Walk 5 Miles??? Why????

Hmmm...how do I even start off this week? No real complaints. Shocked, aren't you? I had a good 3 nights at work. Most of my patients were very nice and easy to take care of. Actually, looking back...I think they were all really good. I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. Just a few calls to the doctors for minor things like blood pressure meds or Tylenol. Nothing earth shattering or critical.

Monday night shift change was a bit hectic. I had one patient being wheeled into her room at 6:35. We are not supposed to have any admissions between 6:30 & 7:30 (shift change), but our ER doesn't usually listen. I give up complaining because nothing ever changes when it comes to that. Then I had a doctor come in & discharge a patient. He tells her she'll be ready to go in 20 minutes. Ugh...I hate when doctors do that. It's not the old days where they write a prescription & send the person on their way. No, no, no....we have to do all this computer stuff and go over every medication they ever had taken when they came in. 20 minute discharge will never happen in my hospital.

Luckily we had a discharge nurse floating around the hospital. So I call her & she says "Well, I have 2 other patients to discharge ahead of you. Can't you do it?" I thought for a second & decided no. She is the "discharge nurse"...that means she handles "discharges." I may have felt differently if this wasn't change of shift & I didn't have a new admission sitting in a room waiting for me. In nursing, it's tough to say no...it's tough to delegate. We are used to being expected to do everything without a second thought. I am learning that I don't need to do it all. That's the reason we have other staff to help us...so we don't feel like we need to do it all. Except this other staff often tries to bounce it right back to us...doctors, patient care techs, other nurses, etc.

So I said no....just come handle this discharge when you're done with the other two. I don't think she was happy, but again...she is the discharge nurse & all she does is handle discharges. It's not so bad. After that patient was finally discharged, I immediately get word that I will have a new admission...again. Ok, whatever, bring it on.

I lucked out though. They didn't bring the patient right away. We had a couple of PCU nurses in the ER handling the overflow of PCU patients waiting for a bed. The nurse that had my patient was kind enough to do the entire admission. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It makes it easier when they get to the floor. You can talk to them, focus on their needs & get them to sleep sooner as opposed to asking them 34290384023 admission questions.

Tuesday I had 5 patients, but I started the night with them & that makes it easier than throwing an admission in the mix. So my week at work ended well & I'm hoping this coming week is just as good. One can dream, can't they?

On a different note...a friend from nursing school called & asked if she could walk with me & my exercise buddy. I said sure. We met up with her & oh boy...did we get a workout. She made us walk FIVE miles....in the Florida heat...at a fast pace. It was brutal. I don't know how I made it back. And I had to work that night! That was on Monday morning. Yesterday my exercise buddy & I decided we would walk it again...only at our own normal pace....and it wasn't bad! In fact, we saw a lot of little bunny rabbits hopping around all over the trail. Too cute! Don't they know Easter is over?

Today marks a month since I started eating better & exercising. I'm proud to say I've lost 17 lbs as a result. I still have a ways to go...but it's a nice start. We're also doing Weight Watchers...which amazingly isn't that hard to do. I have totally cut out the fast food restaurants...which used to be practically the only place I would eat. And I've cut out mostly all candy. It's not to say I won't ever have any...but it's not a daily or even weekly thing anymore. I've started buying the 100 calorie bags of things I like....for portion control. My big weakness is cheese pizza...but I found Pringle Wheat Stix....pizza flavored & it totally takes away the craving for pizza - plus it's only 90 calories!

I went to The Olive Garden today & could only eat half my meal. I was so full...yet shocked. Normally I can eat salad, my meal & dessert without any real problem. Not today - I brought half my food home & skipped dessert. I think what helps the most is staying away from the fast food & the sit-down restaurants, plus walking. Eventually I know I'll need to add more...like weights and different types of exercise, but I'll deal with it then. Now if only I could lose 17 lbs every month.....lol.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!