Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Long time no post, I know. I seriously think about this blog a lot and am so sad that it is so terribly neglected, but since I am pretty much the only person who ever reads it, I figure I am not depriving anyone too terribly much. This blog is basically a public journal for me to someday print out and keep. And a reference manual for when I actually get around to scrapbooking--I have looked back to get info for my Australia album and it was really helpful.

What is up with the Amersons, you ask?? Truth be told, not a whole heck of a lot. Work, home, repeat.

We *are* heading off to Mazatlan in a couple weeks. Seven nights of rest and relaxation in the sun. Hanging out on the beach. Practicing my spanish. Ziplining again! This was one of Ethan's favorite ziplines, since you take off on land and end up on land (as opposed to being in a tree). You go back and forth over a huge ravine. Lots of fun last time, and the cheapest ziplining we have done. And there is a tequila factory tour at the end! With tequila shots! Not that I like tequila, but, when in Rome....

We are also going out to Sin City with Sabrina and Matt for a few days of sightseeing and drinks by the yard and fun shows. Ethan and I are heading down on Wednesday and home Saturday; the Merritts are doing Thursday through Sunday. So some time alone, some time together to play. Should be a good time.

Speaking of trips (and pretty much all I *do* on here is speak of trips....), Ethan has come up with a brilliant plan that involves the Amersons going to Australia this fall. October or November. It would be nice to be gone for a holiday, since we would use less vacation time. Maybe over Thankstgiving?? A two week trip. Definitely to Sydney, definitely going to Cairns, definitely spending one night on a dive boat on the reef. Did that with Mom, and it was incredible. Not sure if we would dive or just snorkel (probably just snorkel, but you can pay a couple bucks once you are there to do a single intro dive, like Mom did).

In Sydney, I want to stay at the same hotel we did before, Glenferrie Lodge. It reminds me of the Burrow in the Harry Potter books--all cobbled together buildings built overtime. Very cool.

Other than those few things, we are going to find amazing things that I did NOT do last time, so this can be a new and wonderful trip.

Hopefully. The airline tickets are half what I paid a few years ago, which is Ethan's big reason for us doing this NOW, as opposed to going to Europe in April 2010 and doing Australia sometime after that. We are going to reconvene in May of this year to decide. If we don't end up deciding that it is economically feasible, we will book our Europe trip using frequent flier miles and head there in April next year like we originally planned.

So, we have some travel plans. Some booked, some in my head, some being extensively researched via Google.

Have I mentioned how much I love google?? I use it a lot at work. Just yesterday, I googled "how much is a fifth of liquor", and discovered that it is a fifth of a gallon, 750cc. Pertinent to a pt's report of alcohol intake. I also use wikipedia sometimes to look up obscure syndromes that pts come in with. I get the dumbed down, plain speaking general idea of what it is. Works for me! I am the google queen. Seriously. If it is out there, I will find it. You just have to be creative in how you choose your search terms.

In other news, this is my very last day working as a floor nurse. I am working a 12 hour shift today. My last one. Did I mention that?? I am switching back to being 100% discharge nurse.

My job as the discharge nurse. I am actually called the UDF, which stands for unit discharge facilitator. A mouthful, to be sure. UNIT, because I belong to a certain floor (as opposed to a medical service, like following the ortho pts through the hospital, etc) DISCHARGE, pretty straightforward; FACILITATOR--means pretty much that I don't *DO* anything.....I make sure that everyone else knows what THEY need to do in order to get a patient out. I do actually DO things.....but a lot of what I do is spread information around. Tell the doctors how long it will be before a pt clears physical therapy, tell the nurses that their patient is not going to surgery today, tell the PT which patients can go home if they are cleared by PT for mobility, tell the social worker which patients need a nursing home, and when they will be ready.

I do a lot of supersleuthing through electronic charts to find out interesting and pertinent information on patients--for example if they have a huge drinking history (likely to go into alcohol withdrawal while they are in the hospital), or if they are homeless or something like that. Lots of detective work.

I make rounds with the doctors on over a dozen teams (depending on the day, we may have patients from 8 different orthopedic teams, 4 surgery teams, otolaryngology, neurosurgery, neurology, oral surgery, etc, etc) at 6 in the morningish, then I lead a meeting at 8:15 with the charge nurse, social worker, PT or OT, financial counselling, etc to tell everyone what the plan is for each patient.

Throughout the day, I call doctors and all sorts of people to get the things done that need to be done so that the patients all progress towards discharging from the hospital. SOmetimes I make appointments for patients or get people into respite (special medical shelter for homeless people) or find clinics for someone to get wound care, etc.

Lots o fun. I work with a good group, and when the regular people are around we have a great time. Well, it *is* work, but we deal with it well. I force everyone to look at pictures of my neices and nephew, the SWer makes us watch videos of her neice doing gymnastics, we all hear about the love lives (or lack thereof) of the single people....good times.

Anyway....epic post.