Thankful Thursday | time for patient care!

This week, I am thankful:

that I only have one more orientation/class

Most of this week has been training and orientations, not patient care. And obviously, I did not get this job because I wanted to sit in classes. 😉

So, I am grateful that I am almost done with the getting-started part of things!

As you read this, I’ll be at the hospital doing my first patient care shift, actually.

that I’m comfy making my way around the internet

My new job has SO many things to sign up for/sign into, and I gotta say, some of this is not terribly intuitive.

Like, things feel as though they are in rather random places, and then because it’s healthcare stuff, there’s a lot of security in place for logging in, all of which makes it a little complicated.

But thankfully I have been able to get everything working without needing to call the help desk, and I think I am now done with all of the initial setup. Whew!

that I have an actual hospital badge now!

Last semester, all I had was a student ID badge, which did not work to unlock anything at the hospital. So, I couldn’t even go get ice water for patients because it’s all behind locked doors.

Now I have a real badge, though, so I’m gonna be way more useful.

that I am tapering down my prednisone

You know how last week I mentioned that my poison ivy just would not quit? Well, I finally cracked and went to the doctor for some steroids.

But GEEZ the dose he put me on was 60 mg, higher than I’ve ever tried before, and I found myself nearly unable to sleep.

(as in, waking up at 3:30 am and not being able to go back to sleep at all. And not being able to nap either.)

I stopped itching, but I was a zombie.

Of course, you can’t just quit prednisone cold turkey, but I am in the winding-down process now, and my sleeping has gotten a little better.

Now I know to ask for a lower dose if I ever need prednisone again in the future.

Also: when I have a patient on prednisone, I will have compassion based on my personal experience.

that my hospital job is so close

Without traffic, it’s literally a ten-minute drive from my house.

And for shifts that start and end at 7 am and 7 pm, it’s not like I ever hit traffic.

It’s pretty hard to beat this setup unless you work from home!

that my house has a pretty new AC system

Shortly before I moved here, a tree fell on the air conditioner, which meant that the homeowner’s insurance paid for a whole new AC system to be put in.

That worked out very nicely for my landlords and for me!

Like a lot of the country, we are facing a long string of hot days and I feel so thankful that I don’t have to worry that my AC is going to fail during the heat wave.

that only my screen protector cracked

I dropped my phone in the parking garage at the hospital (whoops!) and my screen protector is cracked in a lot of places.

But my actual screen is just fine.

I have a new screen protector on the way, and this experience has reminded me of exactly why I am fastidious about having a screen protector on my phone at all times. I will drop my phone regularly, regardless of my efforts to be careful. 😉

that I never have my fingernails done

Rules for hospital employees are more lenient than for student nurses but still: no gel nails or acrylics or anything like that is allowed (because of increased infection risk). Only plain nail polish is acceptable.

But this is no big deal for me because I basically never have my fingernails even painted! Toenails, yes. Fingernails: nope.

This rule is easy-peasy for me to follow!

What are you thankful for this week?

P.S. A dear member of the commentariat here, JD, emailed me to let me know that her husband, who has had health struggles for some time now, passed away this last week. She’s obviously very occupied, but she wanted me to let you all know why she’s disappeared for now. I’ll let her know I notified you all, so if you want to leave any messages for her here in the comments, I’m sure she will read them even if she doesn’t have time to respond.