Up all night.

More on the subject line later in the e mail. This weekend was pretty darn relaxing. I did not have anything going on Saturday so I decided to watch movies - made it my movies weekend! I went to Smitty's for lunch and it's a place I like but have not been to in a while. They have breaded pork tenderloin and it's probably the best place in Iowa to have it. The thing I love about the joint is the fact that it's this little hole in the wall and it's a mom and pop place. They know the regulars by name and its reputation precedes it. I got work that the father has decided to retire and the business will be passed down to the son who has been working there for some years now. How cool is that. Breaded pork tenderloin is an Iowa staple and let me just say this place does an amazing job. Once I devoured lunch, I went to the movies and ended up watching Mamma Mia and Batman - Dark Night. Mamma Mia was so much fun and you can't help but like the show. If you're an ABBA fan, it's an added bonus and you'll probably be tapping your feet to the music. Batman was next and by no way was I disappointed. It was very impressive and I won't be surprised if Heath Ledger wins an Oscar for his performance as the joker. It's the best joker portrayal ever by far. I know, it's kind of weird to think that Batman can win an Oscar, but weirder things have happened. I'm glad I saw both movies. After the movie binge, I came back to the apartment and ended up watching two more movies on dvds. See, I told you it was a movie weekend!

Sunday - so this is when things got a little interesting. Work started off fine although my colleague had to deal with a couple of incidents while I was away. Things have a way of happening while I'm not around. As the evening progressed, I soon found out that one of the newer residents had some internal bleeding issue which was pretty serious. It did not help that this resident is one of the younger residents. The nurse was called and we were told to monitor the situation, but if things did not improve, she was to go to the ER. Since the other person I worked with is not a staff but someone who works for an agency, she was not allowed to transport the residents. I ended up driving the resident to the ER. Now, I could have easily dropped the resident off and left her there to fend for herself, but I just could not do it. She called her foster parents and found out that they were in the ER at the same hospital too. My thought was she would call them and one of the parents would be there for her. Guess not. She called, left a message with them and no one showed up. I ended up spending the overnight with her. We were in the ER at 9:45PM and she only got to see the doctor at 3:15AM. Can you believe that? This was the ER! Supposedly there were roughly eleven people in line in front of her. Kind of makes you wonder what would have happened if you were shot and whether you would still have to wait. The last time I was in the ER at a different hospital, I was whisked right in and operated on within a number of hours. Granted, it was probably a slow night for that hospital's ER, but still to wait for over five and a half hours to see a doctor in the ER is more than absurb. To make matters worse, the tornado sirens came on at roughly 3:30AM and everyone in the waiting room had to move to a different and safer location. I did not know that this hopital has a policy whereby if there is a tornado warning, the entire computer system shuts down and no lab work can be performed. So, I waited till roughly 5:30AM to find out what was going on and that was when I was told the nurses were waiting for the results of the blood work. This poor kid was resting yet she was neither here nor there and I know she was more than loopy. I received a call from our nurse at roughly 5:55AM who told me that she would be heading to the ER and I could leave for home. Since I drove the van to transport the resident, I went back to the facility and picked up my car. I left a note on the administrative assistant's desk informing her that I would not be working this evening since I'll probably be catching up on my sleep. Talk about a weird day. I had put a call in to Aging Resources letting them know at 3:15AM that I'll be making it in but not quite sure what time. I ended up calling my supervisor when I finally left the hospital at 6AM to let her know that there's no way I would be making it to work today. Thank goodness for comp time!

So, the time now is 2:40PM and I probably got up a half hour ago. It's kind of weird not to be working at this time of the day, but let's just say it was a wacky overnight for me.