What a week

I took Tuesday off since I worked Saturday and got called in on Monday. It was a wonderfully ignorant day filled with no worries. There’s something magical about a weekday off. It almost makes up for having worked on the weekend. I went shopping for curtain rods at Target, found them and then while looking through the DVD’s saw Ponyo and on a whim decided to buy it and watched it that night. I love Ponyo.

I got back to work on Wednesday and found out that my boss nurse (I’m assistant boss nurse) quit without notice and left around noon on Tuesday. What the heck?! Of course it had to happen the one day I was gone. I had no idea and nobody had called me. I thought they were teasing me when I found out. I walked into our office first thing that morning and was asked if I had spoken to her yet. When I answered no and asked if she was taking the day off, I was told I needed to sit down. Nobody said anything and insisted I sit down again, so I finally sat down. Still nobody offered any information and just looked at me. I could sense some sort of doom, and I asked if she wasn’t coming back. Finally they got it out and told me no she wasn’t. I couldn’t believe it was true. I like boss nurse. It was a hard morning.

As of Wednesday I’ve been temporarily promoted to nursing boss to take her spot until we get a permanent replacement. We’re in our window of survey where the state comes for a few days and picks us apart with a fine tooth comb. If they find enough wrong or if the same things are wrong that they found last year they could shut us down. We’re expecting them any day (they like to keep it a surprise when they’re coming). The nursing boss (now me) is responsible for all the nursing care given in the facility. Whoa. I don’t have the experience level required for this position (by law the DON director of nurses has to have 12 months leadership experience in a SNF- I only have 6. I guess the law doesn’t apply to an interim or “acting” DON, which is what our administrator is having me be in the mean time). Hopefully we find a replacement soon. I was told if the one other nurse most qualified for the position in our facility doesn’t accept the offer (she’s already told me she doesn’t want it) interviews will start this week, but in the mean time I have some awesome nurses and people at work helping me.

It’s been crazy. I’ve had to approve or deny overtime, write up a few nurses for doing something they shouldn’t have (which was hard for me to do considering they were all much older and more experienced that I am), and I’m interviewing a nurse on Monday morning to see if I want to hire her. That blows my mind and that’s not even a quarter of it.

Friday was so busy I stayed 3 hours late trying to finish stuff and still didn’t finish. I didn’t get home from work until after 8. Then I found out a friend from nursing school had passed away earlier that day. That was it. What little energy I had left that night had been wiped out. I’m crushed with this news and it’s still hard to accept.

The highlights of my week were: Watching Ponyo Tuesday night before the rest of the week killed me. Thursday night I was able to go to the temple. Talking to my brother on the phone on Friday. Yesterday my parents and sister came and helped me put up my sheers over my windows with the curtain rods I got on Tuesday. My windows look so much better! My dad gave me a blessing that I requested, which was nice. I’m still exhausted, but I feel like I can conquer my world again.