Plugging away...

That's me, plugging away. I've nearly completed orientation for the technical skill portion of my job and am starting training for charge nurse in September. In October, I'll drop back to part time (I'm a 50% employee) and will begin training for the mobile units. Work is good but still overwhelming at times due to the sheer amount of information I need to take in and process. I've done 80 venipunctures to date and have only had a couple hematomas and/or missed veins. Sometimes even the biggest, juiciest vein can roll on you and then you have to attempt an adjustment. And sometimes the vein knows you're coming with that needle (16 gauge, anyone?) and just rolls away again. They're like dogs and can smell fear and apprehension...I don't know how they do that.

I still feel like life is in a state of flux. My work schedule is starting to change which is reflective of what it will look like in a month's time--no more M-F 7:30-4 weeks. I'm still trying to juggle housework and cooking and the dog and my husband and still make time for me to exercise and relax. I can usually get most of it done in a day's time save for the relaxation part. That's harder to squeeze in. This is why it takes me so long to read a book, respond to email and make phone calls. I feel like I have to do all this other stuff, life maintenance stuff, before I can sit down at the end of the day or else if I sit down on the couch, I might not get off it again until it's time for bed. But for now I'm managing. Next month, tho, I hope to include a bit more R&R with Michael and Esme. Honestly, I don't know how anyone with kids is able to do this day in and day out. I feel like it's all I can do to keep my family of two moving in a forward direction every day.

Feels like Groundhog Day...

Maybe only a little, but basically I wake up and it's the same day over and over again. I've been working my new job for 5 weeks now and it's going really well. I have performed 32 out of 32 attempted venipunctures and have only had one QNS (quantity not sufficient). It wasn't 100% my fault as she had only one vein I could use and it was small and she wanted a small needle and I got it in the vein but the flow was so slow that I had to pull the needle out when it took 10 min. to get only 300 grams of blood. Most people donate the full 565 gm (that includes the wt of the bag and anticoagulant) in approx. 6 minutes or so. Anyway, it sucks when that happens because you feel like you wasted the donor's time and the blood can't be used for anything. Research might do something with it but it's definitely not enough to use for a patient.

Anyway, work is going well. I'm still in training for the actual day-to-day job responsibilities and in September I'll start charge nurse training. I'll still be full time (more or less) but will plan to spend 1 day a week at my other job. Hopefully there will be one shift/week for me but if not I'll be at the blood center instead. I won't go down to part time until sometime in October or November. That'll be kind of nice since it's good to earn the extra money but, good lord, could I use a weekday for some life maintenance.

The thing is that I get up between 5 and 5:30 in the morning and leave the house between 6:30 and 6:50 depending on what time I have to be at work. By the time I get home, work out, make dinner, walk the dog, clean up the kitchen and/or do other chores then shower, it's close to 9 pm and that's bedtime anyway. It's hard to find time to sit down and send an email and when I do get on my computer these days it's been spent communicating with my financial planner and trying to set up online pymts for my student loans. I have stuff I want to do and friends with whom I want to check in and I'm so tired and feel like I have so little time that not enough gets done. Saturdays are spent going to the market and taking the dog on long walks and then taking a big family nap in the afternoon. I feel like I could just sleep the day away. By Sunday, I have my tennis clinic and then we do chores around the house or visit with friends and before you know it it's Sunday night and time to get ready for the work week ahead. Which is what I'm doing right now. Which means I need to be finished with this and go make lunches for Michael and me for tomorrow. And so it begins again...