Update?
I mean. There isn't much actually going on. Which is a bit of relief to be honest.
There are work things happening, but most of it I can't talk about really. HIPPA laws and all that jazz. Plus its just not morally right in my opinion. I mean don't get me wrong, I do kvetch about it, but only with coworkers because we're all in the boat together. Customer service is different in medical care and not just because it involves privacy and safety. People are just... It is very heavily coming through that people are Not Okay, are tired and overwhelmed, are not doing well with their health.
It shouldn't need to be repeated, but please please be kind to health care professionals, from the receptionists to your actual provider. Your office isn't an exception to the mess that is going on; everywhere is a mess and it is being made worse because of the way things fell apart in this covid world. This means that sometimes you may not get a call back in what seems like a timely manner (when you get calls and messages through the patient portal at about 20+ an hour and four people on the answering side it gets really slow) and sometimes it means that you may have to wait a bit for an appointment. No please don't ask that kind of calls we get that we shouldn't get; I can't actually talk about it, but it's wearing.
My office has added yet another provider which is great news! Except that we don't have the support staff for another provider. Not enough medical assistants, not enough lpns/rns, not enough admins. We didn't have enough last summer when we added a seventh provider. We now have eight with only adding on two staff. And we are still accepting patients. The hospital network we are part of it has an agreement with the state we're in to keep accepting patients. How our providers are meant to provider care to all those patients is a mystery to us, but here we are.
Side note: for nearly everything for your health care, you can see a NP and get the same care. I promise. There is something like a year of school difference and even our NPs have to attend continuing education classes. Also did you know that NPs can have a phd?? One of my NPs has one. (Yes this is actually becoming a Problem in our area. "Oh but no I need an MD. They just know more and have more training." Which is. No. Did you know that provider in my office who knows the most about transgender care is actually a NP and not an MD? I promise. A NP has the experience and training to help you.)
(This is not a question about how badly medical providers can fail patients. That is a separate conversation I am very aware of given my own history, but I have found both NPs and MDs can fail patients in surprising ways.)
I have not yet received either promotion or pay raise. I talked with my manager about the position responsibilities and requirements and expectations; the concerns I have. I wrote a fancy official email saying yes please I would like this promotion. And then it got lost in the shuffle that was the beginning of December and then this person was on vacation and then this person was and then this person was again and now here I am. Still not promoted. Still not paid fairly. Rude.
My union is aware of the situation. I may have to soon give them an update for support just in case.
We lost one of our admin team and I have been sorting through what the base is expected of an admin vs what I am doing. If I don't get a response by the end of the week on this -- and I will bring the email back to the top of the inbox tomorrow morning when we get back from this holiday weekend -- then I am going to bounce back to the empty seat and refuse to do anything other than what is expected of a general admin. Work to Rule. And I will let patients know if anyone asks.
I like my job! I like my tasks. I like the little things I can do to help the clinical side. I really, really do.
I just also like being paid for the work I do in a manner that is consistent with expectations. What I do I should be paid at the next level, not where I am at now.
Personally, yes, I can desperately use the extra money. I have drawn up my budget and not knowing what or when I will get my tax refund if anything and when any FMLA/short term disability comes through or what that will be, I will need the extra money to pay for the bills when I have my surgery. I need more money for my cat because of the rate that he is going through food and litter both (about $100 each month to say nothing of $50 every 6 weeks for his nail trimming). My food itself is more expensive with my food allergies (I am not the only one noticing that gluten/nut/lactose free items are more scarce than other foods as well). Overall my medical care needs haven't changed, but I do now need year round allergy medication. I need a new car. I need a new computer -- yes I have my phone and my tablet, but for a lot of things it is easier for me to use a laptop.
But I will slough through it at a lower rate and do the job that my position says it is if the company refuses to cough up. I mean it's only fair. If they refuse to promote me, then I will do the work and only the work my position says it is and will make the budget work. It'll be awful, but hey fair is fair.
We shall see what the end of the week brings.
As I said up above money is tight, but I am making it work. The biggest hurdle right now is knowing that I'll need to take about a month off for top surgery. Right now, it is set for mid-March and I can make it work if I do get the promotion. I haven't heard yet if my insurance has approved it; I think we are waiting on a letter from my therapist. I did email her the beginning of last week as a follow up and I'll ask her about it at this week's therapy session. If it does get approved and I don't get the promotion then I will just bump back the surgery to a later date to have more time to save up for the bills. I should get some kind of coverage for it, either FMLA or short term disability, but even if I do, I have no idea of when the payout will be or even how much (if it covers all of my time out or just some). I haven't yet approached HR about it; want to wait until I hear about the insurance approval.
I do have help lined up for the week of, for driving me to the surgery and also the post ops days when the recovery will be the worst. It shouldn't be too bad, but better to have the help than not and especially since I won't be able to lift anything in the immediate recovery. It's my sister who lives a few states away; if my surgery falls through, she's still gonna take time off her job since she needs the break herself and we'll just hang out that week. I will have enough time off accrued by then. If nothing else, she wants to say hi to my cat (he was hers originally) before his time comes and also to get chocolate gummy bears since a place near me has some, but nowhere near her. Lol.
Cat is doing well. He has his ups and downs and his moods where I get scared like "is it time?!?!" One of my coworkers joked "oh he's on hospice care!" but yeah that's where we are at. I think he may have also developed diabetes given the rate that he is now going through water and litter, but again I am not seeing much change or decline otherwise. So it's just. Buy more food. Buy more litter. The last few days he's been super playful so that's has been a huge mood lift for me and I do love having a cat who likes to play. I do worry that that's a sign of something worse going on, that mentally he might be declining to a younger age as I know can happen with elderly humans, but that's hospice care for you :D
Health has been so-so for me. The weather has been something awful, up and down temps and terrible storms plus the stupid solar flares which always cause pain. And with the up and down temps it's getting difficult for me to plan my usual errands of laundry -- I usually like to do laundry early Saturday mornings, but we've had some Fridays where everything starts melting and then freezes which turns my driveway into an ice rink so I have to adjust the laundry plans. Very aggravating especially with pain flare ups on top if all. Mentally so-so. Was bad at one point because of one member of my immediate team at work, but then she voluntarily left and everyone let out a breath. We are all collectively better without her. She just. Wasn't a good fit for us. It did shuffle more work to my desk, but hopefully we can find a replacement quick (or not depending on my own negotiations).
Had a bit of a tight spot this past weekend where I needed some meds refilled when overall my bills needed some attention, but luckily I did not need to get a new FSA card this year and it's been preloaded for the year so the $70 of meds got covered and I was able to make everything work out this pay. Should be good for next week too even if the promotion doesn't take effect right away. I am hoping that my refund will at least cover the remainder of my car/rental insurance -- there is about $450 left of it for the year and if I can pay for that with my refund then that's $65 a month I get back at least until September. Hoping inflation gets under control soon; everything is just too expensive. It doesn't seem like it as I am moving through out the week, but at the end of the month it's just. WTAF is happening. Ugh.
I mean that's a bit more than I expected was going on, but hey. Words. Apparently.
Craft wise I haven't done too much. There was a cross stitch bookmark. A small letter ornament project a friend got me. Mostly been reading books. It's just that winter mood. Slow and steady and wait for the sun to return.
Overall just sitting with myself and how I am. Remembering the gains I have made -- gender, medically, financially (supporting artists on patreon! One in particular which I have been wanting to do for years and just couldn't make it work), small things like oat milk Chai lattes (which are different from the Chai drink from India, okay? Just trust me). Realizing that sometimes we come full circle and meet ourselves again -- my hair style right now is super similar to what I had a decade ago when I first experimented with gender, reading sci fi/fantasy again. Finding my feet under me in that liminal space between known and unknown, between an acceptable queer and one that embraces being not acceptable, in the space my great grandma walked before me between being Jewish and being a witch.
Peace and contentment is a strange beast, but it's OK. I am finding new pieces of myself and picking up others I had dropped. Meeting myself again, but also seeing the new.
There are work things happening, but most of it I can't talk about really. HIPPA laws and all that jazz. Plus its just not morally right in my opinion. I mean don't get me wrong, I do kvetch about it, but only with coworkers because we're all in the boat together. Customer service is different in medical care and not just because it involves privacy and safety. People are just... It is very heavily coming through that people are Not Okay, are tired and overwhelmed, are not doing well with their health.
It shouldn't need to be repeated, but please please be kind to health care professionals, from the receptionists to your actual provider. Your office isn't an exception to the mess that is going on; everywhere is a mess and it is being made worse because of the way things fell apart in this covid world. This means that sometimes you may not get a call back in what seems like a timely manner (when you get calls and messages through the patient portal at about 20+ an hour and four people on the answering side it gets really slow) and sometimes it means that you may have to wait a bit for an appointment. No please don't ask that kind of calls we get that we shouldn't get; I can't actually talk about it, but it's wearing.
My office has added yet another provider which is great news! Except that we don't have the support staff for another provider. Not enough medical assistants, not enough lpns/rns, not enough admins. We didn't have enough last summer when we added a seventh provider. We now have eight with only adding on two staff. And we are still accepting patients. The hospital network we are part of it has an agreement with the state we're in to keep accepting patients. How our providers are meant to provider care to all those patients is a mystery to us, but here we are.
Side note: for nearly everything for your health care, you can see a NP and get the same care. I promise. There is something like a year of school difference and even our NPs have to attend continuing education classes. Also did you know that NPs can have a phd?? One of my NPs has one. (Yes this is actually becoming a Problem in our area. "Oh but no I need an MD. They just know more and have more training." Which is. No. Did you know that provider in my office who knows the most about transgender care is actually a NP and not an MD? I promise. A NP has the experience and training to help you.)
(This is not a question about how badly medical providers can fail patients. That is a separate conversation I am very aware of given my own history, but I have found both NPs and MDs can fail patients in surprising ways.)
I have not yet received either promotion or pay raise. I talked with my manager about the position responsibilities and requirements and expectations; the concerns I have. I wrote a fancy official email saying yes please I would like this promotion. And then it got lost in the shuffle that was the beginning of December and then this person was on vacation and then this person was and then this person was again and now here I am. Still not promoted. Still not paid fairly. Rude.
My union is aware of the situation. I may have to soon give them an update for support just in case.
We lost one of our admin team and I have been sorting through what the base is expected of an admin vs what I am doing. If I don't get a response by the end of the week on this -- and I will bring the email back to the top of the inbox tomorrow morning when we get back from this holiday weekend -- then I am going to bounce back to the empty seat and refuse to do anything other than what is expected of a general admin. Work to Rule. And I will let patients know if anyone asks.
I like my job! I like my tasks. I like the little things I can do to help the clinical side. I really, really do.
I just also like being paid for the work I do in a manner that is consistent with expectations. What I do I should be paid at the next level, not where I am at now.
Personally, yes, I can desperately use the extra money. I have drawn up my budget and not knowing what or when I will get my tax refund if anything and when any FMLA/short term disability comes through or what that will be, I will need the extra money to pay for the bills when I have my surgery. I need more money for my cat because of the rate that he is going through food and litter both (about $100 each month to say nothing of $50 every 6 weeks for his nail trimming). My food itself is more expensive with my food allergies (I am not the only one noticing that gluten/nut/lactose free items are more scarce than other foods as well). Overall my medical care needs haven't changed, but I do now need year round allergy medication. I need a new car. I need a new computer -- yes I have my phone and my tablet, but for a lot of things it is easier for me to use a laptop.
But I will slough through it at a lower rate and do the job that my position says it is if the company refuses to cough up. I mean it's only fair. If they refuse to promote me, then I will do the work and only the work my position says it is and will make the budget work. It'll be awful, but hey fair is fair.
We shall see what the end of the week brings.
As I said up above money is tight, but I am making it work. The biggest hurdle right now is knowing that I'll need to take about a month off for top surgery. Right now, it is set for mid-March and I can make it work if I do get the promotion. I haven't heard yet if my insurance has approved it; I think we are waiting on a letter from my therapist. I did email her the beginning of last week as a follow up and I'll ask her about it at this week's therapy session. If it does get approved and I don't get the promotion then I will just bump back the surgery to a later date to have more time to save up for the bills. I should get some kind of coverage for it, either FMLA or short term disability, but even if I do, I have no idea of when the payout will be or even how much (if it covers all of my time out or just some). I haven't yet approached HR about it; want to wait until I hear about the insurance approval.
I do have help lined up for the week of, for driving me to the surgery and also the post ops days when the recovery will be the worst. It shouldn't be too bad, but better to have the help than not and especially since I won't be able to lift anything in the immediate recovery. It's my sister who lives a few states away; if my surgery falls through, she's still gonna take time off her job since she needs the break herself and we'll just hang out that week. I will have enough time off accrued by then. If nothing else, she wants to say hi to my cat (he was hers originally) before his time comes and also to get chocolate gummy bears since a place near me has some, but nowhere near her. Lol.
Cat is doing well. He has his ups and downs and his moods where I get scared like "is it time?!?!" One of my coworkers joked "oh he's on hospice care!" but yeah that's where we are at. I think he may have also developed diabetes given the rate that he is now going through water and litter, but again I am not seeing much change or decline otherwise. So it's just. Buy more food. Buy more litter. The last few days he's been super playful so that's has been a huge mood lift for me and I do love having a cat who likes to play. I do worry that that's a sign of something worse going on, that mentally he might be declining to a younger age as I know can happen with elderly humans, but that's hospice care for you :D
Health has been so-so for me. The weather has been something awful, up and down temps and terrible storms plus the stupid solar flares which always cause pain. And with the up and down temps it's getting difficult for me to plan my usual errands of laundry -- I usually like to do laundry early Saturday mornings, but we've had some Fridays where everything starts melting and then freezes which turns my driveway into an ice rink so I have to adjust the laundry plans. Very aggravating especially with pain flare ups on top if all. Mentally so-so. Was bad at one point because of one member of my immediate team at work, but then she voluntarily left and everyone let out a breath. We are all collectively better without her. She just. Wasn't a good fit for us. It did shuffle more work to my desk, but hopefully we can find a replacement quick (or not depending on my own negotiations).
Had a bit of a tight spot this past weekend where I needed some meds refilled when overall my bills needed some attention, but luckily I did not need to get a new FSA card this year and it's been preloaded for the year so the $70 of meds got covered and I was able to make everything work out this pay. Should be good for next week too even if the promotion doesn't take effect right away. I am hoping that my refund will at least cover the remainder of my car/rental insurance -- there is about $450 left of it for the year and if I can pay for that with my refund then that's $65 a month I get back at least until September. Hoping inflation gets under control soon; everything is just too expensive. It doesn't seem like it as I am moving through out the week, but at the end of the month it's just. WTAF is happening. Ugh.
I mean that's a bit more than I expected was going on, but hey. Words. Apparently.
Craft wise I haven't done too much. There was a cross stitch bookmark. A small letter ornament project a friend got me. Mostly been reading books. It's just that winter mood. Slow and steady and wait for the sun to return.
Overall just sitting with myself and how I am. Remembering the gains I have made -- gender, medically, financially (supporting artists on patreon! One in particular which I have been wanting to do for years and just couldn't make it work), small things like oat milk Chai lattes (which are different from the Chai drink from India, okay? Just trust me). Realizing that sometimes we come full circle and meet ourselves again -- my hair style right now is super similar to what I had a decade ago when I first experimented with gender, reading sci fi/fantasy again. Finding my feet under me in that liminal space between known and unknown, between an acceptable queer and one that embraces being not acceptable, in the space my great grandma walked before me between being Jewish and being a witch.
Peace and contentment is a strange beast, but it's OK. I am finding new pieces of myself and picking up others I had dropped. Meeting myself again, but also seeing the new.