Dear Sherri, Holly and Peace.
Thank you very much for your birthday wishes. I'd just finished a pretty horrible run of call. Worked Tues - Fri last week, then 730 to 2000 on Saturday and Sunday, and then from 2330 to 900 the next day on Monday and Tuesday, so yes, I started work a half an hour before my birthday started and then continued to work solid for the next 8 hours taking care of some very sick patients. *sigh* The good bit however is everyone pulled through the night and when I went to a new ward I would say 'what a way to spend your birthday', which was inevitably met with an offer for a cup of tea and a congratulatory message or two.
I felt a bit drunk all day yesterday with the fatigue, and only kipped a few hours here and there, but it was a wonderful day. My new friends at work baked me a gluten free birthday cake and sang happy birthday to me, gave me cards and a beautiful scarf. I came home to loads of birthday wishes on the telephone and e-mail/facebook and a birthday banner in the hall. It's a very weird situation to not wake up with your family/spouse on your birthday... But then my sweet hubby suprised me by coming home from work in the middle afternoon and spent the rest of the day with me! We went out for a very lovely meal at a restaurant we just found a few months ago, but have begun to frequent for special events. Loz and one of the servers know each other so we got multiple special treats, like glasses of champagne to start the meal and a lemoncello afterwards, complete with a chocolate truffle each at the end. Yum Yum.
I crashed as soon as we walked in the door (which couldn't have been any later than 9 pm). Ooops. But it was a wonderful birthday. Thanks for these birthday wishes.
Love,
Jeanna
