Catching up....

Lots to say since the last time I posted. I don't even know where to start. A few weeks ago I worked five nights in a row. And oh my gosh were they crazy. I charged all five nights, which in a small hospital means I had three to four of my own patients and have to verify the LPN's assessments and give all their push meds, plus deal with any new admits or emergencies that happen. And oh man they happened. All sorts of little things that just added up. The first night was not too bad, just busy. All of our patients were really busy and needy, so we were all running all night long. But no major issues. Saturday night we were still pretty busy, but the ER was worse. They had two traumas come in at the same time with no warning, as neither came by ambulance. When we get a trauma, they announce it overhead and we call to see if they need help. 98% of the time they can handle it. This was one of the 2% where they needed help, so we sent one of our nurses down. I was watching her 3 patients, which essentially meant I had six. Of course two minutes after she leaves two of her patients start complaining of chest pain. She ended up being in ER for almost 3 hours since they intubated two patients at the same time and desperately needed the help. I didn't mind, it was just a little crazy.

Sunday night was the beginning of the crazy. We had a confused patient that I was trying to deal with who couldn't remember anything that happened in the last three days, so we were constantly repeating ourselves. You feel bad for her, but saying the same thing thirty times in a row is kinda frustrating. So I'm in with her, I have a patient getting dialysis at the same time. The LPN comes in the room and asks if I know where the wet vac is. Not a good sign. The dialysis machine had gotten some sort of block in it and flooded the room with about 30 gallons of water. Another perk of working in a small hospital: no maintenance or housekeeping after eleven on the weekends. Whoo hoo. Of course we couldn't find the wet vac, so two mops and about fifty bath blankets later, we had soaked up the mess. I figured that was pretty funny, something to keep us busy, nothing else weird could happen. WRONG.

Later that same night, the ER got busy again. I had to send the LPN down to help for about an hour. Luckily his patients stayed calm, cause the other nurse on the floor had a patient going downhill. She was a DNR, which means no measures would be done to resuscitate her if she did pass on. So we notified the Dr, and the family. I was sure she wouldn't last our shift. Well she did, and we passed everyone on to day shift.

Monday night was absolutely weird. Beyond weird. I got to work and that patient was still alive, only just barely. I knew as soon as day shift gave me report on her she would pass, because that is how things work in the hospital. So as soon as I get report I get called into another room, because that patient is complaining that ants are crawling all over him. I just assumed he was a little out of it so I went down. Wrong. He actually had real life ants crawling on his legs. And his bed. GROSS. I was so grossed out. So we're in the process of moving this patient when the aide comes running down the hall to tell me I'm needed. My patient had just passed away. 6:35. At this point I'm thinking it's a really weird night. Well twenty minutes later our boss comes in to give a tour to the CNA student's that will be doing clinical's on our floor. That was distracting and working nights it's weird to have your boss actually there at the same time you are. So I'm thinking okay, I've had my share of weirdness. WRONG.

Ten minutes later..... the power goes out. In the entire town. Now at hospitals we have back up generators in case of things like this. Unfortunately they only power things plugged into a red outlet and the dim hall lights. Surprise, our heart monitors are not plugged into a red outlet. The rooms had no light. Our phones went down. Our internet so we could chart went down. Basically our whole unit was at a standstill. Call lights are hooked into the phones, so they weren't working. At this point I had had it. I was ready to go home. We finally found an extension cord to plug our heart monitors in and new batteries for our mag light flash light. The power was out for over an hour. You try explaining to your confused patient who needs to go to the bathroom that you CANNOT turn on the light. Over and over and over and over and over and over again. It was the weirdest weekend I've ever seen in a hospital.

Tuesday was blissfully, wonderfully uneventful.

I went home for my birthday and Hilary's graduation. Man I love my family and friends. We partied two nights in a row and had a blast. I love spending time with them.

I had the great opportunity to go to Hawaii for a week with my friend Brittany and her family. It was absolutely amazing! I loved every minute of it! We went to the beach, the pool, the swap meet, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Temple, and on a catamaran cruise. It was seriously one of the best weeks of my life. It was so beautiful and peaceful and relaxing. I did not want to come home.

On my flight home I couldn't sleep. It was driving me crazy. About two hours outside of Seattle I had finally given up on sleeping and they made an announcement overhead asking if any passengers had medical experience. Now when this happens and you do have medical experience, you quickly pray that you aren't the only one on the plane. Thankfully there was a great ER doc and a Navy medic. A woman on our plane was having a grand mal seizure. She had bit her tongue and was completely unconscious. Let me tell you, that last two hours flew by as we moved her to the aisle then to the front galley of the plane. We had oxygen and the defibrillator on her, and used their pretty extensive medical kit. We put an IV in and got fluids running, then just kept her stable until we landed. It was an interesting experience. When stuff like that happens, the adrenaline flows pretty freely, until you get them stable and then you have to decompress. We choose to talk about MASH, cause the ER doc was named Dr Pierce. Haha. The flight attendants probably thought we were crazy, but you do what you gotta do. After we landed and handed the pt off to the paramedics, the adrenaline completely wore off. Man when that happens you just crash. I was so tired I could barely make it to my next gate. I found it, curled up on a seat and fell asleep. Fifteen minutes later a guy shook my shoulder and scared the crap out of me. He said "Are you headed to Salt Lake?" I nodded. "They changed our gate. We were on your last flight and we know you've had an exciting day and we couldn't let the nurse miss her flight!" Thank heavens for that guy cause I probably would have missed my flight.

Wow. This is a long post. But I figure since I'm sick and curled up in bed, what better option do I have? :) Life is crazy sometimes.

Michelle

PS I saw a kid riding a unicycle to church today. Made my day.