Those who wander are not always lost

I graduated from nursing school the Spring of 1999 working my first 2 years on medical surgical units and the last 8 I have been primarily based out of the Emergency department along with several side jobs. The first 3 years I worked exclusively in the ED 32 hour day shifts. I was VERY naive when I first started in the ED but it did not take much time to realize that you cannot always be Mr. Nice Guy, drug seekers are AMAZING actors, people with personality disorders are masters of manipulation, people really DO fake seizures, NEVER trust a drunk, and a good portion of the population should have had their children taken from them at birth. This list truly could go on and on........


After being an ER nurse for a short time I experienced a tragedy that will forever be sketched in my brain. It was toward the end of a 12 hour shift when paramedics came rolling in with a young woman in her late 20's. She had been in a MVC (motor vehicle crash) while driving to a local Fair with her 2 young children. She was pale and unresponsive on arrival without a blood pressure. Not a scratch on her. Before long a surgeon determined she had an aortic dissection.
Within minutes he cut her chest open then proceeded to manually crack her ribs. He used his fingers to clear the blood that was pooling in her heart chamber. In awe I watched her heart beat after beat. We all work so hard to save her life. As blood, fluids, and medications poured into her we rushed her to the operating room leaving a trail of blood from one department to another. The surgeon and the OR staff did all they could but were unable to save her. The surgeon, OR & ER staff weeped as they told her family of her demise. Her oldest boy (I think he was 8) wanted to say goodbye so along with his family they went into the OR. The boy thought she was merely sleeping and tried to wake her. As he stood beside his Mother a tear came down her face. This would be the last memory of his Momma.

Little did I know how MANY more traumatic injuries, experiences, and deaths I would be encounter over the next several years.

You never forget the sadness of parent after the loss of a child from SIDS. The memory of a mother and father rocking their baby for the last time before handing their precious bundle over to the nurse who has the dreaded task of delivering the baby to the morgue. We had 2 of these cases in the ED when I was pregnant with Leah.

You never forget the reaction of a parent when they think you are coming out to tell them their toddler did not survive. I can vividly remember walking out into the ambulance doors to update a family on a child's condition. (10 month old near drowning in a bucket of water) The mother dropped to the ground crying and screaming unable to comprehend that he was still alive after she found him lifeless after getting distracted for a moment while washing her floor.

You never forget the blood curdling scream of a parent when they find out their teenage son was killed in a car accident while his sister was driving home from the methadone clinic and fell asleep at the wheel.

Again this list could continue on and on. As you can imagine it is the illness and death of a child deeply affects health care providers most.

When you work in the ED for any amount of time there are so many stories to tell, not just sad.

There are funny ones, the guy with an "object" stuck up his behind that does not want to share the information with the triage nurse for fear that everyone will find out. Well honey when you have to go to endoscopy to have something so deep removed the word is gonna get around.

Then there are sick ones, like the middle age man that is caught having "relations" with the families Golden Retriever. Then there was disturbed teenage boy that was caught sodomizing 2 dogs with a broom stick, his grandfather was a convicted serial killer.

These lists too could go on but these are just a few blips of the last 8 years that pop into my mind as I type. I always said I could write a book about the experiences of being an ER nurse. I journaled a bit about it but that was far as I went.

While working in the ED I was actively involved in education, attending seminars, a member of Emergency Nurses professional association, and one of the few that tested and became a Board Certified Emergency Nurse.

After a few years as a positioned staff nurse I went per diem so I could spread my wings looking for new horizons. I worked at a trauma center in the ER, as a critical care transport nurse, a critical care nurse, and as a college health nurse. Despite all my endeavors nothing quite did it for me. I always returned to working mainly in the ED until I started working in Radiology as an Interventional Nurse. It did not take me long to realize this is where I wanted to be.



It is hard to describe our role in Radiology and nobody else really knows either. It is a unit like no other. It is a combination of working in day surgery, the OR, PACU/recovery. In addition we respond to all emergencies in our department and we care for critically ill patients and our patients become critically ill after some high risk procedures which sometimes lead complications. In a nutshell that is what it is! I explain this because I have recently had to answer some annoying questions from others that do not know what goes on radiology. Like, "what do you do, take pictures all day?" or "aren't you bored". NO, actually it is a pretty busy place, always something to do!

We do TONS of procedures! Just a few examples: nephrostomy tubes, embolizations, arteriograms with stenting and arthroplasty, portacaths, thoracentisis, biopsies, peg tubes, VCUG's (yuk, we have to cath kids), bronchoscopies........and on and on.....

And NO I won't "loose my skills" working in Radiology. (excuse my sarcasm) We start LOTS of IV's, insert catheters, place chest tubes, sedate patients (that is a major role of ours), and cardiac monitoring......

Ok, so we try not to defibrillate our patients unless needed and if someone is having an MI (myocardial infarction) we do not TNK (clot buster) them in our department. But there are SO many of the skills that I have learned in the ED that I use on a daily basis and I am SO thankful to have had such a solid foundation.

I have enjoyed working in the ED and have learned SO much both professionally and on a personal level.

I will miss the most the AMAZING NURSES, DOCTORS , PA's, TECH's, SECRETARIES, PARAMEDICS, EMT's, POLICE OFFICERS and SECURITY.

I will miss the acute MI's, the trauma patient, the adrenalin rush of a code, and the successful resuscitation of a patient but I will not miss all the BS that goes along with it nor will I miss working nights, weekends, and holidays! :)

I now enjoy working in a department when EVERY ONE of your patients is appreciative and thankful for your care.

I love the people I work with: the techs, radiologists, secretaries, and of course the AWESOME nurses I work with.

Lastly, I am SO THANKFUL I have this job and despite the failing economy I pray I am not on the chopping block for upcoming layoff's that are said to happen at our hospital in the next 2 weeks because I'll be back working in the ED and that will be a whole other post;)


I apologize for the long drawn out post but these are a few things I had on my mind and wanted to get out.
Anyway, with 10 feet of snow and freezing temps there is not much farm activity to report.

~SWEAT DREAMS~ Kim

Happy Days!

We had an action packed weekend as always. On Friday I volunteered for another field trip...yikes can't wait until schools out! This time at Maine State Museum. I have went there many times throughout the years and I always enjoy. This visit was a little unusual I must say. We went to 2 presentations, one on birds and the other on lobster and the kids had about 5-10 minutes between to look around at the displays, that is it! We boarded the bus had a quick picnic and headed back to school. I was a little surprised. I planned on taking a tour and looking at the displays. Just another reason I think homeschooling is not a bad idea. Had I went down with the kids (which we have before) I would have taken my time and went through the place.
There is A LOT of wasted time in school.
(The picture below is one of my favorite displays there, a lady working hard at a sardine factory.)

After getting the kids out of school we checked out a new fountain in town.

Saturday we spent the day preparing for our 8th annual birthday party for the kids. Their birthdays are only a couple weeks apart so we have one gathering usually Memorial weekend but we are a little early this year because of John's work schedule. I thought for sure it was going to rain but it turned out to be a great day. Below is the farm cake I constructed. That was a timely project! If you look close in the garden those are really cherry tomato plants. The kids had a scavenger hunt collecting everything from frogs to rusty nails. The goats were by far the biggest attraction closely followed by the ponds. Unfortunately Luke was knee deep in the "duck pond" half of the day and started to complain of discomfort and rash on his legs tonight and Momma diagnosed him with swimmer's itch. I will be on the look out this week for some knee high rubber boots as his other pair he has outgrown.
We had a great day joined by our family and friends. These are the days to remember and cherish!

Happy Mother's Day!

When I was is my teens and early 20's I swore I'd never have children. And then in a moment I changed my mind. I was 24 and in nursing school. I was doing my maternity rotation and there was a Mom that was in labor and my instructor assigned me to her. I was scared to death! I can remember being worried about interrupting this poor women as she was in distress to get her vital signs. I was very modest and very uncomfortable in this situation having no children of my own. A few hours later I experienced the birth of a baby girl, it was an amazing experience for me and I was overwhelmed with emotion. From that day on I knew that I wanted to have children. After school that afternoon I told John about my experience and announced that after I graduated from nursing school I wanted to start a family and that is just what we did! Being a Momma is one of my greatest accomplishments!

We spent our morning visiting my Mom whom I some times complain about, usually saying "she drives me crazy" but I must say I am grateful to have her, she would do anything for me and she is very special in the eyes of my children. I have also been blessed with a step-mother a mother-in-law that I love dearly!


We spent the afternoon working and playing outside. We mowed, trimmed hooves, went for a walk, caught tadpoles, and enjoyed the rays! It was our first time trimming their hooves. I did Oreo's and it was very entertaining I wished we had videotaped....I will next time. He was nibbling at me and snorting and John did Annabelle and she just laid there. We are weaning them off from the bottle and tomorrow is the day that their bottle is suppose to be taken away and sadly I don't know if I can do it, they love their milk. We will see if I cave in the morning. Goodnight & Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Nurse's Week

I know what some of you are thinking...farm blog and nurses week how does that go together? Well this is a farm & family blog and I consider the people I work with to be part of the family. Considering that John and I are both nurses along with many of my very best friends I thought what the heck I'll torture some of my co-workers today and bring my camera in to work and write a quick blip tonight. They look quite distraught don't they? I announced a photo shot at 2pm. A couple of my co-workers were whining, yes I am talking about you Elaine, but before you know it we had at least half the ER crew posing and having a good ole' time! I work in 3 different ER's and oh yeah 1 college health center, all per diem working 20-36 hours per week depending on what I might be scheming to buy next. Some think I'm nuts but I think I am just ADD, self diagnosed, actually it just fits my personality. I love to float around and have great fun with my co-workers. I have tried working in other areas in nursing such as critical care and college health but I have always returned to the ED, I guess it is my passion... adrenaline junkie some might say. The people I work with are an amazing bunch! Working in the ED can be very stress full and we take things seriously but on our down times we love to have a little fun...how else could we survive? Here's a couple funnies for all you nurses, cheers to us! :)

"You Might Be a Nurse If..." *You can drink a pot of coffee and still go to sleep in the morning. *You believe every patient needs TLC: Thorazine, Lorazapam, and Compazine. *Your sense of humor seems to get more warped each year. *You think it is acceptable to use "penis" and "vagina" in a normal conversation. *You believe the definition of stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven´t fallen asleep yet. *You believe that if warm wine enemas were routinely ordered, patient complaints would greatly decrease. *You hope there´s a special place in Hell for the inventor of the call light. *You see stress as a normal way of life. *You have a tendency to laugh at your patient´s "big" problems. *You believe the problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard. *Everything only happens all at once. *You´ve ever been telling work stories in a restaurant and had someone at another table throw-up. *You notice that you use more four-letter words now than before you became a nurse. *You believe all bleeding stops...eventually. *You don´t get excited about blood loss unless it´s your own. *You don´t hit patients or doctors....unless absolutely necessary. *You refer to motorcyclists as organ donors. *You believe Tylenol, Advil, or Excedrin provides a large part of your daily calorie intake requirements. *You´ve ever held a 14-gauge needle over someone´s vein and said, "Now your going to feel a little stick." *You can identify the "PID Shuffle" and the "Kidney Stone Squirm" at 15 feet. *You´ve ever had a patient with a nose ring, a brow ring and twelve earrings say, "I´m afraid of shots." *You think the ultimate cruel joke is get someone drunk, take them to the ER and tell them he OD´d on "some kind of pills." *You automatically multiply by three the number of drinks a patient claims to have daily. *You can keep a straight face when a patient responds, "Just two beers." *You stare at someone in utter disbelief when they actually cover their mouth to cough. *You have encouraged obnoxious patients to sign out AMA. *You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce. *Your most common assessment question at 2 a.m. is "Why is this an emergency now?" *You don´t believe 90% of what you´re told, and 75% of what you see. *You´ve ever had a patient look you dead in the eye and say, "I don´t know how that got stuck in there."