Exhausted

Flew early this AM. I'm hanging out in the off-duty apartment for a day before my next shift. Movies, snacks and lots of water with NUUN. Recovery day squared.

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Rockin the Rock

I love my job! So unpredictable. This is a few pictures of my first 24 hours this week. I am staying from Thursday to Tuesday and getting two weeks worth of work done in one drive. Oh yeah.
BTW - I was up for the full 24 hours and flying for 10 of them. So I'm a little tired, and itchy. Somewhere in Idaho is a bunch of fully satiated Mosquitoes.

Being lazy in the plane while my medic checks our equipment and the pilot and mechanics check the compass.

Yeah, we even have to calibrate our compass.

We pulled the plane out (WE is a very loose term) and the pilot drove (cause he didn't fly it) over to the FBO where we did circles.

While this guy (with the black case) stood outside with a calibrated compass. Safety first people! Safety first.

That is my medic asking him questions.

My job does not suck, now does it??

I dragged my medic and pilot to the "Boot Barn".  I was just curious as to what you put in the Boot Barns tent sale.  This weekend is the National High School Finals in town so lots of people are here and lots of stuff going on.  Plus, it's good for the community to see us and our badassness!

Sunset in the hot tub after my workout.  Very short lived.  I stayed on for the night to fly with the night shift nurse to take a aortic balloon pump.  

I was the pump nurse.

We had to fly to SLC to pick up the pump, which our program manager brought to us in his truck.  Here is two pilots, a nurse, paramedic and manager getting it into the plane.  it's heavy and we are in a loaner plane that is FAA approved to carry it, we (again, using the term loosely)had to get it fully secured.

If you notice a theme here, the company that manages our pilots and aircraft, AirMethods has very strict rules and follows all FAA mandates completely. Unless you have a plane or around a lot of planes it's difficult to even comprehend the safety that goes into air travel.  I have never felt unsafe in one of AirMed's ships.  The pilots are awesome!  They keep us informed and do such a great job.  This night I had 5 take-offs and landings.  FIVE!  Smooth as butter, all of them.  

Lucky girl, I am, working for such an awesome program at such an awesome hospital.  I wouldn't trade it for anything, even when I do fly all night.  The best thing about this flight is that we were able to transport a patient, with a IntraAortic Balloon Pump (Large balloon sits in the descending aorta to help with cardiac output) safely to a hospital better to care for his particular heart disease.

And that is what counts.

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Give me Strength!

I’m having one of those weeks.  You know the ones.  Where it takes you DAYS to do what can be done in one day, you always look tired and you dream of taking long naps.  These periods of time happen once in a while to me and I can’t figure out what precipitates it.  My shifts last week were not necessarily tiring. I had an all night flight, but I had plenty of rest and sleep when I got home.  I have just been dragging.  I have made it to every Pilate’s class and worked out every day but Sunday.  I thought if I gave myself a day off from the gym then I would feel a little better.  Not so much. I even drank lots of water and my favorite hydration drink, NUUN. 

I had a list of things I needed to get done when I got home from work last Friday.  I had calls to make, projects to finish and bills to pay. It’s now Tuesday night and I still have a cabin project to do and a phone call to make.  I could have done it all in a day, but magically dragged it out for 4 and tomorrow will be five.  The good news is, it will be all done before I go back to work on Thursday in Rock Springs for 5 days. 

After much thought in the past 2 days of why I feel this way I’m sure it is a combination of stuff. First, I think I’m a little depressed. This is what happens when I can’t run. Any runner will back me up when I say that injury is a throw down.  Add that to the stress Matt and I have with all our travels coupled with having 2 teenagers at home that are struggling to find their independence and I have a trifecta for sadness.  Another thing, I dropped my carbohydrate intake under 80-100 to lose the last few pounds I want to lose and that can make your energy levels drop briefly.  At least I’ve lost a few pounds!  Woot Woot!  Stress at work, stress at home,the never ending dog hair and the heat.  Tada!  There it is.  Doesn’t make it easier, but it does make it better to know the possibilities in my lack of energy and motivation.   It’s hard to be filled with too much self-pity when I realize how silly it is and how hard things could be.  Plus there are many times when I've had the same stress or even more and managed to keep my energy up and motivation going.   It could be my monthly cycle or (heaven forbid) I finally go into menopause!  (completely sarcastic)

So I took a long nap this afternoon.  I didn’t think I would sleep after 9 hours last night, but I did.  I owned that nap!  It was spectacular in so many ways. 

This is exactly how I feel.

Daniel is feeling it too.

So the pity party is winding down, I plan to give out the party treats and start cleaning up tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Blog on................

Day in pictures

Lots of watching TV, surfing the web and reading.

New Faucet installed by Matt.  I think the next thing is a new kitchen window.  It's a slow process, replacing old windows.

Our delicious local grown Pork.  Pork chops tonight for dinner.

Ended with watching "21 Jump Street" with Matt.

Lazy day.

Good day.

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