Whoever said....

"TGIF" CLEARLY never worked in a PICU on a Friday. And lucky me, I work every Friday thank you grad school! Fridays are always fun in the PICU....never enough staff, always too many patients, frequently opening up a unit to hold our "overflow" patients, nurses being stretched in ways many think not humanly possible.

YUP, I'm not exaggerating....ask any PICU nurse...Fridays are not fun!! If it's not our weekend to work, we'd say "TGISS" (Thank goodness it's Saturday...AND Sunday!!) Which is why I write my "Friday" post on Saturday....I was Just. Too. Tired. last night! After waking up at 4:40am to fit in a quick pre-work workout, then standing on my feet from 7am- 7:45pm, the thought of doing anything other than collapsing on my bed as soon as I walked in that door at 9pm was unfathomable!

But here is the quick play by play of my Friday:
1.) I walk into my assignment as the night nurse just smiles and laughs....on closer inspection she has sweat on her forehead, hair so frazzled it's barely in the ponytail, and something green on the bottom of her shirt (I'm just going to assume she brought green kool-aid for dinner so i don't get grossed out trying to figure out what it REALLY was!)

2.) I got the pleasure of meeting parents who upon entering their child's room found liver transplant paperwork on the bedside table. This child was not here for a liver transplant....but the liver transplant APN still felt the need to just merely drop it off....in the patient room....for the parents....without speaking to them about it! Great!! I know nothing about this....but who gets to explain this away!! That perhaps, in the future, your child may need a liver transplant! And this was NOT a mistake...this child may need a liver transplant....great way to find out (for the parents, and myself!!) Oh the Joys!

*NOTE TO SELF: As a future APN, DO NOT...EVER....just leave paper work regarding a life changing surgery for parents to paruse through. They will not appreciate it....they will freak out...they may have an emotional breakdown with the bedside nurse caring for their child at that very minute. Point taken!

3.) And finally, I got the pleasure of changing the diaper of a 4 year old who pooped a tennis ball....or quite possibly a baseball (whichever is bigger). Poor thing (the patient, not the poop)- it was big, round, hard....just like a ball (the poop, not the patient). No lie....and what's worse, as I went to weigh it (yes, we weigh our poop) that ball-o-poo almost rolled right out of that diaper....lucky me I did a little dance move and caught it. Nobody was as excited as I was to have that poop in my hands...or in the diaper...whatever! I just pictured it rolling across the room....down the hallway! Now that would have made for a perfect Friday!!