oh, hey there
I realized a few things the other day.
1) It’s almost March. Where did February go?
2) I’ve been at Hopkins for almost a year now (um what?)
3) I probably have to stop telling people I’m “from” Oregon when they ask, seeing as I’ve now lived in Maryland for over a year and a half, and I have a license (uh, two I guess, driving and nursing), car title, adult job, church home and community here now. Plus I didn’t have to pay Oregon state taxes this year- in fact for the first time, I earned all of my money in the same state! (What, what! That makes doing your taxes so much easier)
4) If I’m getting excited about doing my taxes, I really am an adult. Especially since I already DID my taxes, and it’s only February. Plus I’m turning 25 this year, which is clearly MID-twenties and not early-twenties-college-age.
5) The sub-title/header/inspiring quote of this blog talks about “finding yourself in your work” and I have not talked about my job at all. Except to say that it’s the perfect job, and I love it, and it came at the perfect/ideal time.
6) In fact, the underlying theme of the blog seems to be more about moving on from the loss of my father, which although a big part of my life, kind of depresses me. It’s been a great way to grieve and process, but I don’t want y’all out there in the blog-o-sphere thinking that all I do is mope around all day.
7) My life is actually pretty great. Aside from the nagging feeling that I wish I could “talk shop” with my daddy, I’m super blessed and overall pretty happy.
So, new plan. Share more of my life, instead of just the sad, “profound” stuff.
First- work. Starting with the basics.
I work on the Adolescent Medical-Surgical floor of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center (soon to be known as the Charlotte Bloomberg Children’s Center, when we move to our brand-spanking-new clinical building at the end of April. You can read about that here) We have 24 beds and see basically everything in kids 12-21 except cancer and burns. We have other floors that are specifically equipped for those. We get a few oncology patients who are trying to recover their counts if their floor is full, but we never give chemo or any of that. Plus, from what I’ve heard, a lot of the onc patients are pretty little anyway. Lots of kids with cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, as well as post-op spinal fusions and neurosurgery kids. We see a lot of chronically ill patients, which means that we get to build relationships with them and their families, as they come in and out of the hospital. Because of the delicate nature of hospital privacy (aka HIPAA) and the fact that I work with kids, I can’t really get into specifics, especially here where the whole world can see, but basically, my goal on any given day is to get a kid to poop, or stop pooping, depending on the child. I do a lot of diaper changes (what? Even on kids that big? Yes. Especially on kids that big- it’s about as fun as you’re imagining it being.) To be fair, I have a lot of other goals too, depending on why they’re in the hospital, but poop seems to be a running theme.
Yesterday, I took my first trach/vent patient, which signals the end of “forbidden patients” for this girl. We have four IMC beds on our floor- which are reserved for the sicker kids. There are a lot of logistics that go into deciding if a patient is IMC, but basically, they require more care than most of the kids we see, so we have to be more available to pay closer attention to them. It’s kind of like a step-down from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (or PICU). I started taking IMC patients a few months ago, all except trach/vents- who are automatically IMC. (trach= artificial airway established through the neck, vent= ventilator, which basically breathes for the patient) I was nervous to say the least, but I managed to handle cares of this patient, and two others, while also precepting a current nursing student in her final semester of school. It felt a little more chaotic to me than I normally like, but everything got done, and we all survived.
At some point in the last year, although I’m unable to pinpoint exactly when, my work mentality shifted from “don’t let them get worse” to “what can I do to make them better” which makes me feel like more of a nurse and less of a glorified babysitter.
The last year has been chalk-full of learning, and that’s one of my favorite things about the job. I learn more now than I did in nursing school, including, but not limited to, how to put all my personal issues aside and care for other people, after only 5 hours of sleep, on my third straight day of working 12-hr shifts. (and I thought I was busy/tired in school) The best part of my job is that I get to be sassy and sarcastic, and the patients and my co-workers seem to like that, and give it right back to me. Told you it was the perfect job!
Otherwise life has been good. But I can let some pictures speak for that.
Little Missy is growing up!
80's Night at church- as if I take themed parties lightly
Vacation! Wand shopping and Butterbeer
Oh, did I mention this is the view from my office?
Until we meet again- hopefully sooner rather than later :)
1) It’s almost March. Where did February go?
2) I’ve been at Hopkins for almost a year now (um what?)
3) I probably have to stop telling people I’m “from” Oregon when they ask, seeing as I’ve now lived in Maryland for over a year and a half, and I have a license (uh, two I guess, driving and nursing), car title, adult job, church home and community here now. Plus I didn’t have to pay Oregon state taxes this year- in fact for the first time, I earned all of my money in the same state! (What, what! That makes doing your taxes so much easier)
4) If I’m getting excited about doing my taxes, I really am an adult. Especially since I already DID my taxes, and it’s only February. Plus I’m turning 25 this year, which is clearly MID-twenties and not early-twenties-college-age.
5) The sub-title/header/inspiring quote of this blog talks about “finding yourself in your work” and I have not talked about my job at all. Except to say that it’s the perfect job, and I love it, and it came at the perfect/ideal time.
6) In fact, the underlying theme of the blog seems to be more about moving on from the loss of my father, which although a big part of my life, kind of depresses me. It’s been a great way to grieve and process, but I don’t want y’all out there in the blog-o-sphere thinking that all I do is mope around all day.
7) My life is actually pretty great. Aside from the nagging feeling that I wish I could “talk shop” with my daddy, I’m super blessed and overall pretty happy.
So, new plan. Share more of my life, instead of just the sad, “profound” stuff.
First- work. Starting with the basics.
I work on the Adolescent Medical-Surgical floor of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center (soon to be known as the Charlotte Bloomberg Children’s Center, when we move to our brand-spanking-new clinical building at the end of April. You can read about that here) We have 24 beds and see basically everything in kids 12-21 except cancer and burns. We have other floors that are specifically equipped for those. We get a few oncology patients who are trying to recover their counts if their floor is full, but we never give chemo or any of that. Plus, from what I’ve heard, a lot of the onc patients are pretty little anyway. Lots of kids with cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, as well as post-op spinal fusions and neurosurgery kids. We see a lot of chronically ill patients, which means that we get to build relationships with them and their families, as they come in and out of the hospital. Because of the delicate nature of hospital privacy (aka HIPAA) and the fact that I work with kids, I can’t really get into specifics, especially here where the whole world can see, but basically, my goal on any given day is to get a kid to poop, or stop pooping, depending on the child. I do a lot of diaper changes (what? Even on kids that big? Yes. Especially on kids that big- it’s about as fun as you’re imagining it being.) To be fair, I have a lot of other goals too, depending on why they’re in the hospital, but poop seems to be a running theme.
Yesterday, I took my first trach/vent patient, which signals the end of “forbidden patients” for this girl. We have four IMC beds on our floor- which are reserved for the sicker kids. There are a lot of logistics that go into deciding if a patient is IMC, but basically, they require more care than most of the kids we see, so we have to be more available to pay closer attention to them. It’s kind of like a step-down from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (or PICU). I started taking IMC patients a few months ago, all except trach/vents- who are automatically IMC. (trach= artificial airway established through the neck, vent= ventilator, which basically breathes for the patient) I was nervous to say the least, but I managed to handle cares of this patient, and two others, while also precepting a current nursing student in her final semester of school. It felt a little more chaotic to me than I normally like, but everything got done, and we all survived.
At some point in the last year, although I’m unable to pinpoint exactly when, my work mentality shifted from “don’t let them get worse” to “what can I do to make them better” which makes me feel like more of a nurse and less of a glorified babysitter.
The last year has been chalk-full of learning, and that’s one of my favorite things about the job. I learn more now than I did in nursing school, including, but not limited to, how to put all my personal issues aside and care for other people, after only 5 hours of sleep, on my third straight day of working 12-hr shifts. (and I thought I was busy/tired in school) The best part of my job is that I get to be sassy and sarcastic, and the patients and my co-workers seem to like that, and give it right back to me. Told you it was the perfect job!
Otherwise life has been good. But I can let some pictures speak for that.
Little Missy is growing up!
80's Night at church- as if I take themed parties lightly
Vacation! Wand shopping and Butterbeer
Oh, did I mention this is the view from my office?
Until we meet again- hopefully sooner rather than later :)
regarding being "from" Oregon: it occurred to me recently that, come August, I will have lived in Maryland for as long as I lived in Oregon. I seriously have no idea where these 7+ years have gone... but I'm so glad you've been here for the last 1.5+ of them! I'm also glad that you are feeling more settled here now after having had a year in your job, apartment, etc... when I think back, I think that is about the amount of time it took me to feel somewhat established, too.
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