First Weekend of Clinicals

Shellie and I on the first day of clinical

I survived my first weekend of clinical. I am in the critical care unit. Not exactly where I wanted to start out, but it was a great weekend and I think I will really enjoy the learning experiences I will obtain from the CCU. My preceptor, Amy, and I had two patients this weekend. One was a 45 y.o. female who was on her third suicide attempt. She took 200+ pills. She was vented, had a catheter, and IV nutrition. She bit her tongue and ended up having to have a bite block put into her mouth. She was responsive to commands such as open your eyes, wiggle your toes, and squeeze my hand. I got to suction her, empty her Foley bag, do oral care, change her sheets with her in the bed, change out her yucky gross containers, check residuals on her feeds, and check her glucose levels. Our other patient was a very annoying 57 y.o. male who was in for pneumonia. He was a cranky old man and all he did was complain. I checked his glucose and did wound care on him. He had possible tuberculosis and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, which are both very contagious and not something I would want to bring back to addie or the twins. He was on isolation, so we had to wear a mask, gloves, and gown upon entering his room. On the second day, he didn't want to do one of his breathing treatments and wanted to be a DNR (do not resuscitate). He was a real piece of work. Very OCD about some things too. He was fixated on getting a Milky Way the first day. He's diabetic. Amy did get him a Milky Way after he got his central line put in, and then his blood sugars ended up high so we had to give him insulin later. Shellie, Amber (another nursing student in our program) and I all watched his central line get put in to his subclavian. Shellie had to leave the room when the Dr. took out his scalpel to make the incision longer. I guess I didn't have a great view of it or something because it didn't bother me at all. They thought I would be the first to go, but it wasn't a big deal. On the second day, a code blue was called and we ran to it, but by the time we got there, they lady was fine. Amy said we will run to codes. How fun! So, it was a great first weekend and I can't wait to go back!

Yay for Landry

Last week I took Landry to the cardiologist and I am happy to say that our prayers have been answered! Landry's hole is closed! The cardiologist said her ticker is ticking away and we NEVER have to go back. She can enjoy all the activities other kids can enjoy and she can scuba dive or even be an astronaut if she so choses!! He said we do not even have to document on medical papers that she had a heart condition and that if we ever went to the ER for something to not disclose the information. He said doctors who are not cardiologist do not completely understand how the heart functions and when they find out there is or was a heart condition, they tend to focus on that. So, since it's not even an issue for our sweet little lady, we can pretend it never even happened! Works for me!

Life has been Crazy Busy

In the last month I have started nursing school, been to the twins two month well-baby and have had to deal with hurricane IKE!

Nursing school is great so far, if I could actually do it. Luckily it's a self-paced class so I have three years to complete a two year program. And, it's online. I am taking a Pharmacology class as well and this is eating up all my time. So much so, that I feel like my time is taken away from the babies and I really resent that. This week alone, we had six chapters to read, six individual assignments, six group assignments, six discussions and six tests. The bad part is each assignment is multiple questions. So, the six group assignments is 15 assignments and the each have to be 100 to 300 words. The individual assignments turns out to be like 12 questions. It takes me hours each night to work on it. I don't even know if I will finish all the assignments this week. It's crazy and it takes so much time away from the babies. I might as well be writing a 2,000 word paper every week because that is what it is equivalent to.

We had the twins two month well baby last week and I am happy to report that both babies are on the charts!!! Landry weighed 10 lbs. 9 ozs. and Landon weighed 9 lbs. 9ozs. Landry is in the 60th percentile for weight, 25th for height and 10th percentile for head circumferance. Landon is in the 5th percentile for weight, 5th for height and 3rd percentile for head circumference. Addison's head was in the 5th percentile at two months too so I guess I just make babies with small heads! The best news of the appointment was that the doctor could not hear the swishing in Landry's heart sounds which indicates she has a hole. He felt like either the hole is closed or closing. We go on Monday to the pediatric cardiologist for her check up. I hope the doctor can confirm the pediatrican's suspection. That would be great for our little Landry.

Hurricane IKE hit. We only lost a tree. Luckily it came down away from the house and slowly enough that it did minimum damage to the fence. We have to replace two slats. We were very lucky. We had to leave the house due to lack of power. We have been at David's friend's house this week and will leave Sunday for Landry's appointment. They don't project that our area will have power until Thursday. I'll have to hit up one of my friends for the use of their home or something! This was by far the scariest hurricane I have ever been in and I've been in a few! It took down hundreds of trees in my area. The winds were very loud and strong. Luckily it was the middle of the night when it came through so I didn't see the tree when it was being blown towards our house. That would have really freaked me out.

I start my clinicals next weekend. I am very excited. My preceptor's name is Amy. We will be in the critical care unit. Amy has been a nurse for two years and loves it. She works every other weekend so for the next semester I will go in for 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday. David will have a LONG weekend with the twins and Addison. He will have his hands full for sure!!