Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Deep thoughts on a light and fluffy day
Today seems to be a day for deep thoughts, despite it being Valentine's day (which Buster does not like, so it is not usually a big deal in our house, although he manages to surprise me every so often).
I started the day off reading two amazing blogs. The first was by PaedsRN (http://geeknurse.blogspot.com/2006/02/day-in-life-ii.html) dealing with a day in his life as a nurse in a Pediatric ICU. He talks about meeting with the parents of a kid who he had taken off of life support. OH MY GAWD!!!!!! I have no idea of how he could do something like that. He talks about going off to a room and having a good cry afterwards, but I can't imagine trying to hold out long enough to get to private.
The other blog was by Jen, SN (http://jensn.ceejayoz.com/2006/02/01/preceptorship-day-2/) and it described a code she participated in. Not being especially sensitive to things I read, this still had me squirming. Then the thought struck me, "And this is what I want to do!?!?!?" Never having worked a code myself, let alone something like she describes, I don't know how it's going to affect me. I like to think that I will be able to control myself long enough to get the job done and deal with it in a healthy, constructive manner afterwards. I would also like to be thin and fabulous! Not sure which one is more likely to happen though.
This got me to thinking about if there are areas of nursing that some people are better suited for than others. I have seen a couple of my classmates blossom in different settings. One classmate, Big-D, had better go into pediatrics or the rest of the class will hound him until he does. He managed to connect with the kids in our peds rotation better than the rest of us together. The sight of him walking the halls with his patient still makes me giggle when I think about it. There is just something very amusing about a 6'5" (and change) white man in a white student nurse uniform walking the halls talking with a little 2 year old Black girl. Another classmate, Pregnant-S, managed to connect with the psych patients better than some of the regular nurses there. I don't think that I have found an area where I "clicked" quite like that. Or maybe it's one of those things that you can't see for yourself and everyone around me has seen it and just not told me. Oh well, none of this changes my plans. I still have more time on the neuro unit, and then my preceptorship next quarter. Still plenty of time to find if there is a place out there I am destined for, or if I will have to hunt for it some more.
Buster went to see a sleep specialist yesterday, and he goes in for a sleep evaluation next week. Hopefully that will go well and the doctor will be able to do something for his snoring (which has gotten AWFUL in the last 6 months or so). Not sure yet if it will be surgical or a CPAP machine, that will be determined after his sleep study. Part of me is hoping for a suggestion of surgery, but then again, that CPAP mask is so totally hot that it might be better!
The sleep doctor mentioned that his blood pressure was high. His primary doctor had mentioned it last time he was in, so I bought a blood pressure cuff at the local nursing uniform store. When I took it, it was high, not "get in the car, we're going to the emergency room" high, but high enough that I was wondering if I was doing it right (the combination of techs and automated machines on the units have made me less than confident in my auscultation abilities). We'll take it serially for a while and see what I get. The good news is that both of us have agreed that we need to make some lifestyle changes and have already been working on getting that set up. (Note, the use of the word "diet" is avoided. That implies a short term thing and neither of us can allow this to be a short term thing.)
Hmmmmm, this post has been significantly longer than I was anticipating. Either I am feeling especially introspective today, or I am avoiding doing any real work. Guess it is time to put my shoulder back to the grindstone (or hand on the mouse in this case)......
I started the day off reading two amazing blogs. The first was by PaedsRN (http://geeknurse.blogspot.com/2006/02/day-in-life-ii.html) dealing with a day in his life as a nurse in a Pediatric ICU. He talks about meeting with the parents of a kid who he had taken off of life support. OH MY GAWD!!!!!! I have no idea of how he could do something like that. He talks about going off to a room and having a good cry afterwards, but I can't imagine trying to hold out long enough to get to private.
The other blog was by Jen, SN (http://jensn.ceejayoz.com/2006/02/01/preceptorship-day-2/) and it described a code she participated in. Not being especially sensitive to things I read, this still had me squirming. Then the thought struck me, "And this is what I want to do!?!?!?" Never having worked a code myself, let alone something like she describes, I don't know how it's going to affect me. I like to think that I will be able to control myself long enough to get the job done and deal with it in a healthy, constructive manner afterwards. I would also like to be thin and fabulous! Not sure which one is more likely to happen though.
This got me to thinking about if there are areas of nursing that some people are better suited for than others. I have seen a couple of my classmates blossom in different settings. One classmate, Big-D, had better go into pediatrics or the rest of the class will hound him until he does. He managed to connect with the kids in our peds rotation better than the rest of us together. The sight of him walking the halls with his patient still makes me giggle when I think about it. There is just something very amusing about a 6'5" (and change) white man in a white student nurse uniform walking the halls talking with a little 2 year old Black girl. Another classmate, Pregnant-S, managed to connect with the psych patients better than some of the regular nurses there. I don't think that I have found an area where I "clicked" quite like that. Or maybe it's one of those things that you can't see for yourself and everyone around me has seen it and just not told me. Oh well, none of this changes my plans. I still have more time on the neuro unit, and then my preceptorship next quarter. Still plenty of time to find if there is a place out there I am destined for, or if I will have to hunt for it some more.
Buster went to see a sleep specialist yesterday, and he goes in for a sleep evaluation next week. Hopefully that will go well and the doctor will be able to do something for his snoring (which has gotten AWFUL in the last 6 months or so). Not sure yet if it will be surgical or a CPAP machine, that will be determined after his sleep study. Part of me is hoping for a suggestion of surgery, but then again, that CPAP mask is so totally hot that it might be better!
The sleep doctor mentioned that his blood pressure was high. His primary doctor had mentioned it last time he was in, so I bought a blood pressure cuff at the local nursing uniform store. When I took it, it was high, not "get in the car, we're going to the emergency room" high, but high enough that I was wondering if I was doing it right (the combination of techs and automated machines on the units have made me less than confident in my auscultation abilities). We'll take it serially for a while and see what I get. The good news is that both of us have agreed that we need to make some lifestyle changes and have already been working on getting that set up. (Note, the use of the word "diet" is avoided. That implies a short term thing and neither of us can allow this to be a short term thing.)
Hmmmmm, this post has been significantly longer than I was anticipating. Either I am feeling especially introspective today, or I am avoiding doing any real work. Guess it is time to put my shoulder back to the grindstone (or hand on the mouse in this case)......
