Call Me

January 7th marked the first time I was on call since July. On-call is quite the ambivalent thing around these parts. Extra money vs. late night calls from crazy people. Officially, all clinicians are required to offer one week of call a month. They were understanding of my situation and didn't ask me to leave (or wake) a sleeping baby for a hospital emergency from August to December. Saturday night I got two calls, er maybe three but two for the same person. In any case, I relished the thought of the increase in my paycheck (the plus side) for spending nearly two hours on the phone and at the hospital. Plus, I get to bond with the ER staff which is always fun. I like having the freedom to walk and sit behind the counter where patients are not allowed. It's like a backstage pass to the hospital.

I was so happy to have a call-free Sunday. (One time I got a call five minutes after sacrament started. Not fun.) Monday was an anticipated stressful day. I hadn't finished my time sheets for the week before (my fault) and every hour was scheduled, even lunch hour. It was crazy insane and I got home from work feeling...angry. A rare feeling for me, but it was present nonetheless. I fed the princess and slid into a vortex of Gilmore Girls interrupted only by a quick baking of a chocolate cake for highly unhealthy coping skills. I was still in my vortex of GG when the on-call phone rang at 11:30. Overdose and hospital was all I needed to know (and the client's name) and I dressed, went to the office to print out the client info because I knew this time she would be admitted to the not-so-local state hospital, before meeting the client. I am psychic, we'll just go with that.

The ER doctor is amazing. He waited until all the labs were back and she was medically cleared to call me (less wait for me!) and I just had to come, do the paperwork and send it to the hospital to get it approved. Then the doctor at the other hospital wanted follow up labs and we had to wait an hour and a half. About 2:30 I leave the office and go home. GG still paused. I change and nuzzle back into the couch to decompress from three hours at the ER with the great staff and to be honest, rather loopy/deep conversations. I dozed off with attempts to calcluate how FIVE hours thus far of actual service while on call would inflate my next paycheck.

4:48 - Henley is up. Screaming. Arching the back. Fighting any comfort. I love gas. She finally went back down about an hour later (totally guessing here) and we both slept until 7:30.

Today will be a very interesting work day.