Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

Merry christmas everyone!

Last night the family went to a cousin's house and had christmas eve dinner there. We didn't get home until about 10:30, put the kids straight to bed and hubby and I watched some tv via the net. I told my eldest, who's 10yrs, that he couldn't wake us until 8am. And he ALMOST listened - he woke us at 7:45am.... too bad I didn't get ANY sleep last night. Unfortunately it wasn't for lack of trying either....

Little tyke sprung a fever in the middle of the night and was sporting quite the diaper rash, so she woke me up being MISERABLE! I changed her bum and of course, she woke up enough that she thought that we should then wake up.... uhhh I don't think so!!! She made me make her a fresh bottle and back to bed we went.

When kiddo woke up, he first went and had a shower (like I had talked to him about having the night before) and then he came to wake us up... poor mommy made him wait the 15 minutes to open presents. Such torture I know, but hey, I learned from the best - MY parents. Hahahaha

Then I allowed little girl to turn on the tree and we opened gifts. Since kiddo's the oldest I let him be responsible for handing out the gifts, not that I didn't have to give a few reminders that he had to take time to enjoy people OPENING their gifts.

All in all the kids enjoyed opening their presents. They enjoyed what they received and I had a ball watching them through the entire process. I even got a couple of pictures. Too bad I don't know where my camera is right now and I had to use my new phone (which I'm still working out the kinks for), so we'll see what kind of quality I will get.

Now if you didn't already know, I AM a muslim - but that doesn't mean that I have to leave my roots - my culture behind just because I found myself a different religion. This is something that my husband and his family struggle with. They equate celebrating christmas to celebrating another religion's holiday. HOWEVER, the way I was raised was that there was no religion in play, just simple giving and receiving of love, presents, time and happiness....... oh and a good ol' homecooked turkey (which I'm having tomorrow since I'm a bonehead and forgot to take it out early enough.

Well there's more to say, but I have to get to bed, I have to wake up early to get my turkey ready for the oven.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

What nurses talk about....

At the end of my shift last night, a bunch of us nurses gathered to talk about a couple of things.... we talked about one of the new hire nurses (got hired at the same time as I) experiences and how it differs from the veteran nurses experiences - more like what one would do vs. what another would do.

The situation was this.... if you did a bladder scan on a patient because they were complaining about fullness and pain - found that there was a substantial amount that was being retained, would you do a straight in and out THEN call the Dr for the order OR would you call the Dr, report the finding and request an in & out, also, what would you do if a Dr refused it....

Veteran nurse said that she would NOT have waited for a Dr's order, would have done the in & out and called the Dr for the order - neglecting that policy indicates otherwise... and even said that she didn't care if she got fired for it because it was in pt's best interest.

Newbie nurses (I included) - have called Dr's for such FIRST - but this is seen as us not having a back bone.

So what would YOU do?

When I have called Dr's for in & out's, I have already done a bladder scan and feel that information is a girl's best friend. I think it's like arming yourself for when questions get asked. Now, if I had a pt who required an in & out but a physician was refusing to give one (did happen to that newbie btw), I think I would go to the unit leader/charge nurse to speak about it, since having the leader on your side is like arming yourself - it's peer review and support. I know that the nurses on my unit support one another, and their patients - and ultimately would do what's best for the patient. Even if that means going against a Dr.

The newbie kept paging that Dr. for several HOURS, probably not realizing that the other option available to him was to do the in & out without the order and that one could be obtained later from the MRP (most responsible physician).

We also talked about our past patients and where they are... one of the nurses generally checks out various units within the hospital, as some of our patients end up on rehab units, we like to know if they're still there or not...

Last night this nurse revealed that one of our patients.... the one I told this blogging world about - the woman with the MASSIVE CVA (AKA stroke). Turns out that she aspirated at home - from the family trying to feed her! And she was back in ICU, intubated and STILL not a DNR (Do not resuscitate)... it amazes me, truely astonishes me that a family would WANT to watch someone suffer. If that was MY family member, I would NOT want my family member to be a full code if they are going to have crappy quality of life. If they can barely move, can barely communicate, and are entirely dependent on others for EVERYTHING, and that the family isn't all that interested in learning to take care of this family member.

It's crappy when people keep a loved one around for THEIR need, not caring about how it is for their family member. I guess this is something that I will learn to live with, because there is NOTHING I can do about it.