Here's to new Beginnings!!!

Yep, I started my Mon-thru-Friday day job today in PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit... Aka: Recovery Room)... I had to take an extra dose of Melatonin last night just to get to sleep by midnight (my goal is to have the kids in bed by 8:30-9:00 and for me to be in bed by 10-10:30... we'll see how that goes)...
So, it was a new experience for me... Got the kids up by 0630 and off to school(I mean, the bus stop) by 0655, got myself ready while Melinda packed my lunch and made our breakfast smoothie, was in the car and on the road by 0715 and clocked in by 0750, funny thing: it is almost 10 minutes quicker to get to work in the a.m. than it is going to work @ 6 p.m. (who would've guessed?... even with school zones and all)
I like PACU so far, the pace starts off kinda slow, crescendos to a peak somewhere between 12 and 2 p.m., then starts winding down... it's got a rhythm and right in the middle of the crescendo, guess what? You get to go to lunch!!!! a 45 minute, away from your work station lunch!!!! one of the charge nurses or a "floater" nurse takes over your beds while you eat... what a novel idea. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've actually walked away, sat down and had a civilized meal in the middle of my work day (er, uh, night). I've probably spent more 12.5-13 hour shifts without taking a real break than I have actually taken a lunch or a break period!!!
By the way... I figured it out, I have not had a day job (the Monday-thru-Friday kind) since I was 19 years old (I'm 36 this coming Saturday)... yeah, my last Monday-Friday 9-5'er was when I pulled cable for my uncle Mike @ Coastal Computer Connections back before I moved out west! Since then it's been hotel/restaurant hours until nursing school, then it became the 7pm-7am torture that my family and I have had to endure for the last 4.5 years.
So, I "shadowed" someone before lunch, then after lunch I had my own patients with someone "shadowing" me... on the average, the work is easy compared to ICU, it's really just going to be a matter of me getting my routine down, learning the paperwork, and learning doctors and their specific preferences (procedure specifics)... But I'm digging it now and everyone who works in PACU seems to be pretty cool (it's an interesting mix: a few O.R. nurses, a few floor nurses, a few ICU nurses, and a few E.R. nurses... oh yeah, and one CCU nurse) each with his or her strengths to contribute. Excellent teamwork and attitudes.
You want to know a crazy thing? When I clocked out 4:30 p.m., there was still a couple hours of daylight... I got home just after 5:00 p.m. where I was greeted by a sexy young lady whom I've had a crush on for more than 12 years now... then we commenced to get down and dirty for an hour or so!!!!





Yeah, we got down and dirty!!! you heard me right!!!




We put on our riding clothes, went out to the trails in the woods behind our house and rode our bikes and worked on the trails for a while!!!! That's what I call down and dirty!!!! You might not see how this can be so exciting to me, but here's the deal, usually when I get home from work @ 0800, I have just enough energy to get a shower and crash into bed, just to wake up in time to eat a little something, hang out with the family for 20 or 30 minutes (or tend to whatever kind of business that needs attention), then head off to work just to do it all again the next day. So the excitement comes in here: I actually have enough time in the day to do something other than work and sleep!!!!! Look out world, once I'm acclimated to my new environment (I figure 2 weeks or so), I'm gonna be one tough customer!!!!

Hey look, it's only 6:40 pm and I'm gonna go have "Family Home Evening" with my family on an actual Monday evening!!!!! Who would've thought? It's almost like I'm a REAL person... suddenly!!!!