Whirlwind

What a whirlwind week this has been.  

On Monday, my manager sent me a semi-cryptic email in the mid morning, asking me to please meet with her after lunch.  I sent back an OK, then spent the next couple of hours with uh-oh thoughts whirling through my head.  Once back from my hasty noon meal, we headed downstairs to one of the doctors' offices, my heart pounding.  Once seated, she apologized for the cryptic email and proceeded to say very nice things about my work, professional demeanor, and experience, and offer me a different job, this one much closer to home.  A bit stunned, I took roughly five seconds to agree to the new position, as a Scribe.  She then asked if I could start immediately, as in Wednesday, after a training session on Tuesday with all the other Scribes.  I agreed to that as well.

This is how my daughter Elaine pictured a Scribe :).  Fortunately, robes are not required, but for the first time in my medical career, wearing scrubs is.  And they are black, a color I seldom wear.  So, on Tuesday, my last bus ride and walk through Santa Barbara streets to work was a bit melancholy.

 A couple of pics of houses and vistas I'll miss seeing.

And my bus friends I'll miss too: Jessica, Silvia, Donald, Jan, Pamela, Guillermo. It was a bit hard, of course, saying goodbye to my workmates for past 15 months--Margaret, Trish, Amber, and Lori, the two Rachels, and Mari, the one on maternity leave.  But I haven't left the company, only the workplace, so will see them again.

Tuesday's training session was a bit of a repeat for me, since I already did many of the "new" tasks in my workday in transcription/compliance.  I looked forward to my first day with a 20 minute commute and the transition from transcribing, which seemed a good lateral move.  Since I spent many years in a former office performing intake histories primarily for Workers' Comp patients, that part of the job is familiar.  What is different is working with multiple patients, doctors, and multiple rooms.  My ankles were on fire after standing all day shadowing another Scribe, but yesterday went much better, when I was sitting more while taking the histories and moving from room to room.  Still learning the job--but liking it a lot.

This is my new view on the ride home, strawberry fields, clouds and mountains.  I love being able to wake up later and get home sooner, as well as having the energy gained from moving around rather than sitting all day.  I had previously planned to take today off, so am enjoying a lovely four day weekend, while my new office mates deal with the busiest day of the week with the main ortho surgeon.  I'm not sorry I'm missing that on my first week--and I also get to skip it next week too when he is in another location.  I'll feel better having a couple of weeks under my belt before facing the senior doc!

The other big news of the week occurred on Tuesday, as I was walking from the office in Santa Barbara with my bag of new scrubs under one arm, and my bag with all my desk drawer items under the other, while I listened to a voicemail from my other manager, Dana, from the hospital.  It seems the hospital HR department informed Dana that since I haven't actually had any per diem hours transcribing for the physiology department for a year, I am being let go.  It was amusing to me that these two job changes happened in the same week!  So today I will be returning the computer and transcription pedal to Dana, who is also having a job change.  She is stepping down from management and returning to nursing for the last part of her career.  What a whirlwind week, eh?