Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Tonight is Thursday night, our house just returned from an evening with our support parents. Our support parents are a local couple who agreed to meet with us once a month to check in and make sure we have food, beer, and a little bit of guidance. My day turned upwards exponentially once I returned from YNHS and headed out of the city for yet ANOTHER night of boca burgers, potato chips, and micro brews (third time this week already).

So...my day… For starters it is wicked hot here this week, I never know how hot it is until evening time, and even then, around 6pm, it is stiflingly hot and humid. So last night I tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time so I could get up for a 5:45 run, but around 1am while I was still sitting up in (actually on- because it was too hot for covers, obviously) bed wishing it was not hot (productive, yes, I know) I realized that getting up before 6am would be a bad idea before my 4th 10 hour day in a row. So instead I reset my alarm for 6:30...PM. I jumped out of bed at 7:35, 5 minutes after my shift started, and booked my butt to work, without contacts, a shower, proper breakfast, or any sort of decent hygiene. The day got a bit better when Chris (housemate) surprised me by hand-delivering a HUGE mug of strong, black coffee - I guess he had noticed that I left the house without my morning dose. Then it came crashing down again when I was informed I had to receive 2 shots and get a vial of blood drawn for testing. After LOSING it, crying, sweating, shivering with goose bumps, and demanding extensive literature on every single test and immunization they thought they were going to give me - I finally got the painless shots that hundreds of patients receive every single day...and these are the same shots and blood draws I am expected to perform as a part of my job… Next, I worked in OB for the afternoon and saw a lot of pregnant women, ranging basically from 16-22 (with a few older exceptions), and then I had to leave the room while the doctor was performing a routine pap because I almost passed out AGAIN. Then I asked my fat co-worker how many months pregnant she is. Ya...she isn’t pregnant at all. Oops.

That, in a nutshell, was my day at work.

Highlight: coffee and hearing baby heart-beats (note to self: suppress maternal instinct).

PS- after I wrote this post- one of my housemates got a phone call regarding a homeless recovering drug and alcohol abuser who had been asked to leave YNHS’s homeless respite apartment (middle ground between the hospital and the streets for recovery and rest) for violating the no alcohol policy. This man, who our housemates have developed some form of relationship with, came back to the apartments and broken into one and began stabbing walls and threatening the invalid who resides there with a used needle. This began a 5 hour discussion about whether it is morally ok, necessary, or inhumane to be able to separate your work from your home life. Tough day overall! - but hiking this weekend!