TGIF

I just can't describe how happy I am the weekend is here. I haven't had a whole day off in 2 weeks, and I am exhausted. I worked 12 hour days almost every day this week. The extra money is nice (we get $15 every 15 minutes after 3pm we work), but sometimes having time off is worth more than the money itself...especially after Uncle Sugar takes his share. It looks like I will be buying a new couch this year that I've had my eye one (not that I'll ever be home to take nappies on it).

The last two days have been fairly uneventful. I had a small bit of excitment today when I was "waking up" a 19 year old guy who had elbow surgery. I'm just now starting to do wake-ups by myself, so I'm pretty insecure. This kid woke up hard. He bit down so hard on the breathing tube (is it okay if I call it an ET tube now?), that he wasn't getting much air, THEN he totally went ape-shit on me. He tried to get off the table and started thrashing around. At first, I was just worried he would hurt himself, then I worried he was going to hurt me or the surgery resident, who had to practically lay on him to hold him down. Keep in mind, he's still hooked up to the ventilator and has an ET tube sticking out of his mouth during all this chaos. I called for any anesthesia attending to come in and help me, and one of my favorites came in. He's a big teddy bear, but I would never want to make him mad. The guy started thrashing around again, and Teddy Bear Attending told me it's normal for young men to wake up like that. He got him to calm down (by telling the kid the police were there and watching) and I got his tube out without any problems. I don't think I'm going to volunteer for any surgeries involving young men....not that I have any say in the matter.

In all though, as much complaining as I do on here, I really like what I'm doing. Anesthesia is way cool. The wild stories are fun to look back on, and in a strange, sick way...working hard feels really good. Resting feels good too though, and thankfully, I have the next 3 weekends off, and my 10 consecutive days off in October is just around the corner! And football season is coming! Ain't life great?