FREE ASSOCIATION or FLIGHT OF IDEAS?

It's already June. And boy, am I about to get busy!

As I recounted before, the PACU at my hospital (not my husband's) is a little short-staffed. So I gave them a list of available days for them to pick and choose and plug me in. THEY TOOK THEM ALL. SO......unless I'm asleep or it's a weekend, where they book no cases, I'm either in the ER or working PACU. It just kind of worked out that way. Hmmmmm.

I worked PACU yesterday. Did a wee hours of the morning shift. It was strange to get up and drive around at a time when my usual workday is dying down. But I did get to experience Keys life in the morning, which is to me the prettiest. Morning sunshine, all the trees in bloom, a riot of color. The ocean at midday has every shade of blue imaginable. Very nice. And a slow day to boot. Did some pre-ops, recovered a patient, got a hand on the paperwork. Just like riding a bike. I was even nice to my patients.

My husband and teen were happy to have me home early. My coworkers on the night shift joked about me going over to "The Light". It's just a transition. My honeymoon with night shift is slowly coming to an end. But I can say it has been a wild ride, and I'm glad I had the chance to tag along for a year. I've enjoyed it immensely. Come September, I'm back to being a mild mannered housewife/working mom/grad student with daylight hours.

This weekend I'm attending a CEN review in Palm Beach. So Friday I get to jump in the truck and haul myself up I-95 into the big bad mainland, drop the teen off in Miami with her father, and do some schooling. There will be a bunch of us from the department attending, representing Key West's finest ER nurses. We'll be the ones looking tropical.

I'm looking forward to the July 4th weekend, where once again I take an extended one. No visitors have booked yet, but there's been some interest expressed. I'm also looking forward to the end of the school year, so Little D can FINALLY get out of that idiot's playpen. We're still having HANDBAG ISSUES. Had another call from school yesterday during work, with an administrator on the other end commanding me to pick her up because her purse was a dress code violation. Again, there is a certain teacher that won't let her into class. I told them what I thought of them in ten colorful words or less and hung up. There are eight days left of school. I know I haven't heard the end of it. But then......neither has the principal, once I send her a strongly worded e-mail with a picture of the scratch the asst. principal left on my daughter's arm when she grabbed her. I am fuming. But there will be no email until I calm down. Then.......POUNCE!

Got a new one for Sunset Celebration......grilled shrimp marinated in Mesquite seasoning....SPICY! Perfect with a light Zinfandel. Or some fava beans and a nice Chianti......(love you Hannibal Lecter!)

OVERHEARD ON A CRITICAL CARE UNIT SOMEWHERE: "Is there evidence based practice on this topic, or are you just being dysfunctional and controlling?" (store that one away for future use!)

OK, enough fun for one morning. Housework, laundry and scrubbing bathrooms awaits me. Can't put it off much longer. Let's turn on the mambo music and start cleaning!


Good wishes and fairy dust from the Keys.......

PACU RIDES AGAIN

So much for the six day weekend----I'm going to work in PACU today!


After a 9 month absence from my true love in life, I'm going to finally orient in PACU at the hospital. They're finally short enough to need outside help, and some of the staff members asked me to speak to the manager and see about helping them out. I did, and HERE I GO!

I love PACU. And it's not because it's the specialty that I've been doing for so long. It's just that I love all aspects of it--waking the patients, working with anesthesiologists, the pain management, the critical care aspect of stabilizing after surgery, the constant flow of patients in and out of the unit, the dwindling down of the surgery schedule until they're all done.

At the same time, it offers some daytime working hours, which my family has been begging me to work for months. Apparently, MOM is MISSED at night! I guess I still need to tuck you people in and read you a bedtime story, no matter how old you are! (Both BIG DAN and little dan and Bumby, who sleeps at my feet).


Mind you, I'm not abandoning the ER. I'm still there 3 nights a week. Still enjoying the madness. And as for the PACU position at Dan's hospital, the powers that be are still working out the details regarding what to do with me, my contract and my transfer. But in the meantime, life goes on, and I get to work. I'm in no hurry. It all works out.

Just when I thought my overtime was OUT, they drag me IN again!!

I'm THRILLED. I LOVE MY PROFESSION!!