Well, it’s the end of the traditional work week for so many. Personally, I have been waiting for Friday to get here since last Monday. You might be reading this and thinking, “Did he say since last Monday?” Yes, I did. Last Monday, the 6th, I started my on-call activity for after-hour emergency room behavioral health evaluations.
Now, I have to say, we are fortunate we do not get overwhelmed with after-hour behavioral health emergency assessments. However, when you are on call, many things change. The most significant impact on me is the inability to get a quality night of sleep. I genuinely enjoy 6-8 hours of sleep a night. Well, usually six and a half. Those three or four cycles of REM sleep allow me to wake up with a burst of energy. Even if I get less than that, for some reason, I still wake up ready to take on the world.
So, Friday is here. On Thursday, before leaving the hospital, I stopped at the nurse station in the emergency room and let them know my daughter was having her middle school sports banquet that afternoon. So, unless it was urgent, my response would be a little later. As the PTO treasurer, I was asked to pick up thirty-six large boxes of pizzas for the event. It was my last activity with this PTO. Such a bittersweet event for me. As much as my children get annoyed or irritated with my involvement in school activities and having a relationship with school staff, I love it. Why? Because that is what my mom did. Everyone knew who my mom was. It didn’t hurt that I went to the same middle school where some of the staff knew my mother or other family members. I love the small-town feel that our community brings.
The evening continued, the event was great, and I came home. My son was just finishing his geometry work, and we drove—well, he did. My 16-year-old is now driving. Please pray for me. He drove over to the house where he is currently cat sitting to make a few extra dollars. My son loves dogs and cats. He doesn’t get that from me. So, after arriving home and preparing to retire for the evening, thinking I probably wouldn’t get a call, I dozed off to sleep. And then my phone rang.
It’s now 10:30 PM, and I hear, “Doc, we have a patient who needs a behavioral health evaluation.” In the back of my mind, I was expecting it. Why not end the last night of call with a bang, right? This evaluation was truly a fun experience. After conducting the assessment, the real work begins, and that is the documentation. Any time I conduct an after-hour assessment, I want to be as thorough as possible. Utilizing the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs Suicide Risk Assessment guidelines is my go-to. Ensuring that if the patient is not transferred to a higher level of care like an inpatient facility, the developed safety plan is detailed enough that everyone who might see the patient afterward can refer to it. So, it is now close to 1 AM. I am glad the hospital is less than 15 minutes from my house. I got home before 1:20 AM and am certain that was the last call for this iteration of on-call activity.
Back in my bed, I realized my daughter had to be at school by 5:30 AM for her 8th-grade field trip. I set my alarm clock and saw the time until my alarm clock was going off and I said to myself, “Lord, please allow this time to feel like 8 hours.” The alarm went off at 4:30 AM to make sure she was up and getting ready. I laid down until 5:15 AM. Once I dropped her off, I came back to the house to make sure my son was up and ready for the bus, which leaves at 6 AM. Even though he is 16 years old, he still likes for his dad to make his lunch. I don’t mind because I know one day, I will not be able to anymore. Now, I have an empty house. It is my post-call day, so I can get some rest, right?
Haha, isn’t that just cute? I have laundry piled up, work for my business that I need to do, and I will be caregiving for my mother this weekend. Understanding the requirements of caregiving for someone with dementia, I am going to use today to clean the house, go grocery shopping, and I just might have a sip of some of my whiskey or bourbon with one of my new whiskey glasses I received for my birthday earlier this month.
As I close this blog entry, I would like to take the time to thank those who continue to support my blog journey. I know I have not been the most consistent through the years, but I am in a much better mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual space now.
I would love to hear from you. Comment on topics you would like to read or hear about. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this and other blogs.
Happy reading and enjoy your weekend! Back to cleaning, I go! – Dr. D
Dr. Darnell A. Durrah Jr. 
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the nitty gritty off balancing so many responsibilities, your rest and mental health being one of the top priorities. So often, busy/dependable people let their self-care fall too the wayside or limit self-care to things that drain them even more (like expensive, far away destinations). But sleep, a tidy home, and a proper preparation are all ways we can send a love letter to our future selves.
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