Well, I survived my first 12-hour shift! It was very long, because it was at night, and not very many doctors are awake and ordering blood tests around midnight. Even the ER was pretty tame last night. The only interesting things going on turned out to be much less than what I expected them to be. Gun shot wounds are a little exciting, though.

I started getting a little sluggish around 11 p.m., and I felt like I was dragging until I had my one cup of coffee. Then I "perked" up a little, and things got moving around 3:30 a.m., when we started the morning rounds in ICU.

A word to the wise: If your spouse is in ICU and needs a blood draw, it does NOT make it any less painful or difficult for the patient if you hover over the phleb asking, "DidyougetitDidyougetitDidyougetitDidyougetitDidyougetit?"

I'm pretty happy though. I only had to pass off one patient (Mrs. Didyougetit's husband). The last couple of morning runs I did on day shift, I had to pass off two patients. So I'm improving. I have a feeling it's going to be a constant process.

Anyhow, I came home from work, and fell asleep in my chair while my pot pie was baking. Fortunately, I didn't preheat the oven, I was only asleep for an hour, and it's pretty hard to kill a pot pie. After I scorched my mouth wolfing down my food, I went to bed and crashed. I slept pretty good, and didn't wake up until I smelled the soap from Corey's shower.

I returned Carmen's call from earlier today. She got a job at the hospital in BHC (about 45 minutes drive away from here)! Her mom works in the same area, so she's going to carpool with her. I'm really happy for her - she was starting to feel very discouraged about finding work. The hospital she's going to work for pays quite a bit better than ours. They start at more than $1/hour than we do, plus they have a better shift differential, by 75�/hour. Plus, she only has to do venous/capillary draws - no arterial. I'm almost jealous, except for the commute. Mostly though, I'm just really tickled for her.

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I swear I'm trying not to let it get to me, but I'm getting a really nasty case of "What the Fuck?" I'm starting to feel some burn, and I'm finding it irritating and frustrating. Christine is once again in the phase of making me put forth all the effort for our friendship (at least that's how it feels). Alex Da Girl is still with that stupid fuckwad that ripped off his family and screwed up her account. The same guy that calls every 20 seconds if she's not home by precisely 12:30. I really despise him. Anyway. BBQ time. Huzzah.

the last trail...the next path