Summer is finally here and along with the roasting heat wave, summer break steps in. Instead of sending my niece to a summer camp. We have decided to enroll her to sat prep courses . She’s a bit shy and we are thinking that this would help her develop her interpersonal skills. Right now she prefers to have swimming lessons but I am sure she will enjoy more the surprises that await her in summer course.

Our AVR that we use for our router has given up on us. At this point, we have no choice but to plug it directly to the socket and the bad side to it is that I will not have an instant connection if the router has been opened before my laptop. In some instances, I need to open the desktop where the router is directly connected which is time consuming. I asked my sister to check on tm-t88iv if this will help solve my internet connection problem.

About four years ago, I am one of the few who has an ipod. Mine was a colored one which was the latest model then. Now, everywhere you look, people are holding and tinkering with their ipods which I find amusing. What alarms me though is that people seem to be having hearing impairment that they put the earphone’s volume in full blast. It is so loud that you can actually hear the music coming out of the earphone. I know that they know already that loud noises could cause eardrum perforation but they commonly say that they want to tune out of the world’s chaos that is why they put the volume in full when they listen to it.

The eardrum (tympanic membrane) is a thin, oval layer of tissue deep in the ear canal. It helps protect the delicate middle and inner ear from the outside.

It is called an eardrum because it looks and acts like a drum. The eardrum receives vibrations from the outer ear and transmits them to the small hearing bones (ossicles), of the middle ear.

Because it is so thin, the eardrum can be ruptured or punctured. The hole exposes the middle and inner ear to damage or infection.

(source:www.emedicinehealth.com)

What I find challenging about the nursing profession is, apart from dealing with the patients and their relatives, is knowing the disease and the disease process. What are the symptoms and how to deal with it. A lot of patients do not throw questions at the doctors as they seem to be intimidated. So as soon as the doctor steps out of the patient’s room, the patients and relatives begin to bombard you with questions regarding the patient’s confiment.
Since I am just new to this profession, I really find it hard to answer most of their questions that is why I always tell myself to find time researching. As much as I want to dedicate some time to it, my physical and mental strength are always drained right before I punch out. I almost always miss my bus stop especially when I came from PM shift.
I wish I could squeeze in the research task. I have to. I am planning to take my master’s degree so I need to improve my pacing.

I came to see my doctor who is now holding most of his clinic hours at St. Luke’s in Global City. The travel was a bit painful considering that the summer has kicked in. One hour already late for my appointment, I still waited for an hour for my turn. My turn has come and the doctor was pretty pleased with my latest lab result. Just the same I did not tell him that I no longer take two of his prescribed medications. The reason why I was there was so that I could get the medical advice on properly tapering the steroids.
He noted that my urine protein and blood (hematuria) are at +1 from +3. They should be negative of course. My cholesterol level is just 5 points above the normal. Although he scribbled on his prescription pad the same medications. I still do not plan to take in those medications except for the steroids, sinvastatin and losartan potassium. I might consider taking in some protein powder to replenish the one that I waste in my urine.

I was really pleased by the turn out of my shift. Although it was pretty toxic, I managed to rise above the occasion. One of the toughest parts of my duty was starting an IV line to a patient who’s due for coronary angiogram. Being in the pit for almost three months already, the staff nurses are expecting me to manage simple IV insertion tasks considering that I am a certified IV therapy nurse. In single attempt, I was able to get through the vein successfully. As I emerged from the patients room, the bedside nurse told me that the IV line of my other patient has gotten out of the vein. He tried repositioning and pushing saline but there was resistance. I also tried that same but it was a failure. I had no choice I had to reinsert. It was a success.
I noticed though that my eyes were getting dry then making me uncomfortable during the IV insertions. I guess the best eye cream could help my eyes relax. I need them to be in best shape at all times.

I started my rounds almost 9:00 pm already and the way I assesed my patients, I thought that I will not be hitting the marker on time. I had so much on my plate: constant chest pain, difficulty breathing, IV line out needed reinsertion, IV line to be started, osterized feeding residual, status post chest tube thoracotomy removal with pain at the insertion site, unstable vitals, stat orders from attendings and fellows and early case of coronary angiogram plus three patients due for suppository insertion. Whew! I cannot believe I managed all these and was able to finish my chart on time. The endorsement, including the equipment inventory, was finishedbefore 8:30 am.
I am really getting the hang of it. Although, I envy the other bedside nurse and the charge nurse because they were able to catch some sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

I have had 4 straight PM shifts last week and yesterday was the break to those crazy shifts and now, I am back on PM shift. It’s really hard to adjust on sleep pattern. I just woke up and I still feel sleepy. I am thankful that there’s no pimple breakout as yet but I think I will be needing an age spot cream to prevent those crow’s feet from showing up this very early.

I was furious yesterday. For one, I ended up having 7 patients and another, a male pervert patient patted me on my butt twice. They said he was a doctor but he does not look like one. He is extremely obese confined in bed requiring total care in terms of oral and body hygiene. They said he’s been coming in and out of the hospital for quite a while already. Instead of me having pity on his condition, I tended to hate him. I left the charged nurse for his diaper change and I called upon his bedside nurse to assist him. Maybe that moron has overdosed some testosterone cream making him act that way. It was not the first time that he did that to a nurse. As a precaution, he is being assigned to male nurses.

I was too caught up with my hospital duty that I forgot to respond to the job notifications I received on my email. I did my job search a few months ago right after I was hired as a full time nurse. Right now I have a handful of job matches and I am still browsing through the institutions’ requirements. I hope I’d land on a great career.