The Endless List

I'm a list person. Always have been. Always will be. I was making my to do list for the week and thought I would share. It shows why life has been not exciting this last week.

1. Take practice exam for my stats test
2. Take my stats test
3. Laundry--the over flowing bin.
4. Clean Inside of my Car
5. Clean Outside of my car
6. Shave--yes I have to put this on here or it doesn't happen
7. Print off all papers for confirmation numbers
8. Module 20
9. Module 21
10. Module 22
11. Module 23
    
12. Make Packing list
13. Pack for Virginia
14. Fax Humanitarian Mission Paperwork
15. Clean my room
16. Clean bathroom
17. Buy new book
18. Move more stuff out of my apartment
19. Find the tickets
20. Order lab coats and scrubs
21. Make need list for mission things
22. Play with the nephew
23. Get a birthday present
24. Watch bones--yes this is a must
25. Work my 3 twelves this week
26. Find New Notebook for Scripture Study
    
27. Find my camera!
    
28. Convert my body to a normal day people schedule
    
29. Oh yeah and SLEEP!!
30. Add to the list as things comes up.
    

The Triage Night that Wouldn't End

My nights in triage seem to get crazier lately. Last night I checked in 70 patients in 5 hours. The waiting room looked like it would explode at any minute. Here are my favorites:

1. The 12 yr old boy who was running and went face first into the back of a truck. You can imagine the jokes made about that one. He was a tough kid though to his credit. He actually didn't brake anything. Just went home with a bloody nose.
   
2. The 20 yr old girl that had me a urine sample that looked like cranberry juice. I never found out why but it looked like cranberry juice. Yummy!
3. The 49 yr old female who came in by ambulance because she was crying. Its what we like to call the "Hispanic Panic." She had 11 family members with her in the room. What a surprise that she left 4 hours later saying, "I fixed myself." I must admit I rolled my eyes on that one.
4. The 26 yr old male who came in looking like an inflated red balloon. He was having what we call an anaphylactic reaction. Red hives covered his ENTIRE body. His eyes looked so swollen he couldn't see out of them. Neck was all poofy. Yeah he went right back. The Best part was during his shot of epi. Big surprise a male afraid of needles I know. His bright red face when a punk color green and he passed out. His poor wife freaked out. He looked like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC238FrUm8M
   
5. The continued run of pedicatrics with running noses, coughs, and fevers. Yes, people your kids will cough, its called croup.
   
6. The 17 day old baby--yes, 17 days--that bascially had a kinked neck. I don't know what a baby has to be stressed about but he had a 4 cm by 2 cm lump on his neck. Truly bizarre I know!!
7. The drunk guy who while drunk fell of his curb and broke his jaw in 3 different places. I love the fact that he couldn't speak in one full sentence he was so drunk. They couldn't even take him to surgery to fix his lop sided jaw because his level was too high.
8. The 28 yr old girl who came in looking whiter than a ghost. Seriously, the walls were darker then she was. She looked like a vampire and sucked up a lot of blood to appear human again. I couldn't believe she was still standing. 3 units of blood later she had color to her lips. What was amazing about her was she had the best attitude. Her blood was delayed an hour and even though it was 0300 she just laughed and joked with me. I got the blood in her as fast as I could but she didn't scream or yell at me when I was late getting her pain meds or that she had been there 6 hours. I was shocked! A nice sweet patient at 0300!
   

We cleared out at 0455 just in time for day shift to come in. I think the final tally was 88 patients in 12 hours :D.

Eating Habits of an ER Nurse

I am the first to admit my eating habits are something to be desired. Its not all my fault--this job has forced it on me. I usually get my bowl of kix or cheerios in me with the occasional banana in there before work. Sometimes that is my only real meal of the day. When we aren't slammed or crazy I get a half hour to cram whatever food I can find in my mouth. Sometimes its french fries and some chicken sandwich others its a frozen dinner or leftovers from whatever I can find. I also think I have eaten my weight in graham crackers. I love the crazy cravings my body has at 0300. Another favorite is the emesis basin, bedpans, and buckets full of various candies and chips. The other night we were all wired on sugar it was entertaining. In addition to the loonies we already are, the sugar made everything so funny. Yeah for the ER eating habits!!

One big thing we are all hooked on is a place called Spoon Me. The best frozen yogurt with fresh fruit on top! I'm seriously addicted to this stuff.

Will the Week Ever End?

Did you have one of those weeks that would not end? This is one of the worst weeks I've had in a long time. After the frantic move home home last weekend I have yet to find some of the basic necessities. My stuff is in boxes in various locations throughout the house. Though it has been fun to say goodnight to my sisters at 6am as they are getting up. My sleeping patterns have suffered a bit. I haven't slept a solid 8 hours all week. Work hasn't helped. I drove to the hospital everyday this week between my 12 hour shifts, a very non-educational skills day, and the oh so ever productive staff meeting. The shifts this week were long and demanding with a lot of cranky people who didn't need to be cranky. Why must people be rude and obnoxious when they don't need to be?

In addition to this I've had the frustration of dealing with a friend who I think is going down a bad path. The reason I moved home was to escape the bad environment and get her attention. Well it did and I explain everything to her. I haven't heard from her since. Even at work she doesn't talk to me. So I've fought the feeling of caring too much and trying not to care at all. Either one didn't work at all.

Between the sleep deprivation, rude people, long hours, and a dying friendship I had about had it on Saturday. I am going on a humanitarian mission in May and had a meeting for it at 8am in Salt Lake City. I was grumpy and everything annoyed me. As I drove around the point of the mountain I saw something like this:

In addition, tucked inside the mountain I saw the lightly glowing Draper Temple. To most people it probably wasn't much. To me it was a tender mercy to remind me that despite my crappy week someone knows and understands. The sun will come up on a better day. Yesterday, I spent it sleeping and playing with my family. I am usually pretty good at knowing my limits and stopping before I push past them. This week was not the case. I pushed too far with no sleep and now I have to recover from it. I applaud those who do so much more than me. A lot of people are busier and have more responsibilities then me and thrive on them. One day I will be able to handle more! The one good thing about weeks--they end!!! On to the next one.

My Fish

I was going through my pictures and found one from my trip to Alaska few summers ago with my dad. Meet my fish.

My Proud 64 LB King Salmon catch on the Kenai River in Alaska

The Night That Would Never End

I guess I have put way to many hours in this week because my patience level was not high at all. Most of the time I try to see patients as people who really need help and treat them that way. Tonight I could not pull up that attitude. A few patients didn't help the case.

First, was the 500 pound patient who came in with her wheelchair and made me immediately gag. I have a pretty strong stomach and an even stronger one when I eat something before work. To paint the picture of how bag she smelled close your eyes and focus on this. She had rolls and rolls of skin that hadn't been washed in weeks. Incontinent of urine with day old pads stuck in between her rolls to cath the leaking urine. I saw flecks of something fall of her clothes as we helped her into the bed. As if that wasn't bad enough she had a bowel obstruction for a few days. Because her stool couldn't go out one way it started coming out her mouth. She gagged, burped, and vomiting yellow liquid that reeked of stool. I must admit i did a little dance when I sent her upstairs to the floor--poor nurses.

Second, the lady who was completely faking it. We of course got an ambulance call at 0200 saying they had an unconscious lady who had taken "a purple pill." She came in with an oral airway--something used to keep the tongue from blocking the airway. She was breathing on her own and her vitals looked okay. We tried our usual tacks and she didn't wake up so we threw a foley cath in her bladder and walked out of the room. She wouldn't talk to us but low and behold her boyfriend leaves and she is crying for him over and over. One particular time he left and she freaked out wripping off her leads,BP cuff, etc. She went for her IV and one of bigger nurses stopped her. She slapped and kicked him before I hear her scream and cower in pain. Well the swearing and f bombs began streaming from her mouth. The poor child down the hall just had his little eyes wide open. My favorite is when she tried to pull her foley out. A 10cm balloon pulled through a 2 cm tube. OUCH!!! By the end, after a visit from the police, she was very respectful calling me mam and saying thank you.

The only good thing that night was an adorble 2 year old girl who said thank you after she grabbed the apple juice out of my hands. She was cute and downed the apple juice in a minute flat I was impressed.

I wish I could understand why people must be so uncivilized and out of control. What happened to basic decor and HYGIENE! Please do me a favor and take a shower before you come into the ER!!

You Put What Where?

One of the highlights of my job is seeing where people--not just children put things. Tonight back in fast-track--yes I am a gluten for punishment. I had a little girl came in complaining of belly pain. Well after her x-ray we saw the glowing screw in her belly. I have seen kids swallow everything from coins to toothbrush to screws. I luv this picture of the coke bottle. I am waiting for my time with that one.

Moving Home

Oh the chaos life presents! Because of my current awkward and tense roommate situation I felt it necessary to move out. At the present moment I am sitting on the couch in Highland-in the home I grew up in. I was actually planning to move home for a few months during the summer anyway. At the moment I have my belongings sitting my living room. It is quite entertaining actually. I am currently living with my stuff in boxes. Seriously, it took me 20minutes to find my glasses. I don't know where my shoes or my scrubs are. I do however know where my pillow is.

Life at home is an adjustment but I love it! I got home from work this morning to see my sister's light on. I went in, talked with her about things for a few minutes, and then crashed in a bed. I got home and had my dad give me a hug. Being home definitely has its perks. There is nothing quite like the feeling of home. Now I've got to find a better sleeping schedule :D.

Night of the Overdoses

I don't know what was in the water last night but seriously every other person who came in had overdosed on something.

1. The 2 year-old who drank some visine eye drops
2. The 15 year-old who took a bunch of tylenol and Ibuprophen just because--his liver is now toast.
3. The 22 year-old who looked like a ghost because of the number of mushrooms he ate. Yet he wouldn't tell us how he ate.
   
4. The 23 year-old who was looney because of taking too many of her psych meds--she stayed in the ER for days while waiting for a bed. I walk into her room because she was screaming only to find her laying on the floor in the corner. She just kept screaming, " I need a shower! I need a shower before I become mentally ill!!" And yes she did get her shower in one of our bathrooms.
5. The 24 year-old who was found unconscious at work who swore over and over she had not taken any narcotics. And yet she responded to a drug called Narcan which reverses the effects of narcotics. Yeah blood and urine don't lie. She was positive for multiple things. Said the same things over and over and over and over and over and over. Oh the fun!
6. There were a lot more who came in for various drugs but thoses were my favorite. The 0300 EMS calls were even better because of the overdoses and alcohol levels.
7. These reminded me of the time the Orem EMS crew brought us 4 young adults who had eaten brownies that were laced with Majiauna!! A couple looked green while others were just so disoriented and while the youngest girl was faking it--her parents showed up :D
   

EMS Calls at 0300

A common pattern in the ER is after the hour of 0300 is the stream of drunks, overdoses, or police admitted psych patients. Tonight did not let me down. Every time the ambulance radio went off we all would say our predictions and every time we were right. The drunk, the overdose, and psych patient all came in after three am. My favorite was the drunk as always. Over the call we could hear the moans and whines and groans of the patient. Seriously we laughed the whole time. Sure enough he came rolling through the door moaning just as loud and as obnoxious as ever. What seriously amazes me about these people is their in ability to function when they come. This guy could get his pants off but not put them back on again. He couldn't remember the name of his own mother for a while and had to look her up in the phone book. The pride of my generation right?!

This may make me sound mean but people try to overdose on the WRONG medications. I had a patient come in who tried to overdose on melatonin--the natural hormone that helps you to sleep at night. All we did was watch him sleep, granted he was an easy patient for those hours. If you are going to overdoes on purpose don't use melatonin!

Another highlight of our 0300 EMS calls is watching the paramedics stubble their way in. They all look like 5 year-old boys who had to get up too soon. Hair everywhere and rubbing their eyes. You can always tell when a paramedic was woken up to go on a call--they can't speak in full sentences. Oh how we love our paramedics.

A Much Needed Girls Night Out

I can't remember the last Saturday night I had off with all my friends. After a tragic night at work I needed a reminder of the good things of life. I have never eaten at Red Robin before so Cressie, Gina, Becky, Rachel and I headed out for some girl time. I love their burgers! Plus the fries and the seasoning! Can I also say I love their freckled limeaide! My stomach was exploding by the end of my meal. I have knew favorite burger place.

Since all the stores decide to close at 9pm on a Saturday night we got creative while we waited for the movie to start. Gotta love the little kid rides--I got stuck a few times. 5 of us crammed into one of those photobooths in the mall. The pictures are priceless.

Confessions of A Shopoholic is still one of my favorite movies. A complete chick-flick but a lot of fun to watch with a bunch of girls. Playing with the girls is something I desperately needed to do. My crazy side came out but I had a blast doing it.

Trauma Blog Private

For those that don't know I have my trauma blog that I post on with my crazy, sad, unreal stroeis fro mthe ER. I am going to go completely private with this one so let me know if you want an invite

My Saddest Night So Far

I love my job. However, there are times when I see things that break my heart. We get a call that a teenage gun shot wound is coming in. Luckily, we have all the prep time we need. The paramedics coming running in with a 16 year-female and roll her into our trauma room. Once I see her face I know she is gone. But because she is so young we jump on everything and try to do what we could as a team. I am amazed at my ability to stay calm and clear headed in situations like this. About halfway through the shouts of drug orders, pushing fluids, electric shocks, and continuous CPR the mom came in. We had put a central line in through her femoral artery, adjusted her intubation tube and completely exposed her. I would not want to walk in on my daughter looking like that. It nearly broke my heart. She watched us pump her chest, push drugs into her system, and shock her for another 20minutes before we knew there was nothing else to do--she was gone. As everyone walked away, a few of us took the time to clean the blood off her face, her hands, her fingers, and her neck. We taped her eyes closed and put a bandage over the gun shot wound and the residue marks on her face. When all this one down, mom came up and sobbed and cried over the body of her daughter. I couldn't hold it in beyond that. Tears trickled out down my face, especially when I looked into the eyes of my fellow coworkers. Something so tragic should not have to happen to someone so young. I guess this one hit closer to home because I looked at her and saw my teenage sisters. Turns out a boy had shot her at close range. I pray for his family as well. His life is now dramatically changed from this one night of stupidity.

One reason for this blog is to help me process some of these events at work. A healthy way to mentally and emotionally process the good the bad and the ugly that I see. Its good to see that the ER hasn't completely beaten all the compassion out of me. Even as I type this I have tears starting to spill over. I wish parents would teach their children gun safety.

A Milestone For Me

Weston is by far the cutest nephew. Today he said my name!! We were looking in the mirror and I pointed him and said Weston and then to me and he said "yissa!!" Completely made my day! I love this kid.

My OR in the ER

Tonight I was in the fast track area our the ER. This is where all the ankle sprains, cut fingers-toes-arms-legs-etc, chronic back pains, and little kids with ear infections. Usually people shouldn't be there for longer than an hour--even shorter than that. Today was not the case. I had a guy with C3 fracture--a VERY bad thing. One that had taken a drill to hand by accident. To paint the image he had nerves hanging out with tissues and bones exposed. Today was the rare occasion when we had hand plastic coverage. The doctor showed up wanting all these specific tools and equipment I had never heard of. Sure enough when I called the OR they knew exactly what I needed. After 30minutes of trying to repair this guys hand in my tine fast track room the Dr. took the patient to the OR. While that was happening another kid checked in that had fractured his finger so badly and in such a way that required plastics again. A few hours later when the Dr. had finished in the OR returned back to the ER and did another mini surgery. I still don't know how he fit the giant x-ray machine, his special armboard, and all his unique tools in that tiny room. We had OR standing with us watching so he could go grab any special drills from the OR the Dr. needed. I was told not to go back to fast track after my mini OR experience.

My Bloody Eye

Random thing happen to me this morning. I woke up looking like my beautiful morning self in the mirror and saw this:

Yes, that is a large bloody spot on my eyeball. Its kinda creepy looking I know. Pease excuse the fact that I look possessed in this picture!

Day 2 of my eye

Photo Booth at 0300

I discover new things about my computer all the time. In combination with that and it being 0300 I have produced the following Masterpieces! Plus I have to show off my new hair cut.

My Beautiful Blue Car

I bought my car in August of 2007. I searched for months to find a Honda Blue recent Accord. I found it!! Honda Blue Accord 2004 with 27,000 miles that was within my price range!! I went and got my first loan and have since been paying it off. Today I dropped off my final car payment!! Officially, I now own my own car--not the bank--me!! Here is my beauty!

Kristi is 15!

My little sister is officially 15 today. After freaking out for a minute--I remember being 15--I want to brag about my little sister. I grew up with all brothers. 8 years of being sandwiched into every kind of boy event you could image. I still remember the day when my parents sat everyone down and showed us the ultrasound. My mom then tells me I am going to have a sister!! She came out fast (she was almost born in the car) and has been running ever since. Here are some fun facts about Kristi:

1. She has an amazing amount of energy and luvs being around people.
   
2. She is talented in many aspects of life--from winning tennis matches to memorizing and performing 10 page piano concertos to being just a smart-a-lick.
3. She is now only an inch shorter than me--dang it!!
4. She is always happy to see me!
5. She has a mind of her own and is not afraid to tell the world.
6. She has a puppy who acts exactly like her.
   
7. She is my mini me in appearance--yes I have come to accept that.
   
8. She is a natural born leader even at 15
   
9. She has an obsession with David Archuleta
10. She is in love with all things BYU!