to be a nurse

I am done my 4 day shifts.

they were good. I must shamelessly admit that I am proud of my own progress. I'm going to be ready to work as a full RN in a few months. there's so much to learn, though. There are a few nurses who work on my floor, including my preceptor, who I respect so much- they're been doing this for years and years, and they're amazing at their job- 'supernurses'. They can spot complications in the blink of an eye, they know what to do in all the tricky situations... its pretty amazing. I aspire to be like them.

funny story. One of my patients is a little old man, we'll call him George. Now, George had surgery before, during which he went into cardiac arrest and nearly died, but they did CPR and revived him on the operating table. He had been told about this and was very grateful to the surgeon for saving his life. George had left our unit to go to a different one, for people who are less sick (rehab) but suddenly took a turn for the worst so they had to operate on him again. This was last night. He woke up in his bed back on the ward, at about 3 30 am, and was so thankful to be alive that he voiced his thanks, despite the other 3 people in the room- in a loud voice, "I'm alive! I'm alive!" George was thrilled. His roommates were not. His partial deafness makes him speak quite loudly. This morning, when I went in to hang his IV and check him over, he proclaimed in a loud voice, "I would just like to apologize to you all for what happened last night, I was just so happy to be alive! I made it through again, i had to celebrate!" This was at 7am and his roommates were still sleeping, tired from his 'celebrating.' So, they woke up again.. but all snodded in agreeement and one even said, "We're glad too, George."

I just thought it was cute. You kind of had to be there, but still...

one of the great parts about working with people is that they are all so very different.

I am really looking forward to these days off. I've got a hike in the works, my dear friend Nanc is coming to visit, and we're even going camping with some fun people 'up island' later on (it's reading break at UVic). so I am content. Life has gotten sunnier. Or more accurately, I guess that I've chosen, or am trying to choose, to embrace the 'rainy' parts. Such as missing people dear to me, and the looming unknown, and feeling like I've got one foot in ON and one foot in BC and the gap between them is widening. But worrying is pointless... and really, life is good.

more to come, I will update this week.