End of the Week Wrap Up
Wednesday was an exciting night at work. I was taking care of a patient who has been in the hospital since JULY. Yeah, it's sad, but it happens. Anyway, she's been doing better lately, and has actually been able to take three walks a day around the unit. I've taken care of her a few times since I started, and she's a pretty high maintenance patient. She's very needy, very manipulative (if you are not careful), and wants you in her room constantly, so all the regular nurses on the unit are really sick of her. Since I'm like fresh meat, they keep assigning her to me. It's fine though. I don't mind taking care of her since I don't mind spending a little extra time with her every now and then. Anyway, the other good thing about her is that her condition has been very stable lately since she is getting better. Of course, as my luck goes, when I had her on Wednesday, all hell broke loose. We were taking her normal evening walk, when she pretty much collapsed onto the walker. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she was barely responding. Great. So everybody rushed over, and together we lowered her into a chair, which we then had to push back over to her room, and then lifted her back into bed. We quickly got her back onto the heart monitor, only to discover that she was in rapid AFib with a heart rate in the 170's, and her BP was in the 70's. Double great. So then I spent the next two hours straight in her room, trying to get her HR and BP stabilized. By the end of the shift, she was apparently feeling much better, because she was back to her old tricks again. Wide awake, and on the call button every five minutes. That's what it's all about folks, saving lives.
Thursday I had the night off. A couple of days earlier, Dave revealed, much to my surprise, that he had been able to get us tickets to see Death Cab for Cutie at the Boston Opera House. Yay! A super fun date! We happened upon a restaurant next door to the theater that was probably a little too hip for its own good, with its ultra modern decor, thumping techno music, and long list of martinis. We had some delicious gourmet salads, and then headed over to the theater. If you ever have a chance to go to the Boston Opera House, you should definitely go. It's amazing! It's decor is in the same style as the Fox in Atlanta, but I would say even more elegant and more regal. It has obviously been well restored and well taken care of. I loved it and I hope to go back again sometime before we leave. We had a great time at the show, and then headed to our favorite neighborhood bar, the Hill Tavern, for a few drinks.
Friday it was back to work again. I was floated to another unit to work, because they were apparently overstaffed on my unit that night. Therefore, they shipped me off to work on a unit who needed an extra nurse. (Just another part of being a travel nurse is being the first one picked to float to other units, a dreaded task for most people, including myself.) Bug-eyed and on the verge of panic, I showed up on the cardiac surgery ICU unit, an area I have absolutely no experience in. After I got report on my patient, I calmed down a bit, telling myself that I could do it. Despite some minor issues that were out of my control, the night went quite smoothly. The resident and my coworkers were all very helpful, and god forbid, I even learned a couple new things too. (Whew!)
Saturday I slept most of the day away, and all I wanted to do was hang out at home that night. But Dave had been cooped up all day and really wanted to go out, so I mustered up the energy to get ready, and off we went. We ended up eating at a cute little seafood shack, where Dave enjoyed the whitefish special and I ordered the fried shrimp platter. My shrimp was good, but I'm not sure it was the best thing to order, since it was my first meal of the day. Imagine sleeping all day, and then waking up and eating fried shrimp and french fries for dinner/breakfast. Ugh, I'll have to remember that next time.
And finally, today was clean-up-the-apartment day. On our humongous white walls, we put up the last of the few pictures that we brought with us. It definitely has made a difference in the ambience of our apartment. Now this place feels a lot more like our home, instead of someone else's apartment that we have taken over. Yay! We have a home (away from home) again.
Thursday I had the night off. A couple of days earlier, Dave revealed, much to my surprise, that he had been able to get us tickets to see Death Cab for Cutie at the Boston Opera House. Yay! A super fun date! We happened upon a restaurant next door to the theater that was probably a little too hip for its own good, with its ultra modern decor, thumping techno music, and long list of martinis. We had some delicious gourmet salads, and then headed over to the theater. If you ever have a chance to go to the Boston Opera House, you should definitely go. It's amazing! It's decor is in the same style as the Fox in Atlanta, but I would say even more elegant and more regal. It has obviously been well restored and well taken care of. I loved it and I hope to go back again sometime before we leave. We had a great time at the show, and then headed to our favorite neighborhood bar, the Hill Tavern, for a few drinks.
Friday it was back to work again. I was floated to another unit to work, because they were apparently overstaffed on my unit that night. Therefore, they shipped me off to work on a unit who needed an extra nurse. (Just another part of being a travel nurse is being the first one picked to float to other units, a dreaded task for most people, including myself.) Bug-eyed and on the verge of panic, I showed up on the cardiac surgery ICU unit, an area I have absolutely no experience in. After I got report on my patient, I calmed down a bit, telling myself that I could do it. Despite some minor issues that were out of my control, the night went quite smoothly. The resident and my coworkers were all very helpful, and god forbid, I even learned a couple new things too. (Whew!)
Saturday I slept most of the day away, and all I wanted to do was hang out at home that night. But Dave had been cooped up all day and really wanted to go out, so I mustered up the energy to get ready, and off we went. We ended up eating at a cute little seafood shack, where Dave enjoyed the whitefish special and I ordered the fried shrimp platter. My shrimp was good, but I'm not sure it was the best thing to order, since it was my first meal of the day. Imagine sleeping all day, and then waking up and eating fried shrimp and french fries for dinner/breakfast. Ugh, I'll have to remember that next time.
And finally, today was clean-up-the-apartment day. On our humongous white walls, we put up the last of the few pictures that we brought with us. It definitely has made a difference in the ambience of our apartment. Now this place feels a lot more like our home, instead of someone else's apartment that we have taken over. Yay! We have a home (away from home) again.
posted by Bean at
11:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home