Posts About personal

I Don’t Know What I’d Do Without Him

July 24, 2008

David: Kathleen, have you figured out all the flowers and favors for the wedding yet? Me: Well, I don’t have every detail together yet, but I’m working on it. There are only so many things I can do at once. David: But you do know that we need all that stuff? Me: Yes David, I am aware. *** How cute. He overheard women at his office talking about wedding details the other day, and before that he didn’t realize that we needed things like flowers and favors for a wedding. He thought that maybe I didn’t know either.

I Don’t Know What I’d Do Without Him

July 24, 2008

David: Kathleen, have you figured out all the flowers and favors for the wedding yet? Me: Well, I don’t have every detail together yet, but I’m working on it. There are only so many things I can do at once. David: But you do know that we need all that stuff? Me: Yes David, I am aware. *** How cute. He overheard women at his office talking about wedding details the other day, and before that he didn’t realize that we needed things like flowers and favors for a wedding. He thought that maybe I didn’t know either.

Death and Life

July 21, 2008

David’s aunt Sue died on Friday night after almost three years of battling pancreatic cancer. It’s a very close family so if you have a moment, please say a prayer for them: her husband Ralph most of all, her two sons Brian and Michael, David’s father Bill, her brother, and the rest of the family. I will be singing at her funeral on Wednesday morning. I’m honored to do it, and also quite nervous. I can get emotional. I was telling this news to one of the “seasoned” nurses on my unit today who has worked oncology for 21 years, and has had a lot of experience with grieving families. She asked, “Was she a Christian?” I replied that she…
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Code Blue

July 18, 2008

My patient with the low potassium had a seizure yesterday right at the end of my shift, and a code was called. It was my first code to experience, and it was scary. I ran to the room because I knew they would need me there, as her nurse. The alarm was blaring. People were everywhere. I was being asked all kinds of questions. Someone yelled to me, “She needs Ativan now!” Her sister was crying and yelling. Thankfully the patient never stopped breathing, and she slowly recovered. She hasn’t been the same since. She is either sleeping or confused and agitated now. But while all the commotion was going on, I realized that I cared for this woman and…
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Another Nursing Incident

July 16, 2008

I wasn’t going to bore you with stories from work again, but again something happened. Yesterday I was taking care of the same patient that I have had for at least a week now. And every day, her potassium is low. Every day the doctor makes rounds in the morning, sees that it is low, and orders us to replace the potassium through her IV. Yesterday her potassium was 1.5 (normal is 3.5 to 5.0), which is a critical level because abnormal potassium can cause life-threatening heart rhythm problems. Nurses worry when it drops below 3.   The day before, her potassium had been 1.8. I was with my preceptor that day, and she informed me that although it was…
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