I have had a few ideas rolling around my head to write about on the blog but I have had little time lately and I have felt half-delirious with the time I have had. I contracted some sort of viral illness almost 10 days ago and my head is still congested and my chest still hurts some from the bronchitis I developed. I had HOPED it was H1N1 flu so I could at least check that off my "viruses I am now immune to" list but no luck. Employee Health tested me, sent me home and later found it to be negative. So, I am now immune to some other ruthless virus of unknown origin but probably vulnerable to oncoming onslaught of H1N1 this winter.
Despite missing two shifts in the Pediatric ED to rest, recover and avoid infecting my compatriots I am not rested in the least. I have not been able to sleep more than 4 hours a day (since I am working nights) in the last week and it is starting to get to me I think. I did manage to scrounge together enough words to make a comment on a local news story today about the flood of psyciatric patients we are seeing in our ED, but that took what few functioning neurons I still have. It is a real disaster, our hallways are filled with patients on "psych hold" which is called "5150" here. This is all because the state and county are out of money and have closed up most of the major psych hospitals. As a matter of fact, Sacramento County is abandoning pretty much all patients in this county after withdrawing funding for ANY county patient being treated at UC Davis for any condition. This state is out of money and the Emergency Department is getting hammered as a result. for better or worse, the ER is the last place in society that can truly be called sanctuary and it is busting at the seams! So, when my head clears, when I get some rest and can write, I hope to delve into this a little.
I miss writing and really wish I had more time to both take some writing classes and pursue the many topics I care to write about. I only seem to get one or two posts out a month on this blog these days and only about half of those have anything worthwhile to say. Many, like this one, are just a forum for me to vent and chat and let my mind ramble about whatever I am thinking about. But, it seems many blogs suffer similar fates when residency starts. It is just so busy hard to find time for anything other than work, didactics and journal club! But I sense halth around the corner so I hope to have something to rant about soon!
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