So last week was my first shift back at the hospital working in the PACU (post anaesthetic care unit). What a spin out that was, after eight months of concentrating 100% on our family here I was trying to concentrate 100% on each patients well-being. My heart stays at home when I walk out the front door, but fear not, my compassion, empathy and brain stays with me.
Walking through the halls to work on a Friday afternoon I am met usually by the eerie emptiness of them, because who on earth would be walking to work when most people are walking to the pub to celebrate the weekend.
That of course doesn’t mean that when I get to the unit all is quiet, as last night proves that is often not the case, seriously who plays with a nail gun on a Friday night, only to have it operated on at midnight?
I live in hope that I might be able to get a few rows of my knitting done while waiting between cases if only one surgeon is operating.
But mostly I think of what is happening at home, if they are all sleeping, wondering how my little boy is going knowing that Mummy isn’t home. Thankfully I only have to be away 3 times a fortnight, although I do wonder now what I say when people ask what I do for a living, part time nurse, full time mummy?
Thank goodness for decaf coffee so I can fool my brain into thinking it just got some of the real stuff!
