So, this last Friday was fundraiser day for The American Heart Association’s Heart Walk 2010 at our hospital. I was in charge of (or came up with doing) the bake sale. I posted cute signs around the hospital as reminders for my co-workers to either bake or bring money to buy the tasty treats. I have to admit this bake sale started out as a wanna-be competition between me, Paige, and our CNO, Eldon. The 3 of us are always baking and bringing our baking craftsmanship up to work to show off and receive praise. ha! Sad to say the competition didn’t pan out due to  complications (lack of judges and genius on how to come up with appropriate judging score cards). So we sucked up our pride of who would win and just sold our treats for the betterment of society’s heart health!

here is what I baked…

I made chocolate chip cookie cupcakes, and I must admit they were delish! A patient’s family member saw me taking them down to the bake sale and said she wanted to buy all of them and give them to the post-surgical unit nurses. I didn’t even get to sell them to my co-workers or show them off, but I did make $40 for them (over the asking price for sure!). I guess since it was for charity I shouldn’t worry about whether or not other people thought they were tasty. They were bought right?

Since I am an overachiever when it comes to baking, I did put together another treat for the bake sale with my leftovers from the cupcakes. I made chocolate chip doozies (2 choc chip cookies with buttercream icing in the middle) which were AMAZING, if I do say so myself!

My cookies sold fast as well, and I am just glad I could participate in earning some money for the Heart Walk.

Here are some action shots from the day…

this was not only fundraiser day it was my BIRTHDAY! and chris surprised me with…

I was super surprised!

This was also my last day as the myelogram nurse…this is my replacement, Lisa. I’m definetly glad she is taking over and I can move on!

Our crazy Friday celebration time!

It was a fantabulous day and I could not have asked for more…but wait I had an awesome birthday weekend to follow! Yea me and 29 years!

these are the faces i have been making lately!

It is official I am moving to Pre-Op. Once again, I am changing jobs. I will no longer be the Myelogram nurse at Baylor Surgical Hosptial. Hallelujah & Amen!!! It was good while it lasted, and was a much needed break from Oncology, however, it is now time for me to move on. This should be my last week in my current position, if the girl taking my position, Lisa, feels comfortable starting next Monday. Crossing my fingers!

I am looking forward to working with people again (i’m talking co-workers). I have been all alone in the hall with a makeshift-wannabe desk. All the action would take place down in the actual nursing station, and I would always miss the jokes, pranks, and just plain conversation. They would say “come work down here…” but that was impossible. I had to call patient’s and if they were cuttin’ up in the nursing station I wouldn’t be able to hear if the patient had had a heart attack, seizure, etc before…so I never moved down there. This left me all alone with only the passer-by’s to say hello to (maybe).

I will now be mixed in with my co-workers in pre-op, surgery nurses, and post-op nurses! yea!

so needless to say I am…

I am playing on a co-ed softball league with my co-workers from Baylor Surgical Hospital. When asked if I wanted to join the team I quickly said, YES, I would love too! Our first game was this last Thursday, we lost, but had fun…at least I did! We had several practices before the first game and only at one practice did everyone show up. We are a mix of people who have played and not played (ever!). We played a team that should NOT have been in our division, which is the “rec” league, aka: we aren’t serious just want to have fun league. This team was running double plays, and their center fielder threw the ball from the center field fence into 3rd…NOT us! So that is why we lost, even though I think we played fantastic considering the lack of focused practicing beforehand.

Here of some pics that Chris took of me playing…

During this phase of the game as I am running to second I decide to go ahead and run to third. That’s when I get caught in a softball “pickle,” which is when someone is in a rundown between bases. I don’t know what I was thinking!! I definitely wasn’t going to slide into third. I did, however, make it safely to 3rd with an roar from the crowd and my teammates in screams of excitement…they were probably glad I didn’t cost them an out in my moment of braveness! ha! I was sucking air for sure. I’m a little out of shape when it comes to short sprints. whoa!

Here are some pics of my teammates…

Kevin our pitcher.

John playing first.

Jessica playing third.

Santos playing short stop.

I hope our next game is more successful with a win! I love Thursdays, and I love that I have DVR since all the good Thursday night shows are about to start up…haha! Stay tuned for more softball stories…

Every once in a while a sweet patient comes into your “nursing” life, and not only are they sweet, but they do something above and beyond to show their appreciation.

In my current job this doesn’t happen very often because I am only taking care of my patient’s for approximately 4 hours, and then they go home. In the last month I have received two cards mailed to my hospital with attn: Jana (me) written on it. Both expressing their thanks for my care and kindness. (I’m not bragging but I am really nice…haha!) It helps that I too have suffered from chronic neck pain and can sympathize with their pain, discomfort, depression related to continuous pain, etc…even though I pray I never have to go through the amount of pain most of my patient’s have.

So one of the patient’s that mailed me a card had his surgery at my hospital as well. His wife saw me in the hall (my office) and just was beside herself to see me and just went on and on about the care I gave her husband during his myelogram procedure…

Here is the kicker…I didn’t remember her or her husband (the patient) at all. I recognized her face but could not place her for the life of me. (really out of character for me, ask chris) Of course I felt horrible, but smiled and acted like I knew exactly who she was…then she says, “when my husband goes to see his doctor for his follow-up I’m going to bring you a DrPepper cake”….(what?!?! I don’t need a cake! I don’t remember who you are!–thinking to myself).  I then say “You don’t have to do that, or go to that much work, your card and words are enough”…

She didn’t listen and today she brought me an entire 9×13 DrPepper cake…

You feel absolutely horrible when this happens…not remembering your patient or their family! You give the same care to all of your patients and never know what kind of impact you might have on them, because it’s your job! And when someone goes out of their way for you in return, you feel pretty darn special!

Even though cake is not on my diet…I had to have a piece! They made it for me right?!?! It was quite tasty for sure…

(not work related)
there are not enough explicative’s that i could scream from the top of lungs right now to do justice for the hate i have for my doctor’s office!!!!

i have never been a patient in such a ridiculously stupid, under-skilled doctor’s office in my life. i am so royally ticked off it is hard for me to even right this.

let me just touch on a few things:
1st-i call to schedule a follow-up appointment and when i show up they have me no where on the schedule (the so-called nurse i talked to on the phone never put me on it), and therefore they proceed to place me as a “worked-in” patient. therefore an additional 45min was added onto my already 30+min and counting wait time…

2nd- the highest skill level besides the doctor was an LVN…are you kidding me?!?! agh…so i, a RN,BSN, am trying to explain what i want, and why i want it that way to a med-assist (who only has maybe 6mo training), and has no clue what blood tests she is drawing from my bleeding arm.

3rd- the piece of crap equipment in this doctor’s office is 20+ years old. hello!!!! update your equipment and jump into the current millennium and newest technology before you tell me something is wrong or right!!!

4th- you, doctor, have NO RIGHT to run tests on me without my consent or telling me what the hell you are testing! i am not an idiot!

5th- how dare you run tests on me that i have no clue you are running and then i get a bill from some crazy lab place that says i now owe them money.

oh by the way…i got a bill in the mail from Quest Diagnostics (another lab place) for $1500+ for all the lab work you drew…i called them and what??? you told them i had a totally different insurance company…of course i wasn’t covered, moron! thanks for giving my husband a heart attack and making him think we actually owed that money! funny when the right insurance is billed i owe NOTHING!!!

6th- if your idiot staff person tells me i will NOT have to pay for your 20+yr old equipment that you will use on me for diagnostic reasons…don’t you dare charge me $200+ dollars for it…

7th- if again your idiot staff personnel tells me they are going to call me with results the next day they better sure as hell call me…but they didn’t did they!

well stupid doctor with your idiot personnel you are about to hear it from me, and you may title me a royal B**** but you had it coming and i’m not scared of you!!! watch out i’m pissed and i want my money back!

included in my job title as the myelogram nurse, is to maintain and take care of the ER patient’s that seek our hospital for care. wow, right? not really we have a one bed ER (i guess technically 2 but not completely, if can be avoided). this i not in the least bit exciting. our ER sees clinic-type issues, with patient’s who realized that their wait time is 20 minutes vs. 2+ hours…

so my ER patient today: young girl presenting with complaints of abdominal pain with blood in stool and maybe urine?!?!

i start my assessment and realize quickly that this chick doesn’t really know what is wrong with her…”it just hurts”, can you point to where? ” down here”, pointing to her stomach. this goes on and on throughout my assessment. i do find out she smokes cigarettes and pot,  drinks a lot (under-age and illegal-ha!), and she is bipolar on several meds all of which should NOT be mixed with the above. so, lab, xrays, etc are ordered. then, i start an IV for the abdominal CT, when i then discover she is a “cutter” (meaning she cuts her forearm with some sharp object over and over)…and by the way she an unwed mother with a young child!

i just think to myself OMG, really? i don’t understand people, never will. a semi-attractive young lady who has her whole life in front of her and she is screwing it up… drinking, smoking, illegal drugs, an unwed mother, with mental issues (or so diagnosed). wow! it makes me sad and the thing of it is, is that she acted like everything was normal with her life, a little messy, but normal.

choices are HUGE in this life. i see and witness people like this and i wonder where they’ve been or what they’ve gone through to get to this low point or into this crappy life. how is it that i grew up in a healthy, loving, Jesus-believing home with parents and family that love me, who encouraged me to make wise decisions and taught me how important it is to make smart, Christ-centered choices. i am very thankful and try not to take my “easy” life for granted…

if wondering about her diagnosis: slight UTI with possible hemrroids.

i love my job (insert sarcasm) haha!

i am currently working for a small surgical hospital and by small i mean small. it is a one floor building with 8 OR’s, pre op/post op area, and a 22 bed post-surgical unit (semi private rooms), and then my myelogram room which is really a semiprivate room with 4 recliner chairs for my patient’s to recover. like i said, SMALL!

my everyday myelogram room

every once in a while the hospital becomes overcrowded. there are so many surgeries that there aren’t enough rooms. when this happens who gets the boot? ME and my patient’s! and where do we get stashed? the corner area of the post op area. 4 huge movie chair recliners crammed into a corner like we have misbehaved or something. it’s inconvenient all the way around! 1. i’m taking up of a post op bay area, 2. none of my stuff to do my job is nearby, 3. the patient’s who normally have their “room” with their own bathroom, closet, and tv’s are now stuck out in the open, feeling exposed, no tv, shared bathrooms, and bored senseless or aggravated at how noisy and crazy it is in a pre/post op unit.

to top it all off, the myelogram “room” wasn’t even used while my patient’s were there. really???? so this morning i moved all the recliners to the post op area, inconvenienced my patient’s, their family’s, the post op nurses, and myself…for nothing!!!

thankfully this doesn’t happen very often, but the bad news is that the hospital extension that is in the works won’t even be close to being completed for over 2 years…so i am sure this will happen again and i will sigh a big BIG sigh!

whoa since my last post (sept 2008) i have changed jobs twice…1st i was an oncology nurse for a little over a year. probably the hardest nursing job i have ever had. not physically but emotionally and mentally, however it was also the most rewarding up to date. patient’s and their families are going through the worst time in their lives and yet are so thankful for your care. there were several particular people who touched my life so much during their struggle and impressed upon me how important life is to not take for granted, loving those around you and the time you have with them. thank you clyde, gus, christine for making me a better nurse. i will never forget you or your families.

my current job: I am working as a myelogram nurse. what is a myelogram? it is an invasive radiology procedure that detects abnormalities of the spine, spinal cord, or surrounding structures, in order for the doctor to make a diagnosis. i preop and postop my patient’s for the procedure. my patient’s have been experiencing chronic pain, some even have had several neck or back surgeries already. the record was 13 previous back surgeries (the patient was beaten by her husband with a bat, and the repetitive back surgeries were only complicating matters with scar tissue, and bone fusions). this job is very easy in terms of nursing skill but has allowed me to take a breather…much needed after caring for cancer patients.

i have no clue what i want to do next but i know this myelogram job is coming to an end soon…i’m done with my breather and ready to move on. i think preop nursing is calling to me! i will keep you informed.

just in case you were wondering i have not died from Hep C….LOL! i looked at my blog the other day and was like…OMG, my last post was that i had been stuck by a dirty needle of a patient who was HepC+ and never updated you that my testing was negative. oops! sorry and i am still alive!

i hope to start blogging again, that’s my plan at least!

stay tuned

found out today, monday, that the patient whose blood i came in contact with is in fact Hep C+. i have to follow up with lab tests in 3 months and 6 months. say a prayer that everything is fine and i am free from this disease. thanks.

i trust and believe that my Lord and Saviour has me in His protection.