Sidelined already - football

Last night was the first night of football and half way through practice Andrew was limping. By the end of practice he could barely walk and was in a lot of pain. He said the inside of his foot hurt really bad and it did look like the bone was sticking out. Well he went to the doctor's this morning, had an x-ray and the doctor said that because he has grown 5 inches in 12 months and he has flat feet that he either has tendonitis or a torn posterior tibial tendon. Because he plays football the doctor ordered an MRI. Andrew has that tomorrow morning. The doctor put a walking boot on his foot and told him that he couldn't practice tonight or tomorrow night. If the MRI reveals that he has a torn tendon then he can't play football for 3 weeks! He will have to wear the boot for 3 weeks. If he just has tendonitis then he can't play football for 1 week and only has to wear the boot for 5 days. So tonight he is on the sidelines. But at least it isn't broken and he isn't out for the season!

Job Change

As most of my friends and family know, I've worked at St. John's Mercy since 2004. I have been working in the Pediatric Critical Care Department as an administrative assistant but my title is Practice Coordinator. Throughout Mercy this position is typically in line with an office manager but as an hourly employee. However, I haven't had any employees to manage. I've done the dictation, billing and anything else the department wants me to do for the past 4.5 years. This is all about to change and I'm trying to stay optimistic that change is good and things will be great. Maybe I've been married to Bill too long because I haven't totally gotten my head around this concept yet. My cheerleader attitude has gotten jaded.

A little background, in my current position I am in the doctor's building known as Tower B and I work in an office that is shared with another department. Some days, I am the only person in the office but across the hall is Kathy who works for the Department of Pediatrics, down the hall is Pediatric Surgery and I have a few friends there as well. My current office has no windows and while my original office in this dept. didn't either I didn't feel quite so isolated as I do now. As a people person I was surprised that I actually liked the quietness of our office, that it was perfectly ok that I didn't necessarily see people every day all day long. Even before Kathy started working in Peds, I had Emily who I am still close to today though she moved to Seattle. But for the past year, I've been in a different office within our suite and I have felt isolated. I have often struggled to even get out of bed to go to my lonely office. I often referred to the office as my jail cell. I applied for another position within the company that was the exact same title but in a different department. I never got an interview, it was filled before I applied (stupid that they post things after they fill them). But it was enough to alert some people that maybe I wasn't happy. I love Dr. Sample, I have enjoyed working with him and I will miss working with him as there are times when I feel like Bill is working with me because they have similar thoughts and sense of humor.

Sometime in the next week or two I will be moving to the 4th floor doctor's building known as Tower A. There is a new GI (gastroenterologist)office that my new boss has found space for a department that I will now belong to but will for now, be a department of one - me. The interesting thing about this suite is how big and open the space is where I will be sitting but that I will still be alone. The GI office is just getting started and I did meet 3 people today but I'm sure that we will be kept separate. I now will no longer have my friends on the 6th floor of Tower B to run into in the hall or have stop by for a visit. I am going to be more isolated in the new department than I have been for the past 4+ years. The positive to this is I will have a window! While I won't actually be able to see trees or grass, I will be able to tell what the weather is doing and it looked like the windows opened! I can see another section of the building and if I look down I can see my friend Kristin in Pediatric Pulmonology as she is one floor down and across the way.

Oh, what is my new position? I am now the Financial Coordinator II (the II means that I'm at a higher level) for the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care (temporarily). This is a new start up position and eventually the department will be a hospital billing department where my "speciality" will be Pediatric billing. I was told this is a lateral move but my friend in HR told me that it really isn't. I am currently a pay grade 14 and this new position is a pay grade 13, so while they won't take money away from me I'm about a $1.50 from the top of my new pay scale.

Sorry this has turned into such a long post. I just had to vent a little. I don't know for sure when I move to Tower A, possibly this Friday. I won't have a phone because the department hasn't been officially approved by upper management yet. Basically the cart is in front of the horse and while I'm told I definitely have a job it isn't certain who I will always report to or where I will be. I have to be grateful I have a job at all given the state of our economy. I do certainly thank God for that blessing. My email address will stay the same and for the most part I will keep doing what I've been doing for the past 4.5 years - billing but none of the extra little things I used to do for the department. I did mention that I thought I had many more talents that they could utilize and that they were pigeon holing me but to quote the manager telling me all of this "it is what it is" that this is what they need me to do now. So, I will start a new adventure at St. John's and hopefully I won't be lonely.

I envy people who own their own business with their spouse. I know several and most of them inherited the business (family business) but still if only there was something Bill and I could do together. My cousin Sheri works for her husband's family business, my cousin Stephen operates his family business with his wife working with him, the same for my cousin Dean and his wife, then I have friends who in the same situation. I envy that, unfortunately Bill and I can't thing of anything we could do together to make money. If you have any ideas, I'm listening.

Summer Reading and stuff

Wow, I've been reading a lot of books lately, tired of television and really enjoy reading. I've been on a "young readers" kick of late because the library didn't have any of the selections I was looking for so I hit Andrew's book shelf! I got started on the Nicholas Flamel series and read The Alchemyst and then The Magician. I was waiting for The Sorceress while Andrew was in Kansas City. So I read Fablehaven: The Dragon Sanctuary which is the 4th book in the Fablehaven series. These books have a similar theme and remind me of Harry Potter though they are not quite as good. If you read the Harry Potter books you might remember that Nicholas Flamel is mentioned in the first book. I haven't started The Sorceress yet because I did end up getting one of my selections from the library.

I'm now reading The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. This book is interesting and I'm enjoying it. It is fiction but it takes place during the Columbine murders and the character in the book was a teacher at Columbine High School and his wife was the school nurse. This a big book compared to what I have been reading as there are over 700 pages. I have to finish it before next Wednesday as this is a short release (Best Sellers you can't have as long).

Andrew had a great time in Kansas City and we are glad to have him home. We went camping this past weekend. It was mostly uneventful - hot and very humid. If only the last two days weather could have been the weekend weather! Oh well. Our next camping trip is a long one to Lake of the Ozarks for 5 days. Can't wait.

Speaking of Andrew he has grown 5 inches and gained 25 pounds in the past year! He is officially taller than me!

Well I better get back to reading or Facebook (my other new hobby)!