Friday, December 23, 2005

My Instincts were Correct

In my last post, I just wrote about hearing what I would describe as a "death rattle"....well, I was correct.  I worked last night & looked up in the computer to see how my 95 yr old patient was doing only to find out she died on Wednesday.  I feel for the family....it's hard enough losing a loved one, but I think it's worse when it's very close to Christmas or any other holiday. 

I worked overtime last night & was so glad I did.  I ended up with only 2 patients.  They were pretty easy to care for although one of them seems to be quite ill.  She had hip surgery yesterday, needed blood transfusions, had very poor urine output...3000 ml in & only about 400 out.  So not sure if she was going into renal failure or what.  On top of that she has a raging UTI and her cardiac enzymes are elevated. 

My other patient was a gentleman that was in for chest pain.  It wasn't cardiac related so I imagine they'll send him home today.  I'm debating about whether to work tonight or not.  Overtime makes it so worth it, but I still have a lot of Christmas stuff to do.  I'll take a nap & decide later.  Ciao!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You seem to be adjusting great to nursing...Good nurses are hard to find...YEs it is sad to lose people at christmas....
Donna In TEXAS