Weight loss wise - I have gained and lost the same 4 lbs over that period and have been extremely frustrated by it all. Fluid retention is playing a large part in this and with this in mind I have chosen to change my weigh-in day to a Monday morning - I can guarantee that I am at home on that day and I will have usually spent a good part of the weekend with my feet up! I have also dug out my many slimming cook books and have been trying new recipes each week - have enjoyed them and also have a large amount of pre-cooked meals in the freezer now as well! The freezer is well stocked with meat as well and to be honest could do with emptying out and defrosting so that will be the mission over the coming weeks while trying to come up with some diet-friendly meals!
Work wise - I have now completed 6 weeks in the new job. The team have been so welcoming and they are all really nice. The lead consultant has plans to utilise my skills from the old job but as I have told her that aspect needs to be business cased and added to the job description - I have learnt from before! The matron has lots of ideas - they may not make me popular with my work colleagues but we will see if they are workable first! The job, however, has changed considerably from what was advertised! Because of COVID-19, the site I was due to work at has been shut to all but COVID-19 cases and emergency surgery. The Trust has been working at 40% occupancy as a whole and our service was withdrawn. We are now in the "new norm" phase and we have been asked to review our service and make improvements. The consultants have decided not to provide any regular medical cover at the other site and so this will alter how our role can be developed. So we have been given a blank page and told to go for it with blue sky thinking. So we did! We have proposed to offer a nurse-led in reach service on all 4 sites and not just the one site. This would work side by side with the liaison SpR and would be on offer 5 days a week, 9 - 4. We want to create better links and visibility with our maternity and cancer sites and so want to factor in a weekly visit to those sites so that they can access us more easily. So now we have to write all of the SOPs for the new service and work with the SpR who is leading on the review of the medical model to see how this will work. They go live on the 1st June, we won't be live at that point but we hope to be not far behind. I have also been tasked with arranging VTE prevention training for the entire Trust - that is going to be fun. I have also been asked to look at the progress that has been made with switching our AES supplier to a new one which has come to a halt because of COVID-19.
Accommodation wise - I was fortunate that a chance chat with a neighbour has set me up temporarily with a room for the nights that I need to stay up there which won't break the bank. The landlady is lovely. The room is great. I am able to leave things in the fridge and the freezer and I can switch my nights as needed. The house though is south of the city. This is fine while there is no traffic and while I am based at the current site but once things start to return to normal and I am expected to be working at the other site the commute time would be around about 40 minutes. For that journey time, I might as well be staying at home and travelling up and back every day! So I am currently trying to sort out another room for July onwards providing the person I am messaging is no longer self-isolating! This bit of my job is causing me some stress as I like to have things sorted in my head which then gives me the reassurance that I need to be able to concentrate on the main job!
Food wise - I am managing to have a fairly good diet while I am away. The patients and staff though are terrible at having so many cakes and treats donated/brought in that I am finding it very difficult to resist! I have ordered sweet things from WW to keep at work and to have each day which is working so far. A NSV on Thursday was almost buying a packet of chocolate biscuits to take with me to my lodgings and actually ending up buying some prepared carrots and some reduced fat red pepper hummus - this worked out as 4SP for half a tub rather than 4SP per biscuit and the entire packet being eaten. The landlady is vegetarian and although she is happy for me to bring meat into the house, I do feel guilty about doing this! I had a goat's cheese salad the first couple of weeks I stayed there, a chicken salad the third week and then this week Ive had baked beans on sourdough toast. All have been lovely to eat. I need to think about other things though that I can eat - it needs to be quick and simple as I don't get home until gone 7 and all I want to do is eat, shower and bed!
WW wise - I have embraced the Zoom meetings and try and get to at least one per week. Someone who I was in a what's app group with told me that her Monday meetings are a late start so I sneak in at 7 and am made to feel welcome by the lead coach each time. When I am off in the week I also try and join a meeting around lunchtime as well so I am doing at least 2 meetings a week which is good!
So my plan going forward is:
- Mini goal of 7 lbs off by September
- Happy mile every week
- Sort out a permanent room
- Keep trying new meals
- Plan and track
- Zoom at least once a week
- Design a gold-star service for the 4 sites at our Trust
Let's see how it all pans out
No comments:
Post a Comment