Oh, and a few other things...

-Right before Maui I passed my CCRN. It is a critical care certification for RN's. It's not required but makes you look cool! :)
-Adam is getting A's in his online classes!
-I started a new quilt and have only 5-6 others planned after this one
-Adam has started a new project: Beer making. Pretty cool, a friend of ours does it and its delicious! So now were BBQ sauce canners, picklers, meat smokers, and brewers. We will have our own restaraunt soon!
-Its sunny! which means more biking to work, swimming, trips to Lake Tahoe and long romantic summer night walks! Two days ago I got on my bike and rode over to my friends house in my bathing suit to go swimming, just had to be back before dinner. Felt like middle school all over again!

Maui- with no pictures

Our internet is down so I am unable to download all of our marvelous pictures from Maui. But I will give a brief and then post picture when the good ole internet is working.

So, we had a blast! We were there for 10days and went with my two closest childhood friends, Brittany and Terra and their husbands/boyfriend. We stayed in Kihei the first couple nights and then in Wailea the rest of the time. We snorkeled lots, boogie boarded, swam, shopped, wave jumped, took a boat out to Molekini (a small island off Maui), went to a luau, and didn't do half the things we planned because we were too busy relaxing! :) The flowers there are unreal and scent the entire atmosphere! And we got to swim with turtles which was one thing I would have been really disappointed about if I didn't get to do! But we swam next to about 6 or 7 total. Saw lots of pretty colorful fish. Ate at Tommy Bahamas, Cheeseburger in Paradise, etc and at Spago- Emeril Lagasse's restaraunt, we ate a few tabels away from Anthony Hopkins (I didn't know who he was, but apparently hes a pretty big deal). The food was amazing and the cocktails were just as fantastic! Without pictures, this is just another boring blog! But since we have no pictures of the following event, I suppose now would be a good time to mention Adam's scare. Sorry for those who already know the story. Here's a quick version:

We were out to dinner with the group and after appetizers Adam started to not feel well, describing what felt like really bad heart burn and chest pains. I was off taking pictures, Terra alerted me that Adam was leaving to get antacids. He looked very uncomfortable so I left with him. But before we left we asked the waitress if anything we ate had shellfish, since Adam has an anaphylactic reaction to it, the waitress quickly replied no. Terra told me to grab my phone when we got back to the condo. On the way to the condo Adam was having a hard time driving because the pain was so bad. We go to the condo, couldn't find antacids but I told him to take a benedryl just in case, because at this point something wasn't matching up with just "heartburn". I grabbed my phone and on the way to the car I saw Adam spitting and drooling. He looked at me and his face was very swollen and eyes were blood shot. He was having a reaction- no doubt! We quickly got in the car and headed down the "freeway". I got on the phone with 911, they directed me to an urgent care. I had Adam take a deep breath and heard him wheeze. Moments later they called back saying that one was closed and gave me the name of the street for another urgent care. Hawaiin names are hard to grasp but right as the lady was spelling it I looked up and there was the street. I had been going 90-95mph laying on my horn and running lights. By the time we got to urgent care, Adam was just hanging in there. We rushed in and because of the 911 call they knew we were coming and had epi ready to give. Adam was wheezing, dry heeving, and drooling. His face was so swollen and his eyes watering. Within minutes of the epi he looked and felt better. I knew the wheezing was a sure sign of impending doom, but I asked the Doc how much time we had before he would have had to do an emergency tracheotomy(hole in throat), his response was "2-3 minutes". The things that would have delayed us by 2-3 minutes were numerous!
-If Terra wouldnt have told me Adam was leaving
-If Terra wouldnt have told me to grab my phone (I wouldnt have normally, I never have it on me)
-If the waitress actually would have known that the food had crab in it, we would have called an ambulance and since the nearest medical center/dispatcher for ambulances is 25 minutes away, they probably wouldnt have made it in time
-If I hadnt have sped and ran redlights
-If 911 hadnt called back in time and if I hadnt have picked up my phone (random number calling while my husband was dying-not a time I would usually pick up)
Theres so many things........
I don't really want to go into detail but the restaraunt had added crab into ther "spinach and artichoke dip"and nobody knew but the Head Chef and Manager.

Were just thanking God that he provided those 2-3 minutes. Reaction time shortens by almost half each time you are exposed/have a reaction. So we are working on quick Epi pen access if it ever happens again.

Pictures of the fun stuff to come!

Sweet Remarks

I got this from a patient I extensively took care of and grew to really care for,
Attached to a vase of flowers read a card:
"We believe that God sends angels in our time of need. We know that you were that angel He sent to take care of Ron."
I almost cried!
They called me a few days later from home and had me tracked down (I was working in the other ICU) to ask me questions about some symptoms he was having. Of course I couldn't give them medical advice but his wife said she wanted to talk to me because "I knew Ron so well". :) I knew there was a reason I put up with bodily fluids of all natures, disrespect and name calling, stupid people, and overall frequent feelings of frustration.

Are You Ready for the Summer?!?!

(note new sunglasses)

This weekend was busy! I am kind of a loner and dont ever think twice about hanging out by myself. But this weekend was very fun and friend filled! Friday night was a going away party for a friend at work. So after work, Adam met me and a bunch of my co-workers at a mexican restaraunt. We had a good time and ended up staying until they basically did the old - slow music, sweep next to you- bit. Then saturday we watched the MMA fight with some other friends and ate steak and potatoes! Sunday after church was the Aces baseball game with our new neighbor friends, Chelsea and Brandon. We ended up making a night of it to, doing dinner together as well. Tuesday we did dinner with them again too, and watched "The Voice" (not that cool of a show, not a big Christina Aguelara fan). So all, in all a busy and fun weekend! I have to mention a conversation I had with a friend during this weekend. He had mentioned to me before that he had been in prison, but never said for what. I never got nosey with him about it and a part of me thought he was joking. Well, this weekend he shares with Adam and I that he use to have a heroin addiction, along with an alcohol and "anything he could get his hands on" problem. He got put in prision for it and had to go through 4 years of treatment. He has also been divorced more than a couple times, and in general has been through a lot more than I ever realized. I have been thinking about that a lot latley. He is now a Christian and it is so cool to hear his story because he and those like him truly understand God's Grace and NEED it. They wake up everyday humble and knowing that if they don't walk with Christ every step of their day, they are putting themselves at huge risk. The same is true for everyone, it's just harder for an average joe to really live it and NEED that grace and life-line. He is now desperate for something outside of himself or anyone/anything else in this world, only what God can provide. Those are my favorite kind of people. When they talk, they actually know what they are talking about.

Adam got me a sun tea jar! I have been looking for one forever. They make a plastic one at Costco that Adam kept telling me to get but everyone knows that a sun tea jar needs to be glass! (insert here, laughing at me, I know) It's suppose to get up to 80 degrees, good day for tea!

Ace is working on licking Momma, not biting. I love this pic!

My pickels I jarred a few weeks back, kinda pretty

Ace must have had a busy weekend too! :)

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!

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

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!