"i disapprove of what you say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it" -Voltaire

Saturday, January 20, 2007

WHO DOES THAT??

So on the phone last Sunday...

Hey Paulette, we should really hang out soon...yea that'd be cool...Ok. how about Friday, we can do dinner. Sure I eat everyday, so whenever works for me. Ok great, I will call you later in the week to confirm...
Thursday I get a phone call confirming our dinner plans for the next day with the time and place and everything.

One hour before our meeting time I get a phone call...

Funny thing Paulette, I forgot I have this thing to do tonight...wanna meet up after around 8 or 9 for dinner...well i may eat before that but drinks would be OK. Ok, I'll call you when I'm done.


Me not being one to wait around, msg-up the girls and joined their drinkfest/boardgame night/Maddi pub night...

As I'm heading out the door, I get another phone call...

So this thing is taking longer than I thought (btw it is now about 8:30), so maybe we can meet up later...I'll give you a call...

He called again and said he'd text me later at the Maddi...no text msg was received.

If you don't want to hang out don't make plans with me! Jeeeeez. I had a blast with the girls of course, but still I don't like being stood up. Soon as Laura & Kellie Dawg send me the pics I'll put up the keepers :) I think there was a lot of boob shots taken....

Thursday, January 18, 2007

OF A NURSE EXTRAORDINAIRE!

I got to the hospital this morning at the ungodly hour of 0645 and found my patient sleeping peacefully. I was assigned this patient (or actually I chose this patient) the previous day when I heard she had a Upper GI Bleed. Not sure why, but GI bleeds interest me! Soo knowing this I was pumped for the day. I had all her meds researched the night before, omeprazole 20 mg OD PO, docusate sodium 100mg PO BID, Lactulose 30cc OD PO, metoprolol succinate 25mg PO BID...what class the drug came from, the reason the pt was getting it, side effects/contraindications, nursing considerations...i had it allllll down! what seemed like an impossible tasks a few weeks ago was nothing for this nurse extraordinaire. i even got to flush her saline lock. I'm starting to like this nursing business.
The family was also in visiting and were optimistic of having their mother return home in a couple of days...(i forgot to mention the patient is 99 years old)...but the Dr delivered very sad news that her condition is an "irreversible decline" and she will likely not make it until Monday. I was slightly surprised, and will not be surprised if she makes it past Monday. While she has irregularly irregular afibrillation in addition to her GIB in addition to old age, to me she doesn't look ready to die. she even drank Pepsi today! from a spoon, but still.




Something else today made me stop and think. One of my classmates had a pt today in a lot of pain and needed to be restrained b/c of aggressive behavior and his daughter who happens to be a Dr came in to visit and yelled at him for complaining about being in pain (or something of the sort...i wasn't in the room...), but my classmate found this very upsetting and had to leave the room and she cried and we talked about it and it made me start to wonder. I have never gotten to know any of my patients well enough to feel such emotion for them, and its not like I never cry, hell I even cried watching The Family Stone with SJP! I started to wonder if not getting emotionally involved is a bad thing? Maybe I've been listening and reading too many nursing stories of how nurses must be empathetic and caring and feeling and yadda yadda, but I feel that the care I provide is good. I put lotion my dying pt's back today and rubbed it and elevated her feet with pillows because they looked slightly red and she smiled when I talked to her, yet if she dies overnight or even on my shift tomorrow I think that will be OK. Maybe it is different b/c she is not in pain...and maybe it will be different when I do my Paediatric rotation in a few months...I'm not sure where I'm going with this, it just made me wonder how I can sometimes get so involved with my patients yet remain emotionally neutral, and whether or not that is a good thing....

Sunday, January 14, 2007

NAKED

Friday night at the Duke of Argyle drinking pictures of Keith's, the drunken conversations were many. one was the locker room and whether it is appropriate to shower in the nude or not. I've never stepped into a male locker room, but the female locker room is often overrun with nakedness everywhere. some women (usually elderly, although the AC seems to have no age barriers to nakedness) walk around from the shower to the toilets to the air dryers to the scale and then back to their locker! a little too much exposure for pdawg. although showering in my bathing suit after swimming like i normally do, i felt highly over clothed and didn't want to look like the loser in the shower so i stripped down. after lathering up and down i promptly wrapped myself in my towel to walk back to my locker! i just thought it was funny since the day before i stated that i never walk around naked in the locker room... but sometimes you just need to get a little naked to fit in.

Also in my random life today at the Fresh Obsessed grocery store i giggled as i listened to the conversation behind me.
Asian looking old man: "you going to take this?" as he holds up a book on the cashier counter thing.
Young dude in front of him: "Yes."
Asian man picks up the book and puts it in with the magazines
"What are you doing??"
"Oh, I thought you were not buying it"
"I am. If it's on the counter I'm buying it. That's what we do here!"