Almost All Better

Hey all...I'm almost all better. Whatever that virus was, it knocked me out for like 10 days. Every night I was having fevers and after a few days I had a terrible cough. I thought I was going to collapse my lungs. I ended up seeing my doctor & although he really didn't want to give me an antibiotic, he did because of the recurring fever. I also got some cough medicine....the good stuff. Much more effective than over the counter.

The antibiotics did knock out the fever. The cough, however, is still lingering & it's nearly a month later. My voice is 95% back to normal. There are still some days where I wake up really warm or like right now...feel warm...but I'm beginning to think those are more like hot flashes than some illness. I ended up missing 4 days of work. I've never called in that many times. I had too though...I can't go to work with a fever. I did end up getting a verbal warning.....because of their stupid can't call out more than once in a two month period............regardless of whether you truly are sick or in a car accident or having an organ transplant. It is a stupid rule.

Work has been hell. The patients are sooooooo complex & soooooooo ill. Top that off with us being extremely understaffed & unappreciated...well, needless to say, my unit is a mess right now. Even our manager is bailing on us to go to another floor. Nice. And the hospital also decided that all those foreign nurses they recruited & gave work visas to over the last couple years...well, they won't be sponsoring them any more...so back to their foreign countries they go. Which means we will be even more understaffed. I want to scream.

It has really forced me to reconsider going back to my old hospital. Sure the raises suck & there are no bonuses, but at least we were properly staffed & the patients weren't so complex.....and they have patient care techs. I'll make a decision after my cruise.

Yesssss...that's right...it's nearly cruise time. I work tonight, Friday night & Sunday night...then I have 2 weeks of vacation. My cruise leaves on Sat Sept 24 & I will be gone for a week. I need an escape.

Back to the patients....there was one that really stood out the other night. He wasn't my patient, but it is the first time I really felt fearful of getting attacked. He was in for syncope & collapse....but had a history of schizophrenia & it was in full effect. It was downright scary. He yelled at us (the nurses) for 5 hours straight. Yelled! Our charge nurse was a whole lot of help.....she told us to stay away from him. Keep an eye on him...but stay away, we don't get paid enough to risk being attacked. Gee, thanks. Do you think we could get security or some male brought to the floor just in case this patient goes off the deep end? Nope.

I asked the nurse if she had any type of anti-anxiety drugs or anti-psychotic drugs she could give him. She told me he refused his meds. Ummm, great, but he's an agitated patient that is out of his mind right now....he doesn't get a choice in the matter. She managed to give him some Ativan IV & within 2 minutes, he was sleeping like a baby. Thank goodness, otherwise I would have been the one needing the medicine. All of his yelling & bullying towards us made me want to bang my head against the wall. I'm not even being funny. And it truly scares me that he lives at home alone & is probably like this quite often. So much for thinking I'd never go into psych nursing. They will come to you. I did not like it at all.

At my other hospital, when we had patients get out of control...we'd call a code grey (asking for extra manpower) & a bunch of men would show up & usually that would be enough to intimidate whoever was out of control & put them back into reality. If not, then they would be physically moved to a bed & restrained & getting anti-anxiety meds. Never would they have allowed the nurses to have to put up with such verbal abuse with the risk of physical violence. Never. It's discouraging to say the least...the way my current hospital handles it.

Hope everyone is having a great week!!!