I chatted with the nurse manager from Another Hospital today. The place is slightly larger than my current facility. I am frightened of my unfamiliarity with their staffing system.
They have 2 interesting positions open at the moment but after she asked about my ER experience (let's just compound my ER headache) i have decided that i'll be staying put for the time being.
well.... except maybe for two days next week if my work isn't being a poopoohead and let's us newbies go to a special ER course.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
babies, babies, chubby babies
on sunday i held the Chubby baby all during church and my arms hurt my whole nightshift afterwards. its a very chubby baby. a butterball. a fifty-pound butterball turkey of a baby!
sick babies are multiplying this week.
on sunday night i had one sick baby. last night i had two sick babies and a third had gone out by ambulance before i got there.
i understand that babies are people too and thus get sick. but the one sick baby? holy strangeness! the baby had stomatitis (a mouth infection i haven't seen since oncology) that occurred after having a rotten tooth pulled out. the tooth was rotten because the baby has TRENCH MOUTH. How on earth does a two year-old get trench mouth?!?!?!
the second baby was a cutey. he was one year-old. he looked as if he had Down's syndrome but one of the nurses is adamant that he doesn't. but i'm annoyed with that nurse so i'm not listening to her. i'm very mature. hello my name is JV and i'm mature. my coworker had brought his wife's baby sling to show another RN who had just become a grandma so i got to test it out with the one year-old. it was like having a monkey on my hip and i still had both hands free to do my work! monkey monkey monkey!
sick babies are multiplying this week.
on sunday night i had one sick baby. last night i had two sick babies and a third had gone out by ambulance before i got there.
i understand that babies are people too and thus get sick. but the one sick baby? holy strangeness! the baby had stomatitis (a mouth infection i haven't seen since oncology) that occurred after having a rotten tooth pulled out. the tooth was rotten because the baby has TRENCH MOUTH. How on earth does a two year-old get trench mouth?!?!?!
the second baby was a cutey. he was one year-old. he looked as if he had Down's syndrome but one of the nurses is adamant that he doesn't. but i'm annoyed with that nurse so i'm not listening to her. i'm very mature. hello my name is JV and i'm mature. my coworker had brought his wife's baby sling to show another RN who had just become a grandma so i got to test it out with the one year-old. it was like having a monkey on my hip and i still had both hands free to do my work! monkey monkey monkey!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
friday night fun
finally, JV steps out on friday night - i found myself sitting in Big City McDonald's with two male paramedics. The younger one wasn't bad looking but i think he was married.
i learned last night that Big City ER nurses are mean. I felt as if i was being interrogated. I didn't know my patient's hemoglobin. I didn't know if it was an upper or lower GI bleed. I didn't know if it was a mistake and she was simply chronically anemic. All i knew was that when Dr. Formidable says "this patient has a GI bleed - give her blood stat and send her to Big City", you give her blood STAT and jump in an ambulance with her. And don't forget the transfer bag because it will really save your bum-bum.
i got home last night to find a message from the Nurse Manager at Another Hospital. she did not sound entirely enthusiastic to be leaving a voicemessage, but the important thing is she wants to chat next week!
i learned last night that Big City ER nurses are mean. I felt as if i was being interrogated. I didn't know my patient's hemoglobin. I didn't know if it was an upper or lower GI bleed. I didn't know if it was a mistake and she was simply chronically anemic. All i knew was that when Dr. Formidable says "this patient has a GI bleed - give her blood stat and send her to Big City", you give her blood STAT and jump in an ambulance with her. And don't forget the transfer bag because it will really save your bum-bum.
i got home last night to find a message from the Nurse Manager at Another Hospital. she did not sound entirely enthusiastic to be leaving a voicemessage, but the important thing is she wants to chat next week!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
strange sort of day
the mailman arrived early today. i went out to collect the mail in my pjs and greasy hair.
there was a lone letter in the metal box.
a thin airmail envelope.
return address.
no name.
no letter.
just a cut out picture with a single word written on the back.
FRESH.
later on, in the early afternoon, i received a rather curious email.
it seems i am being headhunted by the lady in charge of HR at another hospital.
i didn't think nurses got headhunted. or maybe only highly specialized ones.
they must have the wrong impression of me.
there was a lone letter in the metal box.
a thin airmail envelope.
return address.
no name.
no letter.
just a cut out picture with a single word written on the back.
FRESH.
later on, in the early afternoon, i received a rather curious email.
it seems i am being headhunted by the lady in charge of HR at another hospital.
i didn't think nurses got headhunted. or maybe only highly specialized ones.
they must have the wrong impression of me.
Friday, January 19, 2007
quotes of the week
- you don't know her, but i do and i trust her ten out of ten!
- we have no rights as humans - a job is a privilege
- i wish i was a man!
- i wouldn't talk to her about that - i've seen her buy ammo!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
he's little... and sort of smelly... but he's mine!
i went out to the irish doctors' rather large house last night and i came home with a new friend. he's rather cute. i have him in my care for a week or two as a sort of aversion therapy. he's their children's pet mouse... Speedy... and he nests in a huge pile of (*shudder*) cotton balls.
(for those of you who are unaware, i have an aversion to cotton balls. some days i cant even say their name)
the irish doctors are going on a two week cruise so its just me and Speedy. They offered me their 2 dogs (and i think a cat) but i had to draw the line someplace.
yesterday, work started out well. when i arrived and was putting my food in the fridge, i found a present. someone had left me CHICKEN MCNUGGETS. they figured that if i was happy, everyone else would be better off. amen to that. placate me!
it didn't exactly go uphill from there though.
one of my patients' belly was about to burst so they rushed him out to another hospital. he came back later still bloated to high heaven.
i went to do an assessment on the LPN's maternity patient who was supposed to go home in an hour or so and that's when i had my first experience with post-partum hemorrhage. holy dang! apparently when a mat patient says "large clot", they mean a LARGE clot - it was as big as her baby's head! luckily the head nurse was in the next room with another mat patient who was having contractions so she helped me out (i did an awesome IV!!). But we could not get a hold of the midwife who had delivered the baby. Or the mat doctor on call (turns out she was having a romantic lunch with her husband). Or any of the other mat doctors in town. and we don't like that extra anxiety. and no one even had any calming chocolate for us.
(for those of you who are unaware, i have an aversion to cotton balls. some days i cant even say their name)
the irish doctors are going on a two week cruise so its just me and Speedy. They offered me their 2 dogs (and i think a cat) but i had to draw the line someplace.
yesterday, work started out well. when i arrived and was putting my food in the fridge, i found a present. someone had left me CHICKEN MCNUGGETS. they figured that if i was happy, everyone else would be better off. amen to that. placate me!
it didn't exactly go uphill from there though.
one of my patients' belly was about to burst so they rushed him out to another hospital. he came back later still bloated to high heaven.
i went to do an assessment on the LPN's maternity patient who was supposed to go home in an hour or so and that's when i had my first experience with post-partum hemorrhage. holy dang! apparently when a mat patient says "large clot", they mean a LARGE clot - it was as big as her baby's head! luckily the head nurse was in the next room with another mat patient who was having contractions so she helped me out (i did an awesome IV!!). But we could not get a hold of the midwife who had delivered the baby. Or the mat doctor on call (turns out she was having a romantic lunch with her husband). Or any of the other mat doctors in town. and we don't like that extra anxiety. and no one even had any calming chocolate for us.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
i dont like mondays
yesterday i went to Women's Group. no, it was not a jazz choir meeting with puffed-sleeved shirts that make whooshing sounds. the premise is rather straight-forward - a group of women get together for tea and coffee and chat. i was not the youngest. nor was i the only childless singleton. but i felt like... hmmm.... an asocial monkey? no, more like a potato - funny-looking and nonverbal.
i couldnt sleep last night.
now its early and i'm getting ready for work (which i imagine will be hell since word on the street is that it is hell right now and we are beginning to get the impression that the new site manager is trying to sabotage us so we quit and she can shut down the hospital) and i'm exhausted and dizzy and to top it all off the roof of my mouth is excoriated. i thought it was from excessive pistachio consumption but that was almost a week ago - shouldnt flesh wounds heal faster than that?
and i just realized that it isnt even monday.
sure as hell feels like it.
ps - did i correctly employ the word premise? its 630am, its understandable if i didnt.
i couldnt sleep last night.
now its early and i'm getting ready for work (which i imagine will be hell since word on the street is that it is hell right now and we are beginning to get the impression that the new site manager is trying to sabotage us so we quit and she can shut down the hospital) and i'm exhausted and dizzy and to top it all off the roof of my mouth is excoriated. i thought it was from excessive pistachio consumption but that was almost a week ago - shouldnt flesh wounds heal faster than that?
and i just realized that it isnt even monday.
sure as hell feels like it.
ps - did i correctly employ the word premise? its 630am, its understandable if i didnt.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
good bye parker, hello finn
the old year has departed and with it parker.
parker survived the Great Rootbeer Incident of '02 and the Flood of '03.
but he could not survive the effects of a broken mother board.
so long parker, you have served me well (except for the burns you caused on my right thigh during those long nights of paper-writing).
the old year also took away my oven.
i spent the last few days of 2006 trying to bake pies and hearty meals in my toaster oven and not go crazy from lack of contact with the outside world (i dont think i was so successful)
hello new year.
the new year has brought me many things thus far.
on the first day of the new year i got into a fight at work - a food fight! so far no one has noticed the tomato stains on Wylie the Photocopier....
on the second day of the new year i had the first interrogation of 2007 regarding my marital status. "so JV, do you have a boyfriend yet?!?!?!" How can someone who spent new year's day sleeping, then working a nightshift, and the second of january sleeping and working a nightshift have found time to find a boyfriend?!?!?
on the tenth day of the new year a purolator man brought to me a new laptop! i was in the shower at the time, trying to wake myself up for a nightshift when he knocked on the door. My first encounter with Finn (my new 'puter) was in a hot pink towel. I think Finn wants to change his name to Pico but we're still in discussion over that one.
on the twelfth day of the new year the appliance man brought to me a new ignitor for my oven!
on the eleventh (yes i know i am not reciting the events chronologically) day of the new year my friend gave me a parting gift! Myself and the resident had been invited to the irish doctor's house for dinner with him and his wife as a farewell to the resident who left our small town today (i almost said for good but i am holding a pair of her skis for her - her car was too full - so she has to come back sometime). It seems my friend the resident thought that i would appreciate if she asked the doctor for a favour - to find me a HUSBAND. Him and his wife spent the evening making a list of potential suitors.
parker survived the Great Rootbeer Incident of '02 and the Flood of '03.
but he could not survive the effects of a broken mother board.
so long parker, you have served me well (except for the burns you caused on my right thigh during those long nights of paper-writing).
the old year also took away my oven.
i spent the last few days of 2006 trying to bake pies and hearty meals in my toaster oven and not go crazy from lack of contact with the outside world (i dont think i was so successful)
hello new year.
the new year has brought me many things thus far.
on the first day of the new year i got into a fight at work - a food fight! so far no one has noticed the tomato stains on Wylie the Photocopier....
on the second day of the new year i had the first interrogation of 2007 regarding my marital status. "so JV, do you have a boyfriend yet?!?!?!" How can someone who spent new year's day sleeping, then working a nightshift, and the second of january sleeping and working a nightshift have found time to find a boyfriend?!?!?
on the tenth day of the new year a purolator man brought to me a new laptop! i was in the shower at the time, trying to wake myself up for a nightshift when he knocked on the door. My first encounter with Finn (my new 'puter) was in a hot pink towel. I think Finn wants to change his name to Pico but we're still in discussion over that one.
on the twelfth day of the new year the appliance man brought to me a new ignitor for my oven!
on the eleventh (yes i know i am not reciting the events chronologically) day of the new year my friend gave me a parting gift! Myself and the resident had been invited to the irish doctor's house for dinner with him and his wife as a farewell to the resident who left our small town today (i almost said for good but i am holding a pair of her skis for her - her car was too full - so she has to come back sometime). It seems my friend the resident thought that i would appreciate if she asked the doctor for a favour - to find me a HUSBAND. Him and his wife spent the evening making a list of potential suitors.
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