God's gift to me

I love being a nurse.

I didn't always know that I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to be a writer, a lawyer, an athlete, a youth minister, even a surgeon. In college I would usually flat out refuse to talk about nursing outside of class and clinical. I joined the Festival of Praise team, prayed with my household, drank margaritas and studied far less than I should have. Presently I have no desire to join any professional nursing organizations and I usually change out of my scrubs the second I get home. I prefer to volunteer with pro-life ministries, wear dresses and (learn how to) use makeup. I don't fit the bill of someone who loves nursing, but I do love it - passionately.

This occurred to me on my drive home last night as I blasted country music and buzzed through the tree-lined streets of Northern Virginia. Yesterday was typical - I ran around for hours passing meds, listening to heart sounds, calling physicians, prepping for colonoscopies and dressing wounds. About 10 hours into my 12 hour shift something special arrived for me - a dolphin bed, which would more aptly be named "huge bed that is very difficult to maneuver."

I had one precious patient who needed to be moved onto this bed - a severly contracted man, stiff as a board, non-verbal, heavy and unable to help with the transfer at all - and I had no idea how it was going to be done. Did I mention the room was incredibly small with sharp angles? For the better part of an hour three of us pushed and pulled the beds into place, rolled our patient onto a makeshift lift pad, climbed on beds, rearranged furniture and used sheer craftiness and brawn to get our patient into the dolphin bed. We fluffed his pillows, cleaned him up, straightened him out as best we could, suctioned him and sat him up in his new bed. He looked spiffy. He looked like a king. He looked me in the eyes and my heart melted. I thanked God for calling me to this, and I went on with my day.

Nurses do a lot of different things everyday, some more technical than others. We give medicines, check orders, assess and monitor our patients, chart chart chart, prepare for procedures and educate. We listen to our patients, we reassure them, laugh and cry with them, hug them and do everything we can to make them comfortable. We witness miracles, we save lives and we watch people leave this world. Our days and our actions are filled with monumental importance, but we are often too busy to notice. Sometimes all it takes is for a patient to look us in the eyes for us to stop and recognize the importance and beauty of each moment of our days.

I am proud to be a nurse.

I spent 4 years busting my butt to earn what some call the most challenging undergraduate degree. I went to bed after midnight, woke up before dawn, took some ridiculous exams and learned real job skills while still being a student. I spent 3 anxiety-ridden months studying for the hardest test I've ever taken. I cried as I realized that none of that mattered once I actually started working. I endured (and still endure) moments of extreme humiliation as I learn the ins and outs of hospital life. I'm sure that part will never end.

Some people ask me why I'm not a physician. They tell me I'm smart enough and driven enough, that I have good diagnostic skills and a good knowledge of medication. First I tell them that being a nurse is not a stepping stone to becoming a physician. We don't work under physicians, we work together with them. Then I tell them I'm NOT a physician because I AM a nurse. Being a nurse is in my heart. It pumps through my blood to every inch of my being. Being a nurse is who I am. Being a nurse is who I was made to be. God called me to this life, and being a nurse is his great gift to me. Sometimes it is hard, sometimes I want to scream, sometimes I want to punch a surgeon, but all the time I am grateful that this is who I am. I thank God everyday for making me who I am:

Hannah Raymond, RN, BSN

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." - Eleanor Powell

Sweet Jesus, thank you for giving me the gift of who I am. I pray that my whole career and my whole life may be a gift to my patients, my co-workers and most importantly you.

I Have the Best Job in the World

So I am an a pediatric oncology nurse for anyone who doesn't know, and I have the best job ever. No joke, and if you are wondering why I have the best job ever here are a few reasons why...

Kids say the darndest things
          Our kiddos don't go through the terrible two's they go through something called 'roid rage. Give a kid a bunch of steroids and watch out for what comes out of their mouths. A typical response from a child, "I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!!!! STOP MESSING AROUND" (now picture a 5 year old standing on their bed screaming this at their mother)

I get paid to do what?
           I get paid to be a kid sometimes, play guess who with a patient, have a dance off in the play room, watch Glee, talk legos, watch any and all Disney/Pixar movies, watch the latest you tube video, play with cool toys (sing a ma jigs), wear crazy hats and sing to our kiddos when it is their birthday. It is pretty awesome to pretend to be a kid sometimes and get paid for it.

Cool Co-workers
           I am also very lucky to have the coolest co-workers around. They have helped me with all of my sporcle games, we have geeked about Harry Potter together *cough (Katie Keeler) cough * and have also listened to rants about life or how crazy a day has been, or how loud people can talk on night shift.

Abbreviations are your best friend
           When you are a nurse, you don't have a lot of time to write things down or say them in report because time is precious. So what do you do abbreviate! Here are some and good luck trying to figure them out :) BMA, LP, IT MTX, F & N, N/V, WNL, IFV, DL CVC, PICC ALL , OVN.

Bald Heads
            Kids with no hair are the cutest in the world, and at my hospital we have the hair fairy who comes at night when a child is losing their hair and they get an awesome present. Our version of the tooth fairy. We also have fun with the shaving of the heads, mohawks, or fun colors. Some kids get really desperate when they are losing all their hair they have been known to take a lint brush and roll it over their head. True story.


Those are a few of my favortie parts about my job, I apologize for how long it has taken me to write this entry and I promise I will do my bestest to keep up on it :) I have a severe addiction to traveling and in a little over a week I will be going to the great state of Flordia, specifically Key Biscayne for our family vacation. So I am sure to have some tales to talk about after that one.

Bex

Guys only want girlfriends who have sweet skills

So, obviously there is something I am not good at: blogging. I was supposed to post a new blog like a month ago and I have failed. I am very lucky that Bex does not hate me yet. Anyway, since I am feeling so down on myself for not being good at blogging, I decided to write about things I am good at: sweet nursing skills.

I'm not talking about obvious skills like inserting a Foley catheter or performing CPR. I'm talking about the real skills that nurses need to have. I've started a list (I like lists) of skills that every nurse should have, and I expect to add to it as I learn more.

Improvisational Craftiness
This comes in handy when as you mix an IV antibiotic the hook that holds it to the IV pole snaps off. What do you do? Why, you hold it together with about 27 label stickers, of course! I once saw someone (she was a physician, gasp!) make a cast out of tongue depressors and gauze in the jungle. I aspire to reach this level of craftiness someday.

The Ability to do Important Things with One Hand or in the Dark or Both
You have to know how to do this because sometimes your other hand will be covered in shit. Literally. Oops, I just said the S word! Or, more importantly, you might be holding pressure on someone's wound trying to stop the bleeding while simultaneously opening yet another pack of gauze and hitting the call light. A better skill might be to just grow an extra hand. The 'in the dark' part comes with working night shift. You really don't want to turn on the light when you walk into a patient's room at 3 am because if you do they will probably wake up and will probably need pain medication and it will probably be some weird amount that requires another nurse to witness you so that you don't become a druggie. So, you have to be good at doing things like hanging IVs and emptying urinals in the dark. Use a pen light when dealing with blood though, otherwise you might ruin your third pair of white scrubs.

The Ability to Always Look Busy (at least when your boss is around)
Why? Because if you're not busy you will become busy as soon as somebody notices. You gotta take advantage of any "free" time you can get.

The Art of Holding It
I say art because I truly believe that slowly destroying your bladder is an artform. I have become so good at this, that after holding it for half an hour, I don't even realize that I need to pee anymore. Let's face it: some things are just more important than your own personal health, and when you're a nurse that basically means everything. Even sparing 90 seconds of your day to pee can totally screw up your shift if you have a lot going on.

Ok, I have a few more of these, and I was totally planning on making them a lot funnier than they are, but I am too tired to be funny right now. Also, I need to make myself look busy, so I should probably turn off my personal laptop. I will add to the list soon. At least less than a month from now.

Hasta pronto!

H

The Song Stuck in My Head....

I always seem to have a song stuck in my head and why is it that most of the time it is an annoying one (ex. Born This Way by Lady Gaga...ugh) In my attempt to combat the annoying songs on the radio that get stuck in my head I have recently purchased some awesome new tunes. And let me say these tunes are a lot of fun to roll down the windows on a sunny summer day and rock out to. My sister always asks me to make her a CD's because I have probably the world's most wide range of music. Latin, Rap, Broadway, Alternative, Bluegrass....you name it I probably have it. (I am the same way about movies but that is another story)
Since it is almost summer and it is so very important to have that summer soundtrack here are some of the top songs that I am currently obsessed with/Songs stuck in my head. They are also useful to run/workout with, I just ran 3 miles today (yeah me!!!) and these tunes helped me run like the wind....so here you are

First up:

Little Too Much - Natasha Bedingfield
Hannah was annoyed because I played this song on repeat while she was here probably a thousand times, but it is an awesome song and a great one to sing to while driving with the windows down on a nice summer day

The Cave - Mumford & Sons
What do you get when you put  a Guitar + Chello + Banjo + Accordion together? Pure awesomeness in music form. A very unique sound that makes me happy whenever I hear it!

Arena - Con Bro Chill
This youtube phenomenon was shown to me by my younger brother and it is the perfect song to use when you need to be pumped up, and the perfect song to keep you running after two miles. It is by far my fav workout song. And a funny video to watch. 

Wavin' Flag - K'naan
In memory of the epic summer of soccer last year with the World Cup (VIVA ESPAÑA)  I listen to this song and it is one of my all time favorites. If this doesn't get you excited to go and kick a soccer ball around or go out and play something, well then you are a cotton headed niggy muggins!

I am warning you because these songs are very addictive and easy to get stuck in your head, where you may be forced to have them on repeat and annoy everyone around you who may be listening. Now go out and enjoy some of the nice weather that has finally graced us with its presence!

Bex

I'm too young and beautiful to die!

This past weekend I went to Cincinnati to visit Bex. Lots of things happened, the most important of which is that Bex and I learned about The Rapture*. We were driving to Mass on Saturday night when we saw this billboard:




Well, shoot. We don't have a lot of time, do we? Bex and I made sure to warn everyone we saw that weekend, and we also sent out a few text messages to people that we thought might want to hear the message. The world ending is a really big deal, people!

Once I realized that I only have a few days left before I am taken up in The Rapture, I began to think about the things I am going to miss on this Earth, particularly things that I will not have the chance to see/experience before May 21, 2011. I decided to make a list, so here it is:

Hannah's List of Things I am Sad I Will Miss Because of the Rapture:

1. Bex's 24th birthday. Obviously this is very important! I mean, I guess it is nice that I will not have to purchase a birthday gift for her, but still very sad that we will not be ushering her into her mid-20s here on Earth.

2. Babies! My next trip out to San Diego is planned for July, which means I won't get to see Isaac and Ian**, aka the world's cutest babies, ever again. PLUS, May 21 is way before July 11, which means I won't get to witness the birth of my sister's first child!

3. Another Red Sox World Series win. This is clearly a real tragedy.

4. Living with Jessie and Allison. For those of you who don't know, Jessie is Bex's sister and Allison is their household sister. They are both super cool and I am supposed to move in with them in August but thanks to the stupid Rapture this will never happen.

5. Brown Babies! I am not supposed to go back to Ecuador until next year. This means no more holding beautiful, big-eyed, brown Ecuadorian babies, ever again! Gee thanks, Rapture!

6. Christmas. If I had known last year would be the last Christmas ever I totally would have done things a lot differently.

7. The capture of Osama bin Laden. I was really hoping this would happen in my lifetime. Oh wait, nevermind.

8. This blog becoming world famous. One of my life's goals was to have a world famous blog that even Taylor Swift would read, but unless she finds this in 11 days or less my dreams will never come true.

9. Seeing Bex again. Oh my gosh. Typing that has made this all too real. I am going to go cry in a corner now.

So, as you can see I am going to be missing out on a lot because on May 21, 2011, Jesus is going to carry me to Heaven in a spaceship. I will be updating my thoughts on this as the time gets closer.

H

*The Rapture is an entirely unbiblical concept and the We Can Know website is the biggest crock of shhh that I have seen in a long time.

**Proof of cuteness:






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bex is Better

I'm at work. The night's been pretty slow (crossing my fingers that it stays that way) so I am taking a little break from my charting to talk about some of the incredible things I have learned and experienced over the past few days.

First of all, my best friend is the BEST best friend of all the best friends in the world. Her name is Bex and if you meet her it will change your life forever. Here is why:

1. She will introduce you to (and by 'introduce' I mean 'force you to watch') TV shows that you never knew existed before, or if you knew they existed you probably thought they were stupid, but Bex will teach you otherwise. For example, Psych and Project Runway are actually very good shows. Fun for the whole family! Fun for two girls who are feeling really lazy and are still in their pajamas at 3pm...

1b. She will also watch a whole episode of Ellen with you just so you can see your sister in the audience for 30 seconds.

2. She will make you workout with her even if you don't want to but she will tell you it's not because you're fat or anything, it's just because you need something to do and it will make you feel better.

3. She will teach you how to make the best sandwich in the world. It contains: turkey, mayo, feta, tomato, red onion, lettuce and balsamic vinagrette. You will take one bite and pray that you never have to stop eating this sandwich.

4. She will give you a back massage that will make you cry in pain but in the end you feel better. She's all about making you feel better.

5. She will tell you when you are being stupid about boys without being mean about it, except when you are being really stupid, then she will smack some sense into you.

So, as you can see, my best friend is cooler than yours and you should probably be pretty jealous of me. I need to get back to charting, but stay tuned for my next post. Bex and I have received some exclusive information about the impending rapture. Watch out!

H

Sporcle

To say that Hannah and I are best friends is an understatement. We are weird, wacky and awesome and one evening over our long distance late night text messages we decided to share our awesome-ness with the world and start a blog. So look out world we have arrived.

Life in Cincinnati this week has been more fun filled because the one and only Miss María Elena José has come to visit me!!! To the rest of the world you may know her as Hannah Raymond. I have been trying to give her the full Queen City treatment full of Skyline chili, rain, Reds game (they are on the road so it was on TV), cloudy weather, the Ohio River, cold weather, Mount Adams, and the sun did grace us with its presence on a few certain occasions. In between all our jaunts around the city I have exposed her to the glorious world of Sporcle. For those of you who don't know what sporcle is, it is a website that will change your life. It is a website that can get you through a dragging night shift, or bummin' around the house on a really rainy day when TV just can't cut it anymore. They are mentally stimulating and fun to do by yourself or a group of people. Ever since I have shown it to Hannah, basically I have created a monster. She is intent on dominating all the Harry Potter quizzes. She will readily admit to the fact she is obsessed with it now. I know you now want to go and see what all the hoop-la is about and I encourage you because your life will never be the same. I mean can you name off the top of your head the top 30 countries that have the highest goat population? No well try it in under 4 minutes. And that is the awesome-ness of sporcle.

So one of the many things I made Hannah do was workout with me :) She grumbled the whole time and in addition to the fact I was dragging her to the gym, I dressed her like me. Now if you went to Ecuador with us or have hung out with us a lot you will remember that we like to be alike in numerous ways and sometimes we intentionally dress alike and other times we don't. Anywho this was us post workout looking cute as always.  I have to run to mass in a few so....

Until las gemelas strike again!