WHAT I DID THIS WEEK

The letter will be short this week because I am trying to catch up at home with a deadline at work. What did I do this week?

Mainly I spent most of my time preparing for 2 committments on the same day as it turned out, though they were set miles apart in time. One was for the Cancer Committee which is held with about 20 physicians and administrators of which I am a part and I must report on many things going on during the last 2 months in the cancer program and I also have to take the minutes. So I am listening and reporting at the same time. I had 2 large studies to report on. I finished one covering 148 cases as to what treatment they received for their cancer and why 27 did not receive the recommended treatment. The 27 were the most controversial as I needed to get every detail of that right, for no physican wants to be the one not giving the recommended treatment. The other study was a five year lung study for the hospital which I have yet to do the final copy for. But the prelims look good.

I am not really educated in a lot of medical fields, but because the registry has to know surgical techniques, pharmacologic treatment and radiation treatment given to each patient, as well as labs and other testing, we have a complex range of knowledge and because we are the documenters we are in high demand, because our documentation is "evidence" that we are a high quality facility and that eventually means money in the physician's pocket because patients want to come to the best facilites and insurance companies want to pay for the best treatment, so suddenly we are in high demand because of our analysis of the data. I am not really as educated as I would like to be, but I have the experience in this field to show others how to garner the data and analyze it for treatment planning and marketing etc. Not a lot of power by myself, but the data is very powerful, so knowing how to get it right becomes very necessary. Things are changing so much with the human genome recognition, we can have targeted therapy depending on the genetic makeup of a person, so the documenter of the patient's picture becomes very important. Anyway for this reason I was asked to speak at a conference of physicians, nurses and registrars at the Veterans Hospital over a 2 day period. I only had to speak on one of the days :) So as soon as the Committee meeting was over I hopped in my car and sped off to the most lovely setting of the Hyatt Hotel that overlooks the Tampa Bay and took part in the conference.

But I was on pins and needles the whole time because Ariana had gone in to have her baby that morning and I was waiting all day to hear that Noah was here and me wanting to hop on a plane and go see her. He is definitely a little Merrill - a miniture Ariana as she looked when she was born. I am back to normal now with a more manageable schedule with only 2 more deadlines to meet by November 17th when we will have an audit.

Meantime, I am learning all about cub scouts, teaching in Primary and generally enjoying many a girl's night out. I am looking forward to seeing you all at Thanksgiving. We have much hugs and kisses to exchange. Love to each of your lovely faces. xxoxoox Mum