Giving Thanks

(Photo taken by my brother-in-law yesterday.  It's the first photo of the 4 of us together in 2 years!)

This year I am most thankful for my family.  I know it sounds a bit cliche but it's true. 

You see, I'm a nurse.  A pediatric nurse to be exact.  Over the past two months we've had a string of deaths on my unit related to unusual illnesses and freak accidents.  It's been hard on everyone in my unit. 

Close friends and their families are battling cancer, and one friend's aunt lost her battle early Thanksgiving morning.  Not exactly a way to spend your Thanksgiving.

The biggest impact on me this month was when a old friend's son was rushed to my hospital in full cardiac arrest.  He was not expected to live.  Against all odds and to the amazement of all the doctors, he made a full, complete recovery!  The whole ordeal hit a little too close to home though.  You see, things like that happen to other people, not people you know.  Watching my friend and his family go through weeks of worrying and waiting made me come home and appreciate my family even more. 

My girls are healthy.  My husband is healthy.  I am healthy.  My family is healthy.  I did not spend Thanksgiving in a hospital.  I did not spend Thanksgiving morning the loss of someone I love.  I spent Thanksgiving thanking God for my family and for saving the life of a friend's son.  For that, I give thanks.

No Child, No Family, No Nurse.....

 

No child should ever have to suffer at the hands of an adult.

No family should ever have to grieve the loss of a child who has suffered at the hands of an adult.

No nurse should ever have to comfort the grieving family of a child who has died at the hands of an adult.

I BEG YOU....if you are angry, frustrated, or can't handle it any more, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE just WALK AWAY!  

Do NOT take it out on the child!

Two Days in the Hospital

It's hard being on the opposite side of the crib...

...watching your little daughter so sick, knowing everything that's going to happen, and not being able to do anything to change things.

Tottie was admitted to the hospital on Saturday night.  It actually started on Friday afternoon when Hubby called me at work to tell me Tottie had a fever.  She also started vomiting.  I called in "ill child" for work on Saturday and by that afternoon, Tottie's fever was up to 104.6 and it was not responding to Motrin.  She had vomited a few times in the morning but stopped in the afternoon because she had nothing in her stomach.  Early evening I brought her in to our local urgent care.  They checked her ears and throat and said everything looked good as far as that goes, but with a fever that high she would need some more tests.  I knew that was going to happen.  What I didn't know was that our local urgent care can't do those tests on children that young.  I was sent to Children's Hospital--my work.  

There they poked her 7 times to try to start an IV and get the blood work they needed for the tests.  They also put a catheter in her bladder to get some urine (to rule out a bladder infection) and took an abdominal x-ray to rule out a bowel obstruction (because she hadn't pooped in 2.5 days and normally she poops twice a day). 
Again, I knew these things were going to happen.  I just didn't know Tottie was so dehydrated that it would take 7 attempts at getting the blood they needed and they only got the bare minimum. 

It's hard being on the opposite side of the crib.  This is suppose to be me poking someone elses child 7 times to get blood work.  Not one of my co-workers poking my child 7 times.  I knew how much blood work they needed and each time they poked her I knew they would have to do it again.  The good sad thing is, she was so lethargic that she didn't put up much of a fight. 

 

The x-ray came back ok.  It showed a lot of stool and gas, but no obstruction (thank God).  Her blood work came bad enough that they told me she would need to be admitted overnight for IV fluids.  That, I did not know was going to happen.
(I now have more sympathy for parents who stay with their children.  I completely understand not wanting to leave but will emphasize even more to leave and get at least one good night of sleep at home.  Sleep, hospital, and ill child are not a good combo.)
After a restless sleep, we awoke with the confidence that we were going home.  We just needed the blood work to confirm it.  That didn't happen....Tottie's lab work was still off in the morning and she hadn't pooped yet.  The doctor thought she didn't have enough free fluid to make the stool soft to push out.  We decided to watch her through the day and make a plan in the afternoon.

We spent the day getting Tottie hydrated with IV fluids and juice.  She also got a stool softner.

By evening, Tottie looked better but not 100% and she still hadn't pooped.  We decided it was best to keep her one more night.  Hopefully the labs would look better in the morning.

Success!  Tottie pooped late evening after a second stool softner, her labs looked not perfect, but better, in the morning, and best of all, she was 100% back to herself!

 

We were discharged from the hospital late morning today.  We got home, ate, showered, and took a nap!

It's hard being on the opposite side of the crib.  Knowing so much but not knowing enough.  I can't imagine what it's like for parents who don't know as much as I do.

One last comment before I end.....remember my Advice for Parents of Hospitalized Children post?  Remember post #5?--Hospital floors are gross.  Do not let your child roll around on them while throwing a tantrum.  Yeah, I'll eat my words on that one....This morning my child rolled around on the gross hospital floor while throwing a temper tantrum because I wouldn't let her play with my cell phone.  I tried to pick her up off of the gross floor and put her on the couch but she quickly got off the couch and continued to throw a tantrum on the floor.  When her tantrum was done, she got a partial bath!

*Some of these pictures were taken on my cell phone before Hubby brought me the camera thus the quality is a bit poor and they are fuzzy.

Nursing Station Gingerbread House

Tomorrow will be another photography lesson but today I just had to share my thoughts on our Nursing Station Gingerbread House.

Something about gingerbread houses grosses me out in general. I mean you put icing and candy on cookies and then you leave them sitting out in the open for weeks at a time.  The gingerbread house that sat at our nurses station at work grosses me out even more. One of our patients made it for us. It wouldn't be so bad but look where we decided to display it:

YUCK!  It's in the middle of the unit surrounded by a bunch of germs!  I realize that no one is actually going to eat it but the thought just makes me sick!  What would have happened if some little kid did walk by and decide to pick a piece off?  After all, we are a Children's Hospital and we have a lot of kids running around.

Why am I so hung up on this now?  After all, we threw away that gingerbread house after Christmas.  I'm hung up on it because I went to get something out of our family lounge today and look what I found sitting on top of the fridge!

Again, cute but YUCK!

 I'll conclude this little rant about our Nurses Station Gingerbread House with a fun picture of me and my favorite co-worker, Megan.  She was leaving from Christmas night shift, and I was coming in for Christmas day shift :)

Advice for parents of hospitalized children-from a pediatric nurse

After a long and frustrating shift at work tonight I decided I should post some tips for parents of hospitalized children.  Please keep these things in mind should your child ever need to be hospitalized (though some of these tips could be used on an every day basis too!).

*yep I drew this picture on the computer while at work during one of those rare quite times

1)   If there is some kind of beeping in your room and I don't hear it, please put your call light on before coming in the hallway to complain that something has been beeping for 10 minutes.  If it's annoying you, put your call light on.  More importantly, beeps usually mean something is wrong so please don't ignore them.

2)  Do not tell your child that his/her medicine is candy or that it tastes like candy.  I can't begin to tell you the trouble it causes.

3)  If your child is hitting, kicking, pulling the nurses' hair or attempting to bite the nurse, please step in and tell your child to stop.  More importantly, please discipline your child when needed so that we avoid these situations in the first place.

4)  If you bring your other children to the hospital, they are your responsibility, not mine.

5)  Hospital floors are gross.  Do not let your child roll around on them while throwing a tantrum.

6)  Just because the curtain is closed does not mean you can sleep in just your underware.  Should I need to wake you, I do not want to see it.

7)  Along that same line, just because the curtain is closed doesn't mean we can't hear you.  Please refrain from doing activities that should be reserved for your bedroom at home.  A children's hospital is not the place for that type of stuff.

8)  Please do not say to your child "here comes the bad nurse".  That's not fair to me and only makes my job harder.

9)  Before making life/death decisions, please think about your child's quality of life 20 years from now.

10)  If your child is screaming for attention please do not ignore them.  I am your child's nurse, not their nanny.  It is not my job to entertain them while you watch TV.  If you want to ignore your child, go home.

11)  If you want a good night's sleep, go home.  Yes I do need to turn the lights on to assess your child if things are not going well.

12)  Please do not lie to your child and tell them you are "just going to the bathroom" and never come back.  They learn to never trust anyone.

13)  Please do not lie to your nurse and say you are "going to dinner and will be back in an hour" and never come back.  I don't care if you come back or not, just don't tell me you will be back and then not show up.  I told your child you would be right back and now he/she is mad at me.

14)  Please do not drop your child off and not come back until an hour before discharge.  Your child is scared and needs you during this hospitalization.  The nurses need to educate you on things and the doctors need your help to make decisions.

15)  I am not your maid.  I am happy to get your child his/her water but you can get your own.

I think that sums it up for now.  If I think of any more I will certainly let you know!