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So last night seemed long even though it was only an 11-hour shift due to daylight savings....weird.  I had the best snack when I got home though, half an avocado and some cherry tomatoes and goat cheese.  HEAVEN.  Bed now.

Tardy

Sorry I have been absent of late, my dad came to visit for a few glorious days and I spent one whole day of my precious time off in bed, reading and napping.  All day.  I did not check facebook.  I did not blog.  I read, and slept.  What did you read? you might be asking, and I will tell you.  I finally, after much delay, broke down and bought The Hunger Games.  Great read, and what finally pushed me to just buy it and read it was the fact that I saw a preview for the movie coming out in a few weeks, and wanted to have read the book first.  The writing in far from exceptional, but the story is original once you get past the whole human sacrifice thing (seriously, was there a civilization in history that has not practiced human sacrifice or something similar?), and imaginative and overall it is a very enjoyable read.  Much like The Twilight series.  Not exceptional writing but a good idea and hard to put down once you start.  I admit it.  I liked the Twilight books.  In The Hunger Games for some reason they eat a lot of fresh berries and goat cheese and a large part of the book revolves around bread...I happen to have all three of those things in my fridge, so I have been eating them and thinking about the book incessantly.  You should read it.  

thanks

The ER gods were good to me last night, we had a non-ridiculous, good night.  Usually Sunday nights are out of control and Saturday nights are dead but this week it was the other way around unusually enough.  I was in the non-psych pod and still had 3 attempted suicide patients though. 

Tonight a friend and I are trying out a new yoga place.  I am kind of excited but don't know how excited I will be when my alarm goes off this afternoon and I am just going to want to sleeeeeeeep....

Bleh

Last night was brutal.  The only thing that is making me go back tonight is the fact that we are not short staffed so I feel like tonight can only be better.  Last night of four.  Back to my mantra...it's only 12 hours, it's only 12 hours.

something new

So I had an interesting patient last night, 21 year old male presented to ER w/chest pain, labs looked like he was having or had had a recent heart attack.  No family history, not taking any cocaine, meth, etc. The cardiologist came in and took him to the cath lab to do a heart cath.  Turned out he had Takotsubo Syndrome, aka Broken Heart Syndrome.  When a person is under a lot of stress ie marital problems, death of a loved one, etc. it can actually cause damage to the heart muscle and pain in the heart, and it presents like a heart attack.  It is treated with medication and usually goes away within a week or so, but definitely requires quick medical attention.  Lo and behold this young man had been having relationship problems with his fiance.  I thought it was so interesting how the body works and that when people get so sad or upset about a loved one, it is possible, in essence, for the heart to break.  I have never had a patient with this before.  Thinking back, after I saw the patient and did my assessment, I went and gave the doctor a quick rundown, and I remember telling the doc that the patient lived with his fiance, I knew because who the patient lives with is a question that is required on our assessment.  Anywho, I told the doc that the patient was not married but lived with his fiance.  I remember because the doc was like "Um, thanks for telling me?  That is so random that you even asked that".  I then informed him it was required for my charting.  Who would have thought that that bit of info might have been some of the most important info obtained on this kid all night?

I made it

Home again home again jiggity jig.  At one point a psych patient came out of her room to yell at me last night, but she was so psychotic all that came out was word (and phrase) salad, something like "You, I can hear you! My family! I fought for that! You! God bless us! Don't judge me!  Hearing behind me! I lived there!" etc. etc.  Later the security guard standing by informed me I looked completely confused which means I failed at being therapeutic because I was trying to look concerned and calming but obviously that didn't work out.  Then when I discharged the particular patient she sang Taylor Swift songs, or just parts of them, as loud as she could through the entire ER as I walked her to the discharge desk, patients, janitors, other nurses and staff staring.  "How were you not laughing??" everyone asked as I came back.  I about split a gut trying not to laugh but was equal parts terrified, not wanting to upset her anymore so I just kept making my go-to fish face that I make when trying not to laugh.  "Why do you get all the exciting patients?" someone asked me.  Trust me, I don't want them.  When I started I had a record number of something like 4 patients tackled by security guards in 2 shifts or something.  The crazies just find me. 

It's only 12 hours, right?

Headed to work, it's only 12 hours, right?  After some time off it is always so hard to get back in the work mode.  I want to stay in tonight and have leftovers and watch a movie or some White Collar or something.  At least it is a Thursday night, usually not too bad.  And in about 13 hours I will be headed home to my perfect bed.  Piece of cake ; )