My headnurse and I sat down for the discussion of my 6th month exam. She voiced out how disappointed she were about the turnout of the said exam. I felt like I was a butter melting under the sun as she tackled each of the item in my revalida. Honestly, I was and still am ashamed that I have not grasped the concept of cardiac medicines and the procedure and diagnostics related to cardiac diseases.
I know that I still have so much to learn and I am willing to engage in a serious one-on-one lecture in order for me to learn more. I am serious about my profession and I shall do anything to keep me knowledgeable anything that has to do about the human heart.
I owe to myself and to the institution.

Last night was fun. It actually lasted until 3:00 am this morning.
The cool gang from my previous work, actually none of us still works for that company, got together at a music joint called Music Bank on Morato Street for some videoke trip.
Alongside the belting is some belching due to unending flow of heart-friendly treats. We feasted on cholesterol-induced dishes that I started to feel paranoid about clogging my arteries. During the last hour of our vocal power exhaustion session, the receptionist came in with a platter of fruits. According to her it is a complimentary treat from them. A good way to have a colon cleanse.
Right now, I am trying to detoxify with a cup of brewed coffee. I hope it does the trick.

After my long three days off, I am back on track.
I was pleasantly surprised that the young Micronesian girl has been brought back to a regular room. The girls was the one who undergone MVR, AVR left thromboeectomy and IOTEE.
She is no longer on mechanical ventilator. She is now on oxygen per nasal cannula and she has a nasogastric tube for feeding. Her Glascow coma scale (GCS) is 10. She opens her eyes spontaneously, no verbal response and only withdraws to pain.
Since she cannot move on her own, frequent turning is required. Also she needs frequent suctioning of oral and nasal secretions.
Her mom, in broken English continuously expresses her gratitude to the ward nurses as she feels our care for her daughter.
The bedside rehabilitation is ongoing and at the moment, her legs seem to be powerless.
As I browsed through her chart, I saw that she has had subdural hematoma and they also performed emergency by pass on her.
According to Medline Plus Subdural hematomas are usually the result of a serious head injury. When one occurs in this way, it is called an “acute” subdural hematoma. Acute subdural hematomas are among the deadliest of all head injuries. The bleeding fills the brain area very rapidly, compressing brain tissue. This often results in brain injury.
I remembered the neurosurgeon telling the mother before that the fluid accumulated in the brain was negligible and does not require surgery.
What puzzles me is that the girl was ambulatory before the operation and now, her GCS is only 10. I also wanted to know why there was a need for emergency by pass.
Nancy Drew investigates

I was preparing to watch Avatar on DVD on my laptop in the dorm when my co-staff nurse texted me to rush to the 8th floor for the free facial, foot and hand spa. I went immediately and to find out that I have to wait for at least thirty minutes for my turn since all the staff who will do the services are all attending to other guests.
I learned that it was a promotional service of a company making beauty products.
When I had my turn, I knew that the service will not be a pleasant one as I see the frustration on the girl’s face learning that she still have me to do service to.
When she doing my facial, she asked me if I had oily face as said I do not then she asked again why do I have I have pimples. I just smiled instead of slapping her face.
I lack sleep that is why I am having breakouts and as far as I can remember I only had only huge pimple then. I have my usually share of breakouts but it cannot be considered as adult acne.

Exactly a week ago when the medication error occurred.
I was on 7 to 3 p.m. schedule then and since I feel indifferent about the outgoing bedside nurse who will endorse the patients that I will be handling, I just did not pay attention to what he was saying.
I made my rounds and gave medications to my patients without any problems.
The nurse who will receive my endorsement was late so I decided not to read the latest orders to her.
The following day, it was night actually, the ever insistent relative of a patient of have undergone heary by pass, was questioning why we are still giving Plavix to the patient when the doctor has told that them that it will be stopped already. We just told her that if the doctor did not write any order about it, we shall still stick to the status quo.
The relative did not stop there so we brushed through the chart and BAM!
The doctor has ordered to hold giving of Plavix on June 19th and the said antiplatelet medicine with generic name of Clopidogrel Bisulfate helps prevent clot formation which is indicated to prevent heart attack or stroke.
It was already June 21st meaning the two doses of Plavix have been given to him. The doctor called in and spoke to the outgoing bedside nurse. He was mad and so frustrated about the incident. Although there was nothing serious happened to the patient, mistakes that could jeopardize the patient’s health.
The following morning, the doctor checked in. He was already calm and just asked if giving of Plavix has been stopped. No further issues to him but our headnurse did not let slide of this medication error that she demanded for an incident report.
I personally learned my lesson here and promised to be extra vigilant in carrying on my duties and responsibilities.

My co-staff nurse was beaming every so often and we are just puzzled by her consistent glowing aura.
She was extra cheerful and helpful that day and wondering continued until the end of our shift. As we were on our way to punch out, she whispered to me that her boyfriend has finally proposed. I looked at her finger and saw this sparkling huge rock on it. I am no gemmologist but I think that one that her boyfirned has gotten her is one of the certified diamonds. Isn’t sweet and fabulous?

A day after my birthday, I am still required to go to the hospital for our unit meeting. To avoid being penalized, I came in early and when I arrived I was told that a patient gave me a cake as a birthday present. I was trying to dish out the idea until I opened up that box and saw this:

That patient was the one who underwent Bentall procedure for his triple A and will be discharged today. I hurriedly went to this room to thank him. He barely recognized me because I was not in my uniform and I was wearing eyeglasses. After a few seconds of recalling who I was, he told me: You’re the one with the sad eye.. The one who almost cried with me when I was at te lowet part of my life.
Seriously, I cannot remember being emotional when I was his bedside nurse although I was told during the tran-in admission from the surgical ICU that he has had episodes of depressions there reaching the point of being combative.
I am glad that he’s okay and I also found out that he lives a few blocks from home.

It only about three days before my birthday but I am not really excited about it. I am actually feeling like I am sitting on the edge of my seat because that day is the day that I will be having my first ever hosting gig. It is a half-day lecture and asks for a smart-casual attire not a tuxedo event really but seriously, it still gives my nerves a chilling sensation every time I think of it. And guess what, I was told that it is going to be the start of everything… or the end depending on whether or not I peed in my pants.

On my way home, I had this thinking about loosing our patient who has been confined for more than two years. She has been in and out of the intensive care unit since then. She has just turned 95 on March 10th.
This morning I woke so early and punched in at 6:10 am. I came in early to get the bedside-to-bedside endorsement done before the grand endorsement. While on my way, the caregiver of our resident patient texted me to bring her some cheese, to which I replied that there was none left. It was 5:30 am.
As I reached the ward, I was informed that the said patient was hooked to mechanical ventilator late last night de to difficulty breathing and for some reason it suddenly stopped working so the charge nurse was doing the ambubagging. I hurriedly entered her room and she’s becoming cyanotic (bluish discoloration) showing signs of respiratory distress. The pulse oximeter does not register pulse rate nor oxygen level in her body. No blood pressure can be acquired even on palpatory way. I and the bedside nurse tried but to no avail.
The charge nurse asked me to page the cardio and pulmonary fellows. The bedside nurse did it. But as we waited for the fellows to arrive, her condition got worse, the charge nurse asked me to call the code. I dialled 7 and in a heartbeat the PA summoned the code blue team to our ward. I wheeled in the crash cart into the room. The team was there in less than a minute.
They hooked her to cardiac monitor and four doctors tried to start peripheral line. One has started cardiac compression and was shouting to push to epinephrines. It started at 6:31 am and ended at 6:37 am. After the fourth epi has been pushed, she showed sign of revival.
We felt relief. She’s prepped to be wheeled in to the medical ICU again.
out of silence, the tension was pulsating. We love our abolita (as I fondly call her).
At past 2:00 pm I texted the caregiver asking for the patient’s condition and they said that she is stable. A few minutes after that, the PA summoned code blue team to medical ICU. We became worried. I called the medical ICU and as if a large rock was removed from my chest, it was not our beloved patient.
I learned from the medical ICU nd the caregiver that she will be wheeled in to her favorite room in our ward once she has tolerated the weaning process from the mechanical ventilator.

I was pretty pleased today because I was able to finish my endorsement on the dot!
I was just on 8-hour shift which was 7 am to 3 pm and I was not able to enjoy my off yesterday coming from a graveyard shift. Then again, I was overjoyed. I had the most suave shift. I was able to close my charts at 2 pm and finish my equipment inventory at 2:30 pm. The incoming bedside nurse was early and asked me to do the endorsement right away and so I did.
This is just a good day for me.