Work Hangover Wednesday: And Your Little Dog, Too!

This Valentine's Day is shaping up to be very appropriate to the theme. I have my ACLS renewal class on Thursday, so I'll be pounding on mannequin chests doing CPR.

I'm a little stressed about the class. I don't use ACLS very often in my current job, or look at EKGs very often. The guidelines have changed since I last renewed in 2011, so there is some new material, the drug doses have changed, and I've never taken the one day class before, always did it in two days. So I'll be really glad when it's over.

This morning I read about this. All I can say is, glorifying gluttony is hazardous to your health. And the nurse waitress uniforms, well...I could try to laugh, but I'd rather cry. Obesification again, and nurses as waitresses. Doesn't sit well with me, and my sense of humor is non-existent today.

It's also Ash Wednesday. I would say there are a lot of people out there who should consider giving up gluttony for Lent. But then, who am I to judge. I am the last person in the world to be proclaiming what Jesus would eat. The Pope retired, so maybe there is no Lent this year. Let's all eat quadruple bypass burgers.

I am in a mood today. I already had a suckfest of a work week. I ended up going into overtime on Monday night because one of my patients had a mild reaction to a platelet transfusion, fortunately they were okay, but I had to make a trip down to the ER with the patient. I was the only nurse there, it was the last patient of the day, and I couldn't get a hold of the doctor after hours.

The doctor on call was a neurologist from a hospital in Denver, who had no clue about how to manage a blood transfusion reaction, which we do all the time. So that was no help to me. I needed an order for medication. Our secretary was trying to go home for the day, and she got stuck making phone calls for me, and we didn't even have the right number to call.

It was all I could do to be civil to the doctor on the phone, even though it wasn't her fault. Not enough thought had gone into the process of scheduling this patient, and it relates to staffing and changes going on in the system, among other things. Long story. What happens? The patient suffers, and the nurse caring for the patient does, too.

I had steam coming out of my ears by the time I got a hold of the patient's primary care physician and they were no help either. So I took the patient to the ER and that was that. I spent nearly two hours charting and doing paperwork related to the event.

Then Tuesday I had a long day of chemo plus other patients. I was so tired by the afternoon, starting at 2 pm I was looking at the clock every half hour and thinking, 6 more hours....5 1/2 more hours...

The general mood at work has been rather sour lately, it's hard to keep my spirits up when everyone around me is grouchy and fed up. We've had so many changes at work and it's chipping away at morale. The summer vacation scheduling part is only a small issue.

On the positive side, I did find out that it's likely that I will be able to get time off for the Cornbelt 24 Hour run. On the really sucky side, looks like working medical at Badwater may be out of the question this year, unless a miracle happens in July.

I've decided that this week I am not going to stress myself out by trying to get a million miles of running in. I'll get my quality workouts and run a hard 20 miles with Wheaties Boy on Sunday, but I need to keep my brain from spinning inside my skull again. I can't be wasting energy perseverating on stupid things.

Tonight I will run with the Wednesday night group and take the girls for a short run this morning, or what's left of it. Hoping for a nap so I can feel human again, and have a brain for my class tomorrow.

I really feel like telling everybody to F-Off today. It's a good thing I don't have to work again until Monday.

I have no heart, and no brain. Stay away from me, or you'll regret it...and your little dog, too!