Nice

If you work in a service industry, too often you hear more complaints than thanks. On the night before Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of taking care of an elderly patient who arrived via ambulance with a complaint of difficulty breathing. Everything appeared routine - we applied oxygen, settled her in and was able to stabilize her fairly quickly.  Within the hour, her two daughters arrived and was able to provide additional medical history that was helpful when treating their mother.

As I was going interacting with their mother, one of the daughters asked me "Do all the nurses here enjoy their work?" I must admit, I was suspicious - was this person setting me up for something? So I replied "I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you that I enjoy what I do." The daughter then proceeded to tell me that they've had great experiences each time they are here in the ER. I thanked her for the compliment.

We admitted her mother to the hospital for observation that night - to ensure that she was indeed stabilized. As transport was moving her mother out of the ER, the daughter approached me and handed me a comment card that we have throughout the ER. I didn't get a chance to read it at first, but when I caught my breath and sat for a moment, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Here is the "Hospital Recognition Gram...." Note: I've used the word "Hospital" instead of the true hospital name in an attempt to keep the patient's identity anonymous.

Dear: (Name of CFO)

Department/Site: ER Department

"This hospital's nurses are the best. Check my mom's records and you will see - we should know. Never have we been treated rudely or unattended. The nurses in ER and Telemetry, no matter the hour or what day, are always kind and caring. The feeling they project is that they all love their job. This hospital must be a wonderful place to work."

My sincere thanks to this family for taking the time out of a stressful day and writing a brief note that was thoughtful and generous. 

12 Days of Thanksgiving...

New year's resolution... (I know it's only Thanksgiving)...blog more. I saw this the other day and I thought it would be fun to share...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

On the First Day..... We give thanks for the fresh turkey feast and its hot trimmings.
On the Second Day..... We bless the cold turkey sandwiches, sloshy cranberry sauce, and hard rolls.
On the Third Day..... We praise the turkey pie and vintage mixed veggies.
On the Fourth Day..... We thank the pilgrims for not serving bison that first time, or we'd be celebrating Thanksgiving until April.
On the Fifth Day..... We gobble up cubed bird casserole and pray for a glimpse of a naked turkey carcass.
On the Sixth Day..... We show gratitude (sort of) to the creative cook who slings cashews at the turkey and calls it Oriental.
On the Seventh Day..... We forgive our forefathers and pass the turkey-nugget pizza.
On the Eighth Day..... The word ''vegetarian'' keeps popping into our heads.
On the Ninth Day..... We check our hair to make sure we're not beginning to sprout feathers.
On the Tenth Day..... We hope that the wing meat kabobs catch fire under the broiler.
On the Eleventh Day..... We smile over the creamed gizzard because the thigh bones are in sight.
On the Twelfth Day..... We apologize for running out of turkey leftovers. And everybody says, "Amen!"

Cicadas have invaded

For those of you who have never experienced a "cicada season" or have never even heard of a cicada, consider yourself lucky. Growing up in Columbus, I'd heard of cicadas (or as we locals incorrectly called them "locusts"). They were random insects that you could hear in the woods and sometimes during the day, but they were just another insect. See picture below...


In Cincinnati, I have completely lost my innocence regarding these vile prehistoric looking bugs. Even 17 years or so, Cincinnati (I'm sure they are in other parts of the country/world, but I'm focusing on my month of hell here in Cinci) experiences a Cicada season where these bugs crawl out of the ground after hibernating for 17 years and latch themselves to a tree, fence, house - anything they can wrap their little legs on. They soon molt out of their shell (see pic below) and become the big ugly bug you see above.

Now, if these bugs just stayed in the trees and played their music, I would be fine. But, oh no, that would be too easy. Today I experienced Kamikaze cicadas - my windshield will never be the same. As I drove home from work, I felt as if I was under attack. The cicadas would smash into my windshield and leave bug juice running down the glass. If they were small little bugs, no problem, but these are monster bugs. Even turning my radio up full blast, I could block out the sound of the cicadas hitting the car, but I could still feel them. It's going to take me a while to recover. Thankfully, they are only around for a month - or so I'm told. I'm seriously considering taking a month hiatus 17 year's from now to avoid this whole "experience."

Below is my brave niece who excitedly met me at the door and told me that she had caught 13 cicadas at the park and brought them home so she can have cicadas in her backyard 17 years from now. She even demonstrated how one carefully picks up a cicada (should one have the urge to see these things up close and personal).

Why I do my job...

People frequently ask me if I like being nurse - it's difficult to put into words the difference between my career as an account and nursing. One of the big differences is the amount of humor that I find in nursing. A prime example...

As nurses, not only do we do a physical assessment of our patients at least once a shift (lung sounds, heart tones, amount of edema, etc..), we also perform psychological assessments. A basic psych assessment evaluates if the patient is alert and oriented to person, place and time. Typically, you can ask the patient 3 questions - What's your name/birthdate? Do you know where you are? and Do you know today's date? Sometimes that last questions is asked in different ways (heck, sometimes I don't know today's date)... I'll ask them if they know who the president is... Some of my favorite answers...

Person/Birthdate:
"Don't you know who I am?"

"I was born in 1923... you do the math and tell me how old I am." (BTW - a clever way of a patient avoiding the question about the current date)

Place:
"When in doubt, Bethesda North." (Obviously, this person had been asked this question many times and still wasn't sure where he was.) I had to sit down in the patient's room I was laughing so hard.

"It says right there on the board 'Bethesda North Hospital', chief. Is that really where I am?!"

Cow Patty Bingo

Just when you thought you've seen it all, I witnessed a new level of entertainment last night. Three of us ventured to a minor league baseball game in Florence, KY (a stone's throw from Cinci). The theme of the weekend (according to the ballpark) was Hill Billy Weekend. Not to be snotty, but I didn't think Kentuckians needed to specify a weekend to celebrate their culture. To me, that's like having "Geek Weekend" in Silicon Valley... I digress...

One of the highlights of Hill Billy Weekend was Cow Patty Bingo after the Saturday night game (which unfortunately, the Freedom lost to the Grizzlies 5-6). The locals were crushed. Cow Patty Bingo details... For a $5 contribution to the Boone County Animal Shelter, the contributor would get a utility-orange flag with a number on it. After the game, the contributors were instructed to plant their flag in the left outfield (in a roped off area). When all the flags were planted, Norman, the cow was led onto the field. From there, he walked among the flags while everyone in the stands stared at him and were praying that he would poop closest or even on their flag. For the person's flag closest to the poop, won the bingo and was entitled to 1/2 of the money collected for the shelter.


Poor Norman was suffering from performance anxiety was so many people staring at him. After about 15-20 minutes of being walked back and forth in a grid-like pattern, Norman finally lifted his tail and did the dirty deed. Unfortunately, I did not win. Maybe next year....


Are dancing chickens supposed to have pink hair?!?!

Lost in Translation

While tooling around in the various historical sites, I came across a few signs that caught my attention.

At the Forbidden City, we found a few signs that would fit this category... Here is my favorite. I'm sure the phrase "no scratch" is not what the Chinese were going for in this sign, but it gets the point across... I guess.

This other sign was in the Lama Temple. This is an active Buddhist temple where followers are praying and tourists are snapping pictures and absorbing the atmosphere. One of the many things being "absorbed" was the incense that was being burned in front of the mini-temples throughout the park. I guess that's why I thought this sign was a bit ironic (notice the really big urn to the left of the picture).

Bucket List

I haven't had a chance to see the movie, The Bucket List, but I know the gist of the story...two men are trying to complete items on their List of things to do before they kick the bucket. Hence, the Bucket List.

I think it's import to work on the Bucket List while you can and not wait until you know the end is near. I was able to put a check mark on one of my Bucket List items during my trip to China...to visit the Great Wall of China.

Many thanks to Cara for being our chauffeur and knowing the perfect spot for us to visit the Wall.