Days off are awesome!!

Well, the work weekend went great. Unfortunately, my patient that was barely hanging in there passed away the day before I went to work this weekend. I was pretty upset; I have had the same med cart for almost 8 months so I have gotten quite attached to my Residents. We still are planning on changing halls when I return on the first of the month; so that is bringing a lot a nervousness to all of us. We have to learn all the patients all over again and earn their trust. But, we love what we do, which is a rare find in my profession, so life will go on.
Soccer practice went good on Monday, the baby actually practiced for a change. The other kids did well. My youngest grand child is trying to learn to crawl so that is exciting at home. Also of note on my personal stuff is that Scrub's Magazine has accepted my writing to publish!! I am super excited about this. As of right now it is only a Top Ten list; but it is a foot in the door for me and I am ecstatic!!! I can't wait to see my stuff in print!
Well, supper time does not wait for my children, so I will catch you up later on how things are going! Have a great week, I know I plan to!

let the weekend (at work) begin

The weekend has begun! There is some joy to be found working nights on the weekend. Shall we count the ways? 1. No worries about State coming in for a few days, 2. Fewer chiefs running around, 3. Family members come to visit so happier patients equals happier nurses.4. No Drs making rounds so fewer orders to note. Starting to get my drift? No one likes to work the weekend but we might as well make the most out of it!
So I am nervous about next week. The D.O.Ns have decided it would be in the best interest of the patients to swap halls every 3 months. So all my patients I have worked so hard these last 8 months earning trust and establishing rapport with will get a new nurse and the process will start all over again. I did come up with the idea to write down my patients likes and dislikes, as well as things as simple as who wants a straw and who doesn't. Hopefully this will be reciprocated by the nurse whose hall I will be taking over. Since this is for the best interest of the Residents, then I think instead of complaining how much we dont like the idea should turn into helping make the transition as painless as possible for all involved. And who doesn't like being looked at like Super Nurse because we already can anticipate the patients needs and preferences?
Well, I will give the update on that as it happens. Hope you have a great weekend too!

Time to catch up a little

Well, let's see if I can catch up from last week's post. I had an absolutely wonderful weekend off from work sitting at home doing, well, nothing. It is hard to do much more than relax with all these kids at home. Let's see; there is the 22-year old that moved back home with her hubby and 2 kids; then there is the 16-year old boy who doesn't like me to even tag him in photos on Facebook anymore. And we can't forget the 13-year old that is actually staying out of trouble so far this school year. Then comes the 11 year old and the 8-year old twins that have just started soccer this week twice a week. Which brings us the 3-year old a.k.a. The Spawn of Satan lol! He thinks he is ruler of the domain around here; and with two parents that work the night shift and his oldest sister babysitting during the day, his title is well earned. Did I mention all but the oldest are boys? No cheerleading and gymnastics for this soccer mom!
Well, now that we are caught up on home life, I will try to catch you up with work now. Monday brought me back to reality with my two sick patients that are in the same room. One is still hanging in there; only Lord knows how; and the other is doing her best to die first. Don't think older people don't have ways to be jealous of each other because they do! I got to train the new nurse the other night. That was interesting to say the least. As all LPN's know, we all have to find our own groove so to speak when it comes to doing our Med Pass; and I happen to be one of those nurses with OCD, so I kept catching him making faces behind my back. So hope me if we hadn't gone to nursing school together he would have caught hell from me! I don't think I have a severe case of OCD when it comes to work; I just happen to think there are two ways to do Med Pass--my way and the wrong way! So as you can imagine; he didn't fare too well following me. We did have our monthly mandatory meeting that I thought was last week. (I made it!) We had guest speakers talking about TB and Hep B. Fascinating, I know. Well, it is time for the weekend of work to start, so I will catch up with the details later.
Have a great one!

The joys of night shift

Just woke up and had a panic attack over “OMG! I forgot the mandatory monthly meeting again!” I had to call my best girl, A. , and get reassurance it is next Wednesday! However; we are having a mandantory meeting tomorrow over the insurance that I don’t have and don’t want. What fun!

Night nursing for LPN's: LPN's need a blog too!

Night nursing for LPN's: LPN's need a blog too!: "Hello fellow LPN’s! I have searched the web over and have not found many blogs from LPN’s; they are always from the RN’s! We are nurses to..."

LPN's need a blog too!

Hello fellow LPN’s! I have searched the web over and have not found many blogs from LPN’s; they are always from the RN’s! We are nurses too! And believe me; we work hard and worked hard in school to earn our degree as well; so I felt we needed a real blog that we could use to vent, brag, share stories (without any HIPAA violations of course) and thought “Why not me?”
So here I am, very lost of course, but here nonetheless. I hope to update as often as I can on fascinating aspects of being an LPN!