Barrett-Jackson or Cardinals?

This is a car made for Pope John Paul II but he never rode in it, it was deemed unsafe for him. You'll only see stuff like this at a museum or Barrett Jackson.

If you know me , you know my answer. I love Barrett-Jackson and all the fantastic cars. I watched it on television for years, God bless the Speed channel, and finally 2 years ago I was here during the blessed event. If anyone says there's no money being spent in America all they have to do is turn on the speed channel, $200,000 for one car...and it's not even Saturday. These cars are amazing, the restorations are superb. Just the sound of the engines sends chills up my spine. I thank my brother for introducing me to muscle cars and helping me learn to appreciate a great sounding engine, and my husband for keeping the thrill alive. He has patiently taken me to the auction for the last 3 years, and answered all my questions with out making me feel stupid.

As for the Cardinals, I am not a fan. Only a fan of whoever beats the Steelers...I am a true blooded die-hard Browns fan...sad as it is, year after year I keep hoping. Most people think it will be the Cardinals vs. the Steelers for the Superbowl...guess we will find out tomorrow.

Work is crazy as usual, I now have a tail for the next 12 weeks. I hope I can help to mold her into a useful, well adjusted, thinking nurse. (Without making her quit or driving her crazy first.) Non Noc Nocere

Close to home

Like the title says, I have some family issues, and they are hitting close to home. One of my family members is headed to the cath lab for a cardiac cath. Now I can really put myself on that side of the bed. I am used to being the one coming in and reviewing what the doctor told them, answering any questions and sending them off to the cath lab. I am also used to getting people back from the cath lab and doing the normal stuff, checking their vitals, checking their pulses, checking their groin site...I guess I will see what it feels like to not be in control of anything. Nurses really are, or become control freaks, I think. Ok.Maybe it's just me, but if I am in control of a situation I can 99% control the outcome. That makes me calm and confident...and a control freak. If I am not in control (i.e. things don't go the way I planned them) then I'm irritable and I snap at everyone around me. Yeah, I got issues. I just hope I can be a calming force when I am with my family member during this procedure, because I won't be in control of anything.
On a lighter, happier note my nephew should be headed back from Iraq early this spring and I am so happy about that! I hope he gets the chance to stay stateside for a long time!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well, Happy 2009 everyone! We brought in the new year in the same old fashion, watching Dick Clark and Times Square. Pretty sad to see him get old though. He looks and speaks pretty darn well for a stroke victim.
So, I worked 5 days (12 hour days) last week and had one day off and worked 3 days already this week. The company I am working for is doing away with their double time for overtime so, I had to get as many hours in there as I could. Smart business move, they have filled most of their nursing positions with the new grads and they are all willing to pick up overtime since they are fresh out of school and money from being in school.No one is really happy about losing the double ovetime but, we can understand. Of course there are the people who just live to complain, I try to stay as far away from them as possible. Some people would complain if you gave them the world.Sad.
What can I say about work this last week. Wasn't too bad, but the new nurses, I think they are so overwhelmed. They don't seem to even know which questions to ask or when. Our unit is post open heart/thoracic surgery. The daily tasks for each patient is a huge laundry list. You have to monitor their weight, vitals, electrolytes,their exercise, their fluid balance, their rhythm,their blood sugars,plus all their tubes and lines. It's really difficult when you have more than one cabg patient.I started out in Medsurg, back then units weren't so specialized, it was med surg or step down or icu. I think it really helped me get my organizational skills together.75% of nursing is organizing your work, the other 25% is common sense.
Case in point: I had a new nurse ask me at about 8:30 in the morning if I thought she should change an IV on a patient that was 7 days old, this was a post open heart patient. I said definitely. I heard her later ask another nurse the same question she agreed with me and said yes as well. At 5:30 pm she again asked me if I thought the iv really needed to be changed, I said I really do, do you want me to change it. She said no, I want to try, but he had a really bad experience and doesn't want it done. I explained to her she has to be comfortable and make him comfortable, if she wanted, she could have someone else do it. She ended up asking the charge nurse to do it, and it got done at 6:30. I just don't get it. The longer that IV stays in the bigger the risk of infection, we have to be able to tell patients what we know is best for them and just get it done, not sit around and wait all day to build up the anxiety of the nurse or the patient. But, how do you teach that?
Can you guess what my picture is of?
Non noc nocere.