FYI's

• It has been far too long since the Ocho has hung out.
• I am still trying to piece together Southern Day. :)
  
• I hate drama and the people who like to create it.
• I wish people would get married in locations that are convenient to get to.
• New episodes of NCIS make me happy and I love Gibbs.
  
• You know how sometimes when you want/chase something and then finally get it, you find out that maybe you didnt really want it in the first place? ...Ironic.
  
• I helped change an ostomy last night which was gross/frustrating/time-consuming/absolutely fascinating. (Dont know what an ostomy is? google it or ask me.)
  
• I am NOT getting along with our night tech. She keeps testing me to see what she can get away with and I do not take kindly to people manipulating me. But you know, if you have a personal issue with me, fine - we can try to work on it. What is not fine is if your petty bullshit and lazy attitude gets in the way of patient care. I am NOT ok with that. (And honestly if that's your mentality, you shouldn't be in the health care profession.)
• The good thing about working on the kind of unit that gets frequent flyer patients is that you get to know your patients well and develop a relationship with them. The bad thing is that you get to know your patients well and develop a relationship with them.
  
• I think I need to invest in Benadryl or Nyquil because my body is not adjusting well to having to switch between day and night shifts.

On that note, against my better judgment, I'm going to take a nap.

Someone I know better have a wedding like this:

Love it.

Lost my sunglasses :(

Yesterday was "Southern Day" hosted by Chris and Brad - some friends from Wake. Its an all day party with North vs. South beer pong, flip cup, case race, etc etc. Laura and I got there around 2pm and we barely made it in the door when we were told to join in on flip cup. Naturally, we couldnt turn down the opportunity and it was all down hill from there. (In case you were wondering, we (the south) won flip cup.) We met tons of people, everyone was so nice (and SO drunk). I think Laura and I made everyone we met promise to come to our party next month haha. The party was ridiculous. By 5pm they had to go on another beer run because all the beer in the fridge, most of the liquor, and the 2 kegs were gone. I dont think I've drank like that since Champong days back in college. Apparently I got tired at one point and decided to pass out in my friend's bed. I dont even remember making my way down there. I have no idea what made me pass out there, or how long I was there for, but I woke up just in time to go out to the bars with everyone. Classy, right? Good lord, the day was an absolute shit show. :)

Mark your calendars - Brad did!


Survivor Flip Cup:


View from the roof (how no one fell off is a mystery to me):


Chillin on the roof. (This is probably before I accidentally called Mike by the wrong name and he yelled at me):


New friends. Love this kid. (Note: sunglasses still in possession at this point)


Out at the bar, approx 1am and wayyy too many beers deep:


So, recap: I rocked at flip cup, met lots of fun people, drank entirely too much, Laura got locked in the bathroom, I lost my sunglasses, and I somehow stumbled onto and passed out on Chris' bed for an undetermined amount of time. All in all, fabulous party. :)

The joys of orientation

Okay, I'm sorry, but orientation was a gigantic waste of time in my mind. I have worked at GUH for 3 years now, I could probably give hospital orientation. I pointed out when one of the speakers provided the wrong information. Now, I can understand them wanting me to go to nursing orientation. But again, after working there first as a secretary, then a tech, and 2 months as a student nurse, there was zero - and I literally mean zero - information that I did not already know. 24 hours of guest speakers, lectures, powerpoints and not one new thing. A few things I did figure out though:

- I do not want to be in a classroom again any time soon
- Students (esp. brown-nosing, overachieving nursing students) are annoying
- I greatly appreciate any speaker who can get their point across in less than 20 minutes.
- I am proud to say that I work at Georgetown.
- Julie Andrews is probably the cutest woman ever (our patient advocate, not the celebrity. Although, I am a fan of the celebrity as well)

Wise words from Julie Andrews:
"After the age of 12, people dont change their behavior."
"Everyone's entitled to a bad day. ...Except if you work in health care."

"The Shack"

"Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions.

Most emotions are responses to perception - what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms - what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn't make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe."

alcohol is bad. :-p

Apparently I have yet to learn that I should not carry a cell phone when I go out drinking. When I get a good buzz I tend to get super chatty, and when I get into a texting mood, I text like crazy. Never a good idea. Its not a good feeling when you wake up the next morning and look at your phone and realize what you did, who you called/texted, and what you said, haha. ...Its even worse when you know you texted/called people but you have no idea what was said because you were still rational enough at the time to know you'd regret it the next morning so you erase all the evidence... :-p This is also why I should never go anywhere without my wife because after about 3 texts Laura would've just taken my phone away from me. (Cassie, I still love you and last night was so much fun!)

Alright, time for damage control... :-p

Hazing

I'm aware that when you start at a new job you're at the bottom of the totem pole and some people may give you crap for being the "newbie." Our floor is absolutely nothing like that. Everyone is more than happy to help you and teach you - it is a fabulous working environment and I couldnt imagine a better place to start. Apparently our night tech, however, is not so much a fan of me being a nurse and likes to give me a hard time. What she forgets is that I may be a new nurse, but I am by no means new to my unit. I used to be the secretary - aka I practically ran the unit, so I'm somewhat familiar with how things work.

A little background: Ivonne is our night shift tech (probably in her mid-30s) and she has been going to nursing school since before I started working on 6 Bles (which is over 3 years now). She has a reputation for being unbelievably lazy while at work (reason #1 I never really got along with her to begin with). Now, she is amazing at drawing blood and putting in IVs but that is literally all she is good for. She never helps with patients, she never gets vitals done on time, and all she does is sit on the computer. I ask her to do something for me, she just glares at me and reluctantly agrees, or she'll come up with some bullshit excuse to not do it. The other night, she just didnt do vital signs on one of my patients. My other patient was incontinent and needed to be cleaned up probably once an hour and she didnt clean her once. This morning one of my patients needed labs drawn and a new IV, and she just decided to not do the IV, just the blood draw. I dont know what the deal is, but she's totally giving me a hard time and hazing me. And if you know me at all, you know that I dont put up with shit like this so these next couple months of orientation should be interesting...

First shifts as a NURSE

Got my first few shifts as a nurse done. I'm so glad I did my internship during the school year here because it definitely gave me a good head start and my preceptor didnt have to stop and explain every tiny little thing to me. My first day on the floor Ruth (my preceptor) and I had a really busy group and we didnt get a chance to sit down to eat lunch till 3:30 (our day starts at 7am, so that is a LONG morning). Since I was already familiar with the floor and how to do some nursing things, we were able to split up and kind of tag-team it all day, otherwise I dont know how we would've survived the day. I've only worked 4 shifts and already I've learned so much:

- I've changed several central line dressings,
- hung all kinds of IV medications,
- started a PCA
- accessed a mediport (so scary!)
- admitted a patient,
- and I take on a 3 patient load

I love it! I've had my share of annoying patients already (but I'm used to that). And putting up with doctors and med students is a new experience. There's one med student who is so obnoxious; thinks he knows everything and tries to tell the nurses how to do their job. Seriously kid, dont tell me what to do. Although, I'm totally in love with our intern - he's so dorky, but in a super cute way. He's adorable. :) Anyway, thats all for now... gotta get to sleep - working tonight and tomorrow night. Yay night shifts... :-p

update

I've been slacking on the blogging lately... Not too many things have happened though, which just means my life is sad. Regardless, here are a few updates:

- I guess I never mentioned that I passed the nclex and am officially a Registered Nurse!!!

- Went to NY for 4th of July to help my parents with their high school reunion. It was a lot of fun to see all my cousins and some family members I havent seen recently, but unfortunately the weekend was more of a chore than a crazy weekend filled with alcohol, bbq, and fireworks...

- Apparently when you havent seen family members in a while and/or are meeting your parents' friends, the question they deem most important to ask is not, "Where did you go to school," "What are you doing with your life"  or something of the like. Instead, the first question they ask and the one they fixate on the most is "Do you have a boyfriend?" 

- I'm slightly concerned my entire family has swine flu.

- I start work AS A NURSE this week!! (provided that I get my voice back and feel well enough so that I dont have to call in sick on my first day of work.)