A wee sweater is all I want.....

So, when you're running a 101 fever, sweating profusely, and were found in your front yard....you'd like a sweater. I wish I could help you out, I really do. I don't care about what the nurse told me "found in front yard, tested positive for alcohol, cocaine, and mary-jane...." I don't care that you think the doc is crazy. Nobody cares what brought you here. For my shift, I keep you alive/breathing and keep your temperature somewhere in the neighborhood of "viable".
Nobody told you you HAD to stick that needle in your arm. Nobody asked you to come to the hospital tonight. Nobody cares why you did it.
I certainly wish I could yell some sense into you. While you rant and rave, I have a gentleman next door who is slightly confused and convinced that he's a bother and should just pass on tonight. He's sorry he needs me for something as simple as a hot blanket.....and you know what? You ranting will not get you something any faster than I will get it.
I do what I have to to keep you around. When you're not here, I won't care what you do.
"The one who rants and raves like a fool, will be suprised when others fail to pay him dues.
The silent one who sits like rock, this is the one that will pass the clock. "
Good night, kind sir.

When the nursing student gets sick....

So....I'm sick. Not your typical "oh, I'm a little stuffy, little cough, feel like crud, just need to sleep sick." This is your "My sinuses feel like I've had nasal surgery with extra packing, If I blew my nose outside I think my snotball would go into orbit, I'm coughing up stuff that has NO business being in my lungs, etc.
I've already called off for tonight, and hoping that I don't need to again tomorrow. I could really use a decent paycheck for a change.
So, what do I do? Well, so far nothing, but if I get the energy back, I'm going to spend my sick day writing presentation summaries, finding articles to write summaries for, and read chapters in my med-surg book.
I've got ice cream(not nutritious, but tastes good on a sore throat.), soup, noodles, and a PB sandwich planned for dinner. Planning on sitting in the shower for 20-30 mins later to break up the congestion. Drinking water continousely, to thin out said congestion....and hoping I don't have to answer the phone tonight as "I canot snd rite...tink I'm gona heck upp a lug.."
nite all....at 3:15PM....

If I had a call light for the world....

Sometimes, I can't understand timing...people who miss getting hit by seconds, who step off into traffic blindly to get to the other side...and make it. Lovers who miss finding others by minutes, because they didn't want to go somewhere new. People who seek attention by finding things for you to do every 3-5 mins.....
tonight, one of my patients was random, run of the mill, back problem....who proceeded to ask me to help turn on side....then on back...then on side...then on back...interspersed with bedpan times...even though I'd just set her up 5 mins ago....the longest break I got from her from 10Pm to 5AM? 15 mins.....

I look through my last posts and realize that I've got a lot of negative thoughts up there...so I thought I'd end tonight with a positive......
The best feeling in the world is discharging someone who has spent over a week on your unit...when you get to know them, their family, their dx, their history almost like your own....someone had been with us for 3 weeks, the night he was due to leave.....Hit the floor. Cramping, abd pain....just crazy pain...and he'd been good the entire week...totally unlike him...Ran him down to CT....liver laceration...probably had been going the entire week....goes to show that had we sent him home during the day...he might not have made it...ICU/Surgery/ then another day out the door.....finally...I keep waiting to see if he's coming back...hope not.

clinicals SUCK!!

Ok, normally I feel so put together....at least enough so I can give adequate care to my patients....Today? WHOLE other story....only 4 patients but I had a lady who was already having issues, snoring (while waking up long enough to rate pain at 10/10), I did my best to help her be cooperative in her care, but she wouldn't leave her oxygen on 1/2 the dang time! NO wonder she was complaining of being short of breath, pulse ox in 80s, etc..... I felt like the guy in this pic....

Then, I had another patient who was the Sweetest former nurse...she was so willing to let me do things that I had to with her, like draw blood, start a new IV, give meds, etc....
Just tough to give care, it's a problem when you have to do things and the patients doesn't want you to do much and what you DO want to do, they won't let you.....
School wise, things are good. Getting B's in theory and trying to pass other things...tomorrow is a day with "dear old dad". I love him, but days with him are sometimes a shot of never knowing what's in store exactly.....so, will probably not get anything done tomorrow.....
Gotta sleep, I'm beat from the week, and it's only WENDSDAY!!!!!

Polish is as polish does......

Nice, eh? That's what I was faced with last night, 2 hours of popping in on a 87 yo woman in for hip surgery. She kept trying to get out of bed, and after a few times of explaining that she was in her bed for the 87th time...I just couldn't deal anymore. I explained that everytime she was crooked I had to fix her hip, and I also had to roll her around more and more.....sry, but that's what I do. She let loose a stream of polish words (I think most were swears....at least that's what the raised middle fingers seemed to be telling me). Then, when I explained "maam, you'll need to speak english, not polish...I can't understand polish." she then replied with the title of this post.
ARRGGHHHH....at least I get a good jump at studying psych nursing with patients like this. All take care and stay warm as it's about ohhhhhh -10 here before wind chill......peace.

Crazy, no YOU'RE CRAZY!!!!

Ok, so sitting here waiting for dinner....before going back to the wonderful world of work.....Sometimes I have to laugh(not AT patients, per se, but what their proccesses do to their already percarious mental state.) Last night, most of my patients were pretty good. However, the older lady with a busted hip couln't understand WHY her hip was hurting and kept yelling at me (I think it was swearing, but the english word she kept saying was ****, so I feel safe in that assumption).
Then we had another post surgery patient. 4 days after surgery and she's still demented. I don't think that qualifies as post-op dementia...I think we've crossed that line. Now, she kept going on on her husband and brother in law sleeping together, and called the woman who was sitting with her "Al" the entire night......poor lady, comes into work and gets a sex change!
She slept most of the night, until 3:30 AM, then starting swearing up and down about her husband, then other staff lying to her, etc.....finally got her calmed down with a cup of hot tea, and started to take her bp. "you arent' touching me!, etc" Could be worse, apparently she started screaming help at the top of her lungs the other night at 5AM.....Yikes.
Now it's time to go back to the business, and get up tomorrow, and study!!!! I need to hit the books hard for psych and med/surg.....ARGGGHHHH! I hate psych....it's like taking pharm over 2 weeks instead of a semester....ok, nite for now.

Greed........how quickly it corrupts......

So, Deal or No deal? 1,000/200,000 or 110,000....I'd take the 110,000. You could pay off school, buy something nice, invest some, and give some charity out to the good people in your life........So, guess what? The chick said no, and won 1,000 bucks. Why does greed overcome our sense? You can take something for sure, or lose it all.

Nothing else is true. Someone else will always have a better car, a better job, a better lover, a better family, better stuff....the key is learning to be happy with what you CAN have, not with want you WANT to have.

on a NS note, what a crazy day in clinical. lots of ICU stuff to do, and crazy things with families and patients trying to tell us what we needed to do! I understand what you want, but this is stuff I HAVE to do, and I cannot do x because it's not good for you or your family member.....geez. I know nursing is over 50% customer service, but if you ever have someone in the hospital, please take the time to remember your family member is not the ONLY patient there. Nurses do the best we can, when we can.

Ok, off to bed soon, later.