And, then, next, so forth and so on

I can't believe I am conscious at this hour (I worked last night).  Mainly what happened is I was almost asleep and I remembered I needed to do my car payment online.  Then I realized how incredibly hungry I was and fantasizing about food I was going to eat when I woke up wasn't cutting it.  So I paid my bill and then went and made some pasta with cherry tomatoes and 2 boat loads of pesto.  Then I figured, why don't I do my blog? It's like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie all over again....

Last night's high points included a brawl (my patient, of course) and me getting to ride two of the stretchers back to the ER after transporting patients in them up to the floor.  The brawl consisted of a belligerent and rude 350lb male patient of mine who was brought in by the cops and refusing to cooperate and approximately 6 security guards and 2 male techs.  I could tell the situation was escalating when the pt started ripping off his cardiac monitor and blood pressure cuff and so when I went in to talk to him and tell him to take his meds and leave himself hooked up and he replied "make me", I knew it wasn't going to end well.  I called the security guards, went and found the charge nurse and said something along the lines of  "Um, there is going to be a brawl in my room".  There was. Just fyi, if the police bring you into the ER and it is 2am and you have attitude with me and threaten me and use terms like "I'd like to see you try", "I know how to fight", "I am not scared of you", "You ain't touching me" or "You ain't telling me what to do", sorry, but I will win.  You don't want to drink this charcoal?  Ok.  Eight men will tackle you, strap you down and I will put a tube down your nose and pour the charcoal in that way.  Sound fun yet?  Needless to say there was charcoal and blood everywhere but I am happy to report the patient straightened up his act within 20 minutes of being strapped down.  I think the comment I heard most after that episode was "Boy, you sure are an assertive little thing aren't you?".  Ha.  You have no idea.

I WILL put you in an adult diaper if you misbehave

We have had some doozies recently in the ER here, all alcohol-related.  I had a patient the other night, young, intoxicated, brought in by ambulance.  After calling me every name in the book and telling the doctor to repeatedly "f*** off", he wasn't my favorite part of the night.  At one point he crawled out of bed completely naked (we took his clothes off cause he had gone to the bathroom in them, more than once), ripped out his IV and proceeded to pee all over the wall and floor.  I saw him attempting to do this from the nurse's station and started yelling, so the male techs ran in there and wrangled him back into bed and into an adult diaper (he earned it, that wasn't his first time urinating all over the wall, floor, bed, etc.).  The techs came back out laughing and I asked what was so funny and they said that it was hilarious that I saw all this happening and just stood there at the nurse's station yelling, giving them the play-by-play instead of doing anything about it. "OhmygoshheisoutofbedandherippedhisIVoutanditisbledingandheisnakedandpeeingonthewall!" is what I imagine it sounded like.  I told them that even though I like to think of myself as pro-active when it comes to patient care, I also like to think of myself as having above-average intelligence and running by myself into a room with a bleeding, naked, drunk and angry man just did not seem like the smartest thing to do.  The funniest part about this entire situation was that this patient came in with 'PENIS' written on his forehead with silver marker, and he left with it there too ; )

Sunday Nights

I remember when Sunday nights consisted of family dinner and then the Sunday Night Movie on TV.  Now I am sitting here getting ready to go to work, going to pick up a sandwich on the way on this chilly night, and it makes me smile remembering all the good Sunday nights with family I had growing up. 

Nurses really are amazing.  No matter what the day or time, hundreds are away from their families and their loves just in case someone (a stranger) will need them.  If you wake up in the middle of the coldest night and think the rest of the world is asleep, remember there are nurses somewhere going about their business.  Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, birthdays, blizzards and hurricanes we are working.  In ER nursing at least, most patients are not that appreciative or even nice, and we deal a large amount of the time with intoxicated, belligerent and unhappy people, and that is not including the criminals the police bring in.  What makes someone go into nursing? I don't know what makes people go into nursing (probably lack of knowledge about the nursing field or the media making it look glamorous) but I do know that every once in a long while a patient comes in and you know without a doubt that you made a difference in that person's life.  I haven't had that in awhile but I am always looking forward to that re-affirmation when it does happen.

best pizza

I just had some amazing pizza - - - half goat cheese and pesto and half sundried tomato and spinach with pine nuts.  Who knew pine nuts on pizza were so good? 

I'm a tough cookie

I am not really a fan of this whole day-light savings darkness thing working night shifts.  I liked coming home from work when it was dark and going to work when it was light...made it easier to get to sleep and then get up as well.  Hmmmm, who can I talk to about changing this? 

Last night at work was unremarkable, aside from how busy we were.  Full moon.  Tonight we are short-staffed.  I had a bad dream and thankfully my alarm went off but I woke up angry and in a fighting mood, maybe I am going to need it for tonight : S...

Special

Tonight half-way through my shift at work a co-worker pointed out to me that I had on 2 different earrings.  i was completely unaware. This is just another reason I need a butler or someone to lay out clothes and accessories for me, apparently I am having trouble doing it myself. 

There is a new guy I am hanging out with and he is a sweetheart (and a policeman...apparently nice cops do exist ;), and so hilariously gullible that I have to remind myself not to say ridiculous things with a completely serious face like I always do.  For example, the other day we were talking about shaving (??), electric razors, etc. and I told him completely deadpan of course, that I preferred a triple-blade razor to shave my chest with.  He kind of laughed and the conversation moved on, but 5 minutes later he stopped and said "You don't really shave your chest...do you?". 

Awesome.  The fun to be had with this one will be endless.

So basically I have been the worst blogger ever.  I will try to make more of an effort here...at least through the end of the year. 

I was Juno for Halloween, like the movie.  My sister said I would probably need a name tag or something or I would just look like an irresponsible disheveled pregnant teenager.  She was mostly right.  Apparently my fake belly was pretty convincing, I received numerous dirty/surprised looks when I would pour myself a drink at the parties and the more intoxicated females at the parties thought it was a good idea to give me parenting/childbirth advice...my favorite advice was "don't give birth in a public restroom and then leave the baby there".  Awesome.

Work has been chugging along, I am still learning lots, most importantly the dynamics of my co-workers and who is good people, who I should probably not trust, who is lazy, who doesn't like who, etc.  I don't like to partake in the above-mentioned dramas but I have found it is beneficial to be able to read people and be aware of the relationships that do exist.

On Halloween I was on call and of course got called in at 11pm.  I helped out for awhile and then the charge nurse said I could leave around 2am.  I didn't make it three blocks and my cell phone rang and I got called back in...there was a Halloween party that had gone terribly wrong and we ended up getting six stabbing victims.  I have seen plenty of stab wounds before but none like these eviscerations...literally some of the people came in holding their intestines in their hands.  It was insane.  Needless to say I was there the rest of the shift, plus some overtime. 

So, I am just swimming along, trying to get all settled in and work and pay my bills and meet people and have a little fun on the side.  I will keep you updated. : )