What I've been up to: now working in ICU

Having not been paying attention to my blog or RSS reader for some time, I was surprised to see recently that my Blogger profile still had my occupation listed as "GN." If you've read this blog before, you will probably note that I started it as, essentially, a coping mechanism for nursing school. But I posted on starting my first job, and then what? Here's a run-down:

• May 2009 : graduated nursing school and got a job in late summer of 2009
• November 2009: 1st job: the Progressive Care Unit at the ~300 bed hospital where I had been working as a ward clerk hired me. I started my initial orientation in the summer and moved off at the end of October.
• July 2010: 1st job change: although many of my co-workers were friendly and supportive, not all were. After suffering through some personal upheavals at work, I decided to move on... cath lab, OR, some other critical care area... I was just about to decide between going back to school in fall 2010 (biochemistry) or vagabonding around the world when I got a bite from the ICU.
• September 2010: 2nd job: the Intensive Care Unit. I was lucky to get this job. I don't know why they hired me, honestly, but here I am. A few weeks on orientation and, bam!, I'm on my own.
• December 2010: 1st major FUBAR: things were going so well and it was suggested that I might want to take on learning SLED dialysis. Then I screwed something up. No patients were hurt in the making of this error, but I had to have a disciplinary meeting involving the union and the manager said "Do you know how many times I've ever had to call someone into my office for [FUBAR error]? Zero!" Yes, that's me: if I'm going to screw up it's likely to be a unique screw-up.
• Today: ICU, but ready to move on if necessary: so I'm coming up on 6 months in the ICU soon, but I'm not really sure where I stand. I think the staff is split with some well-wishers and some who would like to see me go, and I don't really know where the management staff is.

The current situation is unfortunate as I'm in a relatively rural area where it is easy to take horse-back riding lessons, and I had determined to start learning mounted archery. As this would require no-hands riding skills, I think it would require quite some time to master, so I would like to have a steady job in this area. However, I've become resigned to having to move on if it comes to it. Hawaii, here I might come!

In the mean time, I've decided to just relax and do some reading and self-education. Also, start blogging again.