Argh...

This weekend was a rough one. I had to work and thanks to the blizzard on Christmas Eve (Thursday) not many people could get to work. This meant we were severely short staffed. Some nurses had worked 20 hour shifts, sleeping at the hospital because they were stranded and the ones that were supposed to come in couldn't get out of their driveways, much less drive there. When I got there Saturday morning I was greeted by some grim faces and told that I would be 1 of only 2 NA's that shift. There are usually 4 of us. That meant I had double the patient load... yipee.
Mind you, this was only my 2nd day post training, without my trainer. My first had been earlier that week and horrendous, but that's another story.

Anyway, the patients were also cranky, since I'm sure spending Christmas in the hospital is no fun... especially when there is a nursing staff shortage and they probably had to wait forever for everything. On Sunday afternoon, there was one particularly disturbing occurrence that had me wanting to choke myself with the nearest nasal cannula. I went into the room of a patient to answer his call light for the umpteenth time. (He was one of those patients, you know?) The following conversation ensued-

Patient: Blah blah blah... are you married?
Me: Yes sir, I am.
Patient: How many kids do you have?
Me: None, sir.
Patient: None? How old are you?
Me: I'll be 29 in a few weeks. (At this point I steeled myself for the lecture I knew I was about to receive from this 80+ year old man)
Patient: Well you're almost 30! Don't you want any children?
Me: Yes sir, I do.
Patient: You better get a move on then... Don't you think it's about time?!?!
Me: (Trying hard to not betray the boiling fury bubbling up in my head) Some day *fake smile*
Patient: Well, doesn't your mom want any grandkids? I bet she does.
Me: Oh, she has plenty to keep her busy, sir. Three and another one on the way.
Patient: Hmph... well, you're not getting any younger, you know!
Me: *Fake smile and nod*

It's been a while since I last had that outright of a rebuking for my childlessness from a complete stranger. Of course he had no idea... nor was I about to tell him of our struggles as it was none of his business... It just sucked and made my already bad weekend even worse. I'm proud of myself for not flipping out as I was already teetering on the verge from the stress of the workday and being sick with a nasty stomach bug.

Go me :)

White(out) Christmas

It's 25* outside right now and we are currently under a Blizzard Warning, woohoo! They've been forecasting this huge storm for days and it started off with us just getting a "trace" of snow. Obviously that has changed. It's been freezing rain/sleeting since the wee hours of the morning and will soon be transitioning to all snow here shortly. We have a few inches of ice/sleet already and are expected to get about 6-8 more in snow by mid afternoon. Then a hard freeze is setting in and tomorrow we'll probably all be buried under one big chunk of ice. How lovely ;)

Due to this turn in meteorological events, we're packing up our dogs and hauling everything over to Ben's parent's house. I'm cooking the turkey and while dinner is not until 6, we thought it wise to head over early and cook it there before the storm gets too out of control. We'll probably end up staying the night since we'd have to drive all the way back tomorrow morning for presents anyway. Nate & Tiff were kind enough to let us borrow their Xterra, so we're good to go!

Hopefully if my camera cooperates I'll have some pretty pictures to post tomorrow! Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Stay warm!

Edited to add: We got 14" of snow! The wind was gusting at 50-60mph most of the time so we ended up with some awesome 2-3 foot drifts as well. Apparently this broke all sorts of records for Oklahoma which up until now has never gotten this much snow EVER. So yeah, it's no Utah by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still very pretty nevertheless!

6 Wonderful Years!

Six years ago I married my sweetheart! Can it really have been that long ago? Time sure does fly when you're having fun! Much has happened during this time, some good, some bad... but mostly good! I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful hubby that is so loving and supportive and still makes me laugh, blush, and get that twitterpated flutter in my tummy ;) Someday he will be the greatest Dad too, I just know it. I still can't believe I get to keep him forever!

Love you babe!!! MUAH! ;)

Veni, Vidi, Vici !!!

I kept my 4.0 this semester WOOHOO!!! I was actually kind of worried with that dumb PoliSci class that has been the thorn in my side this semester. If anything was going to mess up my lovely 4.0 it was going to be that stinking class... but I ended up with a 93.95% overall avg so that's an "A" baby! Not my best work, but I'll take it this time. Haven't gotten my final grade for A&P yet, but I know it's an A since the lowest grade I've gotten on any test this semester was a 97% I think... So all is good. :)

Now next semester... ugh, Chemistry is going to eat me for lunch and spit me back out. Then it's going to grind me into the ground with its shoe and scrape me off into the nearest trashcan... At least Developmental Psych should be cake. :)

Noteboks are for notes, not for kissing

I usually can't stand SNL, but this past week Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) hosted it and I was sure something Twilight oriented was bound to be on there. It was and it was pretty funny. His opening monologue wasn't 1/2 bad either, but this is my favorite skit! Check out what's on the board, I love it! :)

Why Elmo rocks my socks!

During my last semester at BYU, one of my roomies had a Christmas CD of some sort that featured one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Do you hear what I hear?" It's the awesomest version EVER because it's sung by ELMO!!! (and Rosie O'Donnell) Elmo and I share a birthday and he's just so super cool like that, so yeah... he's my favorite.

Anyway, I recently added his song to my playlist and it occurred to me that maybe there was a video of it on YouTube... sure enough, there was! Sit back and enjoy, this little dude rocks!

Great people, great fun, great cause!

This made my day... just thought I'd share! :) The old janitor dude throughout is my absolute favorite! He knows how to get DOWN!

It's not much...

but it's something! It's grainy too, but oh wells... I'm excited to see something coming out! Hopefully the next one will be meatier.
Ron getting splinched sure looks painful... yikes!

Go figure...

Yesterday was my first day at Integris and I was SO hoping I'd get through my first day without making a fool out of myself... but this is me we're talking about, right? *sigh*

So we had this one patient that had a trach and was wearing a cervical collar due to a neck injury. The poor guy was having a really hard time because his trach was getting clogged up with his thick secretions/sputum so every once in a while the nurse or respiratory therapist had to go in there and suction all that crap out. Anyway, my charge nurse (who knows I'm in school for nursing) asked me to help her since my morning hadn't been too terribly exciting and the coolest thing I'd gotten to do thusfar were some finger sticks. So I gowned up because he was an isolation patient (he has MRSA) and put on my gloves, and face-shield mask. His room was REALLY hot... the thermostat was above 85, I believe. It hadn't been a problem the previous times I'd been in there with him that morning because vital signs and finger sticks take all of 3 minutes, so you're in and out. However cleaning out this poor guys trach took a lot longer than I expected. She had me hold his head perfectly still while she took his neck brace off and then got to work suctioning, cleaning, and replacing all his little doodads. She asked me if I was getting grossed out, but honestly it was actually pretty cool. Ten minutes into the whole thing he started getting really uncomfortable (since she had to keep suctioning again and again after cleaning around it) and grimacing a lot. I felt terrible for him and tried to smile and be comforting but then I realized all he could see of my face were my eyes, which probably weren't very comforting-looking anyway. Then he started curling up and shaking and coughing and gasping like crazy. The nurse said it was normal but it was just too much for me at that point, I think. I'd already started to feel really hot because of the isolation gear but all of a sudden it felt like 110* in there. I knew I was starting to have a little freak out so I focused on breathing and telling myself to hang on. My arms were starting to shake a little from holding his head absolutely still in that position for that long and then with him writhing and gasping and looking at me with his eyes bugging out... that was it. I started getting this funny ringing in my ears and the the spots started. I knew I was going to pass out but I was SO embarrassed and trying to hold on, but it's like time just slowed down and it was taking forever... I couldn't feel my legs anymore and could hardly see (except for the flashing spots) so I managed to say something lame along the lines of, "Uh... I think... I need some... air... real quick..." I don't know what I looked like but she took his head and told me to strip my stuff off and go get some water. I made it to the break room just in time. I was sweating and it took forever to get the ringing in my ears to stop. I sipped on some Sprite and just wanted to die... seriously, on my first day? Way to make an impression, huh? Doh!

Afterwards, they came and checked on me and I apologized profusely. I felt like such a shmuck... She was really nice and told me it happens to everyone, especially when you are new. I tried to explain that it really wasn't the gross-factor, it was the heat and seeing him writhe around and gasping and looking so freaked out and scared that did me in. I don't think they believed me and still think I just got grossed out... *sigh* So now I feel like I have to prove myself... reassure them that I have the intestinal fortitude to be an NA and someday an RN.

Other than that, my 1st day was great! I had a blast! I got to see some nasty stuff (none of which bothered me, argh that's SO frustrating!) but it was really cool. My feet were killing me when I got home and I passed out on the couch at about 8:30 but man, I can't wait until Tuesday!

Hooray! What a great day!

Why? Well for 2 reasons...

1) Today is Ben's birthday! The big 3-0! Wow he's old... heehee ;) Happy birthday babycakes! Love juice!!!

&

2) I just finished up my CNA testing and passed with flying colors! Tomorrow is my first day at Integris so I'm super excited! Not sure my feet will still feel that way after a 12 hour shift, but for now I'm just really giddy and anxious for tomorrow to come!

Let the celebrations begin!

Demoted

Sirius has been having a hard week. He's had a sore on his front right leg that he licked into a nasty infected ulcer (despite our best efforts with bitter apple, bandages, etc) so he left us with no choice... Behold, the cone of shame! (those who have seen UP! will get that)

For 2 days we thought we had solved the problem! His sore was starting to look a lot better and he didn't seem to be minding the e-collar all that much. Then today I realized why... He managed to figure out a way to twist himself juuuuuuuust right to where he can reach and lick it! ARGH!!! So, he has been demoted to...

the cone of utter humiliation!

I'd like to see him try to get around this one! Actually, I'm watching him try right now and it's really rather pathetic... poor pup. He so doesn't like me right now! Oh well, whatever it takes right?