Music Monday - 7/21/08

OK it's Tuesday once again but I haven't been to sleep yet so it still counts as Monday.

This week marks my last week of this travel assignment.  But it also signifies so much more.  It's my last travel assignment.  I'm staying here so it means I will once again be a Portland resident.  It means I will need to buy furniture.  But the best thing it means is that I have a new job. I'll be working for Kaiser at an outpatient clinic, seeing a few patients but mostly as a phone advice nurse.  It will be so different than what I am used to but I think I will like it.  Here's what I know I will like... 9 hour shifts, 4 times a week, no nights, no weekends, no holidays.  It has been so nice to already accept invites to things in August and know I can go even though I don't have my schedule.  I'm sure my friends have heard it enough (well they probably reached that point several weeks ago) but I am so excited to have no more nights or weekends!  To celebrate, the theme this week is all about hospitals, weekends, nights, and holidays.

This week, it's one big mix.

• Lonely Holiday - The Old 97s - No more of these.  No working on Thanksgiving and eating cafeteria turkey while everyone else is watching football or asleep on the sofa.
  
• Goodnight Goodnight - Hot Hot Heat - I plan on having many good nights, and also saying goodnight at a reasonable hour.
  
• Sleeping Aids and Razorblades - The Exploding Hearts - I have been taking way too much Benadryl.  Not sure what to say about the razorblades, maybe if I'm not so tired I won't cut my legs when I shave?
  
• A Roller Skating Jam Called "Saturdays" - De La Soul - One of the many things I can do on a Saturday since I won't be working.
  
• Each Coming Night - Iron and Wine - I can look forward to each coming night, I won't be working on any of them.
  
• Nightswimming - REM - What a fun way to spend a night off.

The Epitome of Superfluous Verbosity

At work last night I noticed that, by the sink, right next to the soap dispenser, there's a lotion dispenser. That's very nice since I have to wash my hands so much they now look like I'm an 80 year old woman who spent every day tanning leather and mixing acid without protective gloves. But the dispenser was covered with unnecessary descriptors. "Ecolab" "Endure 500" "Skin Synergy" "Dermatology Management System". When did the universally understood "Soap" and "Lotion" become so passe?

PS - I promise a cross-country drive and first few weeks in DC update is coming soon.

See, I Told You

At the end of my Life Is Good post, I said I knew even better things were on the horizon. And I was right!

I just got my first assignment with my travel nurse agency. It's been in the works for a while, 1 1/2 years, 3 months, or just a few weeks depending on how you look at it. I wanted to travel right out of school but you have to have at least a year of experience so I moved from Portland to Salt Lake for a change while getting that experience. 3 months ago I mentioned this to Kaylyn, a nurse at work. She wanted to travel too so we decided to try for September. A few weeks ago, I called an agency and started the process. A few days ago, I had an interview. And today, I got an offer!

We originally wanted to go to Boston or Austin but neither of those worked out for various reasons. So we expanded our search and I now have a place to live in September.

My first assignment is in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. I'm so excited. I really think this a perfect first assignment for me. My friend, Emily, lives there and we've been friends since we were 7. I have a cousin there too and a few friends from Portland have moved there. Plus Kaylyn got an offer to the same hospital. I wouldn't have known anyone in Boston. This will be a big change so it will nice to have a few friends immediately.

It's always reassuring when my risks turn out to have been worth taking. I gave notice on my apartment 11 days ago and at work too so I would have been homeless without a job.

Some Thoughts

No special title for this one.

I had a patient die last night. It was expected and she was as comfortable as she could be, whatever that means. Her family was around her all night, sleeping in chairs, draped over her bed. She was basically unresponsive all night but there was no way she didn't feel the love in that room. She was young, about my age. Through reading her history and physical I knew the whole unfair story of her disease and was witness to her death.

I'm not sure why I'm writing this, I can't go into any detail about her. And it's making me cry so my eyes will be red and puffy at work tonight, again (they were already red and puffy last night). But I guess the little I know about her told me she was loved, she reached some amazing goals, she continued in the face of despair and even after she knew how it would all end, she lived as if it wouldn't. I guess I just think I have a lot to learn from her, this person I only knew for 12 hours.

Who's the Boss?

Well, not quite the boss...

I have to go to bed but I needed to mark the occasion. I just survived my first shift as a charge nurse! I felt silly asking people if they needed my help when I was the second-least experienced nurse at work but all in all I think I did a pretty good job.

Nurse's Week - Fifth and Final

So this post is a day early becuase I am going out of town tonight. More on my trip to Portland later. Nurse's Week was good, my patients were fairly healthy and the management bought us pizza.

I feel I must make one confession/clarification; I don't actually own these books, I was looking for an image for Nurse's Week and found a few of the covers and they led to this website, more for your enjoyment there.

"The tall, leggy blonde grinned at Poppy. 'Frankly - I was so glad to get out of that Alice-in-Wonderland outfit that I bought myself ten new uniforms!' She stood up. The nylon uniform hugged her curves like skin. 'Who'd like to take bets on whether I marry a rich patient or a rich doctor?'"













"You nurses make me sick to my stomach," she snorted. "Letting on that you're so much better than other people. Money doesn't matter to you. You're only interested in being noble and dedicated." Her voice mocked. "Everyone has his price, sweetie. What's yours?"

Nurse's Week - To the Fourth

"Oh, I gave him the brush-off tonight,” the blonde nurse declared. “Big car, big talk—and big promises, none of which, I found out, he had any intention whatever of keeping. It seems to be the story of my life, getting stuck with such crumbs. I wish there was a lab test that would show up the fakers and chiselers—or are there any other kind, where men are concerned?”










"It isn’t as simple as that!” “No,” he said quietly. “It isn’t. Because love has to be a little of both. It has to be idealistic, yes. But it has to be physical too. One is no good without the other. You can’t love a man with your mind.”

Nurse's Week - The Third

"As the aimless days passed, Laurie asked herself why she had ever joined the ranks of beach players. Was the fleeting hope of Ron’s love enough to compensate for the hospital, the patients, the nursing career that had given her life its meaning?”











"I don’t dig that medicine jazz, sweetie. I want my woman warm and soft and smelling of perfume, not antiseptic.”

. . . “I can’t go, Johnny,” she said. “I can’t give it up.”

“That nursing jazz?” he grinned. “What’s to give up, honey? I’m offering you the world, glamor the works. And me thrown in for good or bad measure.”

Nurse's Week - Part Deux

“It would be much more simple if there weren’t any men working here, she told herself, and added hastily as she pictured a hospital run entirely by women, “but it would be awfully grim and not nearly as interesting!”











"Have you decided what you're going to do, Avril? . . . I mean, are you staying on in Mexico for another six months to take that course on tropic diseases? Or are you going back to England to marry Derek . . . ? By the way, will he allow you to continue with your nursing after you're married?"

National Nurse's Week

In case you didn't know, this is National Nurse's Week. Please feel free to send your appreciation and gratitude my way...




For you, a few covers from nurse romance novels. This one might be my favorite but there are lots of other funny (and embarassing) covers, I'll post a few each day this week.








“She became furious one moment with rage, then cold the next with despair. She remembered how Viola Belsare acted whenever Craig was around. She suddenly became all warm and melting, very much a woman. Otherwise, she was as crisp as chilled lettuce.”










“She shook her head, her hair brushing his chin. ‘No, I don't mind at all,’ she said softly. And trembled as his lips brushed her hair, ever so lightly.

And thought . . . who was it said dreams never came true?

. . . Or was it ‘whom’?”

I love this one for it's concern over proper grammar even in the throes of passion.

A Better Week

A few months ago, I posted about a hard week.

Yesterday, we met with our nurse manager to discuss patient satisfaction and how it's tallied off of surveys patients get once they are home. We get lots of positive feedback in person but only the frustrated people actually fill out and send back the surveys. So I'm trying to buck the trend of people only sharing bad news and not the little good things too. Here's what's good at work this week, in contrast to the last post.

I had a patient who, in the middle of me trying to stop her nose bleed, said, "You have the cutest dimples ever." And tried to set me up with her grandson.

And another patient, while I was listening to her heart and lungs, said, "You have exceptionally beautiful skin." And also guessed my age at 8 years younger than I am. Never mind that she was a head trauma patient...

And yeah, blah blah blah, it was a good week, I did a good job, people lived, and all that other stuff I should say...Did I mention people said I was cute!

My goals or lack thereof

As a new grad nurse, I have to go to this 4 hour class once a month. This month, one of the topics was setting career goals for the future. Now generally I have goals but I spent the last 3 years making and accomplishing some pretty big career goals, pre-reqs, getting into nursing school, getting mostly A's, graduating, passing the NCLEX, interviewing for and getting a job, moving to SLC. So I have given myself the year off of making career goals. In a few months I will think about the future, staying in SLC, being a travel nurse, or just picking a new city to try.

My "career" goals right now are to go to work, do a good job, make good use of the days off I have each week and to remember I have a paycheck and can, for the first time in 3 years, buy fun stuff (in moderation).

So here's what I just bought...A cute little (4" x 6") print "Keep Spring in Your Heart" from ArtStarPhilly

It's Hard Out There For A Nurse

Or maybe I should say it's hard in there, at the hospital...

I really like my job but there are bad days and just plain interesting days.

Last week I decided to buy some new scrubs. Most of mine are just the plain v-neck solid color variety. I bought a new top - hot pink, empire waist with a ribbon that ties in the back. Well the first time I wore it, a patient (who weighed over 400 pounds) asked if I were pregnant. Then when I said, "No," she said, "When am I going to learn not to ask that question?" Her very next question was, "So did you just have a baby?" Uh no, and how is that not basically just as bad as the first question?

Then a few days later, I was getting report on my patients. The nurse I was replacing told me about her patient. She had told him I would be his nurse and that I was cute. Then when I walked in the room and introduced myself, the patient said, "You're my nurse?!" Now any cognitive behavioralist will tell you I am reading the italics into that sentence but it sure seemed like it didn't fit his idea of "cute."

On Valentine's, I had to work and stopped by my mom's on the way. My hair, which I was just about to get cut in 2 days, was in a ponytail. It's only long enough to do that for the few days before each haircut. My mom said, "Your bangs look really nice swept back like that." I said, "It's just a ponytail." She laughed and said, "I know. Did you notice I didn't say it looked nice the in the back?"

A few weeks ago I went to a blood drive on my way to work. I have given blood so many times before and never had a problem with it. Well, I was done around 6pm, went to work and at about 8pm, I was in a patient's room and felt light-headed. I excused myself, sat in the first chair I could find, and asked someone to get me some water. I felt better pretty quickly and had some apple juice and cookies. Then about an hour later, it happen again. But so much worse. I not only felt light-headed, but sweaty, couldn't hear very well and sitting down didn't help at all. Some co-workers helped me lie down on the floor at the nurse's station, in the middle of everything. After a few minutes I felt better and sat up. At that point, everyone could see me and asked what happened. So the charge nusre took me in the conference room and started an IV and ran in a liter of normal saline. Then I just stayed the rest of the night and did my job feeling much better but still with an IV in my hand.

But I guess I'm over it all... I will still wear the top, will try to give blood at least once more, and will definitely wear a ponytail for the few days I can every 6 weeks.

Getting Political As A Nurse, Sort Of

A few days ago I was thinking about all the funny things that have happened or that I have said in the 4 short months I've spent as a nurse. Sadly, right now I can only remember one, but it's my favorite. A little backstory without breaking the law and telling you too much about the patient. He had taken a mix of an estimated 75 anticonvulsants and psychiatric meds. He was very agitated and when asked any question would reply with full, coherent sentences that had nothing to do with the question asked.

Example: Q: Do you have any pain? A: When can I leave so I can meet my friends on safari in Africa?

So he hadn't peed the whole time in the ER so we bladder scanned him, a painless completely external procedure. He had almost a liter in his bladder but had no desire to try to pee. So the doctor asked us to place a catheter. No this is never fun for anyone but even less so with a patient who is delusional, irrational, thrashing around, and potentially violent.

So I agree to hold his arms and try to calm him down while the aide put it in. The whole time he is saying random stuff but right at the end this was the conversation:

Pt: What are you doing?
Me: We are putting in a catheter, we need to do this because you have so much urine in your bladder and that's dangerous.
Pt: My dad, the president, George Bush, wouldn't want you to do this to me
Me: You really need this and, yes, George Bush would want you to have this catheter.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

I've had my nursing license since late June but I've been an employed nurse for only about 6 weeks.

It's been exciting:
Learning so much in such a short time
Meeting lots of new people that I work with
Starting my first IV
Placing my first NG tube

But last week was hard. I started night shift, which I like but is always difficult at first. The initial sleep deprivation causes me to not regulate my temperature as well, feel really cold, stops my digestive system (ewww, sorry), and I'm more emotional.

Most of the patients I see are fairly healthy, have a procedure, get some meds, and go on with their lives. Last week was different. 3 of my patients, all under 35, had cancer. Big, scary, spreading cancer. Add to that patients who wake up to find that the accident wasn't only painful, they had to have major surgeries, and their family died. Plus there were language barriers. I speak French, they didn't. Lots of other staff speak Spanish, still they didn't. So I can only use small sentences, hope they understand the call light and how to call me, hope they know the words for water and pain pill when I ask if they need anything, hope a smile translates well.

It was frustrating. It was disheartening. It was part of life as a nurse. Learning to shut off part (but not all) of your emotions so that you can help them rather than just curl up in the corner and cry, so that you can move on to the next patient, so that you can sleep when you get home, so that you can go back the next day.

Mish-Mash of an Update

I've been in Salt Lake for a little over a month now.

I've started my job at the University of Utah hospital. Everyone is friendly, helpful, and I'm learning a ton. I'm in orientation still which means I spend 8 weeks adjusting to the floor before they let me free to take care of patients on my own. I'm sure the patients are happy about that.

I just spent the last 3 days in a nursing orientation that was lots of 30 minute - 1 hour lessons on all sorts of hospital stuff. The MRI part was the best. We saw a video describing the dangers of the magnet and then actually showed wrenched and buckets smashing through bricks to get to the magnet. Sadly, I couldn't find a video online, but here are some pictures, including a chair and an oxygen tank, plus a video of a chair being removed.




So life is good, meeting new people, finally all unpacked and into my cute apartment, had a delicious birthday dinner with a beautiful lemon cake AND a dark chocolate cake too, and I'm in a ward where I am among the youngest people there, that's unusual at 33.

I'm Back But I'm Also Leaving

I'm back on this blog thing...I'm moving out of Oregon.

A lot has happened since my last post a month ago. I took the NCLEX (the licensing boards for nurses) and passed. I guess I said that in the last post but it's a big deal!!!

I had been thinking about moving when I graduated for a while and finally decided that I would do it. I'm moving to Salt Lake City.

KaRyn, a friend from Portland who now lives in SLC, came to visit for July 4th so I drove back with her and then stayed through Sunday. I spent all of Thursday walking around looking for an apartment. SLC has lots of hills and my calves were so tight the next day. I found a cute apartment in an old house that is now 4 apartments in the Avenues section on SLC.


Then on Friday I had 4 interviews. I accepted a job at the University of Utah hospital on a telemetry floor (that's cardiac monitoring). Everyone I met on that floor from the manager to the person who gave me a tour to a nursing student who introduced himself were so incredibly friendly, I think it will be a great place to work. Now I just have to buy scrubs.

Things are going well, although it is far too hot in Portland to want to spend any time packing boxes, it's hard enough to ever want to do that, but especially when it's 100 degrees in the non-air-conditioned Pacific NW. More on the packing, move, and thoughts on that later.

Graaaaaaduate, Good Times, Come On!

It has been a busy few weeks.

I had my last final on June 12.

I graduated on June 17. Nursing schools have pinning ceremonies.
My Mom, Grandma, Aunt Patty, Aunt Elizabeth, and her 3 kids Cady, Maddie, and Michael all came to see it.

So did 2 friends, Kathryn and Tamara. I really appreciated all the support and love.
After the ceremony, we went to dinner at Everett Street Bistro. If you haven't been, you should go. So good and my outfit matched the decor. My Uncle Mike was very distraught that my school didn't have nurse's caps so my mom made some and each family decorated one for me. When I asked my Aunt Patty if I looked dumb, she just laughed. I meant dumber than I should with handmade decorated caps on my head.
On Thursday the 22nd, I took the NCLEX, the national boards for nurses.

It takes a couple days to get the results so I threw a party on Friday night to celebrate the graduation and distract me from waiting for the NCLEX results.

Tamara made me this super-cute cake!
I got to bed at 2am, but I woke up at 7am and couldn't go back to sleep, wondering if my score was in. So I got up and checked. And it was. It took me 3 tries to get all my info and credit card number entered correctly to get my score, I was nervous and sleepy. But I finally was able to get my results.

It's official and legal, I'm a nurse!

Oh, Are They?

I should be working on a presentation for class tomorrow, or studying for finals, or studying for the NCLEX, or, or, or...

But I just had to post that I finished clinicals! These are my scrubs on fire. I never have to wear navy blue scrubs again. I got a uniform catalog in the mail yesterday and it was the first time I really looked at one. I had been avoiding them as I got sicker and sicker of the navy but knew I had no choice. Now I could actually get something else. The problem is I'm not really a flowery/Disney/heart/angel/cartoon type of girl. So I'll probably just end up with some solid color, anything but navy.

Only 13 days till graduation!

18-Hour, My @$$

Most of my posts have been about events in my life, my thoughts, preferences, nothing too embarrasing, until now...

This morning, close to the end of my 12 1/2 hour shift at the hospital, I felt a weird poke in my side. It took a few seconds to figure out what it was. The underwire in my bra had broken. Now this has happened before as they wear out but usually after going through the wash, never while I was wearing it.

Like most things in life, it could have been worse. The wire could have broken through the fabric and really poked me, it could have happened at the beginning of the shift, I could have had on something other than a big baggy scrub top. And I have to say, it did help wake me up for the last few hours of the shift.