a good night's sleep

a 12.5 hour day is always long. when it's a busy day, 12.5 hours of busy-ness is exhausting. and when it is slow, 12.5 hours of watching the clock tick is agonizing. a good night's sleep can make all the difference. so imagine, work on very little sleep can be quite miserable! last night, i got less than 5.5 hours of sleep. but when the reason for insomnia is fun and exciting, 12.5 hours isn't so bad. i had a date last night with a boy and without spilling any details (of which none are THAT juicy), it was a very nice evening.

today was unusual though... i must say. at times it was slow, but never too dull. i had two non-transplant patients. the first patient had prostate cancer and had been admitted for sepsis (a systemic blood infection); he was to be discharged with a foley catheter and required teaching. the second was a substance abuse user post liver resection and hernia repair with severe abdominal pain, distention, and constipation. despite my disinterest in either gentleman, somehow, i found my way into both men's nether regions. not my idea of fun at work.

let's suffice it to say i had to change a foley catheter (and for those of you that don't know what that is - imagine a tube in a man's most private of parts, used to drain urine, and stabilized by a balloon inflated in the bladder - ow!) and give a suppository (you do know what this is, right? a wax bullet shoved into the other most private of parts with plenty of lubricant).

my job is so strange! i never cease to be amused by nursing tasks... thankfully these two chores did not require much concentration, just professionalism and humility (which i can fake on 5.5 hours of sleep).