I have two chronic conditions that have been an incredible hassle over recent weeks. One of them has been a huge part of my recent employment issues (epilepsy, which rears its stupid, ugly face when I lack adequate sleep, though that wasn't everything at work). Both (epilepsy and spondylolisthesis) have made this week the suck!
What have I learned?
1. Don't go to Disney if you have any type of ortho or neuro issue that restricts your ability to ride almost everything. You'll be in pain and watching your vacation fly by from the sidelines.
2. If your inlaws are selfish jerks, do not tell them how your handicapped arm band works. They WILL hijack your pass (and your entire days making you unable to do anything you want) and treat you like ess when you shut that crap down because you're tired of sitting around waiting for a turn to use it (never happened until the end).
3. It makes my blood boil that people do NOT understand chronic medical issues, or at least open their minds to the fact that they may not understand what they are seeing. Instead, people go straight to, "I bet it's her meds for her back. That is not what epilepsy looks like." No, I didn't learn this one. I was reminded of it. My husband loved being called a liar. PEOPLE! EPILEPSY LOOKS LIKE "EPILEPSY" LESS THAN IT DOESN'T.
4. Girl Child has anxiety. This rips my heart out. My husband needs some coaching on this, but so far he's done okay.
5. Winning a fitbit workweek challenge against people who regularly go >20k is the best feat ever consider all the stuff above going on. I had a 28k day! Nurses, get a pedometer (if you don't have one) and challenge yourselves!
I have so few health/nursey (somewhat) things to add. Mostly I share this to help others when working with patients who share similar conditions. Lived experiences can sometimes trump textbook learning. So, ditch the inlaws early, get plenty of medicine, get benzos in case of persistent seizure episodes, and going to Disney right before spinal fusion is stupid. Wait a year.
I hope you all have had great weeks! I have not kept up at all.
Well, now I know what I'm going to put for next week's WILTW post. Imposter Ladybug...I never knew of such a thing until just now.
I call them imposters. They are vile little creatures that bite and if you squish them they smell retched and stain whatever surface they're on. They are an Asian ladybug. My shop vac smells like a 400-pound squished imposter ladybug...I have to leave it outside so as to not stink up the house. Bleck.
Specializes in long term care, alzheimer's, ltc rehab.
I love these threads and read them every week, but never posted one until now. Re: Disney-Ixchel, I understand how you feel about the rides. I have cerebral palsy, so I can't ride very many of the rides either, but on the plus side...Downtown Disney is the bomb!! Especially the Days of Christmas store (open all year).
Now, as for what I learned at work (as a UC/MT): When a bariatric patient breaks the bed (on purpose...long story) and you have to call the company for a new one, it takes FOREVER! Add that to the patient and his wife hitting the call light and calling the nurses station literally EVERY. TWO. SECONDS. to remind me...I just could not even after a while. Dude, I know your bed is broken, YOU know your bed is broken, the whole hospital knows your bed is broken!! If I could poop out a bed for you, I WOULD! This guy was calling the switchboard operators and harassing them to death too...I bought them donuts after my shift cause I felt bad.
That can be one more thing I learned this week: Switchboard operators are your friends, especially if you buy them food! :-)
Can albuterol help with stuff totally unrelated to the respiratory system?
I had a patient who was legally blind (but not totally blind) swear up and down his vision was better after receiving an albuterol neb. I went and told respiratory that albuterol fixes blindness, and we both had a good laugh. All the rumors that albuterol will fix anything are obviously true!
I learned that in the hospital setting, many physicians will order 1g of Caclium gluconate IVPB over 5 minutes or so prior to giving cardizem for A Fib with RVR. I had to come home and read more about it and it's fascinating. For those who don't want to read it/don't have the time, the basis of it is that you pretreat with calcium prior to CCB like cardizem to prevent hypotension and extreme bradycardia. In the case I had, the patient came in in A Fib w/ RVR and he had a SBP in the 70s. 2 liters of fluid, 1 g of Calcium over 5 minutes, then ended up getting 20mg Cardizem bolus (in 5mg increments). That brought HR down to 96 apical but still in AFib. We hung a Card drip and the patient eventually converted to NSR. Article: Chemical Cardioversion of Atrial Fibrillation with Calcium Gluconate
On another note, I learned that I shouldn't assume that just because someone relieving you for a break is an RN that they are going to be able to competently care for your patients who may require critical thinking. Such as in the above case, in the future if I leave a patient on any kind of critical drip I now know that I should give the relief nurse parameters for which to turn off the drip so that I don't come back to a sicker patient than I left.
I learned that certain MLPs will make my job harder. I worked on our urgent care side the other day and there is a PA who is very sweet but it's obvious she hasn't done many of the things she orders because she gives patients inaccurate information. No, I won't be able to give the 90 lb patient a 3ml injection of a steroid into her deltoid. Explaining this to the patient and convincing her that, in fact, she's going to get this shot in her glut or her thigh took longer than it should have.
I learned that crap luck can look like having the flu and having strep throat at the same time.
I learned that it's easier to ask some patients what drugs they didn't take than which ones they did.
I learned that Solu-Medrol is on national backorder.... and to treat a patient with an MS relapse who normally would have gotten 1 gram of Solu-Medrol takes a lot of decadron and might cause a hospital shortage of said decadron (lol).
Even though I had initially hoped to start in the ICU, I really think the ER is a fantastic fit for me for a first nursing job; the longer I am there, the more I like it. I also learned about some ENPC and TNCC course offerings that I think I am going to try to get to. I am super excited to keep learning new things.
Oh, and only 2 weeks until my stats class for my BSN is over. Cannot wait!!!
I'm pretty sure I tanked my interview. I'm not too heartbroken, however.
I feel like not having a senior practicum really puts me at a disadvantage. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
I am reminded why I dislike Midwest weather. It goes from frost in the morning to 60's mid-afternoon, and snow later the next day. When will the madness end? It's already April.
I'm pretty sure I tanked my interview. I'm not too heartbroken, however.
I feel like not having a senior practicum really puts me at a disadvantage. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
I am reminded why I dislike Midwest weather. It goes from frost in the morning to 60's mid-afternoon, and snow later the next day. When will the madness end? It's already April.
I'm pretty sure I tanked my interview. I'm not too heartbroken, however.
I feel like not having a senior practicum really puts me at a disadvantage. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
I am reminded why I dislike Midwest weather. It goes from frost in the morning to 60's mid-afternoon, and snow later the next day. When will the madness end? It's already April.
Sorry about the interview-I've had a few of those over the years.
We have a joke in Chicago: If you don't like the weather here, just wait 10 minutes. It will change...
Guest OP requested for this coming Saturday. Another week of not working, uncertainty of the future, and honestly, I am tired of complaining!
The week after that, look for a very pain and opiate-laden OP entitled: "WILTW - post-op, and they just took my happy button away", or, it may be "no I do not want PT because this ess already hurts enough". Orrrr.... "Pretty sure I'm gonna get a DVT and post-op infection. Just because."
smf0903
845 Posts
I call them imposters. They are vile little creatures that bite and if you squish them they smell retched and stain whatever surface they're on. They are an Asian ladybug. My shop vac smells like a 400-pound squished imposter ladybug...I have to leave it outside so as to not stink up the house. Bleck.
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Ladybug) — Department of Entomology — Penn State University