Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Oooooo I'd like to smack you!

Worked several times this past week and there isn't many times in my short career where a pt has frustrated me to the point where if we could smack the pt I would but let me tell ya, this one did!!!

30-something yr old drug abuser - VERY open about this and honest which is surprising - who got beat up by friends (nice friends huh?!) who dropped the pt at the hospital and left (again, nice friends huh!) where it turns out that there's a brain hemmorhage in the frontal and Rt temporal lobes - bad enough that it required surgical intervention which also necessitated removal of the frontal portion of his skull. It was NOT subsequently put back in once the swelling resolved and when pt came to us still had no skull protecting the frontal lobe. Pt had a nice temporal to temporal suture line that was well approximated and healing nicely. Because this pt had very little impulse control related to the brain injury, it meant that there was a security guard 24hrs/day.

When I got this pt they had taken away the pt's percocet order being that this pt crushed it and snorted it - STUPID nurse for not watching this pt since history was known! And therefore received injectable morphine. Being that pt is a known drug abuser - including narcotic abuse - it's no wonder that the morphine dose of 5mg did NOTHING for the pt's pain. When I got this pt they were VERY whiney and irritating and I TRIED my best to get some semblance of pain control but even getting the dose tripled the pt still complained that I did nothing to help with their pain and that I sucked.

This pt was also a clock watcher which can be VERY frustrating and constantly badgered me throughout my shift. Well rules are rules, I'm not about to bend them because your pain control sucks. I called the doc, they choose what med to give you and how MUCH to give you, so BACK OFF!!!

Even while charting this pt would sit in front of me and bug me - and when the pt started to pick at the incision I had had enough and told him/her in no uncertain terms NOT TO PICK IT!!! That it would get infected and since no bone = no brain protection = brain infection = NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!! Ya this didn't seem to sink in and several hours later the security guard came to me and told me that the pt had picked at the incision again and now it was bleeding - UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! When I went in the room I seriously wanted to smack this pt having told this one not to do this exact thing several hours previously. Thankfully it was close to shift change and I was able to hand this one over to the next nurse to have to deal with!

The next shift I had this pt I came on shift and made it known that if the pt asked for the pain med more than one time that for every request I was delaying administration by ONE hour - ya, I didn't get pestered so yay for me!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Crazy adventure part 3

Daughter woke up around 1030 hrs and so I sent her downstairs to "hang out" with papa and he okayed me to head back to bed since I didn't sleep at night being that I drove all night.

I woke with about 45 min remaining in my mom's shift and then grabbed the little tyke and headed to go surprise "nana". When we got to the store I did a bit of grocery shopping and then headed towards the cashiers checkouts. Unfortunately she was on express which means every customer wants to go through her because it's usually the fastest lane.

I tried to keep out of her line of vision but I also wanted to stop ppl from going in her lane because I knew that as soon as she saw us she would stop working and leave that person hanging.

I ended up coming out from behind the banana stand that I was hiding behind when there was just one woman left and she was ALMOST finished her order

To say that she was SHOCKED is an understatement!

She first saw the little tyke and she did a double take - then she like jumped up and down and it was almost like she squealed with glee. She stopped the lady's order and came around her till to come give us a hug.

She was soooooooooooo shocked that she started crying, apologizing to the lady for not completing her order. Lady said she didn't mind, she would have done the same thing if her daughter did the same thing that i did. The lady actually teared up as well. It was awesome and was glad that I kept it a complete secret and surprised her like I did.

Afterwards we did a bit of grocery shopping and then went back to the house to check on my dad because heaven forbid we leave him alone for more than 5 hrs --> or at least that's the way my mom was thinking!

I phoned around and let everyone know that I was in town and that we would have a huge family dinner the next day. Then I headed up to my BFF's workplace - a nursing home - to surprise her next.

When I got there it was dinner time so at least I didn't have to wonder around the nursing home lost. It only took me several dinner room areas to find her. When she saw me she didn't even seem shocked which suprrised me more than anything. Afterwards she told me that she was shocked but that she was so exhausted (she's 4 months preggo ATM) that her brain was on auto mode.

Then I headed back to the house to have a bite to eat and a couple of people popped into the house to visit. About 1100hrs BFF called and said that she was done work and asked me if I wanted to head to her place to see her new digs (she bought a house about a month earlier so I was excited to go see it). I had already put the kiddo to bed and took dad's cell in case kiddo woke up. Of course seeing your BFF is sooooooooo different in person than it is over the phone and we had so much catching up to do. We were sooooo chatty that he didn't realize the time flying by and when I looked at the clockm it was already 0300 and I jumped up and said that I would head out seeing as we both had to get up early. But not surprisingly we got held up at the door chatting some more and by the time I actually walked out her door it was 0400. Lets just say that I slept good that night!

The rest of my visit was the same - lots of visitors and lots of late nights (tho that was the latest).

All in all it was an awesome vacation and wish I lived closer where I could just get in my car and go and visit.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Crazy adventure - part 2

I drive a 2009 Honda Civic - my car has this really cool feature - the speedometer is electronic and has the ability to go between kilometers/hr & miles/hr - which is awesome! Once in Michigan I changed my speedometer to mph so that I knew how fast I was driving.

To be completely honest I was travelling 77 mph in a 70 mph and so when another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction started to slow down while approaching an emergency vehicle only U-turn spot between the divided lanes I was suspicious that it was a police vehicle and so I started to slow down and moved into the other lane (just in case it wasn't a police vehicle I was being friendly by allowing this person to complete their u-turn without having to wait for me to pass).

But once I was at the u-turn spot the other vehicle lit up and sure enough it was a police vehicle. Immediately I pulled over to the side of the road and pressed my special button to put it back into kph. here's how the conversation went down when the officer came to my window...

officer - hello miss, you were going awful fast. Do you know how fast you were driving?

me - about 122-123 kph

officer - what's that in mph?

me - I don't know officer. My car doesn't show me in mph only kph. So I just approximated my speed.

officer - Where were you going in such a hurry?

me - my father was hurt a couple days ago so I'm going to see him and make sure that he's ok since I'm a nurse and I'm not sure that I trust that the healthcare ppl are looking after him properly. (Said totally because cops generally respect nurses and see them as equals and those who will care for ppl)

officer - ok well license & registration

About 5 min later....

officer - (looking into my car) you should have a button that allows you to make your speedometer into mph...

me - really officer, I didn't know that (totally did but wasn't about to admit it!)

officer - finds button and presses it which did nothing.

me - no officer that didn't do anything

officer - presses it again

me - nope, nothing

officer - presses it AGAIN

me - I don't know officer, it's not doing anything

officer - this time he presses it for a bit longer & TADA it changes

me - wow, that's pretty cool

officer - well make sure that you use this as you travel. And please slow down.

me - oh I certainly will officer. Then he hands me back my license & registration.

Honestly I was thinking that when he pulled me over it was like my third strike for this trip and I was now out. I was shitting in my pants because how the hell was I going to tell my hubby that not only did I fuck up the car but that I was also caught for speeding. That certainly would NOT be a pleasant conversation.

Off I went to head across the border and to my parents house where I went in with the number code for the back door. I arrived at 0530 hrs and made sure to hide my car behind the neighbors big ass truck. Of course my dad was sleeping on the couch. Their stupid dog has a collar that jangles so of course it woke up my dad. I stashed my shoes & jacket in the closet and made sure there was no hint that I was there. I told Dad to keep me coming a secret and that i would try to surprise my mom before she went off to work at 1000 hrs.

Unfortunately I didn't wake up in time and off mom went to work. Stay tuned to part 3 to hear the rest

Saturday, May 4, 2013

What a crazy adventure I had - part 1

My last post was rather harsh on my mom - I love her but totally didn't see her point about how she needed to "care" for my dad who has a broken FOOT....

On Tuesday just before little tyke's gymnastics lesson, hubby calls me and asks me if I want to go to my parents and take little tyke with me and celebrate her birthday up there since mom and auntie would be missing little tyke's birthday (rather the whole point why they were coming down here)... so I said YES!!!!!!!!!!! Totally excited I was. It was something that had crossed my mind but wasn't about to bring up to hubby seeing that he hates when I go up there since it's not cheap and I ALWAYS end up spending more than I really should. So I was totally pumped when he brought this idea up, I wasn't about to turn it down.

So off I went packing and making sure that I brought the stuff we really needed and not over pack (as I often do!) and away little tyke and I went after gymnastics (and a late dinner with hubby). I got on the road at approx. 2130hrs.

when I was leaving the house I took the passport folder out of the middle console in the car and put it into the holder of the driver side door - that way I didn't have to lift the console (which little tyke usually puts her feet on when she falls asleep in the car) and chance waking the sleeping kiddo. And figured that I would have easier access to it.

Since I knew that I would be going into the US as it's faster to get to my hometown that way I called hubby and asked him to transfer money into the US account online and I would stop by our bank before heading out of town. Unfortunately my bank ATM didn't register the transfer right away and when I called hubby an hour later was elated to find out that the transfer did register and that when I got to the US border city that I could find a bank there and withdraw the american money. Hubby gave me directions to the closest bank in that city so at least I knew where to go as our GPS broke a couple months ago.

About 2 hrs into the drive I hit rain (and it's dark) and all of a sudden I hit something (still don't know what exactly I hit because I didn't see anything) and hear the "thump,thump,thump" - which I thought was a blown tire. I pulled to the side of the road and get out in the pouring rain to find out that the plastic holding my front end together had ripped off and it was still connected in the driver's side wheel well. I was of course FREAKING OUT thinking to myself how the HELL am I going to get this off?!

Of course I had no cell coverage unless in emergency and I didn't quite class this as an emergency. I had a thought that MAYBE I might have nursing scissors in my bag (left in the car as I had worked on Monday) and when I went in the bag found that I didn't have scissors but I did have my paring knife used to prep stuff for dinners at work. I HOPED it would work... thankfully it did. I cut away the piece of plastic from the car (trying not to puncture the tire and still make sure I cut enough of the plastic away that I could drive and the remainder wouldn't rub against the tire while driving and cause a flat tire. So I was on my way again.

Once reaching the border city I headed to the bank only to get out of the car and find that the bank didn't have an accessible ATM from the outside of the building (ya I was a little pissed at this point!). I get back in the car and headed for the border - figured that I would just grab american money in the US when I went to a Walmart or something. Once I get almost to the bridge to go across I reached for the passport folder to find out that it was MISSING from the door. Man was I shitting myself!!! I FREAKED!!!!!!!!!!! In the folder I had MY passport, hubby's passport, hubby's nexus card, daughter's birth certificate, and son's birth certificate. If you add that all up it equals approx. $400 --------------> FUCK ME NOW was all I was thinking!!!! I KNEW that if I didn't find where the hell these went hubby would have my head and rightly so!!!

I pulled over to the side of the road immediately and searched the driver's side door and beside & under my seat but didn't find it. Now I was racking my brain about where the folder could have gone. The two places I had opened the car door had been at the bank and when I stopped when I hit something.... man was I hoping that the folder was in the parking lot at the bank because if it wasn't there was NO WAY IN HELL that I was going to find it on the side of the road (the folder was black), in the dark and it was raining.... YA I WAS FUCKED!!! So off I went to the bank to HOPEFULLY find it at the bank.

When I pulled into the bank parking lot I didn't pull right into the spot but let the headlights shine so that I might see the folder.... nope it wasn't there. At this point I was almost in tears! I was desperate. I was praying that somehow I hadn't looked hard enough in the car and so I got out again, this time on my hands and knees and REALLY searched the car... someone was looking over me because THANKFULLY I found the folder.

I got back in my car and thanked GOD that I had found it - under the chair but tucked in on the side. Off I went to cross the border, which was quick and painless.

Now you would think that that would be enough that happened to me but I'm not done yet. Unfortunately it's 3am ATM and I should head to bed - we're celebrating little tyke's b-day tomorrow with hubby's family and I'm pretty sure they don't want me to head for a nap tomorrow so stay tuned for the rest of my story. It's craziness!