Hi there!

I didn't have to go to work tonight after all. I was cancelled. I guess that's the opposite of being called in, you get called out. This has happened 3 times now and it's always a pleasant surprise. They pay you for two hours if they cancel you and call it "inconvenience pay". Whatever...I used the spare time to go shopping.

I started shopping early...that's for damn sure. Some uniform/scrub and shoe company had a sale in one of our conference rooms. There have been signs all over the hospital for the past couple of weeks but people have been writing, "Too expensive" all over them. So, even though I needed a few more uniforms, I decided to pass the sale. Then, my toe came through my 20 year old Nurse Mates. I paid 60 bucks for them in '87 and they've stood me in good stead. 60 bucks was considered outrageous back then and I still remember staring at them, trying them on...going back and forth in my head over whether or not I could justify 60 bucks on one pair of shoes. But, they WERE Nurse Mates and they WERE comfortable. Oh, and...they were sort of ugly. They were just big saddle shoes without the black stripe. Anyway, I was going to go shopping Monday for shoes...but last night my big toe popped out of a small hole that's been developing over the past month or so. I couldn't wear them like that tonight...so I just decided to bite the bullet and buy a pair at the hospital's sale after I got off of the floor this morning. (Actually, it was a function of the Volunteer's Office.)

I was amazed at how many different colors they had. White was the rarest color there was. Up until recently, I always wore white....uniforms, shoes, socks...the whole nine. But when I took this job, I gave. I had to buy new stuff when I started this job anyway because of all the weight I lost when I was sick. So I went ahead and bought a few pretty scrubs. Tonight I bought a few more. I found three huge clearance racks at the uniform shop at the mall and went through them with a fine tooth comb. I was finally able to find three tops and three pairs of pants. And...nothing that I purchased cost more than $12.99. As a matter of fact, most of the stuff was only $9.99. So, I made out quite well.

I also had to buy a new stethoscope. My old one was falling apart. The new one is good...I hate the cheap ones. I can't hear a thing with them and I wonder who in the world can. If you ever see one of the cheap, black (they sometimes come in other colors...you can tell the cheap ones by the stiffness of the "rubber" part. They should be thick and flexible.) stethoscopes, put them on and listen to your belly. You should hear grumbling. I never do with the cheap ones so I get the good ones.

Of course, I don't buy the most expensive...but I buy the best that you can at any uniform shop. They're about 30 bucks and they last for years. (OOH! I just remembered that I forgot to get shoe white. I still have some left over from my old ones but I wanted to get the kind that you buff on instead of the kind that I have. It's the type that reminds you of a Bingo dabber-type thingie.) I suppose they have places where you could spend a LOT of cash on a stethoscope.

I think I paid the same for my BP cuff as I did for the stethoscope, if memory serves. I don't trust the new ones. I like the old kind that I listen to myself. The newfangled machines will get you in the right ballpark, but they are nowhere near as accurate as the old fashioned ones. I'll take a BP manually if I think that there's a problem or if one of the machines gives me a dangerous BP.

Back to the white uniforms...they're tough to find. And white dresses are almost IMPOSSIBLE to find outside of a catalog or online. You can't try those on so that's no good. Things sure have changed since I became a nurse a thousand years ago. We couldn't wear so much as CLEAR nail polish because it harbored micro-organsims. Now they wear those hideously long acrylic or ceramic nails that are notorious for becoming infected with fungi. Yuch.

The white uniforms were great for a few reasons. First of all, I could bleach them! God knows what you carry into your house on those clothes. I would go straight to the washer, take off my uniform and toss it in the washer. Also, it's traditional. That means something. I can do without the stupid caps...but I like the idea of wearing a white uniform...it meant something. (I know there are a bunch of nurses out there saying that the caps meant something as well...but when I was in nursing school, the caps just meant that we were nursing students.) One more thing...when you have a confused patients...you can, at times, calm them down by telling them to look at what you and ask, "What am I wearing? They say, "A white uniform." Then, I would ask, "Who wears white uniforms?"

"Nurses.", they would answer. And then they would get a bit calmer. It works especially well with older people and they actually prefer the white as well. They've told me numerous times that "You can't tell who's a nurse and who's a housekeeper...they all wear scrubs."

Whatever. I think I'll get a few white uniforms next time, just for a change of pace. But, I did get some pretty stuff today! I can't wait to wear them now...along with my new shoes.

See ya!

Meg