If I had the Money...

Remember my post about Nurse's Week or whatever? Well, the hospital, in appreciation of our tremendous work load, gave us a gift certificate to a thingy. It's called Institute of Health and Healing. Don't go charismatic on me, not THAT kind of healing. They offer things likes massages, facials, and the such. I finally made an appointment, like 3 months after getting it. I went yesterday. Oh. My. Word. If I had the money and time, I'd go like...as often as I could. She started with my face...my poor nose....it doesn't like to be touched. After feeling like my face was being stretched off, she moved on to my scalp. The funny thing is, I actually did my hair yesterday. It didn't make a difference. Good thing I had a hair tie with me, huh? After feeling like my various muscles and joints had been used more than ever, she did my feet. Boy, was she in for a shock. My toes are always ice cold...ask MCM...her expression was "I think they're frostbitten!" So she put some warm moist towels on them. The warm part helped, the moist part didn't. She gave me good advice though. "Don't go skiing. You'll definitely get frostbite, then!"

MCM and I decided something last night. Well, we decided a few things, but you don't need to know *ALL* the decisions...I'm going to hire a maid. Just to do the dishes and the laundry. I can keep up with everything else. Maybe the bathroom cleaning too, and the sweeping. Oh, and the cooking, and might as well the grocery shopping. Yeah, I'll do the...uh...I'll make the bed, and, uh...the blogging definitely. If I had the money, I'd do that.

Speaking of grocery shopping, it's that time again. I went to make dinner, tuna melts, last night. I opened and drained the tuna, put it in a bowl, went to get the mayo and the cheese...the following went something like this:

me: "Did you use the last of mayo the other day?"

him: "Yeah, I did."

me: "Next time could you let me know? Thanks"

him: "Can't me make it without mayo?"

me: "No. We don't have any cheese, either"

him: "Let's just have something else?"

me: "uh..."

him: "you already opened it, didn't you?"

me: "yeah."

Then I proceded to get frustrated with the mess of tupperware to put the tuna in. I couldn't find the right top in the mess....then he pulls it out of the other cabinet...because he put it there...but I won't rag on him, he unloaded the dishwasher for me...*waggles eyebrows*

I'm headed to the store. Why do we have to spend money to live?

Mornings and Cooties

Did you know how much I despise mornings and waking up? Like, always. When I was little my brothers and sisters would take great delight in getting up super early, like 5ish to play games and stuff. I was the one who liked to say in bed. I remember this one time, we, as a family, had played Monopoly one evening. About 11 or so, we called it quits. Dad would make unseemly deals with those who were going bankrupt and the game would just go on and on. My little brother, Marine, had so much fun, that he woke up super early the next morning, like 5 or so and was like, KL, let's go play Monopoly again. I was having none of that, so he got Blondie to play with him...get this, they were like 9 and 6 or something, could barely read, and had no clue what to do. They played for hours though. Thing 1 and Thing 2 liked getting up early too. They usually kept each other entertained in their room. Their favourite things to play with were 1) beanie babies, or 2) plastic bottles. Yeah, like shampoo, sprays, empties, fulls, anything plastic. Thing 2 especially liked this game. She'd group them up in families in the bathroom and play house, make them talk, walk and such. We'd frequently have to raid her room before we'd shower or bathe.

So back to early mornings...I like sleeping. MCM is a morning person. Saturdays are a conflict of interests. This morning, about 6ish, while I was still reveling in the sleep, He was awake...paying more attention to me than I wanted. I tried everything, fake sleeping, moving away, huffing, grumbling, and bartering. He was persistent. I finally got him to let me sleep until 7:15. AFTER all this he decided to go downstairs so he wouldn't wake me up. AFTER I was already up. AFTER I couldn't go back to sleep again. AFTER I started getting hungry for breakfast. Wasn't that considerate of him? I love him, so it's all good. That really only happens on Saturdays. Weird, I know. Sundays he sleeps later, at least 630 or 7.

I went to a friend's baby shower today. Here's some pics. She's about 35 weeks, having a little girl. Can you imagine all the pink?

It's kinda funny. When I was in high school, all my friends were getting boyfriends/girlfriends and going out. When I was in college, all my friends were getting engaged and married. Now that I'm *whispers* an adult (SHH!!) */whisper*, everyone's having babies and such. There's Rebecca, Devon, Susan, (someone else), a doc at work, a nurse at work, a physical therapist at work, a pharmacist at work, a dietician at work, two more nurses at work...I think it's contaigious, so I'm going to just wear a HazMat suit to work from now on. That'll protect me from baby cooties, and bodily fluids too!

Speaking of babies, Noah, who I mentioned a little while ago, is doing pretty good. I forget what I had mentioned, but here's the scoop. Before he was born, the docs were concerned about his kidneys not working right. After he was born, he was peeing pretty good, but they ultrasounded his kidneys and found out that one of them was pretty much just a mass of cells, not a kidney, and the other was trying to overcompensate for it. They took him to surgery a few days ago to remove the mass (it was 10 cm!). The biopsy came back benign, but it's a type of fast growing benign tumor, so they'll have to keep him under watch. During surgery, they found out that his diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs that helps you breathe), wasn't entirely intact. They fixed it, attaching to the back of his abdominal cavity. Currently, he kidney is working well, with no reflux (backwards flow), and he's eating well now that he's got some extra room in that tummy. I think he even got to go home today! Here's some pics from my cell phone that I took a the day after he was born.

fine I'll update

My husband decided that it was time to update my blog. So here's an update. Last week, after the 4th of July, we had a houseful of family. Honestly, it was crowded and I missed our space, but I didn't mind sacrificing it for the fun we had. We took Cynthia, our nine month old niece, to the pool one afternoon. She had this little blow up boat that she sat in for a while. After she gained a little courage, she 'swam' around in mommy's arms. This pool was a whole lot warmer than the ocean or my parent's pool that we visited.
Speaking of the ocean, we took a trip to Virginia Beach one day while Mark had to work. That was the day I braved the tunnels. We walked along the board walk and initiated Cynthia to the ocean. She did not like it that much. I wouldn't have liked it either, it was cold! I think that day was one day I could have been blind and not minded it. Oh, the people that were there and the clothes they didn't wear. I had to restrain myself from gouging out my eyes several times by reminding myself that if I did that, then there goes my job, driving, practically everything. So I spared myself and just shut them instead.
Friday, I think it was, several of us went out looking for a beach. We found one, just about 20 minutes or so away. It wasn't a tourist-type beach, but it worked for our purpose. It was the first time that the current McMillen family had been together since...ever. Mark's dad and brother-in-law were unable to make our wedding. Since this was a {inject whatever adjective you this is appropriate here} occasion, we took some family pictures. Here's a few.

just us pretty girls

Cynthia likes playing patti-cake, especially while getting her picture taken with Aunt Melinda!

Don't you just love the windblown effect?

Back row: Mark, Dad, Josh, David
Front row: Krystina, Mom, Shannon, Melinda
Lap row: Cynthia

Matt and Deanna (our Sunday school teacher and his wife) just gave birth to their second son on the 15th. They had been concerned about his kidneys not working properly while in utero, and recently, they've found some cysts on one kidney while the other kidney is dilated from working to compensate for the other. In addition to that, Noah's bili levels are high, so he's getting phototherapy treatments at a children's hospital across the water. While all that is going on, their other son, Bryce, has a fever, swollen lymph nodes, bilateral ear infections, and tonsilitis. He's also hospitalized awaiting a much needed CT scan, which he's not laying very still for (he's only three). Thankfully, both of the boys are at the same hospital, though different floors, I'd imagine. Please, keep them all in your prayers. What should be a happy celebration has turned into trials and grief. I still don't think that Bryce has been able to meet his new little brother, since he had a fever while Deanna was having Noah.

Is that a good update? I'm going to try to get over to CHKD (that's the hospital, Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters) Monday before I have to work. I have to go in from 3pm to 7pm. Visiting hours don't start till 10, but I think I can make it there before lunch and be back in time to get some house stuff done. It might be a few days before I let you know what's happened cause I'm really working this week. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. All 12's except Monday.

Links to the pictures

Here and here are the photo albums. So what if Mark got them on his facebook site first, your point is?

Found me how?

I have a confession. Several, probably, but only one comes to mind. I've been peeking on who's visiting my blog. I use stat counter, and I was playing with the links to see what they were for, and I found one that keeps track of the searches that bring you to my blog. Some of them are wacky, and some of them are funny. Here's a few:

brain inner photos
Apparently, someone is an aspiring brain surgeon....

marriage license mayhem
Nope, no mayhem, it went rather well, actually.

are meteorologists always correct
I submit that they are not!

wachovia college access account
To you who are considering opening one, please don't!!

not cut out for anything
I beg to differ! Have you asked Mark about the cooking?

krystina mcmillen
Alright, 'fess up, who's googling me??

learned from tv house m.d
Nothing realistic, unfortunately

do you peal cucumbers?
You can, if you'd like to waste your time on dumb vegetables!

water in brain swimming
Is this similar to having water in your ears?

inner brain paper
As opposed to??

brownies do aerobics
Actually, YOU are supposed to do the aerobics after you eat them.

how to get my brain working
You have to first open your eyes, and attempt to wake up. Mornings, I dislike them too.

/get my brains together and start working in icu
You wanna know why they call it the ICU? It's cause of the gowns. I've seen too many butts as people sit back down in bed, or get up from bed, or chair, or the toilet, or just walking.

right brain is overworked
Time to switch on the LEFT!

ran over the median
Yeah, no. I ran over a sign, but managed to stay on my side of the median. My sister, on the other hand, ran over a deer. Yup. With my dad's car. Yup. On Rt 3 (think of one of the busiest roads in your town). Yup. Didn't even slow down. Nope. Not the first time for the car, either. Nope. I was the first. Yup.

the innerworkings of my brain by krystina mcmillen
Now do I have a right to be paranoid? Know any bodyguards for hire??

when was the first balloon on a bottle invented with vinegar and baking soda
No clue, but I can tell about moldy food.

my headaches feels like someone is squeezing my brain a little to tightly
I bet if you asked nicely, the one who is squeezing would stop...

can i deposit a check for my mom at navy federal
Only if you hold an account with them. Same with Wachovia. And Bank Of America. And probably any other bank you can think of.

wachovia vs bank of america
I've saved this one for last. 'Twould seam that my blog is very popular for this topic.



They say medicine is the best...hang on....laughter is the best medicine. It's been a long day. We signed the lease on our new apartment. Tomorrow, my dad, Bethany, and Sarah are coming down to help us transfer our stuff. We're using a dump truck, remember? Only, the meterologists are calling for rain and thunderstorms tomorrow. Local stations say tomorrow afternoon; online stations say tomorrow night. We'll see who is right and who is dead.

What?? Have you never seen one of the best movies of all times? One 'friend' put it this way. "You don't ever want to watch the Princess Bride with the Haders. They sit there and quote it all!" I mean, I can't help it if it's been our therapy sessions while out away from civilization??

It's been a long time since Mark and I have stayed up late. But I think tonight's the night. We were wiped out from...I don't even know. We fell asleep about...6ish maybe...I slept until 730, when I realized I could catch Jeopardy! tonight. Mark slept until about 830 or later. I went in to see if I could get him up, but he was having fun with some train dream...so I let him be.

Time for food, or ginger ale, which ever is handy.

All Things Bright and Not Necessarily Beautiful

I have no excuses for why I haven't blogged in while, except I'm fickle and change my mind a lot. I didn't feel like blogging. But just in case I've got pictures. Facebook is so much more agreeable at uploading pictures. Anyways. It was Mark's birthday Tuesday. I made him a cake, chocolate, with chocolate icing. It's totally gone. It was gone yesterday. We did take to a little get-together Tuesday night with the Mallorys, they ate most of it! One of his birthday presents was a cordless drill, a DeWitt, 14.4 volts. He is so excited about it. His parents sent him a Sears gift card. My parents are just a little late.

We went to Sears last night. He was in heaven; I was in Lala Land. As I was coming home from work, he called me and was like, lets go to Sears tonight, right as soon as you get home. So we did. He got a ton of his kind of toys. He got a cotter key remover (have no clue what it was), a drill bit set, a screw driver set...and something else. He wanted this remote control car we saw, but it didn't come with the battery thing (supposedly the same one that powers Craftsman tools) and the battery alone was like 70 bucks!! That was more than that car!! So, no, we didn't get the car.

I've been working extra at work. Bring on the overtime, baby! Also, there's something called "add a shift." Basically, it's a cry for help. "We're so short on staff, we'll pay you extra to work over time." I succumbed. Bad things always happen on the days you volunteer. Always, always, always. I just realized that today. Right after shift change and report, it happened. Bad things happened. I shipped the one it happened to off to the ICU. Only uphill from there, right? Right. But all that didn't get straightened out until about...9am. So from 730 til 9, I was regretting my volunteering. But it got better, much better. I sent one of my other patient's home.

Funny story here, but first, a little background info. We have this little team in place in the hospital called Medical Response Team, or MRT. It can be used as a noun (Call an MRT), or a verb (Lets MRT her). Usually when it's a verb, it's "mert" instead of noun M-R-T. Got it? So I got this phone call from the IV therapy nurse, "What was the name of the patient that was MRT-ed, this morning, in 345?" I was only half paying attention and I heard "What was the name of that patient that was murdered, this morning, in 345?" I tell you what, my heart stopped and I thought I would never breathe again. I had to replay it in my mind and for a few seconds, all I could say was, "uuuuhhhh."

Then, a little bit later, we found out that on the other end of the tower, there was a situation needing a Code Silver, a potentially dangerous situation. I tell you what, these family members think it's fun to bring their problems to the hospital bed of their sick people. They were even going to be calling the police to come here. The staff that was down there...picture this, 4'10" Manager, Pregnant Nurse (about my size, but with a baby belly), Teeny-tiny Nurse (like a bean pole, half my size). Those three were the front guard for this family feud.

We're going out for some bonding time with Indiana Jones.

the radio's installment

This is a...what's it called...out of print? No. Like when they don't make it any more, or something like that? Yeah, that's what I meant, but I guess I totally blew that moment.

These are my tools. I should have had Mark's hands in there too, but I didn't think about it 'til now. I think they were invaluable tools. I never could have done it with him. Oh yeah, notice the dark chocolate? A very necessary necessity. When I get frustrated, I use it :)

The initial incision

Oh, I'm sorry, it's sideways. I forgot I had a few that were like that. Turn your head. Or your computer, which ever is easiest.

Whoa look at it's guts!

Good-bye old. Can you see my toenails shining? I painted them right before I went over there.

Hello new.

My wonderful husband using his muscles to crimp those nasty crimpy things.

They make a pretty good picture, dontcha think?

I took over the part of the taping, so it would be even and nice. I know it's not going to show, but just the fact that I'd see it all ugly and stuff...it drives me nuts!

Don't ask.

Beautiful, no?

I was waiting for Mark to come back and help me out, so I decided to see what it looks like in the middle of my car. Nothing to get excited about.

Remember what I said about that chocolate?

Almost finished...

All done! Doesn't it look sniffy and cool? I just forgot to plug the lighter plug back in.

I think we make a pretty good team.

What I can do, What I can't do

So much has happened since I last posted, how will I ever catch up? I don't know. I probably won't and you'll miss out on all the funny things that happened since...whenever I last posted.

This weekend, Mark and I did some car work. He worked on his air conditioning unit, and I worked on replacing my radio. No really, I did it mostly by my self. You'd be so proud of me! Working like I knew what I was doing :D I have a few pictures that I got with my cell phone. So I'll post them when I finish typing, so that blogspot can mess up my paragraphs.

I ran into a few snaggles along the way. Ok, maybe more than a few. I used Mark's electric screw driver to remove the face plate around the radio and stuff. Impressed yet? Mark had to come and rescue me. I wasn't able to get the plate off, it was snapped in place, and I was afraid to break it. Passing that hurdle, I, all by my onsie, took the radio out and disconnected it. Then I was stumped. But these things always come with some directions, right? And they'd be helpful, right?

Wrong. Now I know why guys throw the directions away. I threw them away (read, I threw them into the backseat in case I did need them after all). It came with these plastic boxes with wires sticking out connected to nothing. Weren't they supposed to connect something, rather than dangle like octopus legs?? I guess I was mistaken. I called my backup. He came riding in on his white horse with...you get the point. He said all the wires are supposed to connect to each other. What the-?!? He brought these boxes of....wire connectors?...or something. Sure, he made it look easy when he crimped the thingy on the end of the wire. I was thinking, "Oh, just like crimping beads with jewelry making, huh?"

Wrong, again. I can start IV's, I can draw blood, I can attach a 12 lead EKG to a chest, I can interpret EKG rhythms, I can't replace a radio. I'm flawed!! I couldn't crimp those things to save my life! My poor little arm muscles, they were worn out. And I had only done 2, there were like 12,549 left. And you know what else?? Not all of them had a matching wire to be connected to! I was shocked! I did about half of them before I had to surrender the crimping tools to my husband. He did the other half in about 1/16th of the time it took me to do the other half. But I couldn't figure out, where the black wire attached to. I guess that's why I'm not an electrician.

We decided to see if it worked. I turned the car on, pressed the power button...nothing. turns out, I blew a fuse playing with the bazillion wires. Imagine that. Still didn't work after we replaced the fuse. Mark worked his magic and connected it to an outside power source and that proved it did work, at least outside the car. Inside the care was another story. We were both frustrated. Neither of our projects worked. His AC was still broken, and my radio was...not. I put the old one back in (no wire connecting, this time, just snapping parts together), in hopes that it would work....

Wrong, again. We drove home, him with his uncold air conditioning, me with my silent radio. My whole life of driving flashed through my head during the 3 minute drive home from the shop. How will I be able to drive more than 10 minutes without getting bored or sleepy?? How will Mark and I take long road trips?? We'll have to...t-ta-talk.

Then, Mark had this great idea that there must be another fuse that I had blown. Great, now I'll forever be known as the wife who blew both fuses in the car, trying to change the radio. Sure enough, he found it. Yay, now my old radio works! If only we had thought of that while were still at the shop.

I do have this plan to go over to the shop later today for attempt #2. I'll still have to figure out how to get it mounted in the car...I guess I'll trip over that hurdle when I get there.

Now for pictures...I think they turned out pretty good. I'll try to remember to take some today. I don't want people gawking at me, so I'll be over there later today, about 3ish, after most everyone else is gone. So perhaps by tonight you can see my new cool sounding radio :)

Gotta run!

Things I've Learned From TV

My increasing exposure to the medical field has awoken my sarcastic attitude toward TV shows with medical stuff in them. Like, House, MD and ER. It makes me laugh, watching these shows. Let's start with ER.

1. Every single patient is seen by at least one, usually more than one, doctor within seconds of walking through the door (or riding on a stretcher through the door).
2. The doctors take a personal interest in each person's little problems.
3. The various doctors communicate with each other, at the patient's bedside.

In reality...

1. Every patient has to wait at least 30 minutes before the registration people come in to see them.
2. They don't.
3. Their communication between each other exists of a written order stating, "Change patient to Dr. So-in-So's care at 7am, and inform him of the change."

As for House, MD, I guess the title should be enough to let you know that it basically only portrays "MD's" not nurses. If there are nurses, they're the ones that come running a doc yells, "I need a nurse in here!"

1. Doctors hang IV meds, give patients pills, run lab tests, etc.
2. The doctors personally give pain medications to make them comfortable.
3. CPR/Code Blue is started by a doctor.

In reality...

1. The closest they come to giving any medications is thinking about it and writing it down.
2. We nurses have to squeeze anything stronger than Tylenol out of them like they were Ebeneezer Scrooge and we were Bob Cratchet.
   
3. They attend the Code Blue, but leave the sweaty work to nurses.

I'm not complaining about how they are, I'm just laughing at how good TV likes to make it appear. Of course, it doesn't stop me from watching House on Mondays at 9pm :) If I remember, that is.

I had plans to show the great change in our apartment. After working Thursday and Friday (twelve hours shifts), then driving after work Friday to my parents' house for the weekend, coming back Sunday in time for church, and then working again Monday and Tuesday (twelve hour shifts again), the apartment was a disaster zone. But I really didn't want to be embarrassed by physical pictures. But now, it's like...clean!

Did I mention that Mark's family is coming down? They are, the second week in July. I think they're coming from like Saturday through Sunday of the next following week. Mark's mom, dad, sister with her daughter, other sister, and brother are all coming. The only one not coming is Josh, Mark's bother-in-law, who just started a new job. Have you seen the space we have here? Granted, we'll be in the town house by then, but it's not THAT much bigger. But it'll be fun, I've taken that week off, but Mark still will be working. I guess that means I'll have to make real meals. Got any ideas for some easy yummy lunch or dinner foods?

Nurses' Appreciation Week

This past week at the Careplex was Nurses’ Appreciation Week. The mayor of the city of Hampton officially declared May 5th through May 12th of 2008 Nurses’ Appreciation Week in the city of Hampton. See, Hampton is not in a county. It is it’s own city with it’s own mayor. There’s definite line of demarcation between Hampton and Newport News. Like, our apartment complex is in Hampton, yet just a little 5 minute drive down the road, Mark’s work is in Newport News. Whatever.

Anyways, for nurses’ week, they gave us all memos about wearing white and wearing our cap from graduation. I didn’t have white scrubs, so I had to go shopping. I mean, I got to! It was a long time since I had been shopping for something I needed, rather than, let’s see what they have on sale. I tried on many white tops with white pants. Finally, I found one I liked the best. The lady at the place was trying to be helpful. She told me she had this dress (horrifying images of clinicals paraded through my head) that was short, like mid-thigh. And she was going on about spandex and shorts and tights.

You cannot imagine my relief when, in a disappointment filled voice, she said someone must have bought it already. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain to her that I wasn’t interested, but I didn’t have to. So here’s my outfit. As for my hat, I accidentally left it on the couch when I left. It was truly on accident, cause my preceptor and I were going to wear out caps together. But oh well, it’s ok.

Yeah, I dressed up for pictures. Your point is?

The infamous hat. It's kinda squished now. It got piled under a bunch of stuff, and I finally found it and rescued it Friday as we were leaving for Fredericksburg. Go to my facebook and check out the pics I got as I was trying the different combinations out.

Also, go see how cute McKenna has gotten. She's funny. She's really a...I was going to say ladies man, but that's not what I mean. She's the female version of the ladies man. She practically ran to Uncle Mark when he showed up, but just stared at me. She'll sit in his lab to watch him play computer games all day, but if I even *think* holding her, she'll whine. It's not just me, the same thing for my mom, and my sisters. Eh, it's not the end of the world.

Practically Everything From My Brain

**WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG POST**

Mark and I went to Dairy Queen for no reason. It was yummy. I got the chocolate covered strawberry sundae in a dipped waffle cone, and Mark got the peanut and fudge parfait. I have to admit, though, mine was upside down...inside out...whatever. The strawberries were on top of the chocolate. And that chocolate, I was thinking it was hot fudge (yummy delicious), but no, it was the shell stuff that gets hard and sticks in between the crevices of your molars. But, you know, it was worth it :) While we were eating our ice cream, there was this family eating their ice cream. Imagine that?! That's not the cool part. The cool part was their leaving part. They (four of them, dad, mom, big brother, and little brother) had ridden their bikes. Well, Little Brother didn't ride a bike. He got a passive ride in one of those little carts that hook up to a bike. Yeah, lucky guy. It was so cute! When I have kids, I want to be a cool parent that rides our bikes to the dairy queen during the summer. Now that I think about it, if Mark and I stay where we're moving to for a while, we'll only be just a little ride down the road from that Dairy Queen, so we can be cool parents! How exciting is that?!

On another note. I've been to the doctor more times in the past month that I can remember ever going. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but only a little bit. It's nice having insurance :) I can even get my prescriptions filled :) I'm headed to a dermatologist next week to get some moles taken off my back. They've been around ever since I can remember, but one of them is giving trouble, talking back, and not eating it's veggies, that my doctor and I agreed that it's safer to have them done away with. It's going to be an experience, I can tell you that. From my medical knowledge and my over-active imagination, any medical procedure I have done (drawing blood, getting shots, ANYTHING) leaves me cringing trying to NOT imagine what's being done.
Speaking of medical stuff, I had the fortunate-ness lucky-ness opportunity ...I was in the right place at the right time. On Thursday, one of my patients got to be on the pointy end of a spinal tap. Listen up, it's NEVER a good thing when the doctor, a neurologist, someone who's good at it, says, "This isn't going to be easy." I should have left and told him to call if he needed anything, but I didn't. Being the eager young nurse, I said...no, nevermind, I didn't say anything. The Doc initiated it. He mentioned that Mr. "My blood pressure drops from 130/80 to 60/30 when I stand up" needed a spinal tap to check for something, and captured my line of vision, then commanded me to assist it. I got sent all over the hospital, to places I didn't even know existed to find items I didn't even know had been invented. The procedure took almost 2 hours! TWO HOURS! Forget what you see on House MD and ER. Forget the quick needle in and liquid drips out. Forget what it was like to have feeling in your arms or the relief of sitting down. It would have been cool if I had been able to see it. I was standing on the opposite side of the bed holding Mr. "you know what he does"'s shoulders and knees, while all I could see was the Doc's hands disappearing from my line of sight with a HUGE needle. Three and a half inches long, he asked for it specifically. Mr. "funky BP" said the last time he had a spinal tap done was in '64 for the military. Doc said it's something you should probably only participate in every 60 years or so, anyways. Participate meaning be on the pointy end of it.

I got to feel was it was to have The Split at work on Thursday. See, normally, each nurses' rooms are in a row, right next to each other. One or two might be around the corner, but they're all with in a stone's throw of each other. The towers are set up in two horseshoe shapes, open end to open end, two U's on their sides facing each other < > . Rooms 1-12 make up one horseshoe, while 13-24 make up the other. I had rooms 22, 23, 24, 1, and 2. To have The Split means that you have two rooms on one side of the tower, and three rooms on the other side, a part of each horse shoe. To have The Split means you have two nurses' stations to check for orders, two monitors to watch cardiac rhythms on, two medicine rooms to gather each patients' meds. It means you have twice as many steps you have to take to give care to your peeps. And I had it. One a good note, I was still working my preceptor, and she was a HUGE help to me. I seriously might have pulled my hair out, thrown down my beloved stethy, and pitched a pity party for me if I had been on my own. I already mentioned Mr. "I do fun things when I stand up" to you.

Next to him was Ms. "Give me comfort care only cause I'm dying" who was so sweet, had tons of crying family visiting, and had morphine scheduled every two hours, and she peed constantly. I did have sympathy for them, I promise I wasn't a cold hearted nurse. I was just running around everywhere all the time. Bless her heart, she was struggling to breathe so badly, that we had special breathing treatments for her. You've heard of albuterol treatments? Well, she had morphine treatments. One thing morphine does, besides give you a wonderful high from pain, it opens blood vessels (which can be good and bad). By opening blood vessels, it can give you a headache, make you dizzy, AND make it easier to breathe, which was the effect we were going for with the morphine breathing treatment. If she has stopped breathing on my shift, I would have fallen apart...time to change the subject, next patient.

Next to her was my start to this fun day. About 11:30/45ish, Mrs. "I'm having a stroke and/or heart attack" called out and stated she felt weak, funny, and couldn't talk correctly. AND she was having chest pain. Her vital signs, blood sugar, EKG, everything was normal. She said she was having trouble finding the right word to say, that she was stuttering, and stuff. Her doctor didn't seem all impressed, and told us to call her cardiologist. While waiting for him to answer his page, Mrs. "I feel different" went to Mrs. "My face is drooping and feels numb". Not good. So Anna (my wonderful marvelous preceptor) and I called a "MRT" medical response team. They come to prevent code blues from being called. There are signs everywhere in the hospital to call them if our patients become different, are going south, things like that. So we did. The Doctor was still in denial about anything needing to be done, but her cardiologist said send her to the Intensive Care Unit and talk to a neurologist about it. So we did.

Across the great divide was my Empty Room. Next to that was Mr. "Independent". This was my favorite patient. He understood what I was going through. I saw him about 730-830 while I was passing medicines and doing assessments. Next time I saw him was about 4pm. Other people saw him and stuff, but I wasn't able to. When I went it there about 4pm to check on him, make sure he was still breathing and all, he was like, "I know you've been busy, I haven't seen you all day!" He asked for a razor and some shaving cream cause he wanted to shave before going home. WHAT?! Home?! Yeah, he's discharged and going home. Lovely, I had no clue at all. But he was nice about it, antsy to get out. He had this wound on his ankle, said he had it since 1989. For real. almost 20 years he's had this, what we call non-healing would. He just wanted the dressing changed before he put his socks on. When I went to do it, he said, "Honey, you're just going to let them wear you out. Let someone else help you." I assured him I was being helped out, greatly. And that I'm not always this busy, just today. He finally got all settled and left.

About, probably 12 or 1ish, either right before or right after we sent Mrs. "Stroke" to the ICU, I got a call about a patient coming to my empty room. Lovely. She was actually a very nice lady, wanted to be very informed about everything, Mrs. "And that's for...?" She, like a lot of elderly, reveled it the fact that someone was listening to her. She told me all about her life history, all the medical problems she could think of. She was being worked up for heart problems and high blood pressure issues. A total self care if I ever had one.

Remember Mrs. "Stroke" we sent to the ICU about 100? Her old room sat empty for a few hours, until they called with another patient I was going to get, Miss. "I went running yesterday and now my chest hurts when I breathe." I think she was in her room for, at the MOST, two hours. For real. She had significant family history of heart attacks, so I can't blame her for being cautious, but the ER could have kept her until they decided it was nothing serious. Two hours in a hospital room, waiting to see her doc, who sent her home after he saw her. About that same time...let's put it this way...the same ambulance people that dropped her off, went next door to take Ms. "Almost an angel" home. Seriously. They dropped my new patient off, got a page, and said where's 23, we're picking her up? It was next door. Talk about quick response!

By the time 600 rolled around, I had taken care of 6 different people (plus various family members), sent 4 people on their merry ways, only had 2 left under my care, and hadn't charted a thing since 12! People wonder why nurses age fast...but I am thankful for computer charting!

I got home, Mark had ordered pizza for dinner. We ate pizza for dinner, attempted to watch "I am Legend" but I had to turn it off so I could sleep somewhat peacefully. I didn't though :( I woke up with a horrible migraine and took up residency on the couch after taking a shower. My mom told me that waht she does is puts on a familiar movie then falls asleep. The familiar movie makes it easy to fall asleep, and you don't have to work your brain to follow the plot. It worked out all fine and dandy, except for the light coming from the TV part. It was awful, I couldn't get my eyes shut tight enough. Then I had this great idea. I took my pj pants and wrapped them like a bandanna around my eyes. Perfect! I could still hear, but I didn't have to squeeze my eyes shut. Oh, also while I was at the doctor today, I was able to convince her to write me a script for my migraine meds :) and I have insurance to pay for them!

So, I should be tired from my midnight jaunt, and from getting up early (800, I just couldn't sleep any more), but I'm not. I haven't even had any caffeine or anything today! Mark's tired though, poor baby. He's already taken a 20 minute nap this evening. Now, he's put down his Halo controller and is asleep again. I hate waking him up to go to bed. I feel so evil. So, I'm going to put on a movie to keep me from writing another super long blog. I just have so much to tell you all! I guess this is why I'm not a big talker. When you talk, you only get one chance. There's no delete or rewording the sentence if you don't like it. There's also no spelling to worry about, but that's besides the point. While I'm writing, I can pause for breaks during words to rethink how I want to say it. But while talking, people look at you funny if you even think about breathing during sentences.

I really am going now.

Dumb Trucks and Smart Apartments

Guess what?!

I rode in a dumb dump truck today, for the first time! I thought we were going to run in to a few things, miss a few turns, or take out a few cars as we were going down the roads. And it was noisy as all get out. We had to yell to hear each other. But it was an experience that everyone should have, given the opportunity!

It was my day off, and Mark invited me to go along with him as he returned a mower to another apartment complex. This apartment complex, and another one across town are owned by Mark's boss and his sister-in-law, and probably various other family members. Anyways, over the way, they have townhouses as well as apartments. A townhouse over there just became available. Mark talked to his boss about us moving in to one of the town houses.

Well, today, as Mark was returning their mower that had been broken for weeks, so I came along to look at the townhouse with him. Speaking of the mower, Mark just found out later today that it broke down again! Of all the--!! Mark's not too happy about that, and Tiny and Rob (his son), but especially Tiny, don't like spending money.

In addition the the pictures of townhouse, I took a picture of one of their old trucks, the auger truck. All of their big equipment trucks are at least, at least 20-30 years old, if not more. I'm not exaggerating, I promise. They'd rather keep fixing up the old trucks than buy one with new fangled equipment.

By the way, why are they all called aPARTments if they're all stuck together? Shouldn't they be called notapartments, or something? How about astucktogetherments? Whatever. Let me upload the pictures and make some witty comments on them before Mark comes back home to whisk me away to church.

The auger truck, notice the drill? That lovely color is officially known
as "Mallory Green." They paint most of their vehicles that color

This the dump truck. I guess they haven't gotten around to painting it yet.

Mark feels at home behind the big trucks

The best pictures of the bunch!

I don't know if you can read it, but on the door it says 163. No longer will we be Apt S-6, but we'll be 163 Dame Court, like a real address! Imagine that!

Right, see, 163

The kitchen is about the same size as the one here. They're still
working on getting things cleaned up and ready for live-in.

This our 'back porch.' We have a spot for a grill! Mark is the most excited
about this, I think. He's like, now we can have friends over and grill out!

Dining room with Mark scurrying to open a door to
hide behind so he doesn't get caught on...computer

Down stairs half bath with light reading material
in case the workers need to use the facilities.

One upstairs bedroom, this one has one closet.

The upstairs bathroom is practically identical to the one here

I think I have this picture twice. But that's ok, I like this view of Mark :)

This upstairs bedroom has TWO closets! I think that makes
this one the master bedroom. I need the room for clothes!!

The linen closet upstairs. Seriously, I think when they drew the plans for these places, they filled in any blank spots with closets. "Oh this room can't quite meet this room, let's make another closet! Oh there's stairs right here, let's make another closet!" I tell you what, but I'm not complaining, I like closet space. Makes it seem like you have less junk than you actually do!

These stairs have some cheap vinyl something on them. Anyone know where I can get some stair carpet runner or something? It'd help cut down on the noise too, so there's not a loud elephant going up and down the stairs at the same time one of us does.

Mark again, running...I think he does this on purpose, what'd you think?

Finally, my favorite picture. The view from our front door. Aren't the petals beautiful? Anyways, the leasing office over there said that they can have it ready to move in June 20th. Anyone want to come help us move? I bet we could use both for sleeping arraingements