Merry Christmas Everyone!

I'm going to do a post of some of my favorite holiday clips, and we'll be back after the new year for our regularly scheduled program!

Unfortunately on YouTube you can't find the video clip of this, but this song from South Park always cracks me up!

Gotta love Robot Chicken!

This was the best clip of this Family Guy scene I could find, but it's still hillarious!

Nothing beats the original Simpsons!


Merry Christmas Everyone, and a Happy New Year!


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I talk about the election- sorry all

Oldest and I had plans for election night- going to see the Silent Hill movie.

Oldest and I are HUGE fans of the game, and we both liked the first movie.  Unfortunately since I worked on Halloween we couldn't go see it then.

In between piano lessons and going out for hot wings before the movie, Oldest was glued to her phone checking updates and tweets on the election.

Now, Oldest is an Obama fan, so she was nervous all night long.  I, however, sat looking at my mail in ballot 2 weeks ago thinking to myself, "Really?  Who are all these other people?  Never heard a word about them!"

Guess I should have got on the webs to see who else would be on Colorado's ticket!  Roseanne Barr was on ours, but.....no thanks.  Someone with tact would be good, even though I follow her tweets and she can be pretty funny.  Just don't think she's presidential.

So, I voted folks.  I voted to cock-block Romney.  Seems many others did too.

As Oldest says- "I did it for the gays!"  Oh, and because I really want to keep my vagina my business.

Seriously, since most guys don't have a clue about vaginas, they need to stop thinking they know what's right for them!

Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I get called into work...only to be sent home

 

Not right home, but I got called off this morning due to low unit census, (lc for those of you who don't have to do this), and then called back in at 1145 to take one patient.

One.

One that was supposed to go to a floor that was "full".

I had her for 3 hours, when I was told to transfer her to the floor she was supposed to go to, which left me with zero, 0, no patients.

Then I was told I might as well go home.

*sigh*

People, I drive an hour and a half to work.  An hour and a half back.  I was called in because no one in the ICU wants to work my unit.  Seriously.

On the up side, I'm home before 9 at night.  Downside...I have 2 more days of work left!


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where things are just not happening

Truely.  They are so not happening that I haven't blogged in 2 weeks!

Canning was finished a week ago.  Now we get to eat the fruits of our labors until next years' canning season.

Work is work.  People are sick and I get to deal with their neuroses over being sick.

Grandson appears to be 2 still, I expect that will change next year.  Maybe the year after also.

Husband is still a grouchy old man.  I'm a menopausal wreck.

Yep, things are just not happening around here.

Except sewing.  I did start sewing again...finally.

Stay tuned for the next installment, Stuck in a Rut.


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I muse on the state of drivers in Colorado

Since I just spent 6 hours in my car today with hyper dogs in the backseat driving to the Grandbaby's 2nd birthday party, I thought I would share some of my observations on drivers in Colorado.

I have one overriding observation- Colorado drivers think they're NASCAR racers.

It surely has to do with the fact that driving up and down narrow winding roads at 10-15 miles over the speed limit is hellafun.  It really is, I do it whenever I can!

Unfortunately, this translates into racing other drivers and then slowing down when you're past, thereby assuring a long game of "leapfrog" at 80 mph.

Yep, that's exactly what it's like coming out of the Eisenhower Tunnel.

Another issue is the liberal use of brakes, insuring that everyone behind you has to slam on their brakes when the car in front of you freaks out on corners.  Seriously folks, if the state didn't think you could do 65 around a corner, they wouldn't have made the speed limit 65!

Some of us old folks still drive manual "stick" transmission cars.  What does this mean to you?  Weeeelll, it means I can slow down without slamming my brakes, ensuring my safe driving, but noticeably fucking yours up from what I can see in my rear view mirror.  A good reason not to tailgate.  My slowing down may not be accompanied by flashing tail lights and smoking brake pads.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm too tired to remember anymore- I need to unwind from the drive!


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I'm still canning!

Still.

Every day off for the last 3 weeks.

But truly it's well worth it.  And Oldest has been coming over every week to help prep and even make some of our concoctions.  Like today, with the peaches...another tree full of peaches that absolutely HAD to be picked today because they are falling off the tree at an alarming rate.

We peeled and chopped about 2 bushels of peaches today for chutneys and plain old canned peaches, and it took ALL DAY.  Like til 8 tonight!  But, pictures will show how worth it it is:

Peach chutney

Peaches waiting to be delt with

Crazy-eyed Oldest

My "getting to be well stocked" pantry

The good thing in all this is that we are almost done!  Next week we finish off the pear and apple trees, and finish up the stragglers in the garden.

Then I don't know what I'll do with myself on my days off...

I'm sure I'll think of something.


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I get scammed at work

It's official, I'm off orientation!  Yay for me!

Day 1 I spend 4 1/2 hours in MRI with both my patients, one who decided to slide that little head cage off his head 5 minutes into his scan.  Bring on the soft wrist restraints and Versed!

Day 2 I spend working on a ventilator patient who's lung CT shows the biggest infection I've ever seen.  Truly, we all thought she had a pneumothorax at first because the lung was shoved up in her chest to the size of a fist.  Holy moly!

Day 3- The new intermediate bed unit opens up, and I was asked to work that for the next month and not ICU.  Then, I find out a few things that were left out of the description of the unit by my manager- it's not a critical care unit at all, and I'm permanently assigned to it.  WHAT?!

Needless to say, I had to have a talk with my manager.  Seriously, if I wanted to be a floor nurse, I wouldn't have applied to the ICU in the first place!  So, I told my manager that I would help open the unit, but I expected to be place in ICU after a month or so.

The other kicker about this unit?  Yesterday was the Grand Opening, right?  Well, day 1 and other units are already using it as a dumping ground for patients they don't want.  Example- the sudden cardiac arrest pt who went missing a bunch of oxygen to his brain and now likes to paint with poo after the sun goes down.  Who wouldn't want that, right?  Apparently I want that, and I'm gonna like it.



Not a single nurse in the ICU thinks this unit is a good idea, given that there are already 2 other i-bed units in the hospital, and not one of them thinks it will stay open because the ICU is so busy that half the i-bed unit was full of ICU patients on day 1.  There was no room on ICU for all of there patients, and that's how it's been for weeks now.  Apparently, ICU needs the beds more, so why can't it just be an ICU?

Not to mention the fact that when I found all this out, I realized my manager had omitted several key points when I was hired that would have made me tell her "Hells no I want ICU, not a medical floor job- what do you think you're pulling?!"

What is it about managers that make them think that their pet projects will just "have" to work, just because they want them too?


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I do my little freakout...again

Only because I'm doing my last day of orientation tomorrow at work, and then I'm on my own.  Free to screw up patients all by myself.  It's a little nerve wracking, but I'll get through it I'm sure.




Just to help ease me in, I spent most of the day trying to finish up my orientation education, partly at work, but partly at home because our stroke module is taking forever!  Seriously, you get tested on stroke scoring for 6 patients that you watch on video, and I've done 3, and it's taken 2 1/2 hours already!

I give up.  It's the last thing I have to have done, and I think I'll do it in stages.

On other fronts, not much is new.  Just canning apples and pears and hanging out.  Actually, there's more canning than hanging going on around here.  And I thought I could have some quiet days off!

Instead, I'm spending them sweating over the stove and waiting for my computer to load each individual stroke check, and wondering if I've still got it at work...

Oh, and listening to Dan Savage talk about sex.  Hubba hubba.


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I apologize for the long silence

Sorry.  There it is.

Just kidding!  Sorry I've been absent for a couple of weeks, but things have been busy; grandkids visiting, the county fair, and let's not forget, work.

Youngest, Fiance, and Grandson came out to visit for 2 weeks during Fiance's break from school.  The first week they were here coincided with our county fair, so we took Grandson to see the animals, and the heavy farm equipment:

Of course, he screamed all the way home after we took him down from this tractor.  He is going to be 2 after all.

We also went on a great hike:

And because our garden is going to run away with us, especially the tomatoes and cucumbers, Youngest helped me make pickles:

Then I got to take a break from all the visiting to go to work and take care of a chronic meth user OD.  And isn't that exciting?  Sure is, listening to someone scream and argue with people who aren't there is the highlight of my day.  Especially when you've done it to yourself.  My favorite line?  "See that fat man over there?"  I turn to look.....no one there.  "He's such an asshole."  Ok then, I won't talk to him.   I hate assholes anyway.  I did tell her the next day after the hallucinations were gone that I was really glad that she saw no one else in the room with me because the day before it was pretty crowded in there!

Other than that, I'm now recovering from my family's 'visit', and sitting down and sewing a little.

Aside from Oldest running over our irrigation faucet with the lawnmower and producing our very own fountain in the yard this morning, things are going pretty good.



Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I remember just how much education I have to do

 

Yes, education.  The pillar of our society....well, it should be, but not anymore.  Unless you're in healthcare.

If that's the case, when you hire on, depending on what you'll be doing, there's either a little, or a lot of education that is MANDATORY.  Capital M mandatory.  Capital M masochistic.  If you're a nurse.

Today I spent 7 hours at work reading modules and taking tests on what should be my day off.  These ranged from HIPPA to way to much info on Medicare fraud, to medication administration, blood products, bariatric (fatty fat fat) care, and conscious sedation.

And there's still more.  Tomorrow.

I understand that we have to keep up with changing medicine.  I understand that the feds require a lot of the nonsense education like fraud and billing.  What I don't understand is why it all has to be done in these marathon sessions right after you get hired.  I'm already up to my eyeballs with orienting back into the ICU!

But I know I'll be glad to have them done.  *sigh*


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I finally hit my stride

Finally!  This past weekend I hit my stride at work, taking both of my patients mostly by myself.  It felt pretty good after 2 weeks of feeling like maybe I couldn't keep up anymore in critical care!

Ok, maybe I'm not quite a racehorse yet...

Of course, one of the problems is that I have 2 nurses orienting me, and their styles are radically different.  Don't get me wrong, they are both very smart nurses who have been in the ICU for 11 or more years.  That's not the problem.  The problem is, one is more organized in the way I like to be, and the other 'mothers' too much.  Like, "oh, we need to do such and such", but then does it herself.  Or, I'll get on a roll and start organizing and she breaks in with, "we should do THIS now" and then she does it herself.  Throws me off balance.

The first thing I wanted to work on was my organization and re-setting up the way the day should go.  I understand, the day probably won't go the way I want, but you gotta have a starting point.  That should have only taken a few days, but it didn't.

The second thing I want to get going on is a review of cardio and neuro issues.  Cardio since it's been forever since I've done it, and it was intimidating the first time around.  Neuro because that's my weak spot, having never worked in a neuro trauma area.  No problem here, we're a big neuro trauma center!

That's right, nothing important was probably harmed in the making of this xray.

But, like a new nurse, (which I'm not), I'm constantly worried about missing something, not knowing something, and possibly, killing someone.  Pretty sure I won't do that one, but it's always in the back of your head.


Remember, it's just a ride.  (unless you kill someone...)

The one where I learn about my new job

Been getting busy around here with the new job and all, I orient 3 days in a row, get home at about the time I need to be going to bed, and haven't been able to eat dinner for 3 nights.  Mostly because one of the nurses I'm orienting with appears to not need to eat!

They forgot the red pinpoint area for western Colorado!

On the plus side, some things are coming back to me, so I don't feel like a total idiot, buuuut, I've realized that I have been out of ICU nursing long enough for things to change enough that I keep coming across stuff that makes me exclaim, "WHAT?!" every other sentence or so.

Apparently, my new ICU specializes in neurotrauma.  Cool enough but....I don't.  My last major ICU experience was in a medical-surgical ICU, and we specialized in open heart surgeries, no major trauma.

My big patient of the weekend?  Previous head trauma meth addict who head-dived off of the retaining wall on the front steps of our hospital 20 feet down to the concrete below.  Now he's a quadriplegic.  All caught on security video.

My motto is:  If you're gonna do something, by god, do it right!

Sexy.

Like me, I'm trying to do it right.  I realized that a lot of my skills have diminished, or left my brain outright, so I got myself a giant critical care nursing tome, and will be studying up in the hopes that I will feel like I actually know what I'm doing.  Because, let's face it, I feel like I am having to re-learn all of my ICU skills and pathophysiology all over again!

Never fear, I will persevere!


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I start my new job...sort of

Yes people, today was officially my first day at my new job!  Except.....I was in training all day.  I'll be in training all day tomorrow.....and Saturday.  My first official day on my unit is Sunday.

Bummer.

You see, my new hospital is going to full computer charting, ordering, etc, and the training for nurses takes three whole days.

 

Since "go live" is in a couple of weeks, my manager put me in asap because she was afraid I would miss all the fun.  You know fun, right?  Like:

1- Stupid questions asked about the stuff the trainers just went over.  Like, "How did you do that?!" and "Where is that?"

2- Questions about why the program doesn't do such and such.  Simple answer:  Because they didn't think about the need for that, thanks for bringing it to our attention and stalling the class and extra 10 minutes for each of these questions asked!

And just for the record, I really, really, really.......really, like this program.  It's one of the best I've seen for healthcare, and it's fairly easy to use, copies duplicate stuff in appropriate places, (also know as "populating"), and eventually will be a great timesaver.

When the screams and bitching stops that is.  We nurses are known for our refusal to like new things until they're forced on us.

So, we got done earlier than I expected, and so I wandered up to my unit to cause trouble of the "I don't even know how to punch in" type, and found that since I didn't use my badge in the 1st 24 hours I had it, my code to swipe the doors to the unit was de-activated.

 

Really?

Now I have to call HR and get them to re-activate it.  And I hate calling HR for anything, no matter where I work.  I'm not into talking to someone who's answers consist of IDK, WTF, and GFYS (go fuck yourself).

*sigh*  Oh well, tomorrow's another day. (of sitting in class)


Remember, it's just a ride.

The one where I have to start working again

I guess the party is over, as I had my first day of orientation today.  Time to buckle down and get back to work!

After I have another week and a half of vacation that is!

I have 2 days of orientation this week, and then I don't actually start until the week after the 4th of July!  Yay!

We're going to go out to Michigan to visit Husband's grandparents that week- the first real "vacation" we've had in about 10 years.  At least that I can remember.  Camping for 3 days doesn't count, even though it's fun.

That reminds me, I need to see what the forecast is for that week- anything has to be better than the 100 degree streak we've been having here in Colorado- right?

As it is, there are now 8 wildfires burning in the state, and only one is contained!  Three are down in the southwest corner of the state by Mesa Verde and Durango, and so that means that we have smoke in our area from them.  Not quite like what my dad is having, but in the morning you can barely make out the mountain behind our house.  And it is not making it cooler here, all that smoke blocking the sun!

Apparently a lot of Colorado is looking like this

Oh, & while finding this picture I found out that Michigan had a fire in the Upper Penninsula in May!

Everyone is on fire.  Like I keep telling my dad, craziness...


Remember, it's just a ride.

Mourning

I know it has been a week or so since I've been on, but things have been busy!  Last week I took a trip down to Ft.Collins to visit my dad, daughter, & grandbaby.  Originally it was supposed to be a trip to visit my daughter and the grandbaby, but with the High Park fire moving to my dad's area, I went to see him too.

On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I pretty much spent the days with the tv tuned into news channels, and my phone turned on to a scanner app so I could listen to where they were fighting the fires.  And for the first few days, my dad's home was safe.  Until Tuesday, when the fire crews spent all day and all night fighting to save the houses in my dad's little area.  My dad and I listened to them right in front of his house, and they did a commendable job!

But then, on Thursday, the fire flared back up, and the results were disasterous:

His vineyard in the background on the left- it's still standing!

This is my dad's house.

And unfortunately, the fire was so hot and spread so fast, jumping over some places and burning others, that flare ups keep happening, and the wind keeps changing and sending the fire back through places it left untouched before.  It's like every day the fire looks back and says, "Oops!  Missed a spot!"

Yesterday my dad was interviewed for the Denver Post, you can view the article here.  And that picture?  That's my dad and his girlfriend Georgie.

On Sunday, when my sister visited him for Father's Day, smoke from the fire was so bad in Ft.Collins that they had to leave early, and snapped pictures from the highway of new flare ups:

And the fire is still going.

My dad says that knowing what happened to his home is the only thing that has calmed him down and made it easier to deal with the past week.

But when we talk, it's memories we talk of, remembering visits and horseshoe games, hiking and seeing friends.  My dad has lived up in that area for almost 30 years, and it's now gone.

As my dad says every time one of us brings up some trinket or photo or keepsake,  "Burned".

"Remember that wolf quilt I made?"  "Burned"  " Aw, and the records?"  "Burned"

Now all that stuff is just memories until all of us who remember are gone, then,  burned.


Remember, it's just a ride. (and a wild one at that)

I need prayers for my Dad

Who was evacuated last night from the High Park fire in Larimer county here in Colorado.  He and his neighbors' 30 horses were some of the last people out of Davis Ranch area at 11:30 last night.

This is the latest map.

Today, his valley is ringed by the fire, which keeps whipping back and forth over previously burned areas because of wind.

So far, from all recent maps, it looks like his area has not been burned, but the fire is estimated at over 14,000 acres, and is running wild, there is 0% containment.

View from Horsetooth Reservoir (courtesy of Fox31 Denver)

We're just hoping that my Dad's home, and his neighbors' houses are spared.




Remember, it's just a ride.

Frackin Friday

Yep, it's Friday again, so it's time to frackin' sound off!  Brought to you by Dazee http://dazeedreams.blogspot.com    (sorry, for some reason blogger isn't letting me hook up any links)

Uh, but there's only one problem..............I don't have anything to sound off about!  Instead, I have a big announcement!

I got the job!  I got the job!  I got the job!

Yes I did!  I'll be working back in an ICU being a real nurse again!  With an immediate $5/hour increase in pay!  Yes folks, I'll actually get paid decently for what I do, it's........a miracle!

So, I just don't have anything bad to say today because I'm too busy basking in the glow of an actual hospital wanting me. 

Finally.


Remember, it's just a ride.

The waiting game

I am not a patient person.  Seriously.  When I'm watching a show on Netflix and it keeps loading, I can feel my blood pressure rising.  When I'm driving behind someone who is going 5 miles under the speed limit, I have to stop myself from tailgating.

When I haven't gotten a call yet about the job I applied for a week ago, I start freaking out.  I'm not a good waiter.  Not at all.

So, I have to find things to do to pass the time, right?  Have to find things that will occupy my brain so it doesn't start it's own little dialogue of "why haven't they called me yet?"  Easier said than done, but I've got a few things going for me:

Hiking

Been hiking quite a lot lately, which kills 2 birds with 1 stone- keeps me from getting fat while I sit on the couch, and gets me out of the house.

Sewing

Lets me look forward to the fair every year cuz yes, I enter my sewings.

Reading



This one I'm not doing as much as I usually do, but as an update- I read the entire Hunger Games over the weekend a week ago.  It was pretty good, and a fast read, (a book a day).

Watching TV- or more specifically, Watching Grey's Anatomy Which My Daughter Has Sucked Me Into.

Ahhh trauma drama.

And lastly, Piano practice, which, since I'm not working, I need to do more of.

At least I have a game plan.


Remember, it's just a ride.

Update- better late than never

Just wanted to put up a quick update on the job interview.  I know it was 4 days ago, but I've been trying to wrap my head around what appears to me to be a bad interview on my side of it!

So, first off, it was all I could do not to panic on the way in to the interview!  This is what happens when you've spent months trying to prove you are not a horrible nurse/person to your boss and others around you, but they still treat you like you're some kind of temp or rookie nurse.  Despite your best efforts, you start to question yourself, sooooo, by the time I got to my interview I felt like I was about 2 inches tall.

But, I pulled through it.

First off, the nurse manager interviewing me already knew me from hiring me to the cath lab.  She's awesome, and made me feel at home.  The actual interview was only about 20 minutes, and I have no way to judge how I did- I'm really bad at that!

Second, I shadowed a nurse for 3 hours!  My purse was locked in the managers' office, so I had no money for lunch, and the manager was in a meeting, so, lunch skipped.  Following one of the nurses started bringing back some things, ok, lots of things, and after an hour or so, I stopped feeling like a kid trying to play with the grown-ups!  It did wonders for my confidence.

By the time the manager came back to follow up on my shadowing, I felt much better, (but starving, I could have eaten roadkill!), and the interview was done.  Whew!

By the time I got home, I was freaked out that I blew it.  I talked to 8 people on the phone that night about the interview, and all of them were wonderful and thought I would get the job.

Question:  Why is everyone else so sure I'm a good nurse and will get the job except me?

This is the question that I have been mulling over for the last 4 days.  Why am I the only one who doesn't think highly of me?

Ugh, my brain is shot.  And they told me that I should hear from them this week, so keep your fingers crossed everyone!


Remember, it's just a ride.

A break from my mental struggles

Since my last post, I've been trying to keep myself busy and keep my mind occupied.  So far this has worked about 30% of the time.  The other 70% of the time my brain keeps freaking out about my interview, acls test, being fired, and feeling worthless.

But today I took the bit in my teeth and eliminated at least one of my worries.  I passed my ACLS test!  Passed!  Now I just have to get the card in the mail.

Yesterday, Oldest and I went on a hike with our dogs, and that seemed to improve both of our moods.  Especially since we aren't having the dust storms of last week:

Normally there's a mountain out there....

And last week I got a visit from Youngest, Fiance, and Grandbaby:

He's still as cute as ever!

That was a nice distraction.

And, tomorrow I have my interview, which is what keeps my brain circling around the whole worthless thing.  I'm sure it's going to be fine.

Just try telling my brain that.


Remember, it's just a ride.

A little news is better than no news!

Da dada daaaaaaah!  I have a job interview!  Next week in the ICU!

I actually got the call while in a fitting room with Youngest at Victoria's Secret.  The call was very interesting:



"Is this Tonja?"

"Yes?"

"This is ICU Manager from St.Mary's calling about your application?"

"Oh, yes"

"Sorry, but I can't hear you, this is ICU Manager?!"

"Oh, sorry, I'm in a little cubicle in the mall."

"I'd like you to come in for an interview?  When is good for you?"

"Uh, any time next week?"

"Ok, good, next Thursday at 11, ok? And bring scrubs, we'll have you tail a nurse for an hour or so, so you can see what it's like."

"Ok, that'll be great!"

"Sorry?"

"I said that will be great!"
 All the while the sales girl kept yelling over the door to Youngest about how her bra fit her.  Nothing like a good impression!


Remember, it's just a ride.         

Sunday musings

I have a lot of time on my hands now, and I am finding myself quickly becoming bored.  So I have been making lists in my head of things I could do to pass the time:

1- Read.  I'm a big reader, always have been.  The problem with this?  The only new book I have to read is:



I borrowed it from Oldests' boyfriend.  I just can't get myself to open it.  I keep thinking, "It's a teen book!"  Not that that stopped me from reading Harry Potter....  Plus, I really should be taking my ACLS test, but I'm worried about it, so I keep procrastinating.

2- Sewing.  I used to always have a quilt or cross-stitch going whenever there was down time.  The problem?  I have 3 sewings in progress, and I keep thinking that I used to enjoy doing this with my mom, until she went crazy.  Now I don't have anyone to share it with.

3- Practice piano.  Ok, this one is doable, I'm just procrastinating because I'm frustrated with the Moonlight Sonata.  It's killing my hands and wrists.  But I'm stubborn and will press on...

4- TV watching.  Well, I just finished the first season of ER, but I don't own the other ones.  And Netflix doesn't have them on streaming, which means I would have to get each season ONE DISC AT A TIME.

Boo.

Ugh.

5- Yardwork.  Already doing that.  Mowing the lawn, watering the lawn, watching the grass grow...

6- Hiking/biking.  Sure. Sure can, but I'd like to be able to do it with someone and not alone.  You guys have no idea how alone I feel right now.  I need people!

7- Get drunk.  Actually, this was much higher on my list 2 days ago.  Like #1 and I asked Husband how long is it socially acceptable to go on a bender.  His reply?  "We're going to the Brewery?"

Anybody else have some interesting distractions?


Remember, it's just a ride. (oh yeah, definitely trying to keep that firmly in my mind!)

Ready to get your Frack on?

Brought to you by the awesome Dazee at Crazy Daze & Nite Dreams!

As promised, the frack of the week iiiiiiiis:

FRACK YOU BOSS!

As some of you know, I was fired this week because my boss doesn't like me.  And I know that sounds like an excuse, but unfortunately it's not, soooo...

Frack you you self-absorbed, yokel talking, non-medically trained, vindictive bitch!  The reason that you fired me, ie- failed to document B12 injections and INR results was just an excuse to fire me.  After you wrote me up for INR documentation I had been very, very careful to document every single one.  And twice I had forgotten to document the B12's in 3 months, and each time was asked to correct it, which I did, AND I STILL GOT FIRED.  After correcting my mistakes!

Now, I was always under the impression that mistakes can be made, we are only human, and correcting your mistakes was good, that's how you learned.  Especially when we've been using a new system for pharmacy and MARs, and NO ONE, not one nurse, has yet to consistently and correctly document on the new MAR.

But guess what folks?  I was the only one to be written up for it, and I am the only one being fired for it.  There is one nurse who has NEVER been able to get into the medication system to document ANYTHING!  Is she getting fired?  No.  Has she been written up?  No.

Now, I gotta tell you all, after months of blogging about hostile workplace practices, that I am extremely relieved to not have to go back to that place again.  I have a feeling my anxiety and irritable bowel will calm down.  But I am 40 years old and live in a small town, and now I'm having to look for another job.

And that part sucks.

So, FRACK YOU, employers with personal issues, and FRACK YOU to the general employment atmosphere in this country today!

Remember, it's just a ride.

I have an announcement!

Oh yes, I sure do.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am no longer employed.  That's right, I've been shitcanned.  Look forward to my friday post because I'll be posting the most vent worthy Frack you Friday post ever!





Remember, it's just a ride.

Great Mothers' Day!

Flowers from Oldest and necklace, (with matching earrings), from Husband.  Did a little puttering around in the yard and some laundry, had Oldest and Faux Granddaughter over, video chatted with Youngest and got to see Grandbaby, and later Husband is going to make dinner and take me to the brewery for a beer!

Couldn't ask for a better day!  Hope all you mom's out there are having a great Mothers' Day!



Remember, it's just a ride.

Happy Nurses' Week!

May 6-12th!  I want to give a shoutout to a few awesome nursing blogs: Crass-pollination, ED Nurseasauras, New Nurse in the Hood, and Nurse Nightmare on Trauma Drama Street.

Happy Nurses' Week to all!


Remember, it's just a ride.