Opening Day!

I dont care that it is currently 45 degrees outside. Today is Opening Day, which means spring is now officially here and summer is right around the corner. I love baseball. It makes me happy. :) What makes me even happier? Actually PLAYING. One week till softball season starts!! :) :)

gym time

Dear girl on the elliptical wearing all the makeup and jewelry in your skimpy tank top and your lacoste brand shoes,

REALLY?!?

Judging you as I'm dying on the treadmill next to you,
Nikki

Charlotte!

Quote List:

• "Please dont drill my husband"
  
• D: I got a patient from the E.D.
  K: Wait. They have a whole unit for that?? Erectile Dysfunction?!
• "There's always room for alcohol" --who said this??
  
• "Hotty power!"
• "At least I know how to put it in my mouth!"
• B: We could help you - I watch CSI.
  N: They work with dead people!!
  
• "You bitch! You bitch in your pink dress!"
• "Danielle... that's not 4 inches... Did Mike tell you that?"
• "My ears are hot..."
• "Elizabeth should be our earthquake??"
• "Its so whimsical. I feel like I'm on a cloud."
• "We are NOT friends!"

I will post more details about the trip later, but for now that's all you get. I have to go make my brackets!! Yay March Madness!

Aldrich

My little cousins came over to our house a couple months ago and Aldrich is quite the little reader. He's in kindergarten now (ahh!) and apparently is in the accelerated reading group. When he saw me, I was wearing my Wake sweatshirt - you know, the one everyone owns and just has WAKE in big block letters on the front.

Aldrich: WAKE!!
Me: Yep!
Aldrich: Why does it say that?
Me: Because thats the name of my school.
Aldrich: Well they should put U-P under.
Me: What? Why?
Aldrich: Because then it will say "WAKE UP!"

Oh, how curious is the mind of a child. Precious. :)

what's new?

NOTHING. An old friend from WFU recently "friended" me on fb and we haven't spoken since senior year. Ok, so we werent good friends so much as we had a few mutual friends and he showed up at several of the guys' parties. Regardless, he's a good guy and we always had fun hanging out. So after friending me, he posted on my wall: "whats new since 2006?" ...and I've got nothing. Sure, I have this great job that I love (most of the time :-P) but that's literally all I can say. So many of my friends my age are either married, having BABIES, have some sort of post-graduate degree, or have been promoted in their job. If they currently do not have any of these things, they're at least well on their way to achieving at least one of them. It's been nearly 5 years since I've spoken to this guy and all I can tell him to update him on my life is that I'm a nurse?? ugh. I need to make something of my life....

You say inappropriate, I say entertaining

When you work in a job that involves interacting with people all day long, you realize that people are ridiculous in every way possible. Doesnt matter whether the situation is:

Annoying - like my patient who called me into her room and cried because she could hear another patient's IV pump beeping. So close your door! Or better yet, go home! We've been trying to send you home for the last week but you refuse to leave!

Appalling - like my patient who thought it'd be wise to FAKE CODE. In other words, she PRETENDED to be UNRESPONSIVE. Twice. wtf was she thinking??

Frustrating - like when patients assume you arent qualified to even set foot in their room and thus refuse to even look you if you aren't wearing a long white coat and have the letters "M.D." following your name (fyi - same patient who refuses to leave and who "fake coded." You can tell she's a peach, right? bitch.)

Disturbing - like when I wasnt able to fit the condom catheter on a patient because HE WAS HARD. GROSS. (a condom cath is exactly what it sounds like, a catheter to collect urine but it's non-invasive. you roll it on just like a condom)

Inappropriate - like when my patient was talking to the tech and the tech asked if she had any drains. Patient: "What's a drain?" Tech: "Its a hole that leaks fluid." Patient: "The only fluid leaking out of me is when it comes from a man." ....O.M.G.

Sometimes all you can do is let situations just roll off your back and laugh at the stupidity/ridiculousness of people. My job is fun, right? :-p

Happy New Year

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” --John Lennon

Where did the last year go?? I cant believe it's already 2011! Kinda sad to say goodbye to 2010. It was filled with lots of good things:

• an amazing trip to the Philippines
• a DC blizzard
  
• numerous parties hosted by Apt 32
• an epic birthday party
• countless nights out enjoying DC living
• a few Ocho shenanigans
• a job that I love
• new friends
• catching up with old friends
• DJ graduated from college
  
• my first trip to Fenway
  

But, I'm definitely looking forward to what the new year will bring! Goals for 2011:

• more Ocho time
  
• read more
• figure out if/when I'm going back to grad school
• be more active
• play on a softball team
  
• spend less time stressing/worrying, more time laughing
  

I hope everyone had a fantastic NYE and I hope 2011 brings great things!

Today

Today I worked a 14-hour day, barely had time to sit down to eat lunch, and yet again did not have time to realize that I hadn't peed all day long. (Seriously bladder, I'm sorry. Please please please dont get infected.) But today I dont care. Because today I took care of Mrs. G. Mrs. G has been on our floor for 7 weeks waiting for a liver transplant. I doubt any of you have seen what End Stage Liver Disease looks like, but its awful. 2 weeks ago we weren't even sure she'd ever make it. But today was her first day back from the ICU following a liver transplant! And she looked fantastic. Still a little slow moving, but that's expected. I didnt even care that I had to change her diaper almost every 2 hours because she hasnt regained control of her bladder yet. Seeing the color back in her face, hearing her finally able to joke around, and just seeing her in much better spirits made it SO worth it. Seeing her come out of this has been so emotional for everyone on our staff, we've been rooting for her to get a transplant for so long. I was so happy I got to be her nurse and teach her and take care of her today. So I dont care that today our secretary was extremely lazy; I dont care about how the ICU is ridiculous. Today I dont even care that I'm going to have to come back to work in 2 days and spend Christmas working at the hospital with less than adequate staffing. I dont care. Because today Mrs. G reminded me why I do what I do. Today I remembered just how much I really LOVE being a nurse.

AND, I also found out that a friend's mom who has been battling cancer for the last 6 months is now cancer free!

So, I'd say that TODAY has been a GREAT day. :)