SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
So we fired up the bike and left for work early this morning. (Earlier than usual.) The weather was great and the traffic just not there. We left early because I needed gas in the bike. It was almost time to hit reserve. We head out and start passing closed gas stations. The first two didn't bother me, they are usually closed on Sunday Morning. The next two did bother me some as they are usually open. After the fifth closed station I was starting to get irritated, and then the bikes engine faltered.
I knew what this was a sign of and reaching down I shifted the gas to reserve. The engine smoothed out again and we were off. Needless to say I was grumbling a bit by the time we got to work.
Once in work I stored my gear and got ready for my shift. It was then I found out I was running solo with 27 patients, while the R.N.'s were running short handed. Oh this was going to be ever so much fun. The three Aides from the overnight had either already left or were sitting at the Nursing Station playing on the computers. I grabbed what I needed and started working. First Rounds are where I check the patients Vitals and generaly make sure they are still breathing.
During this round I found none of the Catheters had been emptied, nor had the commodes. None of the Vitals had been done and several of the patients were laying in their own waste. I was hustling like a mother to get these patients taken care of and get the Vitals done. (Yes the R.N.'s did try to help but they were overloaded as well.)
I got first round done and started in on my Total Care Patients. This took a while as there were more than a couple of them. By 1100 I had them taken care of and started in on the Assist Patients. I got to listen to their comments and complaints about the slow care they were receiving, as well as the complaints from their family members about how they weren't receiving the care they need.
At 1200 I had to stop care and do another round of Vital Signs as well as do the Blood Sugar Checks. Lunch comes and I help set up the patients for their meal. I start in on feeding those who need help. I'm hurrying but I'm getting the people cared for.
1300 I get back to caring for the patients and hustle through the partials then through the self cares. At 1400 the boss shows up to do some paperwork. She starts in with her B.S. by telling me I was running to far behind in my patients care. She steps in and does the last bed then starts telling me how when she was an Aide they often had 20 patients and were happy to have a day that easy. I kept my mouth shut even as she called down to the E.R. and had them dump some more patients on us. (NOw remember we started with 21 patients, 14 of which were total care and 16 of which were Chemo Patients. We had myself and 4 R.N.'s.)
Before long we had picked up another 10 patients. Three of which were Psych, another 3 of which were total care. These 6 had to be cleaned up and settled in.) The boss isn't happy at the slowness of the care and jumps on my case again. Once again she states how it was when she was an Aide. Again I ignored her but one of the R.N.'s didn't. (She informed the boss that she was an Aide at the same time as my boss and they didn't usually have that patient load. Nor did they do half of what we do. She also commented that the baths my boss described would get the Aides fired today.) The boss wasn't happy about this.
At 1700 things are calming down a bit, I get a chance to catch up on some paperwork and the boss sees me doing this as she packs up to leave. She jumps on my case, if I have time to be sitting at the desk doing nothing then I have time to stock Linen Carts and rooms. She then informs me that because the night shift only has 2 Aides I am now expected to do another round of Vital Signs for the night shift. She then pops into several rooms and checks on the status of the Catheters and Coomodes in those rooms before blasting me because she found one used Commode that hadn't been emptied right away. I didn't say anything, I just went in and emptied the Commode and started in on the Vital Signs run.
Several of the R.N.'s saw me doing this and asked me why I was doing the Vital Signs so I told them. They started in and did the vital signs while informing me they had seen what I had dealt with when I hit the floor in the morning. Every one of them had written a complaint about the Catheters and Commodes not having been emptied. They said they were also commenting on the fact that the Aides had either left early or were sitting around playing when I came in. They also said that they were passing this along to the overnight R.N.'s so they could watch and comment. (The R.N.'s are getting tires of watching me get screwed constantly.)
I thanked them and went back to work. I know what the results of their efforts will be.
Finally at 2000 I punch out. My wife has been waiting patiently for me to finish up so we can leave. Out to the garage and we gear up and climb on the bike to head off. I'm still in Reserve so we hit the first Gas Station we see. $10.00 later I switch the tank to run and reset the trip odometer. (No gas gauge) We rumble off and head for home. After a couple of miles traffic jams up. We're in stop and go and the temps are high with even higher humidity. I'm wearing my scrubs with a denim jacket and a leather vest over them. My wife is wearing her scrubs with a leather jackets. Both of us are wearing our helmets and gloves.
Stop and go traffic on a bike is no fun. You feel the heat off the engine and moving ahead for short distances is a pain. The drivers around you are in a hurry and angry. You are watching like a hawk and praying that someone doesn't decide to play games with you just because you aren't surrounded by a ton of steel.
It starts getting dark faster than normal. We can see the clouds rushing in. It gets black as night and a wind kicks up, we're in for it and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't pull off, we're in the left lane in solid traffic.
Then it hits. The sky opens up in a traditional South Florida Downpour. My wife and I are soaked as we sit in traffic. Good news bad news. Traffic is jambed so we're not moving at speed so we aren't truly dodging the cars. On the other hand we're quickly soaked to the skin and we still have to watch the cars around us because they can't see shit.
After another mile or so we find the problem. Traffic is being shifted into the oncoming lanes because of a downed power line. Someone decided they didn't like that particular Phone Pole and took it out with their car. The car and driver are gone but there are wires in the road and a crew working at setting up a new pole. Once past this the traffic opens up a bit and we can go at the marked speed limit. We're still dodging idiots but now we have some breathing space. The only dry part on me is my head under the helmet, and that has been sweating. (My wife is doing a bit better because of her leather jacket.) I am not your usual happy camper.
As we come up on the turn off to our road traffic has finally thinned out and the rain has slowed. We stop at the light for the left turn onto our road and my wife leans foreward. She knows me and can almost read my mind. She tells me not to pull into the park when we clear the light and cross the bridge. She want's me to head west and ride. I can only nod as the light changes and I slip the clutch.
Over the bridge we go and past our turn into the park with our nice dry trailer. Instead we head west through a couple more traffic lights to a lightly traveled highway. The rains tops and we hit this highway heading westward. I let the bike run, rolling on the throttle and upshifting until I'm in fifth gear and the bike is humming along at 60 MPH. The heat from the engine and the wind soon dries me as the sun starts peeking out from behind the clouds. Ahead of us the road is wet and starting to steam under the sunlight. Behind us are the cares and hassels of the day.
Oh I can feel myself starting to relax as we head north and west. After a bit more than an hour we reach a town we both know. We've been here before and know where things are. We stop first for gas and then we hit a place for a quick bite to eat. (Pulled Pork Sandwiches.)
After eating we climb back on the bike with our still damp gear and head for home. It's dark and traffic on the highway is non-existant. We are alone as we roll along. Ahead of us is the sky glow of the coast, but between us and that is just the light of our headlight and the faint glow of the speedo. Just a black ribbon heading straight ahead of our light and a bed at the end of it.
All too soon we come to a traffic light. We're coming close to home as we sit there alone. It's Sunday night after all. The light changes and we continue on our way. Two more traffic lights then we make the turn into the park. Both of us are tired yet relaxed.
We park the bike and shut it down. We climb off and unload our things from the cargo box. I open the storage closet and pull out a flashlight we keep there as well as my spare gas tank. My wife holds the light as I top off the gas tank on the bike and check the oil. We're good for tomorrow.
Wandering into the trailer we're greeted by the Herd. Five cats all wanting attention take a bit to get calmed down. Into the bedroom followed by several of the cats. We strip and drop our wet clothing into the laundry bin and dress in dry clothes as we give each cat a scratch.
A glass of wine for the wife as she settles in front of the tube for a bit, a short glass of Tequila for me as I settle in front of the computer and log on. She starts watching T.V. as I get some E-Mail from my father and reply to it.
It's been a hell of a day and we're looking forward to crawling into bed in a few. I can't complain though.
So how was your day?
Cat
I knew what this was a sign of and reaching down I shifted the gas to reserve. The engine smoothed out again and we were off. Needless to say I was grumbling a bit by the time we got to work.
Once in work I stored my gear and got ready for my shift. It was then I found out I was running solo with 27 patients, while the R.N.'s were running short handed. Oh this was going to be ever so much fun. The three Aides from the overnight had either already left or were sitting at the Nursing Station playing on the computers. I grabbed what I needed and started working. First Rounds are where I check the patients Vitals and generaly make sure they are still breathing.
During this round I found none of the Catheters had been emptied, nor had the commodes. None of the Vitals had been done and several of the patients were laying in their own waste. I was hustling like a mother to get these patients taken care of and get the Vitals done. (Yes the R.N.'s did try to help but they were overloaded as well.)
I got first round done and started in on my Total Care Patients. This took a while as there were more than a couple of them. By 1100 I had them taken care of and started in on the Assist Patients. I got to listen to their comments and complaints about the slow care they were receiving, as well as the complaints from their family members about how they weren't receiving the care they need.
At 1200 I had to stop care and do another round of Vital Signs as well as do the Blood Sugar Checks. Lunch comes and I help set up the patients for their meal. I start in on feeding those who need help. I'm hurrying but I'm getting the people cared for.
1300 I get back to caring for the patients and hustle through the partials then through the self cares. At 1400 the boss shows up to do some paperwork. She starts in with her B.S. by telling me I was running to far behind in my patients care. She steps in and does the last bed then starts telling me how when she was an Aide they often had 20 patients and were happy to have a day that easy. I kept my mouth shut even as she called down to the E.R. and had them dump some more patients on us. (NOw remember we started with 21 patients, 14 of which were total care and 16 of which were Chemo Patients. We had myself and 4 R.N.'s.)
Before long we had picked up another 10 patients. Three of which were Psych, another 3 of which were total care. These 6 had to be cleaned up and settled in.) The boss isn't happy at the slowness of the care and jumps on my case again. Once again she states how it was when she was an Aide. Again I ignored her but one of the R.N.'s didn't. (She informed the boss that she was an Aide at the same time as my boss and they didn't usually have that patient load. Nor did they do half of what we do. She also commented that the baths my boss described would get the Aides fired today.) The boss wasn't happy about this.
At 1700 things are calming down a bit, I get a chance to catch up on some paperwork and the boss sees me doing this as she packs up to leave. She jumps on my case, if I have time to be sitting at the desk doing nothing then I have time to stock Linen Carts and rooms. She then informs me that because the night shift only has 2 Aides I am now expected to do another round of Vital Signs for the night shift. She then pops into several rooms and checks on the status of the Catheters and Coomodes in those rooms before blasting me because she found one used Commode that hadn't been emptied right away. I didn't say anything, I just went in and emptied the Commode and started in on the Vital Signs run.
Several of the R.N.'s saw me doing this and asked me why I was doing the Vital Signs so I told them. They started in and did the vital signs while informing me they had seen what I had dealt with when I hit the floor in the morning. Every one of them had written a complaint about the Catheters and Commodes not having been emptied. They said they were also commenting on the fact that the Aides had either left early or were sitting around playing when I came in. They also said that they were passing this along to the overnight R.N.'s so they could watch and comment. (The R.N.'s are getting tires of watching me get screwed constantly.)
I thanked them and went back to work. I know what the results of their efforts will be.
Finally at 2000 I punch out. My wife has been waiting patiently for me to finish up so we can leave. Out to the garage and we gear up and climb on the bike to head off. I'm still in Reserve so we hit the first Gas Station we see. $10.00 later I switch the tank to run and reset the trip odometer. (No gas gauge) We rumble off and head for home. After a couple of miles traffic jams up. We're in stop and go and the temps are high with even higher humidity. I'm wearing my scrubs with a denim jacket and a leather vest over them. My wife is wearing her scrubs with a leather jackets. Both of us are wearing our helmets and gloves.
Stop and go traffic on a bike is no fun. You feel the heat off the engine and moving ahead for short distances is a pain. The drivers around you are in a hurry and angry. You are watching like a hawk and praying that someone doesn't decide to play games with you just because you aren't surrounded by a ton of steel.
It starts getting dark faster than normal. We can see the clouds rushing in. It gets black as night and a wind kicks up, we're in for it and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't pull off, we're in the left lane in solid traffic.
Then it hits. The sky opens up in a traditional South Florida Downpour. My wife and I are soaked as we sit in traffic. Good news bad news. Traffic is jambed so we're not moving at speed so we aren't truly dodging the cars. On the other hand we're quickly soaked to the skin and we still have to watch the cars around us because they can't see shit.
After another mile or so we find the problem. Traffic is being shifted into the oncoming lanes because of a downed power line. Someone decided they didn't like that particular Phone Pole and took it out with their car. The car and driver are gone but there are wires in the road and a crew working at setting up a new pole. Once past this the traffic opens up a bit and we can go at the marked speed limit. We're still dodging idiots but now we have some breathing space. The only dry part on me is my head under the helmet, and that has been sweating. (My wife is doing a bit better because of her leather jacket.) I am not your usual happy camper.
As we come up on the turn off to our road traffic has finally thinned out and the rain has slowed. We stop at the light for the left turn onto our road and my wife leans foreward. She knows me and can almost read my mind. She tells me not to pull into the park when we clear the light and cross the bridge. She want's me to head west and ride. I can only nod as the light changes and I slip the clutch.
Over the bridge we go and past our turn into the park with our nice dry trailer. Instead we head west through a couple more traffic lights to a lightly traveled highway. The rains tops and we hit this highway heading westward. I let the bike run, rolling on the throttle and upshifting until I'm in fifth gear and the bike is humming along at 60 MPH. The heat from the engine and the wind soon dries me as the sun starts peeking out from behind the clouds. Ahead of us the road is wet and starting to steam under the sunlight. Behind us are the cares and hassels of the day.
Oh I can feel myself starting to relax as we head north and west. After a bit more than an hour we reach a town we both know. We've been here before and know where things are. We stop first for gas and then we hit a place for a quick bite to eat. (Pulled Pork Sandwiches.)
After eating we climb back on the bike with our still damp gear and head for home. It's dark and traffic on the highway is non-existant. We are alone as we roll along. Ahead of us is the sky glow of the coast, but between us and that is just the light of our headlight and the faint glow of the speedo. Just a black ribbon heading straight ahead of our light and a bed at the end of it.
All too soon we come to a traffic light. We're coming close to home as we sit there alone. It's Sunday night after all. The light changes and we continue on our way. Two more traffic lights then we make the turn into the park. Both of us are tired yet relaxed.
We park the bike and shut it down. We climb off and unload our things from the cargo box. I open the storage closet and pull out a flashlight we keep there as well as my spare gas tank. My wife holds the light as I top off the gas tank on the bike and check the oil. We're good for tomorrow.
Wandering into the trailer we're greeted by the Herd. Five cats all wanting attention take a bit to get calmed down. Into the bedroom followed by several of the cats. We strip and drop our wet clothing into the laundry bin and dress in dry clothes as we give each cat a scratch.
A glass of wine for the wife as she settles in front of the tube for a bit, a short glass of Tequila for me as I settle in front of the computer and log on. She starts watching T.V. as I get some E-Mail from my father and reply to it.
It's been a hell of a day and we're looking forward to crawling into bed in a few. I can't complain though.
So how was your day?
Cat
from the good little witch.
