Whew! They liked me...

I had a good first day at one of my new jobs--the private practice. As it turn out, I'll be working 3 part time jobs for the foreseeable future. I'll keep working part time at my friend's office, I'll be working part time at the private practice and then 50% time at the blood center. I start work at the blood center next week. I'm kind of freaked out by it all, to be honest.

It's a huge responsibility to be a nurse and to not only remember what you learned about pathophysiology and treatment but also meds, side effects and then staying current on treatments and therapies. Frankly, it's intimidating. And I realize that I'm going to have to start putting in time with my med-surg books and reading up on patho. Now, I don't really need this for the blood center--not necessarily. That should be pretty straight-forward: healthy people who aren't IV drug users or who have sex for money, etc. Of course, there is that whole issue of not allowing gay men to donate blood. It's very unfortunate but blood centers nation-wide are currently not willing to budge on this issue. But, not a lot of patho there and meds are pretty much limited to blood thinners and cancer treatments. And on top of it, I need to do venipuncture which I have not done since December. Oy.

So...3 part time jobs. That seems like it's going to be a lot. My schedule will vary from week to week but I'm grateful to be working and getting different work experiences is a good thing. Plus earning extra money is helpful--the loan repayment starts now and the dog needs to have her teeth cleaned at the end of summer. And my crock pot crapped out on us last night and needs to be thrown away and replaced with a new one. If it's not one thing, it's another, right? Anyway, it's going to be a very busy summer as I get started with my new jobs and get settled into a new routine. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me very much over the next month.

Tomorrow is a big day...

Tomorrow I am doing the first day of a 2-day "try out" at a private internal medicine practice in Menlo. One of the M.D.'s is the wife of one of the Tall Man's co-worker's and they are in need of yet another part-time PRN (as needed) nurse. So, I interviewed and tomorrow is my first day. My new permanent job at the blood center doesn't start until the beginning of July so I am still working part time for my friend which makes it all the better to do my trial run at this new practice now. Except that now I have to show up and do a job as a nurse. Holy crap.

Folks, in case you missed it, I have been unemployed for a long time and have not done any *nursing-type work* since December. Um...yeah. That's a long time to go without doing any work, you know. Not that I haven't dispensed nursing advice (at the request of others, of course, except for unsolicited cautioning about using sunscreen and staying hydrated in the heat) but it's not the same as putting skills and critical thinking into practice. I mean, I actually have to check BPs and pulse rates and ask people why they are being seen today and filter that information through my nursing brain and then give injections and talk about med interactions. Can I just tell you that I don't remember a single damned med from nursing school? I am screwed, I tell you.

So, today I will hunt down my stethoscope (which I finally got engraved with my initials--sharpie rubs off with alcohol wipes), dust off my "cootie" watch and go buy some scrub pants that are 1.) not white and 2.) fit. Also, the shoes. I refuse to wear my shoes from school and those bad boys are headed for the trash can. I could recycle them but they are covered in cooties so I am not going to do that. So, shoe shopping. And then I'm going to refresh myself on some skills and look over some meds. Typical stuff like blood pressure, cholesterol and cardiac meds.

Don't get me wrong: I'm excited about doing this and looking forward to such a great opportunity to expand my work experience but it's a little scary and I also really hope I do a good job and they'll want to hire me. It will only ever me a PRN position, which is fine, but I want the experience and the extra money is good, too. In some ways, I'm a little bit glad I didn't get a bedside position because frankly, right now I would be crapping my pants. For realz, as the kids say. On the other hand, I wish I was getting more bedside experience but that's not how it worked out. And I have the rest of my career to return to the bedside if I wish. The whole thing is just so weird. When I started nursing school I didn't really know how it would all turn out--I just assumed I'd be at the bedside at some hospital and would figure it out from there. Except life doesn't work out that way and especially not during a time where there is a significant shortage and yet hospitals have their heads up their asses about hiring and orienting new grads.

But here I am and I'm finally moving on with my life with a shiny new career. Nothing can change the fact that I made it through school, passed my boards and have those fabulous initials behind my name: RN. So, this RN better get her rear in gear and start getting ready for tomorrow. It's going to be a big day.

I like to complicate things...

That's what the Tall Man would tell you. Apparently it's never enough for me to just go with the flow as we transition from one thing to another without me wanting to make our lives more complicated. Significantly more complicated. Like, not in the way of "Oh, I think we could use some new throw pillows on the couch, let's go pick some out" but "I think we should adopt another dog. Esme needs a companion."

Seriously, what am I thinking? Okay, I'm thinking with my heart, not my head. All those dogs out there who need a loving home...it just makes me tear up thinking about it. And this is why I started volunteering at the food bank instead of the local animal shelter BECAUSE I WOULD BRING HOME A DOG (OR TWO OR THREE) AND MY HUSBAND WOULD KILL ME. No danger about adopting cats, tho. We're waaayyyyy too allergic for that.

But, no, we aren't getting a dog in case you were wondering. I was just thinking about it. My temp job is keeping me plenty busy and my new job starts in 2 weeks and I have no idea what my schedule will be so there is definitely no chance we'll adopt another dog right now. Instead I start to focus on other things like wanting to buy a townhouse and buying new furniture. We're not doing that either but I like to talk Michael's ear off about how we need better shelving units and I don't want to wait until we buy a house (we're 2 years and lots o' student debt away from that) to buy new shelving units. But then there's that whole thing about buying for the space you're in vs. the future one you hope to occupy that you hope will have more sq. footage. We still have a need but this is hardly a major priority right now.

And then there's the online spanish class I want to sign up for that starts this week. It's a 6-wk course and frankly, it would be good to get started but there's this new job thing and life stuff. Sigh...maybe I should wait until the August session to start. The class isn't going anywhere. But, see? I want to do 5 million things at once because I'm not happy unless I'm running myself ragged. Why do I do that? Poor Michael. He always bears the brunt of these things. And improving my conversational spanish skills are totally important!

There's also the fitness clinic on Wednesday nights and tennis on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. Michael has soccer 2x a week and the dog has grown accustomed to long walks on a regular basis. Still have to fit all that in. And the cooking. Well, I can tell you that this summer will include lots of grain/veg/pasta salads and/or sandwiches and/or tomatoes with corn on the cob because it is too damned hot to cook. Yeah, yeah, low humidity and all that but we do NOT have air conditioning here and I am not going to sweat my ass off over the stove. That means no pizza unless it's less than 80 degrees outside. Or we turn on the grill. Which reminds me that we really should look into a gas grill. Charcoal takes too long.

We also do fun social things, too, like bike rides in Monterey or over the Golden Gate Bridge and go to museums and things and so we really don't have time for new hobbies, new dogs or really anything new but my job. And you can see that we have plenty going on around here. Note to self: we have plenty going on around here. Don't make life more complicated than it needs to be.

I'll report back and let you know how that works out.