Re: Job security and birthdays to

[Guest guest]

Well happy birthday to both you and your husband. I've heard of

spousal sharing, but wow, sharing birthdays! isn't that an odd

coincidence? I think that is great, although it does cut down on

the birthday cakes, but it must make it easy for your kids - to just

buy one gift and put both your names on it....kinda like at

Christmas. And just think, as you get older, you have no excuse

for forgetting each other's birthday! Although of course, with you

being considerably younger than him, you have a long time

before that hits.........

As far as my job, it all depends on how benevolent my division

chief / college feels. If the hospital does eliminate my current job

by sticking to the exclusivity contract (which has been interpreted

to mean that I cannot test hospital patients) then the college may

be able to keep me on through june 2006 in some other

capacity. What I am hoping for is that if my job is eliminated by

the " transition " from being a college clinic to being a hospital one

(that is the official term for this debacle) that I can talk the college

into finding work for me to do until my budgeted salary is gone

(we are on a fiscal year of july to july). I am getting some hints

that this may be what will happen.....that even if the lab is shut

down that they will find something to do in other areas. I offered

to be a personal assistant to one of our docs, but not sure if this

is what could really happen. The big contingency is that it has to

be work that I can physically do...that will adapt to the things that I

need to keep going during the day. If not, then I will call it quits. It

is a really confusing situation and it is getting even more

confusing as I just found out that the people who are advocating

for the lab have no idea what they are doing.....even my division

chief just sent me an email making me suspicious that he is in

the dark too. So in a way that can be good....if he is hoodwinked,

then maybe there is a good chance that we can hoodwink the

hospital into thinking that there is no contract violations / no

medicare violations, therefore no need to shut us down. But the

honest soul in me is very conflicted about this....I would rather

get things out in the open and settle in now while we still are

negotiating from a position of strength. But maybe I am the one

who is looking at it the wrong way. My husband says to just keep

on going as normal and if no-one tells me to stop coming to

work to just show up and collect a paycheck.....even if there is no

work to be done. I have done this in the past here, when I have

been forgotton but I got to say, it is very boring to sit and read a

book in a work chair for 8 hours a day...........Actually, they

probably won't notice a problem until March or April, when it

comes time to do the budget for 2006-07 and they see that there

is no money in the kitty to distribute to the different

categories.......So silence is probably my best bet at this time.....it

is just so frustrating.....but it is really not my problem, I guess. If

they want to pay me for doing nothing I guess I should be

happy...........

As far as the website, it is a doctor rating system on which

patients can go and rate their physician on 10 categories. It is

set up quite nicely I think (I didn't do any of that so I can brag

about it without being a bore). The article was written about the

the " unfairness " of websites like ours to doctors.....that doctors

believe that patients shouldn't be allowed to express opinions

like this in a forum where the information cannot be validated

and where it can hurt their reputations. I thought the article was

well written but being in the wall street journal a little biased

towards the doctor's point of view. But it has sparked quite a lot

of discussion in cyberspace which I find quite fascinating. My

partner has plans to expand the site into a more private domain

for physicians which could become an income generator in the

future but we are also looking at keeping it completey free so that

there is no exclusions based on people's ability to pay......so that

it remains a free exchange of information for the masses. But

there is a liklihood that we will divide it up into " private " vs

" public " uses. The article has spurred a lot of interest .... we

have no idea what will come of it. the address is www.nddb.net.

And the aritcle is entitled : 'As angry patients vent online, doctors

sue to silence them'. at www.online.wsj.com

I am glad that things are a little better with your pain, etc....I have

found that the nausea comes and goes...I will have days, weeks

of bad nausea, wakes me up even like you said, then days of

nothing. My zofran is my lifesaver, along with the oxy. Luckily, the

oxy will be covered if I lose my insurance...it is the zofran that

won't be. But that is the one I am hoarding for the " just in case "

scenario. I hope too that you get a chance to interview. I would

think you would unless the posting is just a formality (they do that

here....they have the job filled already but they have to post it to

comply with some law) Hopefully that is not the case with this

one. I bet it isn't, because finding good nurses can be a real

challenge. They would be fools to not call you. In fact, give me

their email address and I will tell them that! LOL. Seriously, they

really would be missing out on the perfect nurse if they don't give

you a chance......Any other strings you could pull? favors to call

in? surgeons to bribe?

Hope you get a contact real soon. Definitely let us know!

laurie