Everything is going great. I just had my first 12 1/2 hour shift yesterday, and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Benefits are good; pay is good. The people are nice. The only thing I find as a problem is getting attached to some of my patients. I already fell in love with the cute old man, and it makes me wonder what will happen to him. He was supposed to leave today, so I had to say goodbye to him yesterday, and he wanted a hug, so I gave him one, lol.
It's come to my attention that people do die in the hospital. Two on my floor died over night before I got there. I have to do post mortum care, and I don't know how I feel about that. I haven't done it, yet, but it's obvious that I will run into death soon or later. I'm not sure if I can handle that.
It has also come to my attention that I would rather work 12 1/2 hours wiping butts (I haven't had to do that, yet, though) than to work 5 minutes again at Wal*Mart. I've helped give baths and dispose of doodie, but nothing that bad. I guess I made a good decision then. I picked up my last Wal*Mart paycheck today, and it was pretty substantial since it had all the extra hours for vacation and personal that I had accrued over my employment on it. I get my first paycheck from Ruby today.
I had my first clinical experience at Chestnut Ridge this week. I spent my first day in the adolescent unit playing Egyptian War and ping-pong with 3 adolescent boys. Not bad. They ranged from 13-16 years old. It's not like you'd think it would be. As I've been told, and I now realize, they are just people like you and me, but with some problems. I think the adolescent unit is more about anger management problems, bad family life, and some suicidal.
