had almost five years. It’s been a while, but I have done them.”

“Eh, it’s just paperwork. Like I said, it’s a new case, and he just has to sign the intake forms when you meet him on Monday. The rehab center that is discharging him sent over his patient profile. This office covers all of Maine, so we just don’t have the manpower to have an intake nurse, so our nurses do the intake assessments as well.”

She handed me a small packet of papers.

“Here, look these over. I’m going to go grab a coffee. Would you like one?”

I nodded.

“Okay, great. I’ll also get your name badge laminated and I’ll be back in a few minutes. We can always call the rehab center if we need more information, but when I reviewed it, it seemed pretty straightforward.” Adrienne grabbed what she’d printed off and disappeared down the hall leaving me with the patient file.

Opening it, I crossed my legs and began reading.

Patient: Ryan Gannon

Age: 34

History: Boating accident, Bangor General x 3 months, Woodhaven Rehab PT/OT x 9 months

Recommendation: 10 hour in home care x 7 days, OT prn x 30 days

This guy is just 3 years older than I am. Holy crap!

Height: 5’10” Weight: 167 lbs.

Dx: Paraplegia

I wonder if he has a Hoyer lift? Is he bedridden?

ADLs: Assistance with bathing and dressing. Limited range of motion to bilateral lower extremities.

I was so used to taking care of children. They were small and easy to carry. I hoped I could handle this.

Mental Status: Alert and Oriented x3

Cool, at least we can hold a conversation.

His list of medications is minimal, just vitamin supplements, B12 shot, Clonidine, Dulcolax suppository every other day, and straight catheterization every 12 hours.

Adrienne came back into her office with two coffees, an arm full of papers, and a lanyard hanging from her wrist. She handed me a cup of coffee and dumped the rest of her load onto her already overflowing desk. “So, what do you think?”

“It looks like an easy enough case. Are the supplies all there? Is there any family involvement? I’m used to dealing with kids, so this is all new to me. I haven’t had an adult patient in a long time.”

“We have a large supply room here. We haven’t been out there yet. As far as I know, he is a single man, no children, and lives alone. So, will you take the case?” Adrienne asked.

“Sure, yeah, of course I will take the case. I have no issues there. I just want to make sure I am prepared when I get to the house.”

Adrienne reached across the desk and placed her hands over mine on top of the file. “Lydia, I will be sure you have everything you could possibly need. We have a stock room here. Take all you think you might need and when you get there, if you need more or something different, just give us a call and we will send it over to you.”

“Okay and what about nursing notes? Do I have to come back here every week or two weeks?”

“Oh no, we have nurses all over the state that call this office their base. We do everything electronically. You can either scan and email the notes or fax them over. The hard copies stay at the patient’s home for your relief nurse. You will be primary on the case. Going forward, we will be sending other nurses to orient with you on the case for back-up.”

I tried to think if I was missing anything. “How many hours of service does he get?”

Adrienne clicked around on her computer a bit before responding. “Right now we have full reign. He is a paraplegic, so he is eligible for unlimited one-on-one care. We are approving you for ten hours per day, five days a week. Let us know if he needs more. We have a relief nurse assigned for the weekends so you can have time off. So essentially, you have ten hours of overtime built in to your salary per week.”

“I can deal with that.”

“Your patient is alert and oriented. Talk to him and work out your schedule. We will leave that up to you two to work out. Just as long as the time sheet adds up to fifty hours at week’s end, it’s all good. Please, any issues or questions, don’t hesitate to call me.” Adrienne stood up and came around her desk to shake my hand once more.

“Welcome to the team. Sandra at the front desk will show you our supply room. Take whatever you need, okay?”

“Thanks Adrienne. See you soon.” I grabbed the patient file and went out to find Sandra. She was at her desk still pondering the Sudoku puzzle ripped off her 365 days of Sudoku desk calendar.

“Hey, Sandra.”

Her head popped up and her smile was back full force. “All done, hun?”

“Yes ma’am. Adrienne said you would show me where the supply room was so I could stock up for Monday.”

“Oh, sure. Let me just grab the keys and I will take you down there.” She pulled open her side drawer revealing a mixture of brightly colored pens, trinkets, fuzzy topped trolls, and protein bars. Sandra dug around for the keys in question finally pulling out a lanyard with a clump of key chains from various attractions and places travelled. “Found them!”

How could you miss them
? I thought to myself. She couldn’t even close her hand around the clump of novelty key chains.

We walked down to the end of the hall to the supply room. When she opened the door and revealed the treasure trove of supplies, I was in nurse heaven. I packed up two big boxes of supplies with everything I could need, including lots of catheters, gauze, bandages, packing materials, Band-Aids, antiseptic, saline solution, and notepads. Calais was a good 45-minute drive from Eastport and if I could avoid the trip for supplies that would be great.

Sandra carried one box while I managed the other to my SUV. We loaded them in the back and closed the hatch.

“See you next time!” She waved as I climbed in the driver’s seat and walked back to the building. I reset the GPS and headed back to Eastport.

The past few days had passed quickly, and I still had a hard time believing I was actually here. It was time to get my apartment in order so I could enjoy tomorrow with Ethel. All I wanted to do was go home and change into my comfy yoga pants and read a little bit on the back deck. Maybe catch up with a little social media. The drive home seemed quicker than yesterday, maybe I was starting to get the hang of this.

When I got back to my apartment, I hung up all my clothes, unpacked my boxes with books and knick-knacks, filling the empty bookcase in the living room, and found a place for everything in my new home. After I broke down and tied up the now empty cardboard boxes, I washed up and snuggled into bed. The cool night breeze drifted through my bedroom as I drifted off to sleep.