To begin with, morning is often busy, but as the profs gradually came, the patients are discharged. I still have my same assignment, so I know my patients a little. I got tested for my ward rounds, and I missed out on my operations. D-Darn it. I thought it wasn't important, nevertheless, thanks to knowing my patients, I know what procedure or diagnosis they have, just not the date. Let me round them up in brief summary for you.
* This is my overall report, please note that I'm only giving a brief overview. All information are confidential so they are edited.
Patient 1 -
> To encourage ambulation
> To complete antibiotic doses
> Daily dressing
Patient 2 -
> To encourage oral fluids
> To encourage ambulation
> 3 pints over 24 hours
Patient 3 -
> To start chemo
Patient 4 -
> KIV Discharge
Easy. If you compare my three patients, the 1st one look tough, actually he isn't. Among my four patients, the second one is the hardest. She's the old lady that I mentioned in my few earlier posts. She is dependent on every single people. The previous day, prof was yelling that we need to get her walking, so today, we tried. After her shower, we tried to make her stand with support, but she's not helping. She had a walking frame, so we trained her to walk. Except... she looked at us all funny and can't seem to walk. !!!!! She... had....forgotten...how...to...WALK!!!! Dear God, have mercy on me. Biting down my lip, I instructed her, one foot forward, then the other foot, then moved backwards til you reach the bed. I even forced her to sit on the bed for a minute before letting her lie down, because the prof said she's being too lazy. One whole month, from good to bad to worse. My old uncle, he may have a stroke for three months, but he was determined to get better to go back home, which he succeeded. This lady, she isn't determined to go home. Her family are, but no once could take care of her, so she had no choice but to stay.
The next challenge was my first patient. His dressing proves to be a challenge. Yes, it's a simple dressing, but what I'm shocked at is the size of the wound. Excision of abdominal skin excess, like a tummy tuck, but the wound is HUGE. It's like a bikini line, a long straight cut from one end of his hip to the other, with dozens of stitches. I have to use tons of cotton balls and slowly dab them. Not easy to run in a straight line cause my cotton balls tend to drop. And by the end of just dabbing, my whole arms are shaking. Not from tiredness but form the strain and patience of dabbing the long cut to make sure it's clean. The patient is a nice guy, even said to me that his tummy looks nice in front, all flat and macho looking, only the side is a little bumpy cause they haven't extract the whole extra skin folds yet. Out of curiosity, since dressing takes a long time, I asked him why did he go for this operation and he told me he used to be fat, weighing 183 kg (!!!!!). He even showed me a picture of his before and after shots, totally different looking. I see why he goes for the surgery. When he went on a diet, he lost so much weight til his skin are all loose, really flabby looking. He even ask me whether his belly button is on the right place and I went, "Why do you say that?" And he said cause last time, his belly button used to be really low, like drooping over his privates on the skin folds. I assured him it's in the right place. Funny guy, but he really appreciated the work that we do. Too bad for his four drains, since they're still draining, not much, but can't take them all out yet. While cleaning up, my colleague forgotten to take her scissors, and he gave it back to us. Some patients would've run away with our scissors, but he gave it back to us. And those scissors are sharp.
Why oh why whenever I follow that prof I end up getting yelled by him? Everyone keep telling me don't worry, he's impatient, and sometimes you can never tell what is on his mind. But he makes me depressed. Although I try not to keep it to heart because otherwise I might dislike him, and I can't afford it, because he's one of the famous profs. You can never avoid him. So, after getting yelled by him, I swore to myself to keep up with his pace, at least I didn't screw up with his blood taking this time.
Then we got an emergency involving a seizure, or so we thought. All of us abandoned our current work and rushed to the site. I was lucky in a way I was near the site scene and I just finished with my job of removing the branulla needle, cause it was just outside. The housekeeping staff was having a seizure and our Sister rushed to give her a Valium jab, while the Matron tried to herd curious onlookers away. Between four nurses, we carried the staff to the nearest bed and treated her while she calmed down. The only good thing was it wasn't a seizure, but a psedo-seizure, triggered by stress. Well that's a relief. I nearly had to rush for the oxygen tank and mask.
Then comes the chemo for my 3rd patient. Preparing the chemo is straightforward, but it's the first time I'm going hands on from step 1 til the end. I must've been traumatized by that prof earlier on, cause my senior said, "Chill, kiddo. Deep breaths, okay, and let's go slow. He's not here so relax. Just talk to me." Kytril for anti-vomiting, dexamethasone for allergies/reactions. Okay, Get the flushing ready, get the pre-med, and up goes the chemo drugs.
I came back home to find a surprise waiting for me, in a mail courier bag, wrapped in plastic and protective bubble wrap. I ordered the last House of Night book online, but I didn't expect the book to come so fast, since my invoice said it'll come on the 11th. Well, yay. I got it at last and I finished reading it by dinner time. It's sad that there'll be no more House of Night anymore, like Harry Potter. Naruto too. After a long time, more than 10 years since 1997, with all the pseudo endings and never ending conflicts, it also came to an end. I may not be as Naruto crazed as before, but I grew up with Naruto, sort of. My first 'real' story is actually a Naruto fanfiction, but with my own characters, mixed with Final Fantasy. I actually still have the original story with me, written in single-lined exercise books that you use in secondary school. It spanned to a saga, but never published and ends with a cliffhanger, since I was planning to write a fifth book but it never happened. Super thanks to t, PC Cast and Kristin Cast for introducing me to their fabulous House of Night world and Masashi Kishimoto, one of my main inspirations which got me into writing, besides JK Rowling, LJ Smith, Anthony Horowitz, Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, Cornelia Funke and Benedict Jacka.
My House of Night series collection, completed at last.
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