Weirdness abounds. To start with, I had a very good night at work. Additionally, the headache that I woke up with dissipated with the application of some ibuprofen. I maintained good humor all night. I don't feel exceptionally tired, though I don't think that I'll have any trouble getting to sleep.
And the guy that works opposite me, the one who doesn't want to work seven on/seven off, has decided to go to an open split-shift job... and the person that they hire will work the sevens opposite me.
And I feel kinda bad about this in a way. I didn't really want the guy to quit working nights, he's a very good tech and a friend of mine to boot. But... he won't work the sevens, and I'm getting killed with only three nights off... and I was there first, dammit! It'll probably be a while before they can find someone to do sevens, though.... but I hope that I'm wrong.
But something really neat happened last night. There was a new nurse on, she'll be working PRN. Cute little girl, about 25 or so.
A coupla hours after I'd been introduced to her, she asked me how long I'd worked there, and I told her 29 years. She then proceeded to tell me that she'd come in about six years ago after being in a bad car accident, and she remembered my voice; she never saw my face, because both of her eyes were swollen shut. But she told me how nice I was to her and how reassuring my voice was and how much she appreciated that I was taking care of her.
And I think that I was walking on clouds the rest of the night. It's so damned wonderful to be appreciated, everyone feels that way... but this girl remembered my voice after six years! And after being heavily traumatized, at that.
So... as long as I'm being warm and fuzzy here, that reminds me of another story from aeons ago... after I had been at St. Francis a few years, I accepted a student into the program, a girl just out of high school. She was an exceptional student, and we hired her after she graduated. Several years later, I was working with her on a trauma case, and after we were done she said that she wanted to tell me something. I was really curious when she said, "You don't really remember me, do you?" This confused me, of course, since I'd known her for quite a while... then she told me that when she was sixteen, she'd broken her leg and I'd x-rayed her. She told me that I took a great deal of trouble to not hurt her and that I was extremely sympathetic and gentle with her... and that was why she'd decided to study radiography.
Warm and fuzzy.
Sometimes I really love my job.