One last (horrible) day
Yesterday was my last day at work. I cried 3 times. No it wasn't of sadness that I'm leaving the friends I have made during my 2 years as a part of Team Tele. It was because the jungle got to me again. I wasn't spared, in fact I think that I had the worst day ever last night. Come to think of it, it had been bad for me all week long, as if the jungle was making me pay for leaving it. I kept telling myself "last day, Mikee, last day", but it did not provide any comfort at all, it couldn't.
I knew I should have called in. I have planned to call in ever since the schedule came out. I had a change of heart at the very last minute and I regretted it from the very moment I got report. My first patient call, my first task of the day, even before I can do vitals or assessment, was for assistance to the commode. That signaled the start to my horrible, horrible day.
After I got my 3rd phone call at about 0830, that was the first time I cried. At that point I still have not done anything but answer phone calls and cleaning the bedside commode. By the time my day ended at 7pm, I have cleaned the commode a total of 19 times, called the doctors and ancillary staff about 15 times, noted off a total of 7 pages of orders for 3 patients as my admission (transfer actually) did not have any new orders. Oh wait, I actually had to message dietary for her because she does not eat beef and cannot tolerate milk. And the tray that I had to pick up from ICU because it was delivered there after she got transfered? It had beef and milk. Surprise, surprise. I managed to squeeze in one bed bath before my transfer came down.
I was terribly worried about one patient who may be having pulmonary embolism. That would have been the icing on the cake, or rather the salt to the wound if she suddenly crashed because I have overlooked the signs or denied it and wanted to believe it was a rib fracture instead. I sincerely did not think it was PE but sometimes it's best to rule out the worst than find out when it was too late. I had to do her dressing change after I've already given report to the next shift. It was a good thing that she did not want to be moved because of her pain, I had an excuse not to do it when it was due, at 9 in the morning! So 10 hours after it was due, I finally got to it.
I had to stay an hour and a half more for my charting of course. This was the latest I've ever left since I moved to Tele. Yeah, it was that bad.
And the worst of all, I was so tired and sick of the floor by the end of the day that it overshadowed my desire to linger and bid everyone a proper goodbye. I brought my camera but did not get any opportunity to take photos. I meant to be all smiles but I don't think I ever managed to even do that the whole day. Except when with a patient. You can't not smile when you're with a patient! We even forgot about the pizza we were going to order. No wait, we did not forget, we deliberately pushed it aside. It was at the bottom of our list for the day. And we never got there.
I will surely miss the people at 6S, but no, I won't miss the floor!
I knew I should have called in. I have planned to call in ever since the schedule came out. I had a change of heart at the very last minute and I regretted it from the very moment I got report. My first patient call, my first task of the day, even before I can do vitals or assessment, was for assistance to the commode. That signaled the start to my horrible, horrible day.
After I got my 3rd phone call at about 0830, that was the first time I cried. At that point I still have not done anything but answer phone calls and cleaning the bedside commode. By the time my day ended at 7pm, I have cleaned the commode a total of 19 times, called the doctors and ancillary staff about 15 times, noted off a total of 7 pages of orders for 3 patients as my admission (transfer actually) did not have any new orders. Oh wait, I actually had to message dietary for her because she does not eat beef and cannot tolerate milk. And the tray that I had to pick up from ICU because it was delivered there after she got transfered? It had beef and milk. Surprise, surprise. I managed to squeeze in one bed bath before my transfer came down.
I was terribly worried about one patient who may be having pulmonary embolism. That would have been the icing on the cake, or rather the salt to the wound if she suddenly crashed because I have overlooked the signs or denied it and wanted to believe it was a rib fracture instead. I sincerely did not think it was PE but sometimes it's best to rule out the worst than find out when it was too late. I had to do her dressing change after I've already given report to the next shift. It was a good thing that she did not want to be moved because of her pain, I had an excuse not to do it when it was due, at 9 in the morning! So 10 hours after it was due, I finally got to it.
I had to stay an hour and a half more for my charting of course. This was the latest I've ever left since I moved to Tele. Yeah, it was that bad.
And the worst of all, I was so tired and sick of the floor by the end of the day that it overshadowed my desire to linger and bid everyone a proper goodbye. I brought my camera but did not get any opportunity to take photos. I meant to be all smiles but I don't think I ever managed to even do that the whole day. Except when with a patient. You can't not smile when you're with a patient! We even forgot about the pizza we were going to order. No wait, we did not forget, we deliberately pushed it aside. It was at the bottom of our list for the day. And we never got there.
I will surely miss the people at 6S, but no, I won't miss the floor!
