The Beginning of November in The Day To Day Ramblings

Hello again!

I meant to drop in and write once or twice over the weekend but I worked 12 hour shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday and that left very little time for anything social. I did manage to come right home at the end of the day all three days and curl up in bed with a fantastic new book (The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes) and devoured it. I absolutely LOVED it. It's been awhile since I had one of those books that I couldn't put down, thought about when I wasn't reading it and moved my life around to get more reading time. I'm a huge Jodi Picoult fan and this book was very similar. If you like Jodi, you'll love this one.

Beyond that, work was great this weekend. The unit was very slow and we had extremely low census - almost an unheard of thing. When my coworkers complain they are bored I try to remind them that that means people aren't out getting hurt or having traumas or needing our services. It is GOOD for the world when a Trauma ICU is empty! We're all a bunch of adrenaline junkies though and only feel good about our jobs when we're sweating and covered in other people's body fluids and using our brains to calculate drip weights and medication administration dosages until our eyes cross. It's messed up but it works. We'd have a hard time loving our jobs as much as we do if we all secretly preferred sitting or resting for most of our shift. It was definitely a change from the ordinary but a chance to chitchat with coworkers was a welcome thing as well.

On Friday I happened to be assigned a pretty stable lady who ended up taking a pretty bad turn for the worse by the end of the weekend and she kept me busy. She has a very bizarre and rare autoimmune disorder that was making her body attack her red blood cells and break them open. She presented as though she had lost a lot of blood when really she had all of it inside of her but it wasn't inside her red blood cells and was not functional. I spent the weekend hanging bags of blood, drawing labs, starting her on continuous dialysis and helping her family understand what was happening and how we were treating it. She had so many consulting teams all working together but none of them were very good about updating the family, always passing it off to someone else or another team or the next doctor. I made a point to sit with them, to go through every tube she had in her, every vital sign on the monitor, every med I gave and why I gave it and what it was doing for her. On Sunday afternoon they came back with a spread of sweet treats and a gorgeous live orchid for me to take home. I've received many hugs in my day but never a gift like that. I was very touched and made a point to thank them repeatedly. While I know ICUs are overwhelming and scary places to be, it is the definition of nursing to be the liaison during that and help guide families (and patients) through until they are well again. Being thanked for that is certainly appreciated but just knowing they understand, have their fears lessened and are comfortable with the care they are receiving is all the thank you I need. I did name the orchid Pete, however, and he now proudly sits in my window sill and overlooks my kitchen.

Beyond that, I am headed off to lunch with a bunch of friends from my old unit today and then my first power volleyball league match of the season tonight. I am beyond thrilled to see my friends and we're eating at Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks. I don't even care if it's 100 calories per breadstick. I run so I can eat, right? ;) And the group of ladies playing on this new volleyball team are some of my favorites and I'm playing my favorite position. I get to block and hit all across the front row and am excited to use my body in a way that I understand and feels empowering to me. Like I've said 100 times before, I enjoy running and the calorie burn can't be beat...but my heart is on the volleyball court. So much fun coming up in the next few weeks with that team!

And last but not least, there is the huge Packers vs Bears game tonight and I AM SO EXCITED!! I am a diehard Packers fan, as many of you know, and the Bears are our biggest rivals. I'm going to wear Packers gear from head to toe, maybe even crack open an alcoholic beverage, snuggle up on the basement sectional with a cozy blanket and my husband and my puppy and soak it all in. I missed the Badger game while at work on Saturday so I'm getting all of my football time in tonight. Popcorn and maybe an ice cream cone and cheers to touchdowns and high fiveing to interceptions and being very happy to be right there with my two favorite beings.

Hope all of your weekends went great! Back soon with more pictures and updates and the like. Oh, and Happy November! :) I want to start by being grateful for all of YOU GUYS who followed me here and continue to offer me such profound and valued friendship. Thank you!!