Another Day at Happy Acres

5:40:32 PM EST
Feeling Frustrated
Hearing ahhh...the sound of nothing but quiet

Ahhh...I thought I was going to get a break from the acres today because our genious scheduler has mistakenly left me off the schedule...but boy was I wrong,and besides, they'd already seen me, so I couldn't sneak back out!! Waaa! Waaa!So anyways I went back to my assigned unit and didn't even get my coat off before an aide is running up the hall saying I need help,someone fell! Oh lovely what a way to start the day,for the one who landed on her head too!We'll call Mrs. Houdini.You know the type that can get out of just about everything(seatbelts of all sorts) Well,she's okay,and has a nice new goose egg just in time for easter.Trying to finish throwing pills and charting in time for a mandatory meeting,and it was looking good to be done in time because I only took a 10 minute lunch break to sit down and drink my slimfast.( I have a wedding gown to fit into by October22.)So I was about to roll the cabboose into it's storage room when....yes,something always happens when you think you are home and free in this field.Anyways a housekeeper said that she thought Mr.Evil Meanie was having a hard time breathing.Here we go.I head down to his room thinking optimistically,maybe he'll only need an albuterol treatment.WRONG again! His lungs are loaded and his breathing is shallow and rapid.Sputum(goober) factory in his lungs.Good thing I only drank a healthy slimfast.It gets better.There isn't a suction machine in the room,and no O2!!Short staffed again,my aides are @ lunch & the unit manager is probably somewhere trying to to figure out what to order for lunch,then take her time to drive and pick it up!!So I have to send the housekeeper to the central supply for a suction machine.When she gets back with it I had to figure out the puzzle of the tubing.I had it all hooked up right and the %$%^&& thing wouldn't work! And, yes,it was plugged in,thanks for asking.Wink!Wink! So I run a few rooms down to "borrow" one  from someone that won't mind.Insert evil laugh here.Oh,don't worry we use disposable suction catheters.And,by the way, you could fry ann egg on his head.Anyways,after I get him stabalized, I call the nurse practitioner,whom takes most calls during the day for the doc she works for,and tell her the final event of the day,which was a very thorough assessment,dammit!!And I was expecting her to give me orders for stat chest xray and some stat labs,but NOOOOOOOOO!!!! You will never ever guess what she said!!! Go ahead! Try!  Okay times up.She asked if he was up in a chair!!And he wasn't!!And so what he is almost every day,but today shortstaffed equals not everyone gets up!!So she told me to get him up in a chair!!!!!!!I ask That's it???That's the miracle cure for this man with a oral temp of 102 and lungs loaded with goo!!This nurse practitioner is who this entry is dedicated to.Thank you for treating me like a complete idiot! You do not have a stick up your wazoo,but a whole forest!You know the type that tries to belittle everyone around her.I hope her husband has a big.....pair of tweezers.   HEEEE!HEEEE! Thanks for letting me vent. Til we meet again....Bev    (and thanks for all of you that visited me form rescue's journal)

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10:39:26 AM EST
Feeling Chillin'
Hearing clothes drying/furnace kicking So,you may think that working with the elderly is boring,uneventful,and depressing.Well...I'm going to try to give you a different insight on working  in long-term care. There I was getting finger cramps from the mundane charting that all you nurses know all too well no matter the field of nursing you do.Overworked  and understaffed,but I won't bore you with those details.So there I was working on the dreaded I Forgot My Name/I Forgot What Planet I Am On/I forgot What A planet Is UNIT.It was approaching lunch time and there were the usual visitors.Mrs.Sweetie,whom faithfully came to see her hubby during lunch time. She was rearranging some of the residents so that she could sit with her hubby @ thier usual spot. So Mrs. Sweetie moved Mrs.Droolface  over to that table that faced the nurses' station. All was good & well here @ happy acres....insert evil laugh here...heeeheeeheeeheee!So I look up from my charting and there it was!!!!! A sign that was suppose to be on the wall was headed for Mrs. Droolfaces head!!!! Yipes!!! That is gonna hurt!!! I jumped up from my chair as i saw it swooooosh swooooosh in slow motion!! I saw it in slow motion flipping and by the time I got to it.......Mrs.Droolface's head broke the fall, ohhhh, don't worry she was ok. She didn't know what hit her(insert evil laugh here.)She sustained a small laceration to her head and the sign is ok and secured to the wall where it's home is!And yes there was ALOT of paperwork to do after that!!And NO I didn't have to call those wonderful guys And gals in with all the bells And whistles. So I can only hope they had time to get something to eat...wink!wink!                                                             Until we meet again....Bev   

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