Remembering back

I can't believe how fast time goes by. 1 year ago Cord was 2 months old and in the hospital for a week with RSV. I have kept this video on my camera ever since. He was feeling much better and just starting to make cute baby noises. I can't believe my chunk was ever this little. I love to watch it and thought I'd share it with you. It makes me a little baby hungry, but I guess there is nothing I can do about that. I just have to wait for grandchildren and pray that they don't move clear across the country (right mom?). Maybe after a year I'll transfer to the baby unit so then I'll get to hold and love all the babies but get to sleep through the night.

Critters

Remember me telling you about the huge squirrls that run around here that we thought were so cute. Well everyone here looks at them like huge rats. What do you think?

I was also surprised to see this huge racoon hanging out around my trash last night. Pardon the dirty window, but as soon as I opened it to take a picture he ran away so this was the best shot. I think I'll be taking a flashlight and something noisy with me every time I go outside at night because I really don't want to tangle with this fellow.

For my nursing friends

OK, now I've actually worked 3 full shifts in the CICU but I'm still not sure about this whole thing. It's not as easy of a transition that I thought it would be and I'm a little frustrated that I'm not as independent as I am used to being. I'm still trying to figure out how things are "supposed to" work and how they "really" work. I know I have to step back and give it some time, but in many ways I feel like I've stepped into a time machine and I'm back 12 years in my nursing career (plus keep in mind that I took a 3.00 an hour pay cut to go back into time).

The unit is set up much like the old ICU, with very old monitors, huge old IV pumps (that don't calcuate anything for you), and paper charting. I'm totally lost on how they run their drips. Like 15 ml of Levophed equals 2 mcgs (I think). That's the biggest frustration. There are only a few drips that they run weight based and I don't have a clue on how to figure them out. Their IV tubing is the old needless system we used to have. I keep trying to screw on the NS flushes directly to the line and it takes a couple tries before I realize that I have to put on the blunt connector or the alligator clip.

I never thought I'd miss scanning meds or the computer charting. I really don't like their flowsheet because I feel like I'm missing so much when documenting my assesment. We have to assess our patients every 4 hours and the check boxes just don't make sense. There is a lot that I do that I don't know how to chart, and we all know that if it's not charted - it's not done. I'm back to writing a narritive, but this time it's in the progress notes with all the doctors. One thing that is nice is that the doctors put all their orders into the computer so we don't have to guess what they mean and the labs & meds are automatically entered and sent. I'm also back to taking oral temperatures on my patients, even the vented ones.

I've got to recover a couple post-op heart patients with my preceptor. They never check a wedge, don't even hook up the SVO2 portion on the monitor, and if I want to know my SVR - I have to calculate it with an equation. They do try to extubate within 4-6 hours and try to watch the blood sugars close like we did, but the insulin drip is based on a standard paper scale like we used to have. They don't ever get their heart patients out of bed after extubation. They let them lie in one place until the next day and I doubt that they are walking to the step down unit because the one medical patient that I transferred got pushed over there in a chair. It's hard for me not to get them up because I've seen the benefit of them moving so soon. I'm also very confused with their IABP machine. I have no clue how to time that thing so I'm going to have to take a class next time it's offered.

Another thing I have had to get used to is their nurse/ patient ratio. I guess I was spoiled in Utah. The first day I helped recover a heart, we also had another medical patient as well. The second day I helped recover a heart, we got to recover the 3rd heart 8 hours later also (but was still responsible for our first patient). Even a balloon pump or CRRT patient is not 1:1. It's a good thing there are 2 of us right now because the more stable patient gets ignored otherwise which also drives me crazy.

The culture here is so different from what I'm used to. It has been very hard for me to go from being the one there the longest, knows what to do and when, and serving as a resource to the one who doesn't know where to even find a toothbrush or how to put a verbal order in the computer. Then I try to go into automatic mode when taking care of my patients but it doesn't work for their protocols or the way they do things and then they look at me funny - UGGGH! Being in a teaching facility is also something I don't know if I can get used to. It's hard enough to not know any of my doctors and them not know and trust me, but now I have to deal with so many doctors/residents/interns that are sometimes contradicting eachother that we, as patient advocates, are stuck in the middle. I still have no idea who to call when I need something.

I know things will get better and everyone here have been nice and helpful, but the perfectionist in me is having a hard time dealing with change. I don't know how long I'll be on days before I get to figure out how things work on nights. I'm just going with the flow and will take all the orientation they will want to give me. I get paid the same either way but when I'm on orientation at least I have an excuse for looking like an idiot. I hope you guys at DRMC will keep a spot open for me to come back home after this "adventure" is over and hopefully I'll still know how to do things the Dixie way :)

Good daddy

While I spent my day working a 12 hour shift, laboring to take care of critically ill patients, it looks like the kids just played all day!! Well...I'm not sure daddy would call it play. They spent the afternoon in the back yard making history. Mason wanted to be the first McKelleb to ever make a snowfort and the snow was finally sticky enough to work with. I'm pretty impressed with the magnitude of this fort and the snowman is pretty impressive as well. Now daddy gets to pay for it because he still has reading to do tonight and his back is sore (maybe he is just trying to get a backrub out of the deal?) It's days like this that we know why we are here, so we can be with daddy!

Brianna loaned her hat and scarf so the snowman wouldn't be naked. My favorite detail are the eyes made out of mountain dew bottle caps. I'm sure daddy made the sacrifice of drinking the dew so the snowman could see.

Mike filled up this lego box over and over again until Mason is almost buried inside the fort. Now that's what I call dedication!!

Chelsea took all the pictures that I need for my scrapbook pages. I almost shed a tear when she handed me the camera when I got home. She did a great job and knew exactly what I needed. That's my girl!!!!

SNOW!

We had made plans to go into Hartford to a body museum today but when we woke up the world was covered a white blanket of snow. We had heard that it was supposed to snow tonight, I guess it came early. It was coming down so hard and fast that we decided to postpone our trip and stay home to play in the snow. Unfortunately it's so powdery that we couldn't make a snowman. Maybe tomorrow it will be better and we can get our snowman pics. I have several scrapbook page kits for snowman pics but haven't been able to get the right pictures for them. But for now, enjoy our winter wonderland backyard. Even Cord had fun playing in his snowsuit. He couldn't stay out very long because his little face got wet, but he sure enjoyed exploring outside.

Snow boys vs girls

Who's having more fun? The girls sliding on the icy deck, or the boys getting down and dirty in the snow bank?

Snow pics

New England Aquarium Trip

School is out this coming week for "winter break". Most everyone is headed out of town but I have to work 3 days next week and Mason & Brianna are going to take a "learn to cartoon" class at the community center tues-fri morning so we really can't head anywhere. But I was off saturday and Mike was going to be in the law library all day working on a paper due on monday so I cruised on-line and stumbled across the New England Aquarium. It looked pretty exciting so we packed up the van and headed to Boston (about 90 miles away). My biggest accomplishment for the day was getting us there and back without getting majorly lost. We had a great day watching several tanks of unusal fish as well as the 3 story high circular fish tank running through the middle of the aquarium. Chelsea and Mason loved watching the huge penguin exhibit, Brianna enjoyed watching the seal training session, and Cord was very interested in watching all the fish swim around. There was also a large exhibt with several types of jellyfish that was interesting. The aquarium is located right on the atlantic ocean so we got to see several sailboats as well. But it was far to cold to stay on the dock to long. You can see in some of the pictures the red noses and cheeks. We also watched a 3D IMAX movie about dolphins and whales. One thing that was cool was that while we waited in the long line to get into the aquarium, they had set up a tent with heaters so we wouldn't be too cold as we waited and half-way to the ticket counter they gave away small cups of hot chocolate and packages of fish graham crackers. How thoughtful.

Here are pics of the dock and sailboats, the statue of the momma penguin and her baby, as well as the kids by the huge penguin exhibt. They had several of these rocks around that the penguins played on. We got to watch the trainers climb in and feed the penguins and answer any questions. In the evening when we went back, they had sprinklers on to cool them off. They were very entertaining. Cord got excited when he saw them swiming under him.

The biggest challenge of the trip was actually getting there and back. I had never dealt with toll roads so I was a little nervous about that but we did OK. At one point I stayed to the right like the navigator blond told me to, but I guess I was to far right and ended getting off to soon. It took an extra 20 min and $2.50 to actually get back on the right road. I found a parking garage right next to the aquarium and was lucky to find a spot. Little did I know that it would cost me $32.00 to park there. Then when it came time to go home, the navigator didn't want to work. So here I was, in Boston, in the dark, with no clue how to get home. My biggest fear was turning the wrong way on a one-way road, so I just followed taxi cabs around until the navigator decided to work. The kids watched a movie the whole time and I tried to play it cool so I don't think they realized how lost we were. But it finally decided to work and we made it home without further problems. Also, the bag that I packed for Cord got left on the kitchen table. I got a little panicked because I didn't figure that out until we got there and we were planning on being gone most of the day. I was fortunate to find a couple diapers in the car and I had brought a bottle with me that we were able to fill up with some juice and water to get him through the day. I also left my camera at home, luckily Chelsea brought hers. I guess I was so excited to get there that I didn't have my head on straight.

Anyway, we had a great day and look forward to going to Boston again (hopefully when it is warmer :)

Aquarium pics

Chelsea loved the penquins the most, Mason loved this baby shark that blends in to the bottom, Brianna was fascinated by the school of little fish, Cord just loved watching the big fish, and you can see 2 stories of the huge tank that goes through the center of the aquarium. There were all kinds of large fishes in there including a shark and large sea turtle.

more aquarium pics

Happy Valentines Day

We got another massive snow storm last night and then it was supposed to turn to freezing rain today, so school was cancelled and we experienced another "snow day". Luckily this time we still kept our power. But because it rained all day, it wasn't as much fun for the kids and that means no snowman :( The yard is covered with snow that is saturated with water and it looks like a lake. I'm sure that by tomorrow it will be a sheet of ice. I was kind of glad that school was cancelled because that meant my orientation was cancelled. Cord had a bad night last night and had a hard time breathing. Mike held him all night to make sure he was breathing OK and I got to stay home with him all day. Today he isn't wheezing as badly and we hope he will sleep OK tonight.

So we kept busy making valentine cookies. Do you think we made enough? I couldn't have a valentines without my mom's sugar cookies so I decided that I would have to make my own. This tradition actually started with my grandma Alldredge I think because I remember that she always had sugar cookies in her freezer. Anytime we went over to visit she would pull them out for us. I was lucky enough to find my heart shaped cookie cutter in the boxes but looked for about an hour for my rolling pin. I finally gave up and went to the hardware store in the pouring rain to buy the cheapest rolling pin they have. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon making cookies and trying to keep Cord happy. So we don't get extremely fat, I had the kids arrange cookies on plates to hand out to a few of the neighbors for valentines day.

Want some more???

Shelley S. would be so proud :) We have been working with Cord on his sign language skills. He has finally got down "more" and occasionally will sign "finished". The poor kid has been so sick the last few days. He has a runny nose, is wheezing with difficult breathing (dyspnea), is rubbing his ears, and threw up last night. He just looks pitiful and had a pretty miserable night. I stayed home from my orientation classes this morning to take care of him and Mike skipped his afternoon class to come home and take care of him so I didn't miss all my orientation. It drives me crazy to not have insurance (not effective until April 1st) or to have a doctor to call. I spent the morning trying to get a doctor lined up and appointments made for the first of April. The thing that scares me is that 1 year ago this week, he was in the hospital for 6 days with RSV (the same symptoms that he has now). Luckily he seems to be feeling better tonight.

PS. It's snowing pretty hard right now. The kids are hoping for another snow day tomorrow. Maybe we can build another snowman and not delete the pictures this time. It's was freezing cold today. I'm looking forward to spring.

Basketball Hall of Fame

We decided that it was time that we did something that we couldn't do at home, so on a snowy saturday we went to visit the basketball hall of fame. The outside building is cool, shaped like a basketball. We aren't really basketball fans, but thought it would be interesting. There were 3 stories. The first floor was an open court and there were a lot of people shooting hoops. The 3rd floor was a tribute to several players and teams with a lot of memorabilia. But the funnest part was the 2nd floor. It had a lot of interactive activities such as testing your vertical jump, there was a blue screen that you stood against and played one-on-one with a video game player, a machine where you jumped up to rebound (each time you got it, the ball would go higher), and a machine to test your reflexes. There was also a section dedicated to the media where you could read a sports newscast and then watch it back or where you "call the shots" into a mirophone as you watch a game and then hear it back. The funnest part by far was a section with a big bounce house, a game where you used a slingshot to shoot stuffed balls, and a game where the girls were tied up to bungee cords and they ran forward to shoot hoops. The faster and farther you ran, the more it pulled you back. All at once I saw Chelsea's feet shoot in the air and she landed on her back laughing. Mason was to young (you had to be 10) so he wants to go back next year.

I don't even think the kids know who these players are

(not even Michael Jordan)

We did learn a little something about how basketball was invented.

This is the inventor and a replica of the original ball and basket.

Cord loved the interactive area and kept throwing this ball everywhere.

More basketball pics

And now for your sports update....

Can you palm it?

Super sling shot basketball

Rebound that basketball...

The ball moved higher after each time.

Block that shot?

New Haircuts

Our big adventure friday night??? Finding a place where the kids could get a haircut. 3 of these kids have a new do. Can you guess which ones?

Chelsea decides to go shorter with a lot of layers.

Brianna decides to get some side bangs cut but is still trying to grow it out long.

Mason just gets a basic boys cut but didn't like that I made them cut of his "side burns". When he's a teenager he says he is going to grow out his hair long.

Cut my baby's hair? NO WAY. It's getting longer and curly in back but I'm not ready to make him look like a little boy. I love him in this hat though. We have a lot of people stop us in the store so they can talk to him.

Latest dance craze!!

Enjoy this video clip of Chelsea and Megan doing the latest dance craze called the "Superman". I especially like the additional dancer (Cord). The clip is kind-a long (2 min) but you can watch the beginning and get the idea. Our living room is kind a dark because we don't have a main light, just lamps so hopefully you can see this :)

Welcome to Baystate!

So this is where I'll be working for the next couple of years. The building is very interesting and luckily isn't as old looking on the inside. It does have a couple of old cool looking waiting areas though. The place where our classes are held used to be the very old nursing school (the kind where the nurses lived there during school). They are going to be tearing down a large section very soon and rebuild it for a cardiac tower to be completed in 2012. Too bad I won't be here to see it.

I finally started orientation and I guess you could say it is interesting. I have been sitting from 8:00 am until 4-5 pm listening to "stuff". The first day we listened to 6 hours of "what are your values?", "these are Baystate's values", "How do your values match those of Baystate?", blah, blah, blah. Most of the stuff they are teaching us, even the teacher admits is boring but she has to teach it because of JCAHO. I guess they are having a surprise inspection sometime this year and they want everyone to be ready. I understand that, but it doesn't make it any easier to sit through. They have really hammered in their motto - "to improve the health of the community everyday with quality and compassion". I think it's pretty sad that I can quote that after a couple days of being an employee, but I can't tell you what IHC's mission statement is. But after hearing it day in and day out I feel like choking someone with "quality and compassion"!

Although it only takes about 10 minutes to drive to baystate, it takes about 20 min to find a parking spot. Mainly because employees are required to park in a couple different lots about 1/2 - 1 mile away from the hospital. Then we sit and wait for the bus to come around and pick us up. It's still hard for me to gauge when I need to leave factoring in the rush hour traffic and bus schedule. When I work on nights I will be allowed to park on the campus. But for the next couple of months I get to ride the bus.

Through all these orientation classes and any meetings you go to, you are not allowed to wear jeans. You have to wear business casual or scrubs. I think that is funny because when I wear my scrubs I feel like I'm wearing pj's. Luckily Shari Kay has dressed me appropriately for business and I have several stylin' options to choose from.

Next week I have classes all day mon and tues, then I have computer training wed and thurs for about 4 hours each day. Thursday after the computer classes I will go up to the floor and work for the last half of the shift so I can get all my hours in. They have very strict rules about when you clock in and out. Even though I'm there early because I don't know how to gauge the parking/ bus thing, the earliest I can clock in is 7 min before the class starts. Plus when I'm at work, even if my patient is crashing, I must clock out no later than 7 min after my shift ends unless I have special permission from the charge nurse. (more rules!!!!) I will be working day shift for my 12 weeks of orientation (unless they decide I don't need that much time and take me off early :) I will be glad when I only have to go to work 3 days a week instead of all day for 5 days.

Rock On!!

I took the kids and a couple friends to see Hannah Montanna's new 3-D movie that is out this week. It was so much fun!!! It was like we were standing right on the stage during her concert. We remembered my sister Maria took her daughter Kennedy to the concert in Utah and said that they were filming. We kept looking for Kennedy in the movie but couldn't quite locate her :) The only thing that would have the experience funner was if we could have clapped and sung along just as if we were at the concert. I tried really hard not to embarrass my kids to much. It was a heck of a lot less expensive that going to the real concert. Chelsea brought her friend Megan and Brianna is with her friend Taylor. Mason came with me so he could see the Jonas Brothers and the cool guitar and drum players. The 3D effect was really cool. I would highly suggest any of you go and take your girls if possible. The movie was sold out here, we bought our tickets on-line last week.

Relaxing time

After the rocking movie, we came home and fired up the hot tub for the first time. The girls stayed in it for over 2 hours. Notice the snow in the background? Still too cold for me to get out there.

Mommy's little helper

As you can see, Cord and I have had a lot of fun the past few weeks. He is getting really good at emptying things and I follow behind and clean them up. I forgot about this part of having a toddler. Oh crap, did I just say "toddler"? When did my baby become a toddler? That was way to fast!!!!

I guess it's a good thing he has a spoon. Don't tell him that he is eating out of a barbie bowl. His dad might have a fit about that :)

I start work on monday and although I'm sure Cord will be just fine, I'm starting to have a little anxiety. I have never left him with someone other than family or friends that I knew well (and I have been lucky enough not to have to pay for it either.) I guess it's a good thing that Mike will be the one dropping him off each morning instead of me since my orientation starts by 7:30. It's going to be a fun week for Mike. He gets to get the kids to school and take care of them after school until I get home between 4-5. My orientation lasts m-f this week and then next week m-w. I'm going to go into shock. While I'm anxious to get working, I am going from doing nothing to being so busy I can't stand it.