Glad that it's Friday, but

I am planning on going in to work tomorrow, at least for a few hours, maybe a half a day. The plan is to move some files (I'm going to stay in the same office, so I need to switch the outpatient visit authorisations and the surgery ones,  as the woman who has the other office said I was welcome to, so long as she knows where things are.) I also have some authorisations to document that we didn't get in today because I trained all day on surgeries and off-site imaging and testing. Finally, I'll work the queue, filling out forms and creating a running request for clinical notes that can be fulfilled by the medical records department on Monday so I can fax a whole bunch of requests then.

That should keep me occupied for quite awhile.  I'm going to run by the storage unit earlier in the morning and get out one of the folding bookcases to take in since I can park in the building's parking lot tomorrow.

On Monday, I'm training from 7-9 and then will be in the rehab department all pretty much all day, or at least till 3 or so.  I think I return to my desk then if I remember right.  Tuesday I'll train from 7-9, be in rehab for the rest of that morning, leave for an appointment, and come back from 3-5 for more training.  Wednesday and Thursday I'll train from 7-9, be in rehab from about 9-12 and then in my office thereafter.  By then I should be doing my job with my trainer nearby for any questions.  On Friday I'll be in my office all day and should be working on my own, again, with her just a couple of offices away if I need her.  Meanwhile, she's going to train my replacement on Monday and as needed throughout the week.  So hopefully I won't be doing it all for very long. I seriously don't know how she's done it for months now, with just a couple of things taken over temporarily by others.  The off-sites alone could be a full-time job.  Scheduling is difficult and can be frustrating, as you are playing go-between between families and facilities.  One she showed me today took about 45 minutes to hash out.  That's my part, the scheduling, as my replacement has already been doing the pre-auths for those and they didn't see any reason to switch, even though the others were doing the opposite section prior to this.

So I'll be responsible for getting pre-authorisations for surgery cases that are done in our ambulatory surgery centre, as well as those of our patients done at the university that have out-of-state Medicaid, and patients undergoing halo traction, which is a long inpatient stay, plus scheduling the MRIs, ultrasounds, and EMGs that are done at the university and other facilities.  My counterpart will get authorisations for outpatient visits and off-site imaging and tests.  There are some others things--reports and audits, for example, but that's the bulk of it.  For the outpatient visits, there's a lot of faxing.  For surgeries, there is more contact via phone with the insurance companies, plus, of course, the scheduling is mainly done via phone.  We will, of course, be each other's back up and help each other as needed, too.  I think we can work well together.  We're a little more isolated from the department--on a different floor, in fact.  But because we deal with so much protected health information, we each get our own offices, which is nice.  You've seen mine.  I like the setup there better as the desk is on the left facing out towards the common area and so the phone and computer are on the left.  I am right-handed, so I prefer the phone on the left so I can write with my right hand, although I have a headset, too, and that will help.

If I stay for four hours tomorrow, I'll have a total of 22 and a half hours of overtime for the two-week pay period or an average of about 10 hours a weekday.  Which is good, as I have to file my taxes still, and then pay on them.  The overtime won't last forever, but I'm trying to do as much as I can while it's approved.

Okay, I'm going to try to get some notes transcribed for the game Sunday. I'm assuming we'll do that.  It's supposed to be 95 degrees that day, and I'm not sure we'll be comfortable, but we'll try anyway. :)

Good night.

I made it, yay!

I got onto the Interstate around 4 pm, after checking the oil and tyres, and putting a quart of oil in, and pretty much stayed behind tractor trailers that were doing between 60-65 mph (the speed limit is 70), and just let anyone who wanted to go around me do so. It worked out that, with one exception, I didn't even have to worry about people trying to merge into my lane. So all is well.

I did really well on the Interstate, although my hands are a bit cramped from holding the steering wheel for so long and so hard. :) I got off the Interstate at the correct exit, got to the next couple of streets, and only had trouble with the actual street for the hotel I'm in. I went down the wrong way and back and forth a couple of times, then decided there was a big white building on the other side of the road that might be the correct building, and it was. Yay! I checked in, but my keycard didn't work, either because it didn't take when they keyed it or because I put it next to the phone. So a nice lady in the next room who was going back down told them (I had all five bags and a jug of distilled water with me, so she thought she'd save me the trip), and she brought up the new one. I came in, put my stuff down, and plugged in my phone, which was kind of low on battery, and called YKWIA to report.

The quarters are nice. There are two double beds. The bath is just a bathtub/shower and toilet, with the sink out at the entrance to the room. It has a TV, microwave, mini-fridge, etc. The only thing so far I'm having issues with is that the outlet for my CPAP seems to be behind the actual bed. I waited until my roommate came in to choose beds, wanting her opinion. Now that I have mine (near the window), I can try to get behind the pillows and see if there's anything there. The clock is plugged up, so there must be something. The bedside lamp doesn't have any outlets. The desk lamp has two, one for the fridge and one free one, which is currently hosting my phone charger.

It's nice and cool in here, which is great. Even though I don't normally use my car air conditioner, I did on the way up because 1) it's very hot outside, and 2) it means less drag on the car at higher speeds. But I'm still sweaty from the trip.

I double-checked with one of our hosts and we're on our own for tonight, with the agenda starting at 7:15 am. My roommate did check in; she and another lady who she gave a ride to are out eating dinner right now. I'm going to check and see what's around here. I did see a Subway, but there might be something better. I wanted to charge the phone up a little and rest a bit, but I haven't eaten in almost 7 hours, so I'm getting a bit peckish.

At least the hotel does have free Wi-Fi. That's nice. So I can update here, although over the next couple of days, I'll have very little time to. Tomorrow has a very early start and could run twelve hours in terms of training; Sunday we'll be here at least until 4:30 or 5 pm.

Okay, I'm going to check out what's around here. The hotel serves breakfast, but not any other meals, so I'll have to go back out in the heat to find something. With that in mind, I'll check online and see what's around first.

Have a good weekend!

I am up exceedingly early

I'm going to break Internet protocol, and post things ahead of time about a short trip I am taking. I hope that does not mean bad things will happen, but this is really basically my diary, and given my driving anxiety, I need to write a bit here before I go.

First, the things I have to do before I go to work (and for once I won't use strikethrough on the list; suffice to say it all has to be accomplished:

1. Get some water in me; I'm very dry.
2. Switch from my backpack to my Chicago tote bag in terms of 'purses'.
3. Take a portfolio with various information on the training I'm doing related to the class I'm teaching.
4. Make sure I have the Kindle charger with me.
5. Fill up my medicine box, replenish my pen needles, get extra insulin together, and put in an extra phial of test strips.
6. Make sure I have my highlighter and plenty of pens, as well as the sticky notes for the training notebook they'll give me.
7. Get my clothes together for the weekend.
8. Bring three books, Pete Earley's Crazy, the Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, and a book on mobile technologies in libraries that I have to review by month's end.
9. Take apart my CPAP and get it into its bag.
10. Charge my phone (I fell asleep without doing it.)
11. Charge my laptop.
12. Transfer the game recording over to the laptop so I can work on that if I have time this weekend.
13. Get ready.
14. Feed the fish.
15. Water the plants.
16. Put the toiletries into a bag.
17. Put the bags all together.
18. Make sure I have distilled water jug with me for the CPAP.
19. Program my destination into my phone
20. Return an interlibrary loan to the public library.

All in all, with my 'purse/tote', I have five bags, plus a water jug, but they're all small and portable. Fortunately there will be no plane rides with this, so I can take whatever I want.

The training is pretty intense: 7:15 am Saturday to 7 pm plus dinner; 8 am Sunday to 5 pm, with breaks about every two hours and meals provided.

I'm a little nervous about the drive, but not in full-blown panic, which is good. We'll see if that changes once I'm on the Interstate. But people have assured me that I-64 is much easier to handle than I-75, I should avoid most construction, and the plan is to leave work early enough to get a good start before rush hour traffic happens. Of course, once I get to Louisville, I'll be in rush hour traffic there, most likely, so I guess you pick your poison there. It's only about an hour and a half drive, straight up the Interstate to the hotel. The college where the training is a little further away from the hotel than I thought it would be, but it's a short jump on the Watterson Expressway from I-64, and while I could go the back roads, I've never actually driven in Louisville and it would probably be easier to keep to the major ones. In a way, I'm looking forward to the actual trip up there. I have a roommate at the hotel; I hope she's okay with my (very quiet) CPAP.

Okay, I have reached the point where I get ready for work. I haven'd decided whether to get my allergy shot before I leave town or not. I'm afraid I'll get bogged down with things if I try to run any errands or do anything before I go. I think I'll skip this time; I can double up next week. In fact, I may just pack up everything into the car before leaving for work and then drive straight from there to the Interstate. I think my CPAP would be okay in the car trunk. We'll see.

It looks like I will be almost certainly

be teaching a class from June 3rd to August 26th. It is from 6:30 pm to 9 pm on Wednesdays. I am very excited, and I am looking forward to it. Oddly enough, my anxiety issues aren't hitting me when it comes to the idea of teaching the class. Some of the people are taking the class again, ones I know from when I took it, so I'll have some familiar faces. That will help. And a lot of the material is pretty much meant to be read to the class, so I'll have a script.

My main hurdle is not the teaching, not the material, not anything like that. It's getting to and from the training, which is in Louisville. The teaching gig is completely volunteer, but they will pay for my training and a hotel room in Louisville overnight during an upcoming weekend. This means driving to Louisville, for a person with driving anxiety who quite frankly has not been on an Interstate since 1993. Part of that was the fact I had either no car, or a car I didn't trust to get me over the Interstate, so I didn't go anywhere. But part of it is anxiety, as well.

So here is my plan of attack. Between now and the training, which will be June 6th, I'm going to go onto the Interstate around Lexington, get a feel for being back on it, and maybe go over to Frankfort or Richmond, two fairly short drives. Now, I've never actually driven in Louisville itself, I've always been a passenger, and there's some major construction going on right now there, but I'll worry about that when I have an idea about where the hotel is, etc. I have a co-worker from Louisville who said she could help me get alternate routes. And as an absolute Plan B, there US 60, which runs parallel all the way from Frankfort to Louisville, and I have about three ways that don't involve the Interstate that I can get to Frankfort. :)

I'm not feeling particularly well

on this dreary, cool day. Now maybe it's because I didn't have my Claritin today, and so my allergies might be an issue, but as the afternoon has progressed, I've started having a scratchy throat and aching all over, with a headache. No fever as of yet, but I may be coming down with a cold, especially as I was around someone with one recently, and I've been training in an area with shared workstations and contact with children. :(

In fact, my training period is over and I'll actually be subbing as of Monday, as the person I was going to fill in for starts her leave tomorrow. So for four hours a day, twelve hours a week, I'll be doing scheduling and covering checkout as needed, plus keeping the library running and doing my other duties related to the revenue cycle the rest of the time.

Tonight I need to work on the game notes, but for right now I'm eating a coconut fruit bar and drinking some iced water to help with my throat. I'm thinking of taking some ibuprofen and lying down--my sinuses especially are hurting above my eyes. So for now, I think it's naptime. :)