It's been a busy 2 weeks since I've posted! Especially with Joanna coming to visit!!! We had such a fun and refreshing week together that flew by too quickly. We got to do a lot of fun activities, but we made sure to spend quality lazy time together just hanging out and watching TV/movies that we miss out on now. On top of that, we hiked in town, visited the zoo, took a cruise tour to view Portage Glacier, hiked to Exit Glacier in Seward (about 2 miles south of Anchorage), explored downtown, went horseback riding, went shopping, and biked along the coast, downtown, and around the neighborhood trails (where we saw a beaver!). Such a blast!
We took a lot more pictures on my phone and her camera, so we'll have to just get those onto Facebook. Needless to say, I hated sending her back! I was really tempted to look into a last minute flight to visit home for a few days to see everyone else including my uncles and cousins who are visiting, but that would have been really difficult to pull off, especially around work.
Work.
That's all it feels like right now. It was so nice to have a week off when Jo was here (I didn't even have to request it! That's just how they scheduled me!), but the transition back on was harder than I expected. I've gotten pretty comfortable on the 2 units upstairs where I've been for 2 weeks with patients who are mostly stable and routine (basically med/surg). Downstairs, there's an intensive care unit (which thankfully I have not been placed on yet. Way not ready.) and a "high acuity" unit where the patients are not quite as sick but they still need a lot of attention. This week, I spent the first 2 nights with a preceptor on the high acuity unit with 4 very difficult patients. I feel like I only did about half the work both nights and still had a hard time keeping up. This made me extra nervous for the third night...my first shift on my own.
I was told beforehand that my patient load would be lighter and easier, but that didn't happen. I still had 4 patients, 2 of them new to me and just as difficult as the ones before. I hit the ground running when an aid told me right away that one patient had just choked on a banana and another's oxygen level was dropping. Things eventually leveled out, but I was never able to catch up. There was a resource nurse to help pick out some slack, but even then I never got everything done. Plus, a patient who I had the previous 2 nights (and 4 other earlier shifts) passed away during the night. It was expected and he wasn't under my care at the time, but I was too busy to say goodbye to him or to even think about it very much. I stayed an extra 2.5 hours charting and explaining everything to the day nurses who were very understanding, and I know that even experienced nurses have a hard time with these patients, but I was completely spent.
I was near tears of relief when I finally went home at 10am (making it a 15 hour shift), but thankfully it was the start of my 3 day weekend and I decided that I would just stay up and hang out with Cory at his place. I thought I was okay until about 1pm when I randomly started crying and couldn't stop. Cory let me completely unload while he comforted me and got me to laugh and made me take a nap. He was exactly what I needed. It's times like these when I am blown away by God's faithfulness, and I couldn't ask for anyone better to remind me of that and take care of me. It's easy to love this guy :)
So, even though I reached my breaking point this week (and I reeeaaally don't wanna go back to work tomorrow night), I am thankful to be doing so well up here and for so many people who love and encourage me!
Work.
That's all it feels like right now. It was so nice to have a week off when Jo was here (I didn't even have to request it! That's just how they scheduled me!), but the transition back on was harder than I expected. I've gotten pretty comfortable on the 2 units upstairs where I've been for 2 weeks with patients who are mostly stable and routine (basically med/surg). Downstairs, there's an intensive care unit (which thankfully I have not been placed on yet. Way not ready.) and a "high acuity" unit where the patients are not quite as sick but they still need a lot of attention. This week, I spent the first 2 nights with a preceptor on the high acuity unit with 4 very difficult patients. I feel like I only did about half the work both nights and still had a hard time keeping up. This made me extra nervous for the third night...my first shift on my own.
I was told beforehand that my patient load would be lighter and easier, but that didn't happen. I still had 4 patients, 2 of them new to me and just as difficult as the ones before. I hit the ground running when an aid told me right away that one patient had just choked on a banana and another's oxygen level was dropping. Things eventually leveled out, but I was never able to catch up. There was a resource nurse to help pick out some slack, but even then I never got everything done. Plus, a patient who I had the previous 2 nights (and 4 other earlier shifts) passed away during the night. It was expected and he wasn't under my care at the time, but I was too busy to say goodbye to him or to even think about it very much. I stayed an extra 2.5 hours charting and explaining everything to the day nurses who were very understanding, and I know that even experienced nurses have a hard time with these patients, but I was completely spent.
I was near tears of relief when I finally went home at 10am (making it a 15 hour shift), but thankfully it was the start of my 3 day weekend and I decided that I would just stay up and hang out with Cory at his place. I thought I was okay until about 1pm when I randomly started crying and couldn't stop. Cory let me completely unload while he comforted me and got me to laugh and made me take a nap. He was exactly what I needed. It's times like these when I am blown away by God's faithfulness, and I couldn't ask for anyone better to remind me of that and take care of me. It's easy to love this guy :)
So, even though I reached my breaking point this week (and I reeeaaally don't wanna go back to work tomorrow night), I am thankful to be doing so well up here and for so many people who love and encourage me!
Keep trucking Miss Cathy! It's always an adjustment period at an new job once the initial excitement wears off and your job is tougher than most! <3
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