Moonlighting

I'm tired.  I even slept when I got home.  I'm still sleepy and frazzled.  I have proof.
First, it was noon and I'm making a breakfast shake...at noon.

Second, I got my lids mixed up.

it doesn't quite fit.

Why?...
Last night I took a gig moonlighting at the ER hospital in town...

and no he wasn't there...you know who I'm talking about...

george

"I'd be a lot cooler if he was"...

slight adaptation of a quote from this movie...plus he coulda been there too.  that would have been fine.

Nope, it was at our new local veterinary ER hospital...a few of us local vets are filling in until the full-time veterinarian begins...

hubby filled in Monday night, the other associate at our regular veterinary clinic filled in Tuesday night and I took last night.
Now this isn't a tough gig...for the average man (or woman), assuming you are in fact a veterinarian of course.
However, I'll admit I'm not average.
I'm not being conceited here...
I have a phobia of emergencies...something I vaguely remember from my time in veterinary school.  I
I had apparently forgotten this, probably because even though I went to a wonderful veterinary college where we were well trained to be able to "hit the ground running" when our graduation caps and gowns were stripped from us and we were cast out into the cold hard world after approximate 20 years of schooling (counting kindergarten), there is just no way to practice being the only doctor in the house when the "really scary s**t" comes in.
Plus, I'm unfortunately not a glass half empty or half full type of person
but I'm more of a "oh my!  what if somebody with mono drank half of the milk and left their germs on it, or what if somebody slipped a roofie in that glass, what if the milk is not pasteurized and has Listeriosis????- there are so many reasons I should be afraid to drink it-
but if I don't drink it and put it safely in the dishwasher what if I knock it to the ground and it shatters into 5-million pieces and then I step on it and it slices a major artery (in my foot?) and I bleed to death?" type of person.
Really this is how I think...my cortisol levels are thorough the roof.

Now the past two nights it had been dead.  Ok poor choice of wording there. But there had been few calls and no admitted patients which I'll admit is not good for the bottom line which is not good for the hope of a life without having to be on call for my clinic.
However out of selfishness I was hoping for nothing serious to walk through the door.
Ok I was praying. I was praying hard.


So last night I found myself wrapped up in a blanket in the big kooshy red recliner in the back of the hospital reviewing the highlights of one of the emergency veterinary medicine books-just in case- asking myself..."what the heck Jennifer?"
I could feel the sweat on my palms...I can feel it now just thinking about it.
My head began pounding, my gut had a sharp pain and I was pretty sure a good case of stress colitis was brewing in there.
Plus, I missed my baby.

3 3/4 month pictures!

But while I was praying, a common saying popped into my head "If He brings you to it, He'll bring you through it"
Apparently God took my plea for a slow night to heart and decided, "I need to teach this lady a lesson about fear."

So then it happened...it began.
First was a kitten with respiratory distress...but luckily she was fine...upper respiratory tract infection...no biggie.  The worst part about this was just getting everything into the computer system which was acting up.
Then they came pouring in...well three anyway but that seems like a lot when you are in the middle of it!
There was a geriatric pekingese who was in a dog fight and had a broken jaw, a daschund who had been sick since the weekend (3-4 days...HUGE pet peeve of mine) who had very vague signs and no permission to do bloodwork or radiographs, and finally a very sweet, very large stature man in worn blue jeans and a flannel shirt and salt and pepper hair in a ponytail with a very sweet, very puffy faced chihuahua also with salt and pepper hair who was having a mild vaccine reaction.

Now looking back this is not such a big deal...add in working in an unfamiliar building, unfamiliar drug closet, unfamiliar computer/record system, quite a bit of paperwork and two new techs who did great (!) but were also a little unfamiliar with all of the above....and you have a slightly stressful, slightly time consuming situation on your hands.

Finally, around 11 everybody was taken care of and sent home and I again cuddled into my designated recliner, ER book safely stowed away...far away from me.  I call my husband to tell him goodnight and tell him what went down.  He tells me "well it sounds like everything went well, you were busy but if you have to have four emergencies all at once those are the four to have...at least it wasn't a bloat or a dystocia"
my good sweet hubby!
Relieved, I drift off to sleep when...
the phone rings...

Unless you are ever on call, you probably don't know the feeling of dread that rushes through you when you hear that horrid sound ...""bbbbrrrriiinnnnng,  bbbbbbrrrrriiiiinnnnnngggg"

A dystocia is on the way.
Really?
A you frigging kidding me?

I make sure I know where all the drugs I may possibly need are...
and I go sit back in my recliner...
The next thing I know Jane is waking me up because it's almost 7 am.
What? Where?  When?
The dystocia had her puppies on the way in!

So I think my prayers worked!

And look at who my hubby brought me on the way to work!

Check ya later!