Sleepless in Seattle...err...Iowa City

I'm sleepy. Have I mentioned that I have to work night shifts now that I'm back at Iowa? Well, I may have or maybe have not. I'm too tired to care or look back on previous posts. Oh wait, I do remember saying it once or twice before. Oh the wonders of sleep deprivation. And how does one prepare for night shifts. Well, I start the day before. I try to sleep in late. This is usually no later than 9am. Try as I might, I can no longer sleep the day away like I used to in college. (Maybe this is a sign I'm finally a grown up...oh wait...that came while looking into life insurance and disability...) None the less, I sleep as late as possible. I get up, run errands, do laundry or, sometimes do nothing and just read. Then, in the afternoon I attempt a nap. Today, this was not possible. Sleep would not come. I shut the blackout shades, put the fan on and tried to lull myself to slumber by reading a book. To no avail. UGH. Therefore I am sleepy now at 1:30am and know that I have 6 hours to go. Now, when I get home despite my exhaustion, I will be unable to sleep because I drove the entire way home with the glorious sunrise blinding me. This poses a problem since I'll have spent the entire night indoors when I should normally be sleeping, then just as my body thinks it can't take anymore and wants to crash, I shock it with full-on sunshine. My brain doesn't know what to think... "why in the hell were you up all night when you should be sleeping? Whoa, wait, is that sun, guess it's time to rev up for the day..."

Eventually my exhaustion will overrule my brain and I'll fall asleep for about an hour before I wake up, toss and turn, fall back to sleep for another hour...and repeat. And what really rips is I have to do this all over again tomorrow night. So, as the night drags on I'm at least thankful that there have been no major crisis that have occurred to tax my exhausted brain. Although, you would be surprised how well I can perform under pressure. Now if only I can convince my patients it's time to sleep and not call me in for ice chips every 5 minutes...