Long time no see

I know the last few posts have been rather bitter and angry. Generally, I'm not a bitter person, and I find that sometimes my voice here has been an outlet of sorts.

I'm not terribly busy on my days off, and although the last few months have been really bad in terms of acuity and volume, I have been able to recover enough that I don't dread going to work. I just haven't been motivated to write much. I read my favorite blogs everyday, so to those that return the favor- I haven't forgotten about you!

Updates on the life factor- Mr E proposed! :) We'll get married in 2010 but already my family has been pushing me to set a date and plan! I'm hardly a girly girl so getting into flowers is not my thing.

I have some ideas for posts so you'll hear from me again soon!

now THAT's entitlement

Go to a 2nd world foreign country. Get into a car accident. Don't have insurance.

Be unconscious for a few days. Get better enough that they can kick you out for lack of money.

Fly back to Canada on a 20+ hour flight with no medical care. Go to the nearest hospital once you arrive. You have only 1 working appendage.. the rest are scarred from surgery from the foreign country and you have a severe infection.

Demand treatment- state to the doctor upon your arrival that if you don't get what you want, you'll go to another hospital 10 hours away- in a threatening voice as if the doctor really cares that you go to another place. Demand to those same docs they fix you TODAY. State to the nurses that the care was better at the other country because they let you smoke in your room and have something to eat. Conveniently forget that you were told not to eat or drink, or to use your cell phone while in your room.

Yell at your mom and grandma because they are hovering and wanting you to listen to the staff at the hospital. Yell at the nurses because they 'lose' your chart. Meanwhile your chart is with your mother and she has already told you this.

You are really the most important person in the world.... better let everyone know it, ya know?

You get what you ask for.

You know when you get so busy that you have no desire to do anything but laze around and sleep? That has been my life lately. I feel like I'm drowning a bit, and although I like my work I don't want to go back. I need a vacation.

As you can see it’s been a while since my previous posts. Work has been insane lately. Slowly but surely I have become a ‘shit magnet’, with STEMI’s and Aortic tears and sepsis patients arriving and end up being taken care of by yours truly. I enjoy the heavy stuff so that’s not the problem. The problem is that we’re short nurses lately and it seems as though all the sick people are coming in all at the same time… literally.

One night in our 3 bed resuscitation room we had one person actively seizing, one septic patient needing intubation, pressors and transfer across town to the other hospital’s ICU (no beds in ours… seriously), one patient who was unresponsive, and one who was having crushing chest pain. Yes, that’s right, 4 patients. Not to mention that the rest of the emerg was clogged with admitted patients, and there was only 1 RN assigned to the whole room. I wasn’t even supposed to be helping, but after I did my initial assessments on my patients at change of shift, I went in to help out. Chaos, I tell you, chaos.

Our shifts start around 7pm, and we didn’t’ get any form of break or relief until after 2am. It was THAT busy.

That’s just a start of the insanity. More to follow.