The First of Seven

After a bad day yesterday and I did not sleep well at all, tossing and turning and my mind racing... I decided to wake up and get ready for what I knew was going to be a long day.  Today is the first of my seven shifts on and then seven shifts off.

The snow was already a foot deep from yesterday and a steady stream of snow was blowing.  Corinna and I had to get everything packed, gas up the truck, grocery shop, and prepare today's meals before heading out on the hour and a half drive (which was under normal non snowing conditions) to get to Tuba City and check into our Hostel, stop by Kentucky's house who agreed to let us store our food and cook at her place for the week, and then get changed and ready for work by 6:30pm.

We decided that we would need to be packed and ready to go by 2:45 and guess what after all we had to do, we were in the truck right at that time!  We made it outside of Flagstaff with the snow and ice and into lower elevations to some rain then some sunshine. By the time we got to Tuba City, it was like we went from the ski slopes to the oceanfront, minus the water!

We find the location of our Hostel - it is called Grayhills Inn. It is actually part of the high school and is run by the students there as part of learning hotel and restaurant management.  The rooms are just two beds with a TV and a small table. Actually it is like staying at a Super 8 minus the bathrooms. There are community bathroom and showers, which we were glad to know our room for the week was right across the hall from our room.  I have to say that the place was roomy and clean and even smelled clean so I think it will be a decent place to stay as all we are going to do there al week is sleep and shower.  We unloaded the truck and then headed over to Kentucky's house to unload the food and cook our meals for the evening.

I think she was excited to see us and we had a blast chatting, cooking and we even ate one of our meals there while watching Wife Swap.  The place she is staying in is the size of half of a single-wide trailer, but is roomy enough for one person to live comfortably.  It was 5:30 and we needed to get back to the Hostel and change and head back to work.

We got to work and was ready for the night although we felt like we had done a days work already.  There were 9 patients, which meant we would get 3 a piece.  I took charge for the evening and I was happy to see one of the patients on the floor and that was my patient was the one I admitted the last shift that I worked. So I ended up with a 14 year old, a 16 year old and a 40 year old.  The Pediatrics unit here will get overflow surgical patients when we have beds available.



I was steady busy until almost 2 am when I finally stopped to eat. 

Finally 5:30 rolls around and of course that is when everything easy gets really busy or something can go wrong.  I had a tough time with a new port access the resulted in a 30 minute phone conversation with a pediatrician. Everything was alright and we proceeded appropriately, but I have to say that I was glad to see my relief walk through the door... we gave report, counted narcotics, I handed over the keys and I was out the door at 7:15.

We got back to the Hostel showered and climbed into bed ... now I hope I can get some sleep!