Low Census in the Twilight Zone

With that URI (upper respiratory infection... aka "crud") that I fell victim to at the end of last month I ended up missing two weeks of work. (In nurses' terms that means 6 days, whereas to most people it would mean 14.) Anyway, the last day that I worked before I got sick I was sent home early due to a low census on our unit. I love it when that happens.

Then I got sick.

I hate it when that happens.

Then yesterday, on what would have been my first regularly scheduled day back to work, the phone rang at 05:30 and they placed me on call due to a low census again. I was never called in, so effectively I got the day off.

I love it when that happens.

(Either everybody is uncharacteristically healthy on my side of town or they can't afford to be sick in this economy. I'll let you guess which one it might be.)

Then this morning I went in to find more than half of our beds were empty and by lunch that number had dropped even further. I was sent home (after volunteering with much enthusiasm) at 2 PM.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I haven't put in a full day of work since... like... 9/13. That's pathetic. I'm getting spoiled.

I may just have to put in a real, full day's work tomorrow.

Yuck.

I hope not.

When the census isn't low my work weeks are generally jammed into 3 - 12 hour shifts which generally turn into 13 hours and which generally fall on the weekends. It's still dark outside and there is very little traffic when I am driving in to work in the mornings.

13 hours of temperatures, blood pressures, antibiotics, MRIs, EKGs, xrays of this, xrays of that, "Grandma doesn't like vanilla," and "Grandpa says he has chest pain" later and my day is done. Hopefully a little progress has been made or at least no ground has been lost... although that can't always be the case.

Then I'm in my car buckling in for the trip home and trying to forget about it all... to leave it right where I found it. (Except on those rare days that have been intellectually or spiritually enlightening or when someone has given me the warm and fuzzies and I actually want to remember... Those days are few and far between.) It's dusk. Street lights are popping on in the parking lot.

It's dark when I go in and it's dark when I come out. Sometimes that gives me a funny feeling... as though the day never really happened and I've been lost in the Twilight Zone.

Hmm...

Now I'm sitting here thinking of this Drew Cary quote from his old show: "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."

Don't get me wrong, I don't really hate my job. It's just been one of those... decades. I started to say days, then months, but neither quite covered it.

Here is another quote of Cary's I found when I was making sure I got the first one right: "I have a position of indirect respect and oblique power."

Yep. I can pretty much relate to that one, too.