Moving

Sad Sasha

So today was the day.  The farewell tour (as my dad called).. I preferred to call it "time with friends" is done and this morning I added the last few items and headed out the door with prayers hugs and last minute gifts like grapefruits and paper towels from my mom.      
                                    
  The family's trusty truck aka the old van lasted until the end of the road before it quit on me.  A quick phone call to dad who assured that it just needed time to warm up and off I went with sputters and jerks determined to NOT miss the ferry this time =) .  But he was right.. within five minutes all was smooth sailing. 

The ferry as usual was fairly uneventful. Once I got to the island once again I was super thankful for the little map app (and camera) on my iphone. Directions to Sanich Peninsula hospital to pick up keys from Elske, Check. Transport Canada Marine Offices, Check,  New house, Check (ps... google street view was so wrong.. but the house is still cute we get possession tomorrow.  Map app aside I think I will be lucky to escape the Victoria traffic unscathed.. Between parallel parking and one way streets I'm doomed. 

I hit the SALTS office to pick up some gear and see the boats.  As I actually haven't sailed on the Pacific Swift which is going to be the vessel I'm on it was great to look around at her and get the feel of where I'll be living.  I promise lots of pictures of that to come =)  The boats are all wrapped up tight now for the winter season.

 

Tell em all I'm on vacation,

Say I went to visit friends,

That you ain't heard or seen from me in quite a while,

When they ask you where I've been,

Tell em I'm out on the west coast where it don't ever rain,

And that I'm probably doing fine.

Six on Saturday

1) In this day and age one would think that alarm clocks would be smarter. Perhaps it has something to do with fact that mine is probably cira 1990 or that fact that I think in 24hour clock but really this week it had it out for me.   Tuesday-  Why should I have to pick am/pm... shouldn't it just know that I don't want to sleep for 21 hours and just default to the most appropriate setting.   Wednesday... Shouldn't it turn on now that I have adjusted for the appropriate am/pm?  It did however provide for an extra 1 1/2 hour sleep the first day (and a late start to work) and thankfulness for setting a phone alarm on Wednesday. 

2)I worked my last shifts at work this week.  Next scheduled shift Dec 4th!!!  I seemed to have picked a good time to escape from the craziness. This week it reached new levels.   We ended one night with a total of 42 admitted medical patients in the ER. The number of pts in our department usually fluctuates between 45-95 but to have that many admits is just crazy!!  That is completely filling all of our beds and hallway spots.. leaving only the trauma rooms and a few chairs to see anyone else who comes through the door. And one day later when I left there was only chairs!!!  We also had disaster colours assigned to every patient.  This is a quick visual on our patient tracking system which lets us know at a glance how priority/sick/mobile people are.  This is usually something we only do during airshow weekend when the chances of a mass disaster happening is a possibility.  The fact that it is now standard just shows how stretched the resources and space are throughout the entire hospital.  No one seems to have answers how to fix the system or solve the issue but the stresses it places on the patients and the nurses is huge as you struggle with increase of workload and acuity with less space, resources, and time. 

3) I told my Call of Duty obsessed brother that perhaps he should just join the army so he could do the part in real life.
  "Are you for real... I'm too bad at this... I die all the time"

4) Had a lovely dinner and time at my friend K.'s house tonight. K. and I have been friends since she mentored me during my start in ER .  This is the lovely "goodbye" fudge that her kids had made for us.

5) Pray for my friend's little boy. So sick right now in BC children's hospital. 
6) Psalm 16:11 
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Pretending

If you are going to fake something.. do yourself a favor and at least do a half decent job. The nurses might be mad at themselves for missing it but will at least give you credit for beening credible.  Do a bad job and they will just laugh.

The patient was brought in by ambulance. She had experienced an event that would normally raise the suspicion for significant injury. But she had seemed alright at the scene. the paramedics had walked her to the ambulance and then walked her into the hospital.. but at triage things changed, she became "unresponsive" and was rushed into the trauma room with the paramedics thinking the worst. I assessed her, she woke up abit didn't talk then was out again but by the time I finished starting a line, put her on the monitor and assessed her neuros she woke up again abit and said a few things and then "unresponsive" again.  Lying there eyes closed, not moving or responding to things we did to her and a vague complaint of neck pain we decided that we needed to c-spine her just to be sure but the story and how she was acting wasn't really adding up.  A and I decided to get the belt and jeans off before we did this.  I tried to open the belt clasp and was unsuccessful, A tried and she couldn't get it either. Dr. E. started to make comments.... asking how many nurses it took to undo a belt.  I just laughed and asked him to try. He couldn't get it either =) The paramedic was standing there with his scissors ready to cut when I had a idea.  I called the patients name and asked her to undo her belt or else we would cut it.
Eyes closed nothing else moving she opened her belt clasp then put her hands back at her sides and once again went "unresponsive". 

Fabulous.. I love unconscious patients who can not only undo their belt clasps but also lift up their bottoms and lift their legs so we can get their pants off.

Six on Saturday

Im not sure how this morphed from Five on Friday into Six on Saturday.. I guess a combo of procrastination and night shift callings.. ah well.  Just one more random thought.

1)  This will never be a how-to blog... usually because by the time I think something might be useful its already complete and is not going to be redone to be staged for photos.  But as I was doing this as I was packing the other night I thought it would be a nice tip to share. 

Ten easy steps to pack to pack juice glasses.

Step 1-  Wash socks, ensure at least one pair for every glass you have to pack. Use bleach if appropriate.

Step 2- Stuff one sock into the glass.  Not entirely sure on the rational.. but when you buy breakables they always have that paper inside.

Step 3-  Pull the other sock nice and cozy around the outside of the glass ensure it comes up and covers the rim (not as illustrated).

Step 4- Pack in box. Ensure to label box as kitchen so the socks don't end up in your dresser

The next 6 steps are how I assume things will happen.. if they differ I will post an update

Step 5- Move

Step 6. Carefully remove glasses from their cozy little sleeping bags.

Step 7.  Wash and disinfect glasses.

Step 8- Refrain from serving guests from glasses for at least 5-10 washings.

Step 9- Wash socks in extra hot water to shrink back to regular size

Step 10- Wear socks and feel proud that they have more than one purpose in life.

2) Normally I find nautical clothing rather ... well lets just say I don't know the English word.  But I was in need of some PJ's for on the boat and happened upon this fabulous pair of pants with a matching teeshirt. 

3)  Allergies.  Such a buzz word and so common place.  Its something that I inquire of with every interview with a new patient.  The answers vary across a huge spectrum.  You get the people who  say yes.. and then stare blankly at you when you ask which medication, the ones that list every food and plant they sneeze at, the ones that think maybe their mom once told them they might have had a rash from penicillin when they were two,  the people who think they are allergic to things but when you dig in to the symptoms it turns out they are actually just valid side effects (yes... gravol will make you sleepy.. you're not allergic =).  Then there are the fabulous special order allergists, the ones who are allergic to specific medication they do not one to receive in hopes of getting their medication(read narcotic) of choice.   "Oh.. you have vague abdominal pain and are anaphylactic  to Tylenol, Advil, toradol and codeine?"   ... oh and hydromorphone is the only thing that works, how nice??
 But then their are the people who have real, serious allergies.  I walked into work the other day and a situation unraveled right in front of my eyes.  The patient was rapidly wheeled into the trauma room and I came to terms that I would be starting then... rather than in 15 minutes.  More lines where started, meds were pushed.. we looked in vain at the cardiac monitor for changes.. changes there were, but not the kind we were wanting.  Instead of improving the lines of V-tach were getting longer. 
Dr- "Why don't we start some amioderone"
Me- "sure"
Pt- "Ah.. I'm allergic to that"
My standard answer." and what happens when you get that".. thinking at this point some nausea is just fine.
Pt- "Well last time I stopped breathing and was in ICU for 6 weeks"
Alright... well not a rash.  Guess we won't be giving that now will we. 

4) Lots of Emily and Branson time this week.  Jealously guarding my time spent with my sister and her family this month.  Snapped these with my phone tonight as we were playing games. 

5) Our new lease agreement stipulates no pets, water beds, fish tanks or bbqs.  really no bbqs.. not that we have one but seems kinda like a weird thing to ban when you see them all the time on apartment balconies.  On second thought might not be entirely bad.. I have singe(ed) my eyebrows once.. and I am friends with this pyro.

 

6) Gratitude unleashes the freedom to live content in the moment, rather than being anxious about the future or regretting the past.

 Ellen Vaughn

Six on Saturday

1) You know there is a bit of a generation gap when you ask someone if their parents gave them an allowance and the answer is "no, we got a pig"  WHAT.???

2) Wednesday was the day Rosie and I had been planning for two weeks to go snowshoeing.  Looking at the avalanche conditions the day before had showed Level 4 (red) which means very high risk of human triggered or natural avalanches for the Coquihalla region even the below the treeline.  I contacted a friend who lives in Vancouver and she had suggested Seymour on the north shore.  But when we woke up it was pouring rain and super windy and the forecast for the top of Seymour was 20 mm of rain so snowing shoeing was out.  We instead did the rounds on the outdoorsy stores and then tried out indoor rock climbing in Abby.  It was a ton of fun.

 

3)On Thursday Laura, Corina, and I took advantage of a very rare day off together and headed up to Hemlock for free ladies day skiing.  It snowed hard the entire day and there was tons of powder was a fabulous day to spend together.

4) So thankful for my dad who was able to resurrect my dinosaur of a computer for me the other night.  I had heard about external hard drives about two years ago and thought it was a great idea.  Then my computer slowed down about a year ago and I have been using the laptop since then.  I bought a hard drive last month and then the process to even get the other one to start!!! Why people think IT is a interesting job is beyond me!!

5) I thought I had heard it all to describe  pain.. usually it goes along the lines of its burning, stabbing, dull ache etc.. but today came the description like non other.. "So the pain comes along up in a wave it peaks and then goes chunk chunk chunk" Alright then This man also stated he was allergic to pain.   I told him that was okay, most men were. 

6)“What I’ve experienced is that I can’t know the future. I can’t know if anything that I do will change what happens tomorrow. I can’t know with certainty, but what I do know is if I do nothing, nothing will change.”

James Orbinski 

 

Change

Change: noun

*the act or fact of changing; fact of being changed.

*a transformationor modification; alteration:

*a variation or deviation: a change in the daily routine.

*the substitution of one thing for another:

*variety or novelty

(Dictionary.com)

As some of you know, and now the rest of you will too, this year is going to be an exciting year for me with a big change happening at the end of this month.  I am getting married =)

 

bahaha.. now you're paying attention.. Just kidding =)  My change is less drastic that that.  I have accepted a position with SALTS.  As of the end of January I will be moving to Victoria and working as a cook and teaching some sailing as well as connecting with and mentoring young people in the context of a tall ship and God's amazing little corner of earth around Vancouver Island. 

I had been planning to do something different this year. Take a break from ER nursing and pursue something else. I had looked into nursing in New Zealand ( I will still one day be a temporary kiwi) as well explored different mission opportunity's. But unexpectedly an position came available and throughout past experience with SALTS as well as the powerful impact the death of a young lady had on me, I felt that this was the opportunity the Lord had placed in my life for this season.  I am super excited about not only a break from my regular job and moving to Victoria but also a chance to connect and make a positive difference in a long lasting meaningful way in young lives.  The fact that I can do that in a Christ centered environment while living pretty much in the Gulf islands, on a boat and with some fabulous friends is just bonus!!

I have studied change before ... took an entire university course on it in fact (its not called a BSn for no reason). So I know transitions are not all easy and I not really looking forward to leaving my family,  all the wonderful friends I have here behind nor my church family.. so rest easy you are not rid of me for good. I hope to come home often on the weekends so will still be in touch.  And to those who knew this all was happening thankyou so much for all your kinds words of encouragement and affirmation it really has confirmed that this is God's place for me right now and in that I am finding tremendous joy. 

Christmas

Christmas is always one post that gets pushed off.. The special time with family, the fun and the coziness mixed in with the celebration of Jesus is just tough to put into words.  Plus all the pictures are taken in dark living rooms with fast moving kids.  But here are a few from Christmas Eve at Oma's and Christmas night at home.  I meant to take pictures at the Wubs party but it was after a long day at work and all I did was sit in a chair and absorb the talking around me. 

Christmas Eve was spent at Oma's House. We showed up about noonish did alot of group cooking, ate appies, watched the Handel's Messiah on TV and generally  enjoyed each other.  Then we had dinner, dessert sang some carols and the kids opened their presents. 

Oma and the Kitty Supervised

We Wished for snow... but not really.. then we would just have to shovel =)

Communal Cooking

 

 

Red Christmas Ornaments were the

decor item of the day..   ps the clear ones make great earrings

Singing carols

Christmas Day was after church in the afternoon.  Emily with the very important job of helping Gramma by drying the carrots

Emily will be the first to tell anyone.. store clerks included, that Christmas is not about presents but about Baby Jesus.... but we still need a few pictures

And when its all done... only snuggles with daddy and doggy will do =)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. May you and your families all have a blessed year ahead filled with blessings, love and adventure. 
J.C Ryle lived over 100 years ago but his New Years Day Challenge still rings clear and is as relevant today as it was back then
Walk more closely with God, get nearer to Christ and seek to exchange hope for assurance. Seek to feel the witness of the Spirit more closely and distinctly every year. Lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets you. Press towards the mark more earnestly. Fight a better fight, and war a better warfare every year you live. Pray more, read more, mortify self more, love the brethren more. Oh that you may endeavor so to grow in grace every year, that your last things may be far more than your first, and the end of your Christian course far better than the beginning!- J.C Ryle