Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006, 2:33 a.m. (can't sleep)~

Dear Journal~

I had a rough one yesterday at work; glad I am off until Monday! I NEED it!!

I worked the E.R. yesterday. As usual, it was pure-t chaos, absolute insanity! Every kind of problem imaginable came passing through the doors, and I had to try to deal with angry/confused/frustrated people and//or family members of those who were being treated.

I also had to help revive several people, including a little girl of two who fell into the bathtub (there was water in it), and when her mother found her, she was not moving. She apparently drowned when she fell into the water; she was pulled from the water, blue, limp, and looking more dead than alive.

She was brought to the E.R. by ambulance. We worked on the child for over an hour before doctors mercifully pronounced her dead. We found out that her name was Omega, and that she was two-and-a-half. She would have been three next month, on March 17, which was her birthday.

After the situation involving young Omega ended, there came several drunken gentlemen who had gotten hurt in a brawl. The smell of their alcohol overpoered me. They were very loud, abusive, and the one kept trying to grab my chest. It was all I could do to keep from lashing out and smacking the poop outta' him. Eventually, we got them all treated, and I was never so glad to see three people leave in all my days!

There were also the normal count of traffic accidents (including two fatalities; an older woman was going the wrong way on I-65 when her car was flattened by a semi tractor trailer; she was killed instantly, and the driver emerged with nary a scratch) as well as a seeminly unending flow of "non-emergent" cases: minor cuts and scrapes, bloody noses, minor eye irritations, skin rashes of various sorts, and whatnot.

This went on for twelve solid hours. I was supposed to have gotten off at two. I didn't get out of work until 6 at night, 12 hours later. I ended up working a double when one of my nurses failed to call or show up. (I will hvae to deal with her Monday. GOD, I HATE firing people!! It's one of the worst avenues of my job! I also have to end up covering shifts for people because they "can't come in for one reason or another", and so my hours are long and very difficult.)

I wanted to go straight to bed when I returned home; I had my family to deal with. That was the highlight of my day. I was in bed by nine, and now am up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I CAN go back to sleep; I am off today, which is a good thing, a VERY good thing! I am so tired!

If I have another day like I did yesterday, I just may end up calling in sick myself or opt for early retirement! WHEE! I('s a Miracle I haven't pulled out all the hairs in my head by now or commit hari-kari or something just as drastic! WHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

~Louie. :(