comics and catheters

My job can be pretty stressful. I work as a case manager for the elderly and disabled. I know. Depressing and gross, right? No, actually. I love it. I visit clients' homes all over Hudson County, set up home care services and do some counseling, both with the clients and their caregivers. I am not a nurse; my background is in counseling. That does not, however, stop my clients from showing me every surgery scar, herniated testicle and anal rash they've ever had. Okay, that part's gross. I've known many of my clients for several years and have gotten close to them and their families. I lose clients often, which of course is sad, but I don't get depressed by it. It's a natural part of life, and we're here to help them through it. It does get very difficult when I lose young clients to cancer, MS or strokes. That's never easy.

When I talk about work to other people I tend to focus on the funny and gross stuff - like the client who had gangrene and his toes kept falling off. He kept them in a coffee cup, you know, the kind you get for take-out coffee in a Greek diner? Yeah. I can't really drink out of those anymore.

The other aspect of this blog is that I write stories and I don't know what to do with them. Some are stories from my daily life, some are from childhood, and some are just made up. My husband Ram and I are trying to put together a comic book, but neither or us can really draw. So we're looking for illustrators to help us out. We have found one, and he's super talented but really busy. He's currently working on one of Ram's stories. I'm going to post some stories here and see if I get any feedback. If anyone woud like to illustrate any of the stories, give me a shout.

So that's it. Funny, fucked-up stories about work and life. A way for me to vent and relieve some stress. This is all new to me and I'm a little self-conscious. We'll see how it goes!