So, my friends! The last two days have flown by, I’m really starting to get the hang of this whole nursing thing.

Yesterday was a morning shift, my first morning after a late shift for the week. Those are killers because you get home from your afternoon shift around 9 and then get to bed and to sleep by 12 and your alarm goes off at 6 and … yeah … they’re not pretty. But, it was my last one for this block of placements. Next week I have 3 earlys then 2 lates. No late-earlys! YAY!

I got to look after my good pal, Young Krohn’s Disease Man yesterday, who was admitted again on Wednesday to get a part of his bowel cut out. He was in good spirits! Particularly after giving him his powerful pain killers. I like Young Krohn’s Disease Man, particularly after giving him his powerful pain killers. A good student nurse friend of mine got to look after him on Wednesday evening and she said he was a real crack-up after pain- killers, did the whole “bed goes up, bed goes down, bed goes up, bed goes down” routine and continued to chat to her with a smile on his face and his eyes closed shut.

I also got to look after Middle-Aged Bladder Wash-Out Man, who needed his bladder to be continually washed out with 2L of fluid through a catheter every 40 minutes. Both these men were your typical “Suzy’s Pick of the Patients” – They needed no assistance in the shower, only supervision with a walk and were always up for a laugh. The only down side to yesterday was a young bloke who had a catheter in after surgery who swore his head off at the fact that he had a catheter in. I’ve never had to look after an angry patient before. Frustrated, sure, and if that’s the case, I always spend some time being an ear for them and once they’ve let off a li’l steam, they’re right as rain. But this guy! Making phone calls to his friends, swearing on the phone, swearing directly to me, not making eye contact. But fair enough. Apparently the nurse who inserted the catheter in the morning did it wrong, had to start all over again and that caused him quite a bit of pain. Plus, he’s young. And what young person thinks they’re ever going to have to need surgery? Still … bit of a rude prick … and I must admit, that verbal abuse (not that it was ever directed at me) stays with me and horrifies me way more than cleaning bloody ass poo.

Today I got to look after Cheeky Old Man #2 and for the last time because he’s being discharged tomorrow morning. And all he needed this afternoon were his routine medications and a walk. We went for a big walk and talk and sat in the sun room and watched the bay. It was a wonderful day weatherwise. Huge gusty winds and downpours of rain, grey clouds carpeting the entire sky and being reflected back in the choppy ocean. He really wanted to go home that night and I asked around but … he had to stay one more night.

I also got to look after Delightfully Charming Old English Chap who was in recovering from TURPS (if anyone’s interested in what TURPS is, check it out on the intrawebs, it’s a common procedure but I can’t be bothered explaining it). He too had a bladder wash-out going and apart from a walk, really didn’t need much in the way of nursing care. And might I say, Delightfully Charming Old English Chap was quite a fit man, we too walked and talked and sat in the sun room and talked about a wide array of things; England, The Lakes District, wild orchids, bird watching, books, the joys a dog brings to one’s life. It was a lovely afternoon shift!

The only remotely uncool thing I had to do today was assist an elderly lady to the bathroom. And that’s not even uncool, really.

Here are some skills I got to practice today:

Bladder wash outs and all that’s entailed.

Giving a Clexane injection.

Cleaning a staple wound dressing.

Obs.

And that’s about it. Pretty tame really. This nursing thing is good! I can’t believe I’m saying this but … I’m gonna be a nurse! And I’m really happy about it! 

Peace out, my beautiful loyal readers. May the world treat you well this day. And every day. Forever and ever. And then some!