10-5 This is Kathy.

Recently a lot of the staff at work keep asking me, "You are all talk right? You're not really transferring to a different floor or moving to TN/NC are you?" I think it's so great to feel like I really fit in at work. If I were to be working with my night shift staff all the time without all of the management issues I'd consider staying. Joe, my charge nurse and "mentor" has told me recently that he is going to ask our nursing coordinator if he could train me to charge. This is NOT something I want to do. Yes, I would make more money. Yes, I would learn how to do a lot of new things. But, HECK NO! I don't have the experience it takes to be a charge nurse. To know what to do all the time when one of the nurses working the floor freaks out because they don't know what to do. I had my 6 month evaluation last month and my nursing coordinator did ask me to consider becoming a charge nurse. I declined. However, they have had me orienting new nurses to our floor. This is a scary scary thing. I feel bad for the new nurses I am orienting. They have however, given me quite the confidence boost. I have had a lot of people ask me lately how long I have been a nurse. My response to them is often, "How long do you think I've been a nurse?" Many have said they thought I looked too young to be a nurse, and others have said that I seemed so experienced they thought I had been doing it for 3 to 5 years. YIKES! Who knew I was just that good.. not to mention young looking! I'm kidding btw. I have SOO much to learn.

Would you like some marijuana with your morning coffee?

I haven't really brought you too many interesting stories from work lately, because I tend to forget them by the time I get home. Recently there has been a patient who I shall name George, who has become quite the annoyance. Every once in a while you come across that one patient that just drains you and the rest of the staff. When you come into work and find that you are assigned that patient(again), the first 5 and a half minutes of your shift you sigh and maybe complain a little here and there to whomever will listen to you or just under your breath, then you suck it up and get the job done. George has been with us for a while now, and everyone on staff knows him well. He will at times stop you in the middle of something just to talk to you about nothing. Or make comments about how hott you are and make you feel uncomfortable. But like I said, sometimes you get these guys and you just have to deal. The other night at work we had some issues with George. He had apparently been seen with a joint earlier in the day. There wasn't much we could do because we ourselves did not see the joint. Later that evening, George became agitated. I was forced to take action. I had to get very assertive with a Dr over the phone (with an audience no less) and sedate Mr. George. My night of work became much easier after that. One of George's favorite things to do was make and drink black coffee. He had at least one cup every 30 min. Around 3am, the clerk went over to clean up the nutrition room-where we keep the juice, sandwiches and patient formula and such. When she was cleaning around the coffee pots and restocking the sugar and creams she found a nice little baggy of green leafy substance. It was rather entertaining to all of us. Of ALL places for George to hide his stash, the nutrition room where all patients and staff have access is probably the most ridiculous place to hid it. We phoned security, who weren't really sure what to do with it. They took some pictures of the room and the drawer it was found in along with some names, placed the baggy into another baggy to prevent it from getting anyone else's prints on it. It had me crackin up. Never a dull moment.

Tik Tok

I forgottttt!! We had lots of dance parties at our intern reunion in NC. I didn't participate as much as I enjoyed laughing and watching, but we made a video for our friends who couldn't make it to the reunion. Check it out! Kristi wants to get to 300 or so views! She's getting close and already at 159 views! You might not think its nearly as funny as we do but it's most definitely entertaining. Enjoy! Tik Tok!

Growing pains

First off- I have to wonder who these random china mans are who are making comments on my posts. I don't read chinese and dont know how they have gotten through my privacy settings..

I have been pretty bad at updating my blog. I have had many attempts at it and then get distracted or bored and delete my posts. If I'm bored writing it there is no point in making you bored when reading it.
Lately I have been busy trying to have a social life. I was talking to my friend Jenny in Colorado about being an adult and how much planning goes into practically everything you do. You have to plan your trips to the grocery store, plan meals, plan a time when you can call your friends to make plans to hang out. When it comes to even talking to Jenny there is so much planning that goes into it. We text back and forth (with sometimes hours or days between each text) planning on when we can call each other to catch up on life. I miss my days of being spontaneous.
Work is going ok. I'm growing to love a lot of the people I work with. For the most part this has been a great first real job because I have a lot of time to learn how to be a nurse and not be overwhelmed. But in some ways its nothing I was looking for. I am however, VERY lucky to have a job. When I complain about my job I am often reminded of how my mom has been jobless for a YEAR and many other people who are with out jobs all over the place. The Lord has surely blessed me.
Another part of being grown up that I'm not so fond of is the number of bills that come along with it. I have recently begun to pay back my student loans and have become compeletely independent from my parents. Learning to budget is uch a hard concept for me. I am hoping I will get the hang of it while I am young and single.
I have had some funny stories to post here from incidents at work and with friends but can never remember them when I get home. Here are some pictures from my trip to NC from Christmas break like I said I'd post. We went to the sand dunes in the OBX. I have never seen anything like this in my life. I felt like I was on Mars!

and for new years we went to dinner and watched the ball drop with our bubbly and/or sparkling cider. It was a great way to bring in the new year. I'm not quite sure why that was all underlined and I can't get it to not be. Here are some of the great people I got to hang out with.

no sugar added

I bought some apple sauce with no sugar added to make some banana bread. I didn't end up using all of the apple sauce in the bread so I decided to have some as a midnight snack. I can't say for sure because I'm not sure what my face just looked like with the first bite, but I can imagine it looked a little bit something like this :

Yet I keep eating it!

Work has been rather slow lately...the days I actually go to work that is. I have been called off a lot due to our low census. Our floor hasn't really filled our bed space like they had anticipated. Given, this is a good thing-meaning less sick people but let's get real, the hospital is still a business trying to make money. And I'm a nurse who likes making money :) . As before mentioned, our floor is made up entirely of new graduate nurses like me. I have been asked by one of my superiors to train a new member of our staff come the middle of January. I am not too sure that this is a grand idea due to the fact I am not sure what I have to teach the new guy seeing as I am still new myself. I do enjoy many parts to my job, and there are many parts that I wish change would come about. Don't be surprised if you guys don't see me in Gainesville come 6 months from now.

Tomorrow night I am getting in a car to drive 9 hours to North Carolina to meet a few of my intern buddies from this summer. We are having a little new years get together! It will be great to see their faces again and get to catch up. I love long car trips. Something about them give me peace. I think its all that option of silence and time to think. I'm excited for the get away and for the fun events Stewart has planned! Our new years is going to be a themed party. The attire has yet to be determined. Pictures will be posted upon my return.

Can I be yo' baby Mamma!?

My friend Tammy and I were walking around Walmart last night around 3 am only to remember just how great late night walmart runs are! As we were walking around and playing in the toy aisles we were discussing the name my friend chose for her new baby girl- Lucy Mathew Eden Cruse. Tammy and I weren't making fun of the baby's name per say but we were sad because she's going to get an ear full from her friends when she's older. As we were talking, a woman from behind a Christmas tree (a walmart worker putting out more decorations on the shelves) jumps out to contribute to our conversation. "Oh, YOU think that's bad?! Well, giiirl, let me tell you. I gots this friend from high school, yeah, and I went to her baby shower and I had axed her 'What are you gonna name your baby?'. Do you KNOW what she told me?! She done gone named her baby Marijuana Cocaine Johnson. And yo' ears ain't broke. She named her baby girl Marijuana Cocaine! I axed her why she was gonna name her baby that and she told me it's what she loves the most and she loves her baby too." Tammy and I looked at each other and agreed that Matthew wasn't all that bad. We tried to continue our 3am shopping when the woman continued.. "But that ain't the worse! My nephew by 2nd husband has a baby. He done gone named his baby girl Tarantula. He named his child after an inseck! So support your friend for her name choice cuz it ain't that bad." I think I might have peed my pants a little at this point. The lady herself was cracking me and Tammy up, but the way she just kept shaking her head and saying Tarantula under her breath just got me.

The most rewarding night yet

The last few times I have written about work have all been pretty depressing. I have had even more bummer stories that I spared the few who read this blog. Work is pretty dull lately. A lot of sitting and staring off into space. We have a floor with 24 beds on it. A considerably small floor I suppose. On our unit we have had max 8 patients in the past week. On Thanksgiving night we had 5 patients with 4 RN's and a PCA. We were WAY over staffed! YES, it is fantastic that people aren't sick, burned, and spending their time in the hospital on Thanksgiving. I agree 100%. But it sure makes for a hard 12 hours of work. There is no amount of caffiene that will keep you awake at that point of boredom! Tonight I have a total of 3 patients to care for. This is RARE! Typically I get up to 5 or 6. Instead of spending most of my shift staring at the wall, (usually patients are sleeping) I have had the opportunity to talk to my patients about their lives. You know- the caring part about nursing that really got me into it in the first place. Working night shift is not the most oportune time to build relationships with patients and families. Tonight I discovered one of my patients (who has been a fairly difficult patient in the past) was a nurse in the navy for 27 years! We spoke about her faith and the many places she has traveled. She assumed I was married, when I told her I wasn't, she assumed I at least had kids. She was shocked when I told her I was 23 and with out both. Aparently I am behind. One of my other patients had a rough day yesterday. His wife and daughter were by the bedside and were certain that he was going to die tonight. They had their pastor come in to read him his last rights. After going into his room many times where he had nothing to say to me because he was so tired he finally woke up and felt like talking. This 79 yr old man made me cry! He spoke about the love he has for his wife and daughter. "It's beyond passion, like it was when we were young! We have a mature love for eachother where we are intertwined" is just some of what he said. He spoke about a curse that has been over their entire family. No male has ever lived to see 80. His birthday is in May. Under my breath I tried to break that curse and encourage him that it's just around the corner. There is so much more to say, but not enough time to write it. All in all, I fell in love with this old man tonight. A love that was different. Tonight I was a nurse and it felt good.