Adam and Chelsea: April 2011

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter

Our Easter weekend was very relaxed. Friday night we went to Good Friday service after we did some fun sunglass shopping for our upcoming Maui trip. On the way to the church we pulled over to help a guy who ran out of gas, and small world.... he was from Mount Vernon, WA!

Saturday was work for us both, but we had dinner together that night at our favorite Thai place. Then we went and watched karyoke at local bar down the street. Always entertaining to watch people karayoke!

Sunday we got up early, went to a great service at church, then took Ace to the dog park. That was a lot of fun! It was really sunny but really windy, so we didn't stay for too long. Then we hit the stores to pick up canning supplies. Adam canned his homemade BBQ sauce and I tried a pickle recipe. Although I put more in my jars than just cucumbers. I added green beans, bell pepper, and in one, radishes. So we'll see. We had a delicious pulled pork sandwhich with coleslaw dinner. It was a nice Easter!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Fishing

We went fishing the other day, just thought I would post a few pictures. We got skunked but it was still fun!

Half the lake had snow on the bank and the other half was dry. Supposidly the fish liked the side with snow, of course! Adam was in shorts, so I was dying laughing when we both kept falling through.

PS: My pickeled asaparagus sell is blowing up! I've made over 50 jars for orders from people at work. But I know realize that I priced them too low, and if I'm not careful, I could actually lose money. Live and Learn

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Work Stories

Forget TLC's "Trauma: Life in the ER" show. These last three days have been crazy and exciting! I thought I would share, but as usual I spare details and use generalizations. Also, in telling a story, I in no way want to seem insensitive by the way things are said or the way they are termed. Day one: My patient (pt) was very young and was going to have their organs donated due to their unfortunate situation that left them no hope of survival. However, you need to be declared dead before you can donate, obviously, however this person wasnt quit brain dead so we had to declare her a cardiac death before we could harvest her organs. This is tricky because without a pumping heart your organs/body dies, making it difficult to harvest them for donation. This is a very well planned orchestrated event. The transplant team, me and the MD planned our actions out for hours before the event to make it smooth and the least traumatic for everyone. So, this is how it worked- again young person- intubated(breathing tube), on contnous IV meds to give her a blood pressure, in a coma. With family at bedside we pull all the support and allow her to die. It went very well. They died within minutes, with little extra pain meds, while the family played Amazing Grace. I'm certainly sad but well trained in not crying, but I notice the Respiratory Therapist (RT) is really crying. As soon as the pt is "declared" (dead) we usher the family out and I quickly detach and unhook all extra devices. We have 5minutes to get the patient to the Pre-preped OR for the organ removal surgery. The 5 minutes allows for what is called autoresuscitation, when people will die then spontaneously come back to life, it really does happen, I've seen it myself. Anyway, we all go into the OR (already prepped before hand in scrubs) to greet the OR team and surgeon. The pt is placed on the table, clock going, prepped, positioned, tools ready and then -5minutes up. First cut is made and the pt is opened up. I got to sit in for the whole surgery. SO COOL!!! The liver is way bigger than I remember. The whole process of preserving organs is very detailed and amazing. Tons of phone calls are being made inside the OR. There's a plane outside the hospital waiting to fly the organs to the appropriate places. The pt's family was so excited about being able to donate that they even wanted to know where to go so that they could watch the plane fly away! Day 2: Day was going realitivly normal. The RT that had been with the donor pt and I the day before came up to me and starts to tell me how much it meant for her to be in the surgery. She goes on to tell me that 10yrs ago her teenage son died and was able to donate his organs. It was the first time she had ever been able to be a part of the whole process. SO COOL! That's why she had been so emotional! Then toward change of shift, my podmate (RN working in the same area as me) yelled out "I need Atropine", knowing the tone and need for that drug, I drop everything and grab her Atropine. I standby, pt's ok, then I hear it again " I need Atropine!", I run off to get more and by the time I get back shes on top of the pt doing CPR. We had nursing student's that day on the unit and they were all in the room, really excited. The pt was in the process of being intubated so it was a very organized code blue, with the RN and MD already in the room. Some codes are CRAZY and chaotic, especially outside of the unit, the goal of course is to have a controlled chaos, where everyone plays their role. My role was to record, so I was mostly standing at the doorway. Anyway, we thought the pt was okay and then they coded again a few minutes later. Finally it all ends and we are giving report to the next shift. I get ready to leave and go home, I have my keys and bag in hand when this new RN being oriented says while in our pt's room "is that what his arm was doing before?" I look back and the pt is seizing. This is not "what his arm was doing before". So I threw my stuff down and ran to get some Ativan from our drug dispenser. What a way to end the day. Day 3: My seizure pt was fine. My other pt was not. We had talked about intubating him since yesterday, however he was riding a fine line, and it hadnt been done. He was kindof awake but had a snore-like breathing pattern (not good). Well morning starts off with him vomitting and because of his condition I know he was going to need to be intubated. I could safely assume that he aspirated, he did not even cough or move much when he threw up. So I call the pulmonologist and he comes by shorlty after and we intubate the guy. Later that afternoon the pt gets to the point, again riding a fine line, where he needs a "brain drain". His pressures in his head were building up so much that we needed a way to evacuate the extra blood that was not reabsorbing as planned. I was hoping the neurosurgeon would do this at the bedside since they often do, because I had a student again and she would have loved to watch! But instead we wheeled him to the OR. He came back with some minor seizures and a new brain drain! Then I find out that the lady that coded the day before came back positive for a very contagious and deadly bacteria. Everyone involved in the code had to go to the in-house pharmacy at work and get an antibiotic. Luckily I was only at the doorway! but still had to take the drug. Also while walking to lunch earlier that day I saw the transplant RN and she told me that all the transplants from our donor pt so far were a success, and in particular, one of the kidneys had gone to a 35 year guy who had been on the transplant list for 8years! The transplant was a huge success! I guess when the surgeon had called to tell the transplant RN this, she was in tears saying that they kidney reciever was such a nice deserving guy. None of these events are abnormal, but all in one week, day after day made for an exciting week! And I didnt even mention the week before when I ran into some sticky legal situations with suicide attempts, where security and hospital attorneys had to be called. It was one of the only times that I was pretty sure I was going to be taken to court! So far no subpoena!

College Girls Weekend

After my brothers wedding I headed up to Seattle with my brother-in-law and the kiddos. They dropped me off in Tacoma and from there I headed over to Seabeck to have a girls weekend with my best college girlfriends. So cool that we were all able to get togehter.

We did what we always do when we get together: chat, gossip, take walks/runs, and cook. This time around we had two little babies, Ashlies Roman and Melissa's Kannon. The two are 2 months apart. Starting from the Left:

Kali- She has the most nic-names, I will leave it at that! My college roommate my sophmore/junior year, we took jogging and volleyball together and played on a few intramural volleyball teams together. The only person I truly enjoy runnning with. I get her when some don't. Shes in PA school in Spokane with her husband who is finishing med school. Both at UW, we show no sensitivity to huskies, where you get your undergrad is where your heart is!

Melissa- "Momma Mel", met her my sophomore year. She's super fun and girly but very stable in all her adventures. Shes the most mother-like, always has a warm inviting home, warm food, good advice, and keeps us all together! She is a 3rd grade teacher. She had her first baby last June. She lives in Seabeck with her husband whos a land surveyer. We stayed at their new beatiful home on 4acres.

(me, next to Mel)

Ashlie- Met her in HS actually, we went to different schools but dated brothers. We actually didnt become friends until college, when I left all my clothes at home and had to borrow hers! She was also a roommate, during my sophomore year. We have the same intellectual drive and mind. She loves to love and loves challenges. She is also an RN, so I spent many years in college with her. We were excellent study buddies! She lives in Vancouver with her hubby who is also an RN. She had her first baby last April.

Amy- Shes a special character. You can't not love her. Shes got attitude, was on our logging team, wears carhart, but looks like Barbie. Shes from a real small town and knows everything about cooking and anything that has to do with hard work and dirt. Shes super tough, but super sweet and sensitive. She lives in Birch Bay with her husband who was a real good college friend of all of ours, hes a great guy! Amy has two bachelors in criminal justice and biology, she wanted to be an FBI agent. She is bummed to be working at a spa but cant wait to be a mom!

Katie- The one you live vicariously through! She lives in LA and is a producer. She has worked closely with Gordon Ramsey and is now working on a song writing show with Colbie Calet, Jewel and many others! I would be suprised if she didnt take over LA! She's a work hard, play hard kind of person. She's opposite of all of us. She never wants kids and doesn't think she will be married soon or ever. Shes from Arizona and like most Arizonian's I know- knows how to have a good time but is a loyal genuine friend.

But we all love hard work, good people, sports, getting dirty outdoors and enjoying the good things in life!

Melissa with Roman and Kannon

As we cooked and played with babies Melissa's husband was in and out, so we started joking about being sister wifes, hahaha- one doing dishes, two playing with babies, one cooking, etc....

We had a blast and spoke without inhibition, another one of our favorites.

This is Katie getting on a tractor for possibly the first time in her life!

These girls are great, and so special to me! Along with my 2 best friends from home, Brittany and Terra, and a good friend here in Reno Kaylee, these girls know everything about me and never stop supporting and loving me!

Jordan's Wedding

Adam and I went home this last weekend, to see my fam and for my brothers wedding! Before the wedding was hanging out and shopping with my mom. I also spent hours with my mom going through her quilting fabric! I was like a kid in a candy store! Saturday Jordan and Tessa got married in Ridgefield, WA, just outside of Vancouver, at one of the LDS churches. There was lots of family and it was a great weekend. Tessa looked Beautiful!

The Bride and Groom