Many of you heard from me as I asked countless questions while contemplating accepting a LIII NICU position, began orientation, came off orientation, etc. I just had to share what happened the other night that made my day.
I was called at home, and begged to come in to work, as they were extremely understaffed, and my pt from the night before whose belly blew up and got very ill, had undergone emergency surgery for a perf'd bowel w/ inguinal herniation/peritonitis. I had been stressed out caring for this kid the night before, but I had slept all day, and i figured I'd might as well get paid auction pay for being up all night anyway. So I came in and was reassigned to my now fresh postop pt and an OG feeder. [poor kid, I barely had time to make sure he was breathing ;>P]
I spent the entire night keeping my postop pt alive, giving blood products, volume expanders, pulling an art line that went bad and turned his fingers blue, starting dopamine, freaking out when his lower half became grossly underperfused, with a 10mmHg pressure difference btwn upper/lower limbs, and a 10 sec cap refill time in his feet. The night became a detective chase, with the MD and I trying to manage all his problems and figure out what was going on with him. He then had no urinary output, and his ileostomy started looking dusky. So to make an already long story short, by 8am I was way behind and exhausted. After finishing up my 4 pages of narrative charting, in addition to my regular flow charting, in the middle of giving report, I spoke to the MD one last time to get orders. At the end he mentioned, "You have done an excellent job with this patient tonight, I just wanted to let you know...." I almost cracked a tooth, I smiled so wide. That meant the world to me. Even though I worked my tail off, the MD I respect the most gave me a word of encouragement. While giving report, the RN who was taking my pt [also my preceptor a few months ago] looked at me and said, "well, you are a real NICU nurse now!...you have proven that you can take a challenge that is given to you, and handle it without a problem." I almost cried, I was so happy! That was the first time I realized that I was a REAL NICU nurse now, not just a new grad learning the ropes! Sometimes I feel so inadequate and helpless, but this made it allo worth it. Thanks for reading my story. I just had to share this with someone!
