Does the exhaustion go away?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Ok thank you for your onsite! I guess the positive side is I am not driving! I have tried sleeping but it's kind of awkward and if I miss my stop I would be pretty screwed !

Aren't you taking the commuter rail from one terminal to the other and it's therefore impossible to miss your stop? I'd try to sleep on that part of the commute and then be awake for the subway portion. Try to take the E line as much as possible and if you miss the LMA stop, you can get off at either Brigham Circle or Fenwood Rd and walk through the Brigham and take the bridge on the 2nd floor. And if you ended up going all the way to Heath St, the train will turn around and have you right back in Longwood in 10 minutes.

When I relied on the MBTA and worked nights, in the mornings I walked to the C line so that if I fell asleep on it on the way home, I was only one stop away from my apartment and still walking distance rather than if I fell asleep on the D line and ended up way in the suburbs.

I did know nurses when I worked there who lived down the Cape and stayed at a hotel ~20 minutes or so away from Boston when they worked back to back days. If the increase in salary is worth the commute for you, you could consider something like that.

If you decide it's not going to work, isn't there a satellite Children's Hospital at Dartmouth location in Manchester, NH?

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Aren't you taking the commuter rail from one terminal to the other and it's therefore impossible to miss your stop? I'd try to sleep on that part of the commute and then be awake for the subway portion. Try to take the E line as much as possible and if you miss the LMA stop, you can get off at either Brigham Circle or Fenwood Rd and walk through the Brigham and take the bridge on the 2nd floor. And if you ended up going all the way to Heath St, the train will turn around and have you right back in Longwood in 10 minutes.

When I relied on the MBTA and worked nights, in the mornings I walked to the C line so that if I fell asleep on it on the way home, I was only one stop away from my apartment and still walking distance rather than if I fell asleep on the D line and ended up way in the suburbs.

I did know nurses when I worked there who lived down the Cape and stayed at a hotel ~20 minutes or so away from Boston when they worked back to back days. If the increase in salary is worth the commute for you, you could consider something like that.

If you decide it's not going to work, isn't there a satellite Children's Hospital at Dartmouth location in Manchester, NH?

Thanks for your input. I was going to do the commuter rail, but it just doesn't get you into Boston early enough, 615 is the earliest it would get me into town and I would still have another 45 on the train and ten of walking. I am taking the bus which is MUCH more comfortable and cheaper, but it has multiple stops once you get into Boston. I didn't think i would be able to take the bus either for the same reason, but then I learned that it stops at Park street (where I can catch the green line), and not just south station (which is useless unless you just need the red line, otherwise it would have been impossible because of the time to walk to the subway plat form, take the red line to the green line etc.). If I sleep through the bust stops I'll wake up back in NH and not at work, and that would be terrible. LOL. I do set my alarm though and maybe over time I can adjust, only time will tell. I won't throw in the towel yet. I will say it's an 2.5 hours of commute time and it really puts a damper on my ability to rest when I have two in a row. I did look into hotels, but the prices are ridiculous (like everything else here), and that would add up!

Thanks again for all the advice. As I said I will give it time to see if I can adjust to it, as I really don't want to give up this job because I like it so far.

Maybe some day i'll make enough to live in the Longwood Tower, omg when I saw that place getting off the train I wanted to move right in. Then I saw the rent for a one bedroom is 3300 plus 275 a month for parking. Changed my mind! What a gorgeous place though!

Annie

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I would think about renting a room or moving closer to work that way you cut your commute time. I'm not really one to talk as I can walk to my job.

Hppy

Hello Happy or is it hippy? LOL

See my above post, housing within 30 minutes, even 40 minutes of the city is untouchable unless you are a dual income household, which I am not! Even rent is out of control, thus I could not afford my mortgage AND renting a room etc, and honestly I have zero desire to live in the city unless it's not in the ghetto parts, and even then I prefer the country for living.

Annie

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Hello Happy or is it hippy? LOL

See my above post, housing within 30 minutes, even 40 minutes of the city is untouchable unless you are a dual income household, which I am not! Even rent is out of control, thus I could not afford my mortgage AND renting a room etc, and honestly I have zero desire to live in the city unless it's not in the ghetto parts, and even then I prefer the country for living.

Annie

Come to Indianapolis. Two children's hospitals (and two others have PICUs) and a 3 bedroom home in a NICE neighborhood is ~$150k. You can live on a farm outside of the city and still only have a 30 minute commute.

[Mergirlc, RN]

AnnieOaklyRN,

Just in case you're ever too exhausted to go home and have to work the next day, I recommend using Priceline (name your price) for a hotel.

I've used Priceline numerous times by bidding on rooms and have gotten a few pretty sweet deals. If you know your schedule in advance, you might be able to bid for a few nights at a hotel and the price may not be too bad. The only downside is sometimes there might not be a hotel available for the price you bid in the exact area you want, but you might be able to find one 2-3 miles away from wherever you work that is more in the price range.

Just to give you an example, a little over a year ago I bid on a hotel stay near Disneyland in Southern CA. Three star minimum. I bid $62 per night for a 3 night stay. I did end up winning with that bid and got the stay at a Wyndham Hotel. The advertised rate at that hotel for those nights on their own website was for $110.00/nt. Great deal! At lot of times it's just supply and demand so if they have a lot of rooms, you get a fantastic rate. Of course, if there's a big convention in town.....no deal.

Just a suggestion. Maybe you can use this, once in a while, to not be so exhausted.

[SiggyStardust]

Since you can't give yourself more hours of sleep, you should work on improving the quality of the sleep you do get. Tea and warm baths before bed, a good, cool sleeping temperature, dark and quiet room. Maybe even the occasional melatonin?

You should also try one of those "wake up with the sun" alarm clocks. I forget what they're actually called but google it and you will find them. Basically, you set the alarm and the "sun" in the clock starts rising 30 minutes before you're due to wake up. By the time the alarm goes off, the "sun" is fully risen and bright. I hate waking up early, but this clock makes it a lot easier because your body and brain think it's daytime.

[DowntheRiver]

Normally I don't encourage people to move to Florida, but if you're looking for good children's hospitals and country living Central Florida is the place to be. We have John's Hopkin's All Children's in St. Petersburg and Nemours in Orlando/Lake Nona. You could easily live in the country in both regions and still have a manageable commute. I live in a little town outside of Tampa and my commute is 35 minutes to work and about 1 hour on the way home. Lots of places where you can still work as a medic, too. You'll make less down here for sure, but we also have no state income tax and no snow.

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

That sounds tough! It's hard to work a 12 hour shift after only 5 or 6 hours of sleep. I have had a job with a 1.5 hour commute each way in pretty bad traffic and I am sorry to say it did not get better... only got worse. I lasted 18 months before transferring to a site closer to my home when an opening came up. I felt like I was wasting so much of my time commuting and felt exhausted all the time. A few times I did stay in a cheap motel or air bnb close to the job when I got out from work late. Later when I got to know my coworkers they offered for me to stay the night at their homes but I never felt comfortable... didn't want to impose. If you can stick it out for a little while will it give you the experience you need to get a Pedi job closer to home? Good luck! Sounds like a great job if not for the commute =(

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Thanks for your input. I was going to do the commuter rail, but it just doesn't get you into Boston early enough, 615 is the earliest it would get me into town and I would still have another 45 on the train and ten of walking. I am taking the bus which is MUCH more comfortable and cheaper, but it has multiple stops once you get into Boston. I didn't think i would be able to take the bus either for the same reason, but then I learned that it stops at Park street (where I can catch the green line), and not just south station (which is useless unless you just need the red line, otherwise it would have been impossible because of the time to walk to the subway plat form, take the red line to the green line etc.). If I sleep through the bust stops I'll wake up back in NH and not at work, and that would be terrible. LOL. I do set my alarm though and maybe over time I can adjust, only time will tell. I won't throw in the towel yet. I will say it's an 2.5 hours of commute time and it really puts a damper on my ability to rest when I have two in a row. I did look into hotels, but the prices are ridiculous (like everything else here), and that would add up!

Thanks again for all the advice. As I said I will give it time to see if I can adjust to it, as I really don't want to give up this job because I like it so far.

Maybe some day i'll make enough to live in the Longwood Tower, omg when I saw that place getting off the train I wanted to move right in. Then I saw the rent for a one bedroom is 3300 plus 275 a month for parking. Changed my mind! What a gorgeous place though!

Annie

There's no way the Longwood Tower is worth the price nor any of the huge apartment buildings down by Fenway. I live 5 1/2 miles from there and my mortgage for a 3 bedroom house including taxes and insurance is less than half of what you said Longwood would cost you. I have a personal driveway, too, and no parking fees.

I wasn't thinking of the hotel at Longwood because that's way too expensive but a hotel that's accessible by T and cheaper. Sometimes there are good deals at hotels by the airport. There's also a Holiday Inn in Brookline and a Residence Inn by Fenway that are walkable and a Hampton Inn by Boston Medical Center which several bus routes that go right by Longwood go to. Those are the ones I know off the top of my head. I believe the girls I referred to earlier stayed in Woburn, which is about ~15 miles away but would not be as easy to get to by MBTA.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

The exhaustion is there because you are working long hours and your body is not liking that. I don't think that will change until you get better hours.

[Sierra Nurse]

Maybe consider asking around at work if any of your fellow nurses have a spare room to rent out between shifts. I took this route before moving closer to my work, my colleague liked the extra money and I was able to pay considerably less than area hotel and airbnb rates. Could be worth investigating...

[RK694]

Why don't you get a car?