time off

i have almost completed a week off from work, i have a refreshing 2 weeks off between jobs and it has been great so far.

plans for the first week - nothing. no schedule, no alarm clock, no responsiblities..except the ones i choose to do.

i feel quite calm, serene. i sleep in until my inner clock wakes me up and then i enjoy breakfast and a cup of joe in my PJs as i watch re-runs of my favorie t.v. show or finish reading a book.

sometimes going "somewhere" on vacation, isn't really taking one. it is packing, traveling, arriving, checking in, any mabye still getting phones calls from a co-worker asking just one teensy question.

not having a job right now, allows me to disconnect completly except for those i wish to see.

next weeks plan: go meet my friend for lunch, check out the new gelato place, go to the body works musuem, finish reading my latest book and maybe check out some more golden girl re-runs.

i feel like i could take 2 months of and do nothingness, but for now i will take 2 weeks.

quote

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.

-- Source unknown

changes

i'm in the wake of another change. work life this time. it will change the time i wake up in the morning, people that i will share a cup of coffee with while chatting over family life. it will change the type of patients i see and talk to. it will change my boss, my clothes and when i get to eat and pee.

i feel good about it though. for the longest time i thought i was done. done with nursing. done with the orders, the nausea the blood counts. so i changed then. i sat at a desk for 3+ years. i emailed and had conversations over the phone with patients. occasionally i would see them and do a little one on one teaching. this is what i needed though. this is what i craved. i needed from the intesity, a distance to let the acute care sizzle on my nervous system fade away.

but now i crave the change again. not acute care, but outpatient and for some reason it feels like the next door to walk through. i need the solitude before starting the new job too. a couple of weeks with no pager, no responsiblities and waking up at my leisure.

change is good. moves things, shakes things up and get things moving. whether good or bad, i am willing to face the consequences.


and on a seperate note - i have noticed that when i made the decision out loud that i was making a change in jobs...this brings forth everyone who wants to tell you their opinion of why that job might be good or bad for you. OR even why that job would be good or bad for them. wtf. can't anyone just say "good luck and best wishes" anymore? let me just say now. i didn't ask for anyone's opinions. which is why i make my own chocies that affect only me.

call out already! (and leave the details out...)

i don't know if it comes with being a nurse but when sick calls are phoned in, it is almost like being a phone triage RN, for your co-workers.

i ask you this...what is wrong with calling in and saying:
"i have the stomach flu"
"i have been sick all night"
"i can't shake a fever"
"i caught the latest bug"
"i have a cold and no energy"

any of these would do. i don't know why, maybe it is a guilt thing...maybe it is too much medical knowledge and you feel the need to prove your illness when you call out sick - but here is what i most hear: (please be advised gruesome details are coming..)

"i have had diarrhea the since 2am and i have been going every 30 minutes, i can't come into work today"

"i have been vomiting since dinner last night, i didn't even digest my food..it just came back up whole! i must of eaten something bad, but i can't come into work today"

"omg, it smells like i have ecoli and i ate some spinach and think i have ecol!, but i don't see any blood in my diarrhea but i am going to stay home today just in case"

"i have the worst fever, i sweated through 3 sets of bedsheets last night and had to take 2 showers already, so i am not coming in today"

UGH!!! i know i am a nurse and used to hearing these sorts of things. but damn! just say you are sick (even if it is mental health...hey i hear you! - but even a fake illness is fine to say "i am sick and can't come in")


And let me just add a side note hear to those "heroes" that come into work sick. you aren't a hero. you are infectious and not impressing anyone. stop being a Martyr and telling everyone how sick you are...but you just couldn't leave us with your work - so you are here even though you should be in bed!! this is why they give plenty of sick days. take one. leave out the details. take care of yourself and get well and then come back to work and tell us an amusing story!


thank you for listening