My Life Nocturnal

I'm in to my second month of working at night. I leave home around 6:45 pm and usually get back home around 7:00 am. I am in a state of perpetual exhaustion, and have taken on that weird vampire-type pallor as I rarely am out in the sunlight. My work schedule constantly changes, the facility is open seven days a week, I often work four nights in a row. It is very difficult to get people to work the hours and the job. The only requirement is high school or GED. They really don't want intelligent people, they just want nice little compliant, no questions asked, trainable button pushing monkeys. No disrespect to monkeys.

This job has taken my life, it is now my life, as I have not been able to find a balance. I have pots of dead fall mums on the front porch. There are dead summer ferns still hanging in baskets, and I am unable to relate the present condition of my little gardens. My gardening was once very important to me. I am mourning the loss of that part of my life.

I have somehow managed to tend to my sister and the dog. The house is very untidy, but I manage to keep up with the big clumps, do the laundry. I keep the bathroom and kitchen sink clean. Mom is not now nor ever has been "in" to cleaning, that has always been my job.

This sleep technician job is really terrible. The hours, the inept and profit-driven management, the poorly trained staff ( and that includes me) the number of seriously ill people and patients that have no reason to be tested other than their doctors have managed to get around the insurance question by using the magic words "sleep apnea" translate into a genuine recipe for disaster.

I now believe that sleep testing has become the dumping ground for patients whose doctors know that their insurance will pay for the testing and for those patients whose doctors have no idea what to do with them. I think there is a system of kickbacks for referrals, although I have no idea how to go about proving such an accusation.

Almost every person that comes in for testing, will receive a variation of the same diagnosis as well as the same treatment. Sleep apnea is the diagnosis and CPAP is the treatment. Caveat emptor.

Another problem I have are the patients that come in with MRSA. I have been exposed at least three times that I know of, and the facility is not using the proper precautions or clean-up procedures. I am the only person that appears to be concerned about the situation.

I have always been a proponent of capitalism and free enterprise. I am changing my view when it comes to medicine and health care in the United States. From the fraud and abuse I have seen, I am beginning to think that we may be better served and protected if we make a total change in the system. With all the legislation in place, we are still not being protected from the graft, fraud and greed that is inherent in the present system. A complete overhaul is needed, its broken and the band aids that have been applied only get dirty and fall off.

The only good thing about this job, is I no longer have to visit the "Bank of Mom."