christmas cray

...because it's not christmas until we're wrestling with a hallucinating amputee who's trying to run from the guy who's trying to kill him in his room.

restraints and haldol to all and to all a good night.

these are a few of my favorite things

lately i've been trying to find joy and satisfaction in whatever i can at work.  typically this comes in the form of things patient say and gross medical procedures.  so without further ado...

• patient diagnosis overheard in report "got shanked at the library".  dangerous places, those libraries

• awesome coworker's patient was vomiting non-stop and needed an NG.  i was her second set of hands and watched her put in a beautiful NG that pulled 2,125 ccs of bile out of the patient's stomach.  picture a 2 liter bottle of soda...yeah, that much.  it was a magical experience.  

•  new terminology: "chronic GSW".  you know, for when we take care of you after you get shot on more than one occasion.  you'd be surprised by how many repeat customers we get...they are the ones that i like to target with my "make good choices" speeches.  

• the patient satisfaction surveys... full of gems such as "you don't have MSNBC on the tv" and "the vending machine took my money".  my personal favorite were the responses from two different patients, one of which said "don't bring me water unless i ask for it" and the other "i shouldn't have to ask for water to be brought to me".  yes, these are the things that our patient scores depend on.  

• our developmentally delayed pt who wanted to go "take a tour" of some newly constructed rooms so he could request one for his next surgery, all while decked out in christmas gear with stuffed elves hanging from his IV pole.  cute.  

• we have had such good residents lately!!  attentive, smart, wanting to collaborate...a holiday miracle, for sure.  

• my wonderful coworkers.  they get me, and they remind me who i really am and the kind of nurse i want to be.  

the last few months have been hard for me, that's for sure.  but i DO have things that i love about my job and i DO have so much to be thankful for.