Blog – Coleen P. Kenny

Mom called last night to say she has to have shoulder surgery this coming Thursday. Could I be there?

“Of course. No problem, Mom. I love you.”

So I emailed the two docs I work with and the office staff to say I’d need two days off from work. Then I emailed the Education Coordinator and asked her to reschedule the Interns who were slated to spend three hours with me. Then I emailed my Nurse Practitioner student and told her I’d try to find someone else to take her that day so she wouldn’t lose 9 of the 145 clinical hours she needs this semester. Then I emailed the Director of the VCU Adult Day Center and told her I’d need to reschedule the storytelling I’d promised.  And I’ll need to let the nurses at Beth Sholom Nursing Home know I won’t be available to see patients those two days. I haven’t decided yet whether to reschedule the next day’s  dementia talk in Newport News.

“No problem, Mom. I love you.”

And truly, I do love her, and so far, in terms of long-distance caregiving, I have it easy. Mom lives independently. She still  works and drives and does her own laundry and grocery shopping. She takes care of her house and bills and she eats well. And she attended the Orthopedic appointment alone.

And, Mom only lives an hour north of my home. 

But the occasional episodes when I become Caregiver give me pause to think about those of you doing it from farther away and with much more fragile aging parents or family members. As a Nurse Practitioner specializing in long term care, I’ve spoken to many of you on the phone and when you’ve driven or flown hours to check on your moms and dads and friends.  

And I just want to say I’m in it with you and for you—contact me if I can give you an answer, a prayer, or just a little encouragement.

Coleen

…a speaker/writer/storyteller started a blog. In November. This is January. Where did the time go, and what the heck happened to the s/w/s?

Time. Laziness. Excuses.

But today I’m back to blog. And I commit to touching base weekly. To telling you where I’ve been and what’s on tap. While hopefully providing some useful insight or information.

So, where have I been?

In November, I flew to Scottsdale, AZ for a National Speakers Association conference and turned in my professional membership application. I met so many wonderful and encouraging folks that I didn’t want to come home. I felt I’d “found my people,” and I look to forward to seeing several of them again at the Orlando conference in February.

In December I spoke one day to the Nurse Practitioner council at VCU Hospital about safe prescribing for the frail elderly, and the next day drove to a nursing home in Galax, Virginia (the southwestern tail of the state) to repeat the presentation.

The following Saturday found me in Lynchburg, Va. for a Virginia Storytellers Association board meeting (great group), and five days later I was in Chesapeake for a speaker’s association meeting and spent the night with friends I met at a B&B just this July.

Christmas and New Years: saw my mother and caught up with my cat. Poor Tilly is feeling neglected and has learned to sit by my purple suitcase  and pout. She even hissed at the cat sitter on my last trip…

…which was to Miami for four days just last week. Virginia was experiencing a record cold snap while I got a sunburn sitting on the dock of Biscayne Bay. Funny, but I didn’t get a lot of sympathy when I returned to work.

And oh, Miami? It was a speaker’s bureau training full of like-minded geriatric Nurse Practitioners who share my passion for caring for little old ladies and men. I just want to teach the world how to take care of aging parents, patients and friends. 

Just to make sure I wouldn’t be bored, I am also teaching at the VCU School of Nursing this semester; adjunct clinical faculty with my own group of Nurse Practitioner students. I read their clinical logs, grade their notes and papers, and I’ll be visiting each at their precepted clinical practice site. One Wednesday night a month, we meet to go over a simulated patient condition which they present to the rest of the class. I felt like a proud mom when my students were up front.

I am also precepting a student who is graduating in May and eager to learn, so I think  she’s a great match for the site. As I told her, long term care is never dull and always a great challenge. Not to mention the heart strings my patients pull on a daily basis.

I hope all is well in your world—keep me posted—

Coleen