Update on my little life

Well for the 4th of July I went up to the Bay Area and visited my family. I thought it would be restful, but boy was I wrong. I got there and went right to bed, got woke up the next morning, worked out and then got my hair done which was a real nice treat Then we went to the Alameda County Fair to watch the fireworks display. (sorry no pictures... :( ) Then the next day the fourth of July we didn't do much which was good too...My dad and I set off some fireworks and then we drove around to check out what other people were putting off. Some scared us and some of them were cool. Anywho then after this we went the next day to Jack London Square for lunch and then I left to drive back to Bakersfield. Man I was tired but I couldnt go to sleep because I had to stay up because of my night shift schedule. So then I have worked the last two nights and I am finally off to enjoy some time to myself. I went and had workout with a personal trainer and then to follow that I had a wonderful massage. Tonight Im going to veg out in front of the TV and be with my boyfriend.

Anywho all this has a point. This last week or so has been so exhausting! I feel so overwhelmed with being a good nurse that I failed to recognize the importance of maintaining a little R & R. I am going to try harder from now on to keep everything in balance. I am thankful that I have what I have and just have to keep perservering. Man its hard though! I think that I have been really struggling mentally as well with all the pressures of starting a new career, living in a new area and wanting to be proficient. The last day has provided me with a good amount of relief, I recieved a nice voicemail and a handwritten letter and flowers from my oh so loving and supportive boyfriend. I know that God has me doing all of this for a reason and I will continue on ahead. Anything thats hard is the most fulfilling right?


Sorry if this is boring but I had to get it off my chest... ;)

Hollywood Revisited

Well I went to Hollywood again, with my family.









They were in LA to see Mikey off to China. We had some time to kill before his flight left. So I drove down for the day and picked them up at the airport, took them to their hotel and then we went to Venice Beach- I got to get a real good sense of it this time. San Francisco doesn't hold a candle to the amount of interesting people there are at Venice Beach.












I got a hell of a sunburn/tan and Mikey and I played on the Gymnastics equipment that is out there.









Then Mikey got birds put on him. He's scared of my little bird...Petey, these are much bigger and probably bite much harder!












We went to Griffith Observatory after that and my parents loved it!










Then we went down to Hollywood Blvd to check out the stars, Graumann's Chinese theater and the Kodak Theater, there was a long line for Michael Jackson's star...

My family had never been there so it was quite the treat for all of them. I even got to see more than I did before so it was a treat for me too!

Then we went to dinner at their hotel and I dropped them at the airport...so Mikey could meet with his group. My parents leave today to go back to the Bay. It was a long day for all of us but it was quite nice to spend time all together before Mikey had to leave for China.

CODE BLUE!

All throughout nursing school I never had the chance to observe, perform or be actively involved in an emergency. Well the opportunity came on Sunday night at 930 pm. I was in another patients room giving medication and then I hear 'CODE BLUE, I NEED HELP IN HERE!' The alarm was pulled, I stopped what I was doing and ran to the room, grabbed the clipboard and started documenting. I had never done anything of the like before and I didnt know what I was doing really but I tried and everyone knew I was new. I had never seen so many people try so hard to save a patient. After 25 minutes of live saving measures we were not able to save the patient. This was also the first "death" experience I had. This patient was so blue it was unbelievable, there were several of my new coworkers there and they were the ones relieving/performing the compressions on the patient. I dont know that any of us had been in this type of situation before but they looked calm, cool and knew what they were doing. The entire staff that was working so hard had a look of sadness and dismay when the MD said no more. It is possible that the client had a pulmonary embolism which was not something that we could have saved, or caused. The nurse was sullen for the remainder of the shift. The hard part was that we all have to go back to what we needed to do and complete. There was a different feel amongst the nurses that night, as well as the unit.
The hardest part about this CODE was that after the patient had expired- yes thats the term we use...I admitted a new patient to the same room later on that night! Freaky!

Scary, but I now feel more prepared for any emergency that may arise.

This is the not so pleasant side of nursing but it actually occurs. Ironically its the one thing that I think TV gets pretty close to accurate. There is only one way to go about saving a person's life. Full out emotion, physical energy and force, as well as complete exhaustion at the end positive or negative.

That's all...