I recently got comment from the author of the Student Nurses Prayer. I posted on it this year sometime. At the time, I didn’t know who wrote it. Now I do. Isn’t the Internet neat?

Nursing has its privileges. For instance, Steve asked me to be the nurse for the Saco Bay Criterium. It’s a bicycle race. See you there!

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Lots has happened since I’ve been away. Work and Savannah’s death to name a few. I have had a lot to do and so little time to do it. It seems like whenever I had time off, I was off to somewhere else to do something. Sheesh.
Lundi went to camp at Camp Natarswi, a Girl Scout Camp at Baxter State Park. She had a wonderful experience! You see, what happened is that she went to LL Bean with the family one day. There was a kid’s adventure day there and there were contests to enter. One of the contests, she had to fill out a form and her name was drawn later. The prize was summer camp at one of 5 locations up to $500. Then in addition to that, she received a $200 gift certificate to LL Bean so she could get stocked up to go. She had a wonderful time! The camp was 3.5 hours away and when we went to pick her up and she saw us, she turned the other way and said, “Bye!” She didn’t want to come home, she had so much fun. Lundi got her wish to go to a summer camp.
The olympic story of Michael Phelps is amazing! I was inspired by a recent quote by him that I saw in a newspaper…it goes like this - “With so many people saying it couldn’t be done, all it takes is an imagination,” Michael Phelps. I felt that truth because a lot of people told me of the impossibility of becoming a nurse. He’s right. It takes imagination. Nursing has been absolutely wonderful! I’ve had a few of my own patients. There have been overwhelming moments, rewarding moments and learning moments. Emergency nursing is something I never thought possible right out of nursing school. I got my wish, though…and I think I fit right in. I had to work on Sunday. I looked over my training materials and found a few things to focus on for the day. One of the things was blood transfusions. So I told them…“please let me know if you have a patient who needs blood, because I need to get the experience.” I got my wish, but it was with my own patient. I gave a blood transfusion on my own real sick patient. He had many problems in the past that seemed to be culminating on this one episode. He was a busy patient.
Yesterday afternoon, I was listening to music, and one of the songs that came up was Savannah’s song. She had a song made for her. It’s so cute! I have it because I made a DVD of her life that included that song. You see, she died this month before her 8th birthday. I had the honor of making 2 DVD’s with about 1,000 pictures in a slideshow set to music. One of the DVD’s was of her 2 visits to Disney - one of which was on the tab of the Make A Wish Foundation. She wished to go to Disney and she got her wish. Then the cancer came back and she wanted to go back again. This time, the WHOLE family went - grandparents and all. These DVD’s were filled with her smiles and fun times. It was a tribute to her life. I had a hard time containing my emotions while putting it together. Savannah is such a gift. The wonderful stories of her life were amazing. Here’s one more - it happened after her funeral. I shared her story with so many of the nurses at the hospital. One of the nurses, my preceptor, recently lost her husband a year ago yesterday. I showed her the program from Savannah’s funeral and it had a poem with author unknown. She loved it so much that she photocopied it and published it yesterday in a local paper to memorialize his passing. Savannah has given in so many ways - intentional and intentional - known and unknown. I wish that I will never forget - and that I can witness many more of her gifts - even after she’s gone.

I am not there today, but I was there at the beginning. I know it has been a long road. You have suffered much. I am sorry for not being there today during your last hours on this earth. You are an inspiring princess. Thank you for your smiles. I am sorry for your pain - a pain you don’t deserve - a pain only you know about. It seems sad to hear and watch your story. Many of us, I know, feel powerless. I don’t know what it would be like to watch my own child suffer as you have. I don’t know what comfort I would need or what comfort I would give my child. The comfort is yours to request - and I know it comes soon. I know I said I feel powerless, but now I realize it is not mine to have any power in this case. The power is yours. What power I do posess is the knowledge that we have the ability to perpetuate relationships beyond the grave. I am grateful that your parents and entire family partake in this gift of eternal families. I am grateful that my family is sealed for eternity. Savannah, I look forward to seeing your mansion. Lauren was excited to think that you would be seeing President Hinckley soon. Say hi to him for me.

I have stepped back from your family’s life for a while. I have felt that was the best thing for me to do. I have watched as your family has struggled and I can’t even begin to say I know what you’re going through. I just don’t. I have watched and ached. There is just not much I can do. I can offer a hug, but I am at work and I can’t right now. I send a virtual hug. I have to say, though, I have missed your family. I will miss you. I will keep you in my prayers today. I will keep your family in my prayers. I will pray for peace and comfort. Fly, little wing.

Read this post on Cancer, Nursing and my thoughts on Savannah.

I re-read that post just now. I realize now, that I am starting with Emergency Nursing…and I started this nursing journey wanting to fight cancer with children. I still want to help. It is still a possibility. I am right now, not. I am excited to be an emergency nurse. I will probably touch pediatric oncology again in the future. For now, I am an emergency nurse. Now, Savannah…please don’t be sad about this. I also know this is the least of your worries. However, I know that your story inspired my interest into the field. I am just taking a few extra steps. I still love you and your family.

Here are some good links for relaxation, meditation and doing nothing for we people with high stress lives. It can be used to reduce stress, increase spiritual guidance and lower blood pressure. Interesting, eh?

How to Do Nothing
How to Meditate
Harold B. Lee on Meditation
Studies Show…

This was my fourth day on the job. I spent from 7a until 3p with Rescue 1. Brian was my preceptor. We talked about what EMS does with the patient before they come into the ED. They don’t use squat for aseptic technique and there are certain protocols that each kind of patient would get (e.g. a cardiac patient will get nitro paste, BP, aspirin, maybe fentenyl, then EKG, etc.). I got a tour of the back of the rig and even went on 2 calls. I would have gone on more if there were morHe, but it was a really slow day. There were no calls. I did get to know the culture of the fire department and rescue. They are potty mouths and I felt uncomfortable being around them. The two calls I went on included a transfer from a nursing home to the hospital for blood in urine. The other one was a syncopal woman with new antihypertensive meds. I am amazed that the fire and rescue staff are so not used and rather unrespected.

I went to work at the ED after that. EKG’s were my deal. Except that I didn’t actually do any until the end of the night, where I did one. I felt like I was fumbling over myself. It was kind of like I was in clinical all over again. Oh well, I will get used to it. The ED was really slow too. Barely anybody getting hurt. That’s good, but bad for me. I was however able to get into meeting people in the ED and feel out the culture a bit. One nurse, Naomi who has been a nurse for 10 years is very opinionated. She said that emergency nurses should be in med-surg first. However, she does have faith in Nancy in that Nancy says they can train a new grad. Any new grad. I feel fortunate to be in the ED. It’s an honor. I also get it that they take a lot of patients who shouldn’t be there. Sore throats, dental pain, bruises. I am nervous. Can I do it? Yes. I can…but, it’s hard.

I have trouble with mens scrubs. I just don’t think there’s a big selection. Here’s the best selection by far, but I would like prints too. Here’s a peek at AllHeart.com

I am training to be an emergency nurse. Although I am a registered nurse, I still need to orient to the unit as well as learn specific specialty competencies. Visit the Emergency Nurse Association to find out what it means to be an emergency nurse.

Today was my first day of working at HAPPY Hospital. I was excited and it was nice to get paid for working. All I did today was tour, meet, read and take care of logistics. More of that is planned for tomorrow. They will be scheduling me for different departments in the hospital, including riding in a hospital ambulance to transfer patients. We will be building skills, learning procedures and getting socialized in the new culture of the emergency department. The other nurse is a recent graduate of my OTHER nursing school…Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing. She and I were in the same ERI Pre-RN seminar together. Nice to see her. I look forward to tomorrow.

I will also start going to the gym again tomorrow morning. We’ll see how that turns out.