Well, my first week at The UR is in the books! Every shift I get a little bit more comfortable and enjoy it more and more. My boss has been very appreciative of how quickly I pick things up. I have appreciated how open she is to all my questions. Not having worked in health care before there is a lot of terminology that is thrown around that I just don’t know…and she never makes me feel stupid for asking. Insurance is also very complicated…medical assistance, medicare, supplements, replacements, copays…it makes my head spin. I will do a happy dance the day that all clicks in my head.
I love interacting with the patients that come in. It is a very, very busy environment with a huge variety of patients. We check them in and we are also the ones that show them to their rooms. I am able to room patients by myself now and I really like doing that. I feel like that’s where I can let my personality shine a little bit and try to brighten someone’s day…even when they feel crappy and may have been sitting in the waiting room for awhile.
My coworkers have been really great so far. One of the newer employees is also an ex-Life Time employee. She worked at a different Club, but I think my boss got a kick out of listening to the two of us. We had a lot of the same “issues”. Another one of my coworkers also has her Masters in Library and Information Science and previously worked at Rasmussen College…although not when I was there. I’m looking forward to getting to know them all better. I’m really liking the “team atmosphere”. Not that I wasn’t part of a team at Life Time, but I was also working solo a lot.
I filled out an “All About Me” for my boss to send to everyone and post up on the wall. I went back and forth with myself about whether or not I should include that I am a widow in that information. In the end, I decided that I would rather have that information out there from the get-go than go through potentially dozens of really awkward conversations with my coworkers in the next few months. So, I included that my husband passed away in Aug, 2021 from glioblastoma…but I also said that I love to talk about him so it is okay to ask about him. I’m glad that I did that because just yesterday one of my coworkers commented on my tennis racquet tattoo and asked about the initials. I said they were my husband’s and she asked if he plays a lot of tennis. I said that he did…and then she said “oh. I’m so sorry. I read that in your All About Me and I forgot”. I could tell she felt bad and instead of making it awkward for her I just said “It’s okay” and also showed her his signature on my arm…and it felt like a good moment.
Although I feel a lot happier this week and more in control of my world I sure am missing having Jason here to talk to. I feel like I would do about anything to be out on one of our daily walks with the dogs. I’m pretty sure I could jibber jabber his ear off talking everything through.
Today I need to go grocery shopping…and then I’m planning on wrapping presents. Maybe. It is one of those tasks that I have always hated doing so much that eventually Jason just took it over from me. Now it’s become a task that I still hate doing, but it also makes me teary. Might need some wine.
SKOL Vikings!
Love, Tennis, and Cancer 