Mar 9, 2023
- #project hail mary
#the amazing digital circus
#coquette
#photography
#love and deepspace- #heated rivalry
- #the vampire lestat
#interview with the vampire#iwtv#the vampire armand#assad zaman
#bloodymary
#interview with the vampire#iwtv#the vampire armand#assad zaman
seen from United States
seen from Mexico
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Portugal
seen from Singapore
seen from Singapore
seen from Singapore
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Russia
seen from Russia
seen from Singapore
seen from Russia
My worst fear came to light. I was in charge and using the restroom when a code blue was called.
Thank god the crash cart is next to the staff restroom.
Pediatrics is a very serious job.
When they call a staff assist on your patient while you are at lunch
That lovely child desatted to 7%. Then several hours later I went for a coffee run and he desatted to the 60′s. Charge threatened to chain to that kid’s crib.
I Open at the Close
Every once in a while, life manages to tee up a message so that even the most clueless among us can’t miss it. I had a 24 hour stretch that proved it.
7pm: Start my night shift. I’m the charge nurse again with a relatively green crew, which called for an extra shot in my latte. One of my ED friends surprised me with a gut punch that a baby we had been treating died somewhat unexpectedly in the ED that day. The unit reels at the unexpected gut punch, but we carry on passing meds and doing our assessments.
10pm: More families than usual are mad about things that are out of my control and I try to settle things diplomatically. Another nurse comments that I should run for office. I’d settle for being able to finish my coffee
2am: Eating my lunch, the topic of emotionally difficult shifts come up. I am reminded of the family from this night who had been featured on the news, fundraising for experimental treatment. While searching for the video to share with some of the newer nurses, I stumble across his obituary. While a punch in the gut, he outlived the life expectancy by a wide margin. It’s a hollow comfort over my now cold soup.
8am: Leaving work, I don’t get to head the comfort of my bed. But rather take the hour and a half train ride to my parents house and the lumpy twin mattress from my childhood. I’m hosting a baby shower for my best friend that afternoon. The train smells like the bodily fluids I just left at work, but I’m just hoping to be able to sleep fast.
1pm: Fitful sleep, but the best 3 hour power nap a girl could hope for. Remove scrubs from bag to find my party dress.
3pm: The shower is in full swing. The mother to be is enjoying her friends celebrating the baby soon to be brought into this world. I’m crafting play doh babies with the toddlers in attendance, soaking in their vitality and how much better they are at play doh than me. Acquaintances as me how work is. Few really want to know the truth, and after a night like the previous I’d like to keep it in the back of my mind.
7pm: I’m back at my parents, eating take out from my favorite Italian place and refusing to move from my spot on the couch. The emotional fatigue of work, and hosting a baby shower finally catch up with me. It’s an odd weight, the beginning and ending of life. I’ll contemplate it later once more sleep has been had and after this episode of Fixer Upper. Later, I’ll deal with it.
Starts as a great reminder of what life is like on the other side of the hospital bed. Ends as an impassioned plea that no parent should have to decide if they can afford to save their child.
Peds Perk: Having my patient’s Golden Retriever service dog stand next to me for moral support when I was drawing labs.