Forgot To Go To Work!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever forgotten to go to work? Well yesterday I did---yea that's right--I forgot I had to work! I teach nursing, but two Saturday's a month I "moonlight" at a local hospital. I try to not schedule myself for two Saturday's in a row because those 12 hour shift's are murder on this aging body----even with the best shoes, at the end of the day I am beat!!!!! I work in a OB unit, so I may end up working in one of three areas, labor and delivery; newborn nursery; or postpartum---all of them require a LOT of walking, lifting, supporting, etc. Anyway, they all translate to a very busy day. I had worked last Saturday so why should I think I had to work yesterday---right?

I got up early yesterday morning to quilt and generally enjoy the day. My grandchildren and I had a date to clean house and everyone was excited (isn't it funny how little kids start out loving something that they will eventually rebell against---cleaning the bathroom). I was up at 5:00 and at the longarm. I had stopped and was sitting drinking coffee and sewing down a binding, looking at Law and Order. My cell phone rang and by the time I found it in the kitchen it had stopped ringing. I started to not call the number back, but thought even if it was a wrong number, for someone to call that early --- it was now 6:45 AM, it probably was an emergency and the person should know they had called a wrong number. I dialed it back, "Hi this is Patricia, did you just call my number?"----"Hey, this is Ali (my co-worker)"----"Hey Ali, what's up?"----a pregnant (excuse the pun) pause----"Am I suppose to be at work"----"Yea"----"oops, do you need me"---"well, yea, we have 15 on the floor, one in labor, and 14 babies in the nursery". "On my way".

I hurried there, and lucky for me, Officer Hurndon wasn't in his usual spot. Now it gets better. I get my patients (I was on the floor)------6 patients. I walk into the room to introduce myself (it is now 8:00--I should have been there at 6:45), I say, "Good morning, my name is Patricia and I am your nurse today". This woman loses it right before my eyes. ..."This food is horrible" (they had delivered breakfast)--"I hate grits and look what they served me---GRITS!!!!! I am going home right now, let me out of this place". I wanted to say, "I didn't cook your breakfast---and this is a hospital, what hospital has good food". I don't, I try very hard to calm her down. Her husband is cringing in the corner (words can't describe how out of control this woman is), I am trying hard to soothe her, she is shaking (geeze, it is only grits)....anyway, the person in charge wouldn't come down to her room to try to intercede (I don't blame her, wish I could have run myself), and to make a long story short, she does leave---to cook her breakfast at home without grits! I had to talk to the doctor ("what happen Patricia, didn't you offer to get her something else"---- "why didn't you make her stay until I got here"--what was I suppose to do, throw myself in front of her flip flop clad feet?) AND I had to write an incident report. I will probably get lectured about customer service and be blamed for a poor patient evaluation of the floor. Wish I had lied and said I was sick :-(. Plus when I got home I had an e-mail from the place where I had ordered shot cotton (I found a source---it was on sale for $3.50 yd) and they were all sold out. So my day wasn't a good one---not because of the screaming patient--but because the shot cotton was sold out!!!!!

Today is a new day! I am drinking coffee, watching Law and Order and have checked and I DON'T work today---so it will be a better day!!

xoxo