Going From the Inbetween to the New Normal

It is the halfway point! I am three weeks into orientation and three weeks away from dealing with patients, families, doctors, and the regular shit storms that follow on my own. I think I can handle the patients and the families but the doctors have become probably the most "delicate" group to work with in the list. I think that they will be the most challenging to deal with because even if you have all the information, a pretty sizable portion of them have no problem ripping a nurse a new orifice because they have to call them to clarify an order that makes no sense or is dangerous for the patient. The floor is busy I think just about everyday I have had a person (if not more than one) make the day a complete bubble of insanity. I have been lucky because my preceptor is amazing and does not get mad and yell at me when I tell her I don't know this step or this is as far as I can take this because I do not know where to go from here. She uses it as a teaching moment and then we work through it together.

There have been perks to this new job. I finally have a paycheck in which my life can be comfortably lived. I am no longer working two jobs or one job to the bones of my fingers just to be able to go to the grocery store and put gas in my car. Now, don't get me wrong, my job is crazy busy and I don't think a nurse ever really just gets to stand around or even sit for more than a few seconds without something popping up. Everything is earned.

On a funnier note, I decided to get a new phone. I am way over due for one and I can afford it. I went to just shop around because there was one that I had my eye on. While I was looking through my options at the store, I some how managed to, while bringing my arm down to my side, drop/launch my phone on to the platform of the wall display. I managed to shatter my current phone into three pieces, plus the battery. The sales person then stated, "I think you maybe one of those people that require an otterbox so that your phone survives more than an hour...." I really did not take offense to that because it seemed to be true at that moment. It is a good thing that I decided to get a new phone because when he tried to transfer my contacts it wouldn't work. It seems that I managed to damage the data/charging port of my phone in the drop/launch.

The apartment is lovely!!! I still am spreading out way too much, lol! I am not sure how he puts up with it because I can safely say I have decorated the living room with all of the things I use on a regular basis this weekend. I have to make sure to clean it all up.

The wedding planning is going well. The printer and I have set a plan to have a final invitation printed and packaged for purchase by November 20th. If we have them this early it will be easier in the future. He has been slightly freaking out because he was thinking that the big stuff was going to be the issues but he is now more worried about the millions of little things that are involved in the planning. It is good that we are a head of schedule so we will get to the small nitty gritty things faster then we need to but they will be a lot of things that if they are left until the last second they will be forgotten.

The beginning

It has started. I am three (?) weeks into a 6 week orientation phase and I feel that it is so far so good. I am getting used to the unit and increasing my patient load one week at a time. Yesterday, I started my week of three patients per shift. This new number might take the whole week to get used to. I felt good about the situation and I felt like I did what I was supposed to do but I had a BUSY assignment. It was one of those shifts where it takes you over twenty minuets to get out of a room, and it has nothing to do with the tasks that need to be preformed. I did however have my first (current) taste of overtly aggressive people. I have had this happen before but this was the worst ever and I actually started walking out of the room when this would happen. It may not be the best way to handle things but it was better than yelling.

My preceptor is pretty nice. She is really laid back but we have a meeting at the start of shift, our breaks and at the end of the night. This gives us time to catch up and get on the same page. So far, she said that I am doing great but that it will be easier to judge what I need to work on/improve when my patient load gets higher. I can understand that. I know that I told her last night that I was feeling a little frazzled because of the assignment but I knew that I needed to be introduced to it sooner rather than later. I really appreciated that she did this on a weekend because it was not as busy. She does things that makes sense I can agree with that. 

Getting back on track at the gym has been rough. My schedule rotates days and nights so it is kind of rough to get my body back into the swing of things or into a swing that I can keep up. Since it rotates, I don't have certain days off every week and I do not get the same shifts every week. Making a schedule and sticking to it is a little hard. I am still only able to walk on a flat treadmill which is the worst workout ever. I need to find a way to spice it up. Some weight training would be good but every time I am done one the treadmill I just want to shower and leave, no matter how pathetic the workout was. The gym is just set up so weird. When I was running outside I would come in and to arms and abs no problem. When I finally get cleared to run outside again, I am going to have to invest in some cold gear just to get in a good run. I will still use the gym for weights but the cardio outdoors seems to suit me better.

I still wonder if I made the right job decision... I don't think I will ever know but I have to go through all the steps to find out.