Thank goodness. I’m relieved to be closing my first day back from a couple of weeks away from clinicals.
I’m so tired. I worked hard! Woke up at 4am. Quick shower. Quick breakfast. Hello to the kitties. Toothbrushing done and scrubs on. Out the door and car in reverse…realize my badge isn’t with me. Rush up to the door & unlock frantically, search in the places it SHOULD be, find it under the couch (thanks kitties!). Bust down the stairs and back to the car, hoping to reach the hospital before 530am.
Room setup is slow business for me. Despite how much I try to hurry, I always keep a steady pace. I think it’s my own way of preventing mishaps. I’d rather be slow than to mislabel something critical, like a paralytic labeled as an analgesic. That would be bad for my career.
Crap time with my first case. I was supposed to place a spinal, but since the surgeon forgot to order the antibiotic we couldn’t take the pt to the room till after our planned time, leading to a delayed start. The anesthesiologist quickly placed the block as I looked on. Ah well. Observation is still a learning experience.
Good intubation with the second case. Third case I chose the wrong blade because I was rushing, and though I could’ve landed the tube with a blade change, the -ologist wasn’t in the mood to wait on me. *sigh*
We finished early today. Noon. But they’re so slow to address our assignments each day. I waited around till 4pm to find out what cases I’d have tomorrow. Can you believe it? 4 hours of waiting. I could’ve had a nap. Or SOMETHING.
Now it’s bedtime so I will have some wits about myself tomorrow morning when I again fall out of bed at 4am and pry my eyes open long enough to drive to the hospital and make it to the coffee pot.
Such is the life of a student. Here’s hoping for a good Tuesday. 
