The life of a Nurse

The reason I travel around the country side (apart from to see the country side) is because, mostly, the work is easier for FAR better pay! Does that sound greedy? Maybe it is, but too bad.. I need the money to pay for my new house anyway! So I come to this tiny little town about 350ks out of the city and it has been chaotic! Every night i have assisted in delivery! (apart from tonight, but I guess I shouldn't speak too soon, there is still 3 hours of my shift left!). I think there must have been a blackout in this town about 9 months ago...
Don't get me wrong the experience has been wonderful... but there was a reason I never became a Midwife... so much pain and suffering really turns my stomach inside out. I can cope with blood, cuts, car accidents, screaming kids, poohy nappies (from all ages), all kinds of wounds, but something about watching that part of the body stretch to unimaginable proportions.... just doesn't sit right!
Last night's birth was one of the worst. the mother was in so much pain that she went into shock.. she was screaming/crying, sweating and shaking so much the whole bed was moving. I am very proud of these women, but doesn't anyone believe in good old fashion drugs anymore????? Some how I don't think anyone actually thoroughly prepares these young mothers for this experience... then they get to the hospital with their eyeballs popping out from the pain and there is no one here except a young RN who has never had children and a Midwife, who can't prescribe or administer drugs... good combination hey!
All i can say is when i finally decide to have kids, it will be in a CITY hospital and I will be booking my epidural!

I think I need a new career...
My boss keeps giving me night duties because i never say no. Maybe I should start.

Right now I'm in a tiny country hospital in Crystal Brook (South Australia).. it is quite cute actually. The only thing that scares me is it is the only acute hospital for quite a few hours either way on the highway, so any big accidents or emergencies would come straight here. So far none of that, but I still have 4 nights left! (also there is a pregnant mother who is 5 days overdue.... please god no)

Tonight all I have been doing is baby sitting.. dougal (what a name) beautiful 1 day old! (yes i am clucky!!) He wouldn't settle so I have been looking after him while his mum gets some well earned rest. Maybe i will get to have him tomorrow night too!

Did i say i was going to kick my own arse if i didn't post some pics?? I know I am naughty, but seems like when i get home I do more work than when i am away. I guess that still stems from the whole moving house sarga.. there is still quite a bit to be sorted.

Anyway I don't have much of anything exciting to tell so i will go and read more about everyone else's exciting lives!

take care

Tonight is my last night duty in Snowtown and i must say i have never 'worked' somewhere where they do so little work! I shouldn't complain because the last 2 months of my life have been exhausting. Anyway this hospital is like a huge nursing home.. do a few turns hand out a bunch of drugs and change a heap of wet pads... i seriously dread getting old.
So i was interested to come to snowtown because it has quite a rep in South australia. It is a tiny farming town which has a small supermarket, postoffice, pub and hospital. some years ago some serial killers were busted here. they had killed a heap of people and stored them in barrels inside an old bank vault. How freaky is that? So yes me being the sick and twisted individual i am, needed to see the town so took the work when it came up! The first night i attempted to walk to work, but nearly pissed myself at every bush!!
Anyway i best go and do some work.... what work there is to do!
Now hopefully when i get home my internet will be connected and i can load up some photos at last! (if i don't i will kick my own arse!)
take care

To my friends, if there are any left =) ( i know i barely started making friends then i was gone.. not a good start!!!)

I am sorry i haven't been writing but i have had a few months of complete chaos! I have been working in extreme remote areas which don't even give their nurses access to the net (yes i did have major withdrawals!).

When i arrived home, without thinking too much, i purchased my first home.. now i have to work my arse off to pay for it! *sigh*
So the last few months has been packing, working, packing, christmas, working, packing, new years, MOVING, unpacking and working.

Between the last lot of work and where i am at now i was assaulted as well... so i have had an interesting time, which would have been good to share, but pretty much impossible.

So that was my last few months! thank you to the people who noticed my absence.. now i have to catch up on your last few months... got lots of reading to do!

Hope everyone had a good christmas and new year.

Finally on my last night duty.. i really cant wait to get home. It is a beautiful place here but there is definitely no place like home and for some reason this week i have just missed it terribly.

It's been good tonight as far as time goes. Many nights this week i have been watching the clock and time almost stands still, but tonight has been different.

We had little emergency that passed half the night away which was pretty exciting! A young man and his friend went out deer hunting.. Myself, not being local had no idea there were even deers out here! Anyway they got their target and were in the process of skinning it when one man slipped and the freshly sharpened hunting knife almost sliced his thumb off. When he arrived at the hospital he was pale, bleeding everywhere and on the verge of passing out. in the midst of all this he could still crack a joke and smile, so i figured the cut may not be too bad.
His had was wrapped tightly in a shirt and a towel, which were both soaked with blood, but he had admitted that he had had about 6 cans of Bundy (alcohol thins the blood) so i continued to stay positive. When my off sider and i unwrapped the shirt dark red blood flowed freely down the patients arm, all over the bed and ran onto the floor. The laceration was long (about 8cm) and extremely deep, showing bone of the first finger. I could not believe he could still move his fingers... instantly i thought we would have to send him to the city for a blood transfusion and to have tendons repaired and the lot. The doctor arrived and despite the seriousness of the injury proceeded to stitch the laceration.. first he needed to stitch 2 large blood vessels which were pouring out blood. then 25 stitches later it was looking much better. After 4 hours in accident and emergency he walked out with his hand bandaged. He was so lucky, somehow missing all major tendons in his hand and wrist. Also enduring so much blood loss is incredible. They have a little machine here called an istat that does a quick blood analysis.. his hemoglobin level (Red blood cells) was quite good.. i really have no clue how!
That was my excitement for the night.. was quite interesting! Only 3 hours now and i will be on the road. It's only a 3 and a half hour drive back to the big smoke so hopefully i will be home before lunch time.. I'm sure by then i will be dying for a good sleep!
I will post pics and stuff when i get home!

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to
ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably
more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so
remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best
friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry
because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you
love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've
never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of
happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end,
be afraid that it will never begin. ~anonymous~

Someone has started this neat little challenge where you are given a letter and are asked to come up with 10 things you like starting with that letter. I thought it was pretty cool so i asked my newly made friend for a letter! He gave me B and these were the results! (sorry they aren't very interesting!)

1. Beads! - making jewelry is one of my most favourite things!

2. Bunnies!! - i have 3 precious babies!

3. Batteries - Where would you be without batteries?????

4. Bananas - Yumo

5. Brains? - (if i had one i could think of more good things starting with the letter B!)

6. Birthdays! - any excuse for a party will do

7. BBQ's - Nothing better than sitting on the beach on a hot day with a beer and snag!

8. bullshit artists - they crack me up!

9. BOOBS! i love my boobs and every woman should love their boobs too!

10. lastly Blonde's.. of course! (for many reasons)

I've been reminded tonight of how much i adore the ocean. The little town i am working in is right on the southern ocean of australia and tonight there is the most refreshing ocean breezing blowing through the entire town. It would be impossible for me to explain the smell.. but it is gorgeous! That isnt the best part, after the couple of stinkin' hot days it is lovely to have a cool night. There aren't as many bugs tonight either... as i type that i can see 5 mozzies the size of small ponys on the wall in front of me!
I've decided when my shift is finished (as long as i am not totally exhausted) I am going to go for a drive down the limestone coast just for a looksie.. hopefully i will have some really pretty pics to show everyone when i get home! So despite the boring work, bad hospital food and sucky computers/internet, it is a really lovely place!!

has been a weird day today. It has been hot. REALLY hot. It is still hot now and it is almost 230am. There are bugs everywhere, i swear i have been bitten a dozen times by mozzies... this is sposed to be a darn hospital and i feel like i am out camping by a swamp!!
Earlier in the shift one of my patients started yelling out (not out of the ordinary). He was sitting on the side of his bed with his PJ shirt unbuttoned all the way down and a tie tightly knotted around his neck. When i asked him 'why the tie?' he said "my neck gets cold" well.. that makes sense.. the tie keeps his neck warm, but he wont button up his shirt. He then went about asking me if i would like to escort him to the dance. Well of course i told him i would, as long as he would do up his shirt and would go back to bed to get some good rest first. He has been snoring ever since, thank goodness, i dont know if i could cope with too much dementia tonight (it's starting to rub off).
Towards the end of the shift yesterday my co worker got smacked in the mouth by a little old lady going bunta because she had soaked her bed and didn't want us trying to change her. So ya know we were the worst 'Kids' out and we were just there to make her miserable. Of course we have nothing better to do with our time than wipe bums... sigh.
Ok as i type i am flicking bugs off of me and scratching myself to the point where i am bleeding.. surely there must be bug repellent in this place somewhere.. wouldn't ya think? Ok yea i have bitched enough for now =)
wait wait, one last bitch.. why is there no emote for itchy??? ok, bitchy will do!!!

ok, it's fair to say that there is a lot of shit being passed through emails all around the world.. but surely there is only soooo many emails you can forward in one day. I reckon i get about 100 a day, and they drive me crazy!
Some i read, depending on who they are from... there are a few people i know who only pass on good ones. And then myself, well i rarely foward unless something totally cracks me up.
Just tonight i received this forward from my cousin. I thought if i posted the link on here i could express to the LJ community how crazy Aussies are!
It is a little funny, but thought it might be entertaining (or educational) for Non-aussies.. If you have the time to have a gander.. enjoy!

http://smartasses.org/aussiequiz.html

I got 18/20 and this is the phrase it gave me..

You're a little ripper!
You have a near perfect grasp of the colourful gab and can probably make yourself understood in most social occasions, such as Gazza's weekly Barbie... but I bet you can't throw a boomerang!

Yes i am Aussie and i still dont know all the lingo.. some of it is just bull shit. If you do the Quiz let me know how you go!

Prime example of how NOT to run a hospital. One nurse asleep on the couch and the other in front of the computer listening to her ipod.
Don't worry I have one spare ear.. not that I'm paying much attention!
Wow that sounds extremely negligent doesnt it? Oh well that's what you get for making people stay awake all night.. its just not natural.

Another night... at least this one hasn't been as boring so far. I say that and look at the clock and its still only 130am... omg time goes sooo slowly when you are bored to tears. I will make it my goal to work out this LJ stuff while i am on this week of nights because i know when i return home i will be busy.
So anyway, so far tonight i have realised that life sucks.. actually i already knew that... i don't want to sound.. uh pathetic and ya know like i am feeling sorry for myself because really im not. I actually have a pretty decent life of course, with all the normal hick ups, but i am quite certian not many people have perfect lives. The reason i was being so down on life is simply the fact that you work... you work hard most of your life! if you are lucky you have a good family and fun childhood, but hey that goes way too fast, then like i said you work. So you work for 50 years? unless you are a dole bludger like some of my friends (no offence intended). Sooo like i was saying after 50 years of hard work you retire.. mmmm would that be nice retirement. That is if you even make it to retirement, a lot of people dont!! Then some people may get 5 or 10 good years of retirement (compair that to 50 years of hard service) then they are in a nursing home having someone like me wiping their arses. Well if there is one place i don't want to go it is there.
Then you have people like the man who came into the hospital tonight. He appears reasonably fit, never had health problems then at 40 he is having major heart surgery and is in and out of hospital every second day since. He is so sick.. and for what reason? Never smoked or drank, and for all i know he probably goes to church every sunday... it amazes me(also makes me worry about whats in store for me, i am definitely not the worlds most healthy person!!). Sometimes i wonder why i ever became a nurse, it is extremely depressing at times.
Anyway i guess i should go and do some work and stop bitching about the world.
everyone look after yourselves PLEASE!!!!

Ok, this is my first entry and for anyone who may read this i appoligize now!
It's 1:20 am (GMT+9:30), which to some may not seem that late... or early depending on how you want to look at it.. but i feel like i have been awake for days (not drug assisted). I am a registered nurse working for a high demand nursing agency.. and needless to say i am soooo sick of night duty.

I have already made a pit stop to make a coffee.. and i don't even drink coffee on a normal day.

If you cant tell already my journal entries are going to be all over the place (One reason i appoligized at the start) so i am really sorry if they are hard to follow.. but seriously i am sure my brain patterns are erratic when i am doing nights.. which is really scary for my patients I'm sure =)

I don't know why i am writing in here.. I cant even begin to imagine why anyone would want to read about my life! Maybe it's because i feel the need to vent sometimes and you know all the patient confidentiality rules and all that moo poo makes it hard to talk. Ive also spent a little time looking at a few of other peoples journal entries and they all seem pretty cool (I'm sure mine wont match up).

Anyways right now i am working in a small rural town in South Australia, pretty much in the middle of bum fuck nowhere! The hospital is really tiny... there are only 2 acute patients which equals 2 extremely bored nurses!!
Not everywhere i work is boring though. I recently returned from Tasmania which was just an awesome experience. All of my days off i spent bush walking and visiting some of the most gorgeous places i have ever been! I will post pics eventually.

kk, another pit stop .. the coffee went right through me!!!! i know too much information.

Right now i am really annoyed because i have the worst habit of clicking on things and losing what i have typed and i have already done that a couple of times while trying to write this journal entry.....

Oh well... what was i going to say ( or more so what did i already write about that i have to remember????) Oh yeah.. I will update my profile when i get home but until then it will have to stay boring! Sad i know, but hey i am lucky to even get email all the way out here!!

until my next entry... xxx