Nursing
Ugh, I don't think anyone but other nurses can ever understand the shit we go through sometimes. When it's a bad day, it's a really bad day. We're on our feet all day, and when we have a bad day, we're on our feet for the full 13 hours we're there. My typical day is get to work at 6:30 am just so that I can attempt to get a little jump start on my day, and I go all the way from 6:30 am to around 8:00 pm. I mean, try to imagine what a day like that is like with no breaks. Also, there's the constant worry looming over you that you didn't do something, or you missed something, etc. Like yesterday, I completely missed the order to take out a guy's foley catheter because I was just that busy. I didn't remove it until like 5 pm.
By 6 pm, I was really losing it. I was so stressed out. That's when two different people came from transport for two different rooms, and then one of my other rooms was calling because he was shaking and thought he had low blood sugar. When it's 6 pm and you haven't eaten or sat down all day, you just don't give a flying shit about anyone. I did it all, very red-faced and angry, with the transport people pissed off because they had to wait.
Aileen and I went out for food and drinks when I was finally finished charting around 8:30 or so, but I barely made it home in the car with my eyes open. I thought I was going to pass out.
I have become incredibly organized and clean in my personal life. My apartment is immaculate and I have two of those stress fountains that, I have to admit, actually do help a bit. Then, of course, there's my crazy bird, Lucy, who is a lot of fun and does keep me company. She's not very cuddly, but she does like to be with someone all the time (she just flew over to my back from her cage a few minutes ago and is all fluffed up and tweeting happily). I bought another bird a few weeks ago from World of Birds in Chester. I let Scott kind of choose him since he may be stuck with my birds one day. He's incredibly sweet and calm, which might be a nice balace for my crazy Lucy. We're naming him Fred.. I'm hoping I can pick him up this weekend (they wanted to wait until he was off the baby food and completely on seeds). So, my birds are a nice, calming factor for me. Cockatiels aren't high maintenance, and they're much nicer than any of the parakeets I used to have. Fred was hand-raised, so he's really domestic. He just lets you pet him all over and do anything to him.
Anyway, my birds and my apartment have become my stress relief. Jennifer (my manager) talked some of the other nurses and I into going to his bullshit stress relief class that wound up being 40 dollars out of my purse that I could have put towards food or something, which is much better stress relief. We had to sit there and feel the edges of our body and practice thoughtful walking while she rang the Tibetan Bell. What BS. Hey honey, you try doing my job for one day and then get back to me on exactly when you were able to do chair Yoga and practice deep breathing exercises. I would have more respect for her if she were a nurse teaching us. I'll admit that part of the reason everything is difficult is because I'm new to nursing, but I truly feel like physically and mentally, no one I know could handle this job. That's probably why I get paid nicely and probably way fewer and fewer people are entering the profession. You'd have to be crazy.
By 6 pm, I was really losing it. I was so stressed out. That's when two different people came from transport for two different rooms, and then one of my other rooms was calling because he was shaking and thought he had low blood sugar. When it's 6 pm and you haven't eaten or sat down all day, you just don't give a flying shit about anyone. I did it all, very red-faced and angry, with the transport people pissed off because they had to wait.
Aileen and I went out for food and drinks when I was finally finished charting around 8:30 or so, but I barely made it home in the car with my eyes open. I thought I was going to pass out.
I have become incredibly organized and clean in my personal life. My apartment is immaculate and I have two of those stress fountains that, I have to admit, actually do help a bit. Then, of course, there's my crazy bird, Lucy, who is a lot of fun and does keep me company. She's not very cuddly, but she does like to be with someone all the time (she just flew over to my back from her cage a few minutes ago and is all fluffed up and tweeting happily). I bought another bird a few weeks ago from World of Birds in Chester. I let Scott kind of choose him since he may be stuck with my birds one day. He's incredibly sweet and calm, which might be a nice balace for my crazy Lucy. We're naming him Fred.. I'm hoping I can pick him up this weekend (they wanted to wait until he was off the baby food and completely on seeds). So, my birds are a nice, calming factor for me. Cockatiels aren't high maintenance, and they're much nicer than any of the parakeets I used to have. Fred was hand-raised, so he's really domestic. He just lets you pet him all over and do anything to him.
Anyway, my birds and my apartment have become my stress relief. Jennifer (my manager) talked some of the other nurses and I into going to his bullshit stress relief class that wound up being 40 dollars out of my purse that I could have put towards food or something, which is much better stress relief. We had to sit there and feel the edges of our body and practice thoughtful walking while she rang the Tibetan Bell. What BS. Hey honey, you try doing my job for one day and then get back to me on exactly when you were able to do chair Yoga and practice deep breathing exercises. I would have more respect for her if she were a nurse teaching us. I'll admit that part of the reason everything is difficult is because I'm new to nursing, but I truly feel like physically and mentally, no one I know could handle this job. That's probably why I get paid nicely and probably way fewer and fewer people are entering the profession. You'd have to be crazy.