Part of my job as a medical technologist at a sizable teaching hospital is that every couple of months I am required to be “on call” for a week. What this means is in the event of an illness on a stressed shift I am the go-to guy for the week. We have a circa-1995 pager and everything.
So when our soon-to-be-departed night shift tech decided to burn through some of his accumulated PTO before leaving us for good it was up to me to fill his shoes. I’ve been working the overnight shift (11:00 PM to 07:30 AM) since Sunday night. This isn’t the first time I’ve pulled overnight shifts here, but the previous time is a little fuzzy in my head tonight, along with the rest of everything else in there.
Working overnight has been interesting in a bust that cycle sort of a way. My outlook has been altered, particularly my sense of time. Lacking my daily routine it has been difficult to figure out exactly what day it is and how long it’s been since I had a regular night’s sleep. I’ve lived in a perpetually loopy sort of between phase. I’m tired, but not sleepy. It’s a bit like being high. Plus, I get to see what life is like at 4:00 AM, just about the deadest hour I can think of: it’s very quiet.
Unfortunately, tonight I’ve mostly felt like I was about to vomit. It’s gotten better, but I still feel a bit queasy. I’m certainly dehydrating myself. I should have known something was up when I found myself looking admirably at the rows of Gatorade at the gas station last night. Staying hydrated at work is tricky. I can’t have any food nor bevarages anywhere near my work areas. Getting a drink is a process. I have to remove my lab coat and gloves, wash my hands, and move to one of the “clean areas.” I suppose it could be worse, but it’s still not all that conducive to proper nutrition.
This is my last night before going back to the dayshift schedule. On my previous overnighters I stayed awake for 36 hours to ensure I didn’t awake suddenly in the middle of the night and not go back to sleep. I wouldn’t recommend it.
