Exhaustion

"Beep, beep, beep." It's 4:15 am and my alarm is arousing me for another day. I get up, showered and dressed. Then it is off to the National Naval Medical Center. I arrive around 5:00, change into scrubs and then it is time to work.

I start the day by looking up the vitals and labs of my patients, then I go and wake up my patients and see how their night is going. Then I write notes on my patients and prepare to round. By 7:00 rounding is done and it is time for morning report. Then it is off to the operating room or clinic to work until ~4:00pm. Then it is time to round on our patients again, and if we are lucky I get to leave the hospital at 5:00. I change, walk to the car, and drive home and arrive home at about 5:45.

Once I am home I spend time with Caleb and Charlotte, have dinner, put the kids to bed. I have a few moments to decompress and if I am lucky I am asleep by 10:30. I often fall asleep in front of the television.

I think I should be able to function on almost 6 hours of sleep per day, but unfortunately I find myself dragging earlier and earlier every day. On Sunday I slept in till 6:30 and just couldn't sleep anymore. I feel as if I work in a dream. So for the rest of you out there who are sleep deprived, here's to us and a good night sleep.