Six Months In

Just realized I've been WORKING as a nurse for six months. Crazy, how time flies!

The most common question that I've gotten over the past six months is "So are you loving nursing?" It's a really tough question, 1) because the asker really wants to believe that I do and 2) I really want to say yes, but I can't.  I'm too new and too inexperienced to say I love it. I usually reply "I have good days and I have bad days." I think I'll start to enjoy it more when I stop feeling anxious before my first shift. First shifts of the week are always hard because I'm getting all new patients. Day 2 and 3, I'm a bit more relaxed because I've already cared for several of my patients for at least one night and know their routines and behaviors.

Night shift isn't so bad. It's the sleeping during the day part. haha!  Actually MOST of the time I get at least five-six hours after my shifts, but after a particularly hard shift, I often can't sleep more than a few hours because I wake up and my mind starts thinking about work and it's hard to go back to sleep. It's those times that I wish I had some good sleeping meds. Ambien\helps me get to sleep, not stay asleep (when I actually take it!).  But honestly, I have no desire to work day shift at a hospital. On dayshift, the number of people on the unit seems to double at times with doctors, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, case management,administration, pharmacists, and of course, family and visitors! Plus patients often are coming and going from tests and procedures or are discharged or admitted. Night shift is generally much calmer! Don't get me wrong, it can still be busy-- there are nights when I don't get to sit down (except for my 30 minute lunch). What I like is that the night shift nurses really help each other out. Our busy times wax and wane, so as available, we can help each other out. I'm so new that I still ask a ton of questions or need help with something something I've not done before or done only a couple times (blood warmer, feeding pump, wound care, etc...) and it would be hard on day shift to get help. I'm not sure how new nurses cope on day-shift. Perhaps they just learn faster because they see more and are forced to figure it out. But I'm not wired for it - at least in the hospital environment. Certainly I'd prefer to work when the majority work and to sleep when the majority sleeps, but for now night shift is where I need to be (and it pays more). When life circumstances change (like going back to school), I'll have to rethink things, and maybe by then I'll be ready to move into a different type of nursing that will be more accomodating to a personal life. Twelve hours shifts are tough too, but I DO love that I only work three days a week!

I've been a complete slacker getting to the gym. After completing my three work days, I'm usually so exhausted and it's tough to get motivated to leave the house. Previously I found that I was most successful in getting to the gym when I went right before or right after work or school. But on the days that I'm working I don't want to go to the gym after my shift b/c I'm dead tired and just want to go to bed. And if I go to the gym before my shift, then I will end up not getting enough sleep. So that leaves my days off...and I don't have a regular routine for those days. Maybe that's what I need to figure out.

My goal this year is to do one creative project a month. So far I'm ahead. My January project was Pinterest inspired. When I was in Liberia, I saved a few bottle caps from the soft drinks. Liberia has it's own Coca-Cola bottling company, so all the caps have the price in Liberian dollars on them. Anyways, I turned them into refrigerator magnets by gluing craft magnets inside. I love them. Then the same weekend, I made what I hoped was going to be a case/tote for my new laptop which is super thin...but the tote is HUGE and was actually designed to hold a sleeve (from same pattern package) for the laptop. So I have this nice, new homemade tote and still nothing to hold/protect my laptop! Oh well, at least I don't need to carry my laptop to work or school these days. Guess I should pay more attention to actual dimensions than to what the photo on the pattern package looks like! Ha! So I guess my next creative project should be to make the sleeve and HOPE that it works, but the tote was soooo much work that I'm a little worn out and might have to push the sleeve to spring.  Other things I want to sew this year include: seatbelt covers, hairbands, flat sheet into fitted sheet, and maybe another totebag. Not sure about after that. Perhaps I'll re-learn to crochet. I did a little in highschool, but I've forgotten anything I learned. I tried knitting and that was a disaster. Perhaps I could try it again, but it's hard to get psyched up when "casting on" defeated me the first time.

Well, I probably should be thinking about going to bed as I'm back to work tomorrow. Somehow I was scheduled for four days in a row. Can't remember if I've worked four in a row before. This past week I worked two shifts and they were pretty miserable/crazy. So I'm hoping this weekend is much calmer!