Carl's Violin

I mentioned the death of one of my patients, Carl, a few weeks ago. In packing up what few boxes of possessions my patients have, the staff came across a violin in a box of unmatched socks at the back of his closet. Being that Carl has had both legs amputated above the knee for the last three years of his life, it was impossible to tell how long the violin had been hidden there. I came to work here 6 years ago and knew nothing of Carl having a violin. I asked some of the "old timers," those who had more than 10 years with the company, and only one of them knew anything about Carl having owned a violin. The others were surprised by this knowledge. Another piece of the enigma that was Carl.

Apparently Carl had this violin when he came to us in the mid-90s. According to the lady who knew about the violin, he had requested new strings for it, but had never seemed inclined to ever play it once he was living with us. That is very sad to me. While we do give many things to the people who live with us, we take away as well.

As he had no living family to give his things to, I put in a bid to purchase the violin. The money being used for our contribution account which purchases birthday and Christmas gifts for our residents. There was a note in my mailbox last week that I had won the violin. I will have it examined and appraised. If it is worth more than what I paid, I will donate additional money. It is for the my residents, after all.

So, I will always have a tangible bit of the quandary that was Carl. I think it would please Carl to know that this cast-off dream/treasure of his means a great deal to me. That the mystery behind it will always remain a mystery would please Carl even more. He left a legacy in the memories and in the stories. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. God has never made another treasure quite like Carl.

Carl had been "in the system" years and years ago. He was living at one of the developmental centers when he had walked away and assumed another life. He lived and worked in society for many, many years undetected. It was only when he had reached 65 and went to apply for his social security that he was found out. Being the system, he was immediately "re-placed" into an institutional living situation. How sad for him.

It had probably taken 10 years back in the system before he found his way to us. Being that records were so very poorly kept by the state when it came to the institutionalized mentally retarded, we had very little history of his actual life, inside or outside of the system.

Carl was a wonderful, colorful historian in relating his life adventures. In one moment, he would tell you of his time in the Army. In the next, he would relate crossing the Delaware River with George Washington. As I said to my friend, Al, was he crazy or is there really some merit to this past life mumbo-jumbo? All that I can say for certain is, that was Carl. And the void left by his absence from our lives will never be filled.

Life still goes on.

Payday was last Thursday. When I had met with my supervisor and Barb regarding taking the night shift supervisor position, Barb had decided to make my status change effective 1 February. Brian insisted I get my check and call him back immediately. Well, things being things, it was nearly 1am before I finally opened my paycheck. Can you say, salary. This was for the pay period which ended 18 January. Our meeting had been on 14 January. Abrupt and uninformed changes in plans had occurred. In our current pay period, I had overtime this last week, as well as worked holiday pay. Had I known that I had already been changed to salary, I certainly would not have worked the MLK holiday. I would have taken it off along with the rest of the salaried folks. And, I certainly would not have put in 56 hours this week.

In going to salaried supervisor, I received a $1 an hour raise. $80 more per pay period translated to an additional $100 in taxes being taken from my pay check. So, I'm actually $20 less in net pay than I was before this whole thing began. LOL Just figures, doesn't it?

I received my company cell phone last week, the surest sign that I have been officially damned to hell. The only good thing about it is that my company phone is a Razr. It came with a car charger and a blue tooth adapter. As my personal cell phone is a Razr, I can use the car and blue tooth accessories with it.
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A mere 21 hours later, I have returned. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

It is 3am. I should be headed to Wal-Mart or to work or, at least, to the shower. I have had coffee, chatted with Genny and Al, and ignored various household chores since rolling out of bed at 10pm.

I could not get to sleep today. Hate when that happens. I fell asleep somewhere after 3pm, after relenting and taking another Melatonin and a Flexeril.

I received my bamboo and soy yarns today from Canada! Yippee!! They were here Thursday, but I was not awake to sign for them & only today got 'round to the post office to collect them. They are lovely. omg! Nice hand, nice sheen, nice elasticity. I can't wait to start working with them. (I promised myself to do SOMETHING with this house before I set needles to them, and I suppose sorting beads doesn't really count.)

I also ordered the bamboo needles from the same company. They should be here next week. I sort of took it to the extreme with the needles. As I had lamented about having to use those horrid plastic over-sized needles on my sweater and did confess to ordering over-sized wooden ones from the Canadian company...

Well, I bought all of the over-sized ones that they offer. US 17,18, 19, 35, 50. I bought a complete set of bamboo straight needles US 0 through 15. I also bought a set of 16" circular bamboo needles in the same sizes, 0 through 15 - necessary for those hats and sleeves. OK, desirable for those hats & sleeves. I bought double pointed needles, 8" length - 0 through 11, 12" length - 0 through 15. And, I bought a set of bamboo crochet hooks. I simply like working with bamboo and wooden needles the best.

The swallow casein needles are nice but tend to be a bit "sticky" with some types of yarns. They would be my second favorite needles to use. Unfortunately, I do not believe that they come in circular needles. Well, that may be a good thing or I would have to set after acquiring those particular implements of construction as well.

Back to the sweater which I was attempting to construct on these wretched needles which spawned this buying frenzy. (I spent very wisely, all-in-all... 4 complete sets of needles, one set of crochet hooks, 5 sets of over-sized needles for less than $80. Still less than $100 including shipping from Canada. Try and get that here in the U.S. A set of Clover 13" bamboo single point needles, US 0 through 15, alone will cost more than $70.) The idea of knitting any further on the sweater with those wretched needles was appalling to me. As plastic needles tend to be "sticky," my stitches were not at optimum consistently. I contemplated simply awaiting the arrival of the new wooden needles and going on with the project from my stopping point. In the end, I succumbed and "frogged." (rip-it, rip-it) That's why it's called frogging. Seriously! LOL As I often reiterate to my granddaughter, "You cannot knit if you are afraid to rip."

So, I have ripped my beautiful strands of mohair and ribbon back into their respective balls and await the arrival of the more suitable construction tools, and I am thankful that this pattern says this sweater can be constructed in approximately 5 hours.

In organizing the studio, I think I have some needles that I will be listing on eBay. I also have a couple of books that I found on clearance and purchased specifically for that purpose. Very nice books from a popular series but not my style. However, the price did make them quite attractive for resale.

Construction of the throw that I am crocheting for my son-in-law is moving along quite nicely. I was joking with him that I may actually have it finished before the cold weather disappears. Given that I really like how it is turning out, I bought a similar type of bulky chenille yarn from the same vendor in an off-white cotton/tencel blend. I bought 9 pounds of the stuff! That will be an over-sized comfy throw for the y-chromosome person of significance.

He was apologetic for being overwhelmed with school when I saw him this weekend. Obstetrics and pediatrics will generally do that to you. Why nursing programs insist on teaching those two areas of very specialized curriculum together is beyond me. The scopes of practice are so very unique to each of those fields that it boggles the mind. The rules for pediatrics are different than for adults, and obstetrics is its own area altogether. There are areas of cross-over in other areas of practice.... med/surg and orthopedics, rheumatology and orthopedics, gastroenterology and endocrinology.... And, there are rules that are practiced by multiple disciplines - cardiology and pulmonology, hematology and immunology... It is insanity to try and learn two unique areas of practice, such as OB and pediatrics, together. Yet, programs do it. They may as well just incorporate anesthesiology into the same term and give you all three strikes! LOL

I sometimes wonder if it fails to register with him that I have already "been there, done that, got the t-shirt." All of this knowledge is just innate to my being, and I didn't have to spend months poring over over-priced texts and be at the hospital before daylight and leave long after dark. I didn't write volumes and volumes of pointless case studies and care plans in order to "get the big picture" of how the nursing process fits into the framework of medical diagnostics. I didn't have to research every one of the fourteen medications that my patient was prescribed - drug classification, uses, correct dosages, side-effects, interactions, pertinent laboratory monitoring, patient teaching... Nope. I was just born Mother Superior of Nurses from Hell.

You know, I would be very, very content to leave the field of nursing in his hands and stay home all day to play with the brown babies. I would have no problem at all handing over the reins to the next generation of nurses. However, I don't see that happening immediately. I see us working for the traveling service for part of the year and vacationing the rest of the year. Three months in Southern California, six weeks in Italy. Three months in Seattle, six weeks in the U.K. Three months in Denver, six weeks in Australia. It would be a rough life, but I think we could manage. Two nursing placements for the price of one housing unit. Such a deal! Though, if there were babies along, I would only work part-time. Good money, no housing expense. Nice way to travel the country for a couple of years. Well suited to our vagabond souls.

It has become early in the morning once again. Time to get on with my day.