Insane I tell you...insane

I have been quite happy the last few hours and you want to know why? Because for the first time in about 3 or 4 months...I finally got the schedule I wanted at work. This is the highlight of my week...maybe even my month. You see...we have self-scheduling, which is kind of a joke now that we have 93428094 night nurses all vying for approx 12 openings on the night shift per night. I am usually one of the last to know about when the schedule is available to sign up & by the time I get there - I am pretty much guaranteed the only thing open is Wednesdays and the weekends. I don't mind working Wednesdays and the weekends...just not every single week!

I managed to sign up today on the very first day the schedule was available. This is rare...purely lucky. I'm thinking I should run out & buy a lottery ticket. I'm insane I tell you...insane!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was happy and sad. It is always nice having the family together. As I get older, I cherish this more & more. In the back of my mind, I'm always thinking "I wonder how many more of these we have left." I know...that's grim - not a good thought. My greatest fear is losing someone close to me. So it was a blessing to all be together if only for a few hours. We have fun Thanksgivings too. No fighting - everyone gets along rather well.

The downside of Thanksgiving was seeing my sister-in-law's sister who had the brain aneurysm. She was so different than usual. Any noise really bothered her - her head hurt. She spent most of the afternoon laying down and left early. This is not the woman that I know. She is usually perky & fun. I hope she is able to recover from this.

I also got news that my sister-in-law's surgery is scheduled for Dec. 15th. She's having a double mastectomy and they will also be checking to see if any of the lymph nodes have cancer. I'm praying she will be ok. In a weird way it has made our family closer, but still, I wish she didn't have to be dealing with this. She is one of the most wonderful women that I have ever met. It just isn't fair.

I'll be off of work from Dec 19th until the 30th...to be available if she needs me. It will also be the break I need before heading into January & focusing on a month full of overtime. It's our busy season at work & my savings account is really hurting. So it's time I buckled down & do what I need to do.

I worked last night. It was rather bizarre. I don't think I've ever encountered so many confused patients before. And they feed off of what the others are doing. One man...no joke, would press his call light at least 50 times an hour. He didn't want anything...just felt like pressing it. He said it was his schizophrenia making him do it. Ummm, ok. One of my patients...she would literally be drinking water & at the same time...yelling at me for not getting her any water. I'd have to remind her it was in her hand & she was currently drinking it...to which she'd reply "Oh." Then 10 seconds later it would start all over again. Another patient was a 100 yrs old & at 2:30 in the morning, she decided she had to be somewhere. Anywhere but at the hospital. She didn't know where she was going, but she had to be there. We had another patient yelling from her bed "Are you all running a restaurant out there? You seem pretty busy." You can't help but smile with some of the comments they come up with. For all those nursing students who are declaring they don't want to go into psych nursing....trust me....all nursing is a form of psych nursing!

I had a doctor come up to me this morning - he wasn't on call over the weekend and another doctor admitted a patient under his name. So he asks me what is going on with the patient. I give him the brief rundown & he remains standing there looking at me. Ummm...what else ya need to know doc? His reply "What am I suppose to be doing for this patient?" What kind of question is that? You're the primary doctor, go in & assess him & take it from there. I know it's a Monday, but come on!

On a final note...vampires seem to be the latest trend in my house. My 12 yr old niece decided this past weekend she had to read the book Twilight. I figured it was a good idea - as she wants to see the movie & why not read the book first. This book has something like 500 pages. I thought it would take her at least a week to read it. Nope....in less than a day & a half...she was finished & repeatedly saying "This is the best book ever!" We ran out on Sunday hoping to find the second part - but it's nowhere to be found. I ordered it on Amazon, but it seems to be backordered & who knows when we'll get it. I plan on reading Twilight in the next week or two.

Plus I discovered HBO's series "True Blood." Is anyone else watching this fascinating series? I'm hooked! More later.