Unrecognizable

You know how sometimes we seem to categorize certain people we know by where we see them most often? For instance someone you see at the grocery store every time you go seems hard to pinpoint when you might see that person in a restaurant with her family. You are certain you recognize her but just don't know where you know her from. This is a fairly common thing for me, and it always bugs me until I can get it figured out (like trying to remember many other details these days).

This morning I received a call from the hospital about Verna, an elderly lady for whom I am legal guardian. I knew she'd been taken by ambulance last night, and I spoke briefly with the admitting people and planned to call the morning to find out how she is doing. The phone rang here earlier than I planned to call, though, and the voice on the other end was entirely familiar to me. It was a hospital case manager who I worked with really often when I was doing admission coordination for hospice. We had a good working relationship, and although we worked together mostly by phone, we have met in person and I know she knows my full name. When she called this morning, it was all business. There was no recognition of her knowing who I was, even after I said "Hi Darlene" in the same casual, friendly way I always had when I talked to her about patients at work. So I just went with it. It's actually more painful to me to have to explain this than to just do what is needed for Verna. The real twist of the knife came when at the end of the call, she asked if I am home during the day (a way of finding out if she needed to get a work number to reach me), and I simply said "yes."

It's the little things like this that make me feel unsure of where I fit anymore. Hospital and hospice work moves at a quick pace, so I can understand--but when I was working, even if I thought I might know someone, I always found a way to ask and try to make that connection. It helped me and it helped the person I was talking to as well, I think. It would have helped this morning, too.

By the way, Verna is doing okay.