Part time, camping.

OK, only 8 more shifts until I go part time. This weekend was particularly bad. Don’t ever, ever, never get sick on a beautiful spring/summer weekend. The patient load remains the same, but all the workers call out and everyone is working short. Pharmacy runs behind and no one answers your call. ICU calls for a transfer and pleads for you to take the patient because they are overflowing and short-staff as well. At least on my unit, if we are short, you might have to sit in your own poop for a long time before someone comes to help you out, but if the ICU is short, it means that your ventilator isn’t being a carefully monitored as you might need/want it to be. I pride myself on being a good, fast worker, efficient, friendly, easy to get along with and I’m completely gobsmacked and flattened at 7:45pm when I’ve finally transferred my patients to the night shift nurse and I can gather my wits about myself. This was the week of nursing skills – sometime I can go a long time without doing the following things, but this week I did it all – NG tubes, wound vacs, dressing changes, Foleys, hanging blood, heparin drips, enemas, argh. Before I became a nurse, you have this feeling – huh? nurses just give out a bunch of pills and follow orders, how hard can it possibly be? OK. I need to stop complaining.

Jeremy went backpacking with the scouts this weekend gone from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. I missed him terribly because I was at the hospital all day on Saturday and came home to a house with a sleeping Edda and Eliana to say hello to and which is fine, everything is fine. But I realized that I can only take care of people all day and then I need to be taken care of for at least a little bit of time before I can do it all again. When I come home – usually Jeremy is there waiting with a plate of warmed dinner and a hug.

Jeremy said the camping went relatively well. Everyone should be able to handle the hiking at Philmont. There was a downpour on Saturday night and the boys kinda forgot to pack enough tents (long story) and a bunch of them got soaking wet.