Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaaaanges!

I've been experimenting a bit; a phrase which should bring abject terror to anyone who knows me personally.

A bit of background; I work Dialysis three days a week (usually Monday / Wednesday / Friday, and alternate Saturdays). I also manage to squeeze in a shift or two a week at Nursefinders when I can; although the Dialysis schedule makes that difficult. But with Ariane full time at Nursing School, it's become more important for me to pick up as much as I can.

Hence, my lack of posting lately. Time is at a premium. I promise to try harder.

So, I came up with a way to maximize my work hours while keeping my days off. But first, a story from my youth. When i was about, Oh, say approximately 10 or 12 years old my mother worked as a Nurse's Aide at Whispering Pines Nursing Home in Valparaiso IN. During the summer we always wanted to go to the lake, but my mom had to work. One day I suggested that she work night shift, and we could go to the lake during the day when she got off.

"When would I sleep?," my mother asked?

Well, I never did come up with a satisfactory answer to that part; but the idea stayed perched in the back of my mind, waiting for just such an opportunity as this one.

So when I was trying to figure out how to maximize my time with Nursefinders while continuing to work my Dialysis job, that old story popped up in the back of my mind; and the first question that came to mind was, of course, "When would I sleep?" Well, let's see -- I only work three days a week (14 plus hours a day -- but only three days a week) so working alternate days would give me up to four days to work for Nursefinders. Ofcourse, that means I lose my days off, too.

So . . . how about if I just work around the clock those three days I work at the Dialysis clinic? Work 3am to 6pm for the Clinic, and 7pm to 7am for Nursefinders? That way, I still keep my days off (which I can take naps through, and still get plenty of rest that night for the next day).

Much to my surprise, it worked very well. I would do my Dialysis shift; then toddle over to some hospital for a night shift; then nap on the couch till noon; then run my errands, clean the house, or do the laundry, as needed.

So I was getting ready for work the next day last Tuesday night, and after packing mylunch for the next day i took some clean clothes upstairs and put them away. After setting the alarm for 3am I was on my way downstairs and had just taken that first step down when i felt something in my right knee go "POP!"

Pain. Sheer, grey, electric walls of blinding pain. I passed out, fortunately.

I woke up an indeterminite amount of time later lying on my back in the upstairs hallway with a bump on the bak of my head. I started to sit up --

. . . and started crying like a little girl. My right knee was twice the size of my left, and I was sure I'd broken something. We went to the Hospital Emergency Room and got x-rays; fortunately it wasn't broken, but it was severely sprained. The inside of my knee looks like a prune it's so purple. My orthopedist has me scheduled for an MRI tomorrow (Friday), but he thinks it;s most likely a severe sprain.

And he's got me on "no-weight-bearing" crutches, which has really screwed up the Nursefinders thing. For some reason most supervisors have a problem with a nurse showing up on crutches. No, I don't know why . . .

The good news is I've found a TON of time to work on my book this week. Expect an excerpt later this week.

~~JD~~