The Happy Hap

I think I would be more motivated to update my blog if I knew how to make it look pretty.

Just thought I'd let you know.

I can't believe I've been out here for 2 months. I've settled into more of a routine, Andrew has officially moved in, and it's been full-force at work for a few weeks now.

Needless to say, the Bug has settled in just fine as well.

Andrew moved in last weekend in the middle of my work marathon. If I'm working multiple days in a row, there's not much time between getting home and going to bed to repeat the long day again (especially now that I've got the 20-30 minute commute). That's nothing new, but my short time (awake) at home is so much nicer with him here to spend it with! Even on nights that I'm computer-ing and he's in the other room video game-ing, I think we both are enjoying each other's company.

And drinking wine out of a dinosaur glass.

And metro-ing into DC.

And purchasing flirtatious printers.

Tomorrow night we might go to a Nationals game, and Saturday (if the weather holds up) is our first game in our frisbee league.

...Wait. WHAT? I know. Do I know how to play ultimate frisbee? No. Can I throw a frisbee? Sometimes. Andrew's always loved playing pick-up frisbee games even when I knew him in high school, and he convinced me to join the "just for fun" summer league. He tells me it will be acceptable in this league to not have any coordination, talent, etc, so here goes nothin'! 

In the working world:

My new job is challenging me a lot, and it brings back a lot of nerves similar to being a new nurse. At this "phase" in my orientation, my preceptor Windy and I are supposed to be assigned 2 "stable" patients so I can get some of the basics down before taking on the really sick patients. Unfortunately, at this point, "stable" patients in the Neuro ICU are still incredibly un-stable according to my comfort zone, not to mention it's frustrating me that I am so slow at everything. I miss being able to pull out meds or chart assessments or troubleshoot equipment quickly without having to think so much about it. And with assessments/charting/flowsheets that need to be updated hourly, sometimes I feel like I'm barely treading water with the tasks of "easy" patients. <--- not to mention that it irritates me that I am reverting back to the new-nurse-curse of being too task-oriented. At this point, though, I know I need to be focusing on some of these tasks. If i don't get it down now, I won't be able to do it quickly when it really counts. I'm told that everybody feels this way at the beginning, and that I'm doing fine so far.

...But man, I look at my co-workers managing these patients who are trying to die - intubated, sedated, cooled, septic, bolted, on CRRT, whatever - and it's hard to imagine that I'll be able to take care of 2 of them while keeping up with the documentation of all this craziness on my own in a few months. During one of our crazier days last week we got a new SAH patient that needed to be intubated early in our shift. It was the first time I've gotten my hands on what it's like to take a patient who starts out on nothing but Normal Saline and, within the hour, ends up with multiple fluid boluses, electrolytes, propofol, versed, nicardipine, fentanyl, and a ventilator to account for. It was challenging enough for me to keep track of each drug's amount and volume on the flowsheet - some of them pushed, some of them drips, some of them alternating between the two - much less managing the patient himself, who now has nasty secretions, moments of trying to wake up despite all the drugs, and whacked out vital signs.

Oh, and then we had to take this whole mess to CT scan and IR. Gone are the days that I get a break when a patient goes to a test - now I go with them. And their drips. And their vent. And their likelihood to code in the elevator.

(And with my wonderful, amazing, understanding, crazy smart preceptor. Thank the Lord for her!)

I think I can I think I can I think I can...