Disney World

Last night my friend Julie & I surprised my niece & her daughter with a trip to Disney World...not the usual Disney World trip...but the "Not-so-scary Halloween Party."  It was great...not too crowded, no rain, lots of smiling faces & free candy.  I think the longest we had to wait in line was one time for about 5 min or so.  The rest of the time you could just walk right onto the ride without waiting - excellent!  It's getting to be a yearly tradition & it was a great way to end a not so great week (workwise anyways).  I love spending time with my niece...she's almost 9.  Soon she won't want to hang out with her Aunt...she'll be wanting to be with her friends.  So I'm cherishing the time I do get to spend with her & making sure she has a lot of fun.  I'm an Aunt - I'm supposed to spoil her, right?

As far as the episode at work, I am eager to see how the unit manager handles what happened earlier this week.  I think both Gina & I have pretty much had it at the new place.  It's too "clique-ish" & just plain odd.  We're planning to attend the job fair at the end of the month - hopefully that will give us some other opportunities. 

I had a patient this past week that was described to me as "The nightmare patient."  The dayshift nurse complained about him non-stop so of course I was a little weary going into the patient's room.  He was grumpy & complaining, but it's cause he was in pain & he was hungry.  Once I got those two issues resolved, I was practically his best friend.  During the night second night I had him, he said to me "Jennifer, I think I love you."  Pain medication will cause people to say out of the ordinary things.  He was a sweetheart.  I felt for him...he's a diabetic & is facing a 90% chance that he'll lose his foot.  They are doing a fem-pop bypass in hopes it will restore adequate bloodflow to his foot, but there is just a slim chance that will work.  He expressed to me his concerns about losing his foot, said he's not sure he could live that way, etc.  He reached out for my hand, I gave him as much emotional support as I could & it seemed to ease his mind for a little while.  I can't outright lie to someone, especially in his predictament.  I can't tell him he'll get through it just fine, that life won't be so bad - but honestly, if I were in his position, I'd be worrying the same things he is.  By the third night with him...the day nurse got his medication changed from Dilaudid to PCA Morphine...ugh.  It just made him loopy/spacy & didn't relieve the pain at all.  I really think the dayshift nurse got this ordered so he wouldn't have to address this patient's concerns nor would he have to go in the room throughout the day.  The patient said as soon as the PCA was started, he never saw the nurse again until change of shift.  Nice...ugh!  That night the patient was saying to me "I just wonder if I taught her enough about finances, if she'll be ok without me, etc."  He was talking about his wife.  So sad!  The patient care tech came to me later & told me the patient said to her "Where's my nurse?"  She replied "She's in the hallway, do you want me to get her?"  He replied "No, just knowing she is there for me is all I need to know."  Awwwwww!  Those kind of patients really get to me. 

One bad thing about our last shift...as Gina & I were walking out after the shift ended, we were talking to one another about "S"....little did we know she was right behind us the entire time.  Eeekkk!  Lol...oh well.  We didn't say anything derogatory or mean, we simply stated the truth.  Considering she was the charge nurse that shift, she wasn't any help to me when it came to patient care.  I had one patient who was refusing to wear his cardiac monitor & I had another whose blood glucose level was 45.  She came into the room & said he looked fine & left.  Nice!  That's where it crosses the line though - it's fine to try to get me in trouble for stupid stuff, but when it comes to interferring with patient care or providing less than adequate patient care, I have a problem with that.  If she is incapable of being a true charge nurse, then she shouldn't be one at all.  Yet another reason not to work at this place....no one wants to help us when we need it & that could very well jeopardize a patient. 

It's amazing how opposite the attitude is at my first hospital.  We all help each other out, we're all friendly, there aren't cliques, there aren't mean-spirited nurses.  If we could just get computerized charting & an adequate number of patient care techs - it would be an ideal hospital.  I have no idea why some doctors prefer the second hospital.....cause when I compare the nursing staff, I think the first hospital's staff far exceeds when it comes to intelligence. 

Enough of that for now...I finally have a night of peace & quiet - time to relax & catch up on tv & movies.  Tomorrow is the big race - did I mention that thanks to Tony Stewart once again (from last week), I won another bet...this time it's dinner & drinks.  Thanks Tony!  Aaron is refusing to bet against me anymore...lol.  Go Tony Stewart Go!