My Last 8 Hours

At work.

I'd just like to share them, since not everyone has the chance to know what my job entails. It's pretty nifty. Just like the word nifty.

I got to work at 0940 because it takes me about 15 minutes to walk the few blocks to work, about 15 minutes to change (especially since I'm wearing a tendonitis ankle brace, yay I don't have to wear it anymore as of today!), and about 15 minutes to sit and relax in the break room, perhaps eat a snacky snack and drink some water (the last you'll have today, potentially).

I have to go to my locker and get old scrubs to return because I have no credits in the scrub machine (it controls my life). It's kind of silly, we "rented" 3 pairs at the beginning of the residency and 3 is all you'll ever have.

Once changed, brace and compression stockings on, I sit in the break room with water (having eaten breakfast while getting ready because I was THAT hungry this morning), connecting to the wifi to look up my internet games (because instagram, for all I love in it, is just a game), and chatting with whomever is in the break room and doesn't understand that when the phone is out, I am already entertained.

At 1039 I clock in. Now the fun begins. It's not so much fun as it is harsh reality, but I lie to myself a lot as an adult (as I lied to myself through college to get to real life, and high school to get to college). Life is actually pretty fun if you live through each moment thinking "in just 8 more hours I get to sleep," "in just 4 more hours I get to sleep," "I should really work out, in 3 more hours I get to run," and ect. You'd be surprised at the amount of things I don't get done during the work day, one of them is sleeping. Working out, however, is really an all-day adventure in the OR world.

So I see my assignment. Yay! Unfortunately (or fortunately) today, I get to play ortho circulator. Which is not so fun (less break time and earlier lunch = I'm hungry and need to pee by 3) but really fun because I don't have to give anyone lunch. Which I'm always ecstatic about.

Anyways. Go to the room, they're finishing up, and our next patient (now to be referred to as "pt") is gonna make life complicated, but I have a STUDENT. Not only a student, but one who should have graduated last week. So what. Ever. She gets to do the work today.

Now, I said the next pt is complicated, but that's not her fault. That's just us, as healthcare professionals, trying to do the best thing for her in this difficult time in her life. So, without HIPPA violations galore, I set to work making the room acceptable for fluoroscopy and pregnancy. Talk about a great time.

And we get to work. Case is done. Next please! Jk you get lunch now, an hour and a half after you starting working your 8 hour shift. Great. Let's go. You have 30 minutes to make it downstairs, buy lunch, make it back upstairs, get a seat, scarf it down, drink some water, and pee break. If you're lucky look at your phone. If you're lucky chat with some coworker you haven't seen in ages.

Great. Time to get the next pt. But whoops jk her paperwork isn't in order. Which is always fun. It's always fun for me to rely on other people to do my job because when I don't do my job correctly I get to answer the horrid question of "why are we late"? I hate that question. But it's what the OR revolves around. Seriously. Time is money. Money is everything.

So anyways. Set up for the next case. Try to tell charge nurse most likely won't be done by 3, which can cause an awkward shift where I'm supposed to be in another room at 3. So that sucks for whoever I'm relieving, but what can I do if my pt is still in my charge? Not my problem, this current pt is my problem. Let her yell at me. Fine.

Moving on. Bring pt to recovery (now referred to as "PACU") after 3. What? You say there's no cases yet? Perfect. I'll do health stream. Thanks very much.

5 pm relief. My RN tells me I have 6 minutes to get a pt I know nothing about into the room before I'm late and I'll have to answer the dreaded question yet again. Oh thanks for setting up the room, maybe you could've gotten the pt.

Get in the room. My pt is an absolute doll who makes this fast case acceptable. Ortho surgeons are absolutely favorite people to work with. Ortho surgeons comments on my "arm rubbing" technique. Jokingly reaches out his arm, whatever I'll rub that too. But are you going to sleep for a potentially long time? With a horrible wake up? With horrible pain before and after? Yes, if you're my pt I will unapologetically give you all my time and love for those (in my opinion) awful moments. I love pseudo-babies.

Wake up, bring pt to PACU, see that another RN has not had lunch. But she's in the most confusing type of case. But she needs lunch. Walk in with 10 pounds of lead on my body to protect myself and my privates from cancer. You know, X-ray cancer.

Get report, get a mountain of supplies that need to be entered in the chart, send her on her way. Now the real fun begins. But it's actually pretty awesome because the scrub is a scrub who is a good scrub. She knows this service inside and out. She's working overtime because she knows the service so well. And no one else does. Audibly hear her sigh when I question her motives. Whoops. But still, you make my life so much easier. Thank you.

But it's also good because I have one extra person in the room who knows exactly what every single wire, sheath, balloon and stent is in this closet. I will never fear when he is near me. Open things, chart things, learn new things because of man. 30 minutes go by and it's all good.

Clear out of the chart and the room. Proceed to make quiet exit because I ain't trying to play. Go home. Syke! I decide to drive 30 minutes east to see my parents since I won't see them until Sunday. Go figure, I'm also a home-buddy and I miss my parents daily.

Rip my mother off her computer and take her to the gym, 14 minute run with 169 pounds on the leg press and some incline and I'm DONE. So tired. Eat everything they have in the house with a certain rose wine (aka white ziph which I have heard is not considered wine even though it comes in a wine bottle). Grab some gas and get home. Start up my laundry and pass out before moving it to the dryer. Whoops, there goes free electricity between 2200-0600.

Pass out while texting my boyfriend good night. But thankfully I brushed my teeth this time. True adult status right there.



And that, while not truly typical, is pretty close to the daily life of me.