They come in 3's....

So that was the first. I don't think I mentioned that about 15 minutes after we got that lady off to the ICU, we had the second code. Next door.
Thankfully, it was just a respiratory crumble, and he's fine now, but still. I left that day practically placing bets on who would be next. Codes, like other bad things and ironically blessings, always come in 3's.
The next day, we had the third.
At change of shift. No suprise there.
That was a much messier code....
I got puke down my scrub top as the tube in the patients throat caused her to cough! Not just on the front, but down in my scrub top! The whole code team cringed and "ugh"-ed at the same time, as I winced, at the same time smelling and feeling the hot gastric content slide their way down between my boobs, over the middle part of my bra, and continued like a nasty slug down my belly. Of course, my gloved hands were covered in it as well, as was my left arm, but that didn't bother me quite as much.
"You okay? Did it get in your eyes?"
And this is where I was very thankful. "No, it didn't get into my eyes, or my nose, or my mouth" and after a quick check, "or on my shoes!"
And everyone let loose the breath they had been holding.
Focus turned back to the patient, and I finally managed to get a new pair of gloves, a towel, and a whole pile of alcohol wipes.
It's good to be me, though. It didn't get on my shoes. Every nurse has their "little things" and that's one of mine.

Epi.....

I feel I should start this post from the beginning, which, in this case, started with my "double the dose" Rockstar energy drink springing a leak in my bag, so I drank the whole thing on the way to work. For those of you who are "energy drink" addicts...you can relate to the following feelings.
I don't drink them all the time because my heart will have random pauses a bit more than I would like when I take that much caffeine. I know most of you nurses are thinking "shouldn't that make your heart go faster?" For most people. Not me. I brady down to the 30's. Fun. Asymptomatic. But I can feel it and I'm aware of it. Anyhow, not the point. And I usually take all day to drink one, and I usually share most of it with my co-workers.
So here I am at work, practically bouncing down the hall, I already have my meds and am in my first patients room and it's only 7:28. Wow, right? Until I hear that overhead beep, you know the one, and hold my breath as I listen to
".........Code Blue...............
...................3 West.........................
................Room 354...........................
Code Blue..........................."
Telling my still sleepy patient "I'll be right back," as politely and unrushed sounding as I could pull off, I stepped out of the room and ran, in about 3 steps, around the corner to where there was indeed a code blue. On the floor. Not in the bed. With 3 people trying to lift her back into bed. That's when that heart drop feeling hits, cause I know this patient. She's the one I didn't think we should have ever started chemo on.
Grabbing gloves (the last 2 in the box, of course) I started yelling orders, "Get me some more gloves! You, get the crash cart! You, get an o2 tank in here!"
By now we have the lady in the bed at least, which is a huge plus if you're having a code, and a crowd has gathered around the door.
Usually on oncology floors, we are not suprised by death. We make it a comfortable thing that we, with our patients, can manage and make the best possible scenario. Not this time. It caught us by suprise. We aren't used to it. A lot of us are stunned by it and have a hard time pulling ourselves away from the the scene to actually do something.
So I started breaking her ribs. That's what happens when you start CPR compressions.
The right doctor appeared magically, or so it seemed, and we really got things going. Someone took over for me doing the compressions. We got the fluids going, got her hooked up to the leads, started pacing her, got her intubated, and........got a heart beat back!!!!
Codes sometimes fly by, and after a half hour that felt like about half a minute, we wheeled her off the floor to take her to the ICU. I think that was when I blinked, and realized how bad I was shaking.
We give our patients epinepherine in an asystole kind of code. We gave it to her. It feels like we all get some too.
Afterward, for about the next half hour or so, I felt invinciable. Alive. Thriving. Flying. Reminded how fickle life can be. Proven, once again, how lucky I am. How lucky we all are.
Maybe it was the Rockstar. I sure felt like one.
Standing side by side with "The Doctor", being part of an amazing team, working towards a common goal of defeating death, it's a rush. It's a revelation every time. I don't think that ever changes.
My patient was the same age as my grandmother.
Don't you think I didn't go straight to see her and tell her I love her and how lucky I am to have her.
I love my job. I appreciate my family and friends. It is good to be me. Things like that are profound reminders.

***Blush***

I just overheard my charge nurse and my nurse manager discussing the patient load, and who should take a patient and yadda yadda, and then they said, "And Laura, she's a stong nurse."
Just wanted to toot my own horn!

It's good to be me~!

Static

I can't imagine how it must be to be told I have cancer. I just can't even begin to imagine it. I suspect I would hear white noise immediately after the word. The world might freeze. And yet my patients can still function. They still shower, get dressed, put on their make up, and the choice few do their yoga on the bed. They amaze me. And I am honored to care for them. And relieved that I can walk away from it at 7. It is good to be me. My patients reflect that, and for that I am grateful.

Say something nice.

I am starting a self-motivated project on my floor at work that I will be "implementing" for Nurses Week. By the way, Nurses Week is May 6th through May 12th. (Not so subtle ***hint hint***...if you know a nurse, that would be the week to let them know how great they are, and how much you appreciate them. And if you can't think of anything you appreciate, just ask a nurse....she/he will be able to give you ideas of things to be greatful that a nurse does for you.... examples include, to be p.c., dealing with human excrements. Enough said.)
Anyhow, back to what I was saying. I am putting together a project to let the nurses on our floor how much we are appreciated and build morale, so to speak. Of course, during the process, everyone is getting a little sick of me.
It is a month or so long project of gathering up "something nice" about each person. I pick a name from a bag which contains every person on the units name, and then ask them to "say something nice about that person."
The point being that before nurses week, I will be compiling all the "nice things" about each person, and then somehow (in a manner I have yet to determine) present each person with all the nice things said about them. Nice, right?
What's killing me is how often the person I am asking to say something nice does not know the person whose name I picked out. Shocking! We are a fairly small unit, we only have about 40 people all together. And we spend 12 whole hours with each person! I can almost understand a day shifter not knowing a night shifter and vice versa, but when it is someone who is working with them TODAY, on the same shift, well, I just don't get it.
And what really kills me is how many times people will respond, "I can't think of anything nice to say." Sometimes it is from lack of creativity, but how hard is it to say "they are always on time," or "they have a nice smile" or just ANYTHING!!! Even if is just "they are very persistant and get things done" for the person who we cringe having to give report to because they are one of those anal-retentive types. "Thorough." was that so hard?
Every once in a while, people will even say nasty and mean things. Sad.
Maybe I am just an eternal optimist, but I doubt it!
Maybe I should do a "something mean" list too! Yin and yang, right? But I couldn't do that. I'm just not that mean.
My last day here at this hospital will be the week right before Nurses Week. I want it to leave a lasting (meaning for a week or two) impression. I hope to create more comradery and build a stronger team. It is always nicer to work with happy people who are working together.
So my ideas for presenting each person their "niceness" are as follows:
Put them all into an envelope with their name and just stick it up on the board so it is more private.
Print them out and put them all up decorated on the board so everyone can read them all.
Put them into those easter egg plastic things with their names on it.
Who knows. I have a few weeks to figure it out. Any ideas?
And, may I just add how amusing it is to have people state out loud "I'm sick of saying nice things!"
I love my job anyways. It's good to be me.

PASS!!

Highlight of the day: FIRE DRILL!!!!! Guess who got to break the glass, pull the cord down, and break out the extinguisher?!?!?!
ME!
When the "Inspector" came up, he started talking about blah blah blah, and then he mentioned "so now you can have her call 6111 (our own private emergency line, because like any of us will remember that number), and then you go break the glass and pull the handle," and that got my attention. Julia called the number, and I skipped over to Break the Glass! I can't believe we actually got to break something! Usually we just "simulate" breaking the glass. Not this time! So I tell Rachelle (Part of the "Alert" in PASS) and she jumps in with, "I wanna break the glass! How come I didn't get to break it? Do you have an extra glass?" and he did!
So of course, I went to grab my camera, which was conveniently in my bag, and we broke the glass again! Fun!!!! All hell broke loose, alarms were going off, mass amounts of people showed up, some bringing extra fire extinguishers, and we had to gather around after we shut all the doors, and answer a million questions. Of course, with traveling, I have to do Fire Safety Tests every 3 months on average for the past 4 years, so I had all t he answers.
Pull! Aim! Squeeze! Sweep! (PASS with the extinguisher at the base of the fire)
RACE! Rescue! Alert! Contain! Evacuate! (but they didn't let us actually evacuate...it would have been nice to have left the floor and gone outside for a while and wait for hot fire fighters to show up. Alas.)
It is good to be me! Even thought there were no firefighters around today.

What's on

When you think of a nurse, do you think of the white caps, white dresses and capes? Or do you think of the white shoes? Maybe you think of scrubs. The hospital I am working at now is one of the most laid back hospitals, in terms of uniform policy enforcement. Our manager, who would be the one to enforce those rules, loves the freedom to wear whatever, and exercises that. She also encourages it. It's great!
So, in honor of St. Patricks Day, my favorite holiday (besides my birthday) I have been wearing a St. Patricks Day T-shirt with my scrub pants. While it is a little challenging to be without many pockets, the response is very positive! Today is my kelley green "Ireland" shirt with grey-green pants and yellow and green socks. One of these days I am going to figure out how to put pictures on this thing, and give visuals. What are you wearing for St. Patricks Day? Anything worth celebrating, is worth celebrating all month long!!!! It's good to be me, and kiss me, I'm Irish!!!