OH MY GOSH … What a weekend!  Pneumonia, DKA, hyperemesis gravidarum, S/P Cardiac Arrest (talking and smiling, no less), overdoses, alcohol poisonings, anoxic brain injury, R/O peritonitis, COPD exacerbation, GI bleed … and that’s just Sunday night!  Every patient I touched was sick (admitted or transferred).  This is my little country ER – not some big city (high volume) hospital … By the time I hit the 3 hour mark of my shift, I felt like I’d already put in a full 12 hours!  Oh – but there was so much more fun to be had!  In the back of my head, as I was walking briskly to the med room (you NEVER run in an ER), all I kept thinking was Danny Glover’s repeated line from the Lethal Weapon movies … “I’m too old for this sh*t!”  I made the useless whine at one point, “I want a patient with a hangnail – or insomnia …”  It went unanswered.

What [almost] makes it worth it:  One patient’s parting words … “Thank you for being so nice.”  My reply, “No problem – that’s what they pay me for …” And her reply – “No.  Not all nurses are nice.”  Awwww!    What will complete the missing link, and really make it worth it?  Crashing for the next 13 hours …