So I'm officially one step closer to attaining my RN license! I finished all four of my challenge exams.
Next step - NCLEX-PN.... trying to get to write it is half the battle though, frig the obstacles they're making me jump through just to sit and write a friggin exam is rediculous!!!
On a side note - the weather has hit us from Hurricane Sandy - though it's a good storm, I don't see why ppl are freaking out about it. It's a STORM not and I repeat NOT a hurricane here in Ontario Canada!!! Now if I lived on the coast I may be a bit more worried, but I don't so it's all good!!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Tumefactive MS (multiple sclerosis)
In our hospital we deal with a lot of WEIRD/uncommon diseases. One of the weird ones I've encountered is tumefactive MS. I hadn't ever heard of this and I had to do some research on this. I also spoke with one of our neurologists. Especially considering my aunt has MS and when they started treatment for my patient, it was completely different than the normal.
I'll give you some background cuz how this pt came to us is unusual.... the pt is a new mom, still a teenager (therefore should have gone to paediatrics, but didn't) and when she was brought to the hospital it was because her family thought she had post partum depression (PPD).... she was sleeping like 20 hrs a day and had stopped taking care of herself and her baby. The crazy thing is that she had been like this for 2+ WEEKS before they brought her to the hospital!!! Her BF admitted that he had been oblivious to what was going on with her and the only reason they brought her to the hospital was because she had gone crazy on her BF's head when he tried to push her into having a shower.
Now, I will at least give the physician's at our hospital a kudos because when they received her, they gave her a head CT - but after they put her on a form 1 (involuntary psych hold for 72 hrs for assessment) and gave her the diagnosis of "psychosis" - which even after a definitive diagnosis still follows her throughout her stay at the hospital, and IMO is ridiculous!
When they did the CT scan they found FIVE lesions on her brain - HOLY CRAZY BAT MAN!!! Because of this all he brain was swollen and put all together caused a massive decrease in her LOC and mental capabilities.
When she came to our unit, I asked her our person, place, and time questions but made it more personal, this is how it went...
me: "can you tell me what month we're in..."
her: "it's June"
my thoughts - ok we're only off by 4 months LOL
me: "ok, what day is it..."
her: "the 27th"
my thoughts - yep we sure are off like 3 weeks!
me: "well then, what year are we in..."
her: "1994"
me.... trying VERY hard not to giggle at her.... we're only off like 18 yrs....
I looked at her mom and said, "isn't that her birthday?" Ya sure is....
When I asked her about what gender her baby was, she told me that she had had a boy
that's when I knew she was in deep trouble because there isn't ANY mother that would screw up the gender of their child unless there's something major going on!
When they started treatment for her, they started her on solu medrol (aka prednisone - aka steroid)but no meds that decrease the demyelinization that occurs with MS... that's when I asked the neurologist why they did this....
I guess the difference between regular MS and this kind is that it's a fast acting MS and causes lesions to occur in the brain and therefore the solumedrol will decrease this.... the freakiness of this condition is that it attacks fast and mimics a lot of other neuro conditions and is often mis diagnosed as a brain tumor which is dealt with differently and could lead to the patient's demise.
Even 4 days on a high level of this steroid there wasn't much change in her neurological status until they doubled the dose... now she's a spit fire and soon will need to have rehab to try to gain what this condition has robbed her of. Patient's like these make me wish that I could follow them along because it's soooo interesting.
I'll give you some background cuz how this pt came to us is unusual.... the pt is a new mom, still a teenager (therefore should have gone to paediatrics, but didn't) and when she was brought to the hospital it was because her family thought she had post partum depression (PPD).... she was sleeping like 20 hrs a day and had stopped taking care of herself and her baby. The crazy thing is that she had been like this for 2+ WEEKS before they brought her to the hospital!!! Her BF admitted that he had been oblivious to what was going on with her and the only reason they brought her to the hospital was because she had gone crazy on her BF's head when he tried to push her into having a shower.
Now, I will at least give the physician's at our hospital a kudos because when they received her, they gave her a head CT - but after they put her on a form 1 (involuntary psych hold for 72 hrs for assessment) and gave her the diagnosis of "psychosis" - which even after a definitive diagnosis still follows her throughout her stay at the hospital, and IMO is ridiculous!
When they did the CT scan they found FIVE lesions on her brain - HOLY CRAZY BAT MAN!!! Because of this all he brain was swollen and put all together caused a massive decrease in her LOC and mental capabilities.
When she came to our unit, I asked her our person, place, and time questions but made it more personal, this is how it went...
me: "can you tell me what month we're in..."
her: "it's June"
my thoughts - ok we're only off by 4 months LOL
me: "ok, what day is it..."
her: "the 27th"
my thoughts - yep we sure are off like 3 weeks!
me: "well then, what year are we in..."
her: "1994"
me.... trying VERY hard not to giggle at her.... we're only off like 18 yrs....
I looked at her mom and said, "isn't that her birthday?" Ya sure is....
When I asked her about what gender her baby was, she told me that she had had a boy
that's when I knew she was in deep trouble because there isn't ANY mother that would screw up the gender of their child unless there's something major going on!
When they started treatment for her, they started her on solu medrol (aka prednisone - aka steroid)but no meds that decrease the demyelinization that occurs with MS... that's when I asked the neurologist why they did this....
I guess the difference between regular MS and this kind is that it's a fast acting MS and causes lesions to occur in the brain and therefore the solumedrol will decrease this.... the freakiness of this condition is that it attacks fast and mimics a lot of other neuro conditions and is often mis diagnosed as a brain tumor which is dealt with differently and could lead to the patient's demise.
Even 4 days on a high level of this steroid there wasn't much change in her neurological status until they doubled the dose... now she's a spit fire and soon will need to have rehab to try to gain what this condition has robbed her of. Patient's like these make me wish that I could follow them along because it's soooo interesting.
Friday, October 5, 2012
3 down, 1 to go
Did my third exam today. Every exam I've done I keep getting less and less percentage.
My second exam I got 87%, this time I got 82%... but everything I've read online indicates that these last few are the hard ones. I mean, this most recent exam had 21 chapters on everything nursing care for adults.... it was craziness!!! Also, there were some questions that weren't even in the damn book, go figure!
Next week I do my final exam - nursing care for the pediatric population... should be interesting, there's 23 chapters for that course!!!
I head off to work this weekend, should be interesting. I hope I get a few select ppl for my pts, I've established a good therapeutic relationship with a couple and enjoy taking care of them.
The other week I was taking care of a dementia pt who because of his illness is now aggressive with the nurses. He pinches, bites, scratches, hits.... and then later cries about it. It's not something that he can control. TOTALLY SUCKS FOR ALL!!! The other day it took THREE of us to make sure that no one got hurt.... and he STILL managed to sucker punch one of my co workers. Geeze, work hazard or what?!!!!
My second exam I got 87%, this time I got 82%... but everything I've read online indicates that these last few are the hard ones. I mean, this most recent exam had 21 chapters on everything nursing care for adults.... it was craziness!!! Also, there were some questions that weren't even in the damn book, go figure!
Next week I do my final exam - nursing care for the pediatric population... should be interesting, there's 23 chapters for that course!!!
I head off to work this weekend, should be interesting. I hope I get a few select ppl for my pts, I've established a good therapeutic relationship with a couple and enjoy taking care of them.
The other week I was taking care of a dementia pt who because of his illness is now aggressive with the nurses. He pinches, bites, scratches, hits.... and then later cries about it. It's not something that he can control. TOTALLY SUCKS FOR ALL!!! The other day it took THREE of us to make sure that no one got hurt.... and he STILL managed to sucker punch one of my co workers. Geeze, work hazard or what?!!!!
Friday, September 21, 2012
The damn 1%
I did my first exam for school... only took me a year! Well sorta, I did manage to do all the readings for 4 courses, only now getting around to doing the exams.
My first exam was OB - and I came out of it with 97%.... YAY for me. The only downfall is that I missed the A+ by a blasted 1%!!!
So now I`m psyched to do the other 3 exams, 2 next week.... hope I can keep this up so then I`ll have a super high GPA when I eventually go for my NP or bite the bullet and go for med school....
Tomorrow I`m day shift - UGH!!!! I`m just thankful that my two dayshifts are on the weekend so I don`t have to worry about tests and LOTS of Dr orders!!!
My first exam was OB - and I came out of it with 97%.... YAY for me. The only downfall is that I missed the A+ by a blasted 1%!!!
So now I`m psyched to do the other 3 exams, 2 next week.... hope I can keep this up so then I`ll have a super high GPA when I eventually go for my NP or bite the bullet and go for med school....
Tomorrow I`m day shift - UGH!!!! I`m just thankful that my two dayshifts are on the weekend so I don`t have to worry about tests and LOTS of Dr orders!!!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Girls night out
So about once a month (we'd probably do it more often but the other gals are too busy!) go out together and hang out. We've been doing it almost 2 years now. It all started because of a mom's group for our city that we all belong to. Each of us have at least one kid, my daughter is the youngest at 3 1/2 years and my GF Eva has the oldest, twins who are 7 (possibly 8) and the other 3 girls have kids in between those ages. None of us have kids that are the same age, which I think is amusing.
It's TONS of fun to hang out with these gals because NONE of us have the same career - Eva is a real estate agent, Nat works for Siemens as a money person (her role is confusing to say the least!), Maya is an assistant manager at a 4/5 star hotel in the big city, Shelley is a social worker and then you have me, the nurse. So ya, it's interesting when we all get together because you don't have anyone who has a similar job and therefore you don't have anyone making cliques or anything like that.
So whenever we get together, we usually start out with dinner at 7:30-8:00 and usually close the restaurant - midnightish.... but for the 2 years that we've been getting together, not ONE person has approached us with leaving, they usually leave us alone til we're ready to leave or we notice that they're waiting by their door, wanting to close the restaurant. LOL
So ya, I'm just a weeee bit excited to get together with my friends and catch up
It's TONS of fun to hang out with these gals because NONE of us have the same career - Eva is a real estate agent, Nat works for Siemens as a money person (her role is confusing to say the least!), Maya is an assistant manager at a 4/5 star hotel in the big city, Shelley is a social worker and then you have me, the nurse. So ya, it's interesting when we all get together because you don't have anyone who has a similar job and therefore you don't have anyone making cliques or anything like that.
So whenever we get together, we usually start out with dinner at 7:30-8:00 and usually close the restaurant - midnightish.... but for the 2 years that we've been getting together, not ONE person has approached us with leaving, they usually leave us alone til we're ready to leave or we notice that they're waiting by their door, wanting to close the restaurant. LOL
So ya, I'm just a weeee bit excited to get together with my friends and catch up
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
What is society coming to?!
On our unit we have this patient who is super obese, like so far she has a bariatric bed and wheelchair! It doesn't help that this girlfell down stairs and can't move anything besides her head.
She's sooooo fat she takes 3-4 nurses to change her position!
She's soooo fat that even with that many nurses, 3 nurses on the unit are off work because they hurt their backs trying to change her position!
I know that society now a days is fatter than they have ever been, but is this the sign of what we're going to have to deal with everyday??? God help us and our backs!
She's sooooo fat she takes 3-4 nurses to change her position!
She's soooo fat that even with that many nurses, 3 nurses on the unit are off work because they hurt their backs trying to change her position!
I know that society now a days is fatter than they have ever been, but is this the sign of what we're going to have to deal with everyday??? God help us and our backs!
Monday, September 10, 2012
I'm coming home
I came home today. It was SUPER sad to leave my son and my mom. I loved having the two weeks away but as always, it was nice to come home. The two weeks FLEW by (doesn't it always?!)
Tomorrow I'm back at the grind. I have to get back into super study mode. I'm set to do my exam for sunday. I have to work Thurs, Fri, Sat evenings. It's always interesting to see the unit after quite a bit of time off because there's hardly anyone there that was when you went off. You start back at the beginning.
Speaking of beginning, I am starting there again with my work outs. I'm going back to the gym starting tomorrow. As soon as hubby gets back from work, then I'll leave to go to the gym. I need to loose some of this weight that I have that's not very healthy. Ahhhhhh to have goals!!!
Tomorrow I'm back at the grind. I have to get back into super study mode. I'm set to do my exam for sunday. I have to work Thurs, Fri, Sat evenings. It's always interesting to see the unit after quite a bit of time off because there's hardly anyone there that was when you went off. You start back at the beginning.
Speaking of beginning, I am starting there again with my work outs. I'm going back to the gym starting tomorrow. As soon as hubby gets back from work, then I'll leave to go to the gym. I need to loose some of this weight that I have that's not very healthy. Ahhhhhh to have goals!!!
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