Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Living Upside-Down
Like a bat. A vampire bat.
Surely I'm not the first person to ever work a night shift. I realize that. But it's the first time I have ever worked a night shift and truth be told, it screws with you.
I worked my first shift from 7pm Sunday night to 7am Monday morning. To prepare, I was told, I ought to stay up as late as I could Friday night -- through the night, if I could -- and then sleep like the damned dickens all day Saturday and stay up that night, sleep Sunday and then get up and be ready for my first night shift. I did just that.
Friday night the BFF (who was coincidentally celebrating her birthday) came over for cake, presents and a good, old fashioned slumber party minus the slumber. She, Lord freaking love her, made it to about 2AM before passing out on the couch. Thankfully, and if by providence, there was an "Intervention" marathon after that on A&E and it kept my solid, if not a little droopy eyed, attention until 5AM. I love docudramas about squalor. Saturday night was much of the same, save no BFF. My dear, dear specially-special cat stayed close to me - often throwing me loving but, "Seriously, we aren't going to bed now?" looks until about 6AM. I thank MTV for their "True Life" marathon that kept me up that long. {That being said, MTV is sinking very low when they are "True Life"ing kids who like to surf. Where are their meth addicts and teen aged prostitutes? Please. It's the bottom of the squalor barrel to have a 1 hour show about melanoma-bound, tragically bottle bleached headed teens complaining about wanna-be tourists who attempt to steal their waves. They are lucky nothing else was on. }
Staying up all night used to be the norm -- remember? Of course you do. I remember in college thinking that if I saw even a peep of sunrise I was doomed to be a waste-of-space the whole rest of the next day. If I could sneak into bed, eyes averted without seeing the light, however, I somehow tricked my body into thinking it was just another late night. I am trying to function by similar theories now. Though it's usually close to 6AM when I do make it to bed now, I don't look outside at the horizon. It's still easier to pretend it's just another late night.
I will say this, however. Staying up all night is lonely. Very lonely. I can't blame the Betrothed. He's pushed his bedtime as late as he can manage to keep me company. On an up-side, however, I utilized a late-night trip to Wal-Mart to purchase a craft kit whereby I have taught myself how to knit. I'm a few inches into, what appears to be, a scarf. It appeals to my artsy side, keeps my fidgety hands busy and more importantly, functionally keeps me awake.
Staying up is one thing. Driving TO work at night is another. First of all, showing up to work at 7PM is weird. Traffic is weirdly nonexistent. Watching it get dark outside while you putter away inside is weird. Physically it feels like jet-lag and that's weird. The lost bustle of the place, the lack of bodies, chatter and general goings-on is weird. My main concerns were: 1) What meal am I eating when I go on my break? Lunch? Dinner? Some strange combination? (answer: unknown. Eating breakfast-light on one of my weekend-training sessions left me hungry. Eating dinner-heavy last night made me feel ill around 3AM. Lunch at 1AM is just ridiculous.) 2) Is the hospital cafeteria even open in the middle of the night? (answer: yes. Though limited in your selections, you still have access to some hot, cafeteria-tasting food at 1AM. Phew.).
From what I know of night shift nurses, a patient - any patient, is statistically most like to code/crash and die between 2-5AM -- more so than any other time of the day (and strangely more so during a full moon...pregnant women are most like to start labor during a full moon, as well. Weird.) That being said, it sucks for that patient, but serves as a good learning experience for me. And let's all remember that I'm trying to sink my student teeth into as many good learning experiences as I can before I'm expected to do anything nurse-y for a paycheck. My time is running out for that. Last night -- no dice. Everyone lived to see another day. Good for them.
My training sessions appeared to work for the most part. The "clock-watching" started around 4AM and I started to make quick walking laps of the unit to keep myself alert. Towards 7AM sitting down became dangerously risky for sleeping.
I made it home this morning around 8:15AM and promptly fell asleep -- probably literally before my head hit the pillow. I cannot remember a time, seriously, when I had ever felt so tired. I slept until mid afternoon when I resumed life as a normal person -- at least for a few hours, and at least until the Betrothed had to head to bed. I'm set for night shifts for the majority of my semester (which is a mere and blessed 4 more weeks) and so I must assume the position and live upside down for a few more weeks.
In the meantime and in addition to my new knitting habit, I think I might be putting the Betrothed and I into the poor house with the way I'm pay-per-viewing movies to watch in the middle of the night. Thankfully, we recently obtained Showtime (solely, and I mean solely, to watch The Tudors) and I have been able to set-to-record some movies I haven't seen in a while and will surely utilize to entertain me in the wee hours. On the otherhand, I have no idea what or how much I have been eating lately. I don't know when one day ends and another starts anymore. My workout schedule (and more importantly, my training for the upcoming Saint Louis Half Marathon I'm slated to run this weekend) has been upturned entirely. If I can see the finish line in the faint distance before I pass out, it will have been a success.
So don't mind me. It's 2:45AM and I have to get back to my shows before I head to bed in a few hours.
Surely I'm not the first person to ever work a night shift. I realize that. But it's the first time I have ever worked a night shift and truth be told, it screws with you.
I worked my first shift from 7pm Sunday night to 7am Monday morning. To prepare, I was told, I ought to stay up as late as I could Friday night -- through the night, if I could -- and then sleep like the damned dickens all day Saturday and stay up that night, sleep Sunday and then get up and be ready for my first night shift. I did just that.
Friday night the BFF (who was coincidentally celebrating her birthday) came over for cake, presents and a good, old fashioned slumber party minus the slumber. She, Lord freaking love her, made it to about 2AM before passing out on the couch. Thankfully, and if by providence, there was an "Intervention" marathon after that on A&E and it kept my solid, if not a little droopy eyed, attention until 5AM. I love docudramas about squalor. Saturday night was much of the same, save no BFF. My dear, dear specially-special cat stayed close to me - often throwing me loving but, "Seriously, we aren't going to bed now?" looks until about 6AM. I thank MTV for their "True Life" marathon that kept me up that long. {That being said, MTV is sinking very low when they are "True Life"ing kids who like to surf. Where are their meth addicts and teen aged prostitutes? Please. It's the bottom of the squalor barrel to have a 1 hour show about melanoma-bound, tragically bottle bleached headed teens complaining about wanna-be tourists who attempt to steal their waves. They are lucky nothing else was on. }
Staying up all night used to be the norm -- remember? Of course you do. I remember in college thinking that if I saw even a peep of sunrise I was doomed to be a waste-of-space the whole rest of the next day. If I could sneak into bed, eyes averted without seeing the light, however, I somehow tricked my body into thinking it was just another late night. I am trying to function by similar theories now. Though it's usually close to 6AM when I do make it to bed now, I don't look outside at the horizon. It's still easier to pretend it's just another late night.
I will say this, however. Staying up all night is lonely. Very lonely. I can't blame the Betrothed. He's pushed his bedtime as late as he can manage to keep me company. On an up-side, however, I utilized a late-night trip to Wal-Mart to purchase a craft kit whereby I have taught myself how to knit. I'm a few inches into, what appears to be, a scarf. It appeals to my artsy side, keeps my fidgety hands busy and more importantly, functionally keeps me awake.
Staying up is one thing. Driving TO work at night is another. First of all, showing up to work at 7PM is weird. Traffic is weirdly nonexistent. Watching it get dark outside while you putter away inside is weird. Physically it feels like jet-lag and that's weird. The lost bustle of the place, the lack of bodies, chatter and general goings-on is weird. My main concerns were: 1) What meal am I eating when I go on my break? Lunch? Dinner? Some strange combination? (answer: unknown. Eating breakfast-light on one of my weekend-training sessions left me hungry. Eating dinner-heavy last night made me feel ill around 3AM. Lunch at 1AM is just ridiculous.) 2) Is the hospital cafeteria even open in the middle of the night? (answer: yes. Though limited in your selections, you still have access to some hot, cafeteria-tasting food at 1AM. Phew.).
From what I know of night shift nurses, a patient - any patient, is statistically most like to code/crash and die between 2-5AM -- more so than any other time of the day (and strangely more so during a full moon...pregnant women are most like to start labor during a full moon, as well. Weird.) That being said, it sucks for that patient, but serves as a good learning experience for me. And let's all remember that I'm trying to sink my student teeth into as many good learning experiences as I can before I'm expected to do anything nurse-y for a paycheck. My time is running out for that. Last night -- no dice. Everyone lived to see another day. Good for them.
My training sessions appeared to work for the most part. The "clock-watching" started around 4AM and I started to make quick walking laps of the unit to keep myself alert. Towards 7AM sitting down became dangerously risky for sleeping.
I made it home this morning around 8:15AM and promptly fell asleep -- probably literally before my head hit the pillow. I cannot remember a time, seriously, when I had ever felt so tired. I slept until mid afternoon when I resumed life as a normal person -- at least for a few hours, and at least until the Betrothed had to head to bed. I'm set for night shifts for the majority of my semester (which is a mere and blessed 4 more weeks) and so I must assume the position and live upside down for a few more weeks.
In the meantime and in addition to my new knitting habit, I think I might be putting the Betrothed and I into the poor house with the way I'm pay-per-viewing movies to watch in the middle of the night. Thankfully, we recently obtained Showtime (solely, and I mean solely, to watch The Tudors) and I have been able to set-to-record some movies I haven't seen in a while and will surely utilize to entertain me in the wee hours. On the otherhand, I have no idea what or how much I have been eating lately. I don't know when one day ends and another starts anymore. My workout schedule (and more importantly, my training for the upcoming Saint Louis Half Marathon I'm slated to run this weekend) has been upturned entirely. If I can see the finish line in the faint distance before I pass out, it will have been a success.
So don't mind me. It's 2:45AM and I have to get back to my shows before I head to bed in a few hours.
# posted by Cathy @ 2:12:00 AM 
