Go get 'em, Skinny: A very un-traditional Thanksgiving
The above phrase are the exact words a patient said to me while I was doing a set of rounds. It made me chuckle. Wednesday night had me all over the place; started out a bit on my unit, in which some of my patients could have used a talking to with the youth staff. Hooray for adults acting like teenagers. Ended up the latter part of the evening tending to one of the children in our newly developed(ish) developmentally disabled youth program. We have two in the program now, and my CNO asked if I would be interested in training to work with one of them. I decided to, because hey, why not? One of my best friends from high school has an older brother with autism and thought I would be a good fit. My CNO thought I would be a good fit..."oh, we were just running through the list of staff and your name came up and we thought you would be good at it..." So yeah. Don't know when I'll start training for that, but I'm grateful for new opportunities. So anyway, I arrived on the unit around 8PM. "He'll stay asleep," they said, "he'll be fine," they said. Didn't sleep. Woke up a few times, giggled (a lot), ran the hall a few times, didn't hit me or wasn't aggressive, but did make off with my name badge (just liked to "drum" it, so we call it. Hey, it was cute, and I did get it back.) Thought of a coy plot to try and get the kid to sleep; race down the hallway. Me and my bum foot lost...it was...entertaining so to speak. He thought it was funny watching me jog with my lace up ankle brace to his room; I didn't think it was too funny but laughing is contagious. And when big brown eyes are smiling at you, you can't help but smile and laugh back.
I also found myself working on Thanksgiving this year. This was the first major holiday I've ever worked. Ever. I worked New Year's Day last year, and I was off Christmas and Thanksgiving last year, so I didn't have to lobby to get them off. I managed to get Christmas off this year, but I'm working Christmas Eve AND New Year's Eve too, on top of Thanksgiving. Three cheers for time and a half pay? But last night's Thanksgiving dinner (that consisted of pizza, subs, salad, chips, cookies and fruit cups) was indeed a nice one; the two staff and the 9 patients on the unit all sat down, ate, and chatted about past jobs, cars we drive and a little bit of everything else in between. This lasted about 30 minutes, and for the entire duration of the dinner and conversations, I didn't think about any work I had to do. I didn't think about anything that needed to be done. It was just a time to be in the spirit of the holiday. It was finally an opportunity for me to take my nurse hat off and to really be there for my patients, not as an authority but as an equal. I ended up leaving my unit at 7 to go help on youth, and on my way out a patient caught me and said (well, actually yelled) "I'M GOING TO MISS YOU, MISS KELLY!" You know, sometimes my place of employment is a jumble and big hum-drum scene, but as I emphasize so often in many of my posts, it really is the little things sometimes.
During the second half of the night, it was the battle of getting one child to sleep. Who ended up banging the walls of renovations they're doing on the youth side (they were renovating our unit a while ago). Who also (not violently) shut the door on me when I signed "sleep" and received that as my response. Tried to divert the wall banging with a painted, rock filled plastic water bottle, which lasted about 10 minutes. Eventually got tired and fell asleep in the hallway for about 15 minutes before awaking again and I just decided it was time to go to bed. Put in bed and fell asleep within seconds. And now today is Black Friday and I have the day off. But for my first working holiday, it actually didn't suck. At all. But for today, I'm going to enjoy my day off and be thankful for friends, family, co workers and most of all the God who gave me all these awesome wonderful people in my life! I was driving yesterday and it was a bit cloudy. I was praying that God would use me in a way that would reflect who He is and that I would maintain a cheerful and loving attitude, despite the fact that I missed my family and loved ones. At that moment, a song I really love, called Because He Lives, came on, and for the duration of the song the sun came out. It made me smile and I knew that God listened, and still does. So I will close with some words from a song I sang in my brief time in Women's choir in college. Even though Thanksgiving is over, we still have 364 days of the year to be thankful for what we do have.
Be Happy. Enjoy every passing moment. Be thankful for your friends, things you have and kin.
I also found myself working on Thanksgiving this year. This was the first major holiday I've ever worked. Ever. I worked New Year's Day last year, and I was off Christmas and Thanksgiving last year, so I didn't have to lobby to get them off. I managed to get Christmas off this year, but I'm working Christmas Eve AND New Year's Eve too, on top of Thanksgiving. Three cheers for time and a half pay? But last night's Thanksgiving dinner (that consisted of pizza, subs, salad, chips, cookies and fruit cups) was indeed a nice one; the two staff and the 9 patients on the unit all sat down, ate, and chatted about past jobs, cars we drive and a little bit of everything else in between. This lasted about 30 minutes, and for the entire duration of the dinner and conversations, I didn't think about any work I had to do. I didn't think about anything that needed to be done. It was just a time to be in the spirit of the holiday. It was finally an opportunity for me to take my nurse hat off and to really be there for my patients, not as an authority but as an equal. I ended up leaving my unit at 7 to go help on youth, and on my way out a patient caught me and said (well, actually yelled) "I'M GOING TO MISS YOU, MISS KELLY!" You know, sometimes my place of employment is a jumble and big hum-drum scene, but as I emphasize so often in many of my posts, it really is the little things sometimes.
During the second half of the night, it was the battle of getting one child to sleep. Who ended up banging the walls of renovations they're doing on the youth side (they were renovating our unit a while ago). Who also (not violently) shut the door on me when I signed "sleep" and received that as my response. Tried to divert the wall banging with a painted, rock filled plastic water bottle, which lasted about 10 minutes. Eventually got tired and fell asleep in the hallway for about 15 minutes before awaking again and I just decided it was time to go to bed. Put in bed and fell asleep within seconds. And now today is Black Friday and I have the day off. But for my first working holiday, it actually didn't suck. At all. But for today, I'm going to enjoy my day off and be thankful for friends, family, co workers and most of all the God who gave me all these awesome wonderful people in my life! I was driving yesterday and it was a bit cloudy. I was praying that God would use me in a way that would reflect who He is and that I would maintain a cheerful and loving attitude, despite the fact that I missed my family and loved ones. At that moment, a song I really love, called Because He Lives, came on, and for the duration of the song the sun came out. It made me smile and I knew that God listened, and still does. So I will close with some words from a song I sang in my brief time in Women's choir in college. Even though Thanksgiving is over, we still have 364 days of the year to be thankful for what we do have.
Be Happy. Enjoy every passing moment. Be thankful for your friends, things you have and kin.
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