There are two different moments at work.

When you're busy and things are going fast, you feel like there's no time for you to breathe, you're running for time and for things to get done, stat.. and then there's this period when things are going so slow, you actually find yourself wishing that there's at least something for you to do - as one being too free invites one to be disturbed/questioned or given tasks one just does not want to do.

On thursday, i passed to the night shift team 2 cases/beds,thus giving them 4 empty beds at the same time as 2 were discharged during the morning shift and I discharged another 2.

A nurse always looks at an almost empty cubicle in wide-eye dismay as empty beds spells admissions and the possibility of some being crazy admissions.

Went home having the slightest, terrible hope that the beds will get filled up during the night so that i'll recieve an almost full cubicle when i take over shift the next morning but it will just kill my 2 colleagues..

Morning came, and my colleague handed over the same 2 patients to me. Morning slowly went by and if i could telepathy to the staff at Children's Emergency (C.E.), they would be bombarded with pleading requests from me to send patients only between 9am-12noon. C.E. has a knack of sending patients up to the ward to be admitted at odd timings or when i'm about to hand over shift.. And sometimes they send up to 4-5 patients to the ward at one shot. 12noon passed and i prepared myself for admissions.. 2pm soon came and that meant the end of shift for me, so i will not be recieiving any patients but the colleague taking over me will have to recieve them. Hee, before the passing of report, Jane came up to me and said "Alamaaak.. why you give me so many empty beds?" and when Zhongqiu saw all the empty beds - in total the A side had 6 empty beds, her eyes enlarged and she gave a very loud gasp. Hahaha. Classic (:

Some good news (((: Sister has allowed us to try working a 5day-week work schedule since my ward has got enough staff now. It's only temporary tho' since it's an entirely new schedule for us. We will be trying it out for about 3-4mths and if all goes well, sister will consider making it permanent. So, please, ALL you must go well!

Met some of my poly classmates yesterday after shift. Almost all of us came from work, except for Nava since she's a senior in the ward and could easily ask for a day off. It was good time spent: sharing our nursing struggles and laughs.

One question first asked at the table was "have you already cried because of work?" - and the whopping answer was a big fat yes from all of us, except for Nava, again, who did her crying 10 years ago. (:

In case, some are wondering why Nava is unlike the rest of us; she has been working as a Senior E.N. for 10years before taking the diploma to get promoted to a R.N. Thus in terms of experience, rapport and well-known standing in the ward - she has already got all of them.

Dinner was at Breeks, HarbourFront.. ate the yummy melted cheese chicken patty main course, and brave Dani, Siti and Rozi took the half-chicken. Haha. Yeap, like one half of a spring chicken. Hee, it was funny how they were struggling to down it all. Alas, only Siti managed to conquer the whole thing. (:

Group pictures will have to come another day.

with my Dani-saur, the blur, always hungry woman who surprisingly could not defeat the chicken, whom i missed loads. (:

Took in-charge yesterday, and it was by-far the most busiest, heart-thumping day i had at work. Three children chose yesterday to have their blood pressures either unreadable or just too abnormally low or high. One child took so much time, her Bp plunged way down (at one point all of us four nurses covering the A side were attending to her, on top of the 4 doctors around her too - she was sent to HD in the end after she was stable to get the proper treatment/care)..
For the other two infants, after several attempts in taking their Bp, and still getting low results we called in the on-call doctors to review.. and guess what, WHEN the doctors are around the dinamap chooses to work fine and their Bps end up okay.

Furthermore on top of all that stress and adrenaline pumping issues , a MSW came to see my NAI patient and took both my patient and the casenotes down. I knew she was gonna come to see my patient,but i wasn't told that she will take them down to her office for the interview. Apperently she came at the time when we were occupied/running around the ward and told our ward clerk (who might have forgotton to tell me and by then have already gone home)
The scare i had when on top of all the Bp issues, i found that both my patient and her casenotes are nowhere to be found..
After much searching, waiting and randomly dialling a number out of our long list of MSW's names and numbers (none of us had managed to catch the MSW's name, by 6pm the patient had already came back without the casenotes - asked where she went etc and when her casenotes were still not back, i started calling the MSWs), found out that the casenotes were indeed with her and she was still not done with interviewing the patient's parents. Seriously.
If her casenotes went really missing, i would be the one with the plunging low Bp.

Enjoyed the teamwork and the people i was working with tho'. At least they made the day better and my seniors were competent enough with the knowledge and the experience when our patients' Bps went funny.

Why.

How.

When.

What.

Who.

Growing up way too fast.

Lola and Lolo are now back in Philippines. Missing them already.

Guessed their 3 mths vacation here in Singapore was a good break/change for them.. though am pretty sure they were kinda getting bored. My grandparents are still such a sweet loving couple despite being in their 60s..Lolo's still pretty fond of teasing Lola every now and then.

A living example (: