Wednesday vignet

I was in my office performing a patient interview and obtaining necessary bloodwork when Dr GSW walked in. Clearly flustered, I could not ignore him.

"Greg is there something wrong?"

"This damn thing keeps blinking at me. Look blink, blink, blink." (this thing is his pulse oximeter- a machine that measures the percentage of oxygen in the patients blood).

I looked at it and had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. IT NEEDED BATTERIES PEOPLE! (The man is helpless...)

I replaced the batteries (because it was faster than trying to get him to do it) and returned to my patient. Her response: "Is he special ?" I had no answer for her.

Overheard on the phone... (aka- how delusional one becomes while watching the Olympics)

While watching men's springboard diving....

Me: These guys are cut out of flippin' marble.

Jenn: mmmhmm

Me: Seriously, they are amazing.

Jenn: I know.

Me: I could do that.

Jenn: Ok, now you're just lying.

Me: No really, I could do that.

Jenn: Idiot, you are afraid of heights!

Me (snarkily): Minor technicality.

The End of an Era

Since June 1997, I have been an ICU nurse. I have always worked at the bedside caring for the patients and their families.

Four years ago, the Pulmonologists approached me about working for them on the weekends. I would presee the hospital patients for them, write the physicians progress note, write orders for medicines and tests, and be a liason between the patient and the physicians. I still worked full time at the bedside.

Two years ago, these same physicians approached me about working part time for them doing the same job but during the week. I accepted and went to part time at the bedside.

A year ago, I was offered full time with the practice and went to casual perdiem at the bedside, working one weekend a month.

Today, the hospital called to inform me that the perdiem requirements would be changing and they would be requiring dayshifts during the week as well as weekends. That is a committment I am unable to make.

Today, I resigned from the hospital and will no longer be considered a bedside nurse. I am not sure how I feel about this but it is a done deal...

Trapped in PA

So here I am trapped in PA because of my weekend call committment for the practice. It is 81 degrees outside, no humidity, and not a cloud in the sky. I would much rather be at the beach. Instead, I am trapped here in my apartment, tied to the phone and ready to return to the hospital at a drop of a hat.



So, this is what Piglet and I have planned for the rest of the day...

Wordless Wednesday (well, somewhat)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Piglet. She is so completely vulnerable and HAPPY. It is the picture that I have framed of her in my office. I came down from the hopsital this afternoon and it was gone. I went out to the desk and there is the pic sitting in front of Dee, our phenomenal secretary.

"I am having a very bad day and this picture makes me smile".

Ok, then...

The Saga of the Lost Book

For those of you who read my blog and my sisters' blogs, you will know that we all are avid readers and come from a family of the same. Last night, my mother appeared and asked me if I knew where her book was. She is reading Loving Frank and is almost done and managed to misplace the book. She was beside herself. She knew she had had it in the morning but here it was 12 hours later and no book to be found.

A search ensued. We called Mary Beth and Helen, they didn't know where the book was. We turned the house upside down and still no book. She had been out on the porch in the morning- which did not bode well as it was pouring rain and had been for 5 hours. I did a perfunctory look but did not see the book while she looked in her room, bathroom, and the attic. Still no book. I decided to do a more thourough look of the porch and stepped out onto what was now an oil slick. With the first step, I had done a split (I have never been able to do a split) and wrenched my left hip, knee, and ankle. Ever so ladylike, I cursed the heavens and burst into tears which brought my mother running. After I was standing again we looked over the porch and still no book. As I was walking back into the house, I HIT THE SLICK SPOT AGAIN and once again found myself in a split...

After limping back into the house we decided the book had to be upstairs even though she had turned her room upside down. I headed up the stairs, paid homage to the cat gaurding the door, and heard my mother behind me say - "there it is". The damn book was right inside the door covered by a pillow. She had stopped behind me as I said hello to Henrietta and caught a glimpse of the book because she was at the right angle. I don't know that we ever would have found it had we not gone back up. She felt horrible that I had now fallen twice and the book had been under her nose but I completely understood. Last year, I had left my book on the mantle and had made it just off the island before I remembered. She drove the book to me so that I did not have to backtrack, about an hour roundtrip.... Paybacks are a bitch, aren't they?

Neighbor Update...

The rats carried on until 3 am, on and off. I planned all sorts of evil revenge... But tonight, I rejoice- it is raining and cold- not the type of night to be gallavanting on an outdoor porch until the wee hours of the morning. This is good as I will be leaving for work at the brisk hour of 5:30am. If the shenanigans begin, I am afraid that I may need to lodge a formal noise complaint. Way to friends, huh?

Crabby and Tired- not a good combination

I am at the shore for the weekend at my parents house. Like many of the shore communities, Long Beach Island was not built with large pieces of property. Although my parents house and the one next door do have nice pieces of land, noise travels and there is not a large amount of space between the two houses. For close to 40 years, the house next door was owned by a quiet, albeit stuck up and rude, family. They would spray their yard with pesticide wearing full body armour and tell us in the adjoining yard that it was not harmful. But you rarely heard them or saw them after dark. We are a quiet group, with the exception of the animals and do our best to respect those around us knowing that noise travels as it does. The couple sold the house last year and I am fairly sure that it is a rental, now. At the moment it is 1230 am and the idiots next door are carrying on on the porch outside my bedroom. We do not have airconditioning here (it really is not needed with the ocean breezes) and my windows are wide open.



Both last night and tonight, I headed to bed at 1030pm and both nights I have been woken up by the monsters on the outside porch. I know they are on vacation but seriously 1230am seems a little inconsiderate to be screaming outside. Last night, there were long discussions about role models for teenage girls and Lindsay Lohan and, her father, Micheal Lohan. By that point, they were tapping their 5th bottle of wine. Tonight, we are discussing (at the top of their lungs) John McCain's wife in a leather thong. I am quite possibly beyond help here. If it carries on much longer, I might be tempted to march myself over to the house (in my pajamas) and request that they shut the hell up. And to make matters worse, they have stirred up my parents dogs who are now barking their heads off above me.

I cannot believe that I am going to say this, but I cannot wait for summer to be over. No more rude renters next door just back to our nice quiet corner of the island....

Wordless Wednesday

How is that for a sexy beast... (the cat, people- not my legs!)

Tired. Oh so Tired...

I slept last night in an armchair next to Danny's bed. He was comfortable, thanks to the amazing efforts the bedside nurses. They came and turned him every 2 hours, making sure his sheets were smooth and dry. They rubbed his back, they moistened his mouth, and I held his hand. His step mother arrived at 7 am; just in time for me to grab a shower in the OR and start work. She cried when she realized he had never been left alone and could not even begin to thank me for sitting with him. "I was so worried that he would be scared and alone".

Today he will be transferred back to the group home where he has lived for the majority of his adult life. There are nurses there that have taken care of him for 30+ years. They should be the ones who are with him at the end. Hospice will come in and make sure he is comfortable and the home has made arrangements so that his step mother can stay until he dies. He is 61, she is 84...

As an aside, this is not the same Down's Syndrome patient who cried when he had to miss Halloween. That is Tommy, who at his last appointment was doing well.