Tales from the ER...

Just a quick one here....

My patient last night tried to kill himself. (And don't get all outraged, I'm not making fun of people who try to commit suicide, only those who are bad at it! Ok, ok, that's not funny either! Sorry!) Anyway he tried to hang himself. He said that he is on narcotic pain meds for chronic back pain, but that they are weaning him off the meds. So he usually takes one half of a pill every day. Well last night he wanted another half pill, but since his wife wouldn't give it to him he decided to hang himself. He went out to the garage, climbed up on the counter, and put an electrical cord around his neck. He tied the cord to a pipe running over head and jumped off the counter. The problem? He's 6' 7'' and the cord was too long. So the police arrived and he was just standing there, with the cord around his neck. The police cut the cord, but he started fighting with them, so they tazed him.
Then they brought him into the ER. After the police left him there, he became aggressive and started yelling and swinging at people. So we tied him down, and then we gave him meds to sedate him.
So, he failed at trying to kill himself, got tazed, got tied to the bed, and got a catheter. And still didn't get his other half of the pain pill! And you thought you had a bad day!

Flashback Friday

So with all the hubub about immigration, and what's constitutional, I thought I'd post a flashback pic from my first trip to DC. Unfortunately, the only pic from that trip that I have scanned is not a great one, but I'm gonna post it anyway. So it's me and a cute Air Force boy on the steps of the capital building. It was August 1999. We did a trip to NYC, DC, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and we did it all in 7 days. We did not get much sleep! So on this night we went to the capital building to watch the Air Force band give a concert. After the concert we were just hanging out on the lawn and we saw fireflies! It was the first time I had seen fireflies. So Mom taught us how to smack them so they would keep glowing. We were catching fireflies on the front lawn of the capital building, it was a surreal moment. Anyway, I'll try to scan some more pics from that trip, it really was an awesome vacation!

Ladies....

I had an epiphany last night at work. Ok, maybe epiphany is too big of a word, but I did realize something important. I was chatting with another nurse and she started telling me all about this patient she had earlier today. She was telling me how he was playing with himself, but the language she used was very crude and graphic. This nurse is older and married, and I thought what happened to the times when these things weren't discussed in front of unmarried women. I realize that in the profession that I am in, we deal with bodies, and bodily functions and sometimes seeing people naked is part of that. But do we really need to discuss it outside of the medical aspects? It was really kind of offensive to me.
Later that night I got a patient, a young girl, who was just arrested for drunk driving. She was brought in by the police because she had wrecked her car. As the police were drawing her blood to check her blood alcohol level she launched into a profanity laced tirade. Now, these officers were being very nice to her, and were intending to just issue her a ticket and let her go, but when she started screaming at them, and calling them every nasty name in the book, they decided to take her in. I wish she could have seen herself, and the look on her face, as the filthiness spewed from her mouth. And again I thought, what happened to the days when men wouldn't even use those words in the presence of ladies, let alone the thought of ladies using them. 
And then I realized that I too had used those words, not frequently, but I have been known to bust out a 4 letter word once in a while. And then I realized that we women are not acting like ladies any more. And then I decided that I am going back to being a lady. When someone starts discussing inappropriate things with me, I will take a stance, I will say that I find that offensive or inappropriate and walk away. When someone starts spouting the bad words, I will remind them that there are ladies present and we don't talk like that in front of ladies. I will watch myself to make sure that I don't behave in un-ladylike ways.
This doesn't mean that I will be a pushover. Quite the opposite really. I will take a stand for what I believe in, and I will act in accordance with those beliefs. Hold me accountable, if you hear a profane word from my mouth, let me know. If I say something that you think is inappropriate for a lady to say, let me know. And I will do the same for you.
Girls, I urge you to act like ladies. Let's do this, and let's change the world while were at it. One lady at a time.

Flashback Friday

Yes I know I missed last week, but ohwell.
So this week I was talking with one of the girls I work with about ear candling. She had heard about it and wondered what it was like. I had completely forgotten about doing this. My cousins live in Arizona and several years ago when we were there visiting my cousin's wife mentioned doing this. She had some of the candles and I wanted to try it so I did. It feels weird, like a tickle in your ear. I didn't notice if they were any cleaner or notice any difference in hearing or anything afterwards, but there was a bunch of junk on the plate. Although that could have just been ash from the candle. Anyway here is a pic of me getting my ear "candled."

She's really on the move now...

Got this video last night...


and this one today...


Love my baby girl. Jay said she's all over the place these days. She loves to play hide and seek, she hides behind stuff and waits until you say "where's Chloe" before she pops out. She is smiling and playing all the time. Love her so much!

100!

That last post was my 100th blog! Yay me!

Happy Birthday Ryder

We went up to northern CA this weekend to visit my aunt and uncle and my cousin, whose little boy was celebrating his first birthday.