Today’s post will be short, because I have a 7 AM conference call. Josh is supposed to be on it too (pitfalls of working for the same employer!) and we have hired Annabel to watch G and get her breakfast if she wakes up.
Her “payment” = 30 minutes of extra iPad time, which is more precious to her than any dollar amount would be.
Let’s hope it works out, but if not thank GOD our calls are generally audio (not video) and there’s a mute button that I compulsively check to make sure is still on!
Anyone else SUPER TIRED with everything going on? My normal sleep need is 7-7.5 hours. My current sleep seems to be 8+. I think it’s just the stress levels and constant state of vigilance. Will this ever wear off? I HOPE SO. Because I’m pretty sure my inability to wake up easily an no longer blamed on the one-hour time change that was over 2 weeks ago!
Telemedicine went well yesterday! We had some initial technical difficulties but were able to get around them. My patients were happy and appreciative to have their visits (questions answered, meds refilled, etc). Diabetes visits are actually pretty conducive to this because with current technologies we can look at downloads of glucose sensors, pumps, meters, etc — it’s not QUITE as good as a live visit (mostly b/c no on-site lab to measure A1c — 3 month average blood glucose — like there is in the office). But it’s a reasonable substitute for now.
Growth is a little tougher and I wouldn’t want to have multiple tele visits in a row (we need accurate heights!), but for one interval visit it’s also okay. Better than nothing and better than bringing patients in physically right now.
So, my current role is half GME (so many moving parts and a lot of stress there right now) and half telemedicine to see my current patients (and even occasional new ones). I can do most of this from home, which is great. I am probably going to be pitching in in some other ways too (probably some general peds online visits) but will just try to take things one day at a time. When I’m on call, I will be there in person but as of now that isn’t until mid-April.
(I wish I could speculate that things would be better by then but right now I’m not feeling terribly optimistic).
I added the orange lines to create a little section for nutrition/fitness and to separate meeting notes on the right hand page
25 Comments
So, so tired. I feel like I need a nap but if I do I won’t get work done in the windows when my partner is with the kids. This is exhausting.
YES. I think its the anxiety. I go through cycles of not being able to sleep well at night for a day (waking up and not able to fall back asleep for a long time), and then sleeping more the next day.
Sleeping 9.5-10 hours per night, and I am sleeping hard. I’ve also had nights where I wake up and can’t go back to sleep. Slept more on my vacations during residency. Let it happen! You probably need it.
I’ve also been so exhausted and drained all the time. Then half the nights have insomnia. Ugh.
My province put together an online self-assessment tool to help you determine if you should self-isolate, and one of the list of symptoms it asks is if you are experiencing “fatigue”. We were joking in my office that I guess everyone should self-isolate then. I haven’t been sleeping well at all. Good days have only 1 or 2 wake-ups and then I get back to sleep pretty quickly. Most days I’m awake for 1+ hours sometime during the night, thinking about stupid things like will I get things I need at the store when I go grocery shopping! Or less stupid things like will I get sick and die, or will I get sick and accidentally pass it along to someone else who is older/compromised and they die. I work for a long-term care organization and this is a very real concern….
I wonder if we’re in the same province! Have to echo everyone’s thoughts here, though.. SO. TIRED.
I’m really tired, too. I just feel like I don’t get much of a break these days with our son home with us. I guess back when I was going into the office, going to work was sort of like a ‘break’ since I was working and seeing friends and having lunches out, etc. Now I am home all. the. time. I mean we go for walks but I have to fit them in between calls and they are pretty short as it’s still pretty chilly here in MN. So I guess I just feel fatigued by life in general. :/ I had 2 video calls with 2 different groups of friends last night, one of which was book club. So that was really really great!
OOH! Video book club sounds amazing 🙂
You’re not the only one! Exhaustion and anxiety and stress and not sleeping and feeling off are all normal. I’m happy when I sleep and give myself compassion when I don’t. You are working so hard, your patients are so fortunate to have such an awesome doctor, and your kids have a rock-star mom!
Exhaustion! Oh my yes! I’m still going to work everyday. (I’m a clinic RN). I come home after 10 hours at work and just want to eat and sleep. I don’t have energy to even read anymore. And I don’t even have kids at home anymore. I can’t imagine how all you working mothers are doing this. Hang in there! I thought this article expressed our feelings very well.
https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief
thank you for that link- GREAT article. I will share it here tomorrow.
Here’s a super-random planner question from someone who’s a regular reader but almost never actually comments: are there any totally blank “notes” type pages in the Full Focus Planner at all? I really, really like the look of it, but I do have a couple pages set aside in my current notebook for things like lists of the books I’ve read, and I’m curious whether there’s space for things like that.
yep, 10 lined pages and several dot grid pages after that in the back!
Sweet! Maybe I’ll buy myself a present… I could sure use one right now.
I think I have a slightly different version than Sarah does…I bought mine this year and the fonts are a bit different. Mine does also have the blank pages at the end. Each day also has a totally blank notes page. The left side is the “planner” and the right side is lined.
I have the “bold” version
Ah that’s it! I like yours. 🙂
Agree 100% on the fatigue — I’ve been going to bed almost as soon as my kids are down every single night!
So, so tired! I’m sleeping alright but I just find the days at home so, so tiring. Struggling to focus on anything substantive and wish I had some busy work to do.
I am also exhausted. Usually I’m good with about 6 hours of sleep but right now I definitely need 8.
If you are using Zoom, you can put a virtual background up that will obscure your real background (including people who might be walking in back of you).
we don’t use Zoom – we go through an application tied to EPIC our electronic medical record. I am using my upstairs office which thankfully the kids know is off limits 🙂
Yes so tired. I think it’s stress but my 2 year old has picked an extremely bad time to start getting up at 5 AM (or even earlier) many days. But since I am with kids or working almost every moment of the Day it’s extremely hard to force myself to bed early as I should. I really wish my kids slept more. My aunt, while had similar struggles told me once “ those people who have kids that sleep 7-7 every day have a whole adult life that I didn’t get to experience when my kids were little” and is really true
7-7 NEVER EVER happened in our house either!
I am so…tired… 6 months pregnant with an almost-3-year-old. I feel like I am tired no matter how much I sleep, but need at least 8.5 hours a night to not be completely wrecked. And I can’t have more than 1-2 cups of coffee a day right now, which just makes me want to cry. Reading other people’s comments about this actually makes me feel better and validated because I can’t help but wonder if there is something wrong with me. Thank goodness my employer is very flexible and understanding.