Whoo-hoo. Sunday night and I'm at work. As I start this post it is 1:13am, and tonight is one of those nights when I won't be able to catch a nap. The OR is still running, they are operating on some poor soul who has a bowel obstruction, and I am watching over a 20-something youngling who had his appendix removed today, and there are no beds available in the hospital for him post-operatively. Welcome to Canadian healthcare. At least he is a very nice young guy who is sleeping quite peacefully. I'll be the one struggling to stay awake.
Weekends when I work, I am the only nurse on nightshift, and it's a dark, lonely place here in the Recovery Room. I am working with an Environmental Service Provider, which is a fancy way of saying Housekeeper. I guess everyone gets to have a politically correct title these days, except us Nurses. Really though , he is here because otherwise I would be completely alone save for the nicely drugged up, sleeping patient I am watching. I hardly think that he would be able to help me if the boogy-man were to come and get me.
Anyway, the ESP is nice enough, but I don't know him very well, and he is well, a little odd. Last night he brought in a pillow for him to rest his head on during nap time. Know what it was? An empty wine bag that he had filled with air. You know when you buy a box of wine and there is a bag inside with a spout so it's like you have a little keg-o-wine? Well, he says you can fill it up with as much or as little air as you like, and it's quite comfortable. (Except for the tin-foil crinkle sound everytime you move your head!!!) He also has a tendency to listen in on conversations and add his two cents worth. So, he knows I've just bought a house, and he thought he would give me an unsolicited tip about driveway paving. The first time he mentioned it, I humoured him. Twenty minutes later he continued his lesson on driveway paving and tarring. Half an hour later, he discussed sealing. Another half hour later he remembered that you have to prime before you seal.
WTF?! I finally had to say to him that I really had no intention of paving, tarring, or sealing my driveway anytime soon, that the driveway actually looked pretty good. At the rate he was going, I thought he might actually want to discuss it all night!
Sigh. OK, I'm mean, I know. He was just trying to be nice.
I'll stop blogging now and throw him a bone. Maybe I'll ask him how to prevent ants from building anthills in the driveway cracks just to get the conversation rolling again...