In the still of the night

It's 1:40 am. I finally finished my work for the (day) night. I admitted a patient from the ER (mainly because his ride left him so he gets to stay the night). I wrote 5 discharge summary notes and 5 discharge instruction notes. I did a history and physical. I updated our patient list. And I have only answered a few patient related pages tonight. Good thing it has been a little quiet since it took me so long to get everything done tonight. I guess I could maybe try for some sleep now. Only 4.5 hours left on this shift.

The night shift has been nice in a lot of ways. It has certainly been a breather compared to my busy days at the VA. I have been able to at least attempt some sleep each night, although that can be tricky for a number of reasons: 1- my biological clock is all off. I am getting some sleep at night. I am sleeping in the morning and often the afternoon to catch up. I'm confused. 2- the bed. Which I have to say is an improvement. If my other call room bed is an F, which I'd say quite confidently, it is, this bed is a C, maybe C+. Actually, the bed isn't so bad as the pillows. Def have a Mamma Bear, Pappa Bear situation with no Baby Bear pillow to be be found. 3- pages. Pages every hour to give me updates on transplant patients. Or pages that really could have waited until morning and woke me up leaving me awake for the rest of the night despite a completely mute pager. and 4- I don't know that this keeps me from sleeping, but there is no lock on the call room door. Creepy. I even dreamt that someone came in and sat on my bed. Because there is no lock.

The food has remained marginal at best, although today I did state, "Every day they have mystery meat + carb. Why can't they switch it up with a pasta dish or stirfry?" Well, today I got my wish...something more like hamburger helper than the mystery meat over soggy white bread phenom that usually is offered to me. It sits in a "Warm" cart all night. ALL night. Milk and all. And canned food. I don't think the gov't knows how to do fresh food.

Speaking of food, my appetite is all messed up too. I have been counting calories for about a month with some success. Until now. I don't know what meal it is, what day it counts for, how many calories are in the cafeteria offerings. I seem to be eating 6 meals a day and supplementing with a lot of treats.

So there are definitely some perks to working nights. But it is also pretty confusing. Now I'm wondering if it's worth the wrestle with the call room bed.