This is part of Ali Edwards’ monthly day in the life project. In 2013 I am documenting a day at the end of each month and including it as an insert in my Project Life album. This month was done on Tuesday, April 30.
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4:30am – My alarm goes off. Meredith nurses for awhile and I hit snooze three times.
5:00am – Out of bed! I let the dogs out and tidy up in the kitchen. I hear Meredith wailing from down the hall so I go nurse her again but she is awake. This means I won’t be able to do my morning Bible study, so I go ahead and get us dressed, put on makeup, stuff some diapers, make coffee, and wake up David.
6:09am – We are out the door. I drop Meredith at daycare at 6:17am and it goes well as usual. She is quiet and tolerates my excessive hugging and kissing, but hardly looks at me as I leave.
6:20am – I drive to work, drink coffee, and eat breakfast (refrigerator oatmeal and a banana) on the way. Today I am actually in between audiobooks and have no podcasts on deck so I listen to nothing and just think.
7:10am – I park and get on the shuttle. I pull out a new book I’m just starting for book club – The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. I read while I ride, then as I’m walking to my floor since it’s several buildings and elevator rides away.
7:27am – Clock in. Write down my patient assignment for the day and set up.
7:35am – My first patient is here so I get his IV started. I begin texting with my friend Lauren about the book Matched by Ally Condie which I just finished.
8:00am – I work on the computer (charting for work but also updating Goodreads, writing a Yelp review, sending an Evite, and checking email). Our pharmacy is running slow and I’m waiting on meds to be delivered. During this time I also text with my husband to check in and we discuss our financial situation.
9:20am – I finally get patient #1’s infusion begun. It’s only 15 minutes long and then I discharge him. I work on and place a large Amazon order.
10:00am – My second patient arrives. It’s her first chemo so I spend awhile talking with her. I access her port and draw labs. Again I’m waiting on meds to arrive so I do computer work – charting and start an email to a friend.
11:00am – Finish a couple long emails to friends. Still waiting on meds!! They are so slow today.
12:00pm – Lunchtime! Today a drug rep brought us salad from Gringo’s along with chips & queso. Yum.
12:45pm – I can finally start the premeds on patient #2.
1:05pm – Chemo is up and running on patient #2. I do a little blog reading.
1:53pm – My third patient arrives. I start her IV and wait on meds.
2:45pm – I start the infusion on patient #3 and catch up on all my charting.
3:00pm – I discharge patient #3 and discharge a patient for my coworker. Then I finish reading all the posts in my Feedly reader.
4:10pm – I get patient #2’s second infusion started then give report to a coworker. I forgot to chart some meds so I do that real quick and then clock out at 4:17pm and head to the shuttle.
4:37pm – I’m in my car and headed home! Starbucks stop, oops.
5:30pm – I stop off at a friend’s house to pick up a bunch of cloth diapers she’s no longer using.
6:05pm – I get to my in-laws’ house where David and Meredith await me. We talk about our days and I nurse Meredith, we eat dinner (hot dogs, fruit salad, carrots & dip), play outside with our nephew and niece, I talk books with my brother-in-law Scott.
7:17pm – We leave. I take Meredith by Famous Footwear and Target to look for sandals for her, but no luck. (Spoiler: we ended up buying these for her the next day.)
7:40pm – At home again and I feed the dogs and tidy up. I pull out the huge pile of diapers we just added to our stash. Super excited about them. Soon Meredith starts tantruming. We take a shower and afterwards she gets very attached to her towel and won’t let it go. We dress and get ready for bed.
8:50pm – I nurse Meredith in bed and she falls asleep. David comes home from a quick trip to the bookstore and we talk for awhile.
9:50pm – Sleep time for me!
Notes:
>This took place on the 30th which was a normal Tuesday. It was much harder to document when I had to work (and I failed to get many pictures during the day because of patient privacy issues) but I did my best.
>This was an extremely slow work day! I usually don’t have time to do so much personal stuff on the computer, and normally I wouldn’t even have been able to detail what I did with my patients. Unfortunately even though it was slow I still left late because of one patient.
>I didn’t get any photos of David and that makes me sad! He doesn’t really like having his picture taken but I still want to. I actually didn’t see him as much as usual this day so I hope next month it’s a normal family evening at home.
>My favorite moment of the day was pulling up at my in-laws’ house and seeing David and Meredith outside waiting for me.
>Loving this project! I’ve gotten away from taking everyday photos so it gets me back in gear.
