Running Here and There

19th August (Tuesday) - Few more weeks til the end of the month of August. I thought I was going to end up being a clerk again, but since the CI is unable to attend due to circumstances, so we were sent over to the other ward to assist in a sponging. The patient suffered multiple fractures on the left side so he's having a hard time to take care of himself. We assisted him in feeding and then we gave him a thorough sponging. Have to watch out for the left side though since every little movement on the left can make him yell in pain. In the end to prevent him from being tormented in pain, we left the fractured arm free from the sleeve of the gown.
How sad to say, after the whole sponging, I was called back to the ward by the Sister to be a clerk... D: Oh, I know I swore to myself that I won't mope about my clerk job, but-but... What about my 3 years of Nursing??? As I was given 5 files to file in the Medical Records, the Sister approached me and asked that I should observe a Lumbar Procedure procedure. Finally, something that makes my day worthwhile. So I was sent to go for an early lunch so that I can make it back on time for the procedure. During lunch, I planned to get roti canais (Indian flatbread) and waffles as a standby, unfortunately when I reached there by 10.50, it all ran out. HOW???? HOW CAN THEY BE SOLD OUT???? Outrage... Sigh, I have to make my way all the way back to the second floor to get...nasi lemak again. Sigh, good thing I ate early cause one of the staff nurse told me if I wanted to see a procedure known as Pleural Tapping. Hee, that's something you don't see everyday.
So off I go. Just in time too, as the professor was just starting his prepping. A few swabs of Povidone and Saline and we're good to go. I even got a chance to assist the professor. ^^ Even though I'm a total newbie, he taught me some things, reminding me to be careful not to contaminate his equipment as I peeled open the sterile packaging for him. It took roughly about 30 - 45 minutes since we have to wait for the pleural fluid to be drained. I have to squat to make sure the fluid is running since the professor is unable to leave his position from his stool. After that he had to insert branulla for the patient for a CT scan.And that's the end of the procedure. I hope one day I'll be experience enough to assist too.
After that, I rushed to collect a patient back from Endoscopy, do a quick report and vital signs check, and run just in time as the Dr. just finished prepping (again). Unfortunately, after 3 attempts on different spots with the huge lumbar needle, the Dr. is unable to get the spinal fluid. He said he managed to slip the needle in between the spine but for some reason when he pushed the needle further in, he is unable to get any spinal fluid. If he had pushed the whole thing in, he'll end up... driving the needle into the bone. Yeouch, Not even several Lignocaine can help dull the pain. The Dr. then said that in this case, he'll have to do it under a scan. So in short, the procedure is a failure and has to be done at Diagnostics.
All in all, what started off as a dull day became a happy day. Well, til the last part. Because we were all busy rushing up and down, we were late for a CNE talk about the care of chemo. The saddest thing was... One of the head accused us of coming in late just for the sake of our points, not for the knowledge. It caused a lot of hurt and outrage to everyone, including me. It's not as though we didn't care about the talk, we were busy rushing after our patients and our report ended late. How unfair, how can she say something like that? Next time, we'll log all our diaries for CNE talks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so that she can't accuse us of something like that again.
Before I was going back, a long term patient was in need of new bed because he's so tall and his feet often rest uncomfortably on the foot of the bed. He's such a funny guy and he laughed as 5 of us struggled to carry him together with the bed sheet, especially for those of us who are short til we have to climb on top of the bed to pull him over. His family was grateful til they gave us mini bags of snacks, even though we refused, but they persisted. So we just accept it gratefully, thankful for her kindness even though we just done a small thing.