That's ok! That's alright! Shake it off! Shake it off!

I have that song "Ruby Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs in my head and I keep substituting the chorus of "Ruby Ruby" with "Monday, Monday." I just finished my work week, meaning I worked my 3-straight 12 hour shifts and today is the beginning of my weekend. As is typical with the start of my weekend, I tend to spend a couple hours on the internet. I don't have many insights to share today, but I thought I would post an entry to my blog anyway and see where that goes. So, let's ramble on . . .


I've been at my job for just over a year now and they have started assigning me to be the lunch and break nurse. I get nervous with that role, because it is a little like a charge nurse role and I am supposed to respond to any codes in the hospital or rapid response team calls. I spend the whole day hoping one doesn't get called. Yesterday was my second time in this role and I lucked out. I think I should be looking forward to being called because once you have been through them a few times, it'll be less scary, but getting through those first few will be intense for me. It is a bit like having stage fright. You have rehearsed the show many times and studied the entire play, but you have yet to perform it as the lead character in front of a live audience. We did have a patient that started doing poorly and it became a slow motion code...first the ventilator, then all the medications, then all the labs and of course the countless calls and conversations with family members and doctors (one doctor in particular screaming at us). It was like a 12 hour shift crammed into 3 hours and in the end, they decided to discontinue all support for the patient. What happened in those three hours was so much drama, it would almost take a novella to describe it all. Someone watching me leave that night may wonder how I was able to leave with a bounce in my step.

I chalk it up to two things. 1) I know we did a great job and never lost our cool. We respected the patient and the family, allowed them in the room as much as they wanted and assured comfort and dignity for the patient. 2) My co-worker told me a cheer her daughters learned when they used to do cheerleading: "That's OK! That's alright! Shake-it off! Shake-it off!" You actually wiggle and shake your pom-poms to the "shake-it off" part. I plan on teaching it to the daughter. It really helped to picture that cheer when the doctor was screaming and the pharmacy took nearly an hour to deliver an urgent medication.



No one has expressed interest in buying my VW yet. Of course, I haven't done too much to try to sell it other than post it on a couple of free sites and put a for sale sign in the window. Maybe we won't be saying good-bye to him after all.

Someone changed the mysterious white flower with pink ones over the weekend. The daughter was a touch upset about it, because she wanted to know what happened to the white one but she was quickly over it, as she likes pink anyway. I'll try to take a picture of the new flower and post it for you.

We bought a hot tub at a home show on Labor Day weekend. It should be delivered in about a week or so. I am eagerly anticipating sitting in there after a long day at work. I could be sitting in it right now......