eirian84's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nursing Twilight Zone I had one of the more strange nights last night @ work. Not because I was working w/ Alzheimers/dementia patients, but because I wasn't. For almost the last month, I've been working on 100, the light care dementia hallway. People over there, for the most part, are just confused. There are some behaviors to deal with, but nothing too serious. There was one guy who was pretty combative I guess, & just generally a pain in the ass - but I found out last night he was sent to Mary Lanning, the crazy place in a different city (Hastings, I think, but I'm not sure) But last night, 1 of the Med Aides called in sick (I guess she's pregnant, which is news to me), so they had to do a huge reschedule to get another Med Aide to cover her hall. So, I got bumped over to 600, the heavy care hall on the cognizant (South) side. It felt like I was starting all over again - again. Thankfully, there weren't any new residents for me to learn how to take care of, but I practically had to re-learn with the old ones! There's a GI (gastro-intestinal) bug going around 100, which means cleaning up explosive diarrhea. Ugh. I told my charge nurse it was strange not having to clean that up at least once all night. So of course, 1 of the people I help get up in the morning was scheduled for a suppository. By the time I got in there, she was already having a BM, so I skipped the usual "dress her in bed" routine, & just whisked her right into the bathroom. I'd already changed her into clean underwear the last time I'd toileted her, & I didn't want to have to change them again! I actually like 600. It's my favorite hall, because it's split w/ another aide, so you've got help, & I only had to take care of 10 people. But, 1 of those is a guy who's had a tracheatomy (sp?), so he has to hold a finger over his throat to talk, & he's always coughing, & spitting crap out of his trach hole! It's very gross. Bleah. He wanted help last night, but his throat was getting dry, I think (if it gets too dry, the nurse has to pour packets of saline solution into his trach hole until it's moist again - another bleah), so it took me like, 3 minutes to figure out that he wanted a towel for the knee rest of the E-Z lift. He wasn't even whispering, just mouthing stuff, so I was trying to read his lips, & I thought he was saying 'down'. Lord, I felt so stupid when I figured it out. & if I'd worked on South more, I would have been used to his routine, & not have to play charades/the guessing game w/ him. Other than that, it wasn't that bad. Everyone kept calling, which was weird in itself. 100 people don't grasp the concept of "call light". So I wasn't used to my phone going off at all, unless another hall/the nurse called me, or if my phone picked up another hall's call. I looked @ the schedule when I went on break, & for tonight, my name was off to the side, on "stand-by". They already had enough people to schedule, so I didn't have anyplace to work. Yay! I asked my charge nurse about it, & she said, "Do NOT go by that. Just 'cause it says stand-by now, doesn't mean it won't change. Don't pull a Donna & just not come in because it says you're on stand-by." (Donna is a very old aide, that all of us make fun of constantly. She's so flighty & annoying, even though she doesn't try to be) So, if I'm not supposed to come in, they're gonna call me, I guess. I don't know when. If you're sick & can't work for the night, you're supposed to call in as early as possible, & definitely before 8pm (I learned this the hard way when I first started working). So, since they haven't called yet, I'm hoping they'll call sometime after 8. It'd be nice to have tonight off, since yesterday was supposed to be my night off. I was sick a couple weeks ago, so last night I had to make it up. So, that's that. In other news: I ordered Shoujo Beat! I'm excited, but a little apprehensive. What if it's a totally girly magazine (in the bad way), & I hate it? I just ordered a year's subscription! I asked my mom to make me an appointment to get my hair cut. I'm getting sick of this shaggy, '70's boys' cut thing going on. This wasn't the style I wanted when I had her chop it all off, but I think she was getting nervous about cutting so much off in the first place, so I didn't say anything. Okay, I used to have long hair. It was down to my shoulder blades. I like having long hair, that I can do all different stuff with. I'd french braid it, or put 2 french braids, down either side of my head; a cute Genie-style high ponytail; I have 1 of those Topsy-Tail things that I'd mess with all the time. But I started working, & was told if you had long hair, it had to be put up. So all I ever did was put it up in a bun, or possibly a ponytail. What's the point of having long hair, if you're never gonna do anything w/ it? Might as well have short hair that you don't have to put up all the time! So, spur of the moment w/ Kim, I went down to Cost Cutters & got it cut. The longest it is is in the back, & it just hits my back past my neck (& I got it cut around Thanksgiving, so it's grown some). The girl thought she'd cut about 5" off, so she actually measured it, & it was 7". !! Which was just what I wanted, but I can understand why she'd be nervous. It's not like you can stick it back on if I don't like the result. But now, the layers are bothering me. So, I'm gonna get it cut into a wedge in the back, so I don't have this shaggy crap on my neck all the time. I want it cut something like Aeon Flux (which is the only example I can think of, unfortunately). But I'm going to the Personal Touch, which is where I usually get my hair cut. But you pretty much have to have an appointment there (even though they say they take walk-ins, it doesn't usually work that way). So hopefully, by the time I go back to work on Monday, I'll have a spiffy new haircut! 6:00 p.m. - 2006-01-26 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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