Nurse Sean (dot) com

About a month ago I had a really crappy couple of days. I was in the middle of my classroom  portion of my ICU training. Interspersed throughout these classroom days was a smattering of “buddy” shifts. All in a span of forty-eight hours, during these buddy shifts, I lost three beloved expensive items.

These items were, in order: My very expensive Littman stethoscope, my very expensive and very amazing book Fast Facts for Critical Care Nurses, and My brand new iPod Touch.

I blamed this absent-mindedness on the stress of being a new orientee. However, the truth is that I had gotten into the habit of accidentally leaving things around at work–and expecting to find them right where I left them the next day–or even sometimes nicely tucked away.

This was almost the case in the ICU. My Fast Facts was quickly found in a desk drawer sporting a nice label proclaiming, “This belongs to Sean…one of the new ICU nurses.” My iPod was found as well. After giving up on finding it I heard an announcement that boomed through the entire hospital, “Could Sean, owner of a lost iPod, please call the ICU?” Apparently, the Unit clerk had found it and spent her morning going through the iPod looking for a name.

Unfortunately, my stethoscope was never found. I loved that stethoscope for no other reason than it was a present to myself following graduation from nursing school: a nice symbol of completion. I have searched and explored every nook and cranny in that ICU, and it has yet to turn up.

So, I declared it to be a sacrifice to the gods of the ICU, begging for good luck in return. Yesterday, I went out and bought a new Littman Master Cardiology. I freakin’ LOVE this new stethoscope. It’s just so gosh darn beautiful!

What do you want to bet that the next time I go to work, I will immediately find my old stethoscope? That’s just Murphy’s Law for you…