]I work night shift on a very busy Interventional Cardiology floor. I have been a nurse for a little over a year and I am proud to say I am a darn good nurse and proud of it :) My schedule is crazy, been in overtime since october. In the last 3 weeks I have worked 1 day on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on. I am whooped! This last 3 day stretch I had 5 patients that overlapped each other:
Pt A- PNA/CHF/ARF
Pt B- PNA/CHF/ARF/STEMI with heparin gtt
Pt C- STEMI with integrillin/heparin/dopamine gtt/cath next day
Pt D- STEMI/post cath/Resp failure on bipap
Pt E- Completely blind/MVD/waiting on CABG
See what I mean by overstimulated!!! My head hurt so badly!! I was mentally worn out. But everybody was stable for the most part. Each one of them and there families were wonderful and brought me dinner and on the morning of my last shift I got hugs and thanks. Its a good feeling and I am addicted to that feeling. Thats why I am so good at my job :redpinkhe
The ride home is 45 min. and I am starting to feel the tiredness. I come home to the boyfriend (has ALWAYS supported me and treats me AWESOME) and I am exhausted. My brain this am was so overstimulated it felt like my nerves were going to jump out of my skin. All I wanted to do is sit down on the couch and not talk or think. He didn't get that. He wanted to talk and talk and talk and go to the grocery and take the dog for a walk. He also works night shift. He wanted to also hug and kiss on me and I kept asking him to let me unwind and just let me be for a bit. I didn't even want the dog laying all over me. They both were pouting and thought I was in a bad mood and it was just frustrating and then turned into an argument later on. Even after we went to bed and woke up tonight, I still felt rough and needed to relax more and he wasn't happy with that either.
I really do not want to take care of anyone/anything at home after work because I just did that for 12 hrs previous. I feel selfish sometimes. We all know that nursing is much more than just passing meds and paperwork. Its a job that involves every single part of your body and being. Am I the only one that feels like this? How do your boyfriends/husbands/partners deal with you? What do you do that helps you unwind? I feel better now just posting this lol
