Lots of work + some play = busy me

So, I ended up going in to work on Thursday to work from 3-7. Apparently there's someone who can now only work 8 hour shifts, so the rest of us have to pick up the slack. I ended up working til almost 8 because I had two patients in the cath lab and had next to no charting done. Those 4 hours had me running like nobody's business. I then worked Friday and Saturday with minimal complications. I was pretty worn out because one of my patients was on multiple IV antibiotics and all of my patients were diabetics. I felt like I hardly had a chance to sit down.

I went out with a new girl friend for dinner on Saturday night. We had a good visit and I look forward to getting together with her again soon. I got home around 10:30 and managed to wind down and go to bed fully expecting to have Sunday off.

However, my phone rang and woke me from a dead sleep at 8:45. An agency nurse didn't show up and they really needed someone to come in. I was in overtime, so that was a plus and they offered me a bonus and to pay me for the full 12 hours. I knew I'd be off today and tomorrow, and that I'd have the same patients back, so I went ahead and went in. It was another busy day, but at least it went by fairly quick.

Today is going to be a laid back day. I'm sore all over and pretty tired. I do need to run a few errands, but other than that not much is going on. I hope you had a good weekend and have a good week ahead of you. I'll post later, cjb

Call me crazy . . .

but I've gone and signed up for Twitter. It sounded like so much fun! If you are a member, you can find me as nursepickle. Also, my updates are on my sidebar, AND, I can update from my cell phone via text message, so if I'm having a really crappy (or great) day at work, I can chat about it!

That's all, I'm just saying. . . cjb

Ohh Laa Laa . . .

So all the time I spent on those many days off wasn't for naught. I actually finished my first.garment.ever! I'm pretty proud of myself. I love the color. I think there are some minor adjustments if I were to make this pattern again, but nothing too major. The picture isn't all that great. It took several attempts with me and my self-timer to get it just right and then I had to settle for this one because I got frustrated with all the attempts it took, but I'm pleased with picture overall.



On a work note, I survived yesterday with minimal damage. Thankfully we were staffed yesterday so most of us didn't have more than three patients. We'll see what the rest of the week brings. I think this next schedule (which is due on Friday), I'm actually going to put in my requested days instead of being so flexible and letting them do my schedule and see if that helps alleviate some of my stress.

Not much else is going on here. Just going to make dinner. More later, cjb

Back to my old self

I'm finally feeling back to normal. I got caught up on all the laundry (well, the last loads are in the washer and dryer). I still have some unpacking to do, but it's getting down to stuff that isn't a necessity at this point. I got all my barstools put together.

It's back to work tomorrow. I've been off for almost 6 days. I don't know what to expect. I'm a little bit nervous. After all, the last time I was there, it wasn't very pretty. But, I've decided that I can't worry about it. I have to take care of myself no matter what. I didn't realize that I wasn't.

Not much else is going on. Just trying to get the house back in order. I just work tomorrow then I'm off for two days and then I work for two days. It's not too bad for trying to get back in the swing of things. I'll post later, cjb

Summer Swap Package

I've joined Ravelry which is an online knitting and crochet community. One of the forums I'm on is a secret swap where you are given a partner to send a certain amount of yarn and other things to and someone else will do the same for you. I got an awesome partner. She truly spoiled me, as you can tell by the package I received above. She sent me some amazing crochet stitch markers along with some teas and lots and lots of yarn! Nisha, thank you so much for this amazing package! It really couldn't have come at a better time!

I've also finished another project. It's called the paperless grocery bag. I really like the way it turned out. I made three inches stripes instead of making it solid. I'm happy with it.

I'll post more later, cjb

Just an update

So I figured I'd post a little update. I've really been trying to take it easy as much as I can the last few days. Thursday I slept in a lot later than I'm used to doing and then I spent the rest of the day with Jen watching movies at her place. I ran a lot of errands and such yesterday. I think I'm going to try to get some cleaning done today. I'm starting to feel better. I haven't had any more chest pain. They called from work to see if I would work on Sunday, but I told them that I just wanted them to use my PTO for the days I missed. I really just need to re-focus and relax. I don't have any plans, just taking it easy. Thanks for checking in on me. I'll post again later, cjb

What to say?

So there's been lots going on in my little life recently. I guess I'll start with the good news. As many of you know, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first child in December. We found out Monday that they are having a boy. They told me that he was not shy about anything and that he has his daddy's feet and legs (read long). I'm very happy for them and now I can start working on crochet projects for our boy peanut! ;-)

Work has been just as crazy as always. I worked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Nothing much has changed there. Just doing my best to keep my head above water (more on that in a bit).

I headed back to my GYN yesterday for my 2nd 3 month follow-up since the colopscopy and LEEP late last year. As long as this one comes back normal, I'll go to a 6 month check up in December and then hopefully back to yearly check-ups. While I was there, we talked about some abdominal pain that I've been having and decided that I'll go see a GI doc to rule that out. I promised to have my records sent to her since she's been following this since pretty much day 1. On a good note here, I love my GYN. Even though she's not in network, I will continue to see her until my insurance won't pay.

I started having some chest pain yesterday that I attributed to anxiety r/t returning to work today and a few other minor things happening and tried to relax to let it settle down. I also took a few Tums to no avail. This morning, when I got to work, the pain was no better, and I was also VERY emotional. I was upset with my assignment (it was very heavy for anyone ~ especially a 7 month new grad). By 9:15, my supervisor had pulled me to the side and asked me what was wrong. I couldn't even get through the conversation without bawling. She basically told me they would be fine with me going home and sent other nurses in to get report. I finished charting in the back room and was clocked out and home by 10:00. I took a xanax and darvocet and laid down hoping the pain would go away. But it didn't. I got really scared and headed to the ER at 11:00 after I couldn't get any of my local friends to answer to their phones. The gals in the ER took good care of me and got me right back. Fortunately my EKG and enzymes were normal, as well as my chest x-ray. They went ahead and did a chest CT just to be sure that I didn't have any PE's and it was normal. I was home a little after 2:00. I decided to call in for tomorrow, too. I think I'm just majorly stressed out from work. They weren't real happy, but I've decided I have to stop worrying about what they think. I've done that now for 7 months and look where I am. I'll still go to work and do my job, but I'm not going to bend over backwards anymore. I can't afford to loose my health over this.

I'm going to rest the rest of today and all of tomorrow. I hope the rest of you are doing better than me. cjb

So much for 4 days off

I got the call today. Of course they need extra people for tomorrow and are offering a bonus for those that come in. How can I turn that down when I've been doing much of nothing the last three days? Plus it will be my next check (which will be my rent check and the first check that my full student loans come out). And I'll end up getting overtime for Sunday, so it all works out. I'll probably be in the same boat come Friday (i.e. very tired), but at least I'll have money.

Hopefully it will be a relatively smooth few days. I really need that on so many levels. On that note, I need to finish up the scrubs that are in the laundry and get ready to call it a night. More later, cjb

Change of Shift

is up over at Emergiblog. You can read it here. Kim did a great job taking us into the third year of the issue by taking us down memory lane! If you read hard enough, you might just find yours truly! :-)

On another note, I'm enjoying my time off. Haven't done much more than run errands and pay bills, but it's quiet in my apartment and I like that! I'll post later, cjb

Coping

So working 5 out of 6 days doesn't really set well with me. I'm exhausted today. But, I do have the next four days off.

Mondays after holidays are always crazy. I got the same patients back that I had over the weekend, I figured that would be a good thing. However, they ended up running me ragged. I ended up sending two patients to cath lab. One went first thing and one went around 4. One came back with a stent and would be staying overnight; one came back clean and would be going home. My other patient was CHF exacerbation that I had to start on a Bumex drip with a very high maintenance family that kept me in the room for 10-15 minutes every time I entered. Then I got a transfer from another hospital around 3 or 4. That was the easy part.

I missed some orders on my CHF patient and the NP called to find out what the lab results were. She asked that we run an I-Stat (a way to get instant results) and to call her with results. I asked my tech to do this for me since I had a patient on the way back from cath lab and an admission still to do. It turned out that he hemolized the blood when he drew it (it was evident by the results). The doctor came in not long after (and the NP never returned my page), so we drew a BMP to send to the lab instead. We draw our own labs on the floor, and I'm not real good at lab draws yet, but I'm still willing to learn and attempt my first stick. I missed my first stick and then called my tech and asked him to draw the lab for me. He jumped all over my case. He basically said to me "That guy has a great right AC. How could you miss that? You need to go back in there and try again. I'm too busy to help you right now." I was livid. No one needs to talk to anyone like that. Much less a tech disrespect a nurse like that. I realize that I'm a new nurse, but I know when to ask for help. I went over to the nurse who had been my preceptor and was shaking. She asked me what was wrong and I lost it. Even though she was super busy, she went and drew my blood for me. I also told the charge nurse (who isn't always charge and doesn't have a very strong personality, so it didn't do much good). Before I left work, I wrote an email to my supervisor. I didn't send it until yesterday. I wanted to make sure I didn't sound upset and only the facts were in the email. I talked to her about the situation yesterday. Hopefully it will get worked out.

I still had a ton of stuff to do. I hadn't even looked at my new admission's chart. He was to have surgery the next day and I knew there would be orders, but my cath lab patient came back with a sheath and it had to be pulled. Most of this was happening after 5, so I knew I had to start winding down. But there was no way I was going to get it all done before shift change. I ended up staying at work until 8:30 and doing the admission. I don't think I've ever passed on so much work in my life. I came home and showered and went to bed.

Yesterday started out to be a doozy as well. I had an empty room and one of my patients was going to surgery and I had the possibility for my other two to go home. Yikes! I got an early admission, which was good, but I also had an early discharge. Thankfully my surgery patient wasn't going until around 1. And I got my second admission around 3. Only one of my patients ended up going home. It turned out to be a much more peaceful day. I ended up getting one successful lab draw. I hit the veins on the other ones, but they just didn't want to give up blood. My tech yesterday even had a hard time drawing these labs(and she's one of the best on the floor ~ so that made me feel better). I left work on time yesterday. So I came home and took a long hot bath. It was nice to relax that way. It was even better to sleep in this morning and know I didn't have to go back for a few days. Don't get me wrong. I still love what I do. But it's stressful.

Today is my low-key day. I don't have anything planned. I may try to put my curio cabinet together today. I don't know that I'll go anywhere. I'll post more later. Hope you have a great day, cjb

Some FO's

So, I've had this awesome custom dyed yarn called Seriously? for awhile. I just haven't had the nerve to start another sock pattern. I finally started it at the first of the month. They turned out pretty good. I need to tweek a couple of the measurements next time, but I think this is the sock pattern I'll be using from here on out!




This little guy was made up in a day. I've been wanting a case to hold all my crochet hooks and other sundry things. I couldn't find one that I liked in the stores, so I found a pattern and crocheted one in my favorite color! :)


This is the start of my "traveling scarf". I've joined a group of 11 other people who have all started scarves. We will each add about 6 inches to each scarf and have an unique piece of work when it returns back to us. My scarf will be traveling over 9600 miles! I promise to post a picture of it when it is finished!

I think that's all I have for you right now. I know you are probably shocked that I was able to get two posts done in one day, but I told you I was going to take it easy and just be laid back today! :) Until next time, cjb

Lots of work = little rest

So, I've been offline for the last few days because I've been busy working. I just finished working 3 in a row. I have today off and then go back to work two more. I had no idea we would be so busy over the 4th. Thankfully we had no scheduled procedures on Friday, otherwise we probably would have run out of room and/or nurses. It took me awhile on Thursday to get back into my groove. I ended up discharging three patients and doing two full admissions. Unfortunately, one of the discharges happened to be one of the admissions. By the time I left, I don't think I knew what was up! I was hoping Friday would be better and in some ways it was, but I still had a lot going on. I had to prep a patient for CABG and the OR was running behind, so they didn't end up going to surgery until 5:45 or 6:00 pm. I also had to take a patient to our sister hospital for an MRI. That meant I was off the unit for an hour and a half. It was interesting to watch the MRI, but it's so frustrating to have to leave my patients. I know that the other nurses were looking out for them, but still. . . I'm ready for us to have our own MRI machine. Yesterday was relatively calm. I sent another patient to CABG at 0730, so that meant I had an open bed. I ended up getting an admission around noon. Had to deal with active chest pain. Since I've dealt with it before, I was much more calm and collected. This time I actually got the nitro before I went into the room and I remembered to put the oxygen on. I didn't even feel like I needed to call for help until I had the pain under control. There were no EKG changes, so all was well. I'll tell you though, by the time I left last night, I was completely exhausted. I had the same four rooms for the three days. It was nice to have some consistency.

I don't have much planned for today. I have a few crochet projects I need to get caught up on today. I have to mail one out my next day off. I'm also working on my next pair of socks. As soon as I finish them, I'll let you see! :) Not much else. I'm just relaxing and gearing up for tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great 4th. cjb

Hot Days= Lazy Days

Let's see, the last time I posted it wasn't very exciting. I don't think this time will be much different. Saturday I ended up going into work to discharge (but I think you know that). Sunday wasn't very exciting, but I did get a phone call asking me to come in around 3 to finish the shift. I went ahead and accept because it was OT and weekend pay. Plus I knew I'd have the next three days off.

Yesterday I ran a few errands late in the afternoon, but mostly worked on my crochet. I have several projects in the works right now, but no pictures because I only like to show my finished work! ;)

It continues to be hot here in Texas. I really can't get motivated to anything inside or outside. I still have boxes to take to Goodwill or Salvation Army, but it's so hot that making the trip downstairs and then back up to do it again is almost overbearing! I really just want to orb them down and away!

Today has been especially lazy (other than the three loads of laundry I managed to get finished). Oh well, I'll manage to get something done eventually. ;) I hope everyone is having a good week. I'll post later, cjb