Fellow NHS staff, how are we all doing?...

[missmeg3leg]

....just that really, I know I’m not alone in being wrapped in fear as we enter wave 2-3, I’m exhausted & numb, for the 3rd time myself & colleagues are re-deployed to CV ICU tomorrow, my hospital’s cases have doubled over a week, high staff sickness / isolating, all but 3 wards are CV+ or high risk, shifts ever changing....sorry for self-pity but I’m close to breaking 😢

So sorry Missmeg. That sounds utterly horrendous. I can't imagine it, really.

missmeg3leg

Omg you poor poor thing, I'm so sorry for what you're going through, as for the parking ticket just wtf, please do try and dispute it if you have the energy. Sending love and

@missmeg3leg

Thank you raeray 🙏 like many in our position I am exhausted, physically & worsening mentally, we have a full covid itu, full covid itu no2 based in theatres & recovery, all wards bar 2 bays on one ward are covid, this wave is far far worse than no1.

I stood in the middle of itu today & almost in a detached slo-mo way I watched a patient being resuscitated, 2 new admissions being squeezed past ,another having a last visit & my patient begging me to shoot her.....😢😢😢

& to add icing on the cake I finally finished my shift & found a parking ticket on my car from the security jobs worth because I had parked in a testing zone car park space in my worn out state 13 hours earlier 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Urgh, getting a parking ticket after all that is just such a kick in the teeth! How tightfisted of them.

As I expected, I have been redeployed to ICU/HDU. Though the HDU isn't really an HDU, as the nurses aren't HDU-trained (might have one NIV-trained respiratory nurse per section) so we have to do all our ventilator adjustments ourselves, and there are no art lines etc that we might otherwise be using. ICU is fuller than first time around, and that's even with the fact that we are intubating fewer patients and holding many many more on CPAP/NIV than we did first time. Oxygen supply pressures have dipped on occasion, though not in the last week or so, which is hopefully maybe a sign that the demand is slightly less?

I only work 3 days a week so the pressure is not on me as much as the full-timers but still finding it hard getting used to the new areas. Plus it's very odd having an entire unit full of patients with exactly the same problem; makes it very hard to remember the little differences between them all, especially at night when they're proned and you can't even see their faces.

Sending love and strength to everyone else slogging through this.

Tired, exhausted and working all the hours god sends.

But still there’s always a social media commentator on here with a basket of eggs to pass to us old women. Just in case we haven’t considered the bleeding obvious.

@LostInWales

Spent the last three days re-deployed as a vaccinator and want you all to know we are doing our utmost to make sure as many as possible get this vaccine ASAP. I'm away from my usual position and in awe of how hard everyone was working to get it out quickly and to everyone who could have it today even if it meant not going home to families when they were meant to. Hold fast, we are going to do our best to make things better.

They are also working really hard behind the scenes to train people up, get retired people back in and create more places where the vaccine can be available. I know it's rubbish right now but there are so many people working like crazy to make it better for you all out there on the front line.

Same, I did 54 hours last week with vaccinating on top of my normal job. Would never complain as I'm utterly in awe of those on the front lines, could never handle that myself and have no idea how you are all coping. So glad to finally be do something to help, though I know it will take a month or two.

Oops, didn't see the full date lol.
Hope all OK out on the front lines. Can't imagine it's any better yet...

So hard when the coping strategies you've built over your career can't be done.
After a tough shift we'd go for a couple of drinks after work or breakfast after a night shift and chat about the day and everything else under the sun.....
We know more than most why we can't do those things but it doesn't make it any easier.

I'm a children's nurse currently looking after elderly care patients- many end of life, many Covid...it's hard!