I have finally broken 200! Granted, it is by less than half a pound, but I feel like I've scaled a mountain. I am now 11 lbs down since Boxing Day...still have a long road to go, though. Working out on the elliptical has helped...except that my Reynauds gets triggered after 40 minutes and I have to stop to restore circulation to my toe. I'm deciding if I want to hit the Y today. I went yesterday and could use a rest day, plus the little one is off school today and wants to snuggle up and watch Marx Brothers movies. On the other hand, with my work schedule I may not have much opportunity to get there this week. We'll see.
So I'm now in the feast stage of work: I'm working every day this week, including a double of sorts on Wednesday, and most of next week as well. I'm really enjoying the outpatient dual program: it's so familiar to me, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy evening shift. I'm getting used to the fact that the program out here is not as strict with its patients as the programs back east were. I mean, they're not irresponsibly slack at all, especially with handing out medications--in that department, they're pretty strict. But there's little things that fly here that wouldn't have flown back east.
Such as fake urine. Occasionally patients try to slip us tampered urine. Back east, that probably would have gotten them dismissed from the program. Here, the staff notifies the doctor who then decides what to do...they tell me the focus here is harm reduction, so they tolerate a few more things than back east would. My mental jury is still out on whether this is effective...I guess I'll have to observe it for a few more months before I can make a fair judgment call.
In the meanwhile, I've gotten a crash course in detecting fake urine. Temperature is a big one: you know a sample that is too cold is probably tampered with...but did you know that the sample being too hot is also a red flag? I'm learning how to detect possible suspect urine by feeling the cup. Plus I learned a few other things that I'll keep as trade secrets.
I found an inpatient per-diem job--not at my current facility--that I may apply to. There isn't anything open at my current facility right now and while I'd really rather stay in the "family"...perhaps working at another place might not be too bad. Especially if they can throw me day shifts.
On the other hand, I also saw another job--again, not at my current facility--that is for inexperienced nurses wishing to enter the world of med-surg. It's not per-diem (big downside) and it is med-surg (not a favorite) but it is one of the best routes for me to get some non-psych experience that I feel I'd need if I did pick the nurse practicitioner career path. So I have to decide between the two...I suppose I could apply for both and just withdraw from one/both depending on what happens.
Though my evening coworker suggested that I could wait until I get past my new hire orientation and then ask the nurse recruiters at my current facility what options are out there for me to get non-psych experience. He said that it could work because as a current employee, I wouldn't need to go through most of the orientation, and I'm already getting proficient with the computer charting. Another thing to think about.
I found out my sister and her family have to move out to our area. I feel for my parents since both of their kids and associated grandkids are now all going to be on the west coast. On the other hand, at least the kids/grandkids will all be together. And I am kind of excited to be able to see my nephews more.
I'm (re)reading Brave New World. Not sure why...it was just calling to me,
