Other random weirdness

Today passed reasonably quickly. I had only one patient and the med wagon again today. Things were pretty good. A few people didn't feel well, so things were quieter than normal. The Slug was still her lazy old self, taking an almost two hour lunch so we got to deal with the doc admitting her patient, but nothing new about that.

My patient was a riot. Instead of complaining to my boss the first thing this morning, as he's been doing for the last few days that I've worked, he sits up and tells me, after I get him a pan of water to wash up with, "Maybe I can get in the shower." "Sure you can," I say, "that's why the bathroom's attached to your room." This works out well, especially with rehab patients, since we can get them to do things on their own when everything is nearby in your own bathroom. (We're an old unit, so each room does not have a private bath attached.)

I go down to pick up a shower chair, which is basically a wheelchair with a padded seat with a hole in the middle. Said patient, who did a wonderful sit-pivot transfer for me yesterday, refused to do it today. I had to go roll out the old, reliable hoyer lift and deposit him on the shower chair. I ran the water, got it the right temp, and rolled him into the bathroom. Once he was in there, he was oohing and aahing to no end. He washed himself from top to bottom pretty well and all I had to do was wash his back. It's amazing how much work it is to get clean from top to bottom, but he did it. I even got the unit blow dryer and he dried his hair to finish up. It wore him out, so he skipped his AM therapies.

He ate lunch in bed and then just before he's supposed to get up and go back down to therapy he says, "I have to take a dump." Yes, the docs call him a simpleton, and yes, he's got those earthy quips to prove it. After about half and hour waiting for the farts to become feces, I convinced him to give up until his bowel program in the evening.

Again, I hoisted him out of bed and into the wheelchair, got him all situated and escorted him down to therapy (the docs want to make sure he actually goes). He goes and hangs out with the rest of the guys and all was well.

I would have put him back in bed, but one of the nurse assistants told him the store was going to be open until 5PM tonight. He got his money and was off to do some Christmas shopping. I made sure he was ready and wished him well.

Finally, I finished up my med wagon paperwork. It is always so much fun. I save some of the work until the end so I can get things squared away when things aren't so crazy. I finished everything and walked out of work to a stiff breeze and light snow. Things should be interesting tomorrow. I just hope I don't freeze my toes in the snow!

More later...

Remnants of Ike...no Tina

Yes, we're getting that rain here in our neck of the Midwest. The yard now has a big lake in it. Three of my five evening shifts are done and the last few days have been interesting enough.

Friday I went to a prescription drug abuse seminar put on by a local psych hospital. They even had free CEs for the RNs and all sorts of goodies. I registered via e-mail and got a confirmation but I forgot to bring the e-mail along. I show up early figuring my name is on the lists there and my name is no where to be found (for CE people and non-CE people). I was very agitated about this, but a lot of other people were, too, (and they actually paid for the CEs and need them this month for their various licenses) so I decided the best course of action was to find the local Starbucks, get a coffee and read my e-mail.

I had plans for lunch, so I found a Starbucks in the neighborhood, so I didn't have to drive around in rush hour traffic. I couldn't get on to the wifi hotspot on my Palm, so I read my Rehabilitation Nursing magazine from cover to cover (it's on polytrauma), which I had meant to do for a couple of weeks. It was a good read and I highly recommend it. I wanted my e-mail, though, so I headed up the street to a local eatery that had accessible wifi and I found a nice booth and newspaper and I read my e-mail and the paper until lunchtime. It was a diversion, but a pleasant one nevertheless.

After my fun surfing and reading, I met my friend C. for lunch. C. was happy I got bumped so she could escape the office a little earlier. We had a great time.

At work, I've been lucky enough again to be pushing the med cart. Supposedly, we get a less taxing assignment when we're giving pills, but it's not necessarily the case. I had the AB boys (that's what I'm calling them because of their bug--acinetobacter) up in the front and it was hellish. The room was so hot. Something is wrong with the HVAC system and these guys have fans, but to go in their room garbed up in an isolation gown makes me sweat like mad. It's a lot of work. They can be needy. Thankfully, C. the charge on Thursday kept them quiet for me while I adjusted to being back at work and on the pill delivery route, which, incidentally is all the way at the other end of the unit. (Our boss is really good at crazy geographical assignments like that!)

Outside of that, our new schedule came out and yes, I did actually get those vacation days I asked for recently. I got lucky and found a couple of blank spots on the calendar and asked my boss if I could take off three days in October and three days in November. I'll actually be away for six whole days, since those days are right before my normal weekend off. My husband Dahey is going to surprise me this year for our anniversary. He's making all the plans. All I have to do is show up. At least that was a good excuse for buying a new dress and some other new clothes recently. Bubba will be hanging out with my friend's boys while we're out, so he should have fun.

More later. Stay tuned.

TGIF, baby!

Oh, I rejoice! The weekend is here...and I'm not working down at Madison. Hooray!

The last three days have been fun, really, with ol' Mr. K. and Mr. J., especially since Mr. K. is getting his Haldol titrated, and having less hallucinations, but today was busy, even though at 1020, I was ahead of the game.

I was still driving the drug wagon as the med nurse on the most populous hall (we have 13 people here instead of the 11 on the other one...), but luckily, people weren't so agitated about how fast I got them their pain meds. Sometimes, the natives get a little restless down there...I really wanted to kill the Slug today, because she was being so onery and lazy about doing the accuchecks to which she was assigned. To relax, I sat in my car and ate lunch and charged my phone. I did not want to sit one minute in the lunch room with her, because I would have put my license at risk. (Going to Federal prison for killing her is not on my list of things to do right now!) It was lovely! It was only 15 minutes (I came in and checked my e-mail at the nurses' station for the other 15) but it was an oasis. I'm not going to detail everything, but I find that escape does have its advantages, especially when you're contemplating killing your co-worker for being such a slack.

The rest of the afternoon went well. Everyone got their pain pills, their Ativan and whatever fixed their ailments, including pillow fluffing, so they were happy. I got to hand over the keys to my med cart to K., instead of B., which was also a relief. He's another story, but I only deal with him on evenings, so I won't worry until next week!

Happy weekend! More later...stay tuned.