my latest adventure

so as you may know i have to rotate days and nights. not my favorite thing but thankfully only two weeks out of each month. anywho, on my last night it was about 4:30 almost 5 in the morning and i had to run a blood sample down to the lab (usually during the day we have specific staff who go around picking up samples to take back down to the lab but overnight we have to run it down ourselves, that said, i often wonder who are the people who apply for a job where their sole function is to run samples of bodily fluids from one place to another?)
so as a general courtesy i let everyone know i was leaving the floor and would be able to run whatever errands they needed. i was instantly bombarded with requests and so off i went with my list in hand:

*central supply for a dressing for Korri
*diet coke from the vending machine for Emily
*lab for me

i decided to go to central first as it was on the first floor and i could just work my way back upstairs after getting the supplies i needed.
opting to take the elevators instead of the stairs for safety reasons i absentmindedly got on the first one that opened on my floor (first mistake of my ill-fated journey). as the doors closed i had this vague feeling of uneasiness as i realized that i was on the "slow" elevator but i shook it off and told myself it was fine, i had told everyone if i wasn't back in 15 minutes they were to come looking for me, a joke of course but at the same time i meant it and they knew it.

as the elevator neared to the first floor i noticed a funny sound, kind of like a chinking/grating type noise. not being well versed in elevator maintenance i wasn't entirely positive but i was pretty sure that this was not a good noise.

then i noticed that i was no longer going down, but back up.

what was this?

i started hitting buttons in an attempt to stop the elevator but to no avail, it just kept fluctuating between floors but not stopping!

i had no idea what to do, i pushed every button i could and the elevator kept going.

after what felt like an eternity but in reality was about 5 minutes i was reaching for the phone in the elevator when i saw that i had not pushed the button to the 4th floor. i closed my eyes, said a little prayer and hit 4. i sensed the elevator moving now upwards but with what seemed like a purpose. the doors opened and i lept out feeling a sense of freedom i've never experienced. i was still a little leery of taking the steps in a dark hospital in the middle of the night so i hit the down arrow and waited and in a bank of 6 different elevators which one came back up? the one i had just escaped from. after that i took the stairs regardless of the creepy factor.

oh but wait, it doesn't end there.

once i finally made it down to central supply to pick up the dressing Korri needed, i couldn't get anyone inside to open the door. i kept ringing the bell but nothing. eventually some of the guys who were cleaning the floors a little ways down the hall told me i could get inside but another door.
this other door opened into a part of central supply i had never seen before, i kept calling out but no one answered me. as i walked on into the labyrinth of various medical paraphernalia the thought that i should probably just give up and call it a night did cross my mind but after the adrenaline rush of my earlier brush with death i just couldn't. so i kept going. and going. and going

so there i was, lost in the hospital's central supply at 4:30 in the morning. i kept calling out but literally only heard my echo in return.

i could not believe this was happening, first the elevator now lost? as i wandered through the sections of diapers, i couldn't help but see what an opportunity i had in my hands. to be unsupervised in central supply was like turning a fat kid loose on an all you can eat buffet.

eventually i did wander into the section i knew so i picked up the supplies i was asked to get and then just a few more i felt would be useful to us nurses on the floor. after that i headed to the vending machine for Emily and then to the lab.

as i finally walked back onto the floor a full half an hour after i said i'd be back, i felt my pager go off. i checked the message and saw that i had been missed. evidently i had been gone for 45 minutes and a search party was being organized if i didn't call them back.

next time i think i'll just wait till someone else volunteers to go off the floor.