So I am shamefully behind... like, really very badly behind.... I am attempting to catch up now...
After an amazing surgery experience yesterday, I am still blown away. And I could not have had a better patient for the day than the one I had today. He was so sweet and so talkative and fun to work with. He was very into his geneology, and shared with me many stories that he had to tell about his Scottish heritage. And, I was able to share some of my heritage, since I go back to the Royal Stewarts myself, so it was fun.
Something that made the day even more fun was how BUSY he was! It was truly one thing after another, with everyone wanting a piece of him--blood draws, echocardiogram, Doppler studies of the legs, cardiac cath lab, and the doctors and nurses who needed to do assessments.... and then there was little, ol' me who needed to give him as many of his usual meds and the newly ordered meds before the cath lab came to get him. I ended up having to have them wait while I pushed this one med into his IV, which had to be pushed over three minutes. It was a crazy busy morning!
When we got to the cath lab, I went to the observation room, and my patient waved at me. He had said that he used to be in the military, jumping out of planes, but the thought of the cardiac catheterization scared him very much. So, I think it was nice for him to have a familiar face there for moral support. Then, they strapped down his arm, in case they would use it for the access to his heart, and as he tried to wave at me again with that arm, the nurses in the room yelled at him. I felt kind of bad that he was getting in trouble, haha!
His procedure went fine, and his heart vasculature was very healthy--always a plus. By that time, though, one of my group-mates showed up to see the procedure--that was already finished. Luckily for us, though, the cardiologist talked us through the entire procedure, showing us what he saw and what he didn't see on the videos that were taken. Very cool, and I am very grateful that he took the time to do that for us.
After that, I spent the rest of my day finishing my assessment and helping out where I could. A busy morning made the day go by pretty quickly, and truly, my patient was so pleasant, that certainly helped, too.
It was snowing as I left the building, with a thin layer sticking. Winter is on it's way!!
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