I'm sitting here waiting for a call... there is an ICU patient who is in isolation, and the tech who does CTs this evening is pregnant, so she asked me if I would come in and do it. The chances of her getting anything and transmitting it to her unborn child are practically nil, but all the same... I don't mind going in for something like that. Why chance it, when it's not necessary? I got my first call at 09:30, and I was in for about an hour. I was home about 15 minutes when I got called again, this time I was working until 14:30. Didn't do but two patients, but it took forever to get everything coordinated. I just called the hospital, they're not busy at all, so the other tech that's on (not the CT one) will do the patient contact, and the pregnant one will do the console work... so I probably won't have to go in. The patient has had the drink for about 90 minutes and still hasn't got the first cup down... time for an NG tube, I think. The stuff that we have the patients drink isn't really very good... yes, I've drank it, it's really not that bad, after all, it's for a good cause, y'know! But anyway, ofttimes we'll get a patient who just refuses to drink it. They don't like it, they won't drink it, and that's that. I would hate to be one of those people who can't stand to undergo a little discomfort. Someday it'll be their turn to die, and how are they going to handle that? I mean, after all, everything in life isn't roses.... wouldn't it be terrible to have to live your life afraid of everything that might be uncomfortable? Yes, I do have sympathy for them. But, like this patient tonight, she is probably holding up the line for a few other patients who need to be done. Where is the line going to be drawn, and who draws it? My sympathy is for the greatest good for the largest number, not with the one person who needs to be pampered. I've spent the afternoon trying to figger out samba, the Linux file-system sharing server. This is the part of Linux that has always stopped me dead in my tracks before.... So I'm reading all of the docs again, gotta get them driven into me hard little head. So, it's 21:15 and I haven't been called, so I think that I'll take my pills and go to bed. Tomorrow is, after all, another day.
Anyway... Karen went over to Lawrence to get Brian, and then she came home about 17:30 and told me how tired she was. I told her to take a nap and she refused... then promptly went to sleep in the recliner. She slept for a coupla hours, then Brian called and said that he's spending the night at Matt's. He was at Andy's originally, playing games on the x-machine or whatever it is that Andy has.