walking in the rain...

4 nights of work done. always nice to have the 4 day stretch behind me. i woke up this morning after just 3 hour sleep to get to the 12:30 dog walk. when i woke i kinda had a feeling it would just be blossom and i. it was raining fairly well...just put on the rain gear and headed out anyway. was nice though, it started clearing a bit and right now it is clear skies outside. i keep checking for northern lights. they are difficult to see in the city of anchorage and the moon is pretty bright. doesn't hurt to take a peek outside though from time to time.
last night at work wasn't difficult, but a bit frustrating. i was in my little icky skinned patients room slathering the poor kid with various creams. apparently my co-workers were sitting at the desk deciding that i would be the one to take the admit. it was only a peds admit, but then the charge is hovering inside my room as i'm doing the cares and trying to talk to me about my admit (who another nurse was already taking report on)...i was just trying to wash my hands and take off the scabby/bloody gown i had on. i was quite annoyed...i mean couldn't this wait til i washed my hands??? grrrrrr....!! the other nurse didn't want the admit i guess cause she had already been there for 3 days...never mind that it was my fourth...as if that matters!! we both had 3 patients each...it would have been nice to have been in on this planning. the other nurse then gave me the silent treatment when i asked why the fuss, why didn't she just take the patient if it was such a rush and i was busy with my patient. we sorted it out later after i made a few jokes about her not speaking for several hours. all was fine by the morning...you work closely with people over long 12 hour shifts in stressful situations at times...people get cranky.
worked in the adult icu the first 3 nights. on the third night i finally felt for the first time that the new budget busting electronic icu could be helpful. it was really just dependant on the doctor i guess...the one that was on was very interactive and involved. he listened to you and checked back in to see how things were doing. if you've never heard of "eicu"s....the idea is that there is one doctor who sits in a room with moniters and computers with a nurse and a secretary and can care for a great deal more patients this way. the idea up here i believe is to connect our eicu with remote places in alaska so that patients get better care sooner. there aren't enough intensivists to go around. we have the intensivist in the box and then we have another intensivist that admits new patients, drops lines and intubates and such. all the rooms have little remote cameras so the doc in the box can asses the patient from his room if necessary. i've been told that the cameras are so good one could check pupil response and the doc could see it. anyway...most of the time it's just been a bother and i would have prefered they spend the money in another way. this was the first night i actually could see how this could work and work well. it's still only as good as the doc in the box though, really.
i'm getting a bit nervous..the pictures haven't loaded yet...will i lose all. one never knows. i'm watching letterman. lots of jokes about himself. guess he had some relations with some staff member or 's. humor is the only way through it at this point. his wife must be hating it all right now and those who he has made fun of in the past for the same thing in thier lives must be loving it.
he just had steve martin and martin short on...they say they got together with tom hanks and some other star? anyway...they were saying they all planned thier colonoscopy's together and hung out together playing poker the night before, drinking the prep. of course, steve martin said they weren't all at the table at the same time. they made a party of it. boys...they never grow up.
the picture thing isn't going well. i may have to give it up and just go to bed and try again tomorrow.
i headed to the dog park this past weekend between shifts which the dogs always love. rio is still limping a bit so get a rest today. the other day before i started back to work kelly called so we did a loop in south bivouac called spencer loop. i always love it....great views of town and beyond a nice day, which it was. denali was hiding, but the alaska range was readily seen and very pretty. hopefully i can load a few pictures soon for blog and tell...
oh well...internet conncection issues tonight i guess..will try later.