And we're off!!

The highly anticipated, MUCH needed family vacation is FINALLY here!!! We are off to spend 7 days in Disneyworld! We are all super excited and I expect the two day car ride to get there is going to be torture for all of us. Luckily, we are breaking up the days both there and back by spending some time in Pensacola Florida soaking up the sun on the beach. I have good intentions studying for the HESI and maybe even getting a head start on my Pharmacology class while I am in the car however, I make no promises to anyone that it will actually happen that way and can pretty much guarantee that studying will fall by the wayside once we drive through those magical gates.

Tomorrow’s specialty will be posted as usual. Don't miss it! It is a good one. I will be taking a break for next weeks but expect to be back on once my vacation ends and I get settled back into reality.

Peace Out! Don’t miss me too much!

I have a confession to make

I’m a smoker.

That’s right. I’m a dirty smoker.

When I went to the Dr a few months back and was diagnosed with Bronchitis, my Dr also felt that I might have smoking induced asthma. You see, I have had this cough for a few years now (yes I said years). I never went to see a Dr about it because I was scared it might be something serious. (How’s that for DUMB?) She decided to make me go for a chest X-ray just to check everything out. I will be honest. I was on edge the entire weekend waiting for those results. I was so worried that something was going to be wrong. I mean, it isn’t normal to have a cough for years. Thankfully, everything was clear but it was still pretty scary. I now have an inhaler that helps with my cough.

Still, I didn’t quit.

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about quitting. I want to, but then again I don’t. I can’t explain exactly what it is that makes me not want to quit. If you smoke you know what I mean. If not, well, go on thinking I am crazy.

My Dr prescribed me Zyban to help me quit. I have been hanging on to it for a few months trying to talk myself into committing to quitting. (I love it when I unintentionally rhyme) I always had an excuse why I couldn’t start them. I am happy to say though, that I made the commitment on Tuesday to start taking them and quit smoking. Just right then and there, without any self arguments. I took control and started them.

It will be a long process. I’m a pack a day smoker although I have been able to cut it down over the last few weeks to just over a half a pack. With Zyban, they said to set a “quit date” about two weeks into them so I have set my date as June 15th. There it is in writing. No turning back now. I can’t really tell much of a difference so far in the past 4 days that I have been taking them. I do notice that I am becoming more sensitive to the smell. I can go longer in between them but that could also be from me cutting down before starting this. I plan to keep a journal of sorts to see how each day progresses on this medication and keep track of what I am feeling. Maybe when I get back from my vacation I will post it.

So there you have it. Hopefully in two weeks I will be an ex-smoker.

Since all (2) of you asked....

Since you asked so nicely, I figured I would post some pics. The before pic is of my best friend and I (still miss her like crazy!). The after pic I took on the way to work. I'm sure I looked like a fool sitting in traffic taking pictures of myself.

I don't know if this is a good before/after comparison but it's all I had on my work computer (that looked halfway decent).

The dark is kinda growing on me I guess.

No, you didn't just stumble into the unknown. Yes, you are in the right place.

See. This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands. I start messing with things that don't need to be messed with. I also got my hair colored too. Dark. Really dark. I am normally a blonde. My husband hates it.
 
I'm bored so I thought I would change things up a bit. Not sure how I feel about it yet. Maybe it will grow on me. (The hair too.)

Sunday's Specialty - Rehabilitation Nursing

This week’s specialty comes to us from RehabRN. After you read what she has to say about Rehabilitation Nursing, hop on over to her blog to check out the rest of her posts. She has some great stories over there, along with some links to some really good articles.


Rehab Nursing...the good, the bad, the ugly

I like to tell people that my job as a rehabilitation nurse involves teaching people how to live. Patients come to inpatient rehabilitation for two main reasons: they need 24 hour nursing care and they need physical, occupational, speech or other therapies, and can tolerate them a minimum of three hours per day.

People come to rehab for a variety of specific reasons, too. They could be debilitated from a heart attack, pneumonia, surgery, or sometimes following hospitalization for a chronic condition. Many patients need to rebuild their endurance to go home. Most commonly, however, patients are sent to rehab following a stroke, traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury. In addition, there are also specialized rehab programs for the blind and amputees.

In terms of where you work, you can work in many rehab settings with just an LPN license or as a diploma nurse. Baccalaureate trained nurses are often preferred. Your experience can vary, because you’ll need both those med-surg skills, such as starting IVs, tube feedings, inserting catheters, as well as other specialized skills you’ll learn along the way. You may assist doctors in performing procedures on the unit, such as changing tracheotomy tubes, lumbar punctures or complex wound dressings. Some facilities may also want you to maintain ACLS certification, others not.

Rehab settings may seem “slow” or “boring” to some new nurses, but they’re not always that way. You’ll learn a lot about prioritizing patient care when three of your six patients are due to therapy all at the same time, and you need to assess, medicate them and perform your treatments. In some units, you have hustle and bustle, then a little quiet time, then hustle and bustle and a little more time again. It just depends on your patients and a variety of other factors. As the Boy Scouts say, be prepared just in case the unexpected happens.

Many facilities may want nurses with two years experience, or they may hire you as a new nurse right out of school. Rehab nurses work in a variety of settings outside the hospital including clinics, long term care facilities, home health agencies, schools and outpatient rehab facilities, to name a few.

You will also deal with a lot of psychosocial issues in rehab, so I like to tell people that rehab nursing is a combination of med-surg and psychiatric nursing. These two factors can be very exhausting as a new nurse, both physically and emotionally. Besides med-surg and psych skills, rehab nurses are a vital part of the treatment team. We work with every kind of therapist you can imagine: physical, occupational, recreational, speech, etc., as well as medical staff, chaplains, and psychologists. Rehab nurses provide vital feedback necessary for the rehab hospital to get reimbursement from insurance via their care plans and their participation in team conferences.

If you are practicing in a rehab setting for two years, you may qualify to sit for certification exams, including the CRRN (Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse –see http://www.rehabnurse.org/), MSCN (Multiple Sclerosis Certified Nurse—see http://www.ptcny.com/clients/MSNICB/index.html) or other related certifications, depending on your area of expertise.

So where do you go from here? It’s up to you. In my short career, I’ve seen nurses in rehab go on to work in ICUs, wound care clinics, home health agencies and as case managers. One nurse I worked with even became a nurse manager of a rehab unit. There are a wide variety of places in which you can use your skills. Always keep your eyes open! Be willing to learn new things and the world is your oyster.

About the author:

RehabRN is a certified rehabilitation nurse working for the one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems. Read more about her working life at the Hotel Rehab at http://rehabrn.blogspot.com.


Thank you so much RehabRN for contributing! That was excellent information about Rehabilitation Nursing!

Change of Shift

I’m feeling pretty special right about now. Nurse Teeny is hosting Change of Shift this go around and whadayaknow? I’m on there!! Head on over to her place to read this edition of Change of Shift. She did a great job.

Excuse me while I regress a few years

**Huge immature childish post ahead.


I need to whine. I need to get my “it’s so unfair” moment out of my system. I do realize I am almost 30 and this is going to make me sound like my 6 year old but frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.

My sister is a 24 year old college graduate. In fact she has had her BS in Biology for about two years now. The girl has held one job her entire life. Over a summer. 4 years ago. She has had every.single.thing handed to her on a silver, sometimes gold, platter. She has never had to work for anything. Her school was entirely paid for. Her room and board has been entirely paid for – and not in the sense of living with the ‘rents. She moved out and went to school in a different state at 18 and has been living off my parents dime the entire time. The girl can’t do anything on her own. She can’t make a decision without someone holding her hand. My mom has asked me SEVERAL times to fly out to where she is to hold her hand and help her find a job. Um, excuse me? You want ME to put my life on hold for several weeks to go help her figure out hers? Why can’t she walk her lazy ass up to the employment office at her college and have THEM help her? Oh, that’s right. Because she needs someone to walk her there.

I am beyond frustrated right now. I realize that I made different choices in life. I chose to quit college and get married shortly after high school. I chose to have children and start a family early. In my defense though, even while I WAS in school, I still had to have a job to pay for my room and board while my grandfather paid for my school. It isn’t like I had the same opportunities that she has been lucky enough to have had for the past 6 years.

I have been working my ass off over the last year to try to do what my sister has been taking for granted. Get an education. I don’t have any free rides or handouts. I struggle. I make my own choices. I research my own options. I worry about my family’s future and the last thing I have available to me is someone here holding my hand through the process. Someone holding out their checkbook for me at every single one of my whims.

My “it’s not fair” moment has stemmed from me recently (as of this morning) finding out that my dear little sister is taking an all expense paid (by the ‘rents) cruise for the summer. Now why does this bother me so much you might ask? Aside from the above, I asked my parents for help with school and was told that they just couldn’t afford it. With my sister still jobless, and them still supporting her, as well as having to support my brother on his mission (they are Mormon. I am obviously NOT – long story), they just don’t have the funds to help me out right now.

It hurts. It hurts that my whole life I have had to work for everything I have. The day I turned 16 I had a job and have had one ever since. I have never asked them for much at all. They have never had to support me like they have had to support my adult sister for the past 6 years. Now, when I really need some help, they can’t, or won’t help because my sister is sucking them dry and they are letting her.

I am angry, and disappointed, and feeling sorry for myself. I know that life it not fair. That doing this on my own will make me appreciate it more, blah, blah, blah. I know this. But right now, I just don’t care.

I am hurt.