Recovery Day.
Mar. 19th, 2009 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
napoleonherselfThis time last week I was in Springfield, Missouri, supporting an Inpatient go-live. In English, this means that a hospital there had just turned on the switch on their second wave of Epic functionality, and that included some Inpatient stuff, and I was one of many Epic employees who went out to watch end users work and answer their questions about the software. It was three thirteen-hour shifts in a row. Apparently nurses regularly work twelve-hour shifts. They are also allowed to, say, read a book if there's nothing to do (which happened a lot in the dregs of the night shifts to which I was assigned), while I was not allowed to do anything except answer their questions or observe them using the system, but my respect for nurses is nevertheless hugely increased. I was almost dead by the time it was time to drive straight from the hospital to the airport and catch my flight home through O'Hare.
This time last week I was in Springfield, Missouri, all by myself. Mecha saw me off at the Madison airport, and I flew through O'Hare and landed in Springfield unaccompanied. I have flown unaccompanied many times before, but this time I broke with tradition by not being met by anyone at the baggage claim. Instead, I collected my luggage, walked to the Avis counter, and rented a car, for the first time ever. Then I drove the car to my hotel, and checked in. And took care of myself, all alone, for the next four days, until finally I came down the escalator in Dane County Regional and saw mecha waiting for me.
I can still remember when I couldn't go to the local mall by myself without having a horrible panic attack. I'd been there a thousand times before, I knew my way around it and my house was right down the bus line, but if I was by myself, I freaked out. Now I can spend four days in a city I've never seen, hundreds of miles from everyone I know, even renting a car and driving it, and nobody has to die.
That's pretty awesome.
Today is my Recovery Day, though, because I worked the whole weekend in Springfield. I slept till 9:30 and now I am finally no longer sleepy for the first time in a week. This, combined with the shiny new XBox 360 and copy of GTAIV that magically appeared while I was out of town, suggests that today (and the coming weekend) will be very nice indeeeed.
This time last week I was in Springfield, Missouri, all by myself. Mecha saw me off at the Madison airport, and I flew through O'Hare and landed in Springfield unaccompanied. I have flown unaccompanied many times before, but this time I broke with tradition by not being met by anyone at the baggage claim. Instead, I collected my luggage, walked to the Avis counter, and rented a car, for the first time ever. Then I drove the car to my hotel, and checked in. And took care of myself, all alone, for the next four days, until finally I came down the escalator in Dane County Regional and saw mecha waiting for me.
I can still remember when I couldn't go to the local mall by myself without having a horrible panic attack. I'd been there a thousand times before, I knew my way around it and my house was right down the bus line, but if I was by myself, I freaked out. Now I can spend four days in a city I've never seen, hundreds of miles from everyone I know, even renting a car and driving it, and nobody has to die.
That's pretty awesome.
Today is my Recovery Day, though, because I worked the whole weekend in Springfield. I slept till 9:30 and now I am finally no longer sleepy for the first time in a week. This, combined with the shiny new XBox 360 and copy of GTAIV that magically appeared while I was out of town, suggests that today (and the coming weekend) will be very nice indeeeed.
