nurse life

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

it has been an incredibly long time

I haven't written in ten months and it is pretty safe to say that it is simply because I have been super busy for exactly ten months. I am still busy, but I realised that I have to make an effort to never neglect the things I enjoy doing. however a ton of things have happened:

1. My grandfather died- he had cancer. I actually sat in on his surgery and saw the tumour. It was the size of a golf ball. From that moment I knew he didn't have a chance. He went quite peacefully. Ofcourse my grandma is now a royal pain and I already couldn't stand her and now I stand her even less.

2. I'm getting married- Im getting married in November, the preparations are practically finished and Im happy to have them out of the way. Preparing for a wedding is a right hassle, there is no fun in it. When I went to the caterer it was hilarious, they actually show u every food item you are ordering on the computer as a slideshow. for example: "and so you ordered cheese puffs..."
me: Yes.
"Well these are them..." turning computer screen towards me.
me: Yes. Good.
I mean what am I supposed to say? Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Cheeeeeeeeeeese puffs. Heavenly. Amazing.

However I can write an entire blog on getting married so I'll stop at the cheese puffs of awe and wonder.

3. I still work at endoscopy and i pretty much fit in now. Ofcourse it doesn't mean that my colleagues don't make fun of me, they do, a lot, but we make fun of everyone, so i guess its ok. We will be moving to the new hospital on Nov.5th...i wonder whats in store for me there.

ofcourse loads of hilarious things have happened and not so hilarious things have happened. And even though i have been absent for a little while, life still went on. And thats the funny thing about nurse life...come rain or shine, day or night, life as a nurse goes on. There are never any regularly stipulated holidays...some nurse somewhere will always be nursing.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

everlasting wisdom

At endoscopy, before we can let a patient have a procedure done to him or her we need to carry out a checklist and a sort of interview. A particular patient decided to discuss just how open minded she is...

Me: Hi Mrs. Jones, I have to ask you a few questions before we can proceed.

Mrs Jones: Why, you're an American!

Me: No, no I'm not, I was born in Canada of Maltese parents.

Mrs Jones: You are foreign!

Me: Well, people generally do notice as soon as I speak, so no news there.

Mrs Jones: there is nothing wrong with being foreign and having an accent...I'm not racist...

Me: Good to hear it, Mrs Jones

Mrs Jones: .....after all, its not like you're black...

Me: erm...ah...well...how about putting on a gown and going to room 4, eh?

(yeah, shove your racist ass into room four why don't you?) Jesus. Racists who aren't racists. Its absurd. They don't even realise they are being racist. I will never forget when a friend of mine once said after someone made a lewd comment towards an african american "but...its not their fault they are black!" Sweet Jesus. Good Lord. Being black is now a fault.

Everybody, read the book "The Colour Purple". Please.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

i WILL stuff a probe up your ass

My days as a reliever are over. They were an eventful and necessary time of my life, gave me plenty of experience, not to mention those days earned me my first pay cheque as a qualified nurse.

We got to choose our placement according to age, which is quite pissing off, rather than order of merit, probably because my nursing school was too lazy to place an average for the hospital to go by, but anyway. By the time my turn came to choose, the only paediatric placement was filled up and the only choice I had was a bunch of medical wards or else endoscopy. So I chose endoscopy and I don't regret it for one minute. It does take some getting used to however but I'm sure in time I will be a pro.

Endoscopy, for those not in the know, basically involves suffing a camera up someone's anus (bum hole), urethra (pee-pee hole), oesophagus (the food hole from the mouth) and trachea (breathing hole).

its good. I'm happy so far.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Wherever you find love, it feels like christmas

Christmas time is here again...yet its very difficult to enjoy it when you work 12hr shifts...you kind of miss the muss and the fuss. But in its own way, its cool. We decorated the wards and amidst the piss, shit and vomit, there is some atmosphere.

So I spend my days running from ward to ward, helping where I can. Oh, MaltaGirl! I met your boyfriend...he's a funny guy...he made the time go by quickly with his craziness!

And that is what is great about being a reliever...you get to meet alot of cool people. However, there is a great downside to being a reliever...along with the cool people you also meet the assholes, staff who fight with each other and expect you to mediate and staff who will treat you like a slave. But oh well.

All in all, things are pretty much status quo at the moment. No news is good news I guess. My love to everyone and have a merry christmas, and ofcourse, be nice to each other.

much love, nurse pica.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

What have you done today to make you feel proud?


I almost didn't make it.
But then I did.


Yeay me!

Friday, December 01, 2006

My first 24hrs

On tuesday I officially started my career as a state registered nurse, which is amazing. However, it was not uneventful. You see, us "resit students" are employed as relievers, that is, every morning we collect in front of the senior nursing officer's door and she sends us to different wards which either have very little staff or else too many patients. This arrangement is ok with me for now...the way I reason things out is that if I can make a difference in just one person's life, its all worth the while. Yeah, I am pretty romantic when it comes to nursing.

Yet, there was nothing romantic about the two 12 hour shifts I pulled this week. The first shift involved getting sent to a paediatric ward, which I thought was fabulous since I love kids. As soon as I set foot in the place I am assigned to a "constant watch case", a little kid who decided to try and drink himself to death. I had to spend 12hrs with this kid. From 7am until 10am, the kid slept...who could blame him, he drank 2 bottles of red wine. At first we simply stared at each other, I with curiosity, he with fear and loathing. Then I thought I was going to go mad if I just sit in this recliner and stare all day so I made an effort to bond with this kid...we played hang-man for an hour. Yeah sounds lame, but hey I had very limited resources. At a point he wrote the following _ _ _ _ . I guessed the last three letters I-N-E but I simply couldn't get the first one. Then he told me it was W. Then I asked him "Sweetheart, why did you do what you did?" At first he was silent. Then he poured it all out. We dialogued and I acted as a counsellor. And all the while we played different games which consistantly brought us closer. After a while, a bunch of other kids seemed to be intrigued and joined us in the games...one was a little boy, progessively losing his sight and the other a little girl with such terrible asthma that if she laughs she may have a cardiac arrest. I learnt that nursing incorporates so many facets of life. And to be a good nurse, one needs to have a certain personality. It really isn't about how much you know, but really about who you are.

The next shift involved being sent to a very crowded medical ward, and it was pretty much the usual deal, a bunch of very old people, washings, shit, piss and vomit. It was a pretty smooth day. Until 6.30pm when a relative tugs at my sleeve and tells me to look at her 90yr old father. He was turning white and gasping for air. I thought "Oh my God, please don't tell me this is happening." I couldn't see any of the more experienced nurses anywhere. In four years of nursing school, I never once came across a CPR case...and ofcourse it had to happen on my second day of being qualified and I had to step up to the case, I had no excuse now, I wasn't a student any longer, there was nowhere to hide. I called out "Someone, call CPR!" and I began compressions while another newly qualified nurse began respirations with an ambu-bag. I had to show a brave face, but my heart was pounding and I had my jaw clenched so tightly that when I relaxed, my face hurt. The CPR team came promptly and took over. I stepped aside with other other newly qualified nurse and we just watched together. We lost him. And in our hearts we both really knew that this wasn't a game anymore. This was the real deal. We are responsible for people's lives now. It was something we always knew...but only at that moment did it really materialise. This is the proverbial "it". But its great and its what I want. I want "it".

The next day I was off. However, that morning my back was in agony...I got out of bed like a 70yr old would. In the evening my fiance came over and we were lying down on my bed and I couldn't get up. And when I finally did, I felt this searing pain through my back, like someone hit me with a crow-bar and I screamed out in pain. I couldn't move and my fiance rushed me off to casualty. I was having so many muscular spasms that the doctor found it difficult to examine me and I needed a shot of muscle relaxant just to stay still on the x-ray machine. So today, my third day on the job, I am on sick-leave. The doctor told me in a joking way "The next time a CPR comes your way, let him die." And ofcourse I knew there was no way I could ever do that.

In the car back home, I wondered if its all worth it in the end...nursing I mean. Then I thought, if one really wants something, if its worth having, its going to take hard work. Nothing in this world is worth having if it comes easy.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Begin at the beginning

This is it...what I have been striving for. The past four years, of sweating blood have culminated into something. I will start work as a staff nurse on tuesday. Only God knows where. I just hope its somewhere I can cope and prosper. I am still a little scared...I am very impatient with myself. I always want to do everything correctly and I am very hard on myself. I hope I can live up to my own expectations.

This being my last free week-end before entering the working world, I have decided to live it up and enjoy. So my soon-to-be husband and I went to eat some indian food. In the middle of our meal, this guy comes in asking for a take-away. He was well-groomed, polite and decent. After making his order, he sat on a couch and brought out his mobile phone and said, "Hi Candy, its me. Tonight make sure you do not wear a thong or a g-string, only hot-pants...yes, focus on the lap-dancing because without it we've got nothing...keep the patrons happy and focus on conversation, ok?...no, I won't be paying you, but whatever you make you can keep...ok sweet? ciao."

Isn't it weird when these creatures of the underworld come up to the surface? When people indulge in these kinds of services I guess we don't really think of the intricate workings to make it a success and the degree of professionalism involved. And I mention this incident in light of the fact that lately the police made rounds of the gentlemen's clubs around here and arrested a bunch of girls who were simply trying to make a living. It made me angry because these girls are not hurting anyone, they aren't taking anything away from anyone...they aren't criminals. And if anyone brings up the issues of white slavery, I assure you that those unfortunate girls will not be working in gentlemen's clubs, they will be made to be hardcore prostitutes and have any money they make taken from them in a heart beat.

I just think it would be better if the police would do something about the amount of theft that occurs in teen hot-spots and and harrassment that now comes part and parcel with a night out.

Oh and if anyone chooses to indulge in a night of female entertainment, please give the girls some money because it may be all they earn that night.

We all have to make a living in the way we know best.