Oh wow, what a moron.
I’m officially tired. Of my job. I mean it’s great, I’m still feeling very lucky to have it, but wow - I cannot wait to graduate and be an LPN. Being a PCA is just so tediously tiring.
Or maybe I’m just getting tired of working. Last week, I worked five days in a row - big whoop, yes - but it was the first time I had worked five days in a row in over two years. And it probably would’ve gone better if I were not assigned to the most notoriously “heavy” (by way of work) group of residents, one of which decided that she did not want to live there anymore, and would therefore do whatever she could to make everyone’s lives a living hell until she was reassessed and allowed to go back home.
Little does she know, that if she keeps acting the way she does, and claiming that certain non-witnessed things are happening (if at her age you fell down every day of the week, you would either be a) dead or b) broken in many places by now), the only place she’s going is Long-Term Care. Not home. Never home. When you’re in assisted living, it’s because a doctor said that you may never live at home again, not even with a home care aide. That’s the thing with chronic diseases. They’re chronic.
I mean sure, once in a while I bet people just recover totally and are allowed to go back home. This type of thing happens just about as often as a complete reversal of osteoarthritis. Which is not to say that it is impossible, it just really doesn’t happen very often.
Anyway.
The moral of the story is: nobody believes a liar even when they’re telling the truth. Which is very important because one day, you just might end up falling. Whether or not anyone believes you is beside the point, because either way the nurse will assess you for any damage. The point is you are going to get a whole lot less sympathy. And when you’ve just about squeezed everyone of all the empathy they’ve got, sympathy’s all you can get.
SOOOO… I. JUST. WANT. SUMMER. TO. BE. OVER. So I can go back to school full-time. No more distance - doing a full-time course load via distance is just INFINITELY HARDER right now than just doing everything on campus. Maybe I just need a change. I like distance ed, I’m proud of myself and everything I’ve learned and accomplished by myself… I just want to do my last year on campus so that I’m guaranteed to graduate on time, and more importantly (because I will make myself graduate on time anyway) I will be guaranteed first pick for my clinical placements. Over the distance students anyway. And as full-time student I think I have more choices as to which area to specialize in for my preceptorship.
Anyway, I’ve already done two of the courses from next year via distance, so that’ll lighten my course load.
My hat’s off to those who go to school to be Health Care Aides, love their jobs, and continue to do them for the rest of their lives. The entire healthcare system rests on your (very tired, yet I’ll bet very strong) shoulders. Please keep doing what you’re doing. I will never forget what being a Health Care Aide is like (the good, the bad, and the ugly), and I will never, ever, ever, take one for granted.
Just a few more weeks. Then school. Then graduation. Then the CLPNA exam.
Am I a nurse yet?
