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| Bagpuss (1974) |
They are shifts I hate. Night Shift on Saturday night. (generally always a busy night) then interrupted sleep on Sunday daytime, and back to work on Sunday evening.
My face will look like bagpuss' by Monday Morning I can tell you (it's not far from that now!).
But, I know I am the lucky one.
Some of the poor sods I will be working with, will be doing night shifts over the weekend then day shifts some time in the following week.
Such is life on an Intensive Care Unit which is governed by an unfeeling computerised off duty system which couldn't give a flying stuff about circadian rhythms.
On my last shift I listened with some sympathy to one girl's story of how she had to try to balance 3 small kids, full time shifts, a husband working all the hours God sends, Christmas preparations and a rather convoluted house move.
No wonder her head looked as though it was fused directly onto her shoulders without benefit of a neck!
In a quiet moment , realising that my life is , in general, rather stress free ( apart from those bloody wardrobe doors of course!) I gave her a neck rub, which certainly pressed all of her relaxation-in-need buttons.
"why can't you be full time!" the nurse complained "I could do with one of these everyday"
"If I worked full time here I would be living inside a rubber room within 2 weeks!"I replied
and do you know what?
I BLOODY WELL would be
Hope it goes well. Jx
ReplyDeleteIf I had known you gave neck rubs, I would have been on the next plane to the UK. Assuming I could afford a ticket, that is. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Wales and the rest of the kingdom since 1974! Ah, well, an old girl can dream!
ReplyDeleteYour work week always makes me cringe and be thankful I'm retired and have only a cat to care for!
Nancy in Iowa
But I love Bagpuss !
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are in for the weekend from Hedoublehockeysticks. Take care and rest up after.
ReplyDeleteRe the doors. Collect long piece of string, two screw-eyes, and a small stone. Tie string to screw-eye on top of outer edge of door. Screw second screw-eye to back of cupboard, and thread string through. Tie stone to hanging end of string.
ReplyDeleteWhenever you-know-who opens said door, the weight will now pull it closed. Stop complaining.
Thanks Cro, I am rigging that up in my house as we speak...
DeleteIf you are Bagpuss,is Chris one of the little mice?
ReplyDeleteJane x
Better to be Bagpuss than Garfield, his sleezey grin is quite unnerving!
ReplyDeleteHope your shifts go well. When i've worked with part-time employees, they usually seem less stressed than those of us working full-time. I know in some cases they had probably just as much stress, it's just less of it was work-related.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can do your regular nurse shift and then take a day or two a week where you simply give neck rubs. You can't afford time in the rubber room: too many in your menagerie need you.
LOL! Those bloody closet doors!!!
ReplyDeleteI know you can do it John, see you Monday.
A neck rub? Oh. I love you.
ReplyDeleteHealing hands eh?
ReplyDeleteI will now have those Bagpuss mice singing "We will fix it, we will mend it...." on the brain for days thanks to you; hope your face, and the rest of you, recovers quickly next week.
ReplyDeletegoverned by an unfeeling computerised off duty system which couldn't give a flying stuff about circadian rhythms
ReplyDeleteNo. There is a person, somewhere, who has decided to use this system. The computer is only doing what is programmed to do.
There is interesting long-term research being undertaken regarding the possible negative health impacts of night shift/rotational shift working, and linking these population patterns to cancer, diabetes, etc.
So far, the limited evidence doesn't suggest that shift rotation "causes" cancer in individuals, but it does appear to suggest that shift working is one risk factor amongst many, when viewed across a larger population of workers.
Of course, if a nurse smokes/drinks excessively/is overweight etc., then she/he is placing herself at risk of cancer, diabetes, etc., anyway... Research like this can only say something about populations as a whole, not individuals.
I've never been good at working nights and thank-goodness dentists don't, and I also don't want to work every day either, and I'm glad I don't!
ReplyDeleteTake care, and I hope all is well when you return to your life!
here's hoping both nights go quickly for you,
ReplyDeleteGill
Intensive Care? Sounds like it's that for the patients - but no intensive care for the staff who are clearly just pegs to fill the work rota holes. It was kind of like that in teaching - oodles of pastoral care for the kids but virtually none for the staff - apart from that dispensed freely by your immediate colleagues.
ReplyDelete