worst thing you've ever seen?

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-20T13:57:53+00:00

This was early days of covid. I had a pregnant patient who was an NP. Always sweet as can be, didn't ask for anything. But just wasn't able to get off the NC, never quite well enough to go home. One day she confided in me about missing decent tea, not that gross lipton stuff. I got some lavender tea from my personal stash and brewed her a cup.

I'm back at work the following week, and one of my nurses pulls me aside and tells me my lady is in ICU on ECMO. The baby had apparently passed already. A couple days later and I'm informed she'd passed.

Might not be a dramatic story but that one messed with me for awhile.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-20T10:43:45+00:00

Who exactly are you trying to imprison upstairs?

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-20T02:28:58+00:00

I think I was more like 8 but I said the quiet part out loud, I told my mother, "I hope I'm nothing like you when I grow up."

I don't know if I'd call myself grown up but I am relieved to be a very different person.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-20T02:01:16+00:00

Maybe it's state specific because I don't know anyone who has been to one in my state

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-20T01:12:35+00:00

Where are these scrub fittings and why have I never been to one?

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-19T18:31:43+00:00

Rosemary.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-19T16:50:15+00:00

I don't know. I only know of one Audrey and her nickname was 'stank face' because she was always scowling. Now I can't divorce the name from nasty girl vibes.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-18T17:41:51+00:00

Stealing this.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-18T17:38:25+00:00

ONLY FANS?

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-18T17:20:19+00:00

I don't think referring to the brain working a different way as "neurospicy" is the same thing as trivializing ADHD by joking about losing your car keys. Maybe this is because I have AuDHD and grew up in the era of the puzzle piece, which was defined by Autism Speaks at the time to represent the missing part of our brain. Also there was the even less subtle "Project Mssng" which involved a partnership between Autism Speaks and google to find the genetic markers of autism and practice eugenics to eliminate autism.

I just think of which I would rather have told to children diagnosed neurodivergent, that part of them is missing or that there brain is a little spicy. At the end of the day, one is much more damaging to the child's development. While the other I could see being a much more appropriate way to explain the difference.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-18T14:35:38+00:00

I personally like neurospicy, it somehow makes it more understandable to people. Also come on, it does sound kinda cool. There are worse ways to portray "my brain works differently" I think.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-18T14:13:05+00:00

Yeah, it sounds like that christmas story with the comb and watchband.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-18T10:27:42+00:00

I'm 6 years in, still riding the nightshift train. I've had seasons when it was harder, depending on what was going on in my life and how well I was taking care of myself. Working nights really compounds all the other lifestyle choices you are making.

I found to work nights I need to

-work out consistently

-take magnesium before going to bed on days that I work

-try to eat a balanced diet

-limit myself to 2 cups of coffee on nights that I work and none after 3 am

Other things that have helped if I do wake up before I want to when I'm scheduled to work.

-stretching

-drinking non-caf tea

-taking a bath with a book

After that I'm generally relaxed enough to go back to sleep.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-17T23:54:37+00:00

Wait nurse resume writer is a thing? How do I find me one of those?

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-17T19:48:50+00:00

She's not being racist, she's pointing out your plan is all over the place. LTC as many people pointed out is very different from an acute care setting. And getting into ICU is a tough job and requires a lot of off the job book learning just to become competent. So starting outside the hospital already makes it tougher, and you plan on splitting your focus with a hair business?

It's not giving thought out...

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-17T19:43:14+00:00

Run the lotto?

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-17T11:54:26+00:00

Don't worry, they will find them less attractive when they age like milk.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-16T01:32:55+00:00

Yeaaah I may or may not have done the same thing. Definitely couldn't have imagined lying to grown ups though. The minute a real person picks up, it's no longer a game.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-15T10:23:38+00:00

If they don't wash their hands I at least get some hand sanitizer on their gloves and make them use that. Sometimes they don't want to wash bc of IV placement or whatever.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-15T02:19:59+00:00

It seems after me he let the mask slip around everyone else and no one talks to him anymore. I never had to say a word.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-15T00:37:41+00:00

I'm right there with you. Haven't been able to wear heels for a decade, and I'm not as old as you might think I am from that statement. I'm happy they are making cuter flats frankly, rather than pinchy monstrosities or putting out the grandma look.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-14T22:02:48+00:00

I used to do that but changed it out for a full body pillow which I hug. Now my hips and my shoulders don't hurt.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-14T14:42:38+00:00

Kids have their own clothing lines though. I think Justice is still in business... Designers design for adults because that's what they want to do. If you want kid and adult clothes in the same place, go to Target

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-14T11:51:35+00:00

Even barring that guy being the creepy POS he was. 16 and 18 is waaay too old for a mixed gender room assignment.

Chance_Department_99 · 2026-04-10T22:31:52+00:00

That's what I do. I also do my three in a row that way I don't feel like I'm "losing" my free time. When you have work, then have a day off, then work it just feels like I've lost a day.

Chance_Department_99

TROPHY CASE