Heads up!

OK, just so you know, nurses are overworked. My last two work days have been incredibly stressful, partly because I have only recently been turned loose from orientation, where I had somebody with some experience helping me that I don't have anymore, partly because the patients I had were extremely sick and/or demanding, and partly because one and possibly more of our physicians are complete dicks.
I am an oncology nurse in a major cancer center, so you expect people to be really sick and also dealing with some fairly emotional issues. I'm really good with people and can usually smooth the roughest of feathers, but I came up against someone the other day who could not be charmed. Tough enough, but it was the same day another patient was in serious trouble (she died later that night), and I had two patients with intractable pain and nausea. So I was running from one to the other with morphine and antiemetics while trying to keep the one patient alive and the other appeased. (I am constantly amazed at people who think that "nurse" is another word for "concierge").
Anyway, as you're voting this year,(which of course, you will do because you are a concerned citizen), vote for people who are concerned about nurse staffing ratios. Hospitals, in order to control costs, are always sometimes trying to give nurses more patients, while also asking them to take more responsibility for the care of said patients, and to learn more complicated equipment and such. We also are required to learn about a dizzying array of new medications coming on the market at any given time, and when we get too busy, it's not safe for patients. Laws need to be passed in this country to mandate safe nurse/patient ratios.
On a lighter note, you will be happy to know that the E! network has a new reality series beginning October 2 called, "House of Carters", showing what happens when Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter decides to have his brother and sisters move in with him in order to straighten everybody out because they had such horrid childhoods. Holt worked for the family for a time at their compound in the lovely Florida Keys and I can tell you, these kids never had a chance. A perfect example of how easily money can corrupt people with negligible intelligence. I would post a link to the promotional site if I knew how to post a link, but I don't, so you will just have to find it yourself.
Also on a lighter note, Holt and I went to the local high school football game on Friday to watch Martin march with the band, playing his mellophone. Martin never missed a step, and the band sounded great. The team also won 57-13, which is not really much of a game, if you ask me, but it gave the band the opportunity to play the school fight song a lot from the stands. When you work in a high stress occupation, it is also nice to experience a little slice of Americana once in a while.

Ah, life!

Hello, fellow travelers. Yes, yes, I know I've been away a long time, but I kind of got busy. The last time we talked, I was struggling through my first year of nursing school. Well, I made it through that one and the next, and passed the big test with flying colors. I now sign RN after my name, even on checks, and three or four days a week have peoples' actual lives in my hands. It is by far the most rewarding thing I have ever done with my life, on a personal level as well as financial. Not that I in any way am doing this for the money, it would never be enough. But it is a nice change to have a predictable income at our house, as it has been a very long time since that happened.
I would love to be able to share stories of my work life, but unfortunately what with the confidentiality laws and all, I must not, unless I can think of really sneaky ways to do it and protect the identities of patients and myself from getting sued or fired or both. We'll see.
I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be alive at this particular time in human development. All the attention on foreign countries and such has made me think a lot about what it means to be American as well. It seems to me we have lost something very basic here. It struck me today as I was thumbing through a magazine about kitchen remodeling. (Mine needs some updating.) I wondered at the vast assortment of products available and how each one was presented in a "you NEED to have this" kind of a way. So many of us are looking for something, trying to fill a hole with the latest, greatest whatever, or thinking that we need a huge house, or a new car, or better clothes, when really and truly, what we need is just each other. I worry about an America that sets such great store by what we possess, and such little store by supporting each other. I worry about what will happen when it all comes crashing down (as it surely will) around us and all we have is each other to depend on. Other people in the world know how to get by with practically nothing, but what will we do without cars, or microwaves, or grocery stores? Do we still have the drive and the injenuity to make it work out? Or will we descend into chaos? Hmmmmm.