Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Phew....dodged a bullet...

Recently I've been telling DH....keep your cool. Be the "yes" man. You don't have to like everything they're doing. You don't have to agree with all the decisions. Just fly below the radar and do what you have to do. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't make yourself a target.

Good thing he listens to me. They did the first round of layoffs at his workplace today and a couple of his close co-worker/friends got hit. Good guys. I can't imagine what they're going to do now. I Hope they had some sort of plan in place. I feel badly for them but at the same time am glad that DH dodged this bullet. There may come a time when that might not be the case but for now we're chugging along.

It's crazy days I say.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Weren't you wondering?

I'm sure you've all been hanging around just waiting to find out how the test went. It sucked. You know how after the fact you could kick yourself for not paying attention to the small details? Like you were so busy thinking about the big picture - understanding the physiology - not really worrying about the minutiae. Yeah...well that came back to bite me in the butt.

Well, at least it's done. All I can do now is hope it went better than I think it did. I won't know the results until next week. Could they torture us any more? How long does it take to run a freakin' scantron through a machine?

I'm curious to know how many of the answers I changed wound up being right or wrong. They say you should never change your answer and to always go with your first instinct. I didn't really follow those rules today.

Keep you posted!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Huh?

I've been told that because I don't have kids I'll never understand about having/raising kids. OK. Well, if this is an example of how to have kids then I think I'll take my ignorance and live happily.

On the way to the library this morning. See a mom who is out running with her kid in one of those running strollers. Usually would not even blink an eye except that this woman is RUNNING ON THE ROAD into oncoming traffic WHEN THERE IS A PERFECTLY GOOD SIDEWALK right next to her to be used.

I say....ignorance is bliss!!!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Giving it my all....

Goodness. I can honestly say that I've never felt so compelled to work this hard in my life. Since making this decision to pursue an advanced nursing degree I've really been working my butt off to put my best foot forward for the application process. In hindsight....if I would have known what exactly I was signing on for I might have decided to space things out a little. In any case...it's too late. I'm 100% invested. I've never studied so hard in my life. Never felt so pressed to achieve a goal. Some days I'm not sure I'm cut out for this.

Not only do I have high expectations for myself but it seems that everyone else around me has the same high expectations. I guess I put on a good face :) If only all the people who think I'm the schiznicks could talk to the admissions committee on my behalf I'd be in like Flynn!

In the meantime I'm buried in the books. I've got physiology coming out of my ears and when this first test is over on Wednesday I'll be able to gauge whether or not all the effort was worth it. But no time to mull it over...I'll be busy preparing for my certification exam.

Whose idea was this again???

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Mere mortals....

Just a quick note today. Been thinking a lot about life and death recently. Maybe because I've been witness to too many sad events this week involving people who should have lived much, much longer. Makes me think about how I want to live my life....right now....for the moment...as much as I possibly can. Because you just don't know.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

So you think free healthcare is the answer....

The healthcare system in the US may not be the ideal system - let's face it...is there such a thing as a perfect one? From an ex-emergency dept nurse I can tell you there are about a million things that need fixing! However, if you came to my ED and were complaining of chest pain and especially if you had just recently failed a stress test (leaving out a bunch of factors here) I do believe that you'd be triaged in appropriately and that we'd have you back, EKG done, on a cardiac monitor with O2 on and nitro at the bedside. You'd probably already even had your aspirin before the ED doc made it in to see you. Now, if all your tests were inconclusive i.e. no acute EKG changes, enzymes were negative etc you'd probably still get admitted for serial enzymes and maybe you'd even get a diagnostic cath and/or an echo ('cuz you failed that stress test).

Contrast that to showing up at an ED complaining of chest pain and then literally waiting 8 hours before the doc even sees you! Your hospital doesn't do caths so you have to be transported to another facility. But wait....there's a waiting list for caths and heaven forbid you're actually having a cardiac event. I guess they don't measure door to PCI times up in Canada. So you're stuck in the ED because the hospital is capped. Because there is only one hospital to serve a city of almost a quarter of a million people. You're stuck because the can't send you home (your blood pressure is swinging crazily back and forth - diastolic anywhere from 80-120) and they have to wait until there's availability in the cath lab in another city so they can get you there.

I have to shake my head. I think there are many things wrong with the healthcare system here in the US but in comparision to the scenario I described above I think we're doing pretty darn well!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Tapping into my mind....

My biological clock is broken.

I couldn't believe it when I saw this headline....it's like this woman has the direct link to my brain.

This is me!!! (minus the dogs and the fact I'm already married)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Little piece of heaven...

I love my new studio. Have I said that enough? I swear it's just the best little space I could have dreamed of and I have my DH to thank for making it happen.

Here's a pic of me working in my beady space.

It's such a pleasure to have space where you can feel creative. The airy-ness and lightness of this space just makes you want to spend more time in there. Having said that....off to light up the torch!