Wendy's Life

If I could bottle the energy...

2010-02-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so while working online this morning on my laptop for less than 5 minutes, one of the pups (Addie) somehow got one of the keys off my keyboard and was chewing it up. I didn't even notice it was gone until I heard her chewing on something hard! I decided it was time to take them all to the dog park if I'm ever going to get a nap this afternoon before I work night shift tonight... So we all headed to one of my favorite parks... Tanner Park in SLC.

They were so excited to go, and I was ready for a nice walk... if only we could get down the ice-covered hill on-leash so they can get to the off-leash area and run...

After getting pulled on my butt for part of it, I decided it wasn't worth it, and let them off leash at the top. Yes, I hate it when people don't keep their dogs on-leash in the on-leash area, but I just couldn't do it today down the hill. We had a great walk and they ran and ran and ran! They did much better on-leash going back up the hill.

And now... time for afternoon naps with 3 big dogs taking up half my bed...
Sounds fun huh?

And then there were three...

2010-01-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

I don't know how, but my sister Polly seems to get me into everything! So long story short, I had one dog (which she found for me last year), and we are happy living our lives...she's a little spoiled and a little chubby now, but we are happy. Well, somehow Polly talked me into fostering this sweet Roxie. I didn't want a black dog, so I knew I wouldn't be keeping her, but she is sweet and needed a home for a bit until she can find a permanent good home... but she is black. I didn't want a black dog.

Roxie

Sadie

Sadie sliding down the hill in the snow

Sadie and Roxie

So to make things easier on my dog when Roxie got adopted out to a permanent home, my roommate (last minute of course) found another lab/golden retriever mix for free and we got her (Addie). My thought is that my dog Sadie will bond with both of them, then would still have someone around who she knows and loves when Roxie left. I would keep Roxie, but I don't want a black dog because of the hair issue... am hoping to keep the dog hair all one color. :-)

Sadie and Addie (the new pup)

So now there are 3 dogs, we love them all, they all get along well and play so well together, and I am (almost) considering just adopting Roxie myself and keeping them together...

Addie Sadie and Roxie

What do you think?

Summertime...

2009-07-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

Just have to say that I LOVE the summer! As I walked out of work this morning at 6:05 a.m. and realized that it was still warmer outside than it was inside all night, my heart smiled. The sun was not yet over the mountains, but the birds were singing and the air was fresh. It is supposed to be over 100 degrees today, and I will be sleeping through it all, trying not to get too hot. In spite of it all, I still love the summer over any other time. Spring runs a close second for me since it is the prelude to summer! My only near-regret is that I'm not able to spend the next 10 days or so in the Pacific Northwest, which is the best place I've ever been in the summer!

A Visit to Manti (UT)

2009-07-05T15:31:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday, July 3rd, Heather and I made a trip down to see my sister Polly and head up the canyon to barbecue for dinner together. Sadie loves to go to Polly's. First of all, that is the general area she is from, as I got her from a farm in the next town over. Also, Polly has a great yard for her. These are a few of her favorite things:

Moe the cat, who has all the other dogs (and people) completely intimidated, is actually careful around Sadie. She is no respecter of cats, and attacks them all equally. Here he is hiding from her.

She loves the yard...there is always something to stalk... What is it this time?

The ducks! She is definitely a bird dog.

We had fun with our bbq before we almost got rained out. Sadie and Hershey (the brown border collie of Polly's) finally found a stick that they could share! There's not many toys or sticks they have ever been able to share. It was hilarious! Sadie tried to pull Hershey into the stream a few times with it, as they were playing tug of war.

Polly had just spent the last few days helping herd cattle through the town and up the mountain for the summer. She has two border collies that are great at herding cattle, and they live for it! They work together really well and know what they are doing. So we decided to drive up the canyon a little further to see what areas were left to camp in. As we went, we passed a lot of the cows that they had herded up there. Some of them were a little too close to the top fence, so just for fun, she let her dogs and Sadie out to herd the cows back down just a little ways. The two dogs (Hershey and Cuma) immediately took off barking constantly and running behind the cattle in a criss-cross pattern to herd them. Sadie, in an effort to fit in, ran after them to "go get the cows!". She had no idea what she was doing but made a good effort to do what the other two were doing. We about died laughing when the other two stop barking and start heading back, we all hear this big deep "WOOOFFF!" and Polly said, "That wasn't one of my dogs", then Sadie comes running back with them, all proud of herself! She's not much of a barker ever (which I am so thankful for!), so the fact that she barked at them once was pretty funny! We headed back down the canyon road and came upon a few more cows, so again, for fun, we let the 3 dogs back out to "herd". This time Sadie had a bit more confidence as she took off with the other 2 dogs. This time though, she ran straight for the cows, barked a couple of times as she ran AROUND it and nearly INTO it instead of BEHIND it like the other two dogs, then she came running straight back to us, very proud of herself again! She was trying to hard to fit in and do what they were doing! It was hilarious and we all got a good laugh out of that! And she was tired! This is a great picture of all of them in the truck together a few months ago.

It was a surprise to all of us that my youngest sister, Brenda was headed up to Salt Lake City for the weekend from Vegas. She came out and visited with us for a bit. Sadie got to run with her favorite "cousin", Baby, who is part blue-heeler. They love to run and play together!

After all of the fun an excitement of the day, Sadie was wiped out as we were packing it up and getting ready to go. She does not believe in expending extra energy sometimes...

And finally at home, once she got to her bed, she didn't move for hours!!

It's been a year!

2009-05-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a whole year since I was working in Portland, and since I attended the delivery (almost) of little Hyrum Felt.

He has really grown up over the last year and is such a big boy, and is pretty mobile now, though not walking... The boy gets around fast.

He looks just like his Daddy!

He was pretty tired by the time we got to cake...

Sadie loves him because she has learned that she actually can share our dinner via the boy. It is so fun to have the Felts living close again! :-)

Sadie Jo

2009-05-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Is it May already?!? What happened to April?

Okay okay... I am finally posting a few pictures of my little girl, Sadie.

Wendy and Sadie

Playing in the snow

She loves swimming for sticks

She hates baths but she's so dang cute afterward when she's all wet!

And she loves laying outside...usually in the sun unless it's too hot.

So now that I've introduced her, I can tell stories. :-)

Wow! Where does the time go?

2009-01-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, a lot of you probably think I dropped off the face of the Earth. I guess I probably did for a few months and I feel bad about it. So many times I wanted to blog about a little incident, but I had to blog about something else first and never found time to do both. I am finally going to just start blogging again today, and fill in what I can when I can.

So with that said, I came back to Salt Lake around the end of August and started working here in this area again. I plan to stay at this point, with no more plans to travel-nurse at this time. It's not that Portland was bad, because Portland was wonderful and I was definitely there for a reason. It just feels right to stay home again at this point.

I also got a dog, and will update pictures as soon as I get my own computer up and working again! That's it for now!
:-)

The Memory Game

2008-07-20T02:00:00.000-07:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

The Fourth of July, 2008

2008-07-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, I promised I would write about this and it was terrifically fun, not sure why it's taken so long (probably downloading the pics!).

Heather was up here in Portland visiting that weekend, and we went out to Long Beach, WA to hang out with the Felt's for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks from their back porch. There were some funny things from that day filled with many memories... And I would venture to say that it's one of my best 4th of July's ever...so here is a random sampling:

The weekend of the 4th was HUGE at Long Beach this year! There were people everywhere and everyone brought their own fireworks to set off from the beach...

Me with 2 of my favorite girls...Morgan and Livvy

Heather with Livvy

Livvy and little Hyrum

Starley with Hyrum

Have to say that I've learned that giving a child unsupervised time with a camera is always entertaining...

We were posed for this one by Starley...

This is a picture of Morgan taking a picture of herself in the mirror...and yes, that's my camera.

Any guesses on what this is? (I will tell you at the end if I remember)...

Of course being the cool "Aunt" means bringing fireworks for the kids...

I do have to admit that I got my first EVER fireworks burn this year on my foot, which hasn't completely healed yet if that tells you just how deep it was even if it was pretty small! Okay...pause for a story.... Few people know that I've always been afraid of fireworks (and uncontrolled fire in general), in part because I had trauma as a child (okay, maybe it was in my imagination, but trauma is trauma) when my mom took me to watch fireworks from the park where they set them off. I was first put off by the loud banging shot as they set them off, I liked watching it go up, but when the strands of sparks started coming down, I remember screaming like I was SURE I was going to die by fire that night! My mom had to get us out of there because we were ruining the show for everyone around us! (Yes Karen, this is why my family always watched the fireworks from across the city!) Then again when we were setting off home fireworks one year at my grandma's in California, I realized that I was a fireworks MAGNET, as they always seemed to chase me while I ran screaming down the driveway back into the house...the only ones I would do were the sparklers because they were the safest of all. Yeah, so imagine how brilliant I feel that Sparklers are exactly what I got my fireworks burn from!!! I thought it was just me freaking out internally because there were 7 kids around us all asking for more sparklers, and waving them around everywhere (some out of fun, others out of fear), including dangerously close to other people and cars. I realized that it wasn't just me when Heather made a statement later that that's the most dangerous time she's ever spent around sparklers! (Thank you Heather for validating my internal freak-out moment.)

So what's a party at the Felt's without getting busted by the cops!

And finally, it really was something else to sit on the balcony wrapped in blankets with anyone who could fit (including the baby) literally for HOURS as we watched fireworks of all shapes, sizes and varieties going off up and down the beach, both from the City show and the fireworks everyone brought...it was AWESOME!!!

Oh, and that picture that Starley took...Bird Poop...and she was pretty darn proud of that picture too!!!

The world through the eyes of a child...

2008-07-10T03:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I have no business blogging at 3:30 in the morning when I should be sleeping, but I can't help myself tonight... Yes, I will write about my 4th of July later. Tonight I have to post some pictures that the girls took when I arrived here at the beach. First, the girls asked if Heather was coming back (she's been here twice now but they absolutely love her!).

Here's Heather with the kids last weekend...

Then when we said she might come in a few weeks, Starley (turns 5 this month) and Morgan (7 1/2) asked if they could "take a few pictures of everything for Heather". I gave up my camera and didn't even notice when they took it downstairs to their room for a while. Tonight as I looked through, I laughed so hard... I think you will see why. I have to post all of the pictures they took (which are many) and I have to leave them in the order they took them in... so here goes!

Heather, these are for you!

I was happily feeding the baby and talking on the phone when they took off with my camera...

They took a picture of Hyrum...

Then Mom...

Then it gets interesting...

And back upstairs to Hyrum again at the end!

Now Heather, don't you feel loved and missed?!

What a night! A few random thoughts...

2008-07-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I shouldn't blog when I actually have nothing to say or stories to tell... that was evident to me after my last post. But we don't always make the best decisions when we're tired, do we? So here goes...

It was a LONG night last night at work in the ER. For some reason, the hospital was either full of patients, or did not have enough nurses to take care of patients, so we had to keep many in the ER just waiting to get rooms in the hospital. At one point, half of our ER rooms were full of patients, making the wait even longer for the few patients in the waiting room who still had to be seen by a doctor.

I had a few memorable things happen...

My 94-yr old demented patient who was unsteady on his feet and had a "sitter" because of it, fell onto the floor, under the watchful(?) eye of this "sitter". Nice...I HATE writing Incident Reports and thought I'd fly under the radar here by not having to write one in 3 months, but it was not to be! Luckily he seemed fine...the pt, not the sitter.

I took in an ambulance patient from a nursing home that had a plugged G-Tube. That is a tube that goes directly into someone's stomach through their abdominal wall, and is used to feed, water and push meds into a patient. This pt's tube was blocked...nothing would go in and nothing would come out. Our ER doctor saw the patient and caught me and said, "Use your voodoo magic ways and see if you can get that tube unplugged." So being a resourceful nurse (and an experienced one), I tried my magic and it worked! 30 minutes later, we were ready to send the patient back to the Nursing Home. The cure: Coca Cola and a little patience! How's that for "voodoo magic"?! Interestingly enough, I wasn't actually able to drink my usual Diet Coke tonight.

I also sat and listened to the story of an Iraqi veteran that absolutely broke my heart. It makes me question what our priorities are in this country... we will pay millions of dollars to the people who entertain us (movie stars, athletes, etc), but we truly don't give those who do the "real work" in this country, who create and maintain the country that we enjoy (teachers, soldiers, etc), any kind of recognition, credit or compensation to match their contributions. Then we fail them miserably sometimes when they need us the most. It broke my heart to hear his story... and that doesn't happen to me very often anymore in the ER.

And finally, I realized this morning that I've finally been accepted among the staff here when I had a conversation at 4:00 a.m. with the charge nurse that went something like this:
Charge: It's been an awful night!!! One of my worst ever!
Me: At least it's almost over.
Charge: For YOU!!! You get out of here in an hour. I've got 3 hrs left!
Me: Sucks to be you! (laughing)
At that point the charge nurse flipped me off which would be offensive to many people, but actually means "I love you" in ER language. She told me as much too...the fact that she's comfortable enough with me to even do that speaks volumes...and I might have deserved it. :-)

My favorite month of the year!!!

2008-07-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

This is it! July...my favorite month of the entire year...is finally here again!!! As many of you know, I am truly a summer girl. I have a few things I am looking forward to this month...including a visit from my dear friend Heather over the 4th of July weekend coming up, my birthday, visits to the ocean, a niece's birthday (Starley-5 yrs), and LOTS of SUNSHINE!!!

The last week or two have been very difficult ones for me for a couple of reasons, so as the dust has finally settled in my life once again, I welcome the new beginning that this month brings and hope that it will be one of my better July's!

Even as I type this at 1:30 in the morning (approx) I hear some popping outside...I have to say that I hope it is early fireworks (like I thought when I first heard it) and not gunshots (like I thought when I heard it the second and third times). The last time I heard gunshots outside my apt window, a police officer was killed by them (WA 2003). I guess I will wait for the sirens...but I will not look out the window (again) because I know (as I knew the first time I heard them yrs ago) that you cannot be called to testify as a witness if you don't actually SEE anything! No sirens yet...we might be good...

A 30-Minute Commute...

2008-06-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

People have often asked me why I live so far away from the places I work, and I've thought about this off and on. In Seattle, my commute was 13 miles and 25-45 minutes depending on traffic (and across a bridge!). In California, I lived 19 miles from work and the commute was 20-30 minutes. In Salt Lake, I live about 20 miles (?) and the commute is usually 25-35 minutes. I realized that I've always lived about 30 minutes away from my place of work, at least for about the last 7 1/2 years -- the entire time I've been a nurse... until now...

Here in Portland, where I'm currently working as a Travel Nurse for the summer, I have an apartment about 5 minutes from the hospital that I work in. Overall it's been great...until I got off work this morning after a LONG, 13 1/2 hour night, and was tired and frustrated, and just needed to blow off a little aggression by driving really fast in my car. Instead of turning into my parking garage, I made a last minute decision and headed to the freeway, where I proceeded to "drive it off" (slowly of course, since I AM in Oregon!) for about 13 miles out, and 13 miles back. It was exactly what I needed, and I laughed as I came to realize that 30 minutes continues to be my perfect commute.

I know it's a waste of gas, and of time, and of a lot of other things, but the benefits are amazing sometimes! It's just enough time to "come down" from a shift, process it, and "put it away" before getting home. It's not long enough to get so tired that I'm falling asleep driving. And it also means that I RARELY run into my patients at the grocery store!

Now if only they had some hard "head-banging" music on the radio on a Sunday morning...

A perfect day...

2008-06-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so for the first time since I left Seattle in 2003, I actually was out today running errands and got distracted by the sunshine! Yes, it was a beautiful day in Portland, 98% sunny and everyone was out and about, and I was no exception... I reverted back to my "old Northwest habits" and parked my car at some random park I found across the street from Fred Meyer, got out my "park blanket" from my trunk, and went and laid in the sun for 40 minutes!!! The funny part is that for the last few months and years in Utah and even in California, I had wondered why I even still kept a "park blanket" in the car since I never used it anymore... but today it seemed perfectly natural to have it in my trunk, because you never know when it's going to be a perfect day to lay in the park! And as I lay there soaking up the sun, I kept thinking to myself, "List of things to do? WHAT list of things to do?!" Yep...back to my Northwest Mentality!

Tagged!

2008-06-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random facts about me:

1. My two dream careers when I was a young child (under 10) were being a semi-truck driver and being a cashier...I actually was a cashier for a while and LOVED it!
2. I stay up late at night because I HATE the process of trying to go to sleep.
3. I won first place in a fashion show once that I got talked into doing with a friend.
4. I was a clogger and performed with a group at the Nevada State Fair.
5. I have had a birthday crisis every 5 years (on the 5's and 10's) since I was 25...and I have some fabulous stories about what goes into those crisis times!
6. I make some dang good home-made ice cream!
7. I can't fly a kite, and if I'm around people who are flying kites, I am a kite magnet!

I was tagged by Katherine Bronson, and I tag Ramona Brown, Teddy Elder, Michelle Black, Jessica Lamirand, Adri Nye, Alena Kesti and Karen Barres!

Hyrum James Felt

2008-05-29T00:19:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason I chose Portland for the summer is to be here with the Felts while they welcome their new little man into the world...their first boy, Hyrum James Felt was born on Thursday, May 29th in the afternoon. While I missed the actual delivery by 2 minutes (literally), I was there to see him while he was brand new, and also was able to give him his first bath! He's a sweet boy!

Moving to Portland

2008-05-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

One-way flight from Portland to Salt Lake City ... $201.40
Speeding ticket in Idaho ... $140.00
Near-miss seat-belt ticket ... $0.00 (almost $97!)
Injuries from walking on the beach in bare feet ... $14.44
Having a friend who not only paid for all of that to help ME move to Portland for the summer, but then thanked me for inviting her at the end of it ... PRICELESS!!!

Yes, I have officially moved to Portland, OR for the summer as a travel nurse. I moved here the weekend of May 23-26th, and Heather helped me drive up here, unpack, and explore for the weekend. As you can tell, we had some great experiences! I mean, really...do you know ANYONE who has gotten a ticket in IDAHO??!! She keeps reminding me that it happened shortly after I had told told her she could safely go 90 mph through Idaho...they never stop you for speeding there! She happened to be driving my car, which I am personally thankful for because it didn't matter who had been driving at the time, we would have been pulled over and ticketed. Mine probably would have been worse...and I'm a lot closer to losing my license over speeding tickets than she is! That's only her 2nd one in her entire life!!! For me, that wouldn't even be my 2nd ticket since January (it would have been my 3rd)!!! I was blessed. :-)

On Sunday, we went out to visit my friends, the Felts (see last August posts) who live in Long Beach, Washington. Two funny things happened there... (at least two that I'm willing to share!)...

While we were doing a driving tour on the Peninsula with Tiffany, we got tagged by a police officer who was looking into cars and ticketing those who weren't wearing their seatbelt. Again, apparently Heather always forgets to wear her seatbelt when she is riding in the back seat...not anymore...now she always wears it! The only reason he didn't ticket her was because he was close personal friends with Brian and Tiffany and she was in the car with us! Lucky!!!

Funny story about the foot injuries from walking on the beach... Heather and I went for a walk on the beach, carrying our shoes so we could walk barefoot through the sand and water. We got talking and weren't paying attention to how far we had walked, and when we finally turned around and walked back, it was well over a mile. Anyways, things seemed fine...no problems till later. Heather mentioned at one point that her foot was hurting a little. The next day I noticed she was limping on it, so I said something and she finally admitted just how painful it had gotten. I immediately took her to the store and we bought things to help it. So we were at the check-out stand at Target and the cashier asked us how we were doing, and we both answered "Fine" and "Great". The couple behind us started LAUGHING and said, "You are buying 2 ace bandages, ice packs, and pain killers (Ibuprofen and Tylenol)...and you're FINE?!" Then we all started laughing! I drugged her up and dressed up her foot and put her on a plane back home to SLC... and I definitely realize how blessed I am to have a friend who is there with me through it all, even when it comes at great personal (and financial) sacrifice!!! Again, I am VERY BLESSED!!!

Pictures from Peru

2008-05-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm too lazy to actually upload all of these pictures again, so I'm going to try and post the links to view these pictures from my Facebook page...we'll see if it works. Let me know what you think! Apparently I'm technologically challenged tonight and am unable to upload the 4th link...so I'll do that later. Keep watching!

YAY!! I finally made it work!

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33761&l=1fa84&id=775107563
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33763&l=30be9&id=775107563
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33844&l=3e54c&id=775107563
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33848&l=bc6f0&id=775107563

A Weekend in Vegas!

2008-05-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

Things are changing once again in my life...I had put my notice in at work so I could accept a Travel Nurse position in an ER in Portland, OR for the summer. Last-minute I decided to leave the house and go visit my sister and nieces and my friend David in Vegas for the weekend. Heather had never been to Vegas and agreed to go with me so we were off!

Heather and me...

The drive seemed like nothing, even though I'd worked the night before (of course Heather drove so she might say something different!), and we got in early enough to see a few things in town and go out to dinner that night with David, Brenda and one of my nieces, Makenzi.

My cute niece Makenzi during dinner...

Heather and me again...

Then we toured on the Strip a little before we finally called it a night. It is so fun to see it sometimes...all the lights and action in the city that never sleeps! As we toured, we met some very interesting people who decided that they wanted to be in some of the pictures with us. I laughed so hard after we got home when I finally looked at these pictures they took on my camera!

The light show at the Bellagio was impressive that night!

David, Heather, Me and some random stranger...

Again...random strangers! but funny...

Sunday afternoon we took the kids to the park and played with them, and also visited. It was 104 degrees!!! In MAY!!! The drinks and ice cream we bought were fabulous!

David...

Makaela & Makenzi...

Heather & Makaela...

Makaela & me...

Sharing ice cream...

Brain freeze!

My adorable sis Brenda & me!

The girls...Makenzi & Makaela

Monday got up to 107 degrees when we finally left town in the early afternoon. We had packed as much as we could into those 2-1/2 days down there! And once again, we had a great time!!!

Painting 101... part 2

2008-05-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

The next night, we once again found ourselves in the same Home Depot. We walked around the corner and found the same guy working again! We were now looking for the Original Kilz (oil-based primer) and also some sanding supplies, masks, etc. Of course he laughed at us this time!

So that night, we sanded... which was fun of course. I opted to not sand too long, figuring the paint would "even it out".

A few nights later, I prepped the walls by actually washing them (for real this time, though what's the point now?) and we dusted the room. Luckily the ceiling had escaped the horrible fate that the walls didn't so we didn't have to re-do that part!

I haven't ever painted with oil-based paint before, so I read the directions this time...all of them! A few minutes in, we realized that we needed some serious ventilation, so I opened the window in the room about 6-8 inches and also the bathroom window across the hall about the same, for cross-ventilation. I had taken the door off the hinges so we couldn't just close it to contain the smell! And it DID smell! We got so high that night on paint fumes as we painted away...laughing at EVERYTHING and more! I had paint in my hair in the first five minutes that night (which doesn't wash out like water-based...it took a week!), and I also got it on the carpet, though I don't know how since the whole thing was covered with tarp!

Mary got home about an hour later with her 18-yr old son, Ian, and said the whole house smelled...and she could hear us upstairs laughing our heads off while we painted! We laugh at a lot of things when we are doing these projects around the house anyways, but this night we couldn't stop laughing at the stupidest things!

We finished up and cleaned up our mess, being very conscientious with it...I didn't want paint all over the house after all! I took my gloves off so I could open doors for Heather as she carried our trash. We went straight out to the garbage bin and dumped it. As we headed back in, we found the screen door wouldn't open. I thought it was just Heather being dumb, so I tried it too and sure enough...we were locked out! Again...laughing through the entire experience, we tried to get Mary's attention to come let us in. Heather stood at the door calling "Mary come let us in!" and I rang the bell several times...still laughing. It freaked Mary out as she didn't know we'd gone out there and wasn't sure who was at the back door at that time of night (near midnight)! She just shook her head when she saw it was us...

I should say at this point that she has forbidden me to do any more home-improvement projects after 10 p.m.!

Painting 101... part 1

2008-05-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

This is where my home improvement projects got interesting...and Heather was there for all of it!

It started the night we were in Home Depot together shopping for the Kilz2 to prime the walls with. I had decided that just one of the upstairs bedrooms needed to be painted, in part because of the color, but also to get rid of the cigarette smell. Everyone said to try the Kilz products because they do a marvelous job covering up the smell, and you can paint anything on top of them. I opted to start with the Kilz2 since it was water based and would be easier to clean up. The worker at Home Depot who was helping us made an innocent joke about Heather being my daughter...which we laughed at later but I was so not amused with at the time. Yes, I know I'm getting older but come on!!! Do I really look that much older than her? (Don't answer that)... Anyways, back to the story. We bought our supplies and headed to my home.

The room...

We prepped the room by laying down tape and tarps, taking off all the doors, blinds and other outlet things, etc. I even dusted the walls in preparation. Just as I was pouring the stuff into the pan, I decided to read the directions. It went something like this: "Prep the walls by ... blah blah blah..., paint evenly onto the walls ...blah blah blah, clean up with ... blah blah blah..." That's exactly how I read it too...I mean, come on...I've painted before! I know what I'm doing.

I primed with the roller while she used the brush for the edges...we had a great time as we talked and laughed about things. About 2 hours into it we were just finishing when Heather asked "What's that bubble on the wall?". We both looked and noticed that it wasn't just one...the walls actually had bubbles coming out on them! It was then that Heather asked me what all the "blah blah blah's" were in the instructions, and I read them again. It was something about preparing the walls by washing them with something special before priming them...but who actually DOES that? I mean, that's what the primer is for right? It just "covers it all up and seals it in" like everyone told me right? I made the decision as the new home-owner that we should pop them, peel off the loose paint and sand them down later after it had dried. I couldn't after all leave bubbles on my wall could I?!

So now we're peeling... Yes, this is Heather...

And peeling...and laughing...

And having a peeling contest...we hung our biggest whole pieces on the window!

Home Improvement 101...

2008-05-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

OR Why I should not be allowed to do this...

Let me start by saying that 2300 square feet sounded fun until I started cleaning and working on it. What was I thinking?! In an effort to get the light smell of cigarette smoke out, I took about 7-10 days before moving all of my belongings in, set up a bed in the dining room and lived there while shampooing the carpets, washing some walls, scrubbing out the kitchen and bathrooms, and overall cleaning. I was blessed with the help of a couple of very good friends...Mary, who is going to be my roommate and actually live there (she has an interest in making things good), and Heather, who is just plain crazy, but so fun to do home improvement projects with! Here are a couple of the more interesting experiences...

Heather and I found some odor spray while shopping at Walmart at 12:30 a.m., so we decided to try it that night on the ceiling of the basement, where the worst of the smell was. We took turns spraying it straight up while trying to not get it on us or breath too much of it in, as it did burn the lungs a little, and it wasn't recommended for human consumption. That was fairly entertaining as we were spraying it at nearly 2:00 in the morning! Surprisingly it actually worked!

We also decided to change out the doorknobs and locks one day, as I have a crazy neighbor that has tried to just walk in before. That took a couple of hours...I know, we did try to follow the directions eventually when all else failed!

Here are a few pics...I will save the painting stories for another post!

Mary mopping in the dining room

Me cleaning the fridge...I know...nice shot.

Me cleaning the kitchen

More kitchen cleaning

Buying a Condo...

2008-05-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. I've done it. I've finally bought a condo, and attached my name to a more permanent address than a PO Box (though I'm keeping that too for now!). After several negotiations, and a few fixes, I found a place, signed paperwork, and got it to close in about 6 weeks! I got the keys on April 30th, and my life hasn't slowed down since! I found a place in Utah that will be big enough to keep a room but also have a roommate or two to help take care of it while I'm traveling, etc. It is 2 stories plus a basement, and is 2300 square feet, give or take a few. I love the size, space and everything about it!

My Marathon Trip Home...

2008-04-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, as I said in the end of the last one, we left Weds morning for a 30-hour marathon-trip home. We left the Jungle and took the boat back to town. We waited there at the airport for the flight to come in...2 hours later! We kept asking when it was due...apparently there are only 2 flights that go there per day, and the story we finally got was that they get there when they get there... but that they haven't been on-time in ten years! It was hot and humid in their little airport filled with people waiting for these two flights!

We flew from Puerto Maldonado to Lima where we were supposed to have a tour-guide meet us at the airport and take us around Lima for the day. I'd saved all of my souvenir shopping for that day, as did my roommate, Ali. Yeah...the tour guide wasn't there, and when we finally got ahold of their company and they got someone there, it was two hours later... so we only had a couple of hours in the city before we had to be back at the airport. The traffic was so bad, that it was hard to get anywhere. Long-story short we ended up with about 30 minutes to do ALL of our souvenir shopping and then about 25 mins to eat before we headed back. I stayed calm through the whole thing as I looked at my priorities...which were getting on my flight back home to the states! Nothing else mattered to me that day!

I will add at this point that one of the highlights of my day was watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean in Peru, and being awake on the plane the next morning to watch the sun rise somewhere over Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. That's not something everyone sees in their lifetime!

I had planned on completely drugging myself so I could sleep on the flight home (midnight to 7 am or so) from Lima to Atlanta, but somehow I'd gotten busy doing things in the airport and had forgotten to take the pills soon enough for them to be working when I got on the plane. I had taken a whole change of comfortable clothes and some body wipes, and went into the bathroom in the airport in Lima and basically bathed and changed down to fresh clothes which hadn't been worn or washed once on the trip. I felt FABULOUS!!!

So we get on the plane, do all the details of an international flight, and then everyone spreads out and lays down to sleep. I found myself completely awake, so I took advantage of the time and journaled my thoughts and feelings about the trip. I started writing all the things I missed about home, and things I wanted to do when I got there and finished by writing all the things I loved about Peru and the things I would miss. It was quite enlightening to me as my list of loves were quite a bit longer than the things I'd missed! I want to put a few examples in here but I don't have that journal with me right now...sad! Maybe I'll add them later.

I slept about 45 minutes at some point on the flight, and was up the rest of the time...but it was okay. Somehow I'm able to do things like that periodically.

We arrived in Atlanta and got through the airport and customs quickly on our 2-hour layover, and made the flight to SLC just fine. I was so happy to get off the plane in SLC and be home... What a great experience!

I Survived!!!

2008-04-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true...I came home alive and just fine. I wish I could attribute my blog-slacking to some exotic reason like being holed up in a 3rd-World Country hospital while they re-attached my hand after the caymen took it off...oh wait, no I don't wish that at all! I've seen their hospitals! Okay...let me just tell you about the jungle. I am going to cheat and back-date these posts so the timing makes more sense in the future...

We headed to the Jungle on Sunday the 6th of April. I hadn't looked online at the resort we were going to, and I kind of had an idea that they might not have internet access, but imagine my shock and horror to find out that they didn't even have a phone line!!!!!!! I honestly didn't know how I was going to stay sane for 3 nights/4 days there! We flew into Puerto Maldonado, where we took a tour bus through town, then we took a boat (yep...a boat) to get to the resort about 30 minutes down the river. The jungle was all around us, and I couldn't escape to connect with any kind of civilization until we left on the 9th to come home! There were 2 saving graces there... one was the sparkling (and chlorinated) swimming pool just in front of the bungalow...that's where I started taking my daily bath/shower...I'd only use the one in our room for the soap part, which wasn't necessary every single day. The second was the food. I'm usually not a person who is driven by food at all, but the chef at this resort was AWESOME!!! They had a French Chef that made 3-course meals 3 times a day for us...no choices, but I never had anything I didn't eat (except the passion fruit because while the taste was good, the texture was that of chunky snot).

It was beautiful there, though the terrain was quite different. This time it was flat, hot and humid...just what I needed to recover from this last winter in Salt Lake City. By the way, I learned that SLC had 3 major snow-storms while I was in Peru!

We arrived the first day, got settled into our bungalows. None had windows, just screens. They turned the power on every morning for a few hours and every night from 5-10 pm. All the rest of the time we had no power. I had hot water in my shower once during the week, and it only lasted for about 15 seconds. Otherwise it was cold! There was a resident Toucan at the resort that was very tame, and who drank out of running faucets whenever he could find them. There were also a few parrots who would whistle and say phrases like, "Hola Pepe! Hello Pepe!" They were all fun!

We did a tour of the Jungle the first night and saw enough things to scare us into not wandering in there at night...or even during the day without people with us. I got out there and realized I'd had little sleep for several days, was still processing all of the experiences we'd had over the week before, and looked at the schedule of our tours in the jungle only to realize that there wasn't a lot of down-time. I was getting grumpy from it all, so I decided that I was on vacation now, and I didn't have to go on the tours if I didn't want to. So on Monday while the rest of our group went on a tour to Monkey Island, I stayed home and napped and laid pool-side. It was fantastic and was the best decision I made all week! I went for the morning walk with everyone to see the parakeets in the wild. Then I came home, showered, lathered with bug-lotion for the day and changed into my swim-suit with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt over the top. I took my first nap after breakfast. Then everyone met up and left, and I waited until I was really hot in my bungalow before I went down to the pool. I swam and laid out in the nice hot Peruvian sun. The temps were in the 90's with the humidity in the 90's as well. I wasn't sure how anyone lives down there without the option of being in the water at any given time.

I met one of the guys that worked around the resort (Daniel), and learned he was an artist who had gone to school in Argentina. We talked for quite a while. Then he served me drinks pool-side just before lunch (no one got drinks pool-side at this place!). During lunch, I was eating alone in the dining room and he came and sat by me, shared some of his artwork with me, and proceeded to paint me a beautiful water-color of the jungle at night. It wasn't completely dry (how does anything dry in the jungle?!!!) so he finished it later and had me pick it up that night when he was working at the bar, which I did.

After lunch, I went back up to my bungalow and took my afternoon nap in the hammock outside. I woke up to the sound of one of the parrots talking to me. He wanted my hot-yellow flip-flops and actually came down and played with / attacked them for a while. It was so funny! Then Tuki, the toucan came over and chased him off so he could get a better look at them. I took them inside (the flip-flops, not the birds) and rested there for a while and about that time, everyone got back from their tour that day. I'd had a fabulous day, and wasn't terrifically disappointed that I'd missed the tour even though they did see hundreds of monkeys and other jungle animals. I'd had a great day too!

The first two nights we were there, we went caymen hunting on the river at night. Caymen are a kind of alligator. The first night we saw a few of them but the tour guide wasn't ever able to catch one. The second night, we only saw one but we also saw owls and bats, and their large rodents that are a little bigger than a border collie...and we saw tarantulas.

Tuesday, I did go on the tours again, which were interesting, but I realized that I would have enjoyed just staying pool-side for another day.

Wednesday morning, we started our 30-hour marathon trip home. The smile on my face that day was genuine finally, because I was READY to be going home! I'd had a good time, but I just needed to be home. I was done dealing with the psych-social dynamics and drama in our group. We kind of compared it to "Survivor" off and on during the week and I heard that at one point, someone said that if it was "Survivor" that Chad and I would be the only two left on the island...everyone else would have been voted off. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing...

Overall, I'd have to say that this is an experience that I would recommend doing at least once!

Headed to the Jungles of Peru...

2008-04-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

This week has been a whirlwind of adventure, sight-seeing, clinics, and a little shopping, one afternoon nap...and some kick-butt hikes! I don´t know why I don´t think I can do hard hikes at home but here, I´m somehow able to climb my butt all the way up these steep mountains!!! Wait till you see some of the pictures of these...you won´t believe it either! It´s nothing like the simple ones at home!

I´ve had a multitude of experiences, and wasn´t able to blog while we were in Aquas Calientes at the bottom of Machu Picchu for the last 2 days. We toured and climbed all over those mountains, we held a clinic at the school in town, and we did a little shopping and great eating! Last Thursday, we just toured all day on the way to Aquas Calientes, visiting several ancient Incan Cities. It is absolutely amazing! I can´t wait to add the pictures soon!

Today, part of our group is headed back from Cuzco to Lima (Peru), then Atlanta or Houston and then finally to Salt Lake City. I am staying with 5 other people of our group and we are headed to the Jungle in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, very soon. I´m blogging while I have a few minutes waiting for our tour bus to come pick us up for the airport. Not sure if we´ll have internet access there or not. From there, I´m leaving on Wednesday to come back to Lima, where we will tour all day, shop, and then get a red-eye back to the states. I´ll be home Thursday. Hope to blog, but might not have a chance... until later, I´m having a great time!

A day in the Peruvian Hospital...

2008-04-02T21:36:00.001-07:00

Today I presented my lecture to a group of doctors and nurses in their hospital. It went well, and we had a fun day overall. I made friends with some of their ER Nurses, and got a great tour of their ER. Let´s just say WOW!!! What an eye-opener! I am SO blessed to have what I have, and to do what I do. They are amazing people down here and they do good work with what they have...but WOW!

Tonight I washed underwear in the sink...That was an experience! I´m hoping it dries by first thing in the morning when we have to leave for Aquas Calientes and ultimately Macchu Picchu on Saturday.

And lastly, my roommate Ali has given me a nickname...¨Little Miss Sunshine¨. Not quite sure why...apparently I´ve given the ït could be worse¨ spiel a few times...

I ate WHAT???

2008-04-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today was busy...I didn´t get any sleep last night, but got up and going this morning just the same. I bought my first antibiotics from the pharmacy using my limited Spanish all by myself! It was a proud moment. We took a bus to a very remote village, which wasn´t terrifically far by mileage, but took about 2 hours to get to. It might be a good thing that I can´t post the pictures yet, because people would worry about me too much...I took a lot of ¨National Geographic¨ pics today as I saw some of the most amazing scenery I´ve ever seen in my life. I´ve always heard people say that Montana is God´s country, but I saw it today, and it is absolutely breath taking here in the Andes!

We had a cultural celebration put on for us by the villagers, and they actually fed us Guinnea Pig for lunch, which is their most honored meal. Yep, I ate more than just 2 bites too!

We held clinic where we saw their children, and then some of the adults from the village. One boy had chest pain upon exertion, and I immediately suspected asthma but couldn´t hear wheezing...so I sent him outside to run for a minute and come back when he had the pain again...next thing I know, I look out the window and he´s running around all the school buildings! I thought he´d just run around the courtyard a little, but he was out for a full run! Sure enough...I heard more wheezing when he came back!

Let me preface this next story by saying that most of the women here in our group keep at least a little money in their bras...I don´t do that, but I do faithfully wear my hidden money pouch in my pants just below the belt line, with all the things I absolutely cannot lose on this trip. So yesterday we´re eating lunch and the surgeon from the Idaho group who is with us asks if anyone has contact solution. I knew that I had eye drops, which I offerred... Now we´re sitting around the table eating guinnea pig, and I´m reaching down my pants trying to get these eye drops out of my money belt. Let´s just say it looked awfully funny, and everyone was laughing! He wasn´t sure he wanted to use them, especially when they came out warm!

It was a great day!

Highlights of the day...

2008-03-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

So we got up this morning...I showered last night and was planning on straightening my hair with my flat iron this morning. I was plugged into my adapter (to adjust the voltage for my iron), and it took a while to heat up. I'm finally using it and I get halfway done (the bottom half) when I smell something funny, but I think nothing of it...after all, we are in a hotel in a 3rd world country. Then I hear a pop...at this point I'm suspicious but still in denial. But I couldn't ignore the smoke floating up a moment later. I got that plug out of the wall so fast...and there wasn't enough heat to finish my hair, so I gave up and put the top part up. It was pretty funny...I almost set my hotel room on fire...

Our plans changed today and we ended up doing a clinic in the country. It was pretty fun...I was teaching kids how to brush their teeth, which was going well, until this LITTLE one was brushing her teeth and spitting on the ground. I was trying to get her to spit in the bucket like everyone else had been doing and I'm pointing at the bucket. Next thing I know, she sticks her toothbrush in the bucket (EEWWW!) and puts it back in her mouth before I could catch her. It was the grossest thing I saw today!

After we finished with clinic, their school kids challenged us to a game of soccer...yep, a bunch of out-of-shape Americans running around playing soccer at 13,000 feet. We got our butts kicked, but it was SO FUN!!! We actually scored a couple of goals once one of the guys started playing with us on our team.

Lots of walking, shopping, and look at me go -- 2nd day here and I've quit wearing my seatbelt. There's no need...with the way they drive, that little belt isn't going to do much. It's fabulous!

Gotta run for tonight...will try to keep making updates. I'm having a great time!!!

I´m in Peru

2008-03-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

So I have about 3 minutes left on this computer...let´s see how fast I can type. I arrived safely and have had a fabulous time! So far I´ve had Coca Tea and candy and am not getting altitude sickness at all. Not even a headache! I hope to not jinx myself by saying that. I´m having such a great time! I´m going to sound like a gringo, but I have to say that this place looks just like Emporer´s New Groove.

Sorry gotta run for now!

Off to Peru

2008-03-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

I'm so far behind in my stuff, it's ridiculous! But I did want to write a few words before I just up and leave the country for 2 weeks... Several people have heard I'm headed to Peru (South America) and have asked what I'm going for, and I just wanted to say a few words about it before I leave.

First I have to say that it has always been a dream of mine to do some sort of medical humanitarian mission type thing...and this is the first opportunity that I've taken to do it so far. I'm going with one of the ER Doctors and several nurses and other people we work with. We leave in a few hours, and travel down to Peru Sat and Sun, and have time to settle in and tour Cusco on Sunday. Here's a brief itinerary...

Monday (31st) -- I will be working on some humanitarian project in one of the villages somewhere.
Tuesday (1st) -- I will be teaching a short lecture in the hospital to doctors and nurses...Overall we are teaching "Initial Management of a Trauma Patient" over Mon and Tues.
Wednesday (2nd) -- we hold a free clinic all day.
Thursday (3rd), we hold a free clinic for half the day and take a bus & then a train to Aguas Calientes where we spend the night.
Friday (4th) we hold a free clinic all day.
Saturday (5th) we are scheduled to get up early and watch the sun rise at Machupicchu, and will spend the day touring there, then head back to the Sacred Valley & tour, then head back to Cusco.

At that point, part of the group heads back home to the States, the rest of us stay on for the optional "Jungle Tour Package"...here's where it gets interesting...of course I'm staying!

Sunday (6th) - fly to Puerto Maldonado where we see the city, then take a boat (yes, BOAT) to our hotel.
Monday (7th) - Sunrise expedition to Parrots Collpa, Morning excursion to Monkey Island, Afternoon hike to Lake Sandoval, and then a "Night safari to locate caymen and other nocturnal creatures"...Yes, when I first read that, I thought...I don't even know what caymen are but I want to go find them!!! I've since learned that they are like baby crocodiles...I still want to go find them! :-) I hope to come back with all my fingers!
Tuesday (8th) - visiting small tropical farms & sailing and fishing at Lago Chorillos. (This is the day for my TAN!!!)
Wednesday (9th) - finally a relaxing morning at the Inn. We leave the hotel where we take boat to bus to airport transport to get back to Lima. We will have time to tour Lima this day, as we have a red-eye flight out this night.
Thursday (10th) - we will be flying in the wee morning hours from Lima to Atlanta, and then on to SLC, where I'll arrive home shortly after noon...if all goes as my itinerary shows...

I'm excited to go, and have been looking forward to this for a while!

My crazy life...

2008-03-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

I have been a slacker at blogging this month!!! I'm convinced it is because of all of the upheaval I've created in my life lately. I've been so busy I've hardly had time to keep up with e-mail and facebook! I do like a little variety here and there in my life, so as a result of a year of complete boredom and the winter seasonal affective disorder, I have managed to pull out of both by making changes...and of course I don't start small. So here's what I've been up to...

In January I decided I wanted to go Travel Nursing (to escape this cold winter Siberia!) so I started making plans to do that, and got my stuff into my recruiter. Then I decided that since my lease was up in my apt in February, I might as well wait and just move my stuff out into storage, and keep a small room in my friend's home. At the same time, I finally made the decision to go on my first Humanitarian Trip to Peru with one of our ER Docs and several nurses and other folks so I started getting my paperwork and stuff in for that. We are scheduled to go March 29th - April 10th. In the meantime, I continued pursuing travel nursing contracts, and even went into my manager a week or so ago and put my notice in at work, to cut back from 90% (full-time) to Per Diem work (when I want to). During this process, I'm realizing how difficult it is to live out of storage, and I have a friend that wants to rent from me if I buy a place, so I've decided it would be beneficial for multiple reasons to buy a house. I met with a mortgage broker and he talked me into not quitting my job until I actually close on the home. I have rescinded my notice at work, so now travel nursing is on the back-burner again, and I'm working on buying a home and going to Peru first. Best-case, they under-write my home loan while I'm in Peru and we close when I get back, but of course we are starting to run into snaffu's, so I'm just trying to take it as it comes. I have no idea what will happen next or what kind of time-frame I'm looking at!

Now that the sun is out more, and it's warming up a little, I'm not as moody as I had been. Plus I'm absolutely THRIVING on the chaos that I've created!!! Who does that -- buys a condo, takes a humanitarian trip to a South-American country, and quits their job to start another one all in a 4-week period!??? I'm beginning to question my sanity...and I know it's all a result of this Siberian Winter I've had here in Utah!!!

Snow-Shoeing...My winter adventures Part 1

2008-03-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've just realized that I haven't blogged about any of my winter snow adventures here...so here's the first part...

In February, I went with Mary (an EMT that I work with) up snow-shoeing at one of the ski resorts. It was my first time ever, and the trails were supposed to be groomed, but apparently, the wind blew the snow over them, so we were in everything from nice 1" groomed trails to 2-3 feet of drifts! We had a great time though!

This is Mary and I ready to go...

These are deeper than we expected...

Hahaha! How can you not laugh at this picture?!

Me ready to go...

She made me go in front for a while because I was taking mean pictures from behind...

Just following the blue tags...they go off into the trees...we're not sure we want to go that way anymore.

Mary has a great idea -- lets just go above the tree-line parallel to our trail, and that way we won't get caught in the tree-drifts and holes and also the low branches... sounds good to me, I mean...she IS the one with experience at this, right?

Are you SURE we're going the right way?

Really?

My turn to fall...

This picture doesn't adequately show the slope, but our marked trail is WAY at the BOTTOM of these trees! So I head down head-first...straight down the hill!

Mary follows ever so gracefully!

Back on the deep trail again...I can see why people have done this out of necessity over the years...still trying to figure out why we do this for fun!

A picture together...then time for a rest.

Yep...I thought it would be a good idea to sit down and take a rest...now I can't get up.

No really...I CAN'T get up!!

It is pretty up here...

Pretty desolate!

Again...are we SURE we're on the right trail?

Some how we both made it back to civilization!

It was quite a hike!

There will be more adventure to come...

7 years and counting...

2008-03-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

So I can hardly believe it, but I have been working as a nurse for seven years now. Today was my anniversary of starting my first Nursing job at Harborview in Seattle. When I started, I used to look at nurses who had been practicing for more than 5 years and think they knew an awful lot, and those over 10 years definitely knew what they were doing! So why do I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out as I go?! Perhaps because I change specialties every couple of years? In a lot of ways, the ER has really helped me "pull it all together", as I've used experience from every single one of my specialties at some point or other. I could recount stories from my years, but I've already done that...perhaps for my 10th anniversary I will come up with new stories!

All I can say is that I've had the opportunity to see people at their best and at their worst, and sometimes it's been at the same moment... I'm amazed at the strength of the human spirit at times of personal crisis and significant change... and it's not just in the patients and their families. I have been blessed to work side by side with some amazing people over the years...

The Burn Unit attracts a distinct, and special type of nurse. Not every nurse can do it...there's some thing just wrong about people who look forward to and enjoy that initial debridement of a burn...it's like peeling a sunburn...almost. Bob helped me get my first successful IV start...I had tried 4-5 already with other people coaching, and just hadn't been successful, so of course I was freaked out that I was never going to learn...then he encouraged me and helped hold down the leg of a man going through DT's (severe alcohol withdrawal), while I somehow started an IV in the leg vein where the man couldn't reach it to pull it out again! After that, I felt like I really could do it... He also helped me with my first patient that died, helping me laugh and keep things light so I didn't get too emotionally wrapped up in the event. And he gave me Christmas trees from his farm for the last couple of years I lived in Seattle! Karen and Monya taught me the importance of organizing your work, and laughing with patients and with each other! They also taught me about burn care in children, especially young children, and how to make it manageable. They are some of the more amazing nurses I know! We truly enjoyed our jobs!

In L&D, Susan believed in me enough to send me into a "routine" delivery to watch her new nurse help with the baby...there were some last minute severe complications, and the baby came out not breathing...It became my first baby resuscitation that I did all by myself...or at least where I was the most "senior" baby-nurse who knew what to do...I somehow kept it together, and that baby was just fine after a few minutes. Marilyn taught me that it was possible to do blood-draws on newborns without hurting them (they slept through it!), and I learned how and became proficient at it.

With Peds, Lisa encouraged me in everything I wanted to do, as I talked about maybe someday becoming an ER Nurse. She was fabulous with children, and great with families.

And finally in the ER, I have come to know some amazing people...too many to mention individually. One of the things I've been impressed by is just how much nurses and all medical staff for that matter are "everyday people" with their own problems and challenges. They are no exception to life's hardships...yet somehow, they set it aside to come in every day and care for another as if that person is their priority, sometimes when their own lives are falling apart, or barely hanging on by a thread. It is the one common trait I've witnessed over and over in medical people that I admire the most. I believe that to love another above yourself is one of the greatest gifts.

Girls Behaving Badly...

2008-02-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

This is the only way I can describe my last 2 nights at work...

It all started when I had 10 days off in a row -- 2 sick, then 8 scheduled. I had been home so much that I was DYING to get back to work...I know...I never thought I'd feel that way! I was working with some fun people the last 2 nights, and I started "playing" a little...just for kicks.

Thursday night was fairly steady, we'd come in to a mess and were just cleaning it all up. The computers had been down all day, so there was a bit more chaos in the ER than usual. We are currently working in a "pod" system, where nurses are assigned to work in a pod, or certain clusters of rooms. We have the rooms in the ER split into 3 of these pods, even though sometimes we have to overlap. Ed was in one pod on his own and had 4 patients. The rest of us had at least 2 nurses in our pods, and had 1-3 patients each. Ed was clearly the busiest. Then I was supposed to get another pt in my pod, coming in by wambulance, but the room was dirty in my pod, so Shay (charge nurse) asked if I'd take the pt even though she had to put him in Ed's pod. I told her I'd be happy to, if I could play with Ed's mind a little first. She agreed, so I sent one of the EMT's in with the ambulance pt to start getting vitals, IV's, blood, etc... then I tracked Ed down, pulled him out of a patient room, and took him over to the board where we were looking at all the patients in the ER, and were able to see which nurses had which pts. He saw that clearly he had the most patients and I asked him, "Does Shay hate you? Why is she giving you this new ambulance patient when there are other nurses that aren't as busy?" That's all it took...he was getting worked about it. He said something like, "I know! Look...xxx only has 2 patients and one of those is getting discharged!" So I said, "you'd better go talk to her...this isn't right!" He marched down the hall to find Shay, the charge nurse to talk about it. As soon as he cleared the corner, I smiled and walked in the patient's room to get report on this new patient from the ambulance crew. I was just finishing getting report when I saw Ed coming back towards me, smiling but mad because he knew I'd really gotten him worked up over nothing. I guess he approached another nurse and asked if she'd take this new one in his pod to help him out, and she said she was busy. Then he found Shay and had just launched into how upset he was and how unfair this assignment was when she stopped him and said, "Wendy's just playing with you..." and he knew I'd gotten him good! It made me giggle for a couple of hours afterwards, though he did get me fairly wet with a syringe of saline...

Friday night, again we were all busy for a while, but I had some extra single-use packages of lubricating jelly sitting around at the desk for some reason, and decided to have some fun...again at Ed's expense. I ripped one of the packages open and dropped it into his back pocket on his scrubs, in passing. Sadly, it got quite busy after this, and I never did get to see his reaction when he discovered his pocket full of jelly... he never knew it was me thankfully, and now that I've written about it, I will have to watch my back!

But it's been fun!

Mooning...a story from my past.

2008-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago at work one night, a slower night, we were talking and laughing about how patients always moon us (show us their bare-naked bum), frequently unintentionally. The conversation got personal as the question was posed, "Have you ever mooned anyone?" I claimed innocence for only a moment until a friend walked by and said, "Oh no, I KNOW YOU'VE mooned someone!" and I turned red...I was obligated to tell my story...a lot of things are told at 2:00 in the morning which you can't talk about other times! I was quite amused at how hard everyone laughed...I thought it was a regular boring mooning story, so I thought I'd re-tell it here to my family and friends, and hope you find it as amusing as my co-workers. To my mom who doesn't know this story...consider this one more story you should probably hear from me before you see the "great movie of my life" someday!

When I was about 12 or 13 living in Tonopah, Nevada, I was walking down the street at about 8:30 or 9:00 at night with some friends. I'm pretty sure I was grounded at the time, and was on the way home from a church activity. There were 5 or 6 of us, and it was mixed company, boys and girls. We decided it would be a "good idea" if we mooned the next car that passed. It was dark, and we were all laughing and joking around...then we see our car coming so we line up one the side of the road. Next thing I know, there we are -- 5 naked bums facing this car as it was passing. I couldn't resist so I peeked to see the looks on the faces of the people in the car...and I was HORRIFIED to see my SISTER IN the car!!! Let me just say, that while I was perfectly willing to show some stranger my naked bum, there are some things your family should NEVER see! I quickly aborted and pulled my pants up, and I know I must have done some fancy talking to get her to not tell on me, because I don't remember getting in trouble for this. :-) I don't think I've mooned anyone since then...I learned my lesson!

So now I want to hear your stories! If you're too embarrassed, e-mail them to me!

Family Canning…

2008-02-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, my mom came up with this great idea that we go canning at the Family Cannery together. Basically, you work for 2 ½ hours at some station in the cannery, helping to can a variety of things like chicken chunks, hamburger, shredded beef chunks, pork chunks, jams, beef stew, etc, and then you can buy a few cases of the products at a good price. They are good products and good to have on hand in case you never go shopping for real food (like me). None of my other sisters would do this with her.

I used to go canning in Seattle (dry foods like flour and sugar), and had fun doing it then, so I thought, why not…good bonding time with my mom, I can stock up on a few items that would be good to have around, and it’s sometimes fun to do work that you would not normally have a chance to do. Every time we’d gone together so far, we were put in the packaging station, where we run the machines that label the finished product, package them in boxes, and label the boxes. It was always fun, easy-going, I could even wear my cell phone and text while I was working…and we had time to rest in between batches…until yesterday.

Yesterday, everything was different. I had a bad feeling getting ready to go, and felt like I should wear my older clothes so I wouldn’t care if I got something on them. But I wore my new tennis shoes, since I’d thrown away my old ones. It had been stormy earlier in the day, and the skies had cleared up, so now it’s cold…about 20 degrees F or so. I met her down there, and arrived just a little late. The orientation was a little different than in times past, and included how to pack the chicken into cans, how not to get burned on the hot machinery, and how not to get your fingers cut off in the machinery. The last thing she said was that our shoes wouldn’t get too messy unless they got the sprayers out (big hoses that clean off the machines at the end of the day). I figured that would put us in the actual canning areas and not in packaging…oh well…I guess I couldn’t get lucky with the easier (and cleaner) jobs too many times in a row. We got all ready and walked in, and everyone else got chosen for other jobs. My mom and I were the last 2 to get chosen, and they took me over to the machinery they were finished with and had me climb up and taught me how to use the sprayers…I could tell it might get a little messy so I immediately went out and traded my shoes for boots. I was up for this…

Yeah…

So I’m spraying chicken parts off of the machinery while trying not to get any spray on the people who are still actively canning chicken parts about 10 feet away. Then one of the older men who works there on a regular basis starts spraying from the bottom towards me! I quickly learned to keep my mouth shut, and was thankful for the little bitty plastic apron they provided, because I figured it would at least help a little. A short while later, I find myself spraying out the bins they had used to hold the chicken, and I realize that I’m SOAKED from my mid-thigh to my knees. I realized I was soaked because I was standing by the big garage door which kept opening to the outside (which was freezing!). The gusts of wind that came in not only made me cold, but also were effective at blowing the tiny bit of apron that had once been useful, out of place…so now I’m wet all down my legs. Then I feel the water dripping down the inside of the boots to my feet. Nice.

I looked across the room at my mom who’d been assigned a nice job washing dishes at the sink. I giggled as I thought to myself, “I’m out…no more of this for me…I’m buying my chicken from Costco from now on! I’m all about supporting people in third-world countries who are trying to work to feed their families doing crap like this…”

When I finished with the bins, they gave me a big broom and I got to sweep up the chicken parts that I’d just sprayed off of everything. Every time I thought I was finished and had stopped working for a moment, they would find another interesting job for me. I finally looked around and found a woman who knew the secret – I swear she swept the same pile of chicken back and forth for 20 minutes in an effort to look busy!

At the end, when I told my mom that I’m buying my chicken from Costco from now on, she just laughed…hard! She thought I was kidding…

Outside without a coat!

2008-02-01T23:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, I finally escaped to San Francisco last weekend to visit my friend, Tiffiny. We had a great time, but the best part for me was just being outside without a coat a good part of the time! I even went for a walk in my little jogging suit! I love that city...so much to see and do, and beautiful buildings! Here's a few pics...

S.A.D.

2008-01-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, while I refuse to “own” any real diagnoses, I have finally come to admit that I might suffer (at times) from a mild case of Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). This is the condition where people get depressed in the winter, usually because they don’t get enough bright light or something like that. I have so far been in denial because I was somehow able to live (and enjoy living) in Seattle for almost 8 years, with seasonal problems only one of the winters. But after 2 winters here that have made me wonder “What was I thinking?!” nearly every week, it’s time to own it and do what I need to do to fix it, so I’m not dreading this season every single year. It has given me cause to reflect upon my time in Seattle, and I have discovered that for me, the frequent combination of bright light and water is powerful, and it is usually enough. I think this is why I never had problems in Seattle – because everywhere I lived, I had a bright heat-lamp in the bathroom, so when I was in the shower every morning with the bright light on, that was enough to keep me happy and therefore healthy. The only winter in Seattle that I had a rough time was the winter I lived in a place that did not have a heat-lamp in the bathroom.

So I move to SLC, and haven’t had that bright bathroom light. Last year was kind of a fluke…I had my “sunshine trip” to Cabo in December, and while the rest of the winter was rough (especially January!), I thought it was just my feelings about being here in Utah. The beginning of this winter was rough several times, not my best year, but once the initial shock was over (Sept-Oct sometime), I didn’t seem to have as many problems. Then I realized I was taking a water aerobics class at the U, and swimming in their pools with the glass roof, thus getting my sunshine in the water twice a week. That only went from the end of October to the beginning of December, and I’ve been struggling to keep my head on straight ever since. I didn’t realize what was happening until a couple of weeks ago, I’d had a particularly rough stretch at work, and was ready to come home and sit with my knees pulled up to my chest, staring at the wall, and perhaps hitting my head against it a few times, for my entire 2 days off until I had to go back again. My friend, Heidi, wanted to hang out one day, and we’d been meaning to go work out again, so I agreed to go swimming with her at a nice community center pool that we found – a lap pool with big windows to the outside. From the second I hit that water until I got out over an hour or so later, it was pure joy – the most I’d had in WEEKS!!! I finally felt alive again…and I realized that that is the secret for me…the combination of bright and water a couple of times a week. Of course a good thaw-out in some tropical destination every winter doesn’t hurt either!

The good news is that I finally feel alive again…now I just need to feel warm without a ton of clothes on!

My little after-Christmas Massacre...the story of my tree.

2007-12-30T19:31:00.000-08:00

The tree turned out beautifully!

This is how I take it down without dragging it out and making a HUGE, sappy mess all over!

Working Christmas…part 2 – Christmas Night

2007-12-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

The second night of my adventure started with a planned pot-luck. One of the doctors was providing the meat, and everyone else had to bring all of the other things to add to our Christmas dinner at the hospital. In the past, they have provided hamburgers and hot-dogs or steaks and we’ve barbecued (yes, the ER has a department gas barbecue that we keep right outside near the ambulance bay). I was curious to see what the meat would be this night. Imagine my surprise to learn that she had brought two 20-lb turkeys, and someone else brought the deep-fryer – my first time to have deep-fried turkey! They do this is the south, but here there’s six inches of snow on the ground outside and the temps are in the 20’s!!! And yet, the dinner must go on!

The Turkey...

The Warning...

At least we're a Burn Center!!!

Ryan is one of our EMT's...

...and he's a pyro!

Safety First!

Our Charge Nurse, Brad...

Second Turkey...

One of the Airmed guys there to watch...

Do I look as cold as I feel?!

Now THAT is a beautiful bird!

Christmas Dinner!

This was one of the best turkeys I've ever had!

Our resident Pharmacist, Erin carves the bird with a scalpel...

She can do anything!!!

What would Christmas be without presents? Our Unit Secretary and EMT brought/made white-elephant gifts for everyone!

Everyone enjoyed the gift exchange.

Brad got a Family Home Evening Manual from 1977!!!

Overall, it was a fabulous Christmas, and a very memorable one for me! I'm not sad that I was working it.

Working Christmas…part 1 – Christmas Eve Night

2007-12-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Many people I have talked to these last couple of weeks have felt sorry for me because I’ve had to work Christmas, and was scheduled to work the nights of the 24th, 25th and 26th (7pm-7am). I get comments like, “Can’t you just get ONE day off?” or “How can you work Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day?!”, and my personal favorite, “Is it because you don’t have a family and children?”, as if it’s a tragedy in modern day life. Forget the fact that I had 8 days off around Thanksgiving, another 8-day off stretch in the middle of December, and I have 6 days off over New Years! Forget the fact that people still get hurt and injured and sick even during the holidays, and in the middle of the night. To these people, I have to say one thing – I appreciate your concern, but do I really look like I’m having a horrible time at work?! Judge for yourselves…

Christmas Eve night was a slow night, with a big snowstorm that dumped a few inches. The few people getting out to the Emergency Room tended to be those who either had life-threatening illnesses or conditions and those who are lonely without family/friends to be with at Christmas. Given the recent fresh powder-snow that fell that night, and the small number of patients we all had to treat, a couple of us were able to dress up in our boots, coats, and a few other creative things to keep us warm and dry and protected, and we headed out to play in the snow!!! I am finally thankful that my hospital is located on the top of a hill in the Salt Lake Valley, as we had some fantastic sledding options!

We’ve talked about how fun it would be off and on, to take the “slickers” or flexible but hard plastic back-boards that we place under patients, and ride them down the hill in the snow. Well, we finally had the perfect opportunity to try it! We got our slickers, and found some “trach-tie-tape” which is a very strong, ribbon-like cloth tie that we use to secure breathing tubes in people who can’t breathe for themselves. This we tied to the front of the slicker, both to help steer, and to keep the tongue out of the snow. It was incredibly effective, and I quickly learned that the only thing that limited how FAST these slickers really do go down the hill was my ability to stay on it! For this, the handles on the side were quite effective. While it’s been a few years, I can’t remember riding a sled that goes faster than these did! I used a pillow (hospital pillows are covered in plastic) to protect my tailbone from further re-injury, and splash-guard goggles to protect my eyes, as they had been sensitive earlier in the day. We also wore Tyvek suits (little bunny suits that we would put on patients in a decontamination-emergency) to keep our scrubs dry – another little idea that worked quite well (our charge nurse wouldn’t let us wear the real hazmat suits – only these disposable ones)! And finally, I placed the plastic hospital gloves over my own cloth gloves to keep my own gloves dry. In the final minutes at about 5:00 Christmas morning, I had chosen my own nurse and doctor from among my co-workers, should anything bad happen… and with all the preparation in place… we went and played!!!

As I was at the top of this hill about to ride my slicker down for the first time ever, the last thing I yelled out to those watching at the bottom was, "Are you SURE this is a good idea?!" Then we ALL laughed hard, knowing that that is what many of our patients tell us were their last thoughts before doing something that landed them in the ER!

Gratitude

2007-12-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

Several days ago, I was whining to a good friend about how “difficult” my December has been this year. I have had such a bah-humbug attitude, and have not wanted to do Christmas shopping, or dinners or anything. I was even reluctant to decorate my tree (yep, the tree I worked so hard to get)! This dear friend came over and helped me decorate it, and so it got done. I even had a hard time getting my Christmas cards! I’d ordered photo cards this year, and was excited to send them out until in the process of having them shipped to me, they ended up in California first, and I got them about 7 days later than I’d planned. Everything seemed to be more difficult this year.

This same friend encouraged me to go home and make a list of the things I am grateful for. I figured it would be easy since I’d done it last month as part of my Thanksgiving tradition, and yet I found a whole different set of things on this list. It did help me to focus on all the things I’ve been blessed with, and so I share that list with you…

I am thankful for…
1. Hot showers!
2. Water in every form – oceans, lakes, swimming pools, etc…
3. Palm trees!
4. Warm, tropical places, even in the winter.
5. A great job and the chance to work with fabulous people, whom I love!
6. My medical knowledge and the ability that I have to bless the lives of others with it.
7. Flexibility with work in hours, days and time off, as well as travel. I LOVE not being tied to a desk in a 9-5 job anymore!!!
8. My family.
9. Travel – something I love dearly!
10. Good health.
11. Good friends!
12. The computer / internet, which makes it so easy to connect with people and find information so easily!
13. TV.
14. Modern conveniences like plumbing and electricity, and the heater in my car!
15. My car!
16. The different places I’ve lived and people I’ve met along the way.
17. Religion – and the peace and direction it gives me in my life.
18. Sunshine!
19. Massages!
20. My driving skills, and the many times I’ve spent “playing” in my car on dirt roads and in the snow. Those things have taught me much about how to handle my car when it really matters!
21. My independence and all that I’m able to accomplish when I set my mind to it.
22. Creativity, and the many ideas I have in my multiple mediums.
23. Hot cocoa from Starbucks!!!
24. Common sense (most of the time!).
25. My sensitivity to the feelings of others, and especially my ability to “read” others at times, and see things in their hearts that are not obvious on the surface.
26. Afternoon naps!
27. A dear friend who cared enough to listen and then encouraged me to sit and write this list.

Christmas with the Sisters...

2007-12-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

This year, since I was working Christmas, I got together with my sisters and nieces on the weekend of the 16th to celebrate Christmas. We had a lot of fun!

Makaela and Makenzi with their new puppy, Baby.

Makaela is such a poser!

Opening presents...

Makaela playing with her new camera! She learned this from her Aunties - Wendy and Polly!

Polly, Brenda, Wendy (me) and Megan

Brenda with her girls, Makaela and Makenzi...

And finally, Makaela and I have so much fun doing our "faces" pictures together!

We always end up laughing SO HARD!!!

What a great time we all had!

The Cutting of the Christmas Trees...Part 2...

2007-12-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

I know this is long overdue…I’m just recovering now, though I still have a good bruise.

My younger, but taller sister, Polly, and I spent the night at her home in Manti, UT, so we could get up at 6:45 a.m. on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, and stand in line in the freezing cold (10 degrees F) to get our Christmas tree tags ($5.00 each – very economical). We didn’t get there until 7:20, later than we’d planned, but the line wasn’t too long yet. We were wearing about 6 layers of clothing, along with a blanket and hot chocolate, and were ready for the 40-minute wait until the forest service would be there at 8 to sell the tags. I spaced my hot cocoa appropriately, to keep me warm the whole time, and at 8:00, I was just starting to feel a little chilly on my face, fingers, and toes. Great planning!

8:00 came and went, and we started getting concerned. Then someone came and said that the Forest Service wouldn’t be there until 9:00. I thought my toes were going to freeze and fall off! It got really cold in that last hour right as the sun was coming up. We finally bought our tags and went home to warm up. Polly made breakfast for us, and I took a brief nap, and rested, trying to warm up. Finally around 11 or so, Polly said we needed to get going to cut our trees, so we got dressed up again, and left to go up Manti Canyon to a place that Polly knows has good trees. She’d been scouting a little, and found a place that “no one goes to get their trees”. I asked if we could just take 4-wheelers or horses to go and get them. I should have been more concerned with her answer – “The 4-wheelers and horses can’t get up there”, but I was still caught up in the whole magical dream of it all. I mean…how bad could it really be, right?!

We got up there, and ended up hiking up about ½ mile straight up the hillside. Yeah…I wouldn’t want to ride a horse up that hillside…I’d rather take my chances on my own two feet (or my butt, whichever was more convenient). I found a good tree that was about 10’ tall, and yes, I actually chopped it down with a hatchet...

(well, I mostly chopped it down, and sawed the last little bit with a handsaw…Polly got tired of waiting for me to chop the whole thing down because I’d been working on it for about 20 minutes already – with breaks). Consequently, the base of my perfect Christmas tree is now massacred, but it’s okay, we’ll have to cut that part off when we cut it down to go into the stand anyways. We packaged it and drug it over the hill ready to go down the steep part.

Then we went back over the top of the hill and while Polly was scouting for her tree, I was taking pictures and enjoying nature. This is the last picture I took before "The Incident"...

This is where it got interesting…I didn’t want to hike all over the mountain while Polly scouted for her tree, so I was just walking around minding my own business, resting here and there, taking pictures and waiting for her to call me when she found it. That was when I had a great idea to take a picture from off the top of a big rock (waist to chest height). I didn’t set my things down, but thought I could easily get up on the rock. I was wrong. I mis-judged it, and lost my balance…next thing I know, I’m flying through the air backwards, and I realize that I am going to land flat on my back from about 3-4 feet off the ground. It was not good. Many things flashed through my mind…like some of the trauma patients I’ve taken care of with spinal injuries and back pain forever, concerns about a back injury if I did land flat on my back, and wishing I’d actually gotten in the shower that morning so I’d have clean underwear on (which I hadn’t) just in case I was going to be really injured. I think I landed flat on my back, and while the upper and middle parts of my back hit the dirt (thankfully!!!), my tailbone landed directly on the smaller pointed rock I’d been using to climb up on the bigger rock. Yep…I landed on my butt. It hurt SOOO bad!!! Polly heard my yelp, and yelled out asking if I was okay. I answered that I was fine, but I still wasn’t sure at that point. I immediately got up and started walking around, and was happy to see I still had normal movement and feeling in all of my extremities…it was just my butt that hurt really bad (REALLY BAD!), specifically, my tailbone. I’ve hurt my tailbone a couple of times before, and it felt a lot like those times. Then I started getting nauseous and almost dizzy, and was about to sit down so I didn’t fall, but was stripping clothes off instead (not all of them – just the top layers!) to take advantage of the cold air outside – to bring me out of the painful shock my body was going into. I had a big wave of nausea flood over me, and just didn’t feel great for quite a while. When I finally recovered, I looked at the rock I'd landed on and realized that I actually broke the rock! Of course of all the things I took pictures of that day, oddly enough, I didn’t take any pictures of the place I was injured.

I finally recovered enough and collected my things, and walked (very stiffly, and a little bow-legged with my toes pointed out at a 45-degree angle which felt the best) over to where Polly had found her 14' tree and was cutting it down with the handsaw (5 minutes). I laid out the tarp to drag her tree down the mountain on. I wish I’d gotten more pictures, but I didn’t because I was no longer feeling good…I had to measure every movement.

I was somehow able to help her get her tree over to the down-hill slope and while she pulled her tree down the mountain, I went and got mine, and pulled it down the mountain as well. Yep…I was still able to haul my tree off the mountain, though I no longer wanted to go down on my butt, and was VERY careful not to fall on it again. We got them loaded in the truck.

As we drove down the mountain, I made a make-shift “donut” with my two sweaters under my legs to hold my butt off the seat so I could tolerate the drive without hurting too much!

Here's Polly next to her truck with the "controversial" bumper sticker!

One of the first things I did when we got home, was check my bum in the mirror for a bruise. NOTHING! All that pain and nothing to show for it! The next morning, I found a bruise (black) the size of a silver dollar. The day after, it doubled in size. I’d put a picture up, but I don’t want my blog to be tagged as “inappropriate"! Overall it was fun, but I think that if I’m going to do this again, I need to have a boyfriend next time!

The Cutting of the Christmas Tree...Part 1

2007-11-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

The Idea – Cutting my own Christmas Tree has always been a holiday dream of mine….there’s just something very romantic about going out into the WILD, choosing just the right tree, neatly cutting it down and bringing it home. My sister, Polly has done this for two years, this will be her third. This year, she talked me into going with her.

The Plan – We are planning on getting up early Saturday morning before the sun comes up to stand in line in sub-zero temperatures with 200 other people here in Manti, Utah, competing for about 50 Christmas Tree tags. Once we get our tags, we are going to come home and take naps before we get up at a much more reasonable hour to actually go cut the trees.

The Forecast – For Saturday, the current temperature forecast calls for highs in the 40’s, lows in the teens, with a CHANCE of sun in the afternoon. So far, no snow in sight. (According to Polly, it’s really too bad, because it’s easier if you can ride your Christmas tree down the hill like a sled.)

The Preparation – Friday night we are watching Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation” for those last minute hints, ideas, and inspiration. Over the last few months, Polly has also been scouting the hills up the canyon on her horses, finding the perfect trees to go cut down.

The Tools – A BIG Truck for 2 big trees (thankfully, Polly has a Dodge Ram), a tape measure (trees always look smaller in the wild than they do in your living room), an ax (Polly doesn’t think I can chop my own tree down with an ax), a handsaw (for when the ax doesn’t work), good hiking boots, warm clothes, good work gloves, a tarp, rope, an Emergency First Aid kit, Bear Repellant, a camera (maybe a helmet cam?), a GPS watch (so we can find our way back to the truck when we get lost), a Cell Phone (so we can call 911 when we can’t find our truck with the GPS), water (they say staying hydrated helps prevent altitude sickness), biodegradable toilet paper (because of the extra water), Repelling Gear (just in case), oxygen (again, just in case – I’m not quite used to these elevations, and supposedly Polly found the perfect trees, but they are on the top of the mountain far beyond what MOST people consider an acceptable distance from the road), and finally, a hand gun to protect my perfect tree from other tree hunters who don’t want to work as hard as we are going to!

The Adventure – stay tuned…I will write all about it next week. (I’m sure I can write from my hospital bed with the free wireless internet they have in most hospitals these days!)

3 Kids, 2 Dogs…and a perfect day at the beach!

2007-11-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

I spent a few days with the Felts in Long Beach, Washington, from the 31st of October to the 6th of November. The weather was perfect! One of the days while I was watching the girls so Brian and Tiffany could get out of town, I got the bikes out with the kids, and they all rode while I walked behind (to push, encourage, etc), on the trail right by their house.

I did a variety of things that week, some with them and some alone…trick-or-treating, bike riding, driving around and exploring the peninsula, playing cards, sitting and watching the ocean, etc… I had a great time!

Ready for trick-or-treating!

Brian and Tiffany in costume!

The kids on the trail...

The dogs can't get home fast enough.

Ilwaco, Washington on a perfect day...

I could live here...

The view from their back deck.

This should have been a dare…

2007-10-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

I flew from the Salt Lake City airport to Portland on Halloween, and on a whim right before I left, decided to get out and wear my M&M Costume from a few years ago. It didn’t make sense to wear it to try and clear security, so I just packed it all in my carry-on bag, and waited until I arrived. Once off the plane, I slipped into the nearest restroom and took about 15 minutes to change into it. Then I walked out toting a purse and pulling my small carry-on suitcase with my former clothes in it.

It was an interesting study in psychology as I walked through the airport alone, dressed as a big red chocolate M&M. As I walked out of the restroom and onto the moving sidewalk, I heard the people behind me gasp and whisper to each other. My first thought was, “This should have been a dare!” It made me smile. I found it interesting that some people avoided all eye contact with me, but more people would look and smile at me, or just to themselves. As I made eye contact and smiled back, some of them laughed or made a comment if I was close enough to hear. I got several more smiles than any regular day of just smiling at people. I also found it interesting that the 3-4 other passengers that I walked by who were dressed up in costume to travel were mostly looking down and avoiding all eye contact with anyone and one of them even wore shades!

As I met Brian Felt and his daughter Olivia (who picked me up @ the airport), they were amused. Livvy had just woken up from a nap and wasn't sure what to think for a while, but she did sing a song about my costume on the drive home.

November Challenge

2007-10-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I was coming to a very busy holiday season, and I was a little sad that things seem to be so commercialized these days. I was wondering what I could do to make this holiday season special for me – something beyond the shopping and hype. As I thought about it, an idea formed, and I decided that I would start in November listing the things I was thankful for in my life. That way, I would appropriately recognize my blessings, and I would be in the right frame of mind to naturally move into Christmas. I started on November 1st and wrote one thing I was thankful for, the 2nd, I wrote two, the 3rd, I wrote three, and followed that through the whole month. Let me tell you, it’s easy for about the first 15 days…then it gets more difficult, as I couldn’t repeat things. I had to get creative! But what a great experience as I spent the month of November recognizing and thanking the Lord for my blessings daily. Since then, I have moved to a slightly modified version, and I only list one thing per day for the month of November. It’s been a blessing to me, and I even have a special book for it that I get out every November to use. I would challenge each of you to join me this year and keep a list, whether you take the BIG challenge and list as many as the date, or just one per day, I feel confident in saying it will be a blessing in your life.

Poor Coping? You decide...

2007-10-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

As we head into this cold, snowy winter season (yes, I realize that technically I’m 2 months early, but tonight it is going to snow here), I’ve been feeling more anxious and “unbalanced” than usual. I feel at times that I’m grasping for anything to keep me from drowning in the cold gloom that goes with the weather, and the season. In this spirit, I have discovered a new coping mechanism for myself – SHOPPING! While I have in the past required an occasional “shopping spree” 2-3 times per year, lately I feel as if I’ve grasped onto it like there’s no tomorrow…like it’s the single thing that will save me from drowning in the gloom of the cold, dark season.

It all started as I was searching for a certain fabric in a certain color, for one of my next projects. I went to various fabric stores, and was unable to find it. I then realized that I could possibly find it in a blanket in a department store, and even save money just buying and cutting up a blanket and using that. I started with the easy ones – Walmart, Target, and the like, and while I found the fabric, I never found the color I wanted. This stretched, and I moved to the mall, and Mervyn’s, JC Penney’s, Sears, and Bed Bath and Beyond. I finally found something that would likely work, but thought I could find a SLIGHTLY better shade…so I kept going… Never give up, right? Isn’t that what they say?

It took 4 sweaters, 3 pairs of shades, 2 bras, a handbag, 2 pairs of tennis shoes, 6 new photo albums (some big and some small), and even some CHRISTMAS SHOPPING (2 months early from my usual routine!) for me to realize that the store I’d gone to does not actually have the better shade of fabric I was looking for. Six more sweaters, and some thinner shirts to go underneath these new sweaters, and I finally realize I might have a problem. Then, because of the stress of it all, I had to go get a massage to help "come down" from it all. I have managed to single-handedly replenish an entire winter wardrobe in the last few days. I have spent enough to go to Disney World for a week!

I must say that this is a new challenge for me. I’ve never been that fond of shopping before, and NEVER spend like a maniac. I have GOT to get control of this before it gets any worse…(except I do still need a pair of snow boots and some clothes to go skiing in this winter). So for anyone who is under the illusion that I lived a charmed and perfect life, here’s proof that I don’t.

Now I’m off to work for the night. I will likely be driving home in 2-6 inches of snow tomorrow morning. Fun.

Livin’ the Dream…

2007-10-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

A night in the life of this ER Nurse

This is a REALLY LONG account of one of my EASY nights…but then 12-hour shifts get REALLY LONG too sometimes!

When I started working in the ER, I would hear staff ask each other how they were doing, and I frequently heard the response “Livin’ the dream”, which always makes me smile. I have to remember that ER Nursing had always been a dream of mine in some sick former life, and on my busiest nights when I don’t think I’m going to live through it, it sometimes helps to hear that…to say that…and be reminded that however difficult at times, I’m still doing something I’ve always wanted to do (what was I thinking?!!), and that’s something that not everyone in this world can say. I bet there are a few mothers out there that could relate to those feelings…

So many people ask me, “Is working in the ER like the TV show?” I don’t always know how to answer. It is different from the other areas of nursing I’ve done in that it is not as structured, the “rules” don’t always apply, and we often “fly by the seat of our pants”. I guess it’s because we can’t control what happens in the community (often we can’t even control what happens in the ER), and we have to be prepared to deal with anything at any given time. We often do just that… anything and everything… sometimes in the same night. It’s hard to picture what that actually looks like in a 12-hour period, though. This is going to be my attempt at telling the story of one night I’ve worked. It was a fun night overall (for me), and was actually on the easy side, and I felt like I was slackin’ the entire night. I worked with a total of 12 patients during the night (13 if you count the one that came back). Obviously I’ve changed any names and defining aspects of stories to protect the innocent… (me)!

6:45 p.m. I got to work a little early as usual, and by 7 pm had picked up 4 patients from 2 different nurses that were going home. I got report on each of them, and then decided to do rounds and just look at each of the patients, and see if they needed anything. My first pt had come in with breathing problems which had resolved, and I only had to call the Respiratory Therapist (RT) for one more treatment before I discharged her. The 2nd one had also come in with breathing problems and chest pain, and was waiting for test results before we decided a course of action. The 3rd patient was a really sweet and beautiful lady (65ish) who had recently been diagnosed with kidney cancer, and was having some internal bleeding that she needed to be admitted for. We were currently running blood products into her (which meant I needed to check on her every 15 minutes or so to make sure she was not having a reaction). Of course she was in the furthest room, so I had to pass all my other pts to get to her. When I finally got back there to see her the first time, she needed pain meds. I left to get those, got stopped in the hall by the doctor inquiring if my 1st pt had been seen by RT, because she could go home as soon as she had. I had to page RT. Then off to the Med Room to get meds for my Cancer pt. On my way back, RT was on the phone, and had done the treatment. I stopped to report this to the doc, then headed down to the end of the hall to push the meds. We talked briefly while I pushed pain meds into her IV, and checked her vital signs again, and got my paperwork caught up. Then back down the hall to discharge my 1st patient. Of course I had to call the interpreter to come help while I sent them home, but that was quick.

I finally get in to see my 3rd patient, who was still waiting for test results, but doing fine in the interim. I can see that my 4th patient, a crisis patient (let’s call her Brandy), was laying down on her hall bed sleeping (and still breathing). Clearly she’s fine…I learned a long time ago to always “let sleeping babies lie”. By now I notice that the Resident was in talking with my 3rd patient, probably giving her test results.

I also know that they want to admit my Cancer patient, so I started by checking to see if the appropriate paperwork had been turned in to get her a bed. It hadn’t. I start chasing down docs to get someone to fill out the paperwork so she can get a bed. Time to check her vitals again. On my way in, my 3rd patient informs me (as I walk by her room), that she can go home, and in fact needs to leave right now. I took vitals, and pulled both of her IV’s out, and told her she could get dressed while I do the paperwork. I printed up her discharge instructions (after filling the printer with paper from the other side of the unit), and got her out of there.

8:00 p.m. Finally down to check on my Cancer patient, who is doing fine. I met her husband this time, who was a pleasant man. Brandy is still sleeping, and I realize that I am down to 2 patients, and need to pick up some more. The Waiting Room only has 3-4 patients in it, and we have enough beds.

I pick up another Crisis patient (my theme for the night), who had gotten upset, started hitting his head against the wall, and developed an impressive hematoma over his forehead, about the size of a baseball cut in half. His family had brought him in. He wouldn’t talk to me, but his family explained the situation. I went back and documented my part, and got him an ice-pack for his head.

I also finally got a bed assignment for my Cancer patient, so I attempt to call report. The unit receiving the pt didn’t know about her yet, so they wouldn’t take report. I check on her again, and got her a box lunch this time, as she hadn’t eaten all day.

At this point, I notice that Brandy is sitting up looking around. I’m sitting at the desk looking things up on the computer (labs, etc), and am still looking to pick up more patients, but none were available. Next thing I know, the Security Guards are running out the door, apparently after Brandy, who had been deemed a “danger to self” and was placed on an involuntary hold until they could find placement for her in a psych unit. They caught her and brought her back, and I decide it’s time to learn a bit more about her. Apparently, she suffers from a list of psychiatric problems, including Schizophrenia. She’d tried to cut herself after a fight with a family member, and wanted to die. She had a “hit” out on her, and her “time was coming short”. She knew “they” had to find her soon because she’s too smart for them to just let her go. She had a high-ranking political officer (won’t say who), buried in her front yard, and buildings were going to start blowing up when someone learned that. Okay…now that I have the background, I go over and meet her, and ask her if she’s doing okay, or if she needs water, juice, etc. She doesn’t want anything, except to go home. I find the Social Worker (SW) involved in her care, and learn that they’ve deemed her “safe” and are going to let her go home. Whatever…I don’t make the decisions.

I finally got report called for my Cancer patient, and disconnect her from things so she’s ready to go to her new bed when Messengers get there to take her. I told her to call me and I’d wrap her up in blankets to go in the wheelchair, when he was here to pick her up.

9:15 p.m. I work with SW to get Brandy discharged, and she runs before she can get the paperwork. Oh well…

Messengers arrive to take my Cancer patient, and I got 3 warm blankets and completely wrap her up in them as I help her to the wheelchair. She was such a lovely lady, and a pleasure to care for. I wish her and her husband the best and they wheel away.

Now I’m down to one patient. The Charge Nurse (CN) wants me to take an ambulance coming from a city in middle Utah, with a 15-minute ETA (estimated time of arrival). So now I look like a real slacker, with one Crisis patient, and not picking up new ones. Oh well…I don’t often sit. I offer to help co-workers, and I think I did a couple of minor tasks.

9:50 p.m. Finally my ambulance arrives, and I take the new patient, who rolled in with the biggest smile on his face. He was a very nice, young man who had Multiple Sclerosis with lots of muscle spasms and tremors, and was having complications from a recent surgery, causing him severe headaches. His wife was on the way in, but wasn’t there yet. We talked and laughed a bit, as I got his information. I put it into the computer, and was getting some treatments started when I learn that Brandy is coming back in by EMS again, and escorted by Police this time. Apparently she didn’t make it to that nice, safe place she was supposed to go home to, but was running in a busy intersection without shoes trying to get hit and killed by a car. When the police arrived, she tried to get them to shoot her. They brought her to us.

10:45 p.m. Brandy’s back. Looks a little shaken up, but didn’t look like she’d gone out and used drugs again yet. I took her back, and got ahold of our SW, who was getting ready to go home, but passed it off to the on-coming shift. I also picked up a patient with nasal congestion, and discharged my crisis with the forehead hematoma. I saw both new patients and did the paper work, and by now it’s just after 11 pm. I haven’t had a chance to see my MS patient in quite a while, so I check on him, and meet his wife. She was a lovely lady as well, and both were so young, and so nice. It was fun to talk with them for a minute, and attempt to get things for them to make them both more comfortable while we waited.

11:45 p.m. I take another Crisis patient who came in by ambulance. She’d been hearing voices that told her to flush her meds, then to cut herself, and try to kill herself. Why do people always listen to their voices? She was very sweet, and if I just smiled and talked with her nicely and calmly, she did anything I asked her to do. That’s the benefit of someone who is easily directed by voices. Her sister arrived, and I explained why they had to be in a room with 4 walls and a sink, and no TV. I explained all of our “crisis” patients have these stripped-down rooms, or a hall bed, because a regular room has too many things that can hurt them. I told the family member that while I like her sister, I don’t trust the voices, and there’s too many cords, heavy equipment, needles, etc, that she could hurt herself with in a room with a TV. I had to explain this all again about 30 minutes later, when they were sick of their room again, and while they were still waiting to be evaluated.

I’m in a holding pattern at this point, so I take a few minutes and walk outside to cool off. Our ambulance bay is full of ambulances and paramedics, with more coming in. Apparently it’s too cold to drive yourself into the ER tonight. It’s stopped snowing and was almost a little warm. Then I go to Starbucks (just across the hall from the ER…my favorite part of this hospital), and buy myself a hot cocoa and the CN a mocha since I had a 2-for-1 coupon. It was a nice break.

12:40 a.m. I check on my MS patient and got him pain medicine for his headache, and it helps. He was such a great guy, dealing with everything so well. He is waiting to be admitted to the hospital.

12:50 a.m. I have a bed assignment for my MS patient, and call report, and messengers to take him upstairs. I also discharge my guy with nasal congestion, and pick up another new patient who also has a head cold with runny eyes. Like I said, my theme was Crisis patients and Head-Colds…I was a slacker! I was also helping other coworkers with things, drawing blood, ordering xrays, etc…

Both of my crisis patients are going to be admitted to a psych hospital really close to us, but which still requires an ambulance ride to get there. I call report on both of them at the same time. The SW does the rest of the arrangements and all I have to do is be ready to give report to the ambulance people when they arrive.

1:35 a.m. Messengers still have not come to take my MS patient upstairs, and I have a few minutes, so I run him up there myself, and help him walk from the stretcher in the hall to his bed in the room.

As I’m walking the stretcher back downstairs, I reflect upon my two patients I’d had that night with debilitating diseases (Cancer and MS), and how both of them were the nicest patients I’d worked with in a while. I was saddened to think that these bad things always seem to happen to the nicest people. Then I thought of a few other patients I’d had in the past who had bad things happen and were not very nice about it all. I think the way we deal with our “bad things” in life shape us, our very countenances, and make us the people we are in the end. I have to wonder if we wouldn’t become as loving and patient along the road of life without some of the very difficult struggles we face at times. They had both dealt with their challenges admirably…maybe not every day, or every moment, but overall, they had love and patience in their hearts, and it was my honor and privilege to serve them both.

02:20 a.m. I discharge my last head cold. Now I’m just waiting for the ambulances to come for my crisis patients. Brandy is awake again, and I talk with her for a moment. Security is stationed all around her bed…I guess they didn’t want to chase her again if she bolted. She was mad at me because I would not kill her, and as she stared straight into my eyes, I got the feeling that all she really wanted to do was choke me with my stethoscope that was around my neck. I never wear it around my neck when I walk into crisis rooms, but she was in the hall, and I hadn’t taken it off. I stood back a ways, and was ready to move if she did, but that look is unsettling. I can’t even imagine the craziness going on in her head at any given time. I gave her two choices, settle down and rest while waiting for the ambulance, or try to run and we tie you down to the bed while you wait for the ambulance. Then I walked away. I was actually surprised that we never had to restrain her the entire night.

2:55 a.m. Brandy’s ambulance is here to take her upstairs. I am just about to give report when I am told by the CN that he needs me to go with him to the parking lot immediately. I excused myself and went. Apparently someone just drove up that was having a baby, and I’ve done babies before, so he needed ME there. As we walked quickly, I told him I don’t go out there without gloves and blankets, so he ran for the blankets while I got myself some gloves. As I got out there, another nurse had helped wipe off the baby, who was delivered in the front seat of the SUV, and was just holding him with a sheet around him steady between mom’s legs so he wouldn’t fall on the ground. I tried to make him cry, and got one good cry out of him before he fell silent again. I opened the Delivery Bucket, found a cord clamp, and clamped the cord off, then tried again to make him cry. He wasn’t really wanting to. At that point, the 2nd nurse there clamped the other side, and cut the cord. I had to remind her that it was a boy, and not to cut anything important, as it was pretty dark. I placed him in a new warm blanket. Then I heard the doc behind us say, “Well, they don’t need me…the nurses just did it all!” I didn’t even know she was there. I wasn’t willing to move because I know I have baby experience, and the other nurse wasn’t moving, probably because she was there first. I picked up the baby and headed inside, where I set him down just inside the door on a stretcher, and the doc and I made him cry and checked his color, and I checked heart rate, which were both good. Then she carried him and I accompanied her while we went upstairs with him to Labor & Delivery. The other ER Nurses & EMT’s got mom out of the car onto a stretcher, and followed us up, arriving very shortly after we did. When we got up there, I was able to stimulate baby and get a couple more good cries out of him before we had a nurse ready to assume care. As I walked back down, I remembered how much I love doing the babies, and how I miss that sometimes! The other thing I realized is that while I’ve helped with a LOT of babies (200+) in my career, that’s likely the first time I’ve ever put the FIRST clamp on the cord. It was cool!

I got back down and remembered that the ambulance crew was still waiting to get report from me before they could take the patient. I walked up and said, “Sorry, had to deliver a baby,” and then I gave them report so they could take Brandy. The 2nd ambulance crew had just arrived for my girl with the voices, so I gave them report as well, and they left. She was hitting on one of our security guards as she left, telling him (very sincerely) how gorgeous he was, and how she would marry him if he wasn’t already married (which he wasn’t). We teased him about that pretty hard after they left!

3:20 a.m. I was down to zero patients, but we had a trauma coming in, so I took that. He was due to arrive any minute. It was a young male in a car accident, coming by ground from a city in southern Utah…clearly not THAT life-threatening, or they would have flown him!

3:42 a.m. The trauma pt arrived, and we got busy with that for a while. He had broken a few bones, and had a dislocated hip, but was alert and oriented, and very nice. On traumas, one nurse always stays with the patient at all times until it’s determined where they will go (floor vs. ICU vs. Obs. Dept vs. home). I had a little fanny-pack around my waist with typical drugs (pain, nausea, etc) that I might need to give him during the process, along with needles and syringes. We went to CT scan, then x-ray (where I medicated him for pain because they always want to move them around), and back to the ER, arriving back around 5:15 or so. Then I got a TON of things together, because the Ortho team had reviewed the x-rays and were ready to put his hip back into place. I medicated him HEAVILY and monitored him through the process, with the doctor that was there directing the meds. He slept, wincing off and on (I pushed more meds every time he winced), but he was relaxed and sleeping through most of the procedure while they relocated his hip, and then drilled a pin through his femur bone, hooking that up to traction (ropes that hold the dangling weights) which hold it in place so it won’t fall out again until he can go to surgery. We finished all of that at 6:15, and I was left with the patient to “recover” him…make sure he wakes up okay. He did fine, and I was ready to give report and send him upstairs by 6:30 or so.

I took my final patient of the morning at 6:40, while I still had my trauma dude in the trauma bay waiting for transport upstairs. I took a young girl who’d been out drinking and had had a little too much, and came to us with nausea/vomiting. Go figure. It’s the price you pay to play, right? What part of this is an EMERGENCY? This is where I get calloused…I actually did start IV fluids on her (only because someone had put an IV in her already), and was going to get her anti-nausea meds, but the next nurse coming on took report from me, and she got her the meds. I was able to leave at 7:01. Thank goodness, because my patience for crap was gone!

So that’s an easy night in the ER…I laughed and joked a lot with some of my patients, and with many of the other staff, and doctors. Overall, it was a fun night and unusually slow (for me) even though the ER was still pretty full the next morning. Most days, I still enjoy what I do as an ER Nurse, although I did have a break-down a couple of weeks ago, when I couldn’t remember why I do this at all. I have since recovered, but recognize that we really need to take care of ourselves first, no matter what we do in life, so we are available to bless the lives of others. Most people I work with just remind me how lucky I am to be ME, with my own problems. :-)

My End-of-Summer Crisis

2007-09-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

Every year since I’ve lived on my own, I’ve gone through a certain amount of mourning for the end of the summer. I am DEFINITELY a Summer-girl! I first recognized that I go through this several years ago when I lived in Las Vegas, NV on my own for the first time. I’d had a great summer, and the first time that the temperature dropped from 90’s to 70’s to 50’s in 2 weeks, I was grumpy, irritable, short with people, and just upset that it was “so stinkin’ cold”. I quickly realized that it was my “adjustment period” to the end of summer, and once I’d dealt with those feelings (ie…mourned the end of summer properly), I could move on with my life and hang in there for a few months until it started warming up again, and getting lighter longer during the day.

I’ve gone through some kind of adjustment period every year over the years, and so I’m used to it. This year, it kicked me in the butt. I guess I’d had a better-than-usual August, playing in the pool with the Felt girls several times a week, and just doing FUN summer things. So when it started getting cooler here and the Felts went back home, it all kind of hit at the same time. I was working one night, and got talking to one of the ladies at work. I was completely unprepared for what feelings surfaced as we were talking of the weather trending colder, and soon it would be winter, etc. I started saying over and over, “I canNOT do another winter here…I CAN’T do another winter here…I can’t DO another WINTER here…I can’t do another winter HERE…” You get the idea... I felt like I should have had my knees pulled up to my chest, rocking and hitting my head against the wall. Then I came to my senses long enough to look at the lady I was talking to and realize that I was scaring her… these things don’t come out of “nice, calm, controlled Wendy”. So I swallowed my thoughts, and carefully tucked them away for a private moment to do my “crisis time” alone.

At this point, all I was able to conjure up was my memories from last winter…
• Not knowing there was de-icing windshield washer fluid until AFTER mine was completely frozen in my car (full of course), with no way to replace it until it thawed out a couple of months later.
• Driving to work in the dark, and home the next morning in the dark.
• Stopping 5 times on the way home from work one morning to wash my frozen windshield…and that was WITH my defroster on! (This was in-part because my own windshield washing fluid was frozen inside my car, and every time I used my wipers to get rid of the precipitation or road spray from my windows, it froze it all across my windshield.)
• Having cold fingers all the time.
• Driving to work in fresh-fallen snow, and having to stop a few times to kick the build-up off of my tires so I could turn them.
• Kicking the build-up of snow and ice off of my car (especially around my tires) once I got home, and realizing one day that a small part of my fender was coming off with it.
• And finally, my proudest moment…freezing my car in the car wash. In my own defense, I should say that I waited for 3 cars to go through before I ventured in. I saw the HUGE sheet of ice frozen and bending off the side wall, but I decided to take my chances, I mean, it hadn’t fallen on anyone’s car yet, right? Luckily that never fell on my car. But as soon as the soap sprayed on and froze as soon as it hit the car, I knew I was in trouble. The water almost washed it off, but it was 19 degrees outside…it had a lot of chill to overcome! (Yes, I had already waited a week for the warmest day!) The kicker was driving through the dryer at the end. My car was shellacked nicely, with a fine icy-lace pattern over the entire thing. Thankfully, my doors still opened!

So these are the memories driving my break-down this year. I have finally taken the time to think about it, and deal with it. I’ve washed the pool towels and put them away, as well as the bathing suits. I’ve let the air out of the pool toys, and patched and put them away. As part of my “dealing-with-it” process, I started a list called “Good things about winter”. If this winter doesn’t go WELL, I think it might be my last one here in Utah. I’m already thinking of going back to Travel Nursing and heading south at least through the winter, even if I “Home-Base” here for the rest of the year. Here is the list, and I would ask anyone who reads this to PLEASE help me come up with some more good things about winter!

Good Things about Winter:
Tropical vacations are better in January!
More reading time
More family history research time
Network TV shows
Cute sweaters
Christmas
Indoor swimming pools
Cross-country skiing? (I haven’t tried it, but want to)
Warm blankets
Hot chocolate
Sitting by the fireplace
Hot Cocoa from Starbucks!

Please help!!!

Mommy-Boot-Camp

2007-08-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

August with my Adopt-A-Family

Okay…I know I haven’t blogged for quite some time. I have a good reason…so let me tell you a little about it…

Normally, I have a nice, controlled (but happy) single life, where I have my own 2-bedroom apt and I work full-time at the hospital, which involves three 12-hour shifts a week. So I have some free time.

I had the opportunity to “host” my friend, Tiffany, and her 3 girls for part of the month of August, first on vacation at Bear Lake (UT), and then in my home. I am amazed at the things I learned, of the realizations I gained, and of the understanding that I was able to glimpse, into the world of Motherhood. I was once a perfect mother before I actually tried to play one in real life, and I was surprised to learn of the amount of patience, tolerance, endurance, energy, creativity, organization, laughter and LOVE, in addition to the amounts of shopping, laundry, cooking, dishes, garbage removal, and cleaning that it takes on a daily basis, and all under a moderate amount of stress in a sleep-deprived state!

Here are some highlights, and some things that I learned:

• Swimming makes children very tired, and they sleep well afterwards. We swam a LOT! For the first summer that I can remember, I actually have tan lines from two different bathing suits! (My cute one, and my kid-friendly one)

• If I ever have children of my own, I must also have a dog to clean up the kitchen and dining room floors on a more regular basis.

• "Photo-shoots" at the mall are an effective way to keep children entertained while waiting for mom to shop!

• “Palm tree lights” help children sleep. (I have a palm tree set up in my guest bedroom, and have some Christmas lights strung onto it…they work fabulously as a night-light, and it was actually proven that they help children sleep, even in the afternoon!)

• Late night debriefings help parents sleep.

• I apparently did not have good “design” sense with my magnet collection on my fridge, because it was re-arranged on an hourly basis, sometimes more frequently when needed. Then after a while, I had pictures that were appearing on my fridge under the magnets. Shortly after that, the collection was expanded to the stove, due to lack of space on the fridge.

• Tiff and I became “sisters” as we went to fairly revealing doctors visits together (hers and mine), and she was actually frightened when she saw my “creative” nurse side come out one night… let’s just say that when you don’t have the good medical tape, duct tape can run a close second in a pinch!

• I look like a soccer mom when I drive a mini-van!

• Even my car took a “hit”, with clear marker scribbles on the insides of the back windows, and plastic rings and bracelets on the seats and floor!

• One night at dinner, I looked up and Morgan (the oldest at 6-1/2 yrs old), had my miniature china plate magnet (from the Winchester Mystery Mansion in California) set up in front of her beanie baby at the dinner table, with a small scoop of eggs, hash browns, and a grape filling the plate, with a crust of her toast next to it, all for her baby. It was so funny! I laughed and got the camera.

• Another night at dinner, I had eaten and was getting ready to run out the door to work, while the kids and Tiff were still finishing. Tiff got my attention and I looked down at the table to see Starley (4 yrs old) with baby carrots coming out of her nose! Again, I laughed and got the camera! As I left for work that night, I found it surprising that I could give kisses and hugs to a child with a small piece of carrot still stuck on her lip, without even thinking twice first.

• Livvy (3 yrs old) was funny about her “happy faces”. We found it somewhat effective much of the time to pull her out of a grumpy mood by asking her where her happy face was. One day in the bathroom, we were doing hair, and she says to me with a very long face, “I only have one more happy face left today.” Of course I had to laugh and tell her that she better not use it yet, but should save it for later when it was really important. After a few seconds, we were all laughing hard!

• I always thought it might come in handy someday, and now I have finally “broken in” my collection of Disney movies!

I was completely immersed in all the laughing, crying, and living that goes into family life. I have gained the most respect and admiration for all the mothers out there that do this on a daily basis, sometimes with seemingly “no end in sight”. I have had a good look at just what an imperfect mother I am. And I will forever look at this opportunity I had as a magical time in my life, to help care for my sister and friend, and her family at a time when they needed it the most. It took an amazing amount of energy, patience, endurance, and love, and I feel that I have been blessed the most by this experience. Towards the very end, Tiff and I affectionately started calling it “Mommy-Boot-Camp”.

I LOVE this family!

A day in the life of a mom…

2007-07-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

i.e...I'm an ER Nurse, I can handle anything, right?

What a sweet experience I had this weekend, as Tiffany brought her 3 girls for an overnight visit – Morgan, age 6; Starley, age 4; and Olivia “Livvy” age 3. They came by Saturday afternoon, and stayed till Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, after a brief rest, we took them out to dinner at Red Robin, where they did pretty well. Starley, sadly, had some diarrhea, so we had multiple trips to the bathroom, but we managed, bribing them to finish their dinner with the promise of swimming in the pool later. Tiffany and I decided that I would take the girls swimming, while she took a much-needed break and went shopping for the things I did not have. She asked me multiple times if I was okay with this plan, because “they can be a handful”. I told her…I’m an ER Nurse, I can handle anything. Besides, how hard can it be, right? (Famous last words…)

So, we get home and all change into swimsuits. We collect towels, pool toys, keys, and children. Right before we left, Starley gets a bloody nose, so I grabbed Kleenex too, which I stuffed into my bathing suit (yep, I thought I’d finished “stuffing” years ago…). Halfway to the stairs, Livvy gets a bloody nose too. I grab more Kleenex. We head to the car, and they are both holding their noses to get them to stop before we can go in the pool. We load up the van, and I drove down to the pool; as I’m parking, Tiff drives by in my car and honks and waves…she’s FREE! The bloody noses have stopped, but then as we’re getting out of the van and walking towards the pool, Starley says “I think I pooped in my swimsuit”, and Morgan pipes up with “yep, Starley pooped in her swimsuit”. Okay…I can do this…I say to myself, “I’m an ER Nurse, I can handle anything, right?” We get into the pool area, drop the toys, towels and keys onto a chair, and march straight into the bathroom where I wash the swimsuit in the sink while she finished in the toilet. Yep…no gloves…not quite the ER, but then everyone knows children aren’t as toxic as adults anyways right? I’m actually laughing to myself about this situation. So we finish with that…still no more bloody noses…things are good.

We go out and hop in the children’s pool. I sit on the side and blow up the pool toys, and we play. These aren’t children, they are FISH!!! The light and excitement in their eyes as they play and swim in the water, is something I’ve not seen in many people, but have always felt within myself. They love the water as much as I do! Then Starley has to go to the bathroom again. Everyone had to sit out of the pool and on the side while I march her back into the bathroom. They mind me, and I’m thinking – this isn’t so bad. No accidents this time, just a minor bloody nose which went away pretty fast. More playing in the water. Then Livvy gets out and announces that she has pooped in her swimsuit…are you kidding me?!…I mean, what are the odds? Everyone gets out of the water again as Livvy and I head toward the bathroom to clean up. Yep, I did it again without gloves, still laughing about the whole situation. The joy in their faces and their love of the water is worth it all to me!

In the beginning, I’d told them that we’d stay until someone got tired and grumpy. Now we’re an hour into the pool experience (from the time we hit the water), and still no one is tired and grumpy. I’m thinking, “How am I ever going to get these fish out of here? We can’t stay too late, it’s already 8:30 pm and we have to get to bed so we can get to church at 9 in the morning.” So I mention that it’s almost time to go. Yep, sure enough, they remembered what I’d said first and pipe up with, “but no one is tired or grumpy yet”. What now? Then it comes to me, the pool “closes” when the sun goes down, and the sun is definitely going down…5 more minutes and two more games of “who can hang onto the raft the longest” (while I spin it around the pool and try to shake them off). (Starley won every time except the last time when Morgan won.)

So a few minutes later, we gather everything and head to the van, come home, take baths, and they go to bed. As I shared with Tiffany the story of it all, she is amazed that I’m still alive and even more that I’m still smiling about it all. I reminded her that it could have been worse...that I was just glad we didn’t leave any poop floating in the water…true story…that was my proudest accomplishment today. And those children slept well ALL NIGHT LONG! That alone was worth it to me, that everyone was able to get some good sleep.

Aren't they beautiful?!

We dressed and went to church today, and had a good afternoon…again, LONG naps! Then this evening, we packed up and loaded the van so they could go back to their grandparents’ home. Little tears came to my eyes as they pulled out, yelling “love you’s” and blowing kisses. What a sweet weekend for me! I'll be looking forward to another visit sometime! :-)

Are There Really Coincidences in Life? I think not…

2007-07-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

This experience was a “first” for me in Nursing...

I was working last Thursday night (the 19th) in the ER, and had gotten to work a few minutes earlier than usual so that one of the nurses could leave early. She gave me her two “easy” patients, and left, and I started picking up a couple more patients from other nurses going home. Then I started checking on the patients I’d picked up, one by one. As I got to the last one, I walked into the room and started my spiel (Hi, my name is Wendy and I’m going to be your nurse for a while…) I’d just gotten to my name when I heard the patient say “WENDY MARTINEZ”??!! I looked a little skeptical at first, knowing only my first name shows on my badge. Then she told me her name, and I knew instantly who she was…Tiffany Felt…a DEAR friend of mine from Seattle, whom I’d lost contact with about 5-6 years ago, and her husband Brian Felt. I didn’t recognize her at first, but as I looked closer, she is still as beautiful as she always was when I knew her in Seattle. Amazingly enough, and because I’d just checked on everyone else first, I had 20-30 minutes to sit down and we talked non-stop without interruption.

As I learned of their reason for being here, my heart went out to her, and I realized that I’d be able to bless her life over the next while. She has had some medical problems lately, which have so far gone undiagnosed…everything comes back “normal” and yet it is affecting her ability to function in her life. They drove 1000 miles to this hospital for testing and hopefully to find the right doctors who can help her, but her husband has to go back home to Washington to attend to his responsibilities there. He is going to have to leave her and their 3 girls with his parents in the area, which is a blessing. But the Lord knew she needed a friend here as well while her husband had to go back home, and He sent me. I was the first familiar face in a sea of blue scrubs and white coats, and it was a comfort to her.

As I thought through the night about it, I realized all of the seemingly small events that had taken place that allowed our paths to cross for one hour in the ER. They’d been there for several hours, and the admission paperwork had been turned in for quite a while, but it had taken longer than average for them to get a bed-assignment so we could move her to her room upstairs. Right after we met and talked, I got a bed assignment, and was able to get her transferred upstairs. If I’d come in at my usual time that night (or even 5-10 minutes later), she’d have been assigned to a different nurse, and I wouldn’t have even known she was there. The fact that they came in that very day, one of my 3 shifts for the week, was a small miracle in and of itself. And the final one that I see is that over the last 2-3 weeks or so, things in my life have wound down to a point that I just don’t have a lot of extra stuff going on right now that takes my time…and I will be able to spend some of this time with her and her family, through the doctors visits, and the long hopeless hours at times. I know that the Lord will bless me with the time when I need to be there.

I recognize that the Lord plays a role in our lives even when we don’t notice it, and He blesses us with the things that we need, sometimes in the very hour that we need them. I needed to see her just as much as she needed to see me that night, and we’ve both been blessed tremendously by the experience. We’ve had time to spend several hours together this weekend, and I’ve had a chance to get to know her husband and two of her three girls. What a wonderful family she has! How thankful I am for a profession where I’m allowed to “walk with angels” at times, even when I don’t always recognize that I’m doing such. It is my calling…my life work…and I feel that I’ve been blessed the most!

My Trip to Cali… a nice getaway

2007-07-22T10:28:00.001-07:00

I took off for California on Thursday, the 12th of July, to get out of SLC for the weekend, and had a great time. There is something about being on the open road that I LOVE! It was so peaceful, and was exactly what I needed. I spent the night in Elko, and made the rest of the drive on Friday morning.

Friday, I got together with friends…Tiffiny (who moved to San Francisco at the same time I moved to SLC last year), Nicole, Christina, and Mary. It was so good to see and talk with so many friends there. We had a great time catching up!

Saturday, I attended the wedding and reception of another friend, Jenn, and then FINALLY was able to see and attend the Sacramento Temple. It is BEAUTIFUL! I cannot describe how I felt there, as I realized it feels like “my temple”, even though it’s the first time I’ve been in it. Nicole was one of the workers and we were able to see a lot of each other in there.

Here’s the history: we’d been anticipating the Sacramento Temple for years, but there was a lot of opposition in it being built, and it was delayed many times. Consequently, while I lived in the area for 3 years, we traveled 100 miles one-way to Oakland to attend the temple. I don’t regret those days, as I had some marvelous experiences (do you get as many blessings if you RACE the entire way to the temple on a ward temple trip?...I won...). Anyways, they were building the Sacramento Temple and I wanted to wait “just a few more months” before I moved to Utah, so I could work in it during the Open House (like EVERYONE I know got to). But I’d put off my move several months already because I was unwilling to move to UT in the winter (who in their right mind would move from CA to UT in the winter?!). So I missed the Open House and Dedication by about a month. The Lord’s answer to me in that request was “Am I not sending you to a place with MANY beautiful temples? Is that not good enough?” It has been good enough for me…I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the temples in the SLC area, but as I attended the Sacramento Temple on Saturday, it still felt like “my temple”.

I went to a pool party at someone’s home on Sat night…is it just me, or do the “young single adults” keep getting younger? ;-)

Sunday, I was able to see Alena and Sam, along with a few other friends. What a great experience to visit and catch up with them! They are amazing people, and I am blessed to call them friends. (see her blog at "teamalena.blogspot.com") Church was amazing…sadly, I’d forgotten what it felt like to truly be fed by the Spirit at church. I was left with such a feeling of how much the Lord loves me, and all of His children. I was “centered” once again in my life.

Monday was another great drive across the state of Nevada, my home-state. Whenever I enter, I have to sing the state song “Home Means Nevada”, as I learned it in grade-school. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to visit a place I once called home, and the wonderful friends I still have there. :-)

My Niece -- a funny story

2007-07-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, my 5-year old niece, Makaela, was here in Utah for a visit. At one point, we were visiting at someone's house, and to help keep her entertained, I let her play with my digital camera. Turns out she has quite an eye for taking pictures (for a 5-year old). Her first picture was of me, and she lined it up and then said, "Oh, move over just a little...it looks like you have more hair!" This is the picture she took...

My Recovery...a lesson in patience and faith

2007-06-24T14:07:00.001-07:00

Just when I thought I was pretty good at patience and faith in my life, I've had a real test in these areas over the last 3 weeks since my surgery...

Theoretically, I knew that my vision wouldn't be perfect after my surgery, but honestly I was more concerned about actually getting through the procedure without moving (and thus damaging my eyes even more), and hadn't really thought about what it meant to not have perfect vision for a while afterwards (at least a month or so). Of course when I met the doctor for the first time on the day of my surgery, and she discussed PRK with me, I told her that it was fine with me because I'd rather have a better long-term outcome for my eyes, even if it meant a longer recovery period. Of course she knew I was a nurse so she believed me...and at the time I really believed it...theoretically.

The first two weeks were difficult for me because I really couldn't see as well as I could with my glasses prior to surgery. I woke up and everything, especially close up, was blurry, just like it had been prior to surgery or worse. I'd put my glasses on and it was worse. I'd read for 10 minutes, and it would get even worse. Watching TV was awful, but I persevered through that. I went golfing last week and would have to try and follow the ball carefully because if I hit it really hard and really far, I couldn't see where it went (no I didn't use this to cheat). Then on top of all of that, I got sick as well, with a bug that hung out in my lungs for a few days, and was aggravated by my seasonal allergies. Wah, wah, wah...

So what have I learned through all of this? I have learned that I don't have as much patience as I thought I did, at least not when I thought I should see and feel better faster. I've learned that it's harder to be a patient than I thought. And I've learned that while I wanted to be healed quickly, I still had to wait. I have been humbled to learn in my eye appt last Tuesday that I'm actually seeing better than average, and healing faster than average for this type of surgery (in spite of my lack of faith). I have been blessed by the faith and prayers not only that I have offered, but also that have been offered in my behalf. And I finally feel like I'm seeing better this week than I have in the past...and I finally believe that I really will be able to see again someday.

I'm very grateful for my family and friends that have been supportive, in thoughts, words and deeds, through this whole process. THANK YOU!

Here's a poem I've liked for a lot of years:

A Lesson in Adversity
by Lisa South

Traveling by bus,
those around me slumbered,
yet sleep eluded me.

I thought how fortunate
my companions were,
oblivious to the aches and pains.

They missed the tedious hours.
They missed the pouring rain.
I envied them so --
Until they missed the rainbow.

My Eye Surgery

2007-06-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

The surgery went much better than I thought it would -- about 3 minutes per eye, which is quite tolerable on Valium. My sister, Brenda was there to watch and take pictures, and drive me home afterwards. I was calm through the whole thing, and the staff and doctor were all great at talking me through it. There were a series of sensations -- visual and otherwise -- that were quite interesting. Here are a few pictures...

Afterwards, Brenda and I stopped at Costco to pick up my prescriptions. I found myself dizzy and tired, and had funny glasses on my eyes. At one point while I was waiting for Brenda in line, I sat down, and then layed down on one of the big flat-bed shopping carts which was close-by. Of course she was embarrassed when she turned around and saw me. It was all pretty funny.

Getting ready to "go under the laser"

2007-05-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

I've thought about it for years, and finally have scheduled to have laser vision-correction surgery...tomorrow (May 31st). The shape of my cornea and correction needed precludes me from having Lasik, so I will be having PRK instead. Lasik is where they make a small incision into the cornea, flap it back, correct the cornea & lay the flap back down...relatively painless recovery, and your vision is near perfect right away. PRK is older, but safer for my cornea shape and damage...they have to cut off the epithelial tissue off the cornea (the outside layer of skin), correct the cornea, place a contact for protection for 4 days, and I spend the next few days on Percocet and Ambien "trying to sleep as much as possible" while I grow my epithelial skin layer back. It is a bit more painful, and takes a bit longer before my vision will be perfect, but once the recovery period is over, I feel confident that I will love it.

I am relatively calm going into it. My biggest fear is actually being awake and looking into the laser while they do the procedure. I have a reflex that makes my eye dart around or my eyelid close when something is coming directly at my eye. I hope to overcome that fear with relaxation techniques, and Valium. :-D It should be entertaining!

The things I will be able to do after I fully recover, which I cannot do easily now include WEARING SUNGLASSES, swimming and playing at water-parks without a personal guide, snorkeling without having to find a weird mask to correct my vision, and traveling without worrying about if I lose or break my glasses in a foreign place. Those are just a few... :-)

I will keep you updated on the progress (once I'm well enough to read my computer screen again)!

Summer School...and buying golf clubs

2007-05-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

After being out of school for years, I decided to take some summer school classes. The first which I am currently taking is Beginning Golf. So, now that we are a week into the course, I've decided I need Golf Clubs. I shopped around a little before I found the girliest set of golf clubs I've ever seen. I actually liked them (I know... embarrassing) so I bought them. As I tried to get them in my car, I discovered the box was bigger than I'd imagined, and I had a hard time fitting them in the trunk which tells me one thing...I might need a new car. I'm sure it won't be a problem once I get them out of the box, though.

My second class starts in a month or so, and it is Beginning Kayaking. I'm excited about that one as I've never kayaked before, but I think it looks fun. I'll be learning in a swimming pool. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that later.

:-) Wendy

Thoughts on being a nurse...

2007-05-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love being a Nurse! In between the "blood and guts" side that most people think about (or have an aversion to), I have had many experiences that have left imprints on my life, and in my heart. I have been a nurse for just over 6 years now. In that time, I have worked in many different areas of nursing...burns, plastics (gone bad), pediatric trauma, post-partum, newborn nursery, labor and delivery (as the newborn nurse), general pediatrics, special care nursery, and emergency room. All areas have been very different, and I can't choose a favorite. I've enjoyed them all, and for different reasons. Here are some of the things I've been able to do:

In Burns/Plastics and Pediatric Trauma, I have set up toy trains on the floor of the playroom with a 3-yr old for an hour. I have "gotten high" on nitrous oxide (laughing gas) with a patient while I looked into his eyes, and tried to keep him laughing through a very painful procedure (taking 200+ staples out of his legs and torso)... while it is not legal for a nurse to take in nitrous oxide, I find it difficult to not breath a little bit when you are that close to someone's face for so long, and they are breathing it...and it really only gave me a headache...in between the laughter... ;-) I have played with leeches, placing them on a man's face after reconstruction from a bear attack in Alaska (hardest part is keeping them out of all the facial orifices), placing them on an 18-month-old's finger after it had been re-attached, and basically trying to keep them from crawling all over the place while I directed them to their target. I have taken up a collection from co-workers to get a bag of popcorn for a man who was alone, nervous and depressed about going through surgery the next day...that's the one thing he wanted before he couldn't eat or drink anymore for the night (I'm sure the surgeons loved me for feeding him popcorn). I have held and rocked babies to sleep when their parents couldn't be there. I have watched as 2 teenagers with similar severe burns (one white and one black), found a friendship as they walked the halls all night, unable to sleep. I have been pulled in a "little red wagon" (I helped) by a 5-year old with his 3-yr old brother pushing...their parents were severely injured in a car accident, and they didn't have anyone they knew available to be with them...through the universal language of play, we discovered that they really did speak English. :-) I have saved locks from a baby's hair when we had to shave his head for the first time (his first hair-cut at 18 months old) after a bad burn, while his mom held him and cried. And I have watched a little boy (6-7 yrs) who had lost his foot, give one of his roses to two little girls in the next room who had lost their parents.

In Post-Partum/Newborn Nursery, I was often able to attend deliveries of babies, as the nurse for the baby. This gave me a whole new outlook on life. As I don't have any children of my own, it has allowed me to experience the miracle of childbirth from a different angle. I have felt the presence of angels in a room as a new little one comes into this life. I have helped stimulate and ressucitate (when necessary), babies who just don't start off "vigorous" on their own, for whatever reason. I have scrubbed in and "caught" c-section babies...the dr. pulls them out, clamps and cuts the cord, and passes them to the nurse, who whisks them away for a moment. I was able to "catch" the first of triplets in that manner, who were delivered at 32 weeks. I have talked into the late-night hours with a mom who had delivered a Down's Syndrome baby...knowing before-hand that her baby was going to require special care, she had taken the time to prepare everything for that little one to give her the best life possible. I have taken a picture of a dad cutting his baby's umbilical cord, with mom watching. I have, in the process of giving a baby his first bath, entertained a dad by teaching him the many styling options of baby's wet hair...mom was in the recovery room after a c/section, and dad was with baby and me...after we had styled it into a mohawk curl down the middle of the head, we learned that it sometimes doesn't "un-style" very easily...that's what the baby hat is for. ;-)

In Emergency, I have really stretched myself. The learning curve is really something, but the fast-pace can be fun and the experiences very rewarding. I have watched a beating heart inside a chest cavity (looks just like on TV), but the more amazing part to me was what the lungs look like as they expand and contract with each breath...and I have felt the presence of angels as someone teetered on the edge of this life and the next. I have held the hand and looked into the eyes of an accident victim, as I've talked him through very painful procedures (after giving morphine of course). I have talked with women who are in very difficult situations, as they learn that they are having a mis-carriage. I have washed the face and picked the blood out of the nose of a Marine who had been in an accident, and was afraid that his family would only want to know if he had been drinking to cause the accident (he hadn't, and that was their first question). I have run down the hall pushing a gurney with a patient who was having a heart attack, to get her to the cath lab as soon as we could (this looked just like it does on TV, and really made me feel like an ER nurse!) I have listened to and encouraged a girl who was homeless as a result of leaving a very abusive relationship. I have cared for the dying, the sick, the weak, the injured, and their families, and have given a part of myself in the process, but have gained a part of heaven in return.

I have learned much about life and death, about loving people even when we don't know them, and especially when we do. I have crossed paths with many people who were having life-changing events (some planned, some not), and have been blessed to be a part of that. I have received far more than I have given in the process. I was surprised to discover that the presence of angels and feeling in the room when a baby is born, is very similar to the presence and feeling when someone leaves this life. Life is a miracle, a gift, and I am so thankful to be a part of it all...to play such an active role at times (and sometimes a very passive one), as we are all on this road of life together.

:-) Wendy

Starting a Blogspot

2007-05-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

So I have finally decided to start a blogspot to keep friends and family up to date on my life and my travels. I enjoy travel, and have added pictures from some of my recent trips. I will try to keep them up to date. :-) So I'm still single, and accepting applications. I also am enjoying working full-time as an ER Nurse in Salt Lake City. It is challenging, but usually entertaining. I live closer to my family since I moved to Utah last June (2006), and as they tell me, I need to move back to another state so they can see me more often. But I enjoy it. :-) I currently serve in church as the Ward Music Director, which involves leading the music in church every Sunday. That has been a challenging assignment for me, and different from anything I've done in the church before, but I am almost starting to enjoy it...almost.

I have much in my life to be thankful for...good health, a testimony of Jesus Christ, and the ability to live on my own and support myself, and especially for good family and friends. In that area, I have been terrifically blessed, and I am truly thankful. I love you all!