Calling In Sick

As much as I dread going to work these days, I hate having to call in sick. When I called the unit yesterday to tell that I wouldn't be able to work today, Ate Ermie,who was the charge nurse yesterday, told me, "I told you, you should have called in sick a long time ago. You are a stubborn little girl. Go take a rest." So I did. I stayed home, did not talk to anyone and rested my voice. I felt a little better but this annoying cough would not leave me. I am almost finished with the cough syrup I bought a week ago. I hate being sick!

It's a beautiful day outside, but I can't go out. First, I don't want to push myself too far. I am just starting to feel better. Second, what if any one of my co-workers sees me and asks me, "aren't you sick? aren't you supposed to be resting?" I just hate being sick when it's a beautiful day outside.

Second Opinion

When I woke up yesterday, my voice was so hoarse. Thank God I was off. I tried not to talk too much. That wasn't so hard for me since I am a quiet person by nature. My voice hasn't come back to its natural state, and I am afraid I will lose it soon if this cough doesn't go away. Vince told me the other day that I could make use of a sick day. But I didn't listen to him. Other than the bothersome, dry hacking cough, I felt fine. Ahh.. that doesn't sound so good, huh?
When Lea called me this afternoon to chat, she sounded so worried about me and told me to call in sick tomorrow. That coming from two doctors, I think I better listen and call the nursing supervisor that I am not coming to work tomorrow.
It's funny how I had to get a second opinion on whether I should call in sick for a cough and cold. Am I that dedicated to my job? Nah.

Color and Candies Quizzes

I am bored today. Still not feeling too well, so I feel lazy to go somewhere on my day off. Just reading other people's blogs, and I came across these quizzes:




You should be wearing the colour....Blue!!! Blue
is a colour which calms and soothes the soul.
Blue, makes people feel comfortable, and
content. You are a very relaxing person to be
around, so blue is the ideal colour for you!


What colour should you be wearing?
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You're Skittles!!! You have a very interesting
personality, you're so unique. You're the kind
of person who always thinks outside of the box.
You're also a very accepting individual, and
believe in inner beauty.


Which kind of candy are you?
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Salt Mine

Another day at the "salt mine." That's what my co-worker Felicia calls our unit. Of course, it was a zoo again in the unit. Lots of sick patients and not enough help. How I wish I was back in California where they have good nurse to patient ratio and better working conditions. I can't wait to leave this place. I would look for a new job if I knew we'd be staying here in Chicago longer. But I heard the other hospitals are not any better either. Hopefully, Vince and I will move somewhere else better after his residency. I don't think we'll be going back to California soon, but that would be a nice thought. I guess one can only dream. And speaking of dream, I better sleep soon. Another day at the "salt mine" awaits me.

Airport Rush

My three-day weekend has gone. Spent most of it sleeping. Don't you hate it when you are sick on your day off? Back to work again tomorrow. Sigh... I really should find a job that I will look forward to going every morning. Oh well, no time to think about that right now. It's getting late and I have to wake up early tomorrow.

Vince and I went to Chinatown to eat dimsum for lunch with his friends. Then we took Brian to the airport. The traffic to O'Hare was so bad, and it didn't help that we left Chinatown late, either. If only Brian, Kevin, Notch and Jen came on time to the restaurant, we could have started lunch earlier. But Notch was on call last night, and when Kevin and Brian came to pick her and Jen up, the girls were not ready yet. So, to make it short, we were running late to the airport. Brian was sweating up at the backseat so worried that he would miss his flight, which was at 4:00pm. We were still on the freeway at 3:15. I was really stressed out for him, too. Finally we got to the Northwest terminal around 3:30. Brian almost jumped out the car as soon as the car stopped. After taking his bags out of the trunk, he checked in his bag at the curb. Then we left. About half an hour later, Vince got a call from Brian. We both thought, "oh no, he missed his flight." Luckily, some sort of miracle happened and the airline people still let him in and gave him a boarding pass, since he's already checked in his bag. I don't know how it happened but the airline people let him pass the lines through security so he could catch his flight. So now he is back in Michigan. Whew!


When we got home from the airport, I took a short nap. Then, Vince and I walked to Broadway to get ice-cream from the newly opened store on the corner. After that, we walked on Broadway to the Express Store, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we went to Borders Bookstore across from it. Spent some time browsing through books. We didn't buy anything, though. Then, we walked around to find a place to eat. We decided on pizza and went to this little pizza/Italian place called Renaldi's. The walls were covered with different sizes framed pictures of Italy. How I wish to go there.

After dinner, Vince and I went over to his place to watch a Chinese movie. Then he took me home. Time for sleep again.:)

Achoo!

Crappy day. I've been sniffling and coughing. Don't know where I got the bug from. Had lunch with Vince and his friends. Vince's former attending and friend, Dr. Kelly or Brian as I call him, came over from Michigan to do a lecture on rehab stuff. Every time he comes over, Vince and his friends would all get together to hang out with Brian. This time, Virgil, Kevin, Wayne and the new intern and his wife came over for lunch. Lunch was blah...The chicken salad was a little bit spicy, so I didn't really enjoy it. Besides, my nose was too congested for me to enjoy anything. It was kinda chilly, too. The temperature said it was 73, but it felt a lot colder than that, even with my hoodie on. I guess I am really sick. I pretended to be well, but I looked like I needed to go home or something. So after lunch we all went our separate ways. Vince took me home, then went back to his apartment to do his laundry and ironing. I took a long nap.

On Death and Dying

Events at work have been depressing lately. We've been having a lot of nursing home patients in our telemetry unit. It's been a lot busier than ever. Patients are a lot sicker. In a week, we've had 6 deaths: 2 code blue patients, and 4 DNR patients. Yesterday was my turn to have a patient to die.

Even though Mr. S was already a DNR, it still was kind of sad the way he died. I remember the night before he died, I went to his room to turn him and before leaving, I told him, "Mr. S, I am going home now. Have a good night sleep. I will see you tomorrow,ok?" And Mr. S weakly tapped my hand as if to say thank you. He rarely talked at that point. And the feeble attempts he made at communication were slurred and incomprehensible. The next morning, during report time, Dr. G came in to the report room and asked who was Mr. S's nurse. The night nurse was ignoring him, so I said, I would be his nurse for today but I had just gotten report and I hadn't seen him yet. He was asking how long Mr. S's breathing was like that. The night nurse continued to ignore him for reasons I don't know. So I asked the nurse myself. Then she said, it must be just now because she was just there about an hour ago. The three of us, including the on-call resident, went to the room. Mr. S was pale, he was in agonal breathing. Then finally as Dr. G was listening to his heart, he made his last breath. How I wish the night nurse had observed this earlier. She could have notified Mr. S's son and he could have been there with his dying father. But it was all too late, then. Perhaps this was how Mr. S wanted it. To die alone.

Dear Diary

This is yet another one of my attempts in journaling. I remember back in High School when it was required in English class to keep a journal. How I hated it. My entries back then consisted of "Went to school. Did my homework. Blah. Blah. Blah." So why am I doing this again? I would like to have a place where I can post my thoughts and share them with my friends. It will also be a great way to update my friends from far away on what is going on with my life these days. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to continue with this new "project" of mine. I am not a writer, so I don't think anyone can get something out of this. Like I said, this is just a place for rants and daily musings. Please feel free to comment. :)