Here kitty kitty...

Work wasn't too bad this week. I did have one patient who claimed he doesn't drink...yet his blood alcohol level was 335....normal is below 10. And he smelled like a brewery. I just went along with it....it's not as though we're doing an intervention. I had heard from the ER nurse that he was agitated & combative...great! When he got to the floor, luckily he had a roommate that he seemed to bond with & they talked for awhile & both went to sleep. By the next night, he was irritated because all we were feeding him was a clear liquid diet. He had elevated liver enzymes & they weren't sure whether it was pancreatitis or not. So they lay off the food & let the organs rest. He wasn't happy though. Then he was NPO (nothing to eat or drink) after midnight. He went walking off down the hall that morning all mad. Luckily I had just given report & was leaving = not my problem anymore.

People like that irritate me though. He was in the hospital because of abdominal pain as a result of his elevated liver enzymes which was a result of drinking too much for a long period of time. Yet he is the first one to yell at us because we aren't treating him the way he would like...meaning food & pain medication. Lay off the booze, buddy & you wouldn't have abdominal pain, nor would you have to be hospitalized. While we're at it...spend your money on food rather than booze & save us all the aggravation you imposed on us.

I had another patient that shouldn't have even been admitted to the hospital. She went to see her primary doctor because she had vomiting & diarrhea for 1 day. Apparently, the communication between her & her doctor was off that day because after she told the doctor her symptoms...the doctor freaked out & told her she had to go to the hospital right now. And then sent her with direct admit orders for a GI bleed. She wasn't bleeding though...at all. Her H&H was perfectly fine. The GI doctor called in after being consulted & said to schedule her for an EGD. The patient didn't want an EGD...she wasn't bleeding! She asked me to call her doctor & tell her so....but that isn't the way it works. I think a doctor would laugh at me if I tried that. I told her she'd have to talk to the doctors the next day when they came in. So she went to sleep & was very easy to care for...considering she had nothing more than a 24 hr virus that seemed to have already cleared up by the time she got to the hospital.

Another nurse had a patient in his 20's that faked a seizure. How do we know it was fake? There were numerous signs....like he was only shaking on one side of his body & it wasn't the typical seizure like shake. His face was so relaxed....he was squinting with his eyes trying to watch our reaction. When we said "Wow, so weird to only be seizing on one side of his body"...suddenly his other side started shaking. He was wanting Oxycontin. He had a bottle from a fake pharmacy & the doctor would not give him any at the hospital. It is ridiculous what some people will do in hopes of getting pain meds. After his fake seizure was over, he opened his eyes & asked what happened. We told him he was just shaking a little....like he was having a bad dream. As soon as we left the room, he called his wife to tell her the details of his "seizure." Tell me...has anyone ever had a seizure patient do this? His room also smelled like pot. So nasty!

I'm at my parents house...near the beach. They've been watching my dog while I work...so I came out to visit. They tell me that a neighbor saw a Florida Panther walking around. What??? No one believed her until she showed them the huge paw prints this animal left on the ground. My parents live on the intercoastal waterway & inbetween their house & the water is an area of wetlands. My dog ran into the wetlands the other night, barking her head off...but came right back out. I told my parents they better not allow a panther to kill my dog. They aren't the greatest at keeping her on a leash...ugh. In case you aren't sure what a Florida Panther looks like...

Pretty, huh? Pretty darn big! Most people have cats in their yards, my parents have something equivalent to The Lion King. Scares me! When I let Shay out at night, I have my niece stand at the door just in case Shay & I are attacked by this endangered species....we have someone that could call 911. :)

I've been sticking with eating better...for the most part. I've stayed away from the fast food & I do miss Chick-fil-a. I feel like I'm going thru a break up. Sad! It's been 3 weeks...I've lost 11 lbs. Still a long way to go, but nice to see progress. I still need to get better at exercising...but I didn't want to go all out on both exercise & changing my eating habits...cause I know I'd burn out. I'm also going to have to start drinking a protein shake, because I rarely eat red meat & have cut way back on eating chicken....mostly because the only way I like it is fried. I am experimenting & will be trying a few different recipes with baking chicken & fooling my mind into thinking it tastes good. Little changes...here & there.

Ok, time to go get some sun before heading back into the work week tomorrow. Have a good weekend!