Pointy Finger Index

Typing isn't very easy when you have a well-bandaged finger in the air... so I'll keep this to some dot points and pictures [sorry for the repeat, Al]... [pictures might be a bit much for some folks to handle]

- Sat morning -

- 730-1600 shift -

Shower Resident 1.

Encourage Resident 2 to shower before breakfast.

A2 Residents in Dining Room for Breakfast.

Prepare Resident 3's coffee.

[[NOTE-the whole time I've worked at this facility, we've done the same routine: heat any main meals in the microwave before serving & heat drinks made with boiled water in the microwave. Resident 3 doesn't eat and drink them hugely fast, but I think the idea is she enjoys consuming the whole contents at a relatively warm tempetature.]]

Look in door-window of microwave - coffee is not boiling, foaming, frothing or looking overly agiatated.

Microwave beeps.

Take cup of extra-hot coffee out of microwave and place spoon in cup.

Eruption of contents over hand/s... owie owie ow...

Immediately put hands under cool water...

10minutes later EN [enrolled nurse], who was present at the time of accident, assesses hands, notes the affected areas, [thumb, pointer & middle finger from RIGHT hand worst affected, ring and pinky finger from LEFT], gets flaximide [? - burns cream] and covers both hands in cream.

Tells me to let it absorb for a while.

Wait with creamed hands looking at the work left to do in the kitchenette [I was early at this point].

Decide to put gloves on and using cold water finish dishes and kitchen cleaning.

This feels pretty good -- being in the cold water.

Go to Resident 3 who is now ready for a shower.

Showering with warm water = pain agony!!

Attempt to be as quick as possible.

Fail - resident chooses to rethink each item of clothing - of course.

Hands feeling not good.

Have a couple of sneaky peaks at right fingers, they look ok and still well creamed.

Finish Resident 3.

Right hand feeling less comfortable.

Take gloves off - right pointer has a small blister.

Decide to show the EN [about 40 minutes after accident].

EN calls the Boss, decide I should visit the doctors.

EN wraps pointer finger and re-creams other fingers.

Drive off with big bandaged finger in the air.

Doctor notes well done bandage by EN and approves of cream and bandages used.

Says he does not need to see under bandages.

Gives me a list of things to get from Chemist and says for me to come back Wednesday.

Do errands, go home and have lunch.

Fingers don't feel bad.

Pointer finger doesn't feel like anything,

Mid Afternoon - Saturday.

Notice my bandage keeps slipping off.

Decide a bit of air might help before re-creaming fingers.

Upon removal of bandage, this is the sight that I'm greeted by:

That's so attractive.

Continue to apply cream, paraffin strips, gauze and wrap in a dressing.

Saturday night my finger looks a bit more like this:

That is even more attractive.

Dubbed "Pregnant Finger", the blister is entering the end of the first trimester.

Must be a girl blister...

Weight [blister width] on the sides and long [creeping towards knuckles].

Photo's get quite the uproar of "POP IT!!!" from Facebook by my friends and their "qualified medical advice" - haha.

Pointer finger still doesn't feel like anything really.

Re-cream and strap all burnt fingers and head to bed.

- Sunday -

Was surprised blister survived the night.

Merry Christmas fabulousness-es...

All burnt finger bandages survive minus pinky finger bandage.

Felt this was a good achievement.

Attempt a shower - relatively successful.

Late afternoon, Pregnant Pointer looks like this:

Dead sexy.

As you can see - blister continues to grow.

Let it air, re-cream and strap and head out.

Slight ache in 2nd proximal knuckle...

[if counting from the tip, its the 2nd knuckle down].

Pop a couple of pain killers and head to bed.

- Monday -

Pregnant Pointer survives night #2 - amazed.

Keep finger unwrapped for morning.

Still growing.

Not hot to touch or any particular painful areas.

Took Pregnant Pointer to the cinema to see Tintin.

We both enjoyed it.

Finger starts to ache more when out for tea at classy McDonalds.

Check finger's progress:

You're major impressed right?

Me too...

I think we've reached full term.

And I think I might see if my doctor can see me tomorrow instead of Wednesday.

I don't really want to have to wait till I can say "I think Pointer's waters have broken!"...

Prayer would not go astray, my friends...

Chordae Tendineae... Heart Strings

I am constantly finding things that make my heart jump into my throat - like my is saying "Here's a little sneak peak of where you want to be" -- like God has put them in my path...

The two bigger things so far involve a book and a television show...

I have been reading this book for a while now, which is weird because when I'm totally involved and in-love with a book I usually don't put them down - but as I continue to read through this awesome book, I get such a bigger longing to be a trained midwife and to serve the Lord somewhere, Australia or overseas. It also makes me impatient to be already studying midwifery, and so perhaps dragging out reading this book is helping to delay that urgency... because in reality, I'm within a year of becoming a nurse. Shazzam!!!

The and the TV series featured on SBS called "Toughest Place to be a...", and Episode three focuses on a Midwife and her journey from working in well provided, relaxed and comfortable UK to stretched resources, overfilled and stressed Liberia. Oh my... *tear*

And thats just a little blurt about a part of my day to --- whomever reads this

Inspiration... Expiration...

This week was the first week that I felt I grasped the concept of a body system. Any body system. It was possibly most likely due to the new teacher we had. As of this second term at school, we've had one teacher no longer continue with us [perhaps she was only with us for the infection sections!?], and picked up two more - one who I absolutely LOVE!

The way she teaches... it grasps you into the world of the system or thing she is talking about. She constantly asks you questions throughout each session, and is aware if you are fading out from her talking then she needs to get us to get up, move around, or do a quiz. She knows that if you don't have your mind stimulated, you wont pay attention, and if you aren't you wont learn. She also knows the importance of plenty of breaks. But the best thing is... the best... thing... is that she wants you to have a go. Say the wrong answer, or say the right... the point is that you try each time you are asked... and then progressively learn the things you don't know after that. I loved it!

Thursday I left school pumped --- stoked --- excited --- FULL of excitement!!! I made myself diagrams and labels and quizzed myself - particularly on the things I wasn't 100% sure of. Still have things I'm not 100% sure of, but I feel confident I know the digestive system pretty well.

Friday... was boring. SO was not inspired. I cannot stand people who just read a slideshow as it is. I could do that at home. I'm in the class to be challenged and stimulated and inspired to want to know more, to ask questions. Nada. I know the other teachers appreciate our Friday teacher, but his teaching technique does not make me want to keep my eyes open!!

*Sigh*

Perhaps I could stage a protest... placards and all...

Tough'n up, Princess...

Works a bit tough 

[changes, changes, so many changes... and 3 deaths this year... hopefully that's it]

Schools a bit tough 

[pretty full on right now with anatomy and physics but way interesting]

Families a bit tough

[love them to bits, of course]

That's all. I'm just having a little selfish moment here...

Enjoy a couple of my favourite pic's I've taken

"flash photography" - Keppel Bay Marina, Singapore

Tally = Two

The talk around work now is constantly "Who's next!!?!?"- next... to die.

*insert doomy boomy backgroundy music here*

This might seem horribly morbid, but in reality this is a dealing mechanism for us at work. By 'predicting' who is 'next', we can get our head around the fact that people die, deal with it, and go about our daily job. Or something. Plus when you work with the elderly, this is a large fact of life that occurs alot more frequently. ALOT.

Today, Number Two passed away. When Number One passed away about a month or so ago, I felt totally lost. I felt really sad, because there were many aspects of Number One that I adored, plus she has the cutest personality, even though  no one could understand what she was saying. However, Number One was a handful, and so much of our routine was based around her. Infact, I would say in this particular area, one third of the routine was based around her. So, you can imagine how lost it was to then work without her there. Five minutes spare time? What is that...

Today, I got to work and heard that Number Two had been sent to hospital last night. I saw Number Two on Saturday, and she wasn't great, but we thought it might be just a bit of a phase. She was quiet. Mostly. Now that was unusual. She wasn't holding her frame - just a "floppy rag doll". Slightly unusual. She wasn't hungry and refused to eat or drink. Very unusual. Number Two lived on bacon and eggs, porridge, warm milk, and warm apple juice.

They told us she passed away comfortably, however it was due to heart failure and fluid around her heart and lungs that caused her to be hospitalised and evidently caused her to pass away. Number Two also had about one third of the routine in this particular area based around her. Two-thirds of every shift in that area has now changed. Thats a huge change. That's a change thats going to have hours cut from the roster because we don't have 2 high-care residents anymore.

Work was eerily quiet today. Residents were quite relaxed, but I think because they didn't know what has happened, and i'm not sure when or if they were told, they were oblivious and were just enjoying the peace and quiet. I believe the motto from upper management is not to tell them until they ask.

Tomorrow, I am probably working in that area with the two-thirds of the work routine gone. I'll kick myself if I subconsciously make bacon and eggs for Number Two - who, clearly, wont be eating it...

The Cat Empire sang about it

This is a cartoon i drew of one of my teachers. She wasn't actually asleep - but I felt like I was close enough!

"Protons, Neutrons, Electrons" - quite the quirky, funky song as all good songs are from the Cat Empire. So you're there, you haven't heard of it and want to geek yourself up a little bit? Check it out now.

Anyway, the point of that is to mention what I'm up-to studying now. Protons. Neutrons. Electrons. Because Chemistry is involved in nursing. Its in everything we do and can see. Oh, and we're also learning about the Legal side of nursing. Sooo - there is currently alot of reading, writing, listening, thinking and lack-of-interest in places/sections at the moment... atleast when I find it gets too much, I go and look up some weird word and learn what it is.

I'm finding it a struggle to study at home - too many easy distractions or easy annoyances. Yet, when I take myself out to a cafe, despite the noise level, it seems remarkably easier. Except this afternoon that is. While trying to drill my brain with chemistry information, I'm more interested in hearing the conversations around me; the girls planning the new interior design of the store, what colours and where everything should/could/would go; the two older ladies discussing their woe's of ageing bodies and family; the two Christian guys discussing church, studies and expectations of people [I might have tried to find out which church they belonged to via their conversation - or I perhaps I didn't].

Today I also spent an hour with one of the ladies from my church, who after a health problem a fortnight ago, is now residing in the hospital awaiting transfer to a long-term facility. When I arrived, she was quite agitated and eager to get out of her seat and away from the hospital. Throughout the time I spent there, we had to locate her glasses [tucked well into her dressing gown] as some mail arrived from her son in Tassie. I read the documents to her, and at the end she looked at me with the strangest perplexed expresssion. I think she didn't understand who was writing to her for a little while, but in the end she did. I read her some of Philippians 3 to encourage her - however when I was finished I wasn't sure if she was sleeping or praying. In the end, she seemed alot more content and less agitated and was enjoying a good perusal of a gardening magazine.

Today I also [randomly] decided to review on some "Bloody Idiot" tv ads. These are the "if you drink and drive, you are a bloody idiot" ones. One of my friends sent me the youtube link to TAC - the Victorian's plan to lower the road toll deaths around the country. Some of these ad's I've seen before, and others I've seen for the first time. Most of them are horribly impacting, challenging and extremely unnerving - especially when you can consider countless times when you could've been in the same position as a driver, passenger or onlooker. However, they were very effective on causing me to be even more aware of my surroundings when driving.... especially as I already think I am pretty aware of everything... but accidents definately do happen [as I've proved twice already].

Hmm...ski

Happy One Month Anniversary, Nursing Class 1103!!

Four weeks of 5 days [of both work and study in a row], and I'm pooped.

Exhausted.

Knackered.

Whatever you want to call it - that's what I am.

But, heck its great fun and I'm so loving nursing school!

However, working in this environment where we see the end of peoples lives is a hard ball sometimes.

Just this past week, one of my favourite residents [I know, we shouldn't have favourites] passed away. 

It wasn't sudden, mostly expected, but totally sad.

Even maddening, but that's mostly in relation to a family member's treatment of this resident...

Before and AFTER they passed away.

The world we live in is a scary, evil, confused and corrupt place.

Thank God for all the love, joy and peace He still provides amongst all that.

And laughter. OH MY GOSH! I love a great sense of humour.

Peace... x