First of all, yes. We DID set the wedding date and booked the venue. We are getting married on Saturday, May 15, 2010 at Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Center. It will be from 6-11pm. And I have a bunch of wonderful fun ideas that will have everyone raving about our little happy day. Because you all know I can't just do what everyone else does...gotta have some flava in the mix! Like grape koolaid! :)

And as you know, this was my first week of work as an RN! Tuesday I took one patient...a post-op day 2 CABG x2. Extubated that morning. My job was to shoot cardiac outputs/indexes, titrate his neo and nitro drips for perfusion without getting too high of pressures that could possibly rupture the vein grafts. It was a little hard being back because I had been gone for a while. Some things had changed. Had to refamiliarize myself with the new pumps and new beds that we got. But it was good.

Wednesday I had the same patient, plus another pt. He was an ARDS, multi-organ failure, septic...among many other problems. They had him vented at 100% FiO2 with pressures and volumes 4-5 times the amount that they would normally have on a patient. It was a very complicated case and a very sick guy.

Today I had the same 2 patients. It was different because the Ethics Committee was called to discuss the plan of care of my ARDS patient, so myself and my preceptor went to sit in the meeting. After an exhaustive search for family, surrogates, anyone who could make a decision, the committee convened with the treating medical team to discuss withdrawing life supporting measures. I won't get into all, but the doctor on the committee asked us all what our thoughts were. I was even able to voice my opinion about the situation, although I had only cared for the pt for only 2days. The final decision at the end of the meeting was that those measures be withdrawn and comfort care instituted.

It was an interesting experience to be able to sit in and participate in that meeting. I even heard words we learned in nursing school like "beneficence." They still had to bring up the recommendations to the Chief of Staff and Director of the hospital, so I don't think anything will be done today. I'm off tomorrow but work Saturday, so we'll see if they do anything.

So that was my week in a nutshell!