Yes, it's coming!

Whatever you want to call this month's full moon, it's here.I should have known it when I got to work and my day started off smoothly.

The rest of it, got wild and crazy.

First, I got a lot of strange requests, and those were just from the people who came to my door. We had orientation in our conference room, so we always have those lost souls looking for the conference room.

Next, our doc had his clinic in the SU. One of his characters, after a procedure, decided to sit outside my office and say, "I don't feel so hot. Can you get me some candy?" He thought his blood sugar was low so one of the nurses took his blood sugar, then another got him candy. He bounced up, and our clinic RN checked him out.

Why didn't I do this? I was managing a few other fires:

1. A meeting for one of our patients was abruptly cancelled when one of the interdisciplinary team members didn't show up for work. No one knew until the last minute. It's always a joy rearranging schedules for people eight hours driving distance from you who won't answer phone or e-mail messages before you leave.

2. Another patient thought he had an appointment, while our sugar guy lounged on the chairs in the lobby. Nope, I told the therapist, I'll have to talk to him later.

3. Finally, a few minutes later, when I thought all was finally quieted down, I had to take a family over to another unit, because they were picking up a discharged family member. They had just driven in from far away and their relative was wondering if they ditched him because they ended up in our end of the Hotel, instead of his.

All went well after that. One of the nurses I know from one of our other clinics came to see me. We had a nice chat and I showed her all the stuff. She enjoyed it.

I was so happy to leave. Now I just have to wait for the full moon to be over...more to come!

Nuggets for December 31

It's finally here, the end of 2008. The year always seems like forever for me until I get to December. Funny how when you have your birthday late in the year, it can put things into perspective !

Nevertheless, I'm not going to do a recap of all the best nuggets this year. You'll just have to go look at the rest of them and decide on your own, but here are a few of the latest crop.

Enjoy your 366th day today...it'll be over soon enough and you won't get another for four more years.

From the 'net...

Tight blood sugar control is mentioned in just about every article you read about diabetes these days. This article from the NY Times mentions another great reason to keep your blood sugar controlled--memory loss.

I, like some of my other fellow nurse bloggers, am a big fan of soup in winter. I ran into this handy, dandy red lentil soup one today. Get your protein (when combined with rice, etc.) and enjoy the cold with this aromatic soup. Since we're all coughing and hacking here, it can't hurt!

Did Santa bring you some new shoes? This article from ADVANCE for Nurses talks about what kind of shoes nurses should wear to work.

Goodies from work (or a few things I've encountered recently on the floor...)

Here are some of the pharmaceutical items:

• Short chain fatty acid enemas- This was a big, 60cc syringe of cloudy fluid one patient used twice weekly. This article on ulcerative colitis talks about this treatment.
• Mometasone Furoate - It also goes by Asmanex and we've got a few people using this twisty inhaler lately.
• Vantin - 'Tis the season for pneumonia, especially in SCI patients.

Finally, I had a patient recently with a history of PSVT. Medscape has a great article about this arrhythmia with sections on diagnosis, treatment and a multimedia section with graphics of what an EKG might look like.

More nuggets to come...stay tuned!

Heard on our unit...

"Remember that DNR. I've changed my mind. I want to be resuscitated."

This is what one of my patients on Saturday told the MD yesterday when he actually came in to talk to him about the DNR he wanted me to take as a verbal order. G. told me about this today. I just about fell over on that one....what?

"He's C-diff positive."

Not Mr. Z., since his results are still out, but Mr. K. my recent amputee patient won the prize (not our fault) and got his very own room. We now get to gown and glove to see him, and wash our hands each and every time we go in the room. Silence may be golden, but then again, so is C-diff.

"48 (blood sugar) is in the ballpark."

Famous words of a non-Saintarama diabetologist who only had the nurses calling him q2-4 hours re: his 19 year old IDDM patient's blood sugars. This kid came to us straight from the land of tubes and wires (ICU) with his own PRN vent.

I'd don't know about you, but I don't want to play in that ballpark, thank you very much!

"I don't like that antibiotic."

My patient, Mr. T. (yes, I took him back this week after a week of vacation from him on my team) after I gave him his Cipro two hours post corn flakes and milk. At 1020 he has emesis of about 200cc. At least, I didn't see the pill in there. The best news is that his Cipro will be over after his 2100 dose tomorrow. Note to self: give him his Cipro as soon as I can get it.

"Can I have lots of ice? I like ice."

We must have the best tasting ice on the planet, or we have some people who really love it. I heard this over and over today.

I had a pretty good day today. I had a brand new patient (another BKA) come in early enough that I was able to stay over a bit to help the evening shift. I got her assessed (found 2-4 small PUs) and set up in the room and helped J. get the care plans in the computer, since she took my team. The secretary was still around, so she helped with the rest. I still managed to get out just before 1700. Hooray.

More fun and excitement (and surely, ice) tomorrow. Stay tuned!