So that dizziness might have been an ear infection in the making.
The dizziness stopped a few days ago, to be replaced by a clogged ear. The pressure in the ear--as well as fluid being trapped in it--kept increasing until the other day, when the pain hit. So I called my doctor. He's out of town, but the doctor on call phoned in an antibiotic for me...which was quite the challenge for him to pick out, given that I'm both pregnant and allergic to penicillin and sulfa. But one was found and I started it along with Tylenol.
I'm not sure, but I think my ear is draining...or the trapped fluid/water is escaping. Still hurts like hell though. I hope nothing ruptured.
I had to work two days with the pain, so I decided to take Monday off and treat myself to a three-day weekend of rest...well, as much rest as I can get given I have three tests, one discussion question and two discussion responses to post. I'm nowhere near ready for any of it...I'm trying to accept the fact that this is the week I'm going to tank on everything, and that I'll have to make it up over the rest of the course.
My mini-vacation from inpatient work was nice. My work was missed by some of the staff, which is always a bit of a compliment.
When I returned, they put me in the psych ER but let me play with the LVNs in the back...so my day, while hectic, was much better compared to the day the nurses were having in triage. One patient was manic (I always get the manics...) and we kept having to redirect her to remain dressed. The sad part is that the meds didn't touch her...she finally paced herself into exhaustion. The other was mute and very disorganized...he took direction well and was cooperative, but didn't talk. He also radiated tension like a bomb about to go off, so I pretty much did what I had to do and let him be.
Meanwhile, the acuity in outpatient seems to have leaped drastically. I admitted a few patients whose psych (non-CD) issues were greater than their CD issues...and I don't just mean depression, anxiety or borderline personality disorder: I'm talking about paranoid schizophrenia, schizoaffective and thought disorders. So I needed to take quite the different tack during my assessments...how one talks to a high-functioning dual patient is rather different than one who is lower functioning and somewhat psychotic. But the admissions went well.
