I hope it's true...

I know it's a fleeting thought, but the first day of spring is March 20th this year.

For a brief moment, we had reprieve today. It was GLORIOUS! I escaped to the acute unit of the Hotel today, and warts and all, it's getting off to a nice start, despite the rough beginnings when it opened.

Happy Friday to all, wherever you are.

Back to days

I got the pleasure of no med cart today with my patients. Hooray! I always feel trapped every time I have to drive that thing.

I had two colonoscopy patients (one got his today, other gets his tomorrow) and Mr. B., who I took care of over the weekend. It was relatively placid. I got Mr. B. up in his chair by 1030. He had one big request, "Don't scrub me today. I feel like my skin is falling off." Ah, yes, we do offer spa services at Madison--the VA has a laundry contractor who doesn't use fabric softener, so we have really hard washcloths and towels. I try to pat carefully, so people don't feel like they're getting their skin rubbed off. I also use lotion, which for some strange reason, many of our employees will not use.

Mr. B #2 was getting his second gallon of GoLytely today at noon. He's scheduled for a colonoscopy tomorrow, so you can guess what I was doing all afternoon--cleaning. He'd turn and he'd be dirty. Turn him again to get it out from under him, and more came out in spurts. He is a very nice man, so I made sure to keep him clean. He just couldn't keep his external catheter on, and he used about four this morning. He ran out of his own, so I had to get him a couple of ours. Hopefully, they lasted until C. got back there this afternoon. I left her with a hamper, bags and a large supply of towels, pads and washcloths, just so she could deal with the outflow.

I was really, really happy to hit the road today. More tomorrow...