10 Things of Thankful

It's Saturday again and I am thankful again!

1. I am thankful for shapewear.  Seriously, whoever invented that stuff is MY HERO.  My wonderful dog whom I adore (lucky for him) chewed up my favorite fat-sucking cami last week, and I was lost without it.  I finally got a new one yesterday and all is right with my world.

2. I am thankful for a good hairstylist, who I will be visiting this afternoon.  Split ends begone!

3. I am thankful for roadside assistance provided by our auto insurance company.  When I walked out to my truck on Wednesday morning after an exhausting 12-hour shift, I had a flat tire.  They had to use a regular tow truck to get the truck out of the parking garage, and a flat bed to take it to the shop.  I had to wait for two hours.

4. I am thankful that I work in a hospital that has good food.  I went to the cafeteria and had sausage, biscuits and gravy while I waited.

5. I am thankful for my Mother-in-Law, who brought her truck to me so that I could use it while our truck was repaired.

6. I am thankful that I am not afraid of frogs.  Otherwise I would have had a panic attack when a frog jumped ON MY HEAD while I was sleeping early this morning.  I save the little buggers from the dogs and cat all the time, you'd think they'd be a little THANKFUL themselves!

7. I am thankful for my new workplace.  It is beautiful and equipped with awesome new technology to make the patients more safe and comfortable, while making my job a little easier.  (no, I did not change jobs, my job changed locations; we moved into a brand-new wing and it is niiiice.)

8. I am thankful for simple pleasures.  I had a fantastic day yesterday, just riding around with my husband, doing a little shopping, visiting a friend, and just enjoying each others' company.

9. I am thankful that my husband wants to go to the flea market, so I have to cut this short!  Have a great weekend!

It's Medical Monday ~ CNA's Brighten Days

Today is the first Monday of July, which means it is Medical Monday around these parts!

I am happy to be co-hosting this month's Medical Mondays Blog Hop.

For those of you who are new here, I am a CNA, and for anyone who doesn't know what that is, I thought I would explain.

CNA stands for Certified Nursing Assistant.  Our duties vary depending on what job we take.  I used to do home health care, which I love.  Many CNA's work in nursing homes.  I currently work in a hospital on the neuro med/surg floor.  If you've ever spent time in a hospital, you've encountered a CNA, although different facilities use different job titles.

At my hospital, we are called Nurse Techs.  We take vitals, assist patients with various needs, answer your call light, bring you food and drinks (other than your actual meals).  I often feel like a waitress, counselor, and medical professional all rolled into one.  I could never list every one of my duties because there are so many and they vary greatly from day to day, week to week.  I run my butt off, I will say that!  I work hard for 12 hours, 3 days a week and it wears me out.  But I love it - most days!

We appreciate all our Medical Monday participants! You all have helped us develop a fantastic community of friendship and support! Next month we will be celebrating MM one year anniversary! Be sure to mark it on your calendar. Along with our regular link up party, we will have a giveaway which is sure to please! 

On to this month's party!!!.....

Are you confused if you qualify for the party?

If you have a pager interrupting your life... you DEFINITELY qualify!
Do you work in healthcare?

Doctor? Nurse? EMT? Chiropractor? Vet? Dentist? Therapist?

MA? NA? PA? DA?

Are you the spouse or SO of a healthcare worker/student?

Are you a nursing student? Medical student?

Intern? Resident? Fellow?

You get the picture, right? Come on, now... don't be shy! Let's keep growing and meeting new bloggers, so we can build a community of support and friendship, learn from one another, and share our stories.

LINK UP YOUR POST!

Here are the rules:

1. Follow your co-hosts via Bloglovin (since GFC will soon be defunct), FB, email or Twitter.
2. Link up you medical/med life blog. If your blog name does not clearly state how you fit in to the med/med life world, please write a little intro or link up a specific post which clearly demonstrates your connection.
3. Visit at least 3 other link ups, comment, introduce yourself, and tell the your stopping by or following from MM!
4. Help spread the word by using our button on your post or sidebar, tweet about Medical Monday, or spread the word on Facebook! The more the merrier for all of us.

Complete step one by following your co-hosts:

• Emma at Your Doctor's Wife
• Jane at From A Doctor's Wife
• Heather at Army Wife, Army Life
• Cyndy at Putting the Fun in Dysfunctional

Want to be awesome?
Post our button on you post or sidebar and help spread the word:

<a href="http://www.yourdoctorswife.com/p/medical-mondays.html" target="blank"> <img src="http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r494/fromadoctorswife/MedicalMonday-001edit125x125.jpg"/> </a>

Want to co-host next month? Shoot Emma an email at yourdoctorswife@gmail.com and be sure to write "Medical Monday Co-host Request" in the subject field.

Now, link up below and have fun! The link up is open through Friday, so be sure to come back during the week to check some great reads!

Uniformed Scrubs - Scrub Top Review and Discount Code!

I was contacted not long ago by a company called Uniformed Scrubs and asked if I would like to try out one of their medical scrub tops.
I was happy to do so!

see? that's my happy face.

I received a black scrub top.  I told them I wear a size medium, and that is what they sent.  I've worn a medium for a long time.  I did notice this Size Medium seemed to be a little bigger than usual.
Too big is better than too small, of course, but if you're ordering, you may want to order a size smaller than normal.

Other than that, it's pretty perfect!  I love the big deep pockets located in the front, with the opening on TOP.  After nearly seven years in health care, I have developed a strong preference for those types of pockets on my nurse scrubs.  Side-opening pockets = lost stuff.  And pockets = vitally important.



For my readers, Uniformed Scrubs is offering a discount code!  Just use the code "trueblue" and you will get a 15% discount until July 31st, 2013!

And you can connect with Uniformed Scrubs via social media for more info :

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uniformedscrubs
Blog: http://uniformedscrubs.wordpress.com/
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/102649430487593258176/about

Twitter: @UniformedScrubs
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/uniformedscrubs/

Medical Monday (on Wednesday) - What NOT to do.

(Because, Ooops.  That's why.)

New here?  I am a Nurse Tech on the Med/Surg floor of a hospital.

Today I have for you FIVE things that you should NOT do while either you, or your loved one, has been admitted as a patient in a hospital.

1. Do NOT bring your very young child to the hospital to stay with his or her dad.  Who is very ill.  FOR THE ENTIRE NIGHT.  While you go home to sleep.

2. Do NOT let your baby crawl on the hospital floor.  OMG. Please.  For the love of all that is clean and free of bacteria.  AND COOTIES.

3. Do NOT sneak into the bathroom of your hospital room and smoke cigarettes.

4. Do NOT sneak off of the floor, out of the hospital, and into the parking lot next door to smoke cigarettes. With your IV pole and various other medical equipment.

5. If you choose to do that, do NOT tell us, when you get back, that your pain level is a 10.


I have a feeling these "What NOT to do" posts may become a recurring theme.  Stay tuned!

Medical Mondays - What I Do.

My first husband's current wife (my children's stepmother) likes to refer to my occupation as "ass-wiper".
Charming, isn't she?  She's also going to school to be a NURSE.  Shudder.

Anyway.  I am a Nurse Tech, or Nursing Assistant, on the Med/Surg floor of a hospital.
When my husband told his nurse friend what I do for a living, his friend immediately said "She works HARD for her money." And I certainly do.

I have so many different duties and responsibilities in my job that neither of you nor I have time for me to list them all.  And no two nights are ever the same.  But I have never made a secret of the fact that one of my job duties is to help clean incontinent patients.  (I refuse to call it "wiping ass", that is SO disrespectful to my patients.)

I also take vital signs, making me the first line of defense to detect if a patient is having any issues.  I am an important link in a chain of health care professionals.
I perform blood glucose tests.  I hook up telemetry monitors.  I connect oxygen tubing.   I attach sequential compression devices.  I do portable bladder ultrasounds.
Last week I assisted a nurse with an enema and impaction removal.  Yep - that's a NURSE JOB.

Some nights I feel like a waitress.  Some nights I feel like a therapist.
Some nights I have zero incontinent patients.
Some nights I have three.
But when I think of the comments from ignorant, disrespectful people, it makes me angry.  Not for myself - certainly I couldn't care less what someone like that thinks of me.

But I picture my incontinent patients.  Usually frail, elderly people.  They are helpless and unable to clean themselves.  They are embarrassed and uncomfortable in every way.  They never asked to be in that position.  They deserve someone who respects them, and cares enough to clean them up immediately, quickly yet thoroughly, and in a professional manner, while allowing them to maintain their dignity.

A few weeks ago I had a sweet elderly lady as one of my patients.  She tried to make it to the bathroom to void her bladder, but she didn't make it in time.  She was so humiliated.  She said that was the first time in her life it had ever happened.  I helped her clean up, changed her sheets, all the while smiling and chatting with her.  She still kept apologizing and was so ashamed, she was literally in tears.  I finally took her by the hand and said, "Please, stop apologizing.  It happens.  If you were feeling well, you wouldn't be in the hospital.  I have cleaned up FAR worse than this.  It's part of my job.  I don't mind at all." And she said to me, "You are a wonderful person.  There is a special place in heaven for you."

And I hear that all the time.  "Thank you.  You are so sweet.  Thank you for taking such good care of me."   It makes it all worthwhile.

And anyone who refers to that as "ass-wiping" deserves NOT to have a compassionate person to take care of them when they find themselves in the unfortunate position of being helpless and incontinent.  They deserve to sit in it for a while.

Not everyone can handle my job - I get that.  But I can and I do, and I do it quite well.
Oh and one last thing - if you are a nurse and you have NEVER cleaned up an incontinent patient, PLEASE leave me a comment.  I would love to know how you managed to escape a job that every single nurse on the planet does.

Go visit Your Doctor's Wife for more Medical Monday posts.
P.S.  It's Nurse's Week!  Hug your favorite Nursing Professional!

Things that will rock your world

~~ A text from your mom at 3 a.m. saying your dad was taken to the hospital by ambulance and is being admitted.

~~ When your dad is a patient at the hospital where you work, and someone calls a code blue.  (NOT for him, thank God, but my heart skipped several beats.)

My whole life has turned upside down since last Friday, as has my whole family's.  While I'm at work in my rare free moments, I'm running down two floors to check on my dad and take coffee to my mom.  When I get off, I go take care of their dog, who is absolutely beside himself without his 'people'.  Then I still have my own household to take care of, including my sweet man who will literally (and cheerfully) eat chips and cookies and call that dinner if I don't cook.
I have to feed people.  I've told y'all before - I'm a Southern Mama.  It's what I do.
I still have to go to the grocery store, and clean the house, and work full time (in fact, this week, overtime - we're short-handed).  I'm fielding calls from relatives (some we haven't heard from in years - so annoying) and trying to be there when the doctors come in so I can attempt to translate for my parents what I can understand.  I must say, the doctors have been wonderful;  patient and never rushed.  I am incredibly glad that he is being treated at 'my' hospital, because that way I'm there and can stop in often, before work, during work, and when I get off.

Oh and occasionally? I get to sleep a little.

The good news is, the tests did not show any cancer or serious gastric problems.  He is, however, facing two very serious surgeries; one to clear up the blockage in his carotid arteries and then about a week later, a heart bypass surgery.

He has a lot of heart problems.

He is seventy-six years old.

This is some scary shit, y'all  

I have so many random thoughts going through my head but these are the ones that I'm able to get typed out coherently.

On Hold

All of our weekend plans are on hold as our lives have turned pretty much upside down.

At 3 a.m. on Friday morning, I got a text from my Mom saying she and my dad were at the hospital.  He had been brought in by ambulance as was being admitted.  I went up there right away.

He was feeling badly all day Thursday but was procrastinating going to the doctor (totally typical for my dad).  He had a 'stinging' sensation in his chest and arms, weakness, dizziness, and an upset stomach.  He said it was coming and going.  But finally at 1a.m., he slumped over in his chair in pain, and my Mother said "I am calling an amulance NOW" and Dad didn't argue.

He had a mild heart attack.  He has internal bleeding from an as yet undetermined source.  He's lost so much blood through his digestive system that he needed a transfusion.  Due to the blood loss, his heart has been working overtime and finally became overworked.  His heart is strong but there was considerable damage.

They're in the testing process now.  He needs a bypass operation, but first they have to determine the source of the bleeding and stop it.  He also has blockage in his carotid arteries, but that will be dealt with after the other two major issues.

One good thing is that he's being treated at the hospital where I work, so even when I'm at work I can check in on him.  Between work and my dad, I may as well move in.

He's having tests on Monday that should discover the cause of the bleeding so he will be in the hospital until those are done, at minimum.

He's feeling a lot better due to the 2 units of blood that were transfused and the medications they are giving him.  He's ornery and giving the nurses, techs, lab techs, etc a hard time.

I'll try to keep ya posted.....

Cute Medical Scrubs ~ Review

Working in the medical field comes with many benefits.

But the best one of all?
Cute scrubs.

Duh.

Seriously though....working in Home Health Care, 

we had to wear plain blue scrubs with the company logo.

Boring!

When I started working in a hospital, 

I was happy to be able to wear my cute scrubs again, and of course,

anxious to get some new ones.

I found a great website called MedicalScrubsCollection.com, and they helped me out with that!

Medical Scrubs Collection has a great selection of scrubs, and many of the brands I already know and love -  Grey's Anatomy, Dickie's, and Cherokee to name a few.

They also carry brands I didn't even know made scrubs- like Carhartt and Mary Engelbreit!

I had the hardest time choosing an outfit because there are SO many cute ones to choose from.

And I'm a little picky; being in health care for over 6 years, I know what I like.  On scrub tops, big square pockets are a MUST.  I have too much stuff to carry and the sideways pockets, while cute, don't hold enough and stuff falls out of them.

Also, cargo scrub pants are a must.  I love all the pockets.

I truly love what I ended up with.  

I chose a  Cherokee Dickies Fashion Print Round Neck Top, Size Medium.

The top is unique and SO pretty.  

I love the pocket detailing, but my favorite thing is the way the neck is designed.

The pants I chose are Cherokee Dickie's flare leg, junior cut, in desert sage, size Small.

I LOVE the color and both the top & pants fit perfectly!

I absolutely love the convenience of shopping online, but

I'm usually a little hesitant to order clothes without trying them on.

But this time it worked out great!

They also shipped and arrived very quickly.  

I highly recommend using MedicalScrubsCollections.com for your scrub needs.

They also carry accessories, footwear, scopes, etc. 

Check them out!

MedicalScrubsCollection.com provided me with a set of scrubs for the purpose of this review.  

All opinions are 100% my own!

Big Changes a'Coming

A few Mondays ago, I wrote a blog post all about my job.  I told you what I do for a living, how much I love it, and how rewarding it is.
What I did not - could not - tell you, is that I am leaving this job.

I couldn't tell you because it wasn't certain yet.  I was waiting on the official offer from the new job - I had to pass a background check, health screening, drug test, etc...........

I am, obviously, not leaving because I am dissatisfied with the work itself in any way.  I love my client and her family.  I also adore my employers and they have been wonderful to me for the past year.  They've went above and beyond for me, and I appreciate them greatly.
However.

The pay is very, very low.  And because of the current economy, it's not going to get much better.  I did just get my annual raise - but it's still nowhere near enough.


I was looking for another job in addition to my home care job to supplement my income, and I applied as a Nurse Tech at a local hospital - essentially the same thing I did for four years at another local hospital.  The position I applied for was PRN - as needed.  They would just call me when they were short-handed.
But when I got there and interviewed, they ended up asking if I would consider working for them full time.
(seriously the best interview I EVER had. It was a blast.)

The pay is better and the benefits are great - health insurance, retirement, the whole bit.  I literally CAN'T pass up this opportunity - it's just not an option.

I will stay on at my current job on PRN status, and hopefully they will use me often; I really want to keep in contact with my client and her wonderful family.
I have already told my employers, but I haven't yet told my client nor her family; I haven't worked for her since officially being hired at the hospital.  I'll tell her on Monday.  I am SO not looking forward to that conversation.  Additionally, one of the long-term night shifters recently left (for a higher paying job - of course) so it's yet another loss for her.  It sucks.  I know she'll understand, but I still feel badly for leaving her. Quality care is so hard to come by.

I'm VERY excited, don't get me wrong.  When I toured the unit after my interview, I couldn't help but get excited about being back in the hospital atmosphere.  I do miss it.  I also miss wearing CUTE scrubs - right now I only wear company scrubs in blue & khaki.  Boring! LOL

And best of all, I have a plan.  This job will, eventually, take me back to doing home care, but in a different setting.  For a long time, I have felt a calling to do Hospice care.  My plan is to go back to school for nursing (this job offers 100% TUITION REIMBURSEMENT - HELLOOO!!!!!) and eventually be a Hospice Nurse.  Now, I have had some false starts on this path before, but current life circumstances make this more of a possibility now than ever before.  So, hopefully, this time I will achieve my goals.

But - I have never, ever left a job that I LOVED.  So, there's a sense of loss, a sadness, a bittersweet feeling.

So.  One more week with my sweet client, then it's on to bigger and better things as of Monday October 29th.  Thank you all for coming along with me on this journey!

This is not the post I had planned for today.....

I had planned to do a Sundays in my City post today, showing you the pictures I took this weekend.

But I didn't get to upload them yet....because we are at the ER.

Elayna decided she wanted to play soccer this season, so we signed both her and Andrew up. Then we went to the park to practice, and while playing goalie, she got hit in her thumb with the ball.

That was yesterday. Today her thumb looks like this:

We've been at the ER for 2 hours already and I am getting really ticked off!

I hope it's not broken, but it's showing signs.

*UPDATE* It's broken. Definitely at the base of the thumb at possibly at the growth plate also. They splinted it, and I'll be calling an orthopedist tomorrow to make an appointment.

I can't believe we had a soccer injury before the first practice! Leave it to the Dysfunctional Family!

And of course, I had to take a pic of her with her splint, loopy on Tylenol w/ codeine. She asked me why and I said, "Duh, I'm a blogger, that's what we do."