Overstaffed, under-wanted

OK, work today. Very sick kid, not getting better, not responding, still vented. Busy, Busy Busy. It takes two people to turn him in the bed, one to watch the ET tube, one to do the turning. And, he can't take it. He's too fragile to turn, can't keep his oxygen sats up, has to go back onto his back. Where he will probably get a bedsore, but there's not a whole lot to do about it. And so, I'm busting ass, all day, with this patient and another one, and we get an extra nurse at 11. Aha- I think, I'll give the second, less sick kid to the extra nurse, and then when the sick kid goes to CT, for a scan, I can go with the transport nurse and RT, and Doc, and it will all go well. I mean, I'm suctioning his airway, giving his meds- at least two an hour, blood gases to see if the ventilator is adequately oxygenating him, the works. He keeps waking up and fighting, and I hate that. It must be so damn scary for him.

An hour after the other nurse takes my patient, The charge nurse- who has not offered me one break, one chance to sit down, one chance to go pee- the charge nurse tells me to take the other patient back, the assignment is too cushy and a nurse needs to go home or go to staffing to do paperwork. Yeah. And, since it was my great idea, I need to be the one to go home, unless, like an idiot, I want to walk back into the not so sick patient room and explain that yes, I will be their nurse again, for an hour, and then they'll have the other one back- it just seems too damn disruptive.

At the last moment, before I punch out, I have an idea. I go eat lunch. Then I punch out.

Knitting: Turkish sock number two, not matching. More of a life partner kind of thing. And, a nice sweater made of Cascades Eco wool, of which there is only an inch or so.