Nurse on the Run

working the weekend

Ah, back to blogging after the weekend!  This was my weekend to work, so I spent my days at the hospital.  Saturday was actually a surprisingly low-key day…my patients were pretty settled and non-demanding, so I was kind of bored!  I helped the other nurses and cleaned up around the floor and stuff, trying to keep myself busy.  While it was better than running my butt off, the evening did kind of drag along.  Please note:  I am NOT complaining.

Sunday, while busier than Saturday, wasn’t too bad overall.  When I walked in, the other nurses said, “Run.  In the other direction.  As fast as you can.”  I love walking into days like that!  However, the shifts can change very quickly, and I had a pretty good night.  Highlights include:

• Singing Christmas carols with my hospice patient. I even danced a little. He was amused.
• My patient who used to be in the Navy (way back in the day) was upset that he kept getting tea for dinner.  He wrote on his menu (in very large letters, mind you), “Navy men drink coffee!! Who drinks tea?  I DON’T.”  I should have saved the menu, it was way too funny.

Overall I had a good night…caught some funny orders and was confident in telling a patient that what was going on with her was normal.  I used to run to another nurse for a second opinion (and still would if I wasn’t sure), but I’m becoming more confident in my clinical judgment and thought processes, which I think is a big step in the right direction for me.  I feel much better about all of this than I did even a month ago, so yay for that.  A few more days until the seven month mark…woo!

S^2 REUNION!!!

Saturday was also fantastic because my college roommate came to visit me for breakfast!  Her boyfriend was doing something in Philly so she drove out to meet me.  I was late at work on Friday, so I was hoping to be cancelled on Saturday because they were going out in Philly, but no such luck.  We found ONE open place for breakfast,and while it wasn’t gourmet, it was cheap and the company couldn’t be beat.  When we got back, we just laid on my bed and chatted, which is JUST LIKE old times.  If we were in our own rooms in college, she’d be like “bed talk?” and then she’d come lay on my bed and we’d talk about whatever drama was going on.  I miss those days!  Anyway, it was super fun to see her and I miss having friends like that.

runningggg

So I definitely meant to take Friday and Saturday off…Friday was the day I went to visit a local clinic to see about volunteering as a nurse there (mainly to prove to myself that I don’t hate nursing, I just hate where I work), so that was in the morning and very exciting.  I need to do my background check so I can get started soon!  Needless to say, I didn’t run since that took up my morning!  Saturday was filled with roomie-ness, so I passed up my run.  Sunday…well…I tried to drag myself out of bed, heard that it was pouring (and cold!), couldn’t get myself out of bed, woke up at 11, it was still pouring…didn’t run.  Oops?

Anyway, today was my day off, so I knew I was going to get a run in.  I meant to get up early and make the most of my day off, but I can be quite the bum and woke up at 11.  OOPS.  I was out the door by 11:20 and conned myself into running eight miles.  Now, if you’ve been following me, you would note that I haven’t been running all that much.  I’m still in the mindset of “I just ran a marathon, I can run far!”  Well, that marathon was three weeks ago and I’ve done very little running in the past two weeks.  My eight miles actually went fine, outside of some random side stitches (I need to drink more water…), but later in the day my legs definitely felt fatigued.  Marathon training should be starting soon (yikes!), so hopefully I’ll bounce back quickly!

Monday, December 14
8.06 miles in 1:04:48, avg pace of 8:02

I should have run 8.02 miles with average pace of 8:02…that would have been much cooler for the number nerd in me.

Alright, time to work on some Christmas cards and maybe watch a Christmas movie…we shall see!