I’m writing from my repaired macbook! When I got the message after work that it was ready for pick-up I went straightway across town to Park Meadows to pick it up from the Apple store. They cleaned up the screen and gave me a new keyboard and frame too, so it’s quite pretty. I’ve resolved to limit my eating and surfing to a minimum and to be more careful. I really really love this thing.

What a day of work it was! One nurse didn’t hear his alarm and didn’t leave his house until 6 am, his house which is in Conifer! The other nurse called in sick. So it was up to the remaining nurse and me, still in training, to get the day going. Ay yi yi. Crazy crazy. We got enough staff by mid-day but I don’t think I sat down all shift. I was only supposed to be there until 1 pm but I stayed on to help out a bit. The last patient I was working on pissed me off. She’s one of the type who won’t hold her own access to clot, so I have to stand there holding her puncture sites with gauze for 10-15 minutes while I could be doing other things. During this she inquired in broken English where her lunch was. What? Lady, you refused to eat your breakfast tray, which is sitting there cold. You know you’re about to leave dialysis for a floor bed, why are you asking me about lunch?? I told her no, I didn’t have lunch for her, and she rolled her eyes and sighed like I had caused her the greatest grief imaginable. We have a few patients like this. It’s a real challenge for me. I’m ALWAYS nice to them, don’t get me wrong. But inside it steams me to know that they come here for FREE life-saving treatment, don’t take care of themselves by following our advice on diet, exercise, and treatment regimen (this particular patient always comes in too far gone, she should come to us a day earlier), and don’t even do the little things like holding their access which would save us a TON of time. Then they get pissy about my not putting their feet up fast enough, or not having a lunch that they like, or not have three blankets. I don’t know what it would be like to be in their shoes, but I like to think that I would act a tad more polite and grateful.

Whoa, got a bit ranty there, didn’t I? Sorry about that. Really, I love my job. It’s been a long week.

Right now I’m having a power lunch of coke zero, cheddar baked lays, and a snickers. I have to put together a short lesson for the Young Women tonight at mutual. Tomorrow I have to attend CPR class because my CPR card doesn’t specify “Healthcare Provider” on it. Grr. I just certified last summer and attended two CPR courses during my school nursing rotation. I’m really looking forward to that massage Friday night.