So tired

I really don't like working two days and only being off for one. I've been in this cycle for the last eight days and I'm not a happy camper right now. I have to work tomorrow and then I'm off until next Wednesday. I just feel like my whole system is out of whack. I just barely get anything done at home before I have to head back to work. I just barely get in my routine at work then I'm back at home.

The last couple of days at work have been kind of hit and miss. Monday I truly felt like a complete failure at my job. Don't get me wrong, I know I did the best I could and I asked for help and got it, I just had to leave a lot of work for night shift because of the circumstances of the day. The morning went smoothly. I got two transfers in within an hour of each other and that's when everything except my brain exploded (and that was on the verge of exploding with my migraine!) One of my transfers was pretty much complete at shift change and I felt okay with that, but I kept missing orders and my poor tech had to keep going back in the room to help me out. The other transfer was the problem. I had to call the transferring hospital at least 5 times to get information we needed that they didn't send. Then the fax machine wasn't working, so I had to have information sent downstairs. I hardly saw the chart and by shift change, I hadn't even seen the orders because so many others had their hands on it. I didn't know what had been done and what hadn't. I had to give report to one of the nurses who just stares at you and gives you no inclination that there is even anyone home. The admission was partly done thanks to the supervisor, but then family left and the patient wasn't an accurate historian, so the family didn't return until about 6:30. I didn't have time to finish. The night shift nurse was going to have to finish. I finally left work at almost 8:00. I was ready to cry because my head hurt so bad and I couldn't think and I knew I left a mess, but in all reality it was all my fault. I KNOW I did the best I could. When I got home, I managed to drink a glass of water and somehow fell into bed. However, my mind didn't want to go to sleep. It kept wanting me to call back to work to make sure this or that had been finished. I finally had to tell myself over and over to "let it go" and that was how I fell asleep.

Yesterday was much better, until one of my patients developed a large hematoma post cath. I had just pulled a sheath on one of my other patients and went in to do my routine groin check and there was blood oozing everywhere. This was my first hematoma experience, so I ran to get gauze and HELP!! We managed to get the majority of the it expressed and the patient was fine, but it was scary for a little bit. I actually managed to get out of work on time yesterday. Mostly because I was down to one patient by shift change. My afternoon ended up being so hectic and the day before was so bad that I think the charge nurse felt bad for me! :) I was very tired and sore when I got home, so I drew a hot bath and soaked and then crashed into bed.

I have a ton of shows to catch up on today! I love my DVR! :) I need to do laundry and go buy some yarn and groceries, but that's all that's in store me. I hope everyone is having a good week.

I'll post more later, cjb

All in a day's work

I know I haven't posted lately, but I've been busy. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday. Then spent most of the day Thursday at the VA hospital with a friend for a follow-up appointment. It was a long day, but I was glad I was able to help! :) I was only scheduled to work Friday, but while I was working they were begging people to work yesterday. I had a few things I needed to do, but overtime pay is way better than errands. And the hospital I work at won't let you schedule 4 days a week. So, unless they really need you to work, you won't get overtime. I was only supposed to work until 3, but by the time 3 rolled around, none of my patients had gone home and I was getting ready to get an admission. I had already talked to the charge nurse and made a couple of calls to make sure that my friend was ok and that my errands could wait until later this week.

So my first complete week off orientation was rather productive. I had to ask for help a couple of times, but nothing major. It felt pretty good to be off orientation and on my own.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend and has a wonderful week! I'll try to post again soon! :) cjb

"Spicy Pickle"

We saw this restaurant when we were driving around OKC. Since my nickname is Pickle, I had to have a picture of it! Isn't it fitting? I just had to share! cjb

It's good to be home!

I know I haven't blogged in awhile. It's been a busy week/weekend. I know I have a lot to write about. I guess I'll start with work, since that's chronological. Wednesday was my first day off of orientation. It was also my third shift in a row. Overall it was a good day. It was busy, but I managed to get out before 8. I got to pull out my first femoral sheath. When I left, there was no hematoma or bleeding, so I was very happy with the outcome. I was exhausted when I got home, so I didn't get any packing done.


I slept and then packed Thursday morning. Did my errands and left for OKC around 12:30. Mom and Dad were already there and were running errands. I got in and got settled and helped out as needed. Friday was a BUSY, BUSY day. I had a few things to get done before I met up for wedding stuff, so I took care of my business and then helped out as needed. We met for the rehearsal dinner at 5:00 and then headed out to the park. We still had a TON of stuff to do out there. It was a gorgeous setting at a pavilion with a pond.


The wedding cakes

Mom and Dad with Danny and Jenni

Me with Carla

There were several cameras going, these are just a few of the good ones. The photographers were great. I can't wait to see how their pictures turned out. He got one of the three of us that I can't wait to see. I may post other pictures later, but I just wanted everyone to know that I'm alive and well.

Overall, everything turned out wonderful. They got married and are off to relax on a warm beach! I drove home mid-morning and got home early afternoon. I didn't bring anything in, but instead decided to take a little nap. I'm feeling a little bit better, but know I will sleep good tonight. Thankfully, I planned on not going back to work until Tuesday. I have laundry and other things to catch up on here.

I'll post more later, cjb

My FO for the day

Well, after much work and waiting on your part, I'm finally posting pictures of the blanket that I've made for Annette, my preceptor. I finished it today. Got the last round of edging put on. I think it turned out very nice. I hope she likes it. The first picture gives you an idea of how big it is. The squares are 12" each. The second picture gives you a better idea of the detail.

Not much has been going on this weekend. It's turned into a cool weekend. Kind of a nice change. Not that it has been hot yet, but I like that we are actually having some spring. I'm trying to get packed for the wedding this weekend since I work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I plan to leave Thursday. I would like to be ready to go after my appointment. We'll see if my plans work out or if I make if up there a little bit later than intended! :)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and has a good week! I'll be busy and probably won't be posting a lot (unless something crazy happens at work!) More later, cjb

Spring in North Texas

If there was ever any doubt that I lived in North Texas, last night should have taken all that doubt away. We get amazing spring storms here. The thunder and lightening seem to go on for hours. In many ways it can be soothing, but the destruction the winds can cause is terrible. Last night's storms hit Ft. Worth hard. There was at least one tornado that hit a suburban neighborhood very hard. While this is many miles from me, it is still close to home. Since spring has just started, I'm sure we have many more stormy nights ahead of us. Hopefully the damage will remain minimal.

As far as work goes, yesterday was a much better day. I got report from the same nurse and didn't have any problems. My sick MI patient from the day before was so much better it was amazing. This was a case where the power of medicine shows. This is why I do my job! He will have a chance to watch his kids grow up because someone called 911 and the list goes on. Chest pain is a real thing. Sometimes we roll our eyes at all the "chest pain" admits, but when someone comes in with an acute MI and gets to the cath lab and heart muscle is saved and their life is saved it makes me stress even more that ALL chest pain should be taken seriously.

I'm off today and trying to get caught up with laundry and the like. I hope you all have a great day. I'll post later, cjb

The good, the bad, and the indifferent

So today was an interesting day. I continue to be on orientation, so I started off with report from two different nurses. I got report on one patient from one nurse and for my other two patients from the other nurse. The second nurse I got report from tends to be quite condescending towards me. I don't know if it's because I'm a new grad or if it's because she's so insecure in the care she gives, whatever it is, I don't like it. She started our conversation by telling me that we were going to wait until my preceptor got to work to get report on one of the patients because she didn't want to have to give report on him twice and he was a "complicated" patient. I proceeded to tell her that I was handling all of the care for all of the patients and Annette was there as more of a resource than anything. If she wanted to wait to give report, she could, but she would be waiting at least 20-30 minutes. I then told her I was more than capable of handling taking report and taking care of the patient. Whatever I needed to tell Annette when she got in, I would tell her. We started with report on the other patient and I guess she had time to think about what I said so she gave me report on the "complicated" patient.

It turned out that he wasn't very complicated, it was just that he had a different fluid running until 0930 and then had to have his blood drawn after that. Ummm, what's complicated about that? Amiodarone and Reopro were running in his other arm, he had an emergent cath after a STEMI. He was still having chest pain. Apparently she decided to call the doctor and didn't tell me because I got a call and then looked like a complete idiot because I don't know why she called the doctor. Seriously, I really don't like looking like an idiot. I know what's going on with my patients. I just didn't know why she called the doctor. I pulled his labs and made sure everything was okay there and he proceeded to hang up. Hours later, he stabilized and I left him in much better shape than I got him in! :)

BTW, I reported off to the same nurse and she tried to get report from Annette. Annette told her that I would be the one to give her report because I was the one giving all the care. They kinda had words and this other nurse was kind as she could be to me this evening! (Imagine that!)

Then, what do you do when you have a patient that refuses to listen to anything you say? I mean, seriously, anything! Diabetic ~ wants to do own fingersticks. NPO ~ orders food anyways. Discharged ~ wants to shower before going home (this was after no procedures or anything, basically just spending the night in the hospital for fun). I have no respect for people who go to far away countries and have strange things done and then come back "home" and want the doctors here to "fix" them. Question every little thing I do, every thing I say, but you are going to let strangers do strange things to your body because it MIGHT fix your ejection fraction? SERIOUSLY? I was more than happy to discharge this one. They couldn't leave soon enough.

I came home with a migraine today. My stress level was through the roof. I didn't start charting until almost 1300. That's rare for me. I am normally able to get my charting started on each patient as I see them and caught up throughout the day. I felt so far behind and everything was such a mess. I know I will have days like this, probably more than I'd like to admit. I'd probably say that today was the first day that I wondered why I became a nurse. But you know something, when I saw a long term patient leave for SNF with a smile on his face it lifted my heart and sent chills through me. That's why I do what I do. Despite days like today, I still love what I do. So I come home and take a long, hot bath and go to bed early. Then I get up and do it again tomorrow.

Thanks for listening/reading. If you made it this far, you deserve some of the chocolate chip brownies I took to work today! :) (they were a hit) No one would answer the phone and I really needed to get this off my chest before I tried to go to sleep tonight.

Good night, cjb

Woo Hoo!

Progress is slowly being made in the Pickle household! :) I finally sorted through the rest of my closest and threw out the clothes that I can't fit into anymore or don't wear anymore. This related to two big black trash bags of clothes left to be donated, as well as a bag of stuffed animals and other miscellaneous items and a comforter set that I have no use for. So four bags later and a trip to Goodwill, I found someone who could use the items more. There was a manned station for a Children's Home, so I dropped the items there and my house it just a little bit lighter! :)

I have some more work to do today. The stuff I'm packing up today is going with me to OKC when I go for the wedding. I have scrubs I can't wear anymore due to my uniform at work, and my sister can wear them at her job, so I'm passing them on to her. I'm keeping my favorites because I still work at the clinic and need them there, but I have a ton that I won't wear on a regular basis. Hopefully if she doesn't use them, she'll find someone else to get good use out of them!

I also started sorting through my bookcase and got rid of another big bag of trash from that. I also found some more books that I need to put up on eBay. I loaned out a couple of my ATI books, so I'll put up another batch of books when I get those back. So far, I have bids on 10 of the 15 and I still have quite awhile to go! :) I should do pretty good! Yet more things to lighten up the apartment.

Overall I'm feeling pretty good about all the cleaning and sorting I'm doing. I still have a lot to do, but I have just under two months, so it's all good!

I hope your weekend was as productive as mine. On top of all the sorting I got done, I got quite a bit of crochet done. I only have 5 more squares to finish for my preceptor blanket. I hope to have all the squares done so I can work on piecing it together over the wedding weekend.

I've rambled long enough. I need to go sort through scrubs so I can really feel like I got everything done this weekend that I needed to. Plus I need to start some laundry so I have scrubs to wear to work tomorrow. Another busy day. I'll post more later, cjb

I finally did it!

What did I do, you ask? Well, I finally got all my nursing sources listed on eBay!! If you happen to be a nursing student who needs some good review books or other nifty things for school, check out my listings (I'm auntpickle0824). You might get a pretty good deal! :)

I'm trying really hard this weekend to work on decluttering some more of my apartment. The main problem is that I love sitting on my couch and crocheting and relaxing. Plus, I had a rough couple of days between Wednesday and Thursday at work. Yesterday I ran errands and today I'm hurting and sore.

Not much planned for this weekend other than attempting to work in my apartment! Hope everyone has a great, relaxing weekend! cjb

Happy April!!

I hope everyone has a great April 1st! I'm off today. I had a decent first day back to work after being sick all week. One of my favorite patients was back. I was immensely sad when I saw that I had him. We had hoped that his last treatment would help him for a lot longer. Now they are thinking something a lot more terminal. It seems like since I've been on orientation, he's been admitted 3 or 4 times, and I've cared for him at least once or twice each of those admissions. I just hope they are able to figure out what's wrong with him so he can finally get better!

I'm making progress on some of my projects at home. As promised, I've uploaded the pictures of my socks. I wore them yesterday to work. They are super warm, so I probably won't be wearing them again until winter, but I LOVE them! :) I've also started blocking all the squares I have made for the afghan for my preceptor. I can only block 6 at a time, so it's going to take a little while. They have to dry over night or at least all day, so . . . Right now I have 14 made, only 6 left to make and I'll be done making them! :) After they are blocked and dried, I can start connecting them so that it will it won't seem that I have as much to do at the end.

Things around here should be fairly low-key today. I have to work Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll probably hang around the house. I hope you all have a great day! I'll post again later! cjb