Late Night Ramblings

I like nursing. No, I LOVE it!!! I thought you would want to know:)

Maybe I should share that I am about to bounce off the walls right now too. Don't ask me why; I don't know. I feel like I could stay up all night like I did a couple of nights ago when I worked a double shift (3pm to 8am). Maybe it's because I've been going strong for hours and just haven't stopped. Some days, like today, a call light went off every time I sat down to document, so I had to stay way late doing computer charting. However, my satisfaction in work comes from giving that human touch to my patients, making them comfortable, chatting with them a moment, or helping another nurse that is overwhelmed. If I am satisfied with my work, I don't care if I have to stay an hour late to chart.

Another thing that gets me fired up is when I see something that should be done better. Example: A person, particularly elderly, can develop a stage 2 pressure ulcer in just one shift if he/she is not kept clean and turned. I've seen this happen more than once. Sometimes it is so hard to provide proper care, but seeing this makes me want to teach and improve care. I've seen hospice patients go from being all hagard to looking so comfortable and peaceful after my friend, Rosetta, gave a bed bath and positioned them comfortably. Some day, after I get more experience, maybe I'll end up back in geriatrics or hospice...

Now I'm beginning to yawn. Maybe that means it's time to go to bed.

My Day

Upset patient: "I want to talk to my nurse!"
Me: "I AM your nurse." (and have been for the last three days...)
Patient: "You don't look old enough to be my nurse. How old are you?"

Leaving patient's room to get clippers to trim his toe nails:
Patient: "You don't have to take off your gloves!"
Me: "I do need to. I just put bacitracin on your wound and have ointment on my gloves."

Patient: "I want to die."
Me: "Are you serious that you want to die?"
Patient: "No, it's just a figure of speech."

I'm getting gloves on.
Patient, in sudden outburst: "Hurry up!"
Me: "Are you okay?"

Patient: "Don't do that! Don't do that! Don't do that!"

Patient: "Just let me die!"

Patient: "Put me out in the corridor."
Me: "I can't do that. Would you like to walk down and sit in the waiting room?"
Patient: "Not in my condition."

Patient: "Go get my husband. I want to call my doctor."

Patient: "I'm leaving."
Me: "Please do!" (I didn't actually say that.)

Me to another nurse: "I'm so glad I don't have to come back tomorrow!"
Nurse: "I've never heard you say that."

Me, walking out to my car an hour late: "It's been a good day. What made it a good day? I was a good nurse:)"

Well, maybe my responses were less than therapeutic, and the three patients quoted above were less than happy (depressed, spoiled princess, and belligerent, by name), but they got cleaned up, didn't develop any new bed sores, and got along as well with me as anyone else. My fourth patient was a doll, but had to drink Go-Lytely all day:)

My Sisters

This evening I talked to my lovely sisters. Anna, Angela, and I have had so such wonderful times together! I'm looking forward to many more!

The BIG 21!

March 21st isn't simply the first day of spring. It's Daniel's 21st birthday! He's in Bolivia right now, and I'm sure he could use some well wishes: http://god-is-my-judge.blogspot.com/. Happy birthday, brother Daniel!

Thank you all for the discussion over that last question. There were some very thoughtful comments that kept me thinking. Sometimes I hate to post again after something like that, because I don't want to close the topic. If more ideas come to you, feel free to keep it alive!

Question

What is a characteristic in others that you admire?

Carrie and Anna at home on the Texas ranch.

Wilderness

It has always been in places of barrenness and isolation, where the heart of man begins to perceive that which, in the midst of his fast-paced life, he never could. Removed from the subtle pleasantries and distractions of his workaday world, his needs become simplified and yet more urgent; his ears become more sensitive and able to hear those gentle songs of heaven beginning to resonate in his soul. He looks out on the vast but beautiful night sky filled with thousands of brilliant stars, and he is reminded of a Creator who has set the seasons and times and boundaries above for all to marvel over. He listens as the whipping wind beats against his ears. And in the all-consuming quiet, he is confronted with his own emptiness, his own spiritual poverty. He is forced to confront those inner recesses of the soul that craved the bread of heaven and the water of life, but until now have only known of the emptiness of a fast-food, image-driven world.

Indeed, whenever God has desired to bring His people into a deeper understanding of Himself, it has more often than not, been the wilderness, the desert, the barren places of the world, where He has chosen to do so.

~Lt. Carey H. Cash in A Table in the Presence --excellent book, by the way!

I just breathed the breath of spring! It's 45 degrees and the sun is shining. I was in short sleeves and sweating on my walk. It really felt like 65. The snow has been melting a lot for the last several days, and the river is swollen with the extra run off.

Feel free to keep commenting on the camping post. There's another question coming up soon, but I want to make sure people are finished with the last:)

Story Time

Tell about a time when you slept outdoors. I want to hear about the fond, the fun, the scary... I know most of you have stories, so don't be shy; share them!In reply to some comments, of course I have a story I wish to share! I just didn't have time when I posted the question. The most awesome outdoor camping experience I had was on a several day wilderness canoe trip on the Green River in Utah. There were only two other canoes within a mile or two of us for the whole 5 days.

Except for the first night, we slept without tents looking up at the stars from our dew covered sleeping bags. At times we relaxed in the canoes and just cruised. Towards the end of the journey, Daniel discovered a naturally warmed waterfall where the water ran over the rocks long enough to take the chill out of it. We emerged from our wilderness days surprisingly fresh and clean after our showers! Before that last campout, we fought again strong winds searching for a good place for the night. Once out of the rough waters near this cliff dwelling, the scene above is what met our eyes. The peace of that scene, of the calm after a struggle in a storm, is engrained so firmly on my mind. If I need to retreat into a peaceful place, I pull up that memory and the photo.

Adding to that moment, I think about our walk into a box canyon near our campsite. Bats swooping by at dusk, evening light resting on red canyon walls, and the awe welling up in my heart is completly indescribable.

But I was going to tell about sleeping outdoors. I wasn't able to stay awake long listening to the night chirps and gazing at the stars. Burrowed deep in a sleeping bag tied close around my head, I slept soundly, waking to a new morning, the last morning in the wilderness. After breaking up camp, we paddled down past where the Green River joins the Colorado, but we stopped at the large signs warning of dangerous rapids ahead to catch a boat ride with the other two canoes that I mentioned earlier.Someone asked, "Who camped out by the cliff dwelling?" "Uh, we did." "We stopped by there later this morning, and there were couger tracks all over you camp site."

Spring?

Coming home from work a bit ago, I decided it must be around 4 degrees. Close. 6 degrees, feels like -3. I thought spring was coming!

More Snow

I know most of my photos over the last while include snow. There's a simple reason for that: we keep getting snow. In fact, I am told that Rochester has not had this much snow in 10 years. Here are the statistics for the last 8 days:

23rd 1.6”
24th 3.4”
25th 7.6”
26th 0.4
27th 0
28th 0.5”
1st 7.2”
2nd 5.1”

Total: 25.8"
Current depth 20”
54.4” this season

Rochester is ticketing people parked on the streets from midnight to 6am last night and tonight in order to keep people off long enough to keep the streets plowed. Mayo has been paying nurses who commute to stay here in hotels churches and schools cancelled events during the storms.It feels like the winter is almost over, because the weather has been in the 20's and 30's and birds are beginning to sing. I was hoping we would get some nice snows before spring came, and I got my wish! I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible before it's gone. I've been going on walks, eating snow ice cream, even shoveling the sidewalks for fun. The only sad thing is that I would rather enjoy this snow with all of you!

Adventure

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." ~Helen Keller