running for that special place...to find that saving grace...

It's been a while...life gets crazy, but everything happens for a reason and inevitably works out for the best.



Only a few more days of class left. Mental health is over, only one more exam next Thursday for Adult Nursing, and plowing through Maternal Child to finish in time (a class that went from being 5 credits last year to 3 now). I'll probably pull through with B's in each, which I am more than happy with (especially when the nursing adage is "C's get degrees...").



I'm finished with clinical for the semester, and my last clinical went out with a bang. Lessons learned...don't tell an adolescent girl who came in with a compound tib/fib fracture that your more than happy to entertain her, especially because she is the only patient and you have nothing else to do. Not thirty minutes later, she seized and a code blue was called for her...(Another lesson learned: crash carts are plugged in...so it's advantageous to unplug them before you try to fly down the hall with them!!) Her twin sister had epilepsy, but her family never knew the patient may have it also. (They were doing a work-up when I left clinical that day to rule out electrolyte imbalances, etc.) She was a sweetheart, and I hope everything turns out well for her. Taking care of teenage girls in the healthcare setting, you either love them or hate them.



There was one other patient on the unit, but she was a 1:1 because she'd try to kill herself with Tylenol a few days prior. Her boyfriend had gotten into some serious trouble and landed himself a nice, long-term, all-expense paid trip to prison, and she didn't know how to cope. This is so tragic to me...I could never fathom suicide, but this was an older girl with a crappy home life, parents that argued over who got to "deal with her" because they were "too busy", no idea what she wanted to do with her life, and who based everything in her life around her boyfriend. Once the Mucomyst clears up her liver function tests, (if it will, completely) she's supposed to go to a mental treatment facility out of town, to which she adamantly refuses. Tylenol is such a horrible way to die...people don't realize how horrible it is on your body, and how badly it screws up your liver, followed by so many other health problems.



So that was Peds...definitely not boring! I loved observing on labor & delivery, much to my surprise. the nurses were great, and when they found out I was contemplating eventually becoming a nurse anesthetist, hooked me up with Jeff, the CRNA for the floor. He went out of his way showing and explaining what he was doing with the epidurals. I also got to watch three C-sections. I'm not sentimental, but watching the babies come out and take their first breaths was pretty cool. The last patient had a severe case of gestation diabetes. The surgeon was literally elbow deep in her abdomen, and the baby ended up weighing over 11 pounds!!



I also got to walk through the NICU with my instructor, and saw this tiny little baby who weighed one pound when she was born. She was so incredibly tiny. I talked with her nurse, who noted that it was the "feisty" ones who seemed to have the best prognosis.



When I was observing in the newborn nursery, we had a newborn detoxing. The mom admitted to using marijuana, but who knows what else she took. She said she smoked three times a week to help alleviate the nausea. The nurse mentioned that since the medical marijuana laws went into effect, the general public had seemed to believe that it wouldn't have any harmful effects on pregnancies.



I wish every high school girl could spend an hour with this poor baby. He was clearly agitated, with a high-pitched cry that reminded me of newborn puppies. He couldn't be comforted, and only wanted to self-comfort by sucking on his hands. I found out a week later that he ended up in NICU. I wondered what kind of life this baby would have, and couldn't help but think about hat anti-drug commercial, where the boy is supposed to be watching his little sister, who is about 4. He gets high, and eventually realizes she's drowned in the family pool. I asked if the social worker would be contacted, and the nurse said she would, but the SW was so tied up with meth babies that nothing would come out of his case.



Don't judge the parents...educate them. Easier said than done sometimes...



Post-partum was my least favorite clinical, because there really wasn't anything to do. I definitely don't want to work in OB. The nurses were good, but it was a little too relaxed. Maybe I saw a down day, but it also seemed repetitive. It would be great for a nurse who liked educating parents, but it's not for me.



I had another observation at a local peds clinic. I don't think that would be my thing either, because I hate giving shots to kids. There was one girl who had to come in over three days for IM antibiotics, and she took one look at the nurse and screamed.



Losing my social life over weekends spent doing patient work-ups, bibs for diseases, and making med cards, getting up at 5:00am to make it to the hospital by 6:00am for Monday and Tuesday clinicals, cramming Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the three consecutive Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday exams, and repeating this crazy schedule every weekend...it's torture, but you're almost too busy to even notice how stressed you are. You just focus on the next thing that needs to get done, and try to stay away from the people who chronically complain about everything.



And then all of a sudden it's over, and you have five days all to yourself, and you're so bored you don't know what to do... =) (not that I'm complaining!!)