To : Woe is us.....

[Guest guest]

Not that misery loves company....certainly not in this case. I am

glad that your surgeon is right on top of this. The thing that

keeps popping up in my mind when you mention this stuff that is

going on with you is infection, infection, infection. So many of the

articles that I read when I had my bout with abscesses stated

that it is not uncommon for abdominal infections to keep coming

back. Because it is so hard to eliminate all the pockets of pus

during the washout process....and the uncertainty that antibiotics

are 100% effective, the infection keeps re-seeding. There is a

surgical term for this....but I can't remember what it is but it

implies that the events are linked (not chronic

infection....something like primary vs secondary and tertiary

intra-abdominal sepsis......????). So, I am glad that you

contacted him and that he is reacting in a good cautionary

measure. Hopefully it isn't anything too much to deal with. If it is

your liver...have you noticed yellow eyes, skin? itching on your

palms, soles? bruising? black / dark urine? Although these are

classics signs, they don't have to be there to have something

going on with your liver. but they help to give you an idea. Are you

feverish, extremely run-down? Night sweats? Does the pain get

worse when you move, breathe and better when you sit

absolutely still? Here I am badgering you with questions like I

know what I am talking about....lol. I guess I am trying to take my

mind off from the sadness here.

I just found out that the " net " was cast farther than I thought. Not

only are our nurses, MAs and clinic receptionists gone...but also

our NPs and PAs. So it is looking even bleaker for me. I should

find out maybe next week. As far as me......if they eliminate my

job, then I will be gone unless my division tries to find me a new

job description (I jokinlgy offered to be a personal assistant to

one of our staff doctors) that will keep me with the college.

The reason that alot of people will lose their jobs is that they are

being replaced by cheaper hospital employees. The current

college employees are encouraged to re-apply for their jobs, with

no guarantee that they will get it. In the past, when the hospital

bought out other aspects of our college or other hospitals, the

interview process resulted in about 70-80% being re-hired, but

not necessarily at the same jobs, and definitely not at the same

benefit levels and all seniority is lost. A 30 year worker returning

to her same job will have less seniority than the 6month

on-the-job person working next to her. I have lived through 3

major buy-outs and closings that this hospital has done and

witnessed how it devastated the lives of the workers. And even if

I am saved somehow, I still have to go through the trauma of

these job losses on my friends again. This is the first time that it

has hit our employer directly though. In the past, it has been

other companies that offer services through the hospital. I have

watched how ruthlessly this hospital cuts people when they take

over, then watch how they demean those that they keep:

re-iterating how lucky they are to be " chosen " and not on the

street like their co-workers. The betrayal that we feel towards our

employer is tremendous. We believe that the medical college

must be in big-time financial trouble and suspect that it is near

closing its doors completely....that this is a panic move to try to

keep afloat. They are cutting about 25% or more of their

work-force, which is a common panic move for companies that

are close to going under, I hear. I feel bad for the medical

students and PhD candidates that are in the middle of their

training.....they may not make it through. And I bet the college is

not telling the incoming class that the may not make it to

graduation. I feel that this is a huge deception on the part of the

school...to lure these students when they could have chosen

another, more stable, medical school.

As fas as my position, if the hospital sticks to the contract that it

put into effect a few years ago, then my job is gone. But if I slip

through the cracks, or they decide to not be sticklers to the

language of the laboratory contract, then I may be able to do

blood work for the clinic with their new employer - just need a

new agreement. However, in the past, when there have been

contract disputes / differences in interpretation, we have always

come out the losers. Which is why I am not hopeful. It is a real

complicated issue but it comes down to them having an

exclusivity contract with a " for-profit " lab that they are partly own

(50-50 split with Lab Corp - a lab from somewhere in your part of

the country I think). I am allowed to do work for non-hospital

patients (which is what our clinic was) but not for hospital

patients. So now that our clinic will be a hospital clinic and not

my employers clinic, I may not be able to do lab work for those

patients....because the lab that the hospital owns, to make

money, does the tests that I do (just not the way I do them). So in

their minds, they are funnelling money away from themselves.

Up until now, we have been able to co-exist with only occasional

" turf " battles. But now, this will change and I most likely will be

out the door.

I am hoping though that I can extend the time for a few months, if

not until next summer. Afterall my position is budgeted through

June 06 and it doesn't matter if we are not making money this

year as there will be no budget for next year. So as far as I am

concerned, we can run the " well " dry. And maybe during this next

year we can figure out what to do. At the very least I can try to get

my personal doctor to double up on my 'scripts for the next year

so I can hoard enough to make it through the next few years.

Once I lose my job, I lose my insurance coverage (other than

cobra - but I will not be able to afford that) so I will lose my zofran

because only my insurance will cover it, not my husbands. And

that is a $26,000 a year drug, out of pocket, and there is certainly

no way I can afford that. So, we can live without my paycheck, but

I cannot live without my drugs. That is where my stress is at right

now.....not my paycheck (it was pittance anyways - only $24,000 a

year) but my insurance. So adding them up, we are going to take

a $50,000 a year hit. Thank goodness the oxycodone is

completely covered by my husbands insurance. I will just learn to

depend more on that and give up on the zofran.

But nothing is settled yet and until it is, there is always a chance.

Hope blooms eternal I guess. Hope for the best, prepare for the

worst.

What a nightmare. I just don't know how people, who are

suppose to be in a " caring " profession can be so heartless, both

to their co-workers as well as their patients. But, patients are not

patients anymore....they are " customers " and that takes away any

obligation or expectation of honorable motives or actions.

Afterall, it is the onus of the buyers to not be " suckers " not the

seller to avoid duping them. How tragic and corrupting.

Sorry for my diatribe. I really hope that you are feeling better and

that your surgeon can get to the bottom of your new setback

quickly and fairly easily. I am so sorry that this is hitting you

again. I am sure you feel that it will never end........but it will, it will

get better, it just seems to take forever. I wish there was

something I could do.........I guess I may have some time soon,

need a personal assistant? lol...........(tempered with eye

moisture).

laurie