Sun. morning shift comes really late on Saturday

Two shots of tequilla (Jose, the sassy mexican) two hours ago and have to be up for work in 4 hours. Not too bad. A far cry from the assisted living days. Roll out of bed in Chicago after a couple hours of sleep, hung over, for a ride up I-90 to Madison. The subtle shake you get in your helmet at 70 mph on a pint sized sport bike is a wonder at coaxing even the most introverted headache to sing a lovely song. EEEEEEEEEHHHHH! Or maybe more like a high pitched WWWWAAAAHHHHH! How headaches sound? Do colors cry?

Anyhoo, much more responsible now, perhaps it is the fact people can keel over now where I work. "Oh yah, ol' dude, in room 35....um yah, he died last night"

A lot to lay on a man prior to sun up, even without a hangover. But there are parts of the job that make it worth it. Like the guy whose room I got called into a couple of weeks ago. In such pain and delirium that he couldn't stay still. Constant movement. Blood shot eyes wandering the room, unresponsive to our soothing words. Slightly more responsive to soothing touch. You learn holding a hand is nursing intervention #1.

Last week he was up, walking and talking like he was a million bucks. I grabbed another nursing assistant and said, "Holy shit is that the guy from the 'I' last week?"

Yup it was. I'm glad he didn't remember me. Hopefully he didn't remember much of that night.