It is a fact universally acknowledged that, when it comes to my patients, I am a tad territorial. Think nesting alligator territorial. This is usually not a problem since everyone is aware of it, I do my job and do it competently, and I'm nice about my territorialism, until someone gives me a reason to not be nice about it. I love my job and I know when I need help , which is why I decline offers of help until I need it. I know how I like things done and I'm severely anal about how things are done. Why that doesn't overflow into my home life I have no idea. In spite of all this, or in a vain effort to change the way I am, I get a lot of students, orientees, and preceptees. Right now, I have a brand new grad that I am orienting. Which means not only is she new to nursing and nursing process, she is new to labor and delivery. So, I have to explain a pretty much everything and make sure she is understanding why I am doing something. This is not a problem, other than the fact that I have to make sure I am telling her what she should do, instead of what I have found to be the most efficient way to do something. Totally a case of "do as I say, not as I do." Develop your own bad habits, because I don't want to be blamed for them! She's going to do fine, but has said a couple of times, "Do you think I could do more stuff?" Yes! I do! But you have to tell me to back off, because if I see something that needs to be done, I'm going to do it! It will make me crazy not to. So, that's our goal for next week, for me to back the hell up and actually let her do the patient care. We've just got to work on time management a little more...
So, New Grad showed up on Wednesday wearing a mask. She told me, "They said I should wear a mask in patient care, but I feel much better than I did yesterday and last week." Awesome. So, after close contact with her at the desk, (not to mention last week when she was completely INFECTIOUS) along about the end of the shift, I started feeling like caca-doody. I had thought the constant tickle in my throat all day was from trying to kill myself drinking water on the way in. But alas, it was not to be. I went to bed, hacked my way through the night and woke up feeling as though I'd been dead three days. I was working an 11-19 shift, so I went to buy some herbal wellness drops and some DayQuil. I know it's a little odd to buy naturopathic remedies with mainstream meds, but I was desperate. I'm sure the herbal stuff is more placebo effect than not, but whatever. So, I down those, get to work where I, once again, have to park at the helipad. The parking lot and the grass overflow were both full and I was thinking of ramming the fence to the softball fields when a gentleman, who had to be a retired chief, flagged me down for his spot. And wouldn't let any of the other cars looking for parking as well, park there. :) I went in to work and immediately got a mask. My orientee saw me and asked why I was wearing a mask at the desk. I replied that I didn't want to infect anyone with the Black Plague, cuz I'm considerate like that. Yeah, it was shitty. What of it? I spent the next 8 hours explaining that I was sick, I wasn't desiring to be an OR nurse, and no, it is not an effective muzzling tool. I had a change of shift delivery which put me home in time to send the kids straight to bed. I was coughing my lungs out, expecting to see my toenail polish at anytime, and wishing for some cough syrup with codeine. It's great for uncontrolled coughs. Hey! I thought. I have Mucinex, which is guaifenesin (cough syrup) and I have Percocet. That has to be nearly the same thing as guaifenesin and codeine, right? Right! So, with my little nurse-y brain convincing me that it was totally okay, I hammered back the Mucinex and chased it with a Perky treat. It wasn't until this morning as I popped more DayQuil, that I realized the Mucinex wasn't straight up Mucinex, but Mucinex Cold and Flu. Which has acetaminophen in it. As does Percocet. And DayQuil. A quick calculation brought to my attention that I was kind of pushing the lowered maximum daily dosage for ye olde acetaminophen. So, then I did the standard medical professional thing and thought, "It's fine for me though." I continued the cough fest throughout the day, which included taking tackling a cat on the kitchen floor so I could take him to get his rabies shot (how do they know it's time to go to the vet?? He's not literate, so I know he isn't reading it off the calendar!) and wrestling to freaks of nature to the groomer. The DayQuil wasn't cutting it in that department, so then I started swilling Delsym straight out of the bottle like it was Jameson and I was at an Irish wake. At this point, I now longer cared that it was a once a day dosing of two teaspoons and that gauging I hadn't exceeded that by "it didn't feel like two teaspoons in my mouth" probably wasn't the most accurate methodology.
So, New Grad showed up on Wednesday wearing a mask. She told me, "They said I should wear a mask in patient care, but I feel much better than I did yesterday and last week." Awesome. So, after close contact with her at the desk, (not to mention last week when she was completely INFECTIOUS) along about the end of the shift, I started feeling like caca-doody. I had thought the constant tickle in my throat all day was from trying to kill myself drinking water on the way in. But alas, it was not to be. I went to bed, hacked my way through the night and woke up feeling as though I'd been dead three days. I was working an 11-19 shift, so I went to buy some herbal wellness drops and some DayQuil. I know it's a little odd to buy naturopathic remedies with mainstream meds, but I was desperate. I'm sure the herbal stuff is more placebo effect than not, but whatever. So, I down those, get to work where I, once again, have to park at the helipad. The parking lot and the grass overflow were both full and I was thinking of ramming the fence to the softball fields when a gentleman, who had to be a retired chief, flagged me down for his spot. And wouldn't let any of the other cars looking for parking as well, park there. :) I went in to work and immediately got a mask. My orientee saw me and asked why I was wearing a mask at the desk. I replied that I didn't want to infect anyone with the Black Plague, cuz I'm considerate like that. Yeah, it was shitty. What of it? I spent the next 8 hours explaining that I was sick, I wasn't desiring to be an OR nurse, and no, it is not an effective muzzling tool. I had a change of shift delivery which put me home in time to send the kids straight to bed. I was coughing my lungs out, expecting to see my toenail polish at anytime, and wishing for some cough syrup with codeine. It's great for uncontrolled coughs. Hey! I thought. I have Mucinex, which is guaifenesin (cough syrup) and I have Percocet. That has to be nearly the same thing as guaifenesin and codeine, right? Right! So, with my little nurse-y brain convincing me that it was totally okay, I hammered back the Mucinex and chased it with a Perky treat. It wasn't until this morning as I popped more DayQuil, that I realized the Mucinex wasn't straight up Mucinex, but Mucinex Cold and Flu. Which has acetaminophen in it. As does Percocet. And DayQuil. A quick calculation brought to my attention that I was kind of pushing the lowered maximum daily dosage for ye olde acetaminophen. So, then I did the standard medical professional thing and thought, "It's fine for me though." I continued the cough fest throughout the day, which included taking tackling a cat on the kitchen floor so I could take him to get his rabies shot (how do they know it's time to go to the vet?? He's not literate, so I know he isn't reading it off the calendar!) and wrestling to freaks of nature to the groomer. The DayQuil wasn't cutting it in that department, so then I started swilling Delsym straight out of the bottle like it was Jameson and I was at an Irish wake. At this point, I now longer cared that it was a once a day dosing of two teaspoons and that gauging I hadn't exceeded that by "it didn't feel like two teaspoons in my mouth" probably wasn't the most accurate methodology.
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