Fun things to argue about at work

1. What exactly happens when someone coughs up a nasty trach plug? Is it sputum or gastric contents?

2. If you can't tell the difference in #1, should they let you graduate as a nurse practitioner? I probably p*$s% off our NP student, but last time I checked, lungs should not (regularly) contain gastric contents.

3. What does no really mean in any language (pick several, but we're all speaking English--American, anyway--here)? When you refuse to see my patients (or in our local speak: decline) and say no, I take it to mean, NO you will not see them. Yes, there is a communication gap here.

Sorry if you don't like what your boss says to you after that when I tell him/her. Not exactly my problem. If I could write orders for what the patient wanted, I'd be practicing medicine, not being a nurse.

The color of the sky, football teams, and crabby patients are all up next. We'll see how the week progresses.

Stay tuned.

'Tis the graduation season

To all of you graduates out there, congratulations! Your four (or more) years are done. You have achieved your goal, or you are on your way to a couple of more graduations, with even more costumes and pomp and circumstance.

There are plenty of graduation speakers this year, but, I've always appreciated this sentiment (even though I'm not a Republican).



Remember, C=RN too, in many schools, so be brave and don't give up. There will always be critics. Do your best every day. You and your patients deserve the best.

I found it a grand coincidence that both my commencement speakers were baseball players. One was a chatty guy who said, "Never take a no from someone who can give you a yes." I lived by that one. It changed my life. The other had a whole collection of maxims from years in baseball.

As they say, when you come to a fork in the road, take it. You never know where it may lead.

More to come...

The beginning, again

Grad school is over. I know one of my grades was an A for the semester. I'm awaiting sentencing on the other one. It's kind of odd to get too excited about graduation from a school that only has one annual commencement, when that's in May and you're finishing in December like me.

I've been called odd before. No sweat.

The beginning is my long-neglected exercise program and diet log. I have a snappy doo-dad on my computer to track calories, activities, and even glasses of water. It still remembers what I weighed when I tried this food tracking earlier this year.

I'm also beginning to evaluate what really needs to be cleaned in my house. After a couple of semesters of neglect (that shows), I'm going to have to bribe, er, train Bubba to do more housework for his allowance.

Should be an interesting time!

Stay tuned...

Two weeks...

Yes, in two weeks, this odyssey will be over. No longer will I have to say, "No, I have to go home and study this weekend."

I am a little sad to leave, but not enough to stay. I have learned so much as I've gone along, that I still cannot believe that from the time I applied, got accepted to now that so much of my life has changed.

I am no longer a new nurse. I have grown in my practice. I have mastered much of one, and now, am learning another. My dreams from ages ago have actually come true

The genie is no longer in the bottle. The education I have has changed my job and my outlook.

Like the song says, I'm headed to the future...and I like it.