Fly Me To The Moon

Ok, funny story about work now that it's over- it was not funny at the time.  


Last night I had a patient whose heart rate was dipping into the 30s... not good.  A heart cannot perfuse a little old man's body with a heart rate of 32.  During the night I'd checked on him a number of times and each time he was his typical self - talkative, cooperative, oriented to himself, time and place.  


The song of my night was "Fly me to the Moon" by 'ol Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra.  Let me tell you why--


Well!  At 5:40, I go to check on him, draw his morning labs and get a set of vital signs (blood pressure, oxygen saturation, temperature, etc).  He was definitely not himself this time.  He was resistant, moaning, groaning, wheezing a little bit, and he even reached his arm up to tickle me in the armpit - weird!  The longer I had him awake the more odd he was becoming.  After asking him a few questions to see what was going on, he made me nervous.  


Me: "Mr. So-and-so, where are we?"  
Patient: "The moon." (dead serious)
Me:  No, we are not on the moon.  Don't play.  Where are we?
Pt: "We're on the moon"


Oh boy.  I paged the doctor (again- the first time he said, ok, I'll come look at the telemetry monitor-the monitor that shows his heart rate and rhythm - my thought is he should come look at the patient too!).  He comes to see the patient, we get another set of vital signs, his blood sugar is 90 (a-ok), his blood pressure was a little low but he had been running low since being admitted, his physical exam was normal (other than his wheezing), all that was really off was his mental status - uh oh.  If your mental status changes, you're in trouble.


We gave him a medication called Atropine which works to increase the heart rate.  We also gave him some IV fluids over a quick amount of time and sent him for a CT scan of his brain.  Shortly after getting the Atropine he perked up a bit but the most astounding part was after he returned from CT.  He was totally back to himself!  He was no longer wheezing, heart rate came up to the low 50s, he was awake, talkative, cooperative, funny, he knew exactly what room we were in and chuckled when I told him that earlier he'd said we were on the moon!


It's amazing what some Atropine and normal saline can do!


Fly me to the moon... let me pay among the stars...


I'm glad I could bring this man back to earth, he wasn't ready to start seeing what spring is like from Jupiter and Mars (at least not on my watch!).

Life Is Wonderful

Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful


Life is so good.  I don't think that I portray that enough on here.  It really is good, and maybe I use this site to complain a little too much.  This is a positive post.  Nothing but good.


The song of the day is Jason Mraz's, "Life is Wonderful."  Jason Mraz is one of my favorite singers for his quirky, simple lyrics.


I am so blessed and need to portray that more.  God has been good to me and this is my opportunity to praise Him.


Even though the Bears lost last weekend and will not be going to the Superbowl, life is still good.  Even though it's freezing cold outside, life is still good.  Today I got a delicious cupcake with a good friend and had a really good talk.  Life is good.  Tomorrow I am having lunch with a friend before she makes her trek back to Georgia for work.  Life is good.  My family is happy and healthy.  Life is good.


Life is wonderful, in fact.


One of my favorite things to do is people watch and today was a prime day for that with the different L trips I made and errands I ran.  Today, most people seemed happy.  Maybe because it was Tuesday and now they're almost half-way through the week, maybe it's because the wind has died down a bit, or maybe it's just because they were having a good day, like myself.


The more you smile, the better you feel.  So, tomorrow, smile, and maybe you'll feel like your life is wonderful too :-).

If Everyone Cared

I had the night off tonight, so I was able to watch a number of news programs that I don't typically watch (I'm usually more of a CNN.com kinda girl so I can pick and choose what news I want to be aware of).

I think about the fact that I am just one person out of billions on this planet a lot.  Often times I think, 'well, who cares if I don't recycle that newspaper' or 'I don't have time to hold the door for that person a few steps back.'  Well, what if I cared a little bit more.  What if we all cared a little bit more.

Today's song is Nickelback's "If Everyone Cared."  One of the lyrics is 'And as we lie beneath the starts we realize how small we are.'  What if everyone remembered how small we are, but what a great impact each of us could have if we all cared about our planet and about the people around us?

If everyone cared a little bit more, maybe we could see an end to bullying.  Maybe we could see an end to war.  Maybe we could see an end to the extreme waste and destruction of our planet.  Maybe we could all get off of our computers and do something nice for someone.  Stop texting and get off your phone and be aware.  Smile at the person you're walking past, they could be having the worst day of their life and a smile could change the course of their day.  Take a moment to step outside of yourself and see that even you, a single person on the planet, can make a true difference if you just care.

Free To Be Me

‘Cause I got a couple dents in my fender
Got a couple rips in my jeans
Try to fit the pieces together 
But perfection is my enemy
On my own I'm so clumsy
But on Your shoulders I can see
I'm free to be me


The song of the day - or week since I haven't written in awhile - is 'Free to Be Me' by Francesca Battistelli.


This is one of my favorite songs and I would've posted the lyrics for the entire song above, but then it would've made this post entirely too long and if anybody is still reading this, then I am sure they wouldn't have finished it :-).


I first heard this song after I got a scrape on my car a few years ago- convenient huh?  I laughed.  I was so upset about the scrape and here God was telling me that 'it's ok, stop trying to be PERFECT!'  Well, my car was certainly no longer perfect and since then my life has been anything but - it wasn't perfect before, but I liked to think that it was - now I'm ok with the way that it is and the way that I am.  A few months after the scrape I was rear-ended and there are now a couple of dents in my fender as well.  No biggie, I'm ok with that.  If that's the least of my problems, I'm doing pretty well!


The reason that this song goes with my past week is that it's still a constant struggle to admit my faults and to accept that while some of them I do need to work on, some of them are just who I am and can't be changed.  I need to stop doubting God and trusting that He knows what He is doing.  So, here's to being free to be me!

While We're Young and Beautiful

As a nurse working on a cardiac floor with some very sick patients, I am faced with my own mortality every time I swipe my badge and face my patients.


Lately we have had some patients who have come to us for what they thought was a simple pain or discomfort.  We do our tests and we find cancer that has been growing for months if not years.  I took care of a dear lady for a few nights and she has recently been told that she has masses all throughout her upper body, but we're not sure whether or not they are cancerous and how to even go about getting a biopsy for them to find out if the masses are malignant.  The first night I had her she told me that she didn't even know what to feel.  She didn't feel like she could cry for herself and she didn't feel sorry for herself.  I tried to be as supportive as I could, but it was clear that she really just didn't want to talk.  


The following night a simple comment she made at 4am about how she misses her computer (let me tell you that she is in her 80s and has a facebook account and frequents yahoo games and youtube) led into an almost hourlong conversation about her outlook.  We went from talking about her computer and social life to her thoughts on facing her mortality.  She is not ready to face what's possibly coming as she has more procedures and gets more information about her health.  She isn't secure with the legacy she is leaving behind and isn't ready to leave her incredible sounding support system.  She's not ready to let go.


I wish I could've spent more time talking to her but it was a crazy shift and I was feeling the pressure of getting around to the rest of my patients to draw their morning labs.  


I've been thinking about our conversation the past few days and have some questions.  I hope that when it comes time for me to leave this life that I am satisfied with the life that I've lived and the legacy that I'm leaving behind, but how many people can honestly say this about their lives?  At the age of 23, I can certainly say that I am not satisfied with the life that I've lived.  I don't know that I've even done anything worthy of 'leaving a legacy' at this point in my life.  There are so many things that I still want to learn, see, and experience.  God willing, I will have plenty of time to make a life for myself that has little regret and much satisfaction.


The song of the past few days is Carrie Underwood's "While We're Young and Beautiful."  


I'm young and I need to remember to live each moment as if it's my last and to never take what I've been given for granted.


Any thoughts?