14th September (Sunday) - Okay, first Sunday of a working day, but it won't be my last. As mentioned before, my only day offs are on weekdays, but it's randomized. I prefer working on mornings in the weekends so that I can go out or rest. That'll never happen by a long shot. No OT on Sundays, But even so, there are tons of admissions and discharges. People rushing to discharge before the counter close, people rushing to admit for the exact same reason. Especially children. Because the other wards are all busy, ours become full once more after a few discharges.Children are automatically always admit into single rooms unless it's full, then they go to other rooms. Me? I get to help a prof to assist him in inserting a branulla for a baby.
Since the staff nurse is busy getting ready with the prof to prepare the trolley, I was tasked to carry the baby into the room. After requesting permission from the mother, I carried the baby over and here comes the waaah... Man, that baby really have good lungs. I have to lean in towards the prof just to hear what he's saying. The prof, knowing I was new, instructed me to hold the baby tight and make sure the legs aren't going to kick him. So after we wrapped the baby tightly, I grabbed hold of the baby body, pinning one of his arm, then because his legs are kicking out non-stop, I have to lean in slightly so that my upper body is pressing on the baby's legs. It took the prof 4 times to get a nice vein, and even so, we can't guarantee is a vein because of how much blood is flowing. As prof nicely puts it, "It may be an artery, or we hit the jackpot, a big vein." Then he asked me normal stuff, like "You're new, aren't you?" "Where do you stay?" "Which school did you study at?" Well, since we were waiting for urgent blood results, I answered him that I'm nervous because even though it has been a month, I feel that there's many things to catch up on. He just said, "Everything is a learning process girl. What? You think one month is enough to learn everything? Just relax and do what you think is right." When he saw that I used my dominant hand, "You're a lefty, girl?" I answered, "Um, yes. Is that a bad thing?" Then he said, ""Why do you say that?? I shrugged and said, "People used to think I'm all weird..." And, I'm not sure if you noticed this or not, but leftys have major disadvantages on writings and dressings. The only time when we shine is CBD insertion, where we face the patient with our back. The prof shrugged and said,"Doesn't matter. It's not a bad thing. And leftys are often smart people." Judging from my background, it's not all rainbows and sunshines, but I'll take his word for it.
So after two whole hours of "striking the jackpot", as he put it, I gave the baby back to the mother and I had a chance to change a Redivac drain bottle. Double clamp, unlock the screw, put in a new bottle, reverse the process and voila. ^^
Cryo-cuff is something new for me. I attended to this patient and she's a very sweet lady. She never said anything about the cuff not being cold, I just felt it as I sent her to the bathroom and said,"Madam, the cuff is not cold." And she said, "It's not. Hasn't been cold for a long time." So I volunteered that I'll change it, so I took the whole thing and dumped the whole of water, leaving a minimal amount and start to fill it with ice. Now, here's the part where I'm in a pinch. The ice is nothing but a huge chunk of frozen block and I couldn't find jugs or cup to scoop the loose bits. So, armed only with a steel pick, I just chipped away at the large chunk and scoop all the loose bits with my hands. And within minutes, my hands became frozen and numb as all my veins constricted, but what to do. I kept chipping away and repeat and rinse the process until I got a suitable amount of ice that has been filled and I lug the whole thing back to the patient, and apologized to her for being late. But she just waved my apology away and said I was just doing my job. A staff took pity on me and helped me with the Cryo-cuff, then she asked me, "What took you so long? Did you scoop the ice with your bare hands?" And I told her I asked some girls in the pantry and they told me that you have to use your bare hands to scoop the ice. She frowned and said,"Don't listen to them. Just grab a spare jug and use it to scoop the ice. Your hands won't feel so pain." Geesh, looks like I could've saved myself some trouble.
That's all for today. God, I got to keep myself from being naive.
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