Don't make me put a hole there...

I'm hiding in the conference room on my unit. Unit is the hospital term for the floor or section of the hospital that a nurse works in. I work in a neurosurgical intensive care unit. While this sounds scary, it isn't. Well, most of the time it isn't. Natural selection plays a big hand in those who make it to our unit. Those with comorbidities tend not to do well and don't make it here in the first place or don't live very long. Your body has to be in decent shape to make it through an assault on the brain. The majority of our patients have blood in their brains- in various spots. Many of our patients have drains placed into their brain to drain extra cerebral spinal fluid or blood. These tubes are called external ventricular drains, or EVD for short. The first time I saw one of these drains placed, I about died. They do this at the bedside and it's kind of strange to see. We open a little kit that has a tool that looks roughly like a hand drill. We shave the person's head, clean it with betadine, make a small stab wound- and then crank this drill (yes, I said drill) until you go through their skull. After the hole has been established, we thread this long, thin plastic tube into one of the ventricles in their brain. This drain also allows us to monitor the pressure in their head, at this site. (Not the entire brain) http://intermountainhealthcare.org/xp/public/documents/pcmc/evd.pdf#search=%22external%20ventricular%20drain%22 This site shows a rough picture of what we use, except it is on a child.

Today I am taking care of one person, who had a subarachnoid hemorrhage. This person was actually lucky because they were able to identify that her bleed came from an aneurysm and they were able to go in through a vein in her groin and clip it- rather than having to do the open method, which means have to remove part of their skull. Don't worry, I won't go into more detail than that. My patient has a total of five tubes in her body: one in her brain, a chest tube, a nasal feeding tube, a endotracheal tube for breathing, and a catheter for urine. The chest tube and EVD are placed through man made holes. Her lung collapsed, so the chest tube is placed in the space around the lung, removing air and/or fluid- which allows the lung to inflate. I used to be really nervous when I had patients with chest tubes. Now, not so much.

I pray that I never have to be hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Trying to keep people alive, when their body would rather be dead- can be very painful. All the tubes, monitors, medications, and tests- not so much fun. All I pray it that if I had to be a patient, that I have someone who will keep me so sedated that I never, ever remember any of it. Or I have a physician that knows when to stop. Sometimes being alive can be worse than death.

Onto a different subject-
My husband and I saw "Little Miss Sunshine" yesterday at the movies. It was very, very funny. Very dark humor. I would love to talk about it but I fear that if I do so, that it will ruin it for you. http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine/ All I can say is that I highly enjoyed the hospital scene. Spend your eight dollars and go see it, it's worth it.

Run Forest Run

Okay, so I only ran part of it- but I did do 10 miles today. Why you ask. Well, I am the ultimate procrastinator. Really, I am. I have found that I perform best under pressure. What is the connection between running 10 miles & procrastination? That would be the Chicago Marathon. http://www.chicagomarathon.com/ I was a foolish, foolish girl with apple pie in the sky hopes. I thought after I completed the Disney World Half Marathon in January- that hey, it might be fun to do the local event. LOL. I must have been smoking crack on the day I signed up. Or at least you'd think if I was going to sign up for such events that I might train or something like that- right because that is what sensible people do. Well, I've never claimed to be sensible.

I hate running. I don't like training. I don't like sweating. However, I do like the sense of accomplishment and the awesome medals you get. I'm going to have to take some pictures of those babies and post them. It's all about the jewelry- and the looks I get when people look at me and wonder how on God's green earth I do such events. I may not be fast and I may not be skinny, but I do have the determination to push through the pain.

So I haven't trained, but I'm going to push myself over the next few weeks and I'll give the marathon the old college try. I don't think I will finish, but hey I paid for my entry, so I'll see what happens.

As runners say-
Dead F*&^ing last > Did not finish> Did not start

I love my bed.

Earlier this morning I was laying in bed pondering what my most prized possession would be, I decided it was my bed. I am very fond on my king size bed, especially since I must share it with my spouse. It is a pillow top mattress with an additional feather bed on top of that. I always have high thread count sheets because they are so, so very soft. I have two different blankets which I use- one is a feather comforter and the other is a faux fir fleece blanket. See the soft and warm theme?

On days after working three days in a row at the hospital, I have been known to not get out of bed. (except to scavenge for food) Today I don't want to get out of bed because doing so means I have to run. I want to run, I just don't want to do so yet. It's raining outside and I'm warm and happy in bed.

I was really tempted

I like the idea of a blogg. Especially due to the culture I was brought up in. Being raised in Utah and being Mormon- you are instilled with the importance of capturing your life and being able to pass on information, perhaps wisdom, to future generations. What I really wonder is how many people really write what they feel or do- because they do know there is the chance that future generations will read it. Do I really want my friends, family, and children knowing what I REALLY think about or do?

Not that I lead this exciting life or have interesting secrets- but it would be liberating to really write the inner thoughts that you don't tell others- anonymously. So you don't have to worry what you friends will think. In a position where you can receive input from strangers and still live safely in your little world.

Today I am at work. Nothing really exciting happened, nope nothing at all. I spent lots of time on the internet looking at stuff, getting myself a g-mail account, starting this blogg, talking to Disers* about diabetes, checking my own blood sugar (it was low), and talking about my upcoming cruise with my fellow cruisemates.

It's currently 6:45pm and I should be out of here in 45 minutes- I wonder if I will have the courage to run when I get home?

*Disers are people who share a common interest in all things Disney. There are many different types of discussion boards on this website: http://www.disboards.com/ You can find just about anything about Disney (or anything else for that fact) on this website. There are many kind people there. Many of the individuals who are going on our upcoming cruise have actually sponsored me for my upcoming adventure: http://www.goverticalchicago.org/ On November 12, 2006 I am going to climb the stairs of the Sears Tower Building, while raising funds for cancer research. (I love them geeky scientists.) If you want to see my personal fundraising page you can look here: http://drcrf.convio.net/site/TR?px=1081061&pg=personal&fr_id=1080 Feel free to donate ;-) I have also noticed that I have not been supported financially by any of my family or friends and only strangers, I wonder what this says about me?

It's time to give report- which in nurse speak means I get to go home.