This week (and of course by week I mean weekend) at the hospital I have had a patient who knows my name. I introduced myself when I was first assigned to him on Friday and he told me that his mother had my name (which makes it a lot easier to remember). So really, I guess not all that remarkable. But then, he uses my name. He calls me by my name. He introduced me to his wife and daughter by my name and now they call me by my name. Today they said "Hi Katie, how are you today?"
It's made me realize that we (or at least I) don't name people a lot. In most of my e-mails and text messages I say "Hey" or "Hello" and then blast off into whatever the message is going to say. On the unit it's "8 bed 1 wants a pain killer, 14 needs to go to the bathroom, 32 needs to be turned" Which I understand because it's the best way to keep everything straight...trying to remember where 19 patients are (when they can change daily) is hard, but I tend to try to say "Mrs. X in 8-1 wants a pain killer, Mr. V in 14 needs to go to the bathroom, etc"
Because it's great to be named. I think it's fantastic that Mr. H calls me Katie, says "good morning Katie" and introduces me to his visitors.
It's interesting.
And I'm going to try to use peoples names more often. So that maybe they'll feel special too. Or maybe it's just me...and I'm crazy.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
from the hospital
It's my 2nd of 3 night shifts and tonight i'm on first break which means i'm on break from 0130 to 0300. So I decided I had better update since Katie does read this.
For starters: if you find yourself wondering when you can watch a nice old shoot-em-up movie I can tell you that CBC has them on like right now.
My schooling is apparently picking up speed. I've passed my midterm evaluation and am aiming for December 11th as my last shift as a student (and for the record Sunday night is going to be the LAST night shift I work without being paid!) And once the school is done I guess I have to start real life...and what better place to start real life than Winnipeg? (ok, so there are probably way more exciting, exotic, or warmer places...but I think Winnipeg is a good place to start for me). I just have to update my resume and actually send it. I keep procrastinating. Shame on me.
Hospitals are very quiet at night. And dark.
I've recently become very addicted to Prison Break. My roommate Kyle and I watched all of Season 1 in less than a week and then the moment we finished it he went and got the 2nd season from our neighbours. But he took the 2nd disc with him to Vermillion for the weekend. Not impressed (although I didn't even realize he had taken it until he told me in a text message today...but I feel that I ought to be unimpressed on principle). It's a good story. Dthat's pretty easy to get caught in. And it helps that Michael is really really good looking. And an engineer. And you know what they say about nurses and engineers (ok so I don't actually know what they say about nurses and engineers so if you do...please enlighten me!)
So instead of noticing that disc 2 was missing I watched Penelope. It was a cute movie and I liked the story but by far the best part (and the only person I know who would actually appreciate this little story is Aaron and i'm not sure if he reads this...) was at the end of the movie when he just realizes it's her and the background music starts to play. Like 3 notes in i'm standing up on the couch yelling "It's Hoppipola!!" Great song.
I feel so random and disconnected tonight. And while my phone is great because I get to sit in the lounge chair with a warm blanket (probably the best part about being in the hospital...I'm telling you! If you ever have to be in the hospital ask for a warm blanket every chance you can, you'll regret it otherwise)but my phone screen doesn't really give me an accurate impression of just how much I am making you read. So I think I shall just end here for now and start updating more frequently.
For starters: if you find yourself wondering when you can watch a nice old shoot-em-up movie I can tell you that CBC has them on like right now.
My schooling is apparently picking up speed. I've passed my midterm evaluation and am aiming for December 11th as my last shift as a student (and for the record Sunday night is going to be the LAST night shift I work without being paid!) And once the school is done I guess I have to start real life...and what better place to start real life than Winnipeg? (ok, so there are probably way more exciting, exotic, or warmer places...but I think Winnipeg is a good place to start for me). I just have to update my resume and actually send it. I keep procrastinating. Shame on me.
Hospitals are very quiet at night. And dark.
I've recently become very addicted to Prison Break. My roommate Kyle and I watched all of Season 1 in less than a week and then the moment we finished it he went and got the 2nd season from our neighbours. But he took the 2nd disc with him to Vermillion for the weekend. Not impressed (although I didn't even realize he had taken it until he told me in a text message today...but I feel that I ought to be unimpressed on principle). It's a good story. Dthat's pretty easy to get caught in. And it helps that Michael is really really good looking. And an engineer. And you know what they say about nurses and engineers (ok so I don't actually know what they say about nurses and engineers so if you do...please enlighten me!)
So instead of noticing that disc 2 was missing I watched Penelope. It was a cute movie and I liked the story but by far the best part (and the only person I know who would actually appreciate this little story is Aaron and i'm not sure if he reads this...) was at the end of the movie when he just realizes it's her and the background music starts to play. Like 3 notes in i'm standing up on the couch yelling "It's Hoppipola!!" Great song.
I feel so random and disconnected tonight. And while my phone is great because I get to sit in the lounge chair with a warm blanket (probably the best part about being in the hospital...I'm telling you! If you ever have to be in the hospital ask for a warm blanket every chance you can, you'll regret it otherwise)but my phone screen doesn't really give me an accurate impression of just how much I am making you read. So I think I shall just end here for now and start updating more frequently.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
0400
In a desperate bid to stay awake on her break Katie Swan tried to update her blog but quickly realized she had nothing to say and succumb to the incredible weight of her eyelids.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thanking God for My Nursing Roomie
Without Nursing buddies I would be lost. Do you not know how wonderful it is to have a roommate who you can rant (I really want to say the other word because it's a more accurate word...but I don't feel comfortable saying it) and rave with about how nursing is the stupidest choice we ever made in our lives?
It's incredible.
It gives new life.
I have been blessed with great nursing buddies.
And the TellAround was awesome!!! I didn't tell but I got to hear some great great stories.
It's incredible.
It gives new life.
I have been blessed with great nursing buddies.
And the TellAround was awesome!!! I didn't tell but I got to hear some great great stories.
Friday, October 10, 2008
the nurse hidden in me
Somewhere inside this tired reflection of me a nurse is hidden.
I don't know how she got there and I don't know what she's going to do.
And I don't know why she's hiding.
She's obvioulsly not always hidden or I'd not know she was there (and I'd have for sure never made it to my last year of nursing school).
It's a miracle actually that she sticks around despite my lack of confidence, skills, time management, and any general clue about what's going on.
Ha ha ha.
I love it though. It's a bunch of semi-crazy really old people but they do just worm their ways into your heart.
Even if you really have no idea what you really ought to be doing.
And now I'm sitting on the floor waiting for a business meeting to end so I can go listen to stories.
3 more minutes I think.
I really really hope.
I'm about to go to my first TellAround! But I'm going only to listen.
STORIES!!
I don't know how she got there and I don't know what she's going to do.
And I don't know why she's hiding.
She's obvioulsly not always hidden or I'd not know she was there (and I'd have for sure never made it to my last year of nursing school).
It's a miracle actually that she sticks around despite my lack of confidence, skills, time management, and any general clue about what's going on.
Ha ha ha.
I love it though. It's a bunch of semi-crazy really old people but they do just worm their ways into your heart.
Even if you really have no idea what you really ought to be doing.
And now I'm sitting on the floor waiting for a business meeting to end so I can go listen to stories.
3 more minutes I think.
I really really hope.
I'm about to go to my first TellAround! But I'm going only to listen.
STORIES!!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
That Did Not Just Happen...
Today at work I took the garbage out. Like normal.
I went out the door and Lisa (a girl who works in the hotel that our office is attached to) tells me to be careful because someone is back there. So she sort of follows me so that I'm not alone in a dark alley by the dumpster.
Now, I thought that by someone back there she meant that someone was lurking by the dumbster in the little fence thing around it...however that was not the case.
I tossed my small bags into the dumpster and I hear and grunt.
Today.
I threw garbage on a man in a dumpster.
I just ran back into the building. And in shock all I could really do was laugh at the absurdity of it.
It was awful. How does that happen? Who honestly throws garbage into a dumpster and it hits someone?
And the thing is it's so hard to have compassion where I work. We are harrassed constantly by people who try to scam us and our passengers and we KNOW that they are not being honest. We KNOW that they are buying drugs. Just yesterday one of our passengers comes back into the office from the bathroom wide-eyed-and-terrified because she walked into the women's bathroom and there was a guy and girl shooting up in the bathroom. Then later that night when we were closing and my coworker had to go catch the train so she could get home before 12:30 was walking and two men were walking and then split up and one slowed down so they could be one in front of her and one behind her. Luckily she was close enough to one of our Ft. McMurray passengers and she asked him quickly to walk with her a ways as soon as she noticed what they were doing. She then immediately called me to warn me and the young girl who was waiting for her ride to run inside the hotel lobby. So we quickly booked it around the corner and you could feel these 2 guys getting closer and closer.
I have no idea who was in the dumpster tonight. And it makes me sick now to think of it.
And that is legitimate. But I've been thinking about my initial response and I think it is just as legitimate. I mean really...what kind of exposure have I had to the world? I'm more than willing to admit that I am quite naive...and I acknowledge that laughing is not the best response and I wasn't laughing at the fact that the guy was in the dumpster or that he got hit by garbage but just at the kind of surrealness of the whole situation.
Or maybe I'm going to too great of lengths to figure out and excuse my laughter. But it wasn't funny laughter it was "that did not just happen" laughter. Or maybe I'm just a terrible person.
I went out the door and Lisa (a girl who works in the hotel that our office is attached to) tells me to be careful because someone is back there. So she sort of follows me so that I'm not alone in a dark alley by the dumpster.
Now, I thought that by someone back there she meant that someone was lurking by the dumbster in the little fence thing around it...however that was not the case.
I tossed my small bags into the dumpster and I hear and grunt.
Today.
I threw garbage on a man in a dumpster.
I just ran back into the building. And in shock all I could really do was laugh at the absurdity of it.
It was awful. How does that happen? Who honestly throws garbage into a dumpster and it hits someone?
And the thing is it's so hard to have compassion where I work. We are harrassed constantly by people who try to scam us and our passengers and we KNOW that they are not being honest. We KNOW that they are buying drugs. Just yesterday one of our passengers comes back into the office from the bathroom wide-eyed-and-terrified because she walked into the women's bathroom and there was a guy and girl shooting up in the bathroom. Then later that night when we were closing and my coworker had to go catch the train so she could get home before 12:30 was walking and two men were walking and then split up and one slowed down so they could be one in front of her and one behind her. Luckily she was close enough to one of our Ft. McMurray passengers and she asked him quickly to walk with her a ways as soon as she noticed what they were doing. She then immediately called me to warn me and the young girl who was waiting for her ride to run inside the hotel lobby. So we quickly booked it around the corner and you could feel these 2 guys getting closer and closer.
I have no idea who was in the dumpster tonight. And it makes me sick now to think of it.
And that is legitimate. But I've been thinking about my initial response and I think it is just as legitimate. I mean really...what kind of exposure have I had to the world? I'm more than willing to admit that I am quite naive...and I acknowledge that laughing is not the best response and I wasn't laughing at the fact that the guy was in the dumpster or that he got hit by garbage but just at the kind of surrealness of the whole situation.
Or maybe I'm going to too great of lengths to figure out and excuse my laughter. But it wasn't funny laughter it was "that did not just happen" laughter. Or maybe I'm just a terrible person.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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