Montana n: A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. Admitted as the 41st state in 1889. The fourth largest state in the union, it includes vast prairies and numerous majestic mountain ranges.
Syn: Treasure State, Big Sky Country, Last Best Place.
Jones n: slang. An addiction or very deep craving.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Evacuate
The call came right after I had packed my lunch and was about to head out the door. An employee with a medical problem. One of my worst fears.
Not an accident or an injury, just a toothache with swelling. He can't eat or sleep so that makes it a serious problem in my book. Serious enough to be one of my worst fears, evacuating an employee.
I spent an hour on the phone trying to lay the groundwork. A dozen or more calls and I find a dentist that can see him in five days. I am amazed at the number of dentists that are vacationing right now or refuse to work Fridays; even for emergencies. More communicating. The employee agrees to sit tight for five days. The manager disagrees. She wants him out and cared for right now, today. I'm not in a very good position to second guess this one, so I make some more calls and lay some more groundwork. The walk in clinic can see him today and they could prescribe antibiotics and painkillers until we can get to the dentist. More calls, more communicating. Get on the trail in a half hour and I will shuttle him from the trailhead to the clinic.
More calls. Make sure the rest of the staff is on their tasks and make sure their needs are met. The clock is my nemesis now. I have errands to run, make sure the last minute supplies are picked up and moving. Make sure the gas tank is topped off, there might be a lot of running around to do today. The staff has their jobs covered, all they need is some information and all is well. I hustle to the trail.
He is waiting when I get there. Damn, he made good time getting out. It is a fast pickup but a long drive back to town. "Do you need to stop for anything? Something to eat or a soda or anything? Or should we go straight through to the doctor?"
"Let's just go straight through." No problem.
The clinic is all about the waiting room. It doesn't look busy but the wait is over an hour. We wait. Medical evacuation sounds exciting. It's not. You spend a lot of time waiting. I spent a lot of time worrying. Worrying about the break in the routine and the extra work I will need to do to get back on track. Worrying about the stress that being short manned causes the rest of the team. Worrying because that is my job, to worry about these people. These kids.
When I hired them I agreed to watch out for their wellbeing while they work for me. And now one of them was hurt. There was no way to prevent this. Nothing I could have done or trained them to do would have prevented an infected toothache. Being helpless does not make the worry go away.
Of all the things I have to do in this job, this is the hardest. I have never before been so worried about making a wrong decision. Is this the best medical help I can get? Did I find the right dentist? The most affordable? My employee has no insurance and this adventure will be a serious setback to his summer paycheck. Is this the best I can do? It hurts me in my gut to think about these things.
I followed through with the waiting and the shuttling and the phone calls keeping up with the rest of the staff. By the time I got my employee a bed for the night and pointed the car toward home I was tired. Emotionally exhausted. Tomorrow I will show up for work as cheerfully as I can muster. I don't want to give any of the staff the impression that this is hard. I don't want them to know that I fear this. I want them to know that I will do anything to watch out for them and I don't want them to know that I go home drained because of it.
Labels: appointment, decision, dentist, employees, evacuate, exhausted, fear, medical, toothache, worry
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Dentistry
I first felt it a long time ago. About this time last year. An interesting ache in a back tooth when I drank cold water. Or bit into food that was too hot or too cold. I could tell there was something there I would have to deal with sooner or later.
I procrastinated.
It's not like it hurt or anything. Just a gentle reminder. I made a habit of chewing food on the other side of my mouth. I wielded my toothbrush a little more vigorously. I knew I would have to deal with it sooner or later, I just kept putting it off. Sort of like cleaning out the car. You think of it when you are in the car, but most of the time when it is out in the garage you forget about it. I remembered my tooth when eating, but mostly forgot about it.
Dentistry ain't cheap. Back when I worked for others I took advantage of the health insurance and the dental plan. Now that I work for myself, health insurance is blessed expensive. Being the only year round full time employee I can't even get into a group rate.
Knowing that the dentistry bill must come from my own pocket makes it easy to procrastinate.
Back when I was getting regular dentistry, the hygienist would constantly criticize me for not taking better care of my teeth. I came to expect it as part of any medical treatment, the reminder to brush more, floss more, and employ some gadget or treatment. I was convinced that there was no possible way on earth that anyone could brush or floss enough to satisfy a dentist, so I didn't try very hard. Once at a doctors checkup I was cringing with anticipation of the lecture about exercise and diet. I finally asked to doctor for it just to get it out of the way. She said no. "But my dentist is always berating me." I said, "I sort of expect it." "Yeah," she agreed. "You can't please your dentist."
Not wanting the lecture makes it easy to procrastinate.
Funny thing, a bum tooth won't heal itself. Over time it grew more persistent. Interestingly, my dental habits grew better along with it. As the hurt made itself more known I spent more time and care with my toothbrush. I spent more time and care with my dental floss. I brushed and flossed more times during the day. The nagging tooth was a better reminder than a nagging dentist could ever be.
I finally broke down and called a bunch of dentists from the phone book. I picked one that was friendly and helpful on the phone. Not the cheapest, certainly not the most expensive. I made an appointment for later this month. The first appointment is an inspection, it will take a follow up appointment and more money to actually fix any problems.
I am expecting to get a lecture about dental care.
I am expecting to get a sales pitch for dental care products.
I am expecting to pay more than a month's rent to get my tooth fixed.
I am expecting an argument about how often I should make appointments vs. how often I can afford to make appointments.
I am expecting the dentists nagging to be less effective than a sore tooth when it comes to motivating me.
Labels: appointment, dentist, expectations, insurance, money, pain, procrastinate, teeth, toothache
There is more Jones in the archives: February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 December 2009 January 2010 May 2014
