Sunday, November 29, 2015

Oh the yummiest cookies

I wanted to get this down because goodness they are yummy - they're like a cross between a cookie and a cake - especially when done correctly. My SILs mom makes THE best ones - they're sooooo soft and have such a high anise flavor (yummy! IMO).

Genetti cookies:

1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup white sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons anise extract or anise flavouring
3 cups all purpose flour

Method

Beat eggs with oil and sugar 5 minutes
Combine the milk and anise flavour
Combine the flour and salt and baking powder
Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients
Make a soft, very soft dough - soft but not sticky. If you add too much flour they will be dry
Roll pieces of dough into finger lengths and widths and shape into a figure 8
Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet
Bake 350 for 8-10 minutes, just until bottoms are slightly golden. Tops should have no colour
Frost with a glaze of icing powder, anise flavour and a drop of milk.

Will be doing these with little tyke soon and hopefully they turn out like my SILs mom's! Mmmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about them.

Getting prescriptions filled

I went to get my prescription filled today - I went to the store and was told it would take 20 min....

So I went to the grocery department and grabbed some green beans (yummy for dinner!) and some mushrooms (good for breakfast and to go in pasta tomorrow) then went over to the meat counter area and found the hot dogs (chicken.... yes I know that some ppl find them gross but my daughter LOVES them and they're certainly healthier than the pork ones!) and travelled across to see what the discount section had (peasly selection - I found sangria that was alcohol-less to try) & bought a carton of OJ (good with breakfast!) then went up to the cashes to buy my things, paid for it and then went out to the car to drop them off - came back in and went back to the pharmacy and when I stopped to stay in line I felt EXHAUSTED (just like before)..... geeze all I did was a bit of walking and I feel terrible! Go figure that a simple walk wear me out.

Unfortunately, I'm told that the prescription isn't ready (it was being held up by the narcotic on the prescription) so I went up and down their isles looking for Nix (b/c little tyke caught head lice while I was hospitalized b/c my MIL wasn't taking care of little tyke and doing her hair - making sure her hair wouldn't be penetrated by those little nasty bastards) and went down at least 7 isles before I realized it may just be behind the counter (it was btw) but grabbed some Vicks vapo rub and some hair elastics (on clearance! - yay - LOVE clearance) and went over to the counter to check out the Nix products - buying a couple things cuz I want to be thorough and get rid of them ASAP!!! Then waited til it was my turn - and directly in front of me was toothbrushes on clearance (again - yay for clearance!) so I grabbed that cuz I know hubby and I need to swap out the ones we have in our bathroom. Waited another 5 min and they finally had it (thank goodness - I think it actually took me 45 min to get the damn prescription filled) and was able to leave after going and grabbing a bag of ice and making my way back out to the care and coming home. I was pooched!

In regards to school - I sent off emails to the profs to give extensions on the work - hopefully I hear tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be putting my nose to the grind and trying to get some of the assignments completed. Oh, did I tell you - one of my profs actually "advised" me that I should take a "medical withdrawl" from the course - as in..... withdraw from the course (due to medical reasons so you don't get penalized grade-wise) and do EVERYTHING all over again...... dude - I'm like 80% done these courses - actually, I think in my elective I'm actually 90% done! Hells no I'm withdrawing from ANY courses.... according to the school policy (according the the school), I should be granted MINIMUM 4 weeks extension on my stuff so at least I can provide some push back if it's required.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Finally home, now what do I do?

My doc swings by today super late in the afternoon (as I'm biting at the bit) and asks how I'm feeling.

All I wanted was for him to send me home. He seemed apprehensive to do so because Thurs I got another severe headache that didn't want to go away... I think I had it for like 18 hrs - yep it sucked.

I can absolutely see why he didn't want me to leave considering the day I was supposed to be discharged I get another severe headache that causes me to postpone things.

Being a nurse in a hospital - especially the one that you work in - and being a patient there means that anytime that you spend there causes it to feel exponentially longer. I was there 17 days and honestly, it felt like it was 5 weeks long.

So now what do I do now that I'm not in the hospital...

I start the new job Dec. 7th and that means 12 hr shifts. Dude, I could barely make it from my room, to the elevator, then another approx. 5 min med paced walk to the cafeteria to buy soup and then repeat this again. Once I got back to my room I felt so incredibly ill - just absolutely over-run. I felt like I weighed a ton and it felt like my heart was racing and that I was just panting away. Rested for about 10 min and when the nurse took my VS they were normal (except for some mild tachycardia). After about an hour of resting I felt like myself again. So if I can't even cope walking to the cafeteria, how the HELL will I handle a 12 NURSING shift?!

I suppose I have to try to rest but also try to recondition myself to be able to handle being a nurse again - in just over a week's time! Wish me luck!!!!

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Developing metabolic acidosis

So I've been admitted for almost 2 weeks and it's getting a bit old. I guess that means that I'm getting better with the fact that I'm sick and tired about being in the hospital. I even asked the Dr if I could have a pass to go on a dinner & movie date and then come back.... I was put in my place and told no.

Thing being is that blood work this am showed me developing metabolic acidosis due to the new med - so Doc lowered my med..... the one thats supposed to be lowering my production of CSF and thus decrease my severe headaches/migraines. So ya - decrease dose = increased headache.... at least that's what I figure.

SO although I realize that I need to be here because of the adverse effects that I keep experiencing, I miss home - I miss little tyke. She colored me a couple of pictures and sent them in with hubby today.

On the school front - I was told by my teacher that she thinks it would be prudent to take a medical withdrawl from the course.... dude I'm already 80% done my courses - I'm not friggin doing this work all over again! PLUS that will put my graduation behind ANOTHER 5-6 months. Now if you've been reading this blog you will know that this has happened before where I've lost my course and been put back - I was SUPPOSED to graduate more than a year ago! Plus, when I had the head stuff go on the last time, they wanted me to do the same thing then - I was able to pull my shit together and make it work, so I don't see why I wouldn't be able to do it again.

Wonder what the blood work will show this morning?!

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Idiopathic cerebral hypertension/benign intracranial hypertension

So that's my diagnosis. Reason for it...... because I'm fat! Ha, as if I didn't already know that! It's something that I want to deal with and haven't been able to because exercising is a feat in and of itself because of the rectal fistula. When I try to exercise = sweating = increased infection rate.

So when I saw my surgeon the last time I asked about gastric bypass and was told that I wasn't fat ENOUGH! Geeze. I was told that I would be if I had secondary conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac or renal disease.... so I was excluded. So I wonder if having hypertension in your head counts?!

I had the LP done yesterday and it showed that my opening pressure was 28 => less than the 36 it was before but more than it certainly should be (normal = 10-20). It was weird having it done under fluroscopy because they do it in the supine position and then once close to/in position then they turn you to the lateral position to obtain the opening pressure and take the samples. They also took off some CSF (I was told between 35 & 40).

I instantly felt some relief from the fluid being removed which I was thankful for. Unfortunately it didn't help the hazy vision issues.

Because we now know the diagnosis, I was restarted on the med that caused my sodium to drop the last time I was on it so I'm in the hospital still to ensure that we monitor it. Well I had my blood work done today and while my sodium was fine my CO2 (I think that's the one that the Dr said was abnormal) wasn't and had dropped from 25 to 21 (normal 23-29) so while it's not in the danger range it''s stil something that we have to watch. I was told that the reason for the drop is that my kidneys coould be having difficulty coping with the medication and that if  it dropped any more then I may have to stop the medication. Don't quite know the repercussions of that one. Also, I dont know if ppl feel any different when they first start this medication but I certainly haven't.

This morning I woke up because of a nasty headache. Ugh. Then the dilaudid didn't even help and required toradol above that. Together they seemed to take away the brunt of it and I was able to go back to sleep. Today has been rough when it comes to headaches.

I also went to the opthamology appointment and had them check my eyes and then they dilated them. Oh boy was that interesting. Geeze were things blurry! But I was told that my eyes look healthy so we still have no real reason for the continueed bluriness. The Dr wants me to have a follow up appointment with an opthamologist but don't know with whom. Also - he said that if I lose just 5% of my weight that things will be drastically different - ya we'll see!

So ya, I feel so great about myself. Yes I know I'm fat. Thank you for throwing that fact in my face time and time again.



Thursday, November 19, 2015

7 days in and still no real answers

SO if you've actually been reading this blog (thank you!) you'll notice that there's been a drop in my posts even though there's things been going on in the life of Nurse Dee.

Well it all started last week (we'll say monday for shits and giggles) and I had a headache, decreased appetite and nausea (no vomitting) and been monday and wednesday I had a fever off and on - it seemed that when I had the nausea really bad that I also had the fever. The highest it got was 38.4 C/101.2 F. The other temps were <38.0 so I didn't go to the hospital. Figured I could just get over "whatever" this was.

So thursday rolls around and my husband gets fed up with me saying that I'm not feeing well and tellls me that I either need to put up or shut up.... in other words - go see a Dr or stop complaining!

So I grabbed some stuff and off we went to the hospital - no temp at the hospital but because I had had a high one the night before I was considered a SIRS alert and was seeen a bit quicker.

About 6hrs later I finally see someone - the nurse practitioner - now I'm ok with them - I know that often they will know just as much or more than regular docs but this one seemed real unsure about what to do with my symptomolgy. She calls in the MD and he makes the decision to do blood work and a CT - those come back clear and I wait some more.

When I see the Dr again he decides he wants to do a LP (lumbar puncture) which I thought would be valid given my symptoms - my neck was stiff and my vision turned hazy that day which is actually why I agreed to go in.

Anyways - he also has a call in to the neurologist (one I actually know and converse with on my unit) and he comes in JUST as he's (the ER doc) creating his sterile field and said he wants to ask some questions and proceeds to. I think he got 3 questions in when I told him I needed an emesis basin in case and I think he asked another question and a wave of nausea hit me and of course I reacted - trying to keep the stuff down - and he thought I was just being emotional about the question! Hahahaha. So I think he asked about 2 more questions and I answered by vomiting.... he was so astonished! Oh to just picture his face! He said "yep, I think that's about enough, we may want to reconsider doing the LP in her condition" Hahahahaha

They gave me some Zofran and 20 min later we did the LP - not simple and certainly painful! But we got the fluid.

Before doing it though I made sure to have him check my opening pressure (see I am learning things from school!) and that that's really important! So when he opened the first kit and it didn't have it he ensured that he found one that did.

Well good thing I pushed for that because my opening pressure was 36!!!!!!!!!!!! High normal is 20 so it's no wonder I was in soo much pain. And let me tell u pain.... after the hour of being supine/lateral, I got up to go pee - OMG the pain..... it was searing from the LP injection to my neck like someone was stabbing me or something. I could no longer look left/right or put my chin to my chest without excruciating pain - I couldn't lay flat with my legs down - when they had me do that I was in tears!

So they admitted me. They said the fluid looked clear and the results of the LP came back clear so we didn't know what was going on. Then we did a MRI/MVA where we look at the veins and artieries and such of the brain to see if there's somthing going on there. Nope - that pretty much came back clear - the neurologist said that I had a slight compression of some area that is often associated with a condition called iopathic cerebral HTN.... but he didn't see me til the Saturday and in his notes indicated that he wanted a therapeutic LP done on me to drain 40cc of fluid!!! That seems like an awful lot! The MRP refused, indicating that he wasn't confortable taking that much, neither was the anesthesia consult MD because if u take off too much,u could cause herniation and thus death unless dealt with immediately.

Now, my hospital might be huge but we do no have neurosurgery on stand-by! So if I did herniate then I would die or have severe deficits - just what I always wanted!!!

So today finally came when the same neurologist was back in house and he came to see about doing the LP - said the risk of herniation is about 1% and risk of low CSF is 5%, so I consented.

The fellow that he has on service with him is also an anasthesiologist by trade and said that she would do the tap.... and didn't bother numbing me at all!!!! Said that it can "screw up/shift the anatomy" and make it more difficult to get into the space. I think it was utter bullshit but who am I to say?!

So now they want this tap done under x-ray/fluroscopy/CT/MRI - whatever the hell it is! And who knows when that will be!

I just told my MRP (because we've known each other for 4+ yrs now) that I think it would be better to just go to the hospital that specializes in this sort of thing.... tomorrow we will see. I didn't see him tonight before he went off.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Here I sit waiting

I thought perhaps that I would have had an email when I got up in the morning.

Alas, nothing.

So I don't know how to decide between one position or the other if I don't have all the answers.

So I put out an email to the recruiter to find out about information that I require.

Hopefully I'll know more tomorrow.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

I thought my previous problem was a problem, now it's a real conundrum

Today I had an interview for the position that was offered to me when I applied to another position - at a different hospital.

So I showed up at the wrong hospital and when I realized it I ended up at the place late. I covered it well because the location was locked up tight and when they called me to ask if I was actually showing up I played it off that I had been circling the building trying to get in and that's why I was late. Thankfully another interviewee was also waiting along side me so it seemed like I was just simply locked out.

The interview went awesomely. As in my best yet.

The new place is as follows:

52 bed medical unit with 8 beds reserved for surgical patients
The other unit that I would be hired for is an ER overflow unit
The shift is 12 hours (what I really, really want to work!!)
The new place is closer to my house and would be easier to get dropped off/picked up from if needed
The new place is actually going to be a new unit so there's something to be said about being the one to be there for that

BUT....

I would be missing out on surgical post-op patients all the time - I feel like I need that experience
I would lose my senority
I may not be making as much money (but I wouldn't have to work as many days in order to get the same amount of money)
The new place would mean that I wouldn't have to work more frequently which means I can use that time to study

Lastly - I don't know about the paeds position yet and I would technically have to start the new position on Nov. 23rd which means giving my place less than 2 wks notice (not that I work that day so I suppose it could be >2wks notice - but that's not really what I'm concerned about).... if I were to leave I don't think I would be eligible for the paeds position - which is what I would really want if I could choose.

So HELP - I don't know what to do! Each is good in their own right. So I have no idea what to do now.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

A real problem

Ok so I accepted the surgical position - supposed to start at the beginning of December...

But today a paediatric position showed up on the posting board today... and so I applied because it's really where I want to be. Like REALLY REALLY want to be.

But how do I go back on my word if I actually get hired?

I want to work in ICU - but I want to work in a NICU/PICU so having the peds experience would be really really important.

UGH!!!!

I really want an interview. I really want that position.

I guess time will tell - for now I study for my crazy hard exam I have due this week. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

What nurses should realize is this...

On my current unit we have 37 beds with 3 potential hallways for a total of 40 pts to be divided between nurses.

There is a combination of 8 & 12 hr shifts - and even 4 hr shifts for when there's a gap.

I find it surprising when people get so upset that their assignment from yesterday or the day before changes - primarily this occurs with nights and sometimes for evenings. 

Yet it's often the experienced nurses (those who have been on this unit for 5+ years) who are the ones who are complaining. As though they don't know that sometimes things change according to how many 8 and how many 12 hr shift nurses there are. Plus at 2330hrs you have to put up 2-3 more pts to have over night.

Now, often the charge nurse will "try" to give the same assignment but that's not always feasibly possible. You would think that nurses would understand this. But alas you still hear the complaints that they have to take on new patients.

OR, the charge nurse will change things up entirely and do it depending on the area that the pts are because our unit has pods (sorta) and will give you patients depending on where they're located - with no regard to how heavy a pod may be pt wise - you could feasibly have 4-5 (of your 6-7 pts) that are total care with which they are incontinent and you have to change them at least twice on your shift - it can make your back and feet hurt a lot. And these same ppl will still complain about their assignment. 

It's a lose-lose situation IMO - you can't win with these ppl. Such a shame that they clearly don't learn.

REALIZE THIS: Your assignment will ALWAYS change - expect this and just roll with it. If you don't like it, go to days, their assignment won't change for the slew of shifts that they're working.