I'm home early from work. I started feeling sick yesterday after I called my assistant manager to put me on the schedule. Go figure. I woke up a couple times in the middle of the night still feeling a little icky...but decided to sleep it off, convinced I was going to feel better once it was time to wake up for work. So I wake up, get ready, still feelin a little icky but do head into work. I was okay for a little bit, but then started feeling really bad. I only lasted 4 and 1/2 hours...better than nothing.

So anyways, my manager came to me and said "It's no secret...I want you on this unit." And telling me the position is mine if I want it. And also gave me the option of doing Versant. I've decided that I am going to work at the VA. I'm not going to get an ICU position anywhere else. Now the decision that needs to be made is whether or not I'm going to do the Versant program.

Versant:
pros:
20 week orientation
more classroom time and bonding with other new grads
longer time to 1. be on days and 2. get more comfortable

cons:
doesn't start 'til March (but this could be a pro, too).

No Versant:
pros:
get to dive right into the job
less time working with preceptor "hovering" over me (that's what my preceptor, Julie, said haha)
another Valor didn't do it and she's doing amazingly. Julie compared me to her.
I would start in February

cons:
have to go to nights sooner (only 3 month orientation)

so I've been asking around at those who did and didn't do it. some have really liked it, but Julie said those nurses that didn't weren't very comfortable in their abilities and benefitted from the program. she doesn't think i really need it and said the only benefit that I would get out of it is the extra orientation time which would enable me to stay on day shift longer.

hrm...what to do...

So I looked all over the place trying to find cheaper red shoes that made me happy. Didn't happen. I fell in love with the above shoe when I saw it. Sooo...today I went to Steve Madden and got these babies!! Loooves 'em. Yeah, they're a little more pricy, but I plan on getting some use out of them.

So yeah, I'm happy. But now I don't know if I want to still wear my dress. I'll be keeping my eyes open for other black dresses, but if not, I'll just stick to the one I have already.

Off to dinner now with my parents and Kee...mmmm SUSHI! Num nums! :)

Last presentation of nursing school
Part 2 Theory Paper
Theory Final
ATI Exam
Last Clinical Conference/Potluck

...almost there!! :)

I'm watching this show on MTV about these bands who are competing while playing Rockband. But like playing live while playing the game.

I NEEEED to be on this show.

So yay, my clinical was done as of last Thursday. It was a good experience learning all that time management and prioritization crap, but it just made me realize that I never ever want to work med-surg, let alone orthopedics or anything like that.

Went back to to work yesterday after over a month. It was sooo good being back in the ICU. I jumped right back into the swing of things and took care of a level II patient that I thought was stable but the night nurse failed to tell me that he frequently as chest pain. So we did the whole workup, but the EKG showed no significant changes from his previous EKG. I just monitored him closely. I also had a level III patient. He had a nephrectomy done the day before yesterday. I guess they fluid overloaded him in the OR because when he came out to our unit, they extubated him then RE-intubated him 2 mins later. So my job yesterday was to wean his Fentanyl and Versed and work with respiratory therapy to plan for possible extubation. ABGS looked good after weaning his FiO2. However, before I left they decided to let him rest and they would extubate this morning. He was a hard intubation and his airway was very edematous, so they wanted to make sure they had a full team ready with recemic epi and all that good stuff at at he bedside just in case. Man I wish I was there this morning to see if they did extubate.

Then my preceptor tells me yesterday..."So what's your plan after graduation?" and I told her what I've been telling everyone.

"You know, we all love you here and everyone says nothing but good things about you. We all want you to work with us. Bobette [the nurse manager] is saving you a position if you want it."

So yes, I did apply to some other hospitals and will apply to more, but VA is sounding better and better, especially with an ICU position with co-workers who I love. But I've still got a couple months to decide. We shall see.

The wedding coordinator from Casa Real emailed me yesterday with a quote. It's almost $40,000 for the facility, the ceremony, the food, drinks, and the coordinator. That doesn't include lighting, flowers, and all that other crap that weddings need to have.

Even though I love this place, I definitely need to look at others.

Le sigh.

I loved it.

I'm still not giving up on it though.

But it's a good idea I'll be saving til 2010. I hope you guys can wait that long. haha.

So we may be pushing back the wedding to May 2010. Kee and I visited Casa Real in Pleasanton yesterday. Gorgeous!! The look of the event center, the ballroom, the Sun Garden...it's all what I want. I need to look at other places, too, but this one is def my #1. So then we talked to the coordinator and pretty much everything this time next year is book...except for Sept 11th and Halloween. And some Fridays and Sundays which I don't want. And it's pretty pricey. So we figured, let's wait some more, save, and get a Saturday date that we want.

...then Kee jokes, "We should do it on your birthday."
Well I don't think my birthday falls on a Saturday in 2010. Let me check.
(So I whip out the calendar and sure enough, MAY 01, 2010 IS A SATURDAY.
Then I get all excited about getting married my bday. And try to get all deep and meaningful about it.
Well it'd be really a nice tribute to my parents since it IS the day I came into this world and this will be the day they're giving me away.
"And I'll be able to get an anniversary present on your birthday." he says
AAAANNNND I'LL be getting TWO presents! Yay!

So we need to look at a couple more places but if we do decide to do it at Casa Real, May 01, 2010 will be the officially set date. :)

I know I've been MIA. I come on here to check if anyone has written something, but then I can't get myself to sit here and actually type anything. So here I am. It's early. I did my 4 12-hour shifts since Thursday. I was exhausted yesterday. But of course, I couldn't sleep in today. It was habit for me to wake up at 5am. Then I just laid there and waited for Kee to wake up. He left for work about a half hour ago. And here I am, drinking coffee and eating oatmeal. Well, forcing myself to eat oatmeal. I hate the stuff.

Well, it is Tuesday October 28 and as of yesterday I have 2 more shifts to go. I did WORK this weekend with my 36 hours of clinical. Wake up, get ready, spend almost 13 hours at O'Connor working my ass off, come home, wash up, sleep. And then wake up to do it all over again. Saturday was fine. I was stoked to work with my other preceptor, Mary. Then Sunday was good. Surprisingly I had a lot of energy. And we even snuck off to get Japanese food for all of us working that day.

Yesterday though...I was exhausted. I worked with my other preceptor, Nilo. The day started off crazy because we had an admission that came in around 630 with a L Femoral Neck fracture. The admission hadn't been done yet, the chart wasn't done yet, and we had no idea when she was going in for surgery.

...i hate oatmeal...

Anyways, so of course that was our patient. So we were trying to get everything ready on her and go see our other 3 patients. We finally got settled around 10. Then I had to discharge 1 of them. And then after lunch I got a post-op Total Hip and a transfer from PCU s/p acute intracranial bleed.

So I'm assessing my new patients and trying to get them settled and all of a sudden the unit goes dark. All the power is off. Within a few seconds the emergency generator is supposed to go off.

It didn't.

And JACHO is right down the hallway.

So I'm watching the surveyors and they walk away. They were supposed to come to our unit next. We had spent all morning preparing for them. They were gone. And the power was still off. water was off, too. We had no idea what was going on.

So now I've got a post-op patient whose pain is starting to climb up. Can't get her Morphine because the Pyxis is down. Can't get her ice packs 'cause the power is out. It was a mess. We finally got power in the nurses' station 45 minutes later or so. And then full power in all the rooms at around 5.

At first we thought it was a drill because of JACHO. Maybe they were testing our disaster preparedness. Obviously they failed that one. Come to find out later...they think there was a car accident and that a car hit a transformer and wiped out power in the neighborhood. And they're still investigating why the generator didn't come on.

Like I told Mary yesterday...it was like Grey's, but with no sex and no hot young patients. :)