More than once, my brother and my uncle have said "why don't you write a book?' to me.
I replied to my brother today,Ha! If I wrote a book, it would be about the insanity and chaos that is long term care nursing!
Last night at work, I happened upon a very young (41) year old stroke patient who is slightly MR (mentally retarded) who was drinking water, even though she is supposed to be NOTHING by mouth....they are trying to retrain her how to swallow,she currently has a tube feeding in. I confiscated the drinking cup, and reiterated the reminder she had been given on the previous shift, when they caught her EATING, that she is to have nothing by mouth.
Why is it the 'problem children' are always the ones that are so resourceful,lol. Later in the night, she had somehow procured ANOTHER water pitcher, and we again caught her drinking water and again confiscated the pitcher,etc.etc. (keep in mind that she is hooked up to her tube feeding at night, and it had not alarmed....so I don't know how she gets around to do all this!!!)
Determined, it seems, to do what she wants regardless of the health problems it can cause her (aspiration pneumonia,choking) she very resourcefully in the morning decided to drink her BATHWATER from the wash basin set up on her table!! This didn't go as well as she had apparently hoped....she dumped the water from the wash basin all over the floor in the process,sort of to be expected as have you ever tried to drink from a square basin full of water without spilling it? Her roommate rang to mention that their entire room was covered in water!
When I left this morning, she was wheezing like a train engine and stomping around trying to see if she could get someone eating breakfast to slip her some food...and also glaring at ME, because I am, of course, the 'bad guy' who kept taking away her drinking glasses all night and lecturing her.I had checked her 'code status' and she IS a full code, which means we would have to administer CPR should her heart stop or she goes into respiratory distress....a pretty likely scenario,the respiratory distress, in my opinion,lol.
On my way out, I poked my head into the room where the day nurse was giving a pill, as my recalcitrant patient"s breathing was audible from three rooms away, and said brightly to my coworker "Let's review the basics of CPR,shall we?" She rolled her eyes and laughed, and we both shook our heads. This is a patient who's a train wreck that's going to derail on one of us, and I sure hope it;s NOT me!!
I am feeling much better, it's amazing what getting almost 6 whole hours worth of sleep FINALLY (thanks in part to Tylenol PM..taken in the morning,though, is that allowed?) will do for a person:)
In other news,April and I are contemplating going to Northern Virginia Mon evening, as there is a Patriot Guard Rider mission to provide a 'corridor of flags' for the body of a Marine recently killed in Iraq whose body is being transported to a funeral home for burial in Arlington on Tues. That sounds rather morbid, I guess, but I joined the Patriot Guard Riders back end of July, and have yet to ride with them on a 'mission.' All we'd basically do is hold some flags and stand with all the others as they escort the body in...April actually seemed like she really wanted to go! But all that is dependent on how the rest of the day goes, and whether I am ever able to get any sleep.
And I may need to give Emma a ride to take Aiden to the pediatrician, his left eye is matted shut a lot (most likely a clogged tear duct) and she is going to call them Mon to see if they want her to bring him in early. Otherwise,baby Aiden is doing wonderfully, and is,of course, the most beautiful baby in the world!:)
Since those of my readers who aren't family may possibly be wondering about my recent adjustments to the pictures of my family, and editing out of mention of 'my guy', I suppose I should mention that Tony and I came to a parting of the ways. This was something that I had seen coming for awhile, and I think is the right decision for everyone involved.
I'm not as upset over this as some people seem to think I might be, because I really beleive this is the best course for me to take,for both April and myself.
Well, I must run....it appears that due to a tractor trailer wreck earlier in the day that has shut down the interstate for HOURS, I will have to leave for work earlier and take the back roads. (So I'll be dodging deer, and rednecks in pickup trucks, rather than tractor trailers,lol.)Since all the other interstate traffic will also have rerouted to the back roads, I anticipate having plenty of time for prayer! due to traffic halts from the overload.
Well, the interstate is open now. And I couldn't seem to upload this video to AOL, but I did get it on Yahoo...so here's the link below, it's just a video I made using pics of my grandson and the kittens.
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