Mary’s Pad

That’s how many days I have off, starting today!! I’ve looked at my little schedule book five times to make sure, rubbed my eyes, then looked again, stood up, walked around, then looked again… rinse and repeat several times (I did mention before that I was a little OCD)… but yes, it’s completely absolutely true, I have five consecutive days off!!

What to do? What to do?

Well, here’s the plan.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Eat. Go to the bathroom. Sleep. Sleep. Eat. Water the plants. Sleep. Watch TV. Watch a movie. Do Sudoku puzzles. Read. Eat. Sleep. Sleep.

OK, you get the idea. Anyway, I scheduled myself off that way because we had planned to go out of town for about 4 days. But it turns out Mary has some unavoidable commitments, so that’s put a damper on our plans. We are still going out of town for a shorter time though, and it should be lots of fun. As for the rest of the time, I plan to relax, clean up the disaster area that’s my desk, catch up on some reading, play with my computers, write some programs, play Wii, and watch marathon episodes of Family Guy and The Wire, plus a few movies I’ve been collecting for a rainy off-work day.

Remember a few weeks ago I had a diamond kind of day? Well, last night was one of the “stone” kind of days. It wasn’t exceptionally busy, but I just didn’t seem to be able to catch up. I’d like to think there were mitigating circumstances, like patient acuity, the fact that I hadn’t rested much, and such, but maybe my energy was just off.

All I wanted to do at the end of the night was crawl under a rock, curl up into a fetal position, and suck my thumb (and feel sorry for myself).

Now I’m sitting here, barely 6 hours later, and it’s time to get up and do it all again.

Ah well… Let’s dance.

PS: In case you’re wondering about the title of this post and the diamond one, it’s a reference from John Denver’s song Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)

… If you see me looking keenly and intently at your arms, mark the expression on my face. If I appear to be drooling, be glad. If I appear to be puzzled, and seem to be peering closer and closer, be alarmed. If I look once and look away, you’re okay.

So here’s the deal, I have a thing for veins. I find myself looking at total strangers arms asking myself “I wonder what gauge IV catheter I could get in that guy?” If I have a dreamy expression on my face, then it means you have #18 or even potentially #16 gauge veins, and if I’m really actively drooling it means I’m thinking your veins are so big and beautiful I probably won’t need a torniquet. If I look bored it means I think you’re an easy #20, no big deal. And if I look puzzled, aww hell… not good, I’m thinking I’ll be lucky if I can even find somewhere to stick a #24. (The smaller the numbers the larger the catheter).

I am obsessed with veins, because one of the cardinal rules of the ER, besides airway, breathing, and circulation, is to have what we call “access”, as in intravenous access, most frequently in your arm or hand, and if you’re really badly off, then we go for your jugular. It allows us to draw blood for tests, to give fluids, and to give fast acting life saving medication. So it’s not a bad thing this fetish I have for your veins. Some might even call it an occupational hazard.

Really, it should.  There is no reason why 98F weather in Philadelphia should be legal!!  Anyone want to join me in sending a letter of protest to…. ahhh, never mind, I’ll just crawl back to my room and lay infront of the air conditioning.

And no, I am not a total wuss… I did get out of the house today, into 98F weather!  Went to see the Cirque du Soleil - Kooza.  I have only one thing to say - MAGNIFICENT!! Seriously, it blew my mind, Mary’s too.  We loved it!! They don’t allow cameras, but it’s just as well because it would probably have languished from my lifeless fingers as I watched the shows with my eyes and mouth wide open, and then had the living daylights smacked out of it as I clapped feverishly.  Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, you have to go see Kooza, it’s AMAZING!!  Worth every one of those 98 degrees of heat I braved for it!

And no… it is not this hot in Africa, at least not where I come from.

So I am finally officially off orientation.  My last day of orientation was Saturday, and it was fun.  My preceptor and I volunteered for the “Crisis Corner” assignment which is where you have the psych patients, the OD’s, drunks, etc.   It can be pretty interesting.  Sunday night was my first night officially on my own, but it was pretty much like any other night.  I’ve been handling (or at least trying to) the full assignment for the last few weeks, so it wasn’t too hard of a transition.  But this means that I am now a full nurse, and not just half a nurse (or a quarter, or an eighth, depending on how the night is going).  I still love my job, and I am really digging working the night shift. ER nurses as a group have a particular personality that is very distinct.  ER night nurses take that distinctiveness a step further.  It’s a very cool crew to work with, and I’m having a blast, and learning a lot.

On the more geeky end of things, I recently completely reformatted my laptop back to factory settings.  I backed up all my files, made a list of everything I would need to reinstall, and then hit “restore”.  The difference is AMAZING!   My thinkpad is purring like a cat that just found a hidden stash of tuna… everything loads up super fast.  I am almost done restoring files and such, and reinstalling only what I need.  It’s an awesome way to breathe new life into your computer, but you need to plan it out carefully and make sure you have everything backed up and everything you need to reinstall available.

On my shelf I have two new books that I am very excited about. One if Thelan’s Critical Care Nursing, a book that I have been wanting to have since the last semester of nursing school.  It’s a great reference and makes for interesting reading.  Thanks to Donna for that wonderful gift.  The other book is an ACLS prep book that Mary got me (thanks Mary), which is exactly what I need right now since I am planning to take my ACLS class as soon as I can, plus the information in that book is stuff I need and use everyday in the ER.  So I’m pretty  jazzed!!

Not much else is new.  Mary is still rocking out in her sling, being creative with living life with only her left hand, for now.

I am still enjoying my very expensive toy.

And I am eating sword fish tonight!!