What's that smell?

If you are easily grossed out, this is not a post for you.  If you are a nurse you will die laughing, after you finish retching. 

Friday was Valentine's Day.  It was a great day for me.  I had an unexpected present from my parents and an unexpected email that had me smiling all day.  And I can happily say this story did not happen to me.

It was towards the end of shift and a a patient had decided to have a GI Bleed.  For those not in health care this produces a very distinct odor.  The nurse of this patient continued to complain that she could still smell it, even though those sitting by her no longer could.  Just before end of shift, as night shift was arriving, she happened to look down as someone commented on her badge only to realize she had GI Bleed on her badge and shirt.  This produced quite a bit of hysteria for her and muscle cramping laughter for the rest of us, even as we tried to fix the situation.  Guess she wasn't lying about that smell.

And today I found a reason no hospital should have double rooms, ever.  I was getting an admission into a semi-private room.  There are really only 2 rules for patients in semi-private rooms according to our unit secretary: neither patient can be in contact isolation and they must be the same gender.  Doesn't seem too complicated, really.

My patient arrived while I was busy giving medications, and the patient was placed in the room.  The patients daughter approached the desk shortly after their arrival to notify the charge nurse that the patient who was already in the room was not the same gender as my new patient.  Thankfully my patient had a good sense of humor about it and we shortly had them in a private room.

The best part was the cardiologist sitting next to me.  His comment "Welcome to Obamacare, we are all just citizens"  I told him that comment would end up in my blog, he said he didn't mind being quoted. 

Anyway, I think from now on I will try to avoid working 4 shifts in a row during the full moon.  I am just not sure what else to blame for all the craziness that was the last four days.  I just know I don't know how any of that actually happened.

Still shaking my head about that...

So I think I must say "did that really just happen" more than the average person.  I cannot believe the list of things that have happened in the last week that I'm still not sure actually happened!  I now wonder if I wander around looking confused all the time because of all the things I see that make me double take and shake my head.

Last week at work I had a few of these moments in one day.  I was reading a physician dictation that said the patient had failed a medication treatment in the future.  I still haven't figured that one out.  And then the psychiatrist saw my patient and came to me to tell me the patient was acting really weird.  Isn't weird his specialty?? 

My folks got to enjoy Arizona weather for a few days, and I was off to enjoy it with them.  Another shaking my head moment here:  I go pick them up from the airport.  I pull up beside them and they are still looking at the oncoming traffic.  I guess 5 weeks is all it takes to forget what the car looks like.

We did have a wonderful whirlwind time.  We saw an Esteban gig (concert seems too formal), we visited Sedona which even cloudy was gorgeous.  We took the scenic route up to Flagstaff and decided we were not appropriately dressed for snow once we got there and promptly headed back to Scottsdale.  Sunday was my favorite, dad was the speaker for the IMPACT church service.  He did a great job and I cannot explain how humbled I am by God's direction in my life that allowed me to be here and experience that.  I do feel awful they had to go back to the arctic, but still thankful I got to stay here to soak up more sun.  I'm trying quite hard to get enough Vitamin D for everyone back home.

Today at Starbucks I watched with some alarm as a man went straight into the women's bathroom.  I almost said something, but am so glad I didn't, because the girl next to me moved and I saw the sign on the men's door saying out of order.

Tonight at Albertsons was my favorite moment.  I was getting in line to pay and I noticed an employee open the refrigerated beverage unit, pull out a water, take a drink and put it back.  It truly took a few seconds to realize I had indeed just seen that happen.  So I backed up a few steps to take a look and she had her water laying on top of the drinks for sale.  I guess that's how she keeps her water cool, but I think it's disturbing and I will not be buying beverages from the end unit ever again.


If you want to see pictures of the latest adventures here is the link.  There are some from Esteban, Sedona and the Biosphere 2, which I saw yesterday with another gypsy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35077813@N03/