Live Like You Are Dying

While I know that I am still learning a lot about nursing, I had completely forgotten that I am still pretty stupid when it comes to life in general. I guess even though I graduated from school, there are still many things to learn here and there ;)
My patient was an elderly man who just happened to be one of the most interesting patients I will probably ever take care of. While he was passing through the area, he blacked out and fell while getting on the bus and ended up in the hospital where his day got much better because he got to meet me! ;) As I was talking with him, I became intrigued very quickly. This man had done so much with his life.
 He had been to every continent and all the states in the US. As if that was not enough, just last year, he had climbed Mount Everest and the year before he had fought bulls in Spain. He was doing all this while he was well past the age of 80! Needless to say he became the patient that I spent the most time talking to that night. However, as I was talking to him, I found out that he had no family or friends. He had been a loner for most of his life and his family really did not try to stay in contact. The saddest part is he was being treated for recurring cancer and the end was near.
He could tell that I was a little disheartened to hear this. He grabbed my hand and stared into my eyes, “Don’t despair for me. My life has been good and every minute has been exciting and lived to the fullest…so instead despair for the empty moments in your life”. As the night wore on…I became busy and was not able to spend much more time talking to the patient, but I could not shake the words that he had spoken. These words have stuck with me and made me resolve to live my life to the fullest extent so that I can have few and far in between regrettable moments.

"I've had my moments, days in the sun.  Moments I was second to none.  Moments when I knew I did what I thought I couldn't do.  Like that plane ride coming home from the war.  That summer my son was born.  And memories like a coat so warm, a cold wind can't get through.  Lookin' at me now you might not know it.  But I've had my moments" -Moments, Emerson Drive-

Accidental Confession at Work!

Aww…the situations I get myself into at work…
Tonight one of my pts was an elderly woman with severe dementia who was being worked up for a liver transplant…(I was surprised that they were going to do a liver transplant on a woman in her 80’s but hey good for her). She had been very uncooperative for the day shift and had even gone so far as to punch the tech and absolutely did not want anyone coming near her…especially if they had the intention of touching her.
Of course I was a little apprehensive about caring for this patient. But what could I do, so I walked into the room and introduced myself as Alicia, her nurse for the night. “Why do I need a nurse?” she asked, with her eyebrows furrowed and quite frustrated. I responded by saying, “Well honey, it’s because you are in the hospital, and I’m here to take care of you.”
Um…this may just have happened to not be the best answer, because at this statement her eyes got wide and just about popped out of her head. Her eyes were now set in a dead glare…man if looks could kill…I would surely be dead. “You think this is the hospital!!!!!!???? Girl, this is my home, you don’t know what you are talking about?”
I looked around the room…a little unsure of what to do but knew I had a decision to make. I could argue with her….wait the correct way to say that is to…reorient her to her surroundings (hahaha), which of course is the textbook correct thing to do, or I could make it an easier night for both of us…so of course I choose the easy way! Surprise, surprise lol.
“Oh, I’m so sorry dear, I get terribly confused sometimes…Yes, we are at your house. Your daughter asked me to come by to check on you…she must really love you!” The lady got this big grin on her face and replied, “Why yes, my mother does love me.”
“Well you have a good mother. Is it okay if I listen to you breathe?” At this point she was willing to do anything I asked and within a few minutes we had finished the assessment with no problems at all. As I finished, she asked “How many blocks do you cover?” “Um…blocks?...um Eight?”
“You cover EIGHT whole blocks…baby doll you must be crazy!!!”
Now I was the one who was confused, and had no idea what we had just talked about. The next time I went into her room, she asked me the same question, this time my new answer was six blocks. This was still too high a number and apparently I was still crazy lol. When I returned with her medication, the question was repeated a third time. I thought for a minute and said “Four. How many do you cover?” Here I thought I was socially interacting with the pt and developing a therapeutic relationship when all of a sudden I hear, “Girl, I don’t get paid for working corners!”
Wait!!! “But I do???!!!” What in the world did I just tell my pt I do for a living?!!! All I could do was stand there with my jaw about to hit the floor…and of course a nice little cute blush was beginning to take over my face.
A few hours later the question was repeated. “I don’t get paid for that” I replied too afraid to say anything else at this point. “That’s good” was her quiet reply.
Hmm…maybe those textbook correct ways to handle situations are actually the best. Not only did I accidentally make a “confession” to my pt about my secret life outside of the hospital…the other nurses I was working with were of course in the hallway and overheard the confession also…man however am I going to live this down now? Oh the joys of being a RN.

VIPs...Yes They Do Really Exist

This lesson will most likely haunt me and possibly all new nurses (of course when the have the privilege of seeing it first hand) for the rest of my career…haunt me as in make me very angry at the injustice of the whole ordeal kind of way.  I’ve always heard of VIPs (very important patients).  As naïve as I am, I always thought they didn’t really exist…I thought it was just nursing/medical lingo that was made up or used to describe very difficult, needy patients…once again…I learned that in the real world of nursing…sadly this is not the truthVIPs really do exist…and when they arrive in the hospital…they expect to be seen and treated as if they are the only person in the whole hospital…actually they expect to be treated as if they are the president of the United States…point in case.I had a pt that arrived at the hospital very sick.  It was not a happy time for this pt or family (which of course it usually isn’t when someone is admitted to the hospital).  I received report from the transferring nurse.  As the report was coming to an end…the nurse informed me… “Oh, by the way…this pt and the family are all VIPs…just a warning”.  I was like “What!!! What is a VIP?!!”  I turned to ask another nurse and she went on to inform me that “VIPs expect to be treated like royalty and are usually hard to please and difficult to care for”. “Great" is all I could think..."this is going to be a long night".When the pt and family arrived on the floor, I witnessed right away the behavior that gives away the VIP status.  Within 5 minutes of being in the room, I had already heard a million complaints. “This room is way too small…I don’t want to be across from the nurses’ station…It’s too loud in here…there is not enough channels on the TV…Why is it so quiet in here…I need a bigger room…and oh yeah…while you are at it…I need some food right now”  “Um….Okay then”.It doesn’t matter that by this time it is already 0100 and there is really nothing with any food…especially for the pt’s family and not the pt themselves.   When I explained this…the family was not happy and demanded I get them something to eat…I held my tongue and remained polite…although what I really wanted to say wouldn’t be considered that polite or customer service friendly.As I turned to exit the room, the pt yelled they were in pain and wanted medication.  Because the pt had a liver diagnosis, the drs were being cautious about the pain medication administered….when I said that I would see what was due…the pt demanded “Make sure you bring me 2 tablets instead of 1”. “Yep, this is going to be a long night…just shoot me now”.Needless to say…the rest of my night was spent keeping this one pt and the family happy…I spent four times the amount of time and energy on this pt then I did the my four other patients…because of course “if you don’t keep me happy, I’ll report you to Dr. X, who just so happens to be my friend”.  And so the anti-polite, unfriendly thoughts once again enter my head “How in the world do you have any friends at all if you act this way all the freaking time!!!!”After that night, I realized that I have a strong objection and opposition to VIPs…not only are they pain in the butts for nurses…the greater truth is that should I not be treating all my patients the same…no matter who they are, how much money they have, or who they may or may not know?

Beginning of a New Exciting Adventure

Who am I???  That just so happens to be the million dollar question...and I hope to find new answers to that question as I continue this next chapter of my life.
As a newly graduated med-surge nurse the first thing I have learned is...being a new nurse is scary, exciting, terrifying, exhilarating, and frustrating all at the same time; however I love every minute of it. As much as I love it…with the good comes the bad…believe me when I say there is a lot of bad…or at least entertaining frustrations…and sometimes I just have to get it all out…and besides I know everyone loves to hear my stories…so here is a way I can keep everyone updated on the funny, sad, or just the everyday stories of being a tired night med-surge nurse.