I’ve been doing this every other weekend thing for about six months now. The nice thing about it is that if there’s a weekend I know ahead of time that I cannot be there, all I have to do is let them know before they make the schedule. I also get up to five days of paid time off even as PRN staff. So the time I was sick I still was paid. Next month when I’m scheduled to be gone for a weekend it’s marked as “time off”.

A few times I’ve wanted to ask if I can just do 3-7. They probably would say yes but I feel like that’s just being wimpy. Every 14 days, for 2 days in a row, I can work an 8-hr shift. I like having an established place and feeling useful for something. I have not worked the Summer wing since the summer, which is when I started this. I’m starting to think about asking to train on REACH sometime but I’m not there yet.

One of the aides this weekend asked me how long I’ve been a nurse. I was giving a resident her milkshake supplement and she was feeding supper to another. I said since 2006. And then I hesitated and said, no wait, I think it was 2008. She said I looked like I was 20 (she’s 19). I swear I will never understand how it is people can say this. The younger nurses are usually more bubbly but I seemed calm and mature.

It was 2006. I later thought about it more and realized, oh, I was right the first time. 2008 was when he graduated, not me. But I didn’t go back and tell her because at that point it was like, “Eh, what’s two years.” Same difference. And the hours went by, slower on the first day than they did on the second. A man called out from his room. Help me, oh please help me. His bedtime medicine was recently discontinued.

He was too sleepy during the day so his wife asked to change it. She called the next night, seemingly close to tears. He was calling out again and she could see him from her camera. I held his hand and he told me he loved me. I said I love you too. He had PRN Ativan which I did not realize the first night. I was standing at the cart to get it ready when she called. I told her at the end, please do not ever hesitate to call.