The "Bomb"

Closest thing to a bomb yesterday. Secretary was talking to the House Supervisor yesterday and stepped backwards, surgery had dropped off pt and just placed the O2 tank in the nurses station...kinda in the middle, and left. Well secretary knocked over the O2 tank which was full, thank God it only loosened the regulator (as opposed to breaking it off). We got loud, dramatic spewing O2. The House Super was a guy yesterday, and he was able to turn the tank off with his fingers (we would have been scrambling to find a wrench). If the regulator had broken off....bad news.....we were lucky. The House Super looked at how full the tank was...we had something like 2000 lbs of pressure....wow...glad it didn't turn into a missle. Scared the bejesus out of me! LOL.

Which way is the Wind Blowing?

Nothing smells worse than a dead 'possum, especially if said 'possum is between the insulation and the floor of your bathroom. When the wind blows from the South (ocean direction here), the smell is unbearable, and that is the direction the wind blows most of the time. I have laid on the ground and cut the insulation cover and pulled the insulation down, but my arms, not being 6 foot long, cannot reach the area where the suspected critter met his demise. In fact, not sure if I want to. The stench has improved, but not gone yet by far. Everything in my bathroom has been pulled out of the cabinets and under the sink, we even pulled up the false bottom under the sink, nada. To make this all worse (for me at least), is that my hubby has a very weak stomach. That means that "I", being a nurse with a "strong" stomach, gets to seek out the source of the decomposing corpse. THIS IS NOT FUN. I WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE FUN...NOW.

Moral of the story: When going out of town for the weekend, and you wish to rid your home of "mice", don't put poison under your house...there may be a bigger, smellier critter lurking around.

I wonder if I could rent a hotel for the holidays? I wonder now big of "sticky" traps I can buy. Is there a product called "Corpse be-gone" or "Decomposing body Oder eater" or "Freebreeze for Decay"? I would "kill" a 'possum to get my hands on something that would eliminate the smell.

What he brought home from Vietnam

Working in ICU, I seem to always be seeing and learning new things. Who would have thought I would ever take care of a patient with Tetanus (Lock-Jaw), a disease that has been pretty much eradicated in our country? Now I have cared for another patient with something I never thought I would see in my lifetime: Hansen's Disease (Leprosy). I did not even know what Hansen's Disease was, so I asked the nurse giving me report, "What the heck is that?". He had cared for the patient 12 hours without even asking that question. We googled it on our iPhones (management has taken away our internet use and we don't have any "books" on the units), and were amazed to find that Leprosy is now called Hansen's disease because so dude discovered the bactrium rods that prove the diagnosis.

Hansen's disease can be treated, but not really cured. It is simular to Tuberculosis and the medications are almost the same. Apparently there are thousands of cases here in the United States every year. The Armadillo is a carrier of the bacteria (another good reason to run from the scaly armored digging machine). Usually Leprosy is contracted in another country, a 3rd world country, where the sanitation is not good and the water is not clean. In this man's case he contracted the disease in Vietnam while serving in the military, judging from his age, it was probably his 3rd or 4th tour of duty. The article I downloaded stated that the incubation period could be up to 30 years.

This man had documented treatment at least 3 years ago. Apparently he was not following up with the VA or his family physician. He had gotten neuropathy to the point that he could no longer walk. He lived alone, his family all lived far away, and no body took care of him. No one, at all....apparently even knew what his diagnosis was or how sick he actually was....no one. With the stigma that this bibical disease has, I would venture to guess he didn't talk about it much.

Finally one of his children traveled to see him, and seeing the condition he was in decided to stay to take care of him, but his father refused to let him take him to the doctor (maybe a little dementia setting in here). The son, who had no medical training, tried to care for his father to the best of his abilities, but he was already so debilitated and covered in decubitus ulcers (bedsores) that the care he needed was beyond his skills. His father began having difficulty breathing and was brought to the hospital by ambulance.


Now he is recieving end of life care and will probably go home with hospice. I am puzzled that any ex-military, who should have been recieving military benifits and medical care, could have gotten to be in such poor condition...in this country with all the medical advances we have. I would think that there would be a Social Worker who would follow up when patient's with chronic conditions just stopped showing up for their appointments. I would think they would at least contact them by phone to be sure they were still alive. I know that patients are in part responsible for their own health, but sometimes, just one person going out of their way can make a big difference.

The physical manisfastations of this disease was horrible, the neglect of someone who served our country so nobely....criminal.

My Birthday Weekend

I worked this past Saturday. I was put on call, then called in by 8 a.m. for ICU. When I saw my patient's, I had a sinking feeling in my heart. One patient was post surgical, no problem. The other, I had cared for several times over the last few months, over the course of several hospitalizations. I knew I was in for a hard day. Patient's mom is also a nurse, and is very helpful with the patient, but when the nurses kid (twenty) is sick, soooo sick....somehow, the whole family because a patient by extention.

Unfortunately I could tell this was going to be a heart wrenching day, and within hours the family finally decided to honor the patient's wishes and made her a DNR. OMG, it was so hard. The families pain was so hard to bear, as they bravely helped their loved daughter thru her last hours.

After it was all over, the mom and sisters insisted on doing after-care and saying good-bye. I gave them their privacy. I don't think I have ever been so sad at work. The secretary said she had too leave our unit because I was making her cry! I was so glad to leave work that evening.

The next day was my birthday, and I was called off, so I was able to recoop. I have prayed for this sweet girl and her family every single day since. It really makes you realize how precious this life is and how short it can be.

Ends and Pieces

Today I was off and running around shopping for this and that. Seems like that is the way life has been lately...a little of this and a little of that.

Good news: My knees are much better now. I found out I have arthritis, though why it suddenly flared up to the point of hardly being able to walk is a mystery. I blame it on the on again, off again weather systems (hurricanes) since it started when tropical Storm Alex was tracking near hear. I now have pain med, vitamins and steroids and the pain is gone in the left knee. The right knee is still recovering from me dropping my 800 pound motorcycle on it on pavement. Good thing Dave was there to untrap me, since I couldn't get my leg out. Note to self: Stay off the damned front brake girl!

Good news: Looks like everything is shaping up for me to go to my 35th class reunion. Now how in the hell did I get so old? Seems like just yesterday I was trying to choose a dress to wear under my graduation gown (like anybody was gonna see it), and praying that the thunderstorm would pass so we would still be able to graduate in the football field (it did, and we did). I haven't seen my older brother in two years (fishing trip) and we graduated together. He is not going because of financial reasons (he could go with me, but we are riding motorcycles...and I don't think he would ride B*tch!). We are planning on stopping on the way back to visit him.

Good news: Work is going great in spite of the economy. Our hospital is "up for sale" so to speak, but our Med-Cath owners are still holding their own stock-wise. Our hospital did a record breaking 27 heart surgeries last month (we are the "little" heart hospital), and we have not had many cancellation or call off days, and it was still "summertime". October 1, starts our actual "busy" season, as the winter Texan's start returning to the valley. I'm already getting calls to work on my days off, and I know it will only increase. Our new travel nurses are starting to arrive, and work, and it nice getting to know some new people.

Other stuff: My son has gone back to work, almost for 3 months now, and is doing good. My other son's hand is better and he is back to work. Everybody is healthy, and we are all getting by. Dave is as usual, wonderful.

And that does it for all the little ends and pieces going on in my life. Isn't it theraputic to blog? I get to start counting my blessings!

Floating

Well I was having a fine...semi-crappy week, when they decided to float me to 3rd. Well, I don't mind floating, but I have only floated to that floor one time in 4 years, and I'm pretty sure it was almost 4 years ago. I got report. No body bothered to tell me where the supplies were kept, or any of the forms. The regular nurse on the other side didn't even bother to tell me her name. Some of her patient's records were on my side, because she apparently had the middle group, although I'm not sure since no one bothered to explain how the patient's were split on that floor. Everybody thought that were my patient too...and I had to field family requests and doc's and phone calls for you, the unknown nurse for the unknown patient's!
I worked my ass off. Transitioning from being a cardiac nurse to doing pretty much all GI stuff (three post exploratory lap's, with two ruptured appendix with open laps, and a few other goobly gook's thrown in to confuse me) was no easy task. I literally had to think myself through everything I was doing. (What no Open Hearts...no chest tubes....no harvest sites???)

About two p.m., when I was about to drop from lack of nurishment (no breakfast, no lunch, although my assigned aide had managed to disappear for breakfast, mid-morning break, lunch, mid-afternoon break) while I earnestly medicated, did pericare, took people to the bathroom, turning and doing all the things that normally two people or at least THE ASSIGNED AIDE does, when finally the Nurse Manager walked by to ask how I was doing.....HUNGRY and about to pass out was my answer. Oh, we have two nurses assigned to float around and help, haven't they helped you??? Well one of them had informed me she was the "admission nurse" and did admission's only. The other had informed me that if I had a difficult IV, that she would try if I tried several times first. So there is all this help available, and I am drowning, because no one will even show me where to find stuff. I was literally alone at the station 90% of the day answering the phone's, call bells and taking care of my assigned patient's. I hope they never float me to that floor again!

The topping on the cake was when on of the GI doc's was rounding and asked me a question about his patient...you got it Exp. Lap, then open lap with appendectomy...and I didn't know the answer off the top of my head without looking at my paper's or the chart...he remarked " You certainly don't know you patient very well, do you?" He points out the info he needed in the chart (a lab report that had been placed by a med records tech while I was in a room)....like my remark was..."Gee, there it is...right were it belongs". Moron! My husband saw this same doc for a Colonoscopy last year...guaranteed I will never see him...he will not get one more red dime of my money....asshole. Read this people....I AM A CARDIAC NURSE...I KNOW ABOUT GI PROBLEMS, BUT I AM NOT A SURGICAL NURSE!!!!!!!!! I AM HELPING YOU PEOPLE OUT, BECAUSE YOU ARE "SHORT" STAFFED, WITH YOUR TWO FLOATING NURSES TO "HELP" OUT WHO NEVER "HELP" OUT...MAYBE IF THE PEOPLE ON THAT FLOOR DID THEIR JOBS PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO WORK WITH YOU.

OK, now I feel better.

People that Quietly touch your life.....

Sometimes a patient will touch you, in unexpected ways. Just seconds, that become a memory, that comes to you from time to time. Last week, it was a physician, who was my patient. Going for surgery, outcome expected to be very good.

He was humble, not arrogant at all, not expecting extra perks or favors from being a V.I.P., just a very nice guy. I gave him all the info about his surgery, even though I suspect he knew more than I, because I thought having the more basic information would help to calm his family down some. I remember when I was a patient having a procedure, that although I was very familiar with what was going to be done, it is still very scary knowing you are the patient, putting yourself in other (hopefully) capable hands. The lack of control over the situation, is in itself anxiety inspiring.

While I was off, this patient went to surgery. I was expecting to already have him back on the floor as a patient, as we get post-op hearts out as early as on the first post-op day. I found out yesterday, which would have been like the 4th post op day that he had to go back for another procedure, and that his outlook was very bleak. I was shocked! I would have absolutely thought this mans outcome would be great, he looked healthy, he had a positive attitude, lots of family support, and a good surgeon.

I am in prayer for him and his family. I was very touched by this humble unassuming man, who you would never suspect was a physician.