My thumb injuries and firing my Primary Care Doctor

Wow, how did I forget to let the world know via this blog and FB about my thumb injuries? It could be that this past 2 months have been a flurry of activity. It could be that medical sharing might sound like complaining and who cares anyway?

Two caring individuals (you know who you are) noticed by thumb brace in recently posted FB pictures and asked about the thumb. Multiple people at GA asked me about it.  Here is the update.

In early May, I went to my primary care for painful thumb and tingling in my left leg.

HOLD ON, I must go on this tangent!  She made me wait for 60 minutes. I read 30 magazines in that time, and no one came in to update me.  I was fuming by the time she came in the observation room and yes I did address it with her because she ALWAYS makes me wait at least 30 minutes. I am in the process of firing her for someone who values my time, and at the very least has someone give me updates about the wait time. I understand in our health care situation that PCPs are overworked and only have 15 minutes to try to listen to their patients.  However, I am also firing her because she does not listen to me. I told her I had two things to talk to her about. Gave her the headlines, 1) sore thumb and 2) tingly feeling in my leg.  She failed to talk to me about the tingling in my leg and honestly, I think this is the more worrisome problem. I am seeing a neurologist on Tuesday about that.  I had to say "what about the leg?" as she rose to exit. Obviously the fact that I stood up for myself got her a bit flustered, and her 15 minutes had ended, and she was an hour late already.

I digress! Her diagnosis is that I have arthritis in two of my thumb joints and I have an inflamed tendon which sounds worse by it's official name, De Quervain's tenosynovitis. I left with 4 pages of exercises, and a prescription for PT, after she threatened to go straight to a cortisone shot.  Without trying something else first? My exact words were "We don't do shots without trying other things first!". BTW, I was using the Royal We in case that was not obvious.

She was not going to give me the PT prescription, but I asked if I could have it, just in case the exercises did not work.  She had already said "These probably won't work".  Reasonable request for the PT prescription, and not have to come back to the office?

This post did not start out as a rant, but has become that.  Thanks to all who have asked about the thumb, including perfect strangers at GA and to the two caring individuals on FB who noticed.  Updates to follow. 

Anybody want to help me solve world hunger, right after we improve the medical situation in this country?

Another busy day, busy time

I cannot even breathe recently (SO WHY AM I POSTING YOU SAY?)

Yesterday was another day in the life of HR and of Sally:
Got to work early, but could not get work done I usually do because of visitors
Ran workshop in an onsite offsite around 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
Reacted quickly to employee who had allergic reaction
Quickly checked on Intuit Women's Network event - SRO
Got new hard disk back from IT and started to set up computer AGAIN

after work:
Dinner with old friend and daughter moving to MN
Cut out fabric for vest
Visit with another old friend from Star
Pick up B at Alewife
Work on a quilted vest due next week
Watched Jon Stewart
Crashed . . .

REALLY tired today

Update on Totten Pond Road / Winter Street Construction

Yesterday, I attended the annual meeting of the 128 Business Council. Intuit belongs, so we get an invite. This group provides a shuttle to Alewife to our office park, and will soon provide one from Waltham Center (Commuter Rail) to our office park.

The person who heads up road construction projects for Waltham gave an update. He was an excellent presenter and gave me lots of data I have never had about this bridge update. I still marvel that this project can take 9+ years (stalled with bad construction company for 4). It is supposed to be done Fall 2011.

Almost his entire presentation was pictures, of the update, he was very articulate and it eased my worry about never being able to drive to work for 10 minutes, without driving through 4 construction zones.

The other thing I realized at this meeting is how happy my job makes me. I love to come to work casually dressed. There were lots of suits at this meeting, Property management suits. I felt pretty under-dressed, but happy.

Last week, the Waltham PD came to video tape a Safe Biking session. I think about riding my bike to work a lot, but the last mile, either way I come is very dangerous. A biker pulled in front of me today, GOING THROUGH A RED LIGHT. Good thing I was paying attention. I would not be that kind of bike rider. I am a bike path bike rider so traffic freaks me out, coz I am not used to it. I may get up the courage to ride my bike though, which means I need to bring it back from Coniston.

NYC - great long weekend

This is just how we think and it is amazing how in sync we usually are. We were invited to attend a donor recognition event for our beloved Star Island, and the options were in MA or NYC. The weekend for the MA one was one of our VT weekends, so we said "Let's attend the NYC one and make a weekend of it."

I am sitting on the Bolt bus for our return bus trip and I have to say we fit a lot into the weekend. In somewhat chronological order here is what we did:

*Left 8:30 pm on Thursday night from South Station
*Arrived at Midnight at Penn Station and cab to Pod Hotel on 51st between 2nd and 3rd (Try it sometime, very small funky room, but exactly enough space for showering and sleeping, which is all you need a hotel room for anyway)
*Walked to Times Square and ate a light bite at 24 hour restaurant across the street from Lindy's. We were headed to Lindy's for the obligatory cheese cake but they were closed at 1:30 am. The nerve . . .
*Home to bed, clock said 2am, but it had not been changed from EST to EDT, we actually went to bed at 3am and got up at 9am the next morning
*Bought 1-day metro pass (we did this all 3 days) and traveled via bus to Natural History Museum. Spent most of the day there with a short break to have a bagel from H&H. I loved the gem and mineral wing.
*Walked back across Central Park to our hotel,(79th across the park, then down Madison to 51st and I might add, there were no Starbucks on Madison in all of those blocks) freshened up, and took bus up to Yorkville to dine with the Mays
*Walked home from East 83rd to 51st since it was 20 minutes before the next bus and we had planned to get on the bus when it caught up with us. This never happened. Just a few 32, short blocks
*Down the next morning to Greenwich Village, bought cheap but good stuff at a street fair, after breakfast at diner
*Up to the theater district to see Jane Fonda in 33 Variations (GO SEE IT)
*Quick dinner with friend who is chairing All Star II this year.
*To the donor recognition dinner on Central Park West.
*Back on Subway, finally had obligatory Lindys's cheese cake
*Crashed into bed
*Up this morning to breakfast, I went to All Souls and a quick brunch with 2 friends. Rod walked over to 8th and 9th then to MOMA
*Lunch at Rockefeller Center, poked around in some more shops
*Took subway to 34th and caught the Bolt bus.

Yes, we packed a lot into the weekend. We saw some friends and missed seeing some others. Not enough time in the day to catch up with everyone. Next time.

One of our dreams/plans is to live in NYC for an extended period 6-12 months. Each time we go for a long weekend, we explore areas we have never explored before. We have learned to take the bus coz you can see the neighborhoods. We have learned to not take the bus around matinee time. We got off and walked to the theater and beat the bus by many minutes. The diversity and unique areas are infinite. There is a lot to see.

All in all it was a great time. I AM EXHAUSTED.

Intuit - Great Place to Work - Chapter 200

Ok, so after my crazy day yesterday, see previous post I am having a pretty relaxing day today.

Our Site leader sent an email out to the site yesterday alerting them that we are #22 on the Globe 100 Top Places to work. At 5:22 am our CEO sent an email congratulating us. My HR Leader sent an email last night "YEAH WALTHAM", and he forwarded it to his peers in HR. I just got the latest, "Congratulations Sally!".

Awards like this are to be celebrated, from all levels of the organization, but at Intuit it feels so genuine. It is not just going through the motions. Even in the craziest of times we stop and recognize and celebrate, and we mean it.

Don't get me wrong, I have had to deal with a few messy situations today as well, but somehow when there is genuine recognition and support it makes the messy ones easier.

I am going to have a very hard time ever leaving here, unless I can find the same kind of environment.

Yes, we are a great place to work, and need to step back occasionally and bask in the recognition.

Virtual work - some learnings

On a subgroup at work we are exploring the whole idea of virtual work

There are 3 broad definitions of workers we slot into virtual work:


1.Distributed Workforce – work out of an Intuit site and spend some portion of their time working with peers, directs or manager across sites or with external partners to get work done.

2.Flex Location – employees who work regularly/frequently off-site part-time (e.g. at home, on airplanes, from hotels) or from some combination of locations during their day or week.

3.100% work-from-home or non-Intuit site – employees working remote all the time…never (or hardly ever) work at an Intuit location.

Once again, I realize what a great company I work for. I went to a NEHRA session on virtual work today, and I had to stop myself from saying, "We do that." too many times.

However, always learning I did absorb a few things:

• Shifting mindset of leaders is very important, and as soon as you show them the numbers they will jump on board
• The legal liabilities are just roadblocks, and can be overcome
• Need to think about career development and promotional opportunities for virtual workers
• Really important; not everyone can work virtual, and not every job can be virtual
• Communication to co-workers is really important
• Measure the business units, and publish who is NOT supportive

TTFN

Next Step - Home Inspection

OK so right now, Rod is at 39 Phelps Lane in South Hero going through the home inspection. There will be a lot of pictures to post once he gets home tonight.

I talk to brother/real estate lawyer / Mike 2 night ago. Apparently, this is the phase where the *@^#^# hits the fan in home sales. Oh dear, the doom and gloom in me starts to panic and then the pollyanna takes over and says, not to worry. They will find things wrong, a good punch list, good stuff to know and very essential to have.

I have already booked weekends for people to visit the house. What is really good is that on 10 acres, Rod has a lot more room to escape when I have the house full every weekend we are up there. Maybe for his birthday, I will build him a tree house/cave. Our master bedroom on the second floor has an alcove that was going to be the sewing room, but maybe I should share it with him so he can "socially acceptably" be there when we have guests.

So we have been packing already to move stuff up June 1st. My only question is "Should we buy a second Settlers game for the house?"

Choices - darn

So not often do I have 3 things that I really really really want to do. This Friday night is that situation.

Our Youth are giving an informal service at church on their NOLA experience, my friend Cammy has a poetry reading and I am traveling to Amherst to catch up with my old friend Beth. It is such a hard decision, and of course my natual inclination is to fit all 3 in, or at least 2.

I must be getting older because I am going to limit myself to one, I am traveling to Amherst.

Bethany has a surprise for me on Saturday and I am staying with Beth for the weekend. I have not seen her since Bethany was 2 or 3. Her son is the one who fell asleep in his dinner plate one night at Okemo on his second birthday.

That was the night that we were in paper thin walls, Bethany would not go to sleep so at 2:15am in the snow I was driving around Ludlow VT, to try to get her to sleep. That was also the night that Rod threw the bottle at me, and again, both of these are stories for another time

Friday night my heart will be with Cammy and the youth and I will be on the way to Beth's house.

BTW - Webs in Northampton is definitely on the agenda for this weekend, and Sunday is horse stuff, including watching Bethany in a jumping lesson

Off to NOLA

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we leave for New Orleans. 19 youth and 9 adults taveling together to work through Operation Nehemiah. After the craziness of the last week of work for me, I am looking forward to a different kind of work for a week. I expect to be physically and emotionally challenged. I expect to laugh and cry. I know at the end of a week spent with these special people, that we will have created an experience and a community, that others will not understand.

Talking with my Mom today, I described what my latest "retirement" job is. I want to get red cross trained, and then sign up and travel to different parts of the world, when there are disasters. Hopefully they can use my skills.

So for the next week, think of us down in NOLA. I am sure there will be lots to blog about when we get back.

My big question, should I bring my knitting? I would never go on a trip without it, in olden days, but I am looking at every object as I pack and asking "Will I really use it?" So, will I really have time to knit? I have a book for the plane, I have a journal to write in, tiny colored pencils to draw mandelas, a new card game from my Valentine, FLUXX. It will be a last minute decision . . .

A Mandala - "Oh Freedom"

I loaded some Pete Seeger onto my ipod over the weekend and being the compulsive person that I am, this is all I have been listening to on my frequent long walks and at work. The song that really stands out is "Oh Freedom". Inspired by this song, I drew a mandala last night with the same title. Freedom really is so hard to obtain, sustain and maintain and it is so elusive. I think this recording was done during the civil rights protests of the 60s. It seems that we have made a lot of progress, but is this progress also elusive and can we sustain it?

(Pictures to follow of this some of the this and some of the other mandalas that I have completed).

Our Assistant Minister taught a mandala class this winter. I have wanted to do some visual journaling for a long time; I bought a book which explains a metholology of visual journaling about 10 years ago intending to start. I assembled the art supplies, and bought the big blank sketch book, but it was always too daunting to start. Plus, the space that I had put aside for the journaling supplies, was always covered with fabric, yarn and little pieces of paper to be filed. I cleaned it off yesterday and did my first mandala in this space.

Having the circle as a boundary to contain my drawing helped get me over the hurdle of a blank sheet of paper. I am sure I was breaking all kinds of "mandala rules" as I sat in my sewing room last night, listening to Pete Seeger while I drew, but it worked for me.

When Rod and Bethany were headed to New Orleans for February vacation, we had sung "Oh Freedom" during the worship service and I was wandering around the sanctuary during a pre-New Orleans meeting humming it. It was purely freudian that I happened to be hung up on that song, in anticipation of having them gone for 5 days. It took our mininster pointing out that I was humming this tune for me to realize what I was doing. Those of you who know we well, know that 5 days of being alone is not something that I would normally be looking forward to, so why was I humming the song . . .

Oh Freedom!

TGIF, but "I don't feel like I am going to work!"

Yes, I love Fridays, and with my new job I love Sat-Thur as well.

I love Friday because of all of the potential play time on the weekend.

UPDATES:

Knitting: finished the blue pair of socks for myself, and will get the promised pic loaded this weekend. Last night while watching John Stewart I started a pair of Breast Cancer survivor socks. I have knit this pattern 5 times before in different pink yarns. This time I am knitting them in a verigated Socka yarn; PINK of course. This pair is for Nancy who bought them at a service auction. I offered a pair of socks every month for a year, and this is pair 4. People say I am crazy but I love to knit socks, HMMMMMMM I love to knit anything.

Weekend Plans: Small group potluck tonight, yoga tomorrow morning with Amy, Pilgrimage to Portsmouth Fabric Company with Amy and Margaret (recepient of next sister-in-law quilted jacket), birthday party Saturday night, sunday school with 15, 6-10 year olds - teaching them about composting and poop as part of our Green Sanctuary initiative, read Sunday paper . . . crash and burn 10:30 ish pm and then the week starts again.

I used to hate Sunday nights, because Monday morning meant work started all over again but with my new job, "I don't feel like I am going to work!" so every night is a Friday night for me.

OK back to "work" or as Mom asked when I said "I don't feel like I am going to work!", "Are you going to PLAY then?". Yes, it seems that all parts of my life have become much more intergated in the last 4 months. I talk about leadership and human development during the day and at nights and on the weekends. My mind never stops thinking about my passions.

OK, now really back to "WORK/PLAY"