kapachino

Tag: nursing

  • back to work observations

    20140326-073834.jpg

    >First of all, this is good. Aside from orientation being super boring for me since it’s just a review and involves a lot of sitting, I really like the new hospital and I LOVE the commute, which is about 15-20 minutes in the morning and half that in the afternoon. This is literally life-changing.

    >Liam has been a champ at daycare. He sleeps, he chugs his bottles (about 16 oz a day so far), he takes a pacifier if needed, he only fusses when he wakes up, and they haven’t had any trouble with his cloth diapers.

    >Pumping. Ugh. Apart from leaving my baby, it’s the worst part of being a working mom for me. I totally forgot all the ins and outs of it and my first day back I was a bit unprepared. But now I’m bringing all the things I need, and as a bonus there is a really nice lactation room to use.

    >I need to bring snacks. A nursing mama is a hungry mama.

    >Right now getting all the stuff ready to go in the mornings is the most stressful part of my day. I know I’ll get my routines down and it will get better though. I need to do as much as I can in the evenings.

    >Also waking Meredith up in the morning now is like waking up a teenager. She moans and groans and eventually I just start undressing her in the bed.

    >I’m adding three routines to my days that I was never really able to do before: daily Bible study (mornings before anyone else is up), exercise (first thing when I get home from work – although I’m soooo tempted to just go pick up the kids at this time, but this is something I need to do for me), and cooking dinner (as soon as I’m done exercising, and David will help with the kids). It is all totally doable, so now it’s up to me to have the discipline to follow through.

    >The sad part is that after only two days I already feel a lot less connected to Liam. When I dropped him off today it was a lot harder than the first two days because I really miss him. The evenings so far are hectic with getting dinner on the table, entertaining a toddler, and trying to get to bed on time, so there isn’t time for me to just enjoy him. I hope the weekends fill my cup of baby time.

  • thoughts on returning to work & some news!

    before work list

    Well, I have an official return-to-work date: March 24. So I have two more weeks of freedom, and then it’s back to real life. I have so many thoughts and feelings! But before I go any further, I have to share my news:

    I have a new job! (Sort of!)

    Let me explain. I work in the Houston medical center, which is awesome and prestigious, and the hospital I work for (Methodist) is the best. I’ve worked there for almost six years and for the past three I’ve been in an outpatient infusion cancer center and I would happily continue on there until I retire, probably, except for one thing. The problem is that we live in a suburb and with traffic my commute ends up being close to an hour and a half each way. That was okay when we didn’t have kids, but over the past two years it has gotten more and more difficult to handle. I haven’t been the best version of myself, and a lot of it had to do with the stress of the commute and the time it took away from me.

    Last year David and I were talking about what we wanted our family life to look like, everything from kids to work to finances, and there was no getting around the fact that if I worked close to home, everything would improve. I reluctantly told him that I would begin looking, but I would only apply if the job was a) outpatient, and b) within my specialty. I thought it would be pretty hard to find something that fit, but in a couple of weeks I saw an open position right down the road, doing pretty much the same thing that I do now, only for a different clinic.

    I applied, and I interviewed. I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time, but I wasn’t showing too much. It was a two-hour intense interview that I thought I did well in. I knew I was qualified, and I knew I would do a good job for them. I felt really weird about the whole thing though. I love working for Methodist and I hated the idea of leaving the company. If I left, I would lose all my personal time and my maternity leave would have been super short. Plus it would be awkward to tell them that I was pregnant right after getting hired. So I prayed, and I asked to not be offered the job if it wasn’t a good place for me.

    I didn’t get that job, and I was relieved. By that time my pregnancy was advancing and so I promised David that once I had the baby I would resume job searching, but I really didn’t think anything would come up that met my criteria. But a few weeks ago I was shocked to see that Methodist’s local campus had a position open for their infusion clinic. It’s pretty much the exact thing I do now, for the same hospital, only a much smaller clinic (like…5 patients a day instead of 50, and 2 nurses compared to 12), and less than ten minutes from my house. I HAD to apply. And since it was internal, I talked to my current director to give her a heads-up, she put in a good word for me, and I was offered the job two days after I interviewed. I accepted right away.

    I am pretty sad about leaving my current coworkers, but I know this was the right decision for us. I will have over two hours more in my days now. I might be able to start exercising again, actually cooking dinners, having morning devotions, and maybe even staying up a bit later to have time alone with David. Plus, the director & nurses at my new clinic are super nice and laid-back, and the pace is going to be slower than I’m used to. I’ll start with a week of hospital orientation (that I’ve already had before, but is required) and then more training on the unit.

    I’m a working mom. I just am right now. I probably always will be, because I love what I do, although I hope one day to be able to cut back on my hours. This move is a step in that direction and will help put the focus back on our family which is the most important thing. And I’m totally not dreading going back! I wish I could stay home longer, but I do look forward to getting back to our routines.

    At the top of this post you’ll see my list of things to do before going back to work. It’s mostly just logistical stuff at this point, because I’ve finished all the major projects and creative stuff that was on my maternity leave to-do list. With my extra time now I just want to keep decluttering the house, stay up to date with Project Life as we go (lots of those posts coming up because I got caught up this week), continue stitching when I feel like it, and of course savor my time with Liam!

    Another new chapter of life is starting, and it feels good!

  • day in the life of an infusion nurse

    I have another post about my job as a chemo infusion nurse for you! This one is a little less serious, as I wanted to give some detail about what my job actually involves. This might seem way too detailed, but I assure you I am summarizing vast amounts of activity here and only hitting the high points! It’s a busy place. The following took place on a Monday, and it actually was one of my less busy days.

    infusion suite

    One of our infusion suites.

    7:30 // I arrive and Patient #1 is there, to get the chemo regimen ABVD. I access her port and draw labs. We were not sent new orders from the doctor’s office, so I start making calls to get those.

    8 // I look up my other patients for the day. I see that a favorite and loved one is in the hospital for failure to thrive, so now I am sad. I prepare for the other patients and begin charting.

    9 // Patient #2 arrives, to get 5FU + leucovorin. I start his IV and draw labs. Chart.

    9:45 // Once I get lab results for both patients and orders for P#1 I order both of their meds (this can’t be done ahead of time and there is usually about an hour wait to get the meds from the pharmacy). Patient #3 arrives, to receive Oxaliplatin. I access her port and draw labs. Chart.

    10:15 // Get lab results and order meds for P#3.

    10:20 // Patient #4 arrives, getting Alimta. Start IV and draw labs. Chart (I try to keep up with my charting during the day so I don’t have to do it all at the end).

    10:35 // Get lab results and order meds for P#4.

    10:45 // Start fluid and premed P#1. I usually run fluid on all of my patients, and premeds are given before chemo to prevent nausea and other side effects.

    10:50 // Start fluid and premeds for P#2.

    11:00 // Start fluid for P#3, page the doctor with questions.

    11:10 // Start fluid for P#4.

    11:15 // Start the infusion for P#2. Talk to a couple of doctors on the phone and place the new orders I get from them. Go around and check on my patients, updating them. Make more phone calls coordinating care, and do more charting.

    11:55 // Start chemo on P#1.

    12:20 // Change chemo drugs for P#1, premed P#3, and change chemo drugs on P#2.

    12:30 // Start chemo on P#4.

    12:35 // Start chemo on P#3. Everyone is now infusing and settled. Time to get lunch! We have sandwiches catered for us. I’m spoiled.

    1:00 // Back from lunch. Work on discharge papers.

    1:20 // Discharge P#2.

    1:40 // Hook up home infusion pumps for P#1 and discharge her.

    1:45 // Discharge P#4. Finish charting on all discharged patients and schedule their return appointments.

    2:20 // Patient #5 arrives, to get Carboplatin. Yes we still have patients arriving! I am usually not assigned a chemo patient this late in the day, but this one had actually requested me as her nurse. I start her IV and draw labs.

    2:40 // Discharge P#3. She’s done with all her treatments so we have a bell-ringing ceremony. Hooray!

    3:00 // I chat with and update P#5. Do some more charting.

    3:45 // Start fluid and premeds on P#5.

    4:00 // It’s time for me to leave but my one remaining patient isn’t done yet. Our clinic is open until 6 p.m. so I give report to one of the late nurses.

    4:15 // Finish chatting with the patient and head home!

    I love my job because it’s a combination of technical medical stuff that challenges me intellectually and interactions with people that I get to care for and form relationships with. Although every day is somewhat similar, I never know what treatments I’m going to be giving or what issues I’ll encounter, and new drugs keep coming on the market so it’s never boring. I’m so glad I decided to specialize in oncology and infusion specifically because now I feel very confident at what I do!

    ***

    Whether you’re seeking further success in your current role or a new opportunity, Kaplan University can help you prepare for the exciting possibilities ahead.*

    As an accredited university built on 75 years of experience,† Kaplan University offers a wide range of career-focused programs designed to develop the skills and knowledge leading employers seek. Our focus: to offer you the most direct educational path to achieve your goals.

    Are you ready for a change?  Learn more at kaplanuniversity.edu.

     

    * Kaplan University cannot guarantee employment or career advancement.

    † Kaplan University is regionally accredited. Please visit http://www.kaplanuniversity.edu/about/accreditation-licensing.aspx# for additional information about institutional and programmatic accreditation.

  • on being a nurse

    I had an opportunity to write a post about nursing – which, if you don’t know, is what I do for a day job – and although at first I wasn’t sure because I don’t tend to write much about work in this space, the more I thought about it the more I wanted to say something about how special it is to me. Because even though lately we are all holiday-focused and I’m naturally also very family-and-pregnancy-focused, the reality is that work takes up the biggest part of my life, and I’m very blessed and grateful to be doing something I love and feel is a calling and a ministry.

    In church recently our pastor challenged us to figure out who our hearts break for, and to do something about it; to come alongside them and share their burdens. Well, my heart breaks for a lot of people, but especially those I see every day: men, women, and families struggling with cancer. I became a nurse in the first place because I was working at a cancer clinic and it looked challenging and satisfying. I thought I would enjoy it and be good at it. I continued in the field of oncology kind of by accident, because it was the first job offered to me at a great hospital and I couldn’t say no, but I immediately fell in love with the patients and haven’t looked back.

    When you work in this area you really get to know well the people you care for, because it’s a long haul deal. It didn’t take long before I knew I wanted to keep doing it, and so I got certified and transferred to the outpatient center where we give chemo all day every day and work closely with the doctors’ offices to coordinate care. That also means that now I get to be with patients from the very beginning of their journey, and I get a lot more follow-up with them too. Even for patients who are doing well, the experience of being diagnosed with and treated for cancer is scary and can be difficult to get through. I think pretty much everyone has been touched by cancer in some way and I feel happy to be helping even a little bit. I consider my job a ministry because it is when people are broken and vulnerable that they need the most help. I want to be someone who comes alongside them and shares that burden.

    ringing out

    In our clinic we have a bell-ringing ceremony for anyone completing their course of chemo. We nurses live for those celebrations, but we are also not afraid to cry with someone. I’m proud to do what I do, but I also feel so blessed to be able to do it. I think my patients have done so much more for me to make me a better person than what I’ve done for them. If you or anyone you know is interested in nursing, this specific area of nursing, or advancing your nursing degree, let me know! We need more of us out there, and there are lots of great online resources and opportunities to check out. I would love to help you. And for everyone else, I hope you have found something you love to do just as much!

    ***

    Whether you’re seeking further success in your current role or a new opportunity, Kaplan University can help you prepare for the exciting possibilities ahead.*

    As an accredited university built on 75 years of experience,† Kaplan University offers a wide range of career-focused programs designed to develop the skills and knowledge leading employers seek. Our focus: to offer you the most direct educational path to achieve your goals.

    Are you ready for a change?  Learn more at kaplanuniversity.edu.

     

    * Kaplan University cannot guarantee employment or career advancement.

    † Kaplan University is regionally accredited. Please visit http://www.kaplanuniversity.edu/about/accreditation-licensing.aspx# for additional information about institutional and programmatic accreditation.

  • pregnancy hormones in full effect

    So I cried at work yesterday. A lot. It was ugly. I tried to pull myself together in the bathroom but someone even came knocking on the door to make sure I was okay. And then I kept crying off and on for about an hour and just could not stop it. My mascara was gone and my eyes were puffy. I hope I didn’t scare anyone.

    The deal was, I had a rude patient. Rationally I knew that it was nothing personal to me (because I hadn’t done anything wrong and was nothing but nice) and I dug deep for sympathy and understanding because I know she is in a beyond stressful situation. Anything I told myself didn’t help though; I just kept crying. So embarrassing.

    Happy ending though! Today she emailed the doctor’s office and asked them to tell me that she thinks I’m an excellent nurse and she knows she gave me a hard time yesterday. It’s the closest to an apology I’m likely to get so I’ll take it.

    Also, last night I cooked dinner. Made BBQ beef taquitos and they were good. I also finally made the breakfast sandwiches I’d been meaning to and they were also good, so double win there. And I showered! And bathed Meredith! I am a domestic goddess!

    I need to switch subjects real quick because I am having a hard time with  my book club book, Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver and I just have to talk about it. The first problem I’m having is that I’ve been reading A Clash of Kings (which is the second in the Game of Thrones series) and I’m totally addicted to it and I’m to the last hundred pages and it’s fast-paced and all I want to do is finish it. So I’m kind of resentful of any book that interrupts that right now. Also, apparently this book is about climate change, and even if I was passionate about that subject I’m skeptical that it will make for an interesting story. Currently I’m only two chapters in and there’s been a lot about the difficulties of farming and I don’t know, it’s not grabbing me. And I have to finish it by Sunday! Sigh.

    Anyway. I go to the doctor for a checkup tomorrow. Praying that all is well in the baby department.