Birthday thoughts

I'm now five and a half weeks through my eight weeks in a row in the ER. Double ugh! In light of the fact that I feel progressively more brain dead after each shift, here are some random thoughts from this week.

• I had a great birthday. My mom sent presents in the mail before she and my dad left for Spain, and Hubby sent me flowers at work the day before my birthday (I was the talk of the ER!). I also didn't work for 2 days in a row, so life was great.
• While I'm talking about work, let me say that I am so over the ER. I only have eleven more shifts to go; they can't end soon enough.
• When children are seen in the ER, parents have the ability to call back and speak with a doctor if they have a question about discharge instructions or prescriptions. That doctor is whatever second year resident happens to be running the ER that shift, and I was that resident earlier this week when a mom called to talk to me. Typically the front desk takes a number down and has me call them back whenever I have a free moment since the residents are often in traumas or urgent situations; however, this time a new person at the desk put mom through to my portable phone without notifying me I had a "mommy call." As soon as I answered the phone, this mom told me, "Hold on a second" and then proceeded to place her order at Sonic. She then started to ask me her question but told me to "hold on again" and corrected the error in her order. Really??? After finally getting the story out and realizing this would be an easy problem to fix, I told her I was happy to help her but needed the number of her pharmacy to correct the issue; that's when she realized she didn't have the number to her pharmacy and needed to go home to get it. The call was priceless.
• Sometimes a popsicle can fix everything.