Long Day

Some days are just long days. Unfortunately, there are more and more days where we work shorthanded. People seem to be sicker every day, and to complicate the situation, more people seem to use the emergency room as their personal doctor’s office. Today was just one of those very long days. We see these days written in the body language of the doctors and nurses that are exiting the hospital. Head down, shoulders slumped, and exhaustion in their eyes. Today, I believe that I went through almost every emotion possible before I did the long walk to my truck with the day written all over my body.

Dread hit within minutes of clocking in and realizing that four of the nine nurses scheduled had called out with flu like symptoms. This means that not only will we be short today, but for at least a week.

Ah, shit hit after someone that had no real reason to, went asystole.

Anger spread when I hit the code button and no one responded because the secretary was bull shitting on the phone with her new boyfriend.

Sadness hit when a mother came running in with a 4 week old that was blue and lifeless.

Humor snuck in when I decided that it was the perfect time to payback a doctor for handing me a snake a few months ago. I slipped a glass eye into his coffee, what a shriek he made, as he went to sip and realized something was looking back at him. Revenge is great.

Homicidal thoughts kicked in when a patient had the balls to say, “I am going to just stand here and cough in your face so you get the flu, unless you get the doctor in here right now.”

Embarrassment struck when I realized that I had a handprint on my butt from the powered later gloves. (The handprint was my own, for the record)
Gratefulness hit around 1500 when one of my doctors thought to bring me some food because I had not eaten yet.

Relief and accomplishment kicked in when I got a tube a tough patient.

Joy finally kicked in when I saw my relief come walking through the EMS doors.

Basically.... It was a long day, but for all of the crap, I still enjoyed it. I am just feeling a little exhausted and beaten down right now.