Back to work

Thankful as I am for my terrific vacations this summer, there is something almost comforting about getting back into the swing of things with my work. Yesterday I started another season of clinicals, teaching in the familiar place I fondly refer to as my "day job." It is easy for my co-workers to tell when I am there in another role; not only do I wear a different name tag and dress better, but I have a gaggle of green and white clad student nurses hovering around me. Yesterday they oriented to the unit, got their patient assignments, talked with their patients, and listened to me. Today they attended groups and classes and talked with patients and listened to me more. (I always think I share too many stories with them.) In the morning while the students were occupied, I had a chance to go to Employee Health to get my annual PPD test. The nurse also checked my record and said it had been ten years since I had a tetanus shot, did I want one. "I'll give you the one with the pertussis." Eventually I gave in to her convincing argument of how I could carry of this dreaded disease to little children if I were not immunized. Now I have a sore arm to prove my dedication. My students this week are nice young women who are either interested, polite, or both, but student nurses are always glad to leave no matter how polite they are. After I set them free at four, I walked over to the Emergency Room, which is in the basement of the hospital, to finish a twelve hour shift for another nurse who needed to leave early. I had been there about thirty minutes when we heard the announcement "Code 5, blah,blah,blah" over and over. Wasn't that the code for tornadoes? Would I get crushed by the nine floors on top of me or was I in a safe place? I needed some chocolate. Too bad for some folks at Clemson but the hospital was spared the twister. I finished my time in the small section of the ER that holds difficult "behavioral" patients and headed home in a beautiful and drenching, welcome but slick rain. I found two brownies left from a batch I made earlier in the week. Not the finest chocolate but satisfying. Just like my work.