Step one: buy a flight to Mexico
Step two: there is no step two
Yup, I just bought a flight to Cabo San Lucas for next week!!!!!!! Peace out snow.
I know it seems lame, but I kept going back and forth if this trip was wise with all the crap I have to do to get the year started off right. But it’s hard to argue with a free flight and place to stay (my parents own the place and my Dad offered me his frequent flier miles). Hell YEAH! Only 6 days til I’m outta here…
But first, back to the day’s eats.
Does the sandwich looks familiar? I need a little variety in my work lunches, but I love smart deli “turkey” meat so if it aint broke…
I also had an apple, superfood odwalla bar, and a baggie full of mixed dried fruit.
I got this “island fruits” mix at home, because for some reason dried fruit is way cheaper in CA (actually, everything is cheaper there). Pineapple, papaya, and mango (plus raisins and dried cranberries).
I like how my nail polish matches 🙂 Purrrrty.
Work was smooth sailing. Not much to say other than that. Since the unit was only partially open (all of pod B is closed) there were 3 nurses for 7 patients! Talk about a nice shift. There aren’t any cases until Monday, so my boss gave me the entire weekend off!!!!!!!
Combined with my other vacation days already in the schedule, this means I don’t work again until JANUARY 14th! Holy $%&#!!!!!!
Cabo here I COME!! Ummmm…I love my job? Who else gets paid to go to Mexico!?!
I was pretty much on a high for the rest of the day. Then, as if things could get any better, our most chronic patient (post-op day 108!!) was finally transferred off the unit (to an SNF, but still). I’ve never seen such a rough hospital course following open heart surgery. Everything that could go wrong, did, and yet, he made it through in the end. I never thought I’d see the day when this patient was able to respond to my voice, let alone hold a cup of apple juice and feed himself. It was truly a glorious day.
As I was leaving at the end of my shift, I stopped in to say goodbye to a patient that will likely be discharged while I’m away, and since I’ve been her nurse for nearly 2 months, she had a special place in my heart…well, apparently, I had the same effect on her. She hugged me tight and said that I’d made her hospital stay and it was her pleasure seeing my smile each and every morning. So touching! Then she said she was going to write a letter to the hospital about me. Awww…it warms my heart when I know that I’ve been able to impact my patients’ lives in such a positive way. For all the crappy shifts I have, it takes just one patient to tell me things like this, and it puts my job in perspective and makes everything worthwhile.
I left the unit on cloud nine…and decided to treat myself to a Whole Foods dinner. I still hadn’t gone to the grocery store, so I didn’t really have much of a choice – the fridge is empty! I knew I needed some greens, so I made a big salad with spinach and romaine lettuce, cucumbers, peas, corn, dried cranberries, and BBQ tofu…there may have been other ingreds, but I can’t remember.
When I got home I portioned out half into a big bowl…then added some honey mustard dressing with balsamic vinegar.
I finished the rest of the salad shortly after (duh)!
Here’s the second serving.
I had a mug of Spiced Chai tea with dates for dessert.
It was pretty hard to just have 4, but I managed. Can’t WAIT to sleep in tomorrow.
