My nickname is kelly. I'm a 40yr old mom of two beautiful little girls, two guinea pigs and a hamster(Rocky)~ICU nurse~cancer survivor~recovering addict~ex-smoker~living
in Calgary, Alberta.....
.... or...
just another sheep searching for the meaning of life and everlasting
happiness....
bahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
When i find it i'll be sure to let you know though ;)~~~~~~~~
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Updates/Announcements
Currently i don't know if i'm going to maintain
my blog on a daily basis but i am going to blog ACC (cancer) updates - the
original reason for creating my webpage and blog. *Hugs* to my friends and i wish
anyone looking for information about cancer on behalf of themselves or friends
and family all the best on your journey. ~kelly sXe
"With happy
thoughts,
faith and trust and
a sprinkling of fairy dust"
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Saturday, February 01, 2003
Omg i've woken up with the worst pain in my left shoulder. Dunno what the hell that's about. Hell of a time to be outta tyl 3's though. Ugghhhhhhhh. Was up at 2am... couldn't sleep... went back to bed and noticed this pain in my shoulder but went back to sleep anyway. Just popped a couple ibuprofen before i remembered they were extra strength and you're only supposed to take one... oooops. Rule one of nurses... always always check the drug label (3 times) before ya give it/take it.
Jeez i just remembered one of my dreams. I was a patient in the old coronary intensive care unit opposite the ICU i used to work in. Didn't look the same in my dream of course but the girls i used to work with were all there. Dunno why cause most of them didn't work in coronary. Guess i was having a little SVT - supraventricual tachycardia... too funny... wonder where my head got that from.
We used to hate having to do a shift in the CCU if we weren't busy and the coronary nurses felt the same way about trauma. Coronary was all normal, clean looking patients with chest pain.. and trauma was all blood and sputum and ventilators and a good number of the patients were out of it. My favorite patients to look after were the unconscious orphans... ie. no dealing with patient or family complaints.... ;) ... just get your work done... man i sooooo needed to quit by the time i got pregnant... lol.
In coronary a perfectly fine looking patient could drop dead in a second freakin ya right out and in trauma we usually knew 2hrs ahead of time someone was going to crash. Coronary was all about reading ECG's... an art in itself... in trauma the only rhythm we recognized was normal sinus rhythm ( what you should have sitting at your pc) and V-tach... ya know V-tach what you see on tv... get out the paddles and zap em. Scared us to death to have to go do a shift in another unit.
Most of us were about as comfortable doin a shift in emerg as we were in coronary. I REALLY hated floating down there. At least the coronary girls knew most of us were useless in coronary but not the emerg girls. In trauma i was used to shoving my patient's ECGs under the nose of a doc and sayin "this alright?". In emerg it was more up to the nurst to let the doc know there was something wrong with the ECG.
Everyone used to assume ICU nurses were sooooo good at starting iv's... WRONG. Most of our patients had these big ass hoses sticking out their necks put in by the docs not iv's. Emerg involved a lot of IV startin. Only one nurse on our team was real good at it cause she worked oncology for years. Half the time she was the one starting all our iv's the odd time we had to have one.
Oh one thing we were pretty decent at was CPR though. That was about the only skill transferable to the real world that we frequently performed. It's amazing how hard you gotta push when you do chest compressions... and how far down you gotta go to actually compress someone's heart and be effective. None of this half a centimeter sh*t you see on tv. It's amazing anyone does CPR right with all the bull you see in movies and on tv shows.
ICU nurses.. if they haven't worked anywhere else.. are actually pretty useless all in all except in an ICU. That was me... graduated and worked ICU for 8 yrs. If you weren't hooked up to a breathing machine and a heart monitor don't come asking me to help ya. You wouldn't want me playing paramedic at the scene of an accident either or even performin a little basic first aid for that matter. If you aren't bleeding to death stick a bandaid on it and any other questions go ask your doc. ;)
Phew pain is finally gone... now i just have a sore neck from sitting here... think i might go catch a little more sleep. :) Just one more game of mahjong before i go. :P
susi
9:23 AM
"I have heard it all my life,
A voice calling a name i recognized as my own.
Sometimes it comes as a soft bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.
But always it says:
Wake up my love.
You are walking asleep.
There's no safety in that."
- -- Oriah Mountain Dreamer
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"You're an interesting species... an interesting mix.
You're capable of such
beautiful dreams...and such horrible nightmares."
- -- Contact
C A N C E R S T U F F
accoi - adenoid cystic
carcinoma organization international
