Night Shift Diaries: Final Installment

I finished my final capstone shift a few weeks ago at UVRMC. I must say, it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be to finish. 

I've grown so much through this experience, and discovered that what I am really capable of. 

I've learned to be fiercely independent in caring for my patients. 

I've also learned that it's perfectly okay to ask for help. 

I have learned that having a good group of people that you work with can make any night pretty fantastic, despite the patient load or the "crankiness" of those patients. 

I built friendships and relationships that I hope to keep for quite some time. 

I found that I secretly (or not so secretly) love working night shift.

A few highlights from my last night shift as a nursing student:

-Addictions

Myles is an addict going through withdrawal.

Actually, he's an addict to students who do all his work.

On my last shift, he mentioned it was good that he had worked the day before too, because then he could go through withdrawal and get one last hit before I was really done.

He was complaining that he was going through withdrawal and actually had to do his own work.

Of course, he was kidding.

But it made me feel pretty good to know I had actually been helpful and not a drag.

Since finishing, I have visited a few times. 

Each time, Myles reminds me that he misses my help.

We've decided we make an excellent team and could handle anything.

-Laughing

The 6th floor is a great place to laugh about balls and weenies.

Meat balls, that is.

And the little sausage weenies in barbecue sauce.

Generally, the 6th floor is a great place to laugh hysterically about anything.

-Polygamy

We had a polygamist patient on the floor.

Myles said he might ask me to be his wife.

I replied that IF he asked me that, I would punch him in the balls.

-Excellent work ethic

On my last shift, Myles and I split up the work to divide and conquer.

I complimented (very sarcastically) his excellent work ethic.

He helped get all of our stuff done before I left.

His reasoning: he has to get used to doing all his own work again.

-Homemade brownies

I seriously would bring brownies at least every other week.

It's nice to have a little treat to help you make it through the evening.

Everyone loves them.

It's nothing crazy. Just a fudge brownie and a dark chocolate brownie mixed together.

Myles was eating one of said brownies.

Then he made a smart ass comment to Mycami, and started choking.

We couldn't help but laugh.

That's what you get.

-Your mom jokes.

Traci came into the break room while we were eating lunch and had to share the following two jokes.

Admittedly, they were stupid.

And that's why it was so funny.

Joke #1: Your mom's so dumb she bought tickets to Xbox live.

Joke #2: Your mom's so ugly she went to a One direction concert and they ran the other direction.

-Last highlight of the evening: I started an IV on Myles!

Success. I've still got it.

Guess it wasn't too painful after all.

And so ends my night shift career (for now) on the 6th floor at UVRMC.

It's been real.

And I really loved each moment of it.

How could you not with so many awesome people to work with?

I can't wait to go back.

Night Shift Diaries: Installment 2

This morning I finished my first 3 in a row.

Let's just say I slept from 7 till 3 today after I got home.

It was totally wicked.

I finally feel like I'm getting it.

The confidence thing is getting better and better.

I can do an assessment and chart it without much difficulty.

I took 3 patients on my own this week, and then helped with the other patients as well.

I actually feel like I'm making progress and one day I'll actually be able to take 6 patients. 

It's a great feeling.

I got home on Tuesday morning and threw my scrubs in the washer.

I took a nap, switched the wash, and got ready for work.

I went to work, and then came home to get ready for clinical.

HUGE problem: my white scrub top was dirty.

AFTER being washed.

The sleeves have a weird grey hue to them and the whole shirt has weird spots on it.

What gives!

So instead of getting the brownies finished, I had to leave early to go buy a new scrub top.

Sucked. I had to bring brownies because Myles and I lost a bet.

You see on Monday night, we were watching Love it or List it while eating lunch.

We bet with Bruce (the pct) that they would love the house. He thought they would list it.

Loser brought dessert. 

Myles and I lost. They listed the house.

Anyway, so I left the brownies at home.

Dan so sweetly and lovingly brought them to me at the hospital around 9.

It was so nice to see him for a few minutes.

We don't get to see each other as often as we'd like because I'm doing nights. 

It's all in the little things for us these days.

And the brownies were a huge hit!

The second highlight of the evening was not a pretty one.

I have smelled some pretty awful things in the last 3 years of nursing school.

Truly.

I know everyone who works in health care has inadvertently smelled some pretty terrible things.

But never have I ever actually started to heave because of a smell.

I've come close, but have always been able to pull myself together and soldier on.

Last night, it happened.

I started gagging and heaving at a smell.

Myles had warned me about it, but I figured it's just like the other smells.

You just don't breathe through your nose and really just don't breathe at all if you can help it.

It didn't work.

Oh heavenly days I was so glad that no one could see me and that any inflection in my voice didn't change.

I walked right back out, with a good excuse of needing to get some clorox wipes.

It was the strangest feeling!

My eyes were watering and I could feel my blood pressure dropping.

Seriously, I've never actually almost thrown up because of a smell.

Now I can check that off the bucket list. 

Thankfully after 5 min or so of pulling myself together, I walked right back in and finished the task.

No gagging or heaving.

I know this is totally disgusting, but it's these little gems that I want to remember.

Stinky smells are not gems per say, but it's an impactful memory for me. 

One that reminds me that I can do anything when I have the drive and motivation to get it done.

Another gem that I forgot to blog about:

A week or so ago, we had a patient that had CBI.

Unfortunately, the catheter kept clotting off so we would have to slam in 60mL of saline to try to break up the clots.

If the catheter is not super securely held, the force of pushing in the saline will pop the syringe right off.

I was helping Myles and when he started to push in the saline, I got sprayed.

No joke.

With bloody, urine saline.

Disgusting.

But seriously hilarious.

Myles felt so bad, but it was super funny.

Especially now.

Anyway, there's the funnies for the last few weeks.

On a bright note, I am more than halfway done with my clinical shifts!

10 down. 8 to go!!

Night Shift Diaries: Installment 1

I worked at the hospital last night. 

It was epic. For several reasons. 

Let's start from the top.

Myles was charging, so I had to be there an hour earlier than the usual 6pm.

Normal 5 o'clock traffic getting off the freeway in Provo.

I switch lanes because the left turn lane is 3 blocks away.

I notice that everyone in front of me is slowing down.

Expected. 5 o'clock traffic. 

Then it's a sudden stop.

I could've crapped a brick. I was not expecting it. 

Thankfully, I had space to stop without totally slamming on the brakes. 

Then the dead stop doesn't start to move again. 

For 1 minute. 2 minutes. 3 minutes.

In my head, I'm thinking what the heck is going on?!

I started looking around and that's when I saw a guy writhing in pain on the road. 

Motorcycle sideways on the street. 

My heart completely sank. 

In that moment, I was reassured that neither my husband nor my children will ever own a motorcycle. 

We then continued to sit there for 10 more minutes or so. 

The police show up. Then the ambulance and the fire truck. 

Thankfully, the guy looked okay because he was moving around some, and he had a helmet on.

The next few minutes were interesting. 

I had to reverse my car a block to get around the accident.

It was an experience I hope never to do again. 

I stopped by Dan's work to quickly say hello and goodbye.

You see, I was already late. 

I was supposed to be on the floor at the hospital as I pulled into Dan's work.

I had to stop though. 

I wouldn't see him for the next 12 hours and even then, only for a few precious moments before he would have to leave for work.

Working nights kind of sucks a lot in that respect.

But it's okay. We make the time in those little moments.

When I got back into the car to leave, it wouldn't start.

Seriously. WTF.

Guess what? I pulled in so fast that I didn't shift the car into park.

In fact, it was stuck in reverse.

*Palm to face.*

Dan came to the rescue and all was well.

Finally made it to the hospital 15 minutes late. Not the end of the world. 

The shift was awesome.

Actually, a little on the slow side.

But it turned out to be brilliant.

Probably the best shift I've ever had in terms of morale.

Tracey, Myles and  I all got the giggles around 330 and we were doomed since then.

I'm sure most of it was the tired and too much caffeine.

But it was hilarious.

So much in fact Myles and I would go into fits of giggles for the rest of the shift.

I had to leave the charge nurse report because I couldn't stop laughing.

I tried to compose myself and come back in.

I opened the door and looked at Myles and immediately started right in laughing again.

The best part about it all, it was the kind of laughing that makes your stomach hurt.

And then you start crying because you just can't help yourself.

It was fantastic.

Now, to get some sleep and then go for round 2 tonight.

Bring it on.

I'm making brownies and we may be teaching Myles how to twerk.

Stay tuned.

Destruction at it's finest

Lately, Miss Ruby has taken to being a destructive little crap face. 

And I say crap face with the utmost love for her. 

But really. Dan sent me this picture last night while I was working at the hospital.

Yeah. She tore open the couch. 

To what end, I'll never know nor will I understand. 

She baffles me when she acts out.

She really never destroys anything. Not even when she was teething. 

And now, at almost 5 months old, she's taken to being destructive. 

Go team.

Thankfully 98% of the time, she's cute and snuggly like this.

Oh Ruby girl. 

You slay me sometimes. 

Here's to much more frequent and longer walks to get out this excess puppy energy. 

Night life

I did my first night shift on Friday. 

Holy cow it was exciting/nerve racking/interesting/fulfilling/exhausting.

Did you catch all that? 

I'm very proud to say that I survived and with only minimal caffeine. 

But we'll get to that part. 

I was supposed to work on Friday, but I had told Scott that I wouldn't be in because it was my first shift and all that jazz. I had planned to run a few errands in the morning, take half a benadryl around 11, sleep till 3, and then get ready to go. 

First shift and all, I wanted to be prepared and ready to go. 

As all well-laid plans go, it went straight to hell.

Not even kidding. 

I got guilted into coming into work, and what was supposed to be only an hour to help with charts turned into 2.5 hours and lunch to Masa (which if you've never been, GO!! Right now. Delicious.).

After finally getting home, I started getting ready and suddenly was completely dreading going to clinical. 

It's that awful pit feeling in your stomach.

I get it every semester before the first clinical. 

This was no different. 

Except no preassessment on my patient.

And it's night shift. 

NBD.

I stopped by Dan's work on the way to clinical, said hello, I love you, all that cute gushy stuff that married people say to each other. Reminded him of a few things I needed him to do when he got home, and I was off. 

Walking into the hospital, I had a minor moment of panic. You see there are 2 sets of elevators at UVRMC: the west elevators and the east elevators, the latter being the ones I needed to take. However, I didn't know the east elevators existed. 

I've only been on the west elevators to see a friend who had a baby.

Those elevators only go up to the 4th floor.

I needed to get up to the 6th floor. 

In my minor moment of panic, I decided to keep walking around the corner hoping and praying that another set of elevators would appear. 

Lo and behold, there they were. In all their shiny chrome glory. 

My preceptor is awesome. Hands down he's pretty legit. 

His name is Myles and I'd say we're in for a rocking semester. 

It's always nice when within 5 minutes of meeting someone you can joke around and be laughing. 

We had a great night. Fairly uneventful. New admit, and an adventure down to radiology. 

Did I mention I didn't get a nap at all on Friday? 

Well, I paid for that dearly between the hours of 1 and 3 am. 

Nodding off, my body practically begging for some sleep.

My preceptor even told me I could go take a quick nap. 

To which I definitely declined.

Seriously, never forgetting that again. The nap, I mean.  

I had a great and glorious plan to forego the caffeine. 

As I mentioned above, like most greatly laid plans, that went straight to hell. 

I finally caved around 245 and found the nearest vending machine. 

Surprisingly, I sipped it very slowly. Not really sure why, but it helped. 

I didn't get this huge jolt/rush of caffeine to my system. So, while I did wake up, I didn't crash 2 hours later, which was a huge blessing.

I just knew if I could make it to 4 am I would be totally fine. 

The rest of the evening whisked right on by, and before I knew it, we were giving report to the oncoming nurse. And when I say we, I mean Myles.

Let's be honest: first shift, the only thing I was super comfortable with besides head to toe assessments was hanging IVs. 

Got that in the bag. 

I learned a few great tips from Myles in the first shift: 

1. Chart as you go. That way it never gets put off and you don't have to remember what you did. 

2. Be a real human being with the patient's. 

I know that last one sounds pretty obvious, but it was really refreshing to see someone actually implement it. Sometimes, and I'm definitely guilty of it, nurses get too busy and too caught up in what they need to get done, that they don't take a minute to just sit with the family and talk to them. It was great to see that put into action and how well it works. 

And because we could all use a good duck face at 630 am after being awake for 23 hours....

One shift down, 17 to go. 

Oh brother.