Kind of an Oxymoron

Don't you think it's quite comical that I have the most sensitive stomach in the world to all things food and drink on this planet, and yet have the "figuratively speaking" a strong stomach, when it comes to seeing things that make the average person queasy?

I spent the day in the OR today as part of my RN orienting program. Before my first case, the nurse manager of the OR pulls me aside.

"have you eaten breakfast this morning?"

"ummmmm, yea."

"okay. Just checking."

"don't worry, I don't get queasy."

"everyone says that and then they end up on the floor. You look like someone that gets queasy."

"nope, I assure you- I dont."


I can't even imagine what I'd have to see to make my stomach churn. I guess it would have to be trauma on a loved one...other than that, nothing bothers me. Does that make me a bad person? :-( ack.

_WNB

Lactose Intolerant : not an excuse!

Hey all! I haven't been able to blog lately. I just moved into a brand new place and we've been without our Internet hookup for quite some time, so I can only blog through my phone. But no fear- I will blog a lengthy worthwhile blog soon!

But for now, I just wanted to tell anyone that is lactose intolerant (like me) something very important.

Being lactose intolerant is no excuse for not getting enough calcium!

Let me explain. Yesterday I went to a free health fair, that was offering free bone density heel scans. This determines how strong your bones are, which, is affected by your calcium intake. Someone with a inadequate intake of calcium might not have as strong of bones, Which you all learned in kindergarten through "got milk" commercials (yuck).

So I got the scan. Granted I was the only one in the crowd less than 50. But still, it was important to me because I was worried I dont get enough calcium because I am lactose intolerant. Well, my value came up 1.9, which is, in the health professionals words "truck hitting worthy". Aka very good.

I told her I was lactose intolerant and didn't think I got enough calcium, but I look for it in other ways and i take calcium gummies. So it works! So folks out there that are lactose intolerant or have LI kids, just know that they still can grow big and strong and have strong bones, even without milk! :-)

Yay!

Is this Normal?

I know, to a certain extent, that it's normal to have dreams about what you do a lot of during the day. Also, to dream at night about what stresses you out during the day. For example, when I was sixteen and just starting out as a cashier, I dreamt all the time about running random things through the line and encountering the strangest problems and not being able to solve it. That's normal....I think. But the next one isn't. I don't think.

First of all, I havent worked since Tuesday. So you'd think my brain would not be focusing on the hospital on a Thursday night. Think again.

I woke up in the middle of the night, startled and stressed. I was under the extreme hazy delusion, that I was actually somehow at work, but I still sort of knew i was in my bed sleeping too. Well I was so convinced that since I spent the night prior moving into my apartment (real life) and shopping at walmart til pretty late, that I completely forgot to give out my patients bedtime meds. Now this was really important to me, because 1) I couldn't give them at that point because I couldn't just wake up my patients at 3 am and explain to them this was supposed to be given at 10pm, my bad. 2) I couldn't give them in the morning, because a lot of them were to help my patients sleep, OR they would conflict with the morning meds....so my only option was to not give them at all and chart that I was an idiot and completely forgot to give meds at night because I was busy moving in. I was about to get up and do this, until I FINALLY realized (like, five whole minutes later) that I was in bed, sleeping, I was not at work, I hadn't been at work, and I was not responsible for ANY meds that day or night, and I could go back to sleep.


First of all- I LOVE reaching that point when exiting a nightmare when you're like, "oh...everything is alright. I can go back to sleep..."

But seriously...how did I fall so FAR under the delusIion that I was somehow responsible for those meds? Why did It take me so long to figure out it was a dream? I was legit about to get up and *somehow* go give meds. Weird.

Can you tell I'm stressed out much about going to night shift? :-/



-WNB

I can't Hear Anything You're Saying

Here's the thing.


To my fellow nurses: Do patients try and talk to you while you're listening to them with a stethoscope?

To everyone else: Do you try and talk to the doctor/nurse when they are listening with a stethoscope?


To everyone else: They can't hear you!


I have had so many times now where I say, "Mr. Soandso, I am going to listen to your heart. Or, Mrs Jane, I'm going to take your blood pressure." And they say, OK. Then theyre quiet.

But then, as you listen to their heart, they start telling you this story. About their aunt who had "something called a-fib" and it made her heart go fast so she had to take coumadin and then change her diet and then she couldn't feed her cat anymore and then the cat had a baby and then the neighbor's kid came over and gave it a carrot even though no one likes carrots, apparantly.


And the whole time I'm thinking.......Should I tell my patient that I'm not listening *at all* to anything you are saying while the stethoscope is on your body somewhere and the other end is in my ears? The purpose of the stetho is to listen to whats going on inside your body. Granted, when I'm listening to your heart, I can hear your stories *loud and clear*, in fact its rather amplified and muffled. However I can't listen to your heartbeat. Also, if I'm taking your blood pressure, I can't hear your voice OR the pulse if you're talking.


So, I just think its funny. Don't talk when someone has a stetho on you, unless they ask you the question! If you notice, docs/nurses will ask you a question when the stetho is still in their eyes but as soon as they see you start to answer they will pull it out of their ears. Also, I think patients are fooled easily because docs/ nurses often do TALK while the stetho is in, but thats because we're just letting you know what we're doing, i.e "Ok I'm going to listen to your bowel sounds now" , or "Can you lean forward for me and take some deep breaths?" And I think patients think that if we can talk during these quiet listening moments, then so can they. Sigh.




Its been absolutely crazy though. I'm up to six patients, and done with orientation! How INSANE is that?!!!?!(#@#@#P22131JWE#E!@



~WNB


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