The Final Countdown - Day 3 of 5

A quote by Emerson states: "To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is Wisdom."

As many of you know, I'm probably at my happiest when I'm traveling. Just the thought of that next voyage or road trip keeps my mind wandering to what next adventure am I going to have? Will I be going someplace familiar, or will I be going someplace new to explore?  Who will I meet along the way? What new places will I find to eat, and how many photos am I going to take? 

Alas, with the new travel restrictions, I really don't have a travel plan until I start working my new job somewhere in the Mid West. To be honest, I'm not quite sure where actually since licensing is up in the air. And, travel for work really isn't a journey. It's more like commuting. Don't get me wrong, I love to fly. I love to check out new places. But it loses some of its luster when it's for work, because, well, you're going to work. Still, I love to sit and people watch at the airport. I create scenarios for some of the people I see. Mostly I can't wait to get to the end of the trip just to be done with the getting there. Certainly not as exciting as heading out for vacation, but for the time being it will have to do.

Anyway, today was a crazy day. It's not like I saw a lot of patients because, even though there were a lot of patients, we can't bring people back to a room when there aren't any because the rooms are full of other people... 

 - people like my meth addict who came back again but this time stayed long enough for me to actually evaluate their wound, give them antibiotics and actually ask them to come back again so that we can try to get social work to help get them the resources they need to keep their foot from getting so infected it would have to be amputated.

 - people like my really bad pneumonia that had to be intubated. Once, again, please have the discussion with your family members about your final wishes. And, while I appreciated that they had a Living Will, it wasn't very clear about CPR versus no CPR, or being on a ventilator. Sure I can say I think it's possible they might come off the vent once the pneumonia is clear, but I can't guarantee it. I wasn't not hopeful for this patient, but I can't promise that they won't need to be on it long term. We'll see how they do.

 - people like my 60-something, meth'd up patient who dislocated their hip... again... somehow "in their sleep..." my back and hip are feeling the effects of yorking on that leg "Captain Morgan style" and getting it back into place. That actually was a "yeah for me" kind of moment because initially a colleague attempted to reduce it and didn't... and I did... yeah, that's right, I did it, 5ft 1in me who had to practically climb on the bed... pat on the back for me.

- people like the transfer from the smaller hospital that needed hemodialysis which they don't do in the smaller hospital, the three psych patients who are in the midst of their varied psychoses and either suicidal, severely depressed, or floridly psychotic... at least I was entertained by their Cardi B impression... they received a clap for that...

And, speaking of entertainment, we had two police take downs this morning. One was drunk and decided that they weren't going to cooperate with a legal blood draw. The second was another of our repeat customers who decided they were bored of sitting in the waiting room and did some kind of substance then proceeded to act crazily which then required three police officers to take them down and away to jail. Funny thing: this patient has a pretty serious heart infection from their IV drug use but keeps leaving the hospital to... shoot up drugs... then returns because somewhere in their brain they know they need IV antibiotics... but the last time they were successfully treated was while they were in jail because they actually got their full course of antibiotics. Fancy that.

- I had the usual chest pains, the falling down, the miscarriage, and, I'm sure a couple I'm forgetting... probably because my head is thinking I should be thinking about the Pacific Ocean and sipping a piña colada on the deck of a ship... 

But, for a while I'm not sure what I'll be imagining other than I've got two more shifts then six weeks to contemplate... and plan... because I never stop planning for that next big adventure...