Well, now I get to talk about all the exciting ED stuff...I am so glad to be back in the ED. From day one, I felt like I was stepping in familiar shoes that fit and are very comfortable, worn in just the right places, molded to my foot. It was such a relief.
Wesley Long is busy, usually not overwhelmingly so, but busy enough that I am working most of the night...and that makes time fly.
My first weekend, we had a patient us his arm as a deadly weapon, one that we staff stayed away from until we were properly covered with protective clothing from head to toe. This man had put his arm through a window and cut an artery so when he was waving it around, blood just flew. There was blood on the walls, floor, ceiling and on us. After putting on face shields, liquid proof gowns, shoe covers and gloves, about six of us went in, pinned him down and gave him a shot which took about 15 minutes to calm him down. He was high on crack...we see that and alcohol alot...so begins my ED life...
One of the things I enjoy the most is even though I am not a doctor, I have enough experience that when someone comes in, I can usually figure out what is wrong...for example, we had a young lady come in complaining of nausea and vomiting. I further questioned her and she complained of a sore throat...I asked the doctor if I could run a strep throat with all of her other labs and I WAS RIGHT...she had strep throat...The doc came up to me before going to the patient and said "Good job, you called it right!" Made my night.
The thing about the ED is immediate gratification for most of the work we do...for example, I had a patient come in who was vomiting, had been for 24 hours, felt awful. I put in an IV and drew the labs in one stick (nothing like the flash of blood in the IV when you hit the vein on the first stick), hung a liter of IV fluids and give some medications for nausea...I get immediate gratification because the IV went in, I got the labs, and as soon as the medication is in, the patient is no longer feeling awful. I finish the liter of fluids and the patient feels much better! Unfortunately this is not always the case, but it happens enough to keep going and be excited about the job...
We see broken bones that sometimes we set, sometimes not, but we give medications to ease the pain...
We sober up a lot of drunks...some wanting help, some wanting a warm bed and a meal...
We see a lot of nausea and vomiting or abdominal pain...
We see STD's, UTI's and Detox.
The group of nurses I work with are great...mostly we work as a team, no one acting better than others.
The biggest complaint I have is getting the doctors to work faster, to see patients and discharge faster...I am surprised at how long a patient has to wait on a stretcher to be seen. I am used to the wait in the waiting room, not back in the ED. The labs are usually quick as are the radiology reports. Usually what the patient waits for is for the physician to see the patient. Oh well, can't have everything yet...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
House
Well, we got the house! We are very excited, the house is big enough for all of our "stuff", with space to move around...I will be moving a van load of boxes tomorrow and sleeping there on my weekend.
I interview two people over the weekend for babysitting for me. Both sound like they would work out well. So things are falling into place...we have prayed and prayed...God is Good!
We will be moving the bulk of our belongings on the 22nd through the 25th, the kids will go to the new house over the weekend and be babysat there, then we will live in a bare house, sleeping on air mattresses, and make the final out of the house on the 31st. The kids will go to school for their last day and I will finish cleaning the house. They will miss the last week of school, but the teachers have no problems with this.
Nathan took a reading placement test on Monday and tested 5th grade, 1 month...he is in 2nd grade! We are so excited. Really concidering homeschooling so that he does not get bored in school...he is having that problem now. He will finish his work way before everyone else and then get himself into trouble. I bought him a 3rd grade "everything you need to know" book and he has already completed most of the math work. We just have to get him to start working more with writing...reading, no problem!
I think Amilia with do well with homeschooling as well because she does so much better when I sit right with her while she is doing any work. If left alone, she dilly dallies and takes forever. I think that she just needs more one on one and I will do that for her. We will start over the summer and see how it goes. We have to declare that we are homeschooling 30 days before school starts, so that gives us plenty of time to get things in order and see if I can homeschool them! Amilia has her doubts at times...she says that her teacher is much smarter and knows a lot more than I do...I told her that anything we needed to learn, we could look up...
Well, gotta go finish cleaning...
I interview two people over the weekend for babysitting for me. Both sound like they would work out well. So things are falling into place...we have prayed and prayed...God is Good!
We will be moving the bulk of our belongings on the 22nd through the 25th, the kids will go to the new house over the weekend and be babysat there, then we will live in a bare house, sleeping on air mattresses, and make the final out of the house on the 31st. The kids will go to school for their last day and I will finish cleaning the house. They will miss the last week of school, but the teachers have no problems with this.
Nathan took a reading placement test on Monday and tested 5th grade, 1 month...he is in 2nd grade! We are so excited. Really concidering homeschooling so that he does not get bored in school...he is having that problem now. He will finish his work way before everyone else and then get himself into trouble. I bought him a 3rd grade "everything you need to know" book and he has already completed most of the math work. We just have to get him to start working more with writing...reading, no problem!
I think Amilia with do well with homeschooling as well because she does so much better when I sit right with her while she is doing any work. If left alone, she dilly dallies and takes forever. I think that she just needs more one on one and I will do that for her. We will start over the summer and see how it goes. We have to declare that we are homeschooling 30 days before school starts, so that gives us plenty of time to get things in order and see if I can homeschool them! Amilia has her doubts at times...she says that her teacher is much smarter and knows a lot more than I do...I told her that anything we needed to learn, we could look up...
Well, gotta go finish cleaning...
Nathan painting
He really is having a good time! This is the first year that he was excited for Amilia, not disappointed that the party was not for him...they are growing up so fast!
Amilia's birthday cake
Believe it or not, I did not decorate this one! I was sooo tired getting home from work, I made the frosting, put the blue and green on then went to bed...when I woke up, the cake fairy had finished the cake! Actually Jim did it and I am sooooo impressed!
Birthday party
Amilia painting horses with Aunt Judy and Natalie. Her birthday was a success even though only one child came. She had a blast! I was worried because we sent out 9 invitations and got no RSVP's! She wanted HORSES, so I ordered stuff on line for 10 kids! We now have 7 left over party packs...I think I am going to put them together as "girl gifts" and she can give them to her friends for birthdays...
Smushed cupcake
this is what a cupcake looks like when it falls on its side and gets smushed to the plastic
All wet
We have had summer weather...the kids got out the sprinkler and the slip and slide and cooooled off.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Moving
We are moving.
Don't know exactly when or where, but we are moving. Today I started to think about all the packing I needed to do. Did not quite get beyond the thinking part, but today I did get Nathan's hair cut, both computers up and running again, I have an appointment on Saturday evening with a potential baby sitter for when we move to Greensbore, I put an ad on "CraigsList" for a child care provided, I drove home from Greensboro after looking at a house yesterday (that we really, really want!) with two unmedicated ADHD kids along for the three hour drive home, I only yelled at them about half dozen times and now, we are going to get settled and into bed by 7:30pm!!
So, we looked at a house yesterday and the owner wants to rent to a family that will stay for awhile. I offered to sign a two year lease if we could have May for free. She is diligently checking my references (called my work today and called Aunt Judy around 8am this morning!). She will let us know by tomorrow evening if we will be able to rent from her...
We want this house. It is big enough for all of our stuff... It has a huge front yard with an empty field on the right and a horse farm on the left. The back yard is small, right up to the pond that is at least three acres in size. Lots of frogs and very yucky, muddy, dirty water...kids will love it. Reminds me of Saturday farm, only much bigger. The kitchen is completely updated with plenty of counter space and a dish washer!!! Hardwood floors through the halls and living room, working fireplace in the living room and it is on a dead end road.
My new job is going great, the commute rather sucks, but, if we are going to get this house, we will start moving stuff in next week and I will have a place to stay on the weekends for another three weekends, then we will at be there!
Yeah, change is good!
Don't know exactly when or where, but we are moving. Today I started to think about all the packing I needed to do. Did not quite get beyond the thinking part, but today I did get Nathan's hair cut, both computers up and running again, I have an appointment on Saturday evening with a potential baby sitter for when we move to Greensbore, I put an ad on "CraigsList" for a child care provided, I drove home from Greensboro after looking at a house yesterday (that we really, really want!) with two unmedicated ADHD kids along for the three hour drive home, I only yelled at them about half dozen times and now, we are going to get settled and into bed by 7:30pm!!
So, we looked at a house yesterday and the owner wants to rent to a family that will stay for awhile. I offered to sign a two year lease if we could have May for free. She is diligently checking my references (called my work today and called Aunt Judy around 8am this morning!). She will let us know by tomorrow evening if we will be able to rent from her...
We want this house. It is big enough for all of our stuff... It has a huge front yard with an empty field on the right and a horse farm on the left. The back yard is small, right up to the pond that is at least three acres in size. Lots of frogs and very yucky, muddy, dirty water...kids will love it. Reminds me of Saturday farm, only much bigger. The kitchen is completely updated with plenty of counter space and a dish washer!!! Hardwood floors through the halls and living room, working fireplace in the living room and it is on a dead end road.
My new job is going great, the commute rather sucks, but, if we are going to get this house, we will start moving stuff in next week and I will have a place to stay on the weekends for another three weekends, then we will at be there!
Yeah, change is good!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)