Yesterday was the perfect day to catch up on all of your blogs and my posting but instead the wiles of a rainy day, warmth of my bed and 20 hours of wake time tricked me into doing, well, nothing. Napping and nothing. So, I am posting yesterday's entry today since I never got around to it and since nothing much is going on right this very second.
Monday, December 07, 2008
I actually made it through a three night stretch without being floated to another unit or having my shift canceled. It's been over a month since I have worked full week and have been out of payed time off for about half of it. The time off itself is great but starting the new year off just as broke as the last one ended is not how I envisioned a new beginning. Just before the holidays shifts have become harder and harder to come by. I'm not talking extra shifts but scheduled ones. Somehow the hospital is able to close down whole 15-bed pods on each floor due to a decrease in patient admissions. It is difficult for me to believe that less people are ill or injured during months of November and December. More likely I think that house staff is at a minimum, people who would normally be admitted for 'observation' don't make it past the ER and that others would rather put off a hospital visit and remain at home with 104 degree neutropenic fevers, festering wounds caused by wine corker mishaps or wait until the trickle of blood from their rectum becomes a gushing torrent.
To this third group of people, I have this to say: On any normal day, during any other time of the year, you would rush over to be looked at, checked over and treated. Why are the holidays any different? Being with your family is important, yes, but this is your life we are talking about (all except wino but not to say your digit is any less important). We want you (and your extremities) to be around for many holidays to come. Exercise good judgment and take care of yourselves people. That is why we are here.
Anyway, it was somewhat refreshing to work a full week and this morning when I walked out of the building the sky was dark and stormy, the air was chilly and the rain was coming down. There is nothing better than leaving work at eight a.m., after your last shift, knowing you can either rush right home to go to sleep or laze around and enjoy a cold, rainy, winter's day.
So here I am. Showered and wearing my flannel jammies, cozied up with my coffee and book, in clean sheets next to a puppy that smells like Pantene*.
One of the many things on my mental to-do list for 2008 (not resolutions per say) is to actually finish one book at a time instead of starting a new one a third of the way through the previous one. Currently, I have four in process. The first book on my list is Bright Lights, Big Ass, which I started before Thanksgiving and have been itching to get back into. If you are looking for a light, easy read that will have you in stitches I totally recommend Jen Lancaster. Seriously funny stuff. Do not try to read this book at 3 a.m. when patients have just gone to sleep (or similar situations requiring complete or near silence, say a golf tournament or Wimbledon).
My coffee is getting cold and my book is waiting. HappyMondayTuesday to you all. Good day and good night.
*This story and possibly pictures for another day when I am less annoyed and can laugh about it.
