an update and a thank you

So I think I finally passed that threshold at work, where even though I am still learning lots every day, I finally had a full load this weekend and felt comfortable with that. I didn't have to hang any blood or anything terribly time consuming like that, but I still had two PEG tubes (with feedings and water boluses), a PCA, an ostomy bag, a foley that needed flushing, two bedside commodes, one who needed pain meds every two hours, one on contact isolation...well, you know how it is. But I was ok. I mean, thankfully it was a weekend so it was quieter without lots of new orders and tests and stuff. But I'm finally getting comfortable, and I like that. At one point the commode fell on the floor and made a mess, and my preceptor (who is getting bored now that I'm doing almost everything) sighed, then turned to me and said "well at least that gives you something for your blog." It always comes back to poop, doesn't it?

Thursday night I work my first night shift, and I'm looking forward to trying that out. I'm a little worried at how my body will react, especially the next day, but there is only one way to find out.

David had a great birthday on Friday. I gave him presents and we went out for Italian (his favorite) on Thursday night, and thanks to all of you who responded to my email and gave him a call or email while I was at work. He got over 60 messages, some from some very old and distant friends, from all over the country and even one from New Zealand, which was totally awesome. At one point he started singing from that Bill Finn song, "(S)He was incredibly loved, and he knew it." So kudos to all of you.

It is supposed to snow tomorrow. Not sure how I feel about that. I wish it wasn't on a work day. Also I am missing the Capitol Christmas tree lighting, which totally sucks, even though it would probably be too cold to enjoy anyway. It just gets harder to enjoy the things in this city when it gets cold. We went on a very short walk last night to look at the neighborhood Christmas decorations, which was fun but we didn't last long against that wind.

I guess this is purely an update post, instead of the more fun adventure or just funny posts. But there it is.

Also, I had a weird dream last night where I was me but also sort of Harry Potter, because there was a huge snake in the walls of my very French Quarter mansion and it was coming after us (I was with the Dursleys) and we were trying to escape and then I was hiding on the roof and was going to slice open its belly when it slithered over where I was hiding, but I woke up before that part. I have no idea where that came from.