Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright.

In the last 8 days I worked 7. Seven excruciatingly loooong nights. I'm tired. Yeah, trust me, I'm tired of saying that phrase as much as you're tired of hearing it. Somehow my schedule got all sorts of rearranged and weird, and when I brought it up to scheduling they were like, "Well you should have told us you didn't want to work all of those days together at least 30 days ago, like our policy states." It's like some kind of Twilight Zone meets Catch 22 with those people. How am I supposed to know that I need to request to NOT work 7 days out of 8, thirty days before you even make my schedule? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one. Maybe they have me mixed up with that one crazy patient who can predict the future.

Actually, one of those days wasn't the scheduling office's fault. One night, around 3:30 AM, somewhere between my to-do list of suctioning 100 gallons of mucous and doing bowel care, I was cornered by another nurse who asked me to work Sunday for her. And trust me, it's really hard to say no to someone when they've got you cornered and they're waving an enema around.

So when Monday morning came around, and I had only 4 hours of sleep on board, I tried calling all the RN's who had sticky notes posted all over the scheduling book that read, "Please! I need hours! Will work any shift. CALL ME!" And, fancy that, not a single one could work for me. So I decided I better get a small nap in, and right before I drifted off, the amazon.com delivery guy rang my door bell. I'm pretty sure the universe hates me.

Next, I had a small mental breakdown, and between crying spells I sang Bob Marley's "Every little thing is gonna be alright. Every little thing is going to be OK." And then I had a flashback to the movie I Am Legend, where Will Smith is the only human left on the planet, and his only friend and companion in the entire world, his dog, had just been bitten by the zombies, and he was in the depths of despair and was singing that same song. And then he had to kill his best friend with his bare hands. And I realized that's exactly how I felt.

So right after my mental breakdown and just before I left for work, I said a prayer begging Heavenly Father to give me energy to make it through the night. And then, because my faith is so strong, I drank two Rock Stars. Just in case.

And then, as I was driving home this morning I thought of a really awesome, hilarious blog to write. So funny that I was laughing out loud in my car. It was going to be genius! But when I woke up at 1PM I could not, for the life of me, remember what was so funny. That's probably a good thing, considering the night I just had at work, and the fact that I was quickly crashing from my caffeine induced high.

And so, with all that said, I am officially on vacation. And I've spent the entire day in my pajamas, lying around reading my book and making my kids watch every movie we own. And the only thing they've eaten all day are chocolate Clif bars and Capri Suns. They aren't complaining, and neither am I.