It's February! We're getting closer to Spring and seeing a little more daylight too. As I usually do, I'm sharing how I spent the first day of the month with you.
February 1 was a work day for me so I was up at 5am. I start the day with 30 minutes on the treadmill.
After a shower and getting ready for work, I had some oatmeal for breakfast.
6:35am - on the road. It snowed the night before so the roads were covered and it was a bit slippery but I made it to work without trouble.
I start at 7, get report from the night nurse, get my med cart stocked with fresh water, applesauce to give meds with for those who have trouble swallowing, a nutritional supplement for some people, along with items needed for checking peoples vital signs. By 7:30 I am usually ready to start my morning med pass. This is one of the longest tasks of the day. Most of our residents take quite a few meds and their am meds are ordered for 8:30. The state regulations say the meds have to be given within one hour before and one hour after that time. It usually takes the full two hours to do the med pass. We have a shorter med pass at noon.
I took a break from passing meds to take this picture through our patio door. We saw something that hadn't been seen much in our area - the sun! As a matter of fact, our area was declared the most cloudy place on earth last week, because prior to the 1st, there had been zero sunshine for a week!
I can't show pictures of residents, but here is something else that I spent time with. This is a feeding tube for someone who is unable to swallow. Behind it is equipment for suctioning and a humidity system for a tracheostomy. Some of our residents have sad stories.
Others things I do in the day are treatments, dressing changes, updating families and lots of charting! Our Physician Assistant was also in to admit and see some residents which means orders to put in the computer and print. That's a bit about my day.
We have been dealing with a real shortage of nurses lately and I was scheduled to work 12 hours on this day. I was all set for this and had soup in the crockpot for Bob when he got home. However, I had a nice surprise. A nurse that just works occasionally showed up! She had agreed to work, but hadn't got put on the schedule. I had some things to finish, but got to leave at 4:30 instead of 7, which was very nice!
I took this pic when I got home to show you what the sky has usually been looking like around here. It was back to being cloudy and gray. It was nice to see the sun in the morning, if only for a short while).
Bob came home from work and we had the veggie soup I had ready in the crock pot. (I'll share the recipe on Thursday)
After supper, Bob went to a meeting at church and I worked on the Bible study our ladies from church are doing. It's a study on Gideon by Priscilla Shirer. I really enjoy her studies.
Then I worked on a menu plan for the next few weeks, and made a grocery list so I could get groceries after work on Thursday. I've been menu planning like this for years and it really makes my life easier, in knowing what I have to get ready before going to work or knowing what I am going to make when I come home.
After I got that done, I relaxed with a little tv and computer time. I lit this candle in the living room - it always seems cozier on a cold night when a candle is lit!
It's 11:15 - time for bed! It's another work day tomorrow!
Thanks for spending the day with me.
