Monday, February 13, 2006
Another weekend over and done
I managed to survive the first day of my rotation on the neuro unit. All I have to say is that our instructor for this half of the quarter is SCARY!!!! She comes across as a complete be-otch, and almost told us flat out that she is a be-otch (I think her exact words were "I'm really tough"). Despite her being exceedingly scary and most likely cranky, I get the impression that she is DAMN good at her job. I suppose it takes a certain attitude to be a female nurse practioner in a neuro unit. I bet on a regular basis she has to show stuck-up neurologists that she has a set of gonads just as large as they do and is just as capable as they are. I only have 3 more weeks with her, but I'm going to learn as much from her as I can.
One cool thing that happened Saturday was that I got to go with a patient down to the CT lab and watch from the control room as she had her scan. It was SOOOOO cool watching the images come up on the screen. What was even more cool was that I noticed some deviation as the images where coming up. The CT tech confirmed what I saw as the patient was getting back into her wheelchair. I guess some of that schoolin' managed to sink in after all! Later in the day, I was able to find an iregularity in another set of CT scans based on the radiologist's report. Hmmm, maybe neuro is where I should be working.....
Based on the one day there, I think I could probably handle working on a neuro unit after graduation, at least for a while. It is amazing to see the range of problems brain injuries can cause. Two very similar issues will have different presentations in two different people. The brain truly is an amazing piece of meat.
Sunday was a day for me to really get my geek on (as if getting excited about being able to read a CT scan is not geeky enough). It was time for another exciting episode of our long standing role-playing game! We are currently working through a Dark Ages: Vampire chronicle (check out www.white-wolf.com for more info) which started our characters becoming vampires in 1099, and is supposed to take us to sometime in the early 21st century. Needless to say, this is not something to be done in a couple of sessions. This week also saw the introduction of a new person (and associated character). Buster invited on of his co-workers to come over and play, since she was completely fascinated with the whole idea. It was just a little scary how well she fit in!
During this week's adventure not too much happened (partly because we had to work to incorporate our new person). My character (think Shrek, but as a vampire with a slight bit of medieval European Christian fanaticism thrown in) was formally put in charge of a city in the south-eastern part of Transylvania (just a co-incidence). For some reason, which neither I nor the character understand, his sire (the vampire who made him into a vampire) wanted him to take another step toward a blood oath with him (in this universe, a blood oath turns the person drinking the blood into the other vampire's butt-monkey). Needless to say, when he refused, it was not take well. So my character is off to run a good sized city while in a questionable domestic situation, with only the help of some other vampires who he doesn't exactly trust (for a number of different reasons). Fun, fun, fun!
Hopefully this week will go smoothly. I still have about 3 chapters to read in my med-surg book and a couple of hours of lecture to watch, but that shouldn't be too terrible. Of course, this is what I say on Monday, God(dess) only knows what will happen in the next several days.....
One cool thing that happened Saturday was that I got to go with a patient down to the CT lab and watch from the control room as she had her scan. It was SOOOOO cool watching the images come up on the screen. What was even more cool was that I noticed some deviation as the images where coming up. The CT tech confirmed what I saw as the patient was getting back into her wheelchair. I guess some of that schoolin' managed to sink in after all! Later in the day, I was able to find an iregularity in another set of CT scans based on the radiologist's report. Hmmm, maybe neuro is where I should be working.....
Based on the one day there, I think I could probably handle working on a neuro unit after graduation, at least for a while. It is amazing to see the range of problems brain injuries can cause. Two very similar issues will have different presentations in two different people. The brain truly is an amazing piece of meat.
Sunday was a day for me to really get my geek on (as if getting excited about being able to read a CT scan is not geeky enough). It was time for another exciting episode of our long standing role-playing game! We are currently working through a Dark Ages: Vampire chronicle (check out www.white-wolf.com for more info) which started our characters becoming vampires in 1099, and is supposed to take us to sometime in the early 21st century. Needless to say, this is not something to be done in a couple of sessions. This week also saw the introduction of a new person (and associated character). Buster invited on of his co-workers to come over and play, since she was completely fascinated with the whole idea. It was just a little scary how well she fit in!
During this week's adventure not too much happened (partly because we had to work to incorporate our new person). My character (think Shrek, but as a vampire with a slight bit of medieval European Christian fanaticism thrown in) was formally put in charge of a city in the south-eastern part of Transylvania (just a co-incidence). For some reason, which neither I nor the character understand, his sire (the vampire who made him into a vampire) wanted him to take another step toward a blood oath with him (in this universe, a blood oath turns the person drinking the blood into the other vampire's butt-monkey). Needless to say, when he refused, it was not take well. So my character is off to run a good sized city while in a questionable domestic situation, with only the help of some other vampires who he doesn't exactly trust (for a number of different reasons). Fun, fun, fun!
Hopefully this week will go smoothly. I still have about 3 chapters to read in my med-surg book and a couple of hours of lecture to watch, but that shouldn't be too terrible. Of course, this is what I say on Monday, God(dess) only knows what will happen in the next several days.....
