Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thursday - And I'm Thankful

Well Betty has asked that we each participate in Thankful Thursday, so here are mine:



1. I, too, am thankful for the Lord and all that He bestowes upon me.

2. I am thankful for Hannah and Caleb who I love without measure and who I don't get to spend enough time with. It must be very difficult being my children. Enough said.

3. I am thankful for Elizabeth. She lived down the street and somehow snuck into my heart and became my third child. I am so proud of her for graduating from nursing school and the hard and often unthankful job she is doing.

4. I am thankful for my sister, Kathryn (yes dahling, you are my favorite, lol). She and I have been through so much and have a common thread in life. We should band together to fight the evil men of the world.

5. I am thankful for my Mother who listens tirelessly, or so it seems to me, to my endless gripes about my ex.

6. I am thankful for my job, my promotion, and my raise in an economy where many are losing theirs.

7. I am thankful for patients who come into the ER, whether they need to be there or not, for they are job security.

8. I am thankful for friends near and far, and in the cyber world. I have met such wonderful people but none have touched my heart like those unseen.

9. And that leads me to my conclusion where I have to say I wouldn't be participating in this Thankful Thursday if it wasn't for Betty. She is a wonderful, selfless person and I hope she knows what a special place she holds in my heart. Betty, I do hope we get to meet one day in this world before we meet in the next.



And now for a movie review....

88 Minutes
Very disappointing! What a waste of an awesome actor. Al Pacino is too good for this movie. Hokey music, predictable plot, poor acting, even poorer directing. Only reason I kept watching was to see if I was right about who was the actual villain. Glad I didn't waste my money at the theater, sorry I wasted it on the DVD. Wait till it comes out on TV and then skip it.


Speaking of dramas, that was the theme of things last night at work. Everyone had their agenda, or so it seemed. The one that is the winner of the night was a 25yr-old girl who came in basically for a medication refill. Now usually we medically screen these people out because that is not what the ER is for, but this girl was like "oh well I have pelvic pain and discharge" (my favorite, right Veronica?). So since I had the gyno room last night I inherited her. Boy was she a piece of work. Kept asking for Xanax, constantly. NP said no, no, no, and hell no. I gave the patient an antibiotic shot to help her with her PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) and told her it would be 20 minutes before she was discharged. "Um no, I need to go now and get my prescriptions" (she already knew NP wrote for 4 Xanax. I advised the patient that we hold people the 20 minutes after medications to make sure they don't have a reaction. "Well I won't so get me my prescriptions now." Not even a please. No, I told her, the best I could do was 15 minutes. This started a bargaining phase to which I won of course. I had no longer walked out of that room when she was on the call light telling the tech she was ready for her prescriptions now. I told him to tell her she was welcome to leave but it would be without her prescriptions as it wasn't 15 minutes yet. So she stayed. And when I went in to let her go, I told the patient she was not to ever try and bargain behind my back when I've already told her what the plan was and that we have rules in place to save people's lives. That girl came up off the bed and literally flew across the room at my face. I used one of my TKD moves on her and shoved her out of the way. I threw open the curtains to draw attention and get help if needed, then I yelled at her to get out of the ER before I had her arrested for assault and all the way out she was cussing and threatening me. OMG! Can I please have "real" sick patients and not those who just want drugs? Like I said...full moon drama.

On that pleasant note I think I'll call it a night.


Ciao! De ;)

4 comments:

  1. De, thank you for doing a Thankful Thursday! and thank you for your kind words about me!! we have got to meet; we need to put that on our resolutions for 2009; that will give us 365 days to work out something! geesh, for crying out loud we are just 8 or so hours away, I think we can work something out :)

    all wonderful things to be thankful for! isn't it so neat that you have Elizabeth in your life to be part of (like I feel with my dear one from Montana) plus you have 2 awesome kids; hoping you get to spend more time with them in the new year

    thanks for the movie review! I like Al Pacino; sad he wasn't used to his fullest potential in this movie

    geesh, drama in the ER!! drug-seeking patients; I bet you can spot them a mile away

    hugs to you!!!

    betty

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  2. Oh my, the patient from Hell. We had our share also, full moon maybe. I love your thankful list. I have to keep reminding myself lately but I'll get my optimism back eventually.

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  3. De, LOVE your new look here, verry pretty! It' so "happy"!

    I know exactly what you're talking about with that patient. The shame of it is that we take valuable time away from patients who really need us to deal with this kind. Such an abuse of the system and it's resources.

    AND, I wanted to thank you so much for your encouraging words on my journal today. I am seeing a professional and I know that I'll soon be feeling better. In the meantime, my friends, especially my cyber friends are helping me so much. Blessings upon you!
    Melissa

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  4. Great list and I love your fall background!

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