My nurses are gone...

And my Head Nurse duties are now officially over. The transition has been a little rougher for me than I thought and I am having a hard time letting go. It is more than a little strange to go from being the Head Nurse to being the outsider looking in... All new faces have appeared and changes are already occuring around me. There was truly no amount of emotional preparation I could have done to mitigate the sense of loss I feel...

Additionally, it was more than a little tough to see my friends go... I had to go back to my room after the bags were loaded onto the truck, because it was just too raw for me to watch them actually get on the bus, and I cried. These are my nurses... The picture is crappy and blurry, but I cherish it and it will probably end up framed on my future desk, because they are the amazing first group of nurses I had the pleasure to lead and learn from. I have to say, we rocked the hell out of that ER with 5 nurses, and not just out of necessity, but because we rocked! I could not be any prouder of the job we did, and it will be so hard to leave my Wisconsin medics behind if and when I leave.

Anyhow, now it is just down to the business of waiting to find out what I will be doing next... The mix of emotions is interesting to say the least. However, I just feel like a natural transition point has been created and I am ready to do something new and different. We shall see what that 'new and different' experience might be...

66HM5 out...

A momentous event...

I was lucky enough to do my first promotion today! What made it even more awesome was that it was the last promotion the 115th was going to do in theater. We had a fairly good-sized group of folks for how early in the morning Brandy's promotion was, which I was really happy about. I remember how amazing it was to share my first promotion with the people that mentor you and push you along when you are just tired of being a Second Lieutenant, and I was happy to see that people wanted to share in that too. Above is me pinning on Brandy's First Lieutenant rank.

Anyhow, we only have a few more weeks and my time here seems to be drawing to a close faster than I want it to, especially for the amount of work I still have to do. I know, I know, it sounds crazy to most people, but this has been such a great experience for me and I am just not ready for it to end. But, on the bright side, some of my friends will be arriving with the 14th next week, so I am really looking forward to seeing them. However, I am also anxiously looking forward to seeing family, friends and a particularly wonderful man named Michael. The push-pull of emotions is so strange... Wanting to stay and wanting to rush home at the same time makes for a feeling of guilt at times, especially when I have to leave my Wisconsin medics behind to work with a whole new group of nurses. It is killing me.

It is late, and I am a worker bee tomorrow morning.

66HM5 out...

The first couple of days of my new job...

Are now under my belt. I officially took over the ER two days ago and despite a myriad of questions that drove my old Head Nurse crazy, along with continuing to drive my new boss crazy, things are going well. I just wanted to post a couple of pictures, like a proud mother of her new baby... To the left is me, a few moments after writing my name in the Head Nurse slot on the board. It was truly an exciting moment for me! And only those who know me, and my neurotic little personality can only fully appreciate the picture to the right... My office, along with the rest of the hospital walls, are coated in whiteboard material... And as you can see, I have taken full advantage of it! I am thinking about requesting that the walls in my next office be coated in whiteboard material too. I seriously love it! My staff also included a couple of love notes among my lists of things to do like, "Type A personality meds," and "You're doing great! Keep up the good work." I love my staff, they are amazing and have made me look great so far.

So, other than the first two days being very long, and trying to get things in order, I have a feeling that this will turn out to be a very satisfying job for me. That being said, I am going to put my head down on my pillow and get some sleep to do it all over again tomorrow!

66HM5 out...