Thank God Almighty, She's Alive!

I hope everyone has had a good weekend. Mine has been fabulous thanks. I've done a lot of relaxing....no school work! Not that I don't have any, I just don't want to do it. Ha! I'm such a good example. Speaking of good examples...I ended up making an 88% (B)on my Renal/Male Reproductive test Friday. WOOT! I missed 6 out of 51. Just like everytime, I was shocked. I actually thought the test was easy. Easier than I anticipated anyway. There was so much that wasn't on there and that bugged me because we spent so much of our time talking about certain things and it wasn't even mentioned. ARG! I don't know why she does that. I think she has about 100 books sitting around that say..."The nursing test questions and answers they'll never get right." LOL It just seemes like these questions are made for geniuises sometimes. Not that I'm implying I am one, because I'm certainly not, but many people have failed her tests over and over and there has to be a reason for this. Especially since they've always done really well in other semesters. I can't put a finger on why I'm passing, as I said it's always a surprise to me that I am. I think I'm just a good narrower. I can narrow most answers down pretty well. I didn't study until the last minute. I'm usually way too nervous to do a thing like that, but this time I just didn't care. That is until 2 days before and I was freaking out. I really shouldn't complain about the test considering I passed, but I just can't help but wonder why she chooses some of the questions she does. Bizarre. If I could remember any of them I would post them and give you and example. Fortunately I don't remember a one after the test is over and they don't give you oppportunity to remember them either. It's all top secret shizz ya know? Straight up confidential, you'll be lucky if you ever see those questions again, even for review sort of stuff. They're afraid we'll tell the semester behind us or something....as if! I worked my arse off and they should too. I'm not giving anything away. LOL I still think they should let us see our tests...I mean, how else will we learn what we did wrong? Anyway...

Clinical was pretty exciting last Thursday. My partner and I shared 3 pt's. One was a 68 y/o diabetic who had all of his toes amputated, he also tested positive for MRSA, he had a hx of coronary artery disease, MI (heart attack), CVA (stroke),he had right side hemiparesis (paralysis), he was blind in his left eye and deaf in his right ear. Needless to say I expected the worse when I went in. When I walked in his room there he sat devouring his breakfast with his good hand and laughing heartily with a friend. What a refreshing sight. Yes, he was in one of the worse ways one could be in, but you couldn't tell it. The man still had his sense of humor and a good spirit. Bless his heart. Never once did he complain or ask me for help. He was as independant as his frail body would allow him to be. I just loved him, not to mention he was as cute as a button. Reminded me of my grandpa. If I'd had the time I would have sat and talked to him for hours. Our other patient was another story. He was a 40 y/o that was admitted for acute abdominal pain. Tests revealed no obstruction and no cardio problems. He had a hx of alcohol and drug abuse, but stated he'd been clean for 2 years. When I walked in the room he was pacing the flooring moaning and groaning. He had just had a morphine injection IM an hour prior and stated it did nothing for the pain. The way he was acting got me a little worried. His HR was 61 and BP and resp were normal. Hmm...interesting. Wonder what was wrong with him. I tried everything, deep breathing, more pain meds, ambulating (which he claimed did actually work) of course it did....don't you know I know everything :-) I believe he had some severe gas pain. I don't know if any of you had ever had really bad gas, but when it's trapped under your ribs it's hurts terribly and there's not a lot you can do about it but hope it moves. That's why I suggested walking around. I put in a Dulcolax suppository and he still hadn't went #2 by the time I left...8 hours later. Time for the noon vitals and my partner asked me to take his BP because the automatic machine wouldn't read it. So I did it the old fashioned way and I kept inflating the cuff and went all the way to 290 to get the diastolic pressure! His systole was 154! What the.... By this time he was laying in bed as quiet as lamb having cold sweats....this isn't good! I went and grabbed the nurse and told her what I got so she double checked...same. We called his DR stat. I was afraid he'd stroke out on me. He'd just had a shot of Morphine 1 hour prior. Normally pain meds will bring your pressure down. I wish I had an end to this story to give you, but unfortunately we left before his doc got there so I don't know what happened to him. All night I layed in bed wondering if it was something I did, what did I miss, did I assess everything? He took up most of my time that day so I was always with him and don't think I missed anything. It still bugs me why his pressure would get so high so fast. THe only thing I gave him all days was Morphine injections which was q 3 hrs prn as prescribed and I gave him a suppository. Oh well, I hope he's ok. It's out of my hands now.
Our last pt was a 70 y/o woman who'd been in the hospital for about a month. She was in acute renal failure and had coded about 4 times since she's been admitted. She was a full code so I was really hoping she wouldn't decide to code on me that day. Her last code required emergency surgery. She had a perforated bowel and it caused her to have sepsis. Her incision looked horribly infected. Yellow pus and blood galore. We cleaned it as best we could but it was badly dehisced sp?(open). I wonder why the doc left it partially open like that....I believe it had internal stiches but the external ones came apart. Ick. She also had an illeostomy. I had to let me trusty partner empty it. There is just something about draining poo out of a bag that bothers me terribly. I'm not a gagger, but I became one that day. Not in front of the pt of course. ;-) Thank goodness she never coded and all was well.
One of my buds had a weird case. Her pt was a 20ish woman who was beat up by two chicks at a bar...over some guy I believe. Pffftt! Anyway, she was beat up pretty badly. She had a chest tube and all. So her man, I'm sure he's the winner they were fighting over, stayed the night with her the night she was admitted. They ended up getting into a fight in the hospital and he beat her up too! I guess he thought her first beating wasn't good enough. He wanted to finish the job. He hit her in the ear a couple of times with his fist causing her to bleed from her head and he gave her a couple of good blows near her chest tube. What an awesome guy. I'd sure fight for him if I were her. Geesh. Any man that would hit me right in my collapsed lung deserves my time. I mean...that's love right? All hearts and flowers in my book. Asshole. Needless to say he was escorted off the property and told not to ever come back. I hope she takes this as a hint...he isn't good for you sister. Let the skanky bar chicks have him. Maybe he can hit them and show them just how much of a great guy he is too! The story ended up being on the radio the next morning. I'm sorry, I just get carried away....I hate any man that would abuse a woman, or anyone else for that matter. Makes me crazy.

Ok Grey's Anatomy.....Merideth is alive! That episode was really good. I felt so bad for McDreamy, he was having war within himself over her. I never even thought Mer would try to kill herself until he suggested it. When he walked in and started to tell her Mom it was all her fault I was glad. That lady made her life miserable. She played crazy well huh? Demanding and controlling old bat. LOL The after life scenes were a little weird....why did that girl keep bleeing? Was it because she hadn't moved on to the light yet? I couldn't figure it out. I loved seeing Denny again, but I thought he'd say more about Izzy, but what he did say was enough. I loved when he 'felt' her presence. His expression spoke volumes. I hope he's moved onto the light, if he already hasn't. Merideth's perfromance was top notch in this episode. I cried for her and when she finally said ouch I cried with relief she wasn't brain dead. Which I don't see how that's medically possibly after being dead for like EVER. That's tv for ya. She seemed so desperate and raw and real...I loved it. When she saw her mom.....Oh my goodness! That was incredible...for a second I thought she'd get her mom's organs or something lol. I'm just glad she finally told her she wasn't ordinary, maybe now she can get on with her life. Cristina was so good in this epi too. When she went shopping at the 99 cent store I thought she'd lost her mind then she showed up... I think that her presence helped Merideth come back. When Callie confronted Izzy was uncomfortable, but I think Izzy needed to hear it. Whether George really loves Callie or not, it's not Izzy's business now. Callie is a strong level headed woman. All she can do is offer for Izzy's friendship, Iz is being selfish right now. I liked the episode overall....was that the finale? Anyway, if I think of anything else I'll post it soon. I'm ready to watch the Oscars tonight. Sorry about the typos...I'm sure there's a ton.
Peace...

Oh yeah...I wanted to mention I have 3 more tests, a final exam, 2 clinicals on the med surg floor, 4 clinicals at the psych hospital and I'll be done for the semester. That's not a lot to accomplish in about 8 more weeks is it? Oh yes, and I also have all kinds of tests and homework in Mico to do. I sometimes forget I even have that class. LOL One day at a time sweet Jesus.