I feel like things are settling down before the next big wind-up.  I finished 2 huge certifications/examinations that I needed to study for and pass.  And I passed them, thank goodness.  Now, I’m starting on the night shift: 6pm to 2:30am 5 days a week for the next 2 weeks.  After 2 weeks are up, I’ll be going to 6pm-6am shifts.  Supposedly this will only  be 3 days a week, but of the weeks I’m scheduled, I’m working more than that for over half of them.  Hmmm.  Apparently, they need to hire more nurses!  I’ve also got a great big binder full of approximately 60 hours’ worth of online education that I need to get cracking on.  At least I get paid to do the online education at home.

I’m also so glad that I’m feeling better.  It’s fairly certain that I did, in fact, have the “swine flu” for the last 5 days.  As my husband so eloquently put it, I had piggy flu, but no piggy characteristics 🙂  It was miserable, but it’s not the huge scare that people make it out to be.  You really only need to be concerned if you’re pregnant, immunocompromised, a child, or elderly, which is the same for the “regular” flu.  Otherwise, you just feel like crud for about 5 days, and then you’re over it.  For me personally, the worst parts were the fevers and the coughing/difficulty breathing.  The house, the husband, and the dog were neglected for awhile, but they’ll recover.  Chris was a trouper and did his best trying to take care of me.  He kind of got a lecture from his colleagues, though.  Apparently he was at work and told one of the visiting professors from China that his wife was a nurse and that she got sent home from work because she was sick.  The Chinese professor said, “So why aren’t you at home taking care of her?”  Ha!  I’ve never met the guy, but I love him already!

I’m glad that the certifications are over, but I still have more classes on the horizon.  I’ve also volunteered to start working at a walk-in indigent clinic in a nearby town.  I’m not sure how many days a month I’ll be able to help out, but I’m excited to get going.  The clinic is almost entirely staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses, and doing  work like this is one of the reasons that I got into nursing.  I know that some people consider the homeless to be a blight, lazy, an annoyance, or tend to just ignore them, but working at my last hospital  helped expose me to the needs in our country.  I feel like this clinic is a small way that I can help.

Alright, my lovely readers – I’m off to the doctor!  After going through the flu, I figured I’d better get established with a medical provider in the community, just in case I get sick again.  It never fails to surprise me that even though I’m a nurse and literally work with doctors almost every day of the week, I still hate going to see them.  Oh, well.  Have a great Monday!