Friday, February 18, 2005

So sleepy

My sleep schedule is so screwed up - guess that's all part of working the night shift.  I worked last night with yet another preceptor - M.B.  I like her a lot, she makes it so easy to ask questions & she really enjoys having an orientee to teach things.  I had 2 patients of my own again - one with a GI bleed & anemia, the other status asthmaticus & pneumonia.  My poor little lady with the GI bleed had a stroke last year & just wasn't with it mentally.  One time I checked on her & she says to me "Are you being nice to her?  She tries so hard to be nice to you."  I said "Who?"  She replied "Your mother-in-law."  Ummmm, I don't have a mother-in-law, I don't even have a husband.  :)  Then she asked me if I had a bed in the hospital & when I said no, she was shocked.  Makes me wonder what exactly was going through her mind & who she thought I was.  My other patient loved to talk & talk & talk & talk.  I really enjoyed them both.  I also helped my preceptor out with her patients.  We had one lady with low blood sugar - we could not get it to remain increased for very long.  First it was 49, so we gave her orange juice, peanut butter & graham crackers & milk.  20 min later it was 59, then back down to 49.  We tried more food & juice - it didn't help.  So we did the D50% glucose - that got her up to 71, then back down to 69.  So we pushed some more....got her to 111, but by morning she was back down to the low 80's & dropping.  So strange considering she's a diabetic & usually requires diabetic medications to keep the blood sugar from getting too high.  Her medications were even held that day & yet she was still having really low blood sugars.  On another spectrum, we had a gentleman whose heart rate remained in the 130's all night long - all he was doing was resting in bed.  And the last thing on the list to do was shave a man's groin area because he was having a heart cath today.  It has to be one of the most awkward parts of nursing that I've run into...especially when it's someone that isn't too much older than I am.  Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?  I'm off now until Tuesday & planning on going to bed early tonight so I can get back to a normal day schedule.

One of my classmates/co-workers took the nclex on Wednesday.  She got all 265 questions - took her over 5 hours to take the test...ugh.  But she passed!  So it makes it all worth it.  10 more days until it's my turn...eek.

I talked to my fireman/paramedic friend Gary 2 nights ago for over 4 hours on the phone.  It was one of those conversations where I can't believe how the time flew by.  We are definitely on the same wavelength which is refreshing because it's been a long time since I've encountered that.  It's kind of neat how there are certain people in this world that just seem to understand how you think without having to explain it to them.  Am I making sense?  I've only had 2 hours of sleep in the last 27 hours - so I may not be making sense. 

Time to get ready for bed!

No comments: