Sunday, November 9, 2008

Work has been blissful. And I hesitate to even THINK that, because as soon as I do, it goes crazy. So now watch. Tonight will be terrible.

As I was getting report at the beginning of my shift, the CSP (nurse aide) goes into one of my rooms where I have a hospice patient. She comes out and shows me her blood pressure. It was something ridiculous like 60/30. I think to myself "hm. I might have my first death tonight." But in the back of my mind, I was praying I wouldn't. There's a lot of paperwork and phone calls that go along with deaths, and since I had never done it before, I knew it would take forever. So I decided I would assess that patient first, just in case. I go in, and I notice the patient take a breath. Whew! She's still with us. And then I wait. Uh... where's the next breath? Yeah...she died. Right before my eyes. And not the way I wanted to start my shift. Other than that, it was a perfect night.

Last night was good, too. The only bad part was that one of my patients was a retired nurse and her daughter (who never left her side) was a practicing nurse. Talk about pressure! And I had to do 3 skin tests on her (TB included!) and was really nervous about getting the needle just under those that first layer of skin. Not to mention old people skin is really...wiggly. I did it, though. I also had to start a new IV on her, and IV's are not my cup of tea. Old people veins are wiggly, too. I am proud to say I did it, but her daughter helped me find the perfect vein, so I guess I didn't do it ALL by myself.

Right now we are cleaning out our kitchen because first thing tomorrow morning, we'll begin the remodeling process. It's exciting but EXHAUSTING! You never realize how much stuff you have in your kitchen until you have to empty it.

No comments: