Blog – Coleen P. Kenny

How many of your Facebook “Friends” have you met?

How many of them are you reconnecting with after twenty years apart?

How many did you think you’d never in this lifetime connect with…since you never connected in high school or college or at work?

Yesterday I met some new folks face-to-face I’d only chatted with via FB IM. The chats led to my first Indy car race (I picked the winner),  learning to play dominoes (115 points my first game), great food, and warm hugs before joining the mob wars to exit the parking lot.

Posting comments about my work as a Nurse Practitioner and Speaker has led to people asking about their elderly mom’s or dad’s medications and health conditions, and I’ve been able to provide feedback that has made a difference.

Connecting with Professional Speakers who share FB has led to on-line learning opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise known about, and will help me connect names and faces at the National Speaker’s Association conference in Phoenix next month.

And I’m headed to Myrtle Beach for July 4 weekend to stay with a high school acquaintance turned friend via Facebook. We had a blast over Memorial Day and the upcoming holiday should be just as fun.

So how many of you are amazed at the growth in your world and real relationships since joining this addicting site? I’d love to hear your stories, because the relationships are what it’s all about!!

I joined Facebook a week ago as the Social Networking part of my speaking business marketing plan.

And I found a million memories among all the faces.

People I babysat for when I was fifteen and they were five. People I met in first grade and hardly knew in high school. The Captain of the Safety Patrol in fourth grade at Grafton Elementary…ahhh, the power behind our day-glo orange sashes and silver badges to say, “Hey Mister First Grader, where’s the fire?”

And today, while walking in the park on an unusual 70 degree February day, I remembered Billy Lugnut and the Hubcaps…my then future brother-in-law’s high school band. Thoughts of Stafford High’s original Spicoli led to visions of checkered Vans, thin ties and leather pants from Chess King, a sunshine yellow VW beetle (how many cans of Krylon???) with electric blue lightning bolts painted on the sides and Van Halen blaring from the stereo.

And my sweetest memory of Billy Swaggerty…the Thanksgiving he was still my brother even though we’d dropped the “in-law.” Our old friend Billy woulda been 41 this Feb 14 and he is still missed.

So as our Facebook “families” grow, I hope the good and happy memories continue, that new relationships are forged, and forgotten ties are reconnected for all of us. Because it’s about so much more than just business.

Have a blessed day–
Coleen

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

November 12, 2008

First day on my first website, trying my first blog,

Exciting as a first kiss, sans kissing any frogs.

Mouth dry, hands shaking,

chest breathless, knees quaking,

the whole worldwide web ahead,

Look forward to your feedback

in the days and months ahead.

Okay, so I haven’t written poetry in a while, and I used ahead twice, but I’m new at this. I hope you find the new website useful; it only took three years and five days to get off the ground. Bryan Dunn of www.WebDunnRight.com did a great job in a short amount of time, and I’m very grateful.

I am headed for Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday, Nov 19, for my first National Speaker’s Association meeting. Four days of meeting, networking, and handing out the new business cards. See my speaker’s page on the website to learn how it all got started!

This Saturday night I’m telling a story for the Richmond Christian single’s chapter of Meetup.com, and I’ll be with my Tell Tale Hearts Sunday, November 16 to listen to rehearsal for our next show November 22, which I will sadly miss due to my Arizona trip.  Details about the show are available at www.TellTaleHearts.org

My next speaking engagements are:

 December 3 at Woodmont Nursing Home in Fredericksburg, Va, where I will speak on dementia in long term care.

 December 9 at St. Mary’s Woods Assisted Living Facility in Richmond, Va, where I will be fair game for a resident’s geriatric question and answer session.

 December 16 I will speak to the Advanced Practice Nursing Council at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond about prescribing for the elderly.  (Advanced Practice Nursing= Master’s- and PhD-prepared nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, faculty)

And I have a few scheduled in January but that planner is home at the moment.

So thank you for reading, and I’ll keep you posted. And you keep me posted too!

Coleen (with one L)