So the day turns into evening……

I’m getting pages up the wahzoo for work. Patients aren’t doing well - - I’m busy on the phone trying to triage some of the problems while trying to set up the new payment program at the same time. Hey - I can seriously multitask when I have to!

I get called out to one patient - 45 minutes away. I drive out there…on her front doorstep, I get a page about another patient..an hour away from where I was. I explain it will be about 2 hours before I could be there. I do my thing with the current patient, then set out on my way to the next. On the drive there, I make a phone call to our reporting system and leave report about the patient I just saw…and the fact that I was on my way to the next. That was 12:30 am.

I deal with the next patient and sit with her and her family until the patient’s symptoms are well under control. I leave at 2:00 am. I need to stop back at the office to drop of some forms. I’ve already decided that I wouldn’t be working my regular 8am - 4:30pm shift because I hadn’t slept yet…so there are some forms that the office needs from me regarding these patients I’ve been dealing with.

I stop at the office. It’s 2:30am. Got out of my car - - heard the door click shut, realized my damn keys were inside. I try the doors. You guessed it! Locked.

Well, shit. There I am - standing in a dark parking lot at 2:30 am in a bright white lab coat. I call the police. The dispatcher informs me that they do not do the unlocking of cars anymore. I explain my situation - - I’m a nurse on call for 80+ patients and I need my car for the rest of my shift. No go.

I call Chris - he’s in Atlanta this week. I say “Do you know where the extra key is? I can call Dad and he can take me home to get the key” He replies, “Yes - it’s here in my bag.” - - in Atlanta. /sigh

He calls Triple-A. Why didn’t I think of that? Triple-A alerts him that our membership expired 2 months ago (oops), but he could renew his services and take advantage of the member services immediately. GREAT! Except member renewal services open at 8am in the morning, Sir. Damn.

The police had given me an 800 number for an emergency locksmith service. I call. The lady informs me that it’ll cost $80.00 for a locksmith to come out. They take cash, check, credit card. I explain that I only have a credit card, but it’s locked in the car with my keys. She says, “No problem - they’ll charge the card when you get it out of the car.”

Feeling of doom. I then remember that my main Mastercard is sitting on my desk at home (I had pulled it out to pay for the new payment processing system that I was working on earlier - and left it on my desk). I had one other credit card - - that was really a debit card, but it would work because it works as a VISA. Then I remember - - - IT’S MY DAMN PAYPAL DEBIT CARD!

Gawd. I considered walking home (about 15 miles). I even considered taking a large boulder type stone to my car window. As I’m considering this - - my cell phone starts making that horrible noise that tells you only one thing…..it’s going to die soon unless I attache it to the car charger…INSIDE THE CAR!

It is now 3:15 am. Chris is calling all over the place from Atlanta. He even re-called the cops - - tried explaining the situation and how he didn’t like that I was out there at 3am with no ride and no means of communication (soon to be dead cell phone). He asked if the cops could at least give a ride since our city has no 24-hour taxi? They responded by telling him they aren’t a taxi service, Sir.

He is finally able to get through to my parents. It took about 20 attempts before one of them woke up. Mom came to get me…drove me back to her house and I took her car home. I got home at 4:30am.

Meaning to leave a message on report about those last two patients and about the fact that I wouldn’t be in at 8 in the morning. I grabbed the phone and sat down on the bed. That’s the last I remember. Next thing I know - I wake up at 8:38 - my pager is going nuts.

Apparently work was calling the police because they saw my car in the parking lot - - I had left half a message on report at 4am (they said it appears I fell asleep in the middle of it)…and I wasn’t answering my cell (dead) or my home phone (sleeping) and wasn’t answering my pager. They couldn’t figure out why my car was in the parking lot! Oy.

I don’t have to tell you…but I’m blonde.

As I write this - - here is an email that my Dad forwarded to me. He wrote the Cheif of Police this morning:

Sir:

This morning at 3:00 am, my daughter who is a Hospice RN for ******** ******* ***** was on call until 8:00 am with 80 patients to be on call for. She had just returned from Horicon on a patient call and went to her office for forms. She locked her keys in her car. She called the police and they informed her that they no longer do that service. She explained that she was a nurse and was on call for her 80 patients. They told her that they were not a taxi service. I can understand the reasoning for not using the police any longer for getting cars unlocked but COME ON, wouldn’t she be classified as as emergency personnel? If not she should be. I would have thousght that common sense would have kicked in at the time of the call and a car would have been dispatched to verify the situation. She called her husband who was in Atlanta and he called the police but with the same explanation. Since her cell phone was going dead, he called us and my wife went to pick her up at 3:00 am and she used our car for the remaining hours of her shift. I am asking you, shouldn’t there have been some common sense used here. I think that this procedure needs some revisiting.

(Did my Dad actually write the word husband?!?!? Yike!)

And the reply:

Dear Mr. ******,

Chief ******* is out of the office until Monday.
I will talk with him when he returns, and have him get back to you with a response.

Dennis *****

Gotta love Dads, hey?