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.

so the last post i wrote was short and sweet. but i posted and forgot to mention my “close call” for the day…and it was kinda a big close call!

my day was going along okay with my sweet, kind, wonderful patients. but while they were caught up and resting comfortably i was helping my fellow nurses and doing things that needed to be done on their patients. like: starting an IV, drawing lab, helping them to the bathroom, giving meds, etc…

so i go and start an IV on a gentleman in curtain 12. i set everything up as usual…gloves, IV start kit, needle, IV fluids, yada yada. as i usually do i take off the top part of the glove on my left index finger in order to allow me to palpate the patient’s vein so as to get it on the first try. luckily this guy had huge veins so it shouldn’t be too hard. i start IV and get it on the first stick, then i do what comes next by connecting all that is necessary to complete my task, and what happens…blood goes everywhere, free flowing right out of his vein all over the place, right down his arm. so i try to connect everything very quickly to keep from making a bigger mess. all the while my left index finger is still uncovered. i see some blood on my finger and wipe it off on the sheet. usually no big deal because i have no opened sores or cuts on my fingers, EXCEPT FOR TODAY! i remember i had earlier sliced my left index finger with and wonderful paper cut. i didn’t panic but washed my hands…thoroughly, and then asked the charge nurse what she would do…do i report it or forget it. she says since i had a fresh paper cut from earlier that wasn’t closed up yet that i should report it. so i do and this consisted of drawing more blood from the patient (not me), obtaining blood from me, a urine drug screen from me (to make sure i wasn’t under the influence..ha!), a bunch of paper work, and then “the wait” to see if the patient’s whose blood got all over me has Hep C or HIV. lovely! did i mention he had cirrhosis of the liver (which is either alcohol induced or a result of Hep C) wonderful!

well i am glad to say that he did come back negative of both Hep C and HIV. phew! but i now have to get tested in 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months to still make sure I am okay! i’m not worried because of course God is in control and i don’t feel in my gut that i am in danger.

so it was a close call and needless to say i will not be exposing my left index finger to that possibility again! i will just have to stick my patients more! ha!

i am SO glad when i get assigned sweet sweet patients. it really does make my job easier and more enjoyable. i worked in the ER again today and took care of the “hold” patients…(which means they are waiting down in the ER to be admitted up to the floor and there are no available beds in the hospital) i had a total of 6 total throughout the day. each and everyone of them were so nice, polite, friendly, kind and sweet. men and women. nothing too terribly exciting–chest pain and abdominal pain. but aghhhh such a nice wonderful day.  if only every day was like it my job would be PERFECT!

so i was getting morning report from the night nurse…and when she starts off “the patient is an inmate” you worry a little and jump to crazy ideas and assumptions. then she continues “the patient is in shakles and is secured to the bed, with 2 guards present” now you really get all ‘nervous-like’ wondering what the heck has this patient done? and finally she says “he is really nice though” hmmmm….

so i go and meet this patient wondering what kind of person i am about to encounter and he was in fact very pleasant and friendly. he didn’t look like a bad guy. he had several tattoos and scars to his upper body (which i found out later were bullet entrance/exit wounds and stab wounds) but looked very clean cut with a smile on his face. the guards didn’t seem to be bothered by me nearing his bed for my daily assessment so i relaxed a little…all the while acting like nothing was different in taking care of him vs my other ‘law-abiding’ patients.

he turned out to be my easiest patient but with the saddest story. he is sick with multiple myleoma and is about to undergo more chemo and radiation. i did find out via one of the guards that his unknown offense was not considered that serious/dangerous and that he should be getting out of jail soon. but unfortunately for him he has to contend with a different kind of jail after being released. the jail of being trapped in a body that is not getting any healthier, only sicker, and having to suffer the side affects of cancer treatments. i really did feel bad for the guy. it definetly made me realize we are all human. we all make mistakes. we all get sick. and it still SUCKS no matter where we come from!

well this story was not witnessed first hand but came from someone who was present at the scene…

code rush: is an overhead page for all available men to a patient’s room in order to calm or man-handle a patient who is out of control

today there was a “code rush” on the CVICU (cardiovascular intensive care unit), where a male patient was standing atop his hospital bed screaming, pulling out his IV’s, being obsene, cursing, etc…well no MEN hospital workers showed up, so therefore this irate patient had to be controlled and contained by 6 female nurses and 4 security officers (who showed up later). the code RUSH lasted for a good 30-40 minutes in order to put another IV line in the patient and sedate him with IV medications all the while holding him down. the patient was going through DT’s (alcohol detox) and these patients can become pretty dangerous and “out of their minds” during their detoxification. everything eventually became undercontrol and lets just say that that patient is now sleeping off his detox with the aide of wonderful medications.

i am so upset i missed all the action. i would have loved to be in the middle of all of it. maybe next time i will just have to report to a “code RUSH”