BC CHILDRENS 4

Howdy all. It’s been a while. This week has been nuts. I had a midterm on Tuesday and a paper due tonight. Aside from all of that, today was my 4^th Clinical at BC Children’s Hospital. I definitely feel my confidence is getting stronger in this setting and love it MORE and MORE. Since the beginning, I’ve had the privilege to take care of a 2 month old, 5 year old and 3 month old.

Today was a little different. The mom of my patient had to leave at 1200 to go be with her other children, so I got the chance to hang out with this little man for the majority of the day.  With a 3 month old baby in with bronchiolitis, who was quiet sick kept me on my toes. There were times I’d go into the room to do a q1hr check, thinking I’d be in there for 5-10 minutes but ended up staying for over an hour. I’d end up taking vitals, feed him a bottle, change his diaper and settle him down if he’s was agitated. Time definitely passed by fast. This really showed me the importance to time management, especially if you have other patients.

Having this patient has given me the chance to really listen to a crackly and congested chest.  I’ve also seen the effect that a NS (normal saline) nebulizer or Ventolin can have with the loosening of mucous. Within 15 minutes of the first ventolin was given my patient got into a coughing fit, which had definitely been a result from the neb. Over all, I feel like I know what a crackly and wheezy chest sounds like.

Aside from this I felt my communication with my nurses was great! I was reporting off every so often on my patient’s status and working alongside. I felt like I learned a lot and had some great conversations with them. I finally feel that I am a part of a team and it’s great.

There were two aspects I felt I covered under this objective today. Today, I especially felt like I applied my “critical thinking to clinical decision-making” aspect. There were times during the day where my patient would have coughing fits and the mucous would move up around in his lungs. At times his O2 sats would drop to the low 80s and I was worried that he could go into a state where we’d have to call a code. I was in a situation, which I had no control of and yet I managed to apply my knowledge in regards to my care for this child. I believe I was able to provide adequate care to this infant when using my critical thinking in the spur of the moment. 

I also felt I used “evidence-based knowledge in practice today” by demonstrating the needed knowledge to deal with the drop of O2 sats during his coughing fits. He was on 1/8L NP, so when this happened, I increased his rate and attempted to calm him down by bouncing him up and down. Once settled, the O2 was brought down to 1/8L again and O2 sats were high 90’s. Knowing the O2 would help with his sats, as well as calming him down during his fit was evidence-based knowledge I have gained and learned from my education at Trinity.

Anyways, thought I should fill you in. I’m exhausted and about to pass out! Have a wonderful weekend ya’ll. I’ve got another paper to start! xox

Calgary Zoo

Summer Days

Hey Everyone,

WHAT a sigh of my relief! I finished my LAST midterm for my 3^rd year! Who would have thought it’d come and go so fast? With only a few days to study, I think I did ok. Now that it’s over, I have a paper due this Friday night, which I haven’t even started. Sad thing is.... I can’t download the article that my “research” paper is on... seeing it’s a “critical review of a primary study.” I think I’m busted....... L oops!

The next little bit is going to be a rough riding road. With this paper due and another next week, it’ll be many sleepless nights and hard core cramming! Isn’t my life WONDERFUL! J Anyways, aside from this depressing bubble I’ve found myself in, here is the picture of the day! It was of one of my FIRST photoshoot with anyone and I really love looking at it. It’s brought me great joy and reminds me of summer. I’m getting pumped for some nice weather! Hope you like it!

Oh before I forget, seeing I’m on the subject of Summer.... I thought I’d ask you to check this out. For those who live close to Whiterock this might be of interest to you. I’ve got a friend who might start up this business and I think it’d be a great idea! J
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dF9CNHZzaDFxQjdTZ05KQlhjZEJiMlE6MQ



The Collective

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Today's blog is short and sweet, for I've got lots of studying to do! The picture(s) of the day were of last nights service. It's a young adults group called "The Collective." It's pretty much a worship night and sermon... with some great fellowship afterwards (Boston Pizza). It's every other Sunday night at 7pm. You should come out and take a look for yourself, it's a hoot and a half!

BC CHILDRENS 3

Hey Everyone,

GUESS what..... Today was another great clinical day. This time I got to bed a little earlier than usual (which was great), but was still tired waking up this morning. The commute was great and tons of fun, for I had a wonderful chit chat with my new friend! We all (our group) got at Children’s nice and early, which surprised my clinical instructor. The patient I was assigned to was a 5 year old little girl who was in for cellulitis and possible sepsis. She had a horrible infection on her right upper leg which was inflamed, red and hot! She was on 4 different antibiotics, hoping that something would start to work. The poor little thing was bruised from so much blood work and IV starts. It was really hard to see this little girl, lying in bed, sick and uncomfortable. Not only that but it looked like the life had been sucked out right from her. During my assessments, I made some conversation with her and managed to put a smile on her face. Right then and there, I couldn’t help but smile and feel like I had accomplished something. Later during the day I went with her and the family down to an ultrasound to see if there was anything else to be concerned about. Thankfully, the edema was just in the tissue and there were no masses to be of concern. As I came back up with the family to the ward, I couldn’t help but admire the nurses that work each day at this hospital. I know it’s not easy, especially to see these beautiful children so sick.... but these people... are my hero’s. We get so excited when it comes to movie stars, professional sports players, that we look past the true heroes... the doctors, the nurses, the social workers... etc.

There was one family in particular that stuck out to me today at the hospital. One of the girls in my nursing group had them for the day. Her patient was a 2 month old little boy who was in with RSV bronchiolitis. His parents were 13 and 14 years old and I can promise you this is no joke. I stood in shock when I heard this during morning report, for I couldn’t believe what I heard. I went into the room to visit later in the afternoon and got to see the little guy. HE was so cute (as they all are). He had a full head of black hair and was so precious. I was so excited to hear reports from my friend on the parents and how they were doing the best job they could (at their age and maturity level). As I said, this stuff isn’t easy, especially to see such young parents. But as the day went on, I couldn’t help but wonder how scary it would be as a parent to be in the hospital and to see your little baby/child... sick and so helpless. There are such awesome support systems that are in the hospital, I know their services can be of great help to those who need it.

This experience is half way over and I’m sad to think that within weeks, my days will be done. I’ve loved every minute being at Children’s and I hope that one day I’ll be returning to work in such an incredible place.

Aside from my long day, I had a wonderful evening with my family. I got some incredible news (from some family friends) and I am constantly reminded how amazing and wonderful God is. I see the miracles that are happening in individual’s lives and find myself overwhelmed. This day has been one of the best and I’m not sure if I want it to end just yet!

The picture of the day is kind of fun. These pictures are very similar, for they are of the boats in Whiterock. The fun thing is that they were taken at different times (both years and time of day). Just thought it’d be fun to post them both! ENJOY!

So Sleepy

Calgary Zoo

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Aside from wearing green... today has been a decent day! I'm just so happy it's not raining outside. Thursday's are defintely one of my favourite days of the week, for it’s my only DAY off and it’s the day before clinical. Hopefully I’ll get to bed at a decent time and not be up (during the night) with an upset stomach due to stress; I’m crossing my fingers. No promises!

With a nasty midterm coming up next week, I decided today would be a good day to start reviewing. For some reason, I’m feeling really “out of it.” I def got enough sleep last night (for I stayed in bed for a good portion of the morning), so I’m not sure why I feel so groggy. Maybe I need to go outside and take a little walk to get some fresh air into my body!

Anyways, I figured I should post my picture of the day right now, before I forget. Like usual, it’s an old picture I took a while ago and thought I should share. This is how I’ve been feeling, so I thought I’d post a self portrait! Hope you enjoy!

PS. What do you think of my new hair style these days?



Kitten

Hey Folkaroonies!

Today has been quiet the day. Haven’t gotten a whole lot accomplished other than getting to school on time and working on a project for nursing, but aside from that ... it’s been an average day in the life of Bethany. I’ve been meaning to get out and take some pictures, but unfortunately with the busy schedule that’s hitting me now, old pictures will have to do until I free up some time. I’m looking forward to tonight, for it’s a young adult night, which means that a lot of the young adults from my church get together once every two weeks and discuss different topics /have a bible study. I find it uplifting and a great way to socialize with others. For the last few months, I’ve been home a lot recently and never go out a whole lot... so this is perfect for me!

Anyways, enough jib jabbering. The pic of the day was taken back in January when I was hanging out at a pet store. If you go back to my “Samson” post (January), you can read a little more about the adventure I had that day! I just think it’s a cute pic... and thought I should share it with you (doesn’t it make you want to go out and buy one?) Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

Time

Hey guys

Sorry it’s been a while. I’ve definitely been slacking – AGAIN! This picture was taken a week ago as I was walking around Whiterock! This picture is similar to what I’ve been feeling these days, and that is time is going by so fast. I can’t believe we are almost mid March (wait we are)! Not only that but I had an advising meeting today and I had to already start applying for my graduation (which isn’t till Summer 2012). Regardless..... time is ticking by and I feel like you just got to hop on the band wagon or you’ll miss out!

Anyways, I hope ya’ll like it! I’ve been meaning to get  out and take some more pics, I’ve been really busy the last little bit with school. Well I hope you all have a wonderful night and week ahead!

BC CHILDRENS 2

HEY EVERYONE!

I can officially say my days at BC Children’s Hospital are going by fast. For those who know me, I like to be on time for anything and everything. I HATE tardiness... and so does my clinical instructor. Last night I decided to carpool with a girl in my group. This meant I’d be picking her up on my way as well as leaving the house a little earlier than planned. For me, this was no big deal... at least I’d have someone to socialize with and wake me up! It was a nice little visit! Anyways, I figured I’d give those of you who want to know... the rundown of my long day!

0030: Woke up to horrible stomach aches and cramps. Rushed to bathroom where I spend 15-20 minutes feeling like I was about to upchuck everything I had for dinner. I then contemplated calling in sick... but decided to go back to bed and sleep it out (this is what happens when your nerves take hold of you – clinical stresses me out BIG time).

0345: First alarm goes off (decided I was feeling better and decided to go to clinical

0400: Second alarm goes off (not yet ready to get out of bed)

0405: Somehow I manage to roll out of bed (literally). I then walked to the bathroom where I washed my face and brushed my teeth (attempting to wake myself up)

0440: Finished getting ready (changing, hair, grabbing lunch etc).

0450: Walked out the front door and jumped into my green pea (car)

0510: Arrived at my friends house. While waiting I began to day dream about being back at home, tucked in my warm bed.... fast asleep.

0540: Arrived at Children’s Hospital (sat in the Lobby while waiting for a couple other girls to show up)

0600: Went upstairs to 3M and put all our stuff in our lockers.

0615: Met on the floor (on time) and got our patient/family assignments.

0620-0705: Looked through our patient’s charts, familiarizing ourselves with the history and their care plan.

0710-0730: Listened to morning report while standing in a squishy office with 20+ others.... definitely was getting hot in there.

0745-1750: Went and did first assessment with my RN. We did the head to toe assessment; making sure all the body parts were there (no joke....... ok... maybe just a little joke), but we assessed all the systems (CV, RESP, GI, GU, SENSORY, MUSCLE etc) and did some vital signs. My patient was the cutest little button I have ever seen. He’s 8 month old who was on respiratory isolation. This entitled me to gown up and put a mask on every time I went into the room; preventing the spread of his virus. His diagnosis was RSV Bronchiolitis and boy did it sound wet. He was coughing up a little storm with a snotty nose while little tears trickling down his cheek. For the first bit of the morning, he wasn’t too happy... was really having a hard time breathing. We did a lot of suctioning in his nose (got a TON of goo out of it) – that was really cool and I also go to play with him for a bit. During the course of the day, I was required to do hourly checks; which meant that I was keeping a close eye on his respirations, heart rate, oxygen saturations etc. This is required for all patients on the unit. With kids, you have to understand that their status can change at any minute, hense the hourly checks. Every 4 hours, I’d complete a full vital assessment (Blood pressure, O2 sat, resp, heart rate, temp etc). During the breaks in between I found myself charting, listening in on doctor rounds, researching medications etc. I didn’t get my first break till after 1230. I was hungry by that time, seeing I never had breakfast!  I gobbled down my lunch and was back on the ward in a giffy. We had a speaker come in to talk to us about the spiritual health program they have at the hospital and resources available to families of all religious backgrounds. I was so interested and found this rather appealing. With the last few hours on the ward, we all finished calculating our kids Ins and Outputs and did last minute documentation. In our post conference we went through some medication calculations (seeing we never did medications today – for we’d do that next week). When we finally all said goodbye I felt like my whole body ached. As my friend and I walked out to the car, I was ready to pass out on the lobby floor and sleep for a couple hours. Fortunately it was raining out and I froze while walking to my car. I swear my bones felt like they were turning into icicles.

1800: The drive home was hilarious. My friend and I had some good talks. She’s going to Africa this May (with the travel study I did two years ago) so I told her some of my funny stories... (for example... How to pick up a parasite – cause I did it!). Not only that but as I neared her house, she was explaining something to me about nursing but when she said it... it came out as “NURTHING” ... oh man, we howled the rest of the way to her house. We were so tired at that time we couldn’t stop laughing. I finally arrived back home around 1855 and had some wonderful dinner. Since then I’ve played it cool! I’m thinking I might hit the hay pretty early. Not going to lie, I’m definitely on the verge of passing out right now!

Anyways, I wanted to fill you all in on my wonderful day! I hope you all had a great Friday and have a even better weekend!

Children's Ward  in Zambia

Cloverdale

Hey Everyone,

It’s been a couple days since I last posted and figured I should do it tonight. I hope you are all doing well and your weeks have been fabulous! The picture of the day was taken a couple days ago of the barns at the Fraser Downs Race Track and Casino. I’ve lived in Cloverdale for almost 9 years and have loved every minute of it! I decided to make it look a little old/vintage with the colors. Anyways, hope ya’ll like it!

Story Time

Once upon a time, in a little town called Cloverdale there lived a girl who was considered the social bug. She loved life and enjoyed long walks in the beautiful sunshine.



One morning, she awoke from her sleep to discover a massive growth that appeared on her face. Unsure of where it came from, she decided to call up her doctor and schedule an appointment. With such a rare case, she was rushed off by ambulance to his office. As he ran some tests and did x-rays, he realised that she suffered from the “hairy lip syndrome.” This was so rare, that he himself had never seen something so lavishing and beautiful. Once she arrived home from an exhausting and emotional day she was torn and confused.



Girls aren’t supposed to have moustaches....especially one like this. Regardless, she became the talk of the town and all the men who caught a glimpse wished they had been blessed with such a stunning facial feature.



Not sure what to do, the young woman decided to think long and hard about how her life would change dramatically. Now when she drank milkshakes she’d have little floaters that’d catch on her stash or the how she’d be called the “she-man.”



She noticed her family starting to act weird around her. At dinner, he brother couldn’t take his eyes off it, for he was burning with jealousy. Her mother just wept and her dad just laughed, explaining that she’d never find a man who’d want the whole package.



Having been told there was nothing you could do about the “situation” she realized this was something special she’d just have to live with.



While she was asleep that night she woke up with a brilliant idea. Thinking long and hard about this, she went back to bed and would weigh her options the next day.



The following day, the young woman came up with two ideas. She either would live with the moustache, which entitled her a single life, no friends, no milkshakes and certainly no more social gatherings




OR, she could return to being “normal” if she could somehow remove this unwanted hair in a reasonable and painless way.

 

All she wanted to do was become normal again!



But THIS thing was being a nuisance. So that night when she went to bed, she bargained with the moustache fairy that if she took her obnoxious upper lip hair away she’d pay the fairy $1.00 a day.



Unsure if the fairy would do such a thing she went to bed with a hope to wake up with a bare lip. The next morning, the young girl felt her lip and jolted out of bed! She ran to the mirror and to her surprise it was BARE.




And we all know how the story ends, the fairy became rich and the girl from Cloverdale lived happily ever after! The End!

 















Tiger

My Picture of the day is of a tiger in the Calgary zoo. It was taken over a year ago and still to this day it makes me smile, for he was scratching his face on the tree!

Here are some interesting facts about tigers that I found on the internet..... hope you enjoy!

1)      You can hear a tiger roar over a mile away

2)      A tiger can eat 100 pounds of meat a night. Compare this to 400 hamburgers! They need a lot of food because they may go days without meals.

3)      Tigers have eyes that are the brightest of any other animal in the world. At dusk, or in the beam of a torch, they blaze black the ambient light with awe-inspiring intensity.

4)      Tigers are the biggest cats in the world. They live in steamy hot jungles as well as icy cold forests. There are 5 different kinds or subspecies of tigers that are alive in our world today. These tigers are called Siberian, South China, Indochinese, Bengal and Sumatran. Tigers are an endangered species; only 5,000 to 7,400 tigers left in the wild. Three tiger subspecies, the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers have become extinct in the past 70 years.

5)      Depending on the subspecies, the head-body length of a tiger is about 4 ½ - 9 feet. The length of the tail is 3-4 feet. The foot pads vary in size with age, resulting in inaccurate estimates when used in censuring wild population.

6)      Tigers have round pupils and yellow irises (except for the blue eyes of white tigers). Due to retinal adaptations that reflect light back to the retina, the night vision of tigers is 6x better than that of humans. Not only that, but tigers can see in color.

7)      Siberian tigers are the heaviest subspecies at 500 or more lbs, with males heavier than females. The lightest subspecies is the Sumatran; males weight about 250lbs and females 200lbs. The heaviest tiger recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records is a 1,025lbs male Siberian tiger.

8)      The size of a tiger’s territory depends on the amount of food available, and usually ranges from about 10-30 square miles. Siberian tigers sometimes have really big territories (as big as 120 square miles).

9)      Although tigers usually live alone, tiger territories can overlap. A male tiger’s territory usually overlaps those of several female tigers.

10)   Young tigers live with their mothers until they are 2-3 years old... then they find their own territories.

11)   Tigers use their tails for balance when they run through fast turns. They also use their tails as a way to communicate with other tigers.

12)   A tiger’s paw prints are called pug mark.

13)   The life span of tigers in the wild is thought to be around 10 years. Tigers in zoos live twice as long.

14)   Tiger clubs are born blind and weigh only 2-3lbs, depending on the subspecies. They live on milk for 6-8 weeks before the female begins taking them to kill and feed. Tigers have fully developed canines by 16 months of age, but do not begin making their own kills till about 18 months.

Tulips

BC CHILDRENS

OH MY GOSH! Aside from my amazing day at Children’s Hospital, I had sent Ellen DeGeneres a link to a video that was just hilarious. A girl I use to work with at Montana’s had gotten her wisdom teeth and was filmed afterwards on her reaction to the anaesthetic. She mentioned Ellen a couple times and so I figured I had to submit it on Ellen’s website.

I just received news this afternoon that ELLEN showed her video on the show today and wants to meet Hilary! Here’s the link with Ellen talking about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4TCWXTWUoY

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/videos/?autoplay=true&mediaKey=36cf869f-568a-4755-84d5-4e288023c9e3

This is the original link to the full movie (It’s hilarious and definitely worth the watch – I promise you’ll smile):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBb5ulZwsxA

OK... aside from this awesome news..... my first shift at Children’s was AMAZING! I got up this morning at 0420 and managed to roll out of bed. You know you’re a nursing student when you don’t get any sleep the night before clinical because you are afraid you’re going to sleep through your alarm.... so you wake up every 15 minutes to check the time. So, as I jumped out of bed I ran to the shower and managed to get ready in 45 minutes. I had a hard time deciding what scrubs to wear. Now, don’t assume I have boring scrubs, I have SO many patterned and kid’s tops... it was actually hard to decide what to wear.

I left the house at 0515 and realized I needed to scrape my car widows. As I heated up my car, I froze my poor phalanges off in the process. After that was all said and done and my GPS was awake I made my way to Children’s hospital. Once arriving, a good 50 minutes early (haha) I sat in my car for a few minutes deciding if I should make a trek around the building to find the main lobby. As I did so, I met up with a girl in my group (who’s also from Surrey) and we kept each other company until everyone showed up at 0645.

We got up on our unit just after 0700 and listened to morning report on all the patients. Picture 20+ nurses and students in a small dinky room for a good 15 minutes. MAN we were all on the verge of passing out, it was so hot in there. After report we gathered outside in the hall and started to get a sense of what all the bells and alarms sounded like on the unit. Within 5 minutes, a certain “bell” went off and within seconds every nurse dropped what they were doing and RAN down the hall. One of the emergency bells went off and within seconds 15+ nurses were at the room with the crash cart and everything. It was nuts to watch this, for everyone was on the ball and responded ASAP! I was impressed and a little scared. It’s as easy as pulling the call bell out of the wall to get help that immediate, so I’m going to be EXTRA careful when doing anything with the call bell so I don’t alarm any people. Luckily this morning it was a false alarm.

For the next 2.5 hours we toured the unit, getting an understanding where the medication, supplies, ETC was. We had our first coffee break and boy was it needed. I filled my tummy with a yummy muffin and fruit smoothie from “second cup.” From there, we did some more orientation on the unit, going through charts and familiarizing ourselves with the policies etc. When Lunch rolled around I WAS ESTATIC. I was so hungry! We got a nice 45 minute lunch... which was needed and I enjoyed every minute sitting down!

After lunch, we got to assess a very sick 11 month old girl. She was so precious in every way, such a gift from God. We all gowned up because she was at a respiratory risk, so as we came into the room the helpless body looked miniature to the bed she was in. With wires hooked up and feeding tubs every which way she lay motionless. She had been born blind and had seizure disorders as well as many other things. She was admitted with pneumonia and has been in the hospital numerous times because of respiratory illnesses. She was so FULL of mucous her breathing was so congested and wet. We all got a chance to listen to her lungs and get an idea of how to block that sound out when listening to her heart rate... man that was tough, especially when that loud cracking sound overpowered everything else. Very faintly in the background, you could hear this precious heart beating away! I wanted to pick that little girl up in my arms and hold on tight.

I know my journey at Children’s will be tough. At lunch, I saw kids with tracheotomies and others that had IV poles and cancer patients. It’s taking me a while to realize that this is a “children’s hospital.” As we toured the halls we saw the linin cart and how it had TINY hospital gowns etc. Of course all of us girls let out an “awe” but yah it’s just something I’m getting use to. I LOVED the colors and all the play rooms they had set up. I’m excited for more Friday’s to come. I’m praying and hoping that for next year I could get my preceptorship there... that’d be AMAZING!

So.. to finish off my day, we got off at 1500 which was so nice, seeing we were all so exhausted. When I got home around 1630, I went into my room and CRASHED on my bed. I was out like a light and slept all the way till 2145. MAN what a good nap that was. Now I’m up and feeling a little tired, but could definitely stay awake some more. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight for I’ve got a CPR recert before work tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Anyways I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

My little cousin..... He’s a charmer!

No BIG deal!

Hey guys!

I hope you all had a wonderful day! I got the chance to see the BC Children’s Lottery home today with my mom, nana and papa. While we were there I decided to take a couple pictures of some of the rooms/things I liked. I counted over 12 TV’s in that house. They had a hockey (cement) room.... and a theatre room. It was unbelievable. Over 7,000 Square feet... so I mean, you could get lost! Anyways, here are some pictures so you can see it yourself!

I really liked the master bedroom closet (OH, how amazing it’d be to have all that room to store my hoodie addiction).

Basement

Theater

Closet! WOOW

Upstairs in the master bed room... this is a loft area!

Upstairs in the master bed room... this is a loft area!

No big deal... this is my little car!

PS... for those who don’t know I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT TOMORROW... cause it’s my FIRST DAY AT CHILDRENS HOSPITAL! EEK! I can’t wait to write all about it on tomorrow’s blog! Hope you all have a wonderful day! It’s time for me to hit the sheets..... I got to get up at 4:45 tomorrow! Wish me LUCK!