RetiredTooSoon

True. Forty-four weeks is much different than 50. I questioned the likelihood of the doctors being accurate, but apparently the one was well known for being able to judge EDC within 3-4 days, a week at most, so at best, I cooked for 43 weeks. I have no clue why they left me in there so long; I really don't. I know Mom resisted being induced and her doctor at the time let it be as long as she felt safe. Had I not arrived on the Saturday, Mom was going to be induced the following Monday and as it was, I had to be taken with forceps. I told Mom that I probably knew exactly what this world held for me and wanted nothing of it.

I managed to get necrotizing fasciitis from a dental visit. I had a drainage tube trying to empty a seroma on my leg and it was time for my annual dental check-up. They'd asked if I'd had surgery, but I said no, since the drainage tube was just done via ultrasound. I'd told the hygienist about it and she said there shouldn't be a problem. A few days later, I started to develop redness and swelling to the leg. They pulled out the tube and put me on abx for cellulitis. Three or four days after that, my shin and calf started turning black. Rush into ER, admitted, sent to the OR, "Multiple necrotic areas along fat and fascia". Causative agent? Strep Viridans-oral bacteria.

My grandmother said it was from peeing on the side of the road, not the middle. And pimples on your tongue were caused by telling a lie.

While oral sex was not required, home care nurses helping para/quad patients here were told that part of their expected duties may be helping their patients with sexual needs, including assisting with masturbation (helping patient place hands correctly) or sex with a partner. That edict didn't last very long.

You know you are a nurse when: -Discussing dismemberment over a gourmet meal seems perfectly acceptable to you. -The phone rings at home and you answer as if you were at work (Operating Room, Retired Too Soon, RN)-I did this to my uncle once; he was completely baffled. -You believe there should be a licencing process that people have to successfully complete in order to be allowed to breed. -You look at people's hands to see what kind of veins they have -Family and friends ask for medical advice, ignore it, then go to the doctor, get the exact same advice and come home, amazed at the brilliance of the doctor.

An ICU nurse I know had a family from China whose wife/mother attempted suicide by hanging and was now brain dead. The doctors talked to them about organ donation, turning of the respirator, etc, but the family declined both, insisting that they had to take her to China for a brain transplant, saying that the Chinese had this technology and her life would be saved if they just could get her back to the Orient and find a suitable donor. What they didn't consider is the 'donor brain' they'd get (if such technology were available) would be full of the other person's memories, not their loved one's.

My mom was pregnant 44 weeks with me. She had two doctors confirm the EDC, based on dates and belly size. I baked for so long, I was dysmature-I'd started to shrink d/t the beginnings of placental insufficiency.

As a first year student, we had to be directly supervised the first three times we gave medications in each form (oral, IV, IM, sc). If all went well, we could give medications without direct supervision, but were always reminded to talk to our instructor or RN if we had questions.

When I was a student in the early 90s, we bagged our deceased patients naked. It was a case of "we've always done it this way"-probably a leftover from when patients were shrouded, not bagged. It always made me uncomfortable to do that; I didn't see the point of stripping them naked and couldn't the funeral home just send the gowns, etc, back to the hospital/nursing home? They're certainly there often enough and all our facilities used the same laundry service. When my grandmother died in 1996, the funeral director told us that the hospital put her in the body bag still in her hospital gown. We didn't view her prior to cremation, so I can't confirm or deny what he said. My dad died in 2009 and when we went to see him in the funeral home before cremation (we didn't have him embalmed or have a formal viewing), he was still in a hospital gown and covered in white blankets, one underneath him, one on top. The funeral director said that the hospice always sent their patients over in gowns and sheets and that he would return the gowns to them. Dad was probably cremated naked, but he went to the funeral home in a gown and sheet.

Agreed. I don't like "passed away" either; I prefer either the reality-'he/she died' or, if a euphemism is required, 'transferred to the Eternal Care Unit'.

I had to leave nursing (and all work) due to illness in 2000, hence "RetiredTooSoon".

You work ICU and there are patients well enough to eat toast, nevermind other foods? I can't think of more than one ICU patient ever that's been able to consume more than clear fluids.

The term 'nurse' is not a protected term, but 'registered nurse' is in many provinces and states. If they call themselves a nurse and you challenge them, "A registered nurse?" and they answer in the affirmative, you may have a legal case in some areas that could land them a fine or up to 6 months in jail.

For regular charting, I would sign RtSoon, RN. On formal correspondence like resume cover letters or other letters where my nursing education was relevant to what I was writing about, I'd sign, RtSoon RN, BScN. I had a third professional designation that I never used, as it was three words long and would just confuse the masses.

They were already clients when I started nursing school in 1991-or at least, that was about when the move started to make the change. My one instructor refused to use the word client, snorting, "Hookers have clients; nurses have patients". If anyone was dozing in class, they were wide awake after she said that.