Code Blue

So I am trying to sit and write a dumb blog here at work, and every-time I sit down an alarm goes off. This could take a while. (suction) I'm back... so the other night I had my first code blue experience. I mean I experience them all the time, they just haven't been my patient. (turn up Fi02) back (turn down fio2) back.... Though I had to bag my patient several times before, I have always been able to get them to recover in a decent amount of time. (change a feeding) back... so this time, bagging, number four for the night by the way, I could not get the patient to recover. Heart rate was in the 40's, (should be about 140) and decreasing, sats were in the teens, (should be above 85%) and color was dusky gray. Hmmm... I thought. Maybe I should get a respiratory therapist. Rt comes to bedside and is having trouble bagging the patient as well. Hmmm... I wonder if we should hit that magic button that will get the whole hospital staff at the bedside in seconds. As I questioned the RT if we should call a code, she didn't respond. I looked up at the monitor and decided if the patient didn't start going in the right direction in the next secs I would hit that button. The patients numbers continued to plumet. (start another feeding, suction, increase fio2). back... Once that button was hit signals flew and intercom comes on, code blue, code blue, code blue. People run to the bedside out of breath. Of course by the time they get there, patient is finally recovering. You got to love the remarks like, this is our code blue? It's like they are all excited to cardiovert a baby, shove some epi in them, and I don't know, why not put them on echmo. Sorry I could not provide the excitement you were looking for. Needless to say, I don't regret pushing the button. I'm not going to be sued for a preventable death. (fio2 down) back... Wow no wonder my agitation thresh hold has been getting lower and lower. (meds given) I feel bad for those around me because I snap pretty easily. Watch out!

Trying to De-thaw Plastic

So the other night at work, I was de-thawing breast milk, one of my regular jobs, and for some reason couldn't quite get the last of the dumb milk to de-thaw. Frozen breast milk is not pretty to look at because it kind of seperates out into different elements, thus I did not look into the container at the block of breats milk. Oh I mean human milk. I can't call it breast milk anymore, it is not politically correct. Anyways.. I continue to soak this container in hot water so that I could baby bar tend and mix the milk. As I kept coming back to it, it was still a frozen block. With a million other things going on, I didn't think about the time that this block of milk was taking to de-thaw. After a good couple of hours, I finally opened the stupid container. Oh whoops. It was a plastic lid sitting in there that I probably threw off the bigger container I was going to mix the stuff in. Apparently I got all the milk out I was going to get! As usual I burst out into laughter at myself, the other people in the room looked at me like I was crazy. I just went happily on my merry way, to take care of my starving baby. As I thought about it, I realized that trying to de-thaw a plastic lid was actually a good parallel to life. It's like beating a dead horse. You do the same thing over and over and over again, but the outcome never changes. You still have a stupid solid plastic lid. Does anyone relate?

Moab Half

So this past weekend I went with my family down to moab to run the half. It's always an adventure when you get with the whole fam. Our differences become more pronounced when were all staying in tight quarters. None the less, we had fun. This was my third half marathon, and I can't say I prepared all too well. The most I ran was about six miles, basically due to pure laziness. I figured my adrenaline would pick up and carry me to the end. Saturday morning we got bused up 12 miles up the canyon. The scenery was great, but the river look more blah then it did in the picture. They added some amazing blue and green to the water that of course enticed us. The run was basically even kill, meaning it was pretty much flat with some grades of slight down hill or slight uphill. Actually kind of boring. By mile 8, I felt great. I thought, this is going to be the fastest half I have ever done. My idea was to keep my pace controlled and even and not to push until mile 6-8. Well I can't say that I ever pushed, just kept going. by the time we made it out of the canyon there was 2.2 miles left on the highway to make it back into town. Well that 2.2 miles was hell. You would think that the people on the sides of the road cheering would energize you, but I wanted to punch them. I had "hit the wall." Brilliant me thought, if I stop and let myself catch my breath and get blood flow to my feet I can finish strong. Bad choice. Once I stopped, my body did not want to go again. It was the first time in my life that I didn't want to finish the race. I actually thought about just wandering off into someone's back yard and hiding in a corner. Somehow I kept going, probably about a walking pace. Once I could see the finish line my spirits lifted and I charged to the end. I didn't even want to talk to anyone at the end of the race because I was so emotionally drained. I was also bugged by my patheticness in the end. Now that the race is over, I am seriously thinking I will now run the Salt Lake Half. Probably because I want to prove to myself that I can finish stronger and also because you forget quickly how challenging these races really are!

Over Kill

This weekend I spent in Moab, enjoying the scenery, but mainly to run in half marathon. Talk about over kill on your body. Although my muscles did start to spasm some, the most painful injury I received was on my lower back from the tag in my shorts. I can safely say that I am not running a full marathon anytime soon! When we got to the expo to pick up our t-shirts and bibs, they had all sorts of energy bars and Gu for us to sample. Then in our bags, they sent us home with an array of energy bars. Not to mention I had brought some from home, and grabbed some cookie dough energy thing at one of the gas stations on the way. Needless to say, I do not want to see another energy bar for a long time. I also am not anxious to be in the car with my sister and bro-inlaw for a while. Their selection of music about did me in. It was a torturous ride there. At least on the ride home they were limited to sunday music, and yes that selection was better if you can imagine. Also on our car ride there, I have never had to stop so many times to use the bathroom at rest stops. Apparently too much gatorade can do that to you. I probably wasn't really hydrating myself after all! After the race, they gave us this lotion in our bags that was like Icy Hot for muscle aches. I coated myself in this. The smell just permeated the hotel room and my clothes still wreak of it. It feels awesome though. So I finally made it home and felt that I deserved a nice hot bath to relax my muscles. Apparently I put to much bath and body works body gel in the water. What can I say but an overkill weekend!

Daddy's Girl

Dear Family,
I am sorry to say that I think I am at the top of dad's list! My regrets Betsy and Libbie, but I am the favorite daughter. You both have lost points in his book. Bets I think he hasn't forgiven you for crashing his brown Saab back in high-school, oh and his gray Saab a week later. Not to mention the fact that you got caught throwing spaghetti off the overpass at cars. Lib you know you lost points when you didn't show up to the family party over christmas. Plus you always tried to get out of picking up smashed apricots off the Yale lawn, and then happily left me to mow it too. I think he liked my mowing better anyway because my lines were straighter. I have pretty much been a perfect child! Just think about it, both of you had curfews and I could come in whenever I wanted. Well now the fact that I have a perfect score, I get an automatic ticket to every one of his Jazz Games, a valentine on my doorstep this year, and he even said he'd be my business partner if I needed one. You both know that those are huge! And I can say whatever I want about you, because I know you won't read this! Love-Jane

WHATEVER!

WHATEVER is all I have to say. I have had a lot of WHATEVER moments in my life. So you are probably wondering what WHATEVER moments are? Well it is when someone says something so irrational to you, that the only thing you can do is throw your arms in the are and try not to swear at them while you walk away. It is that frustrating moment when you know whatever you say will not even enter the other persons mind. They won't even give it a minute of thought. They are continually ready to spout out why you're wrong, and they are right. They are impossible. I have learned over the years not to argue with these people. It's best just to let them jabber their crap and then walk away. I find life actually goes a lot easier that way. Even though it is good to stand up for yourself, why waste your time when you know you are not going to make a dent in helping them see things in a different light. Every once in a while I do mess up and try to show them another perspective, but I am continually reminded of what a mistake that is. It is going to take a life changing experience for them to understand what you are saying. WHATEVER!

Pixie Stixs Forever

The Pixie Stixs are back once again, minus a few. I'm sure the crowd full of old East High Alumns wondered if we ever stop singing and creating our own lyrics! We use to sing everywhere: weddings, rest homes, church meetings, etc. Rest homes were the funniest because I could never keep from laughing in the middle of our performance due to the comments from the delirious elderly. Once I started, everyone else was gone. There was one time we were all laughing so hard, several of us peed our pants. We were notorious for singing in the lines at grocery stores while we waited our turn, amusement parks, and the streets of Vegas. You name it, and we were singing. There was one point on our Senior A'cappella tour to California that our conductor had to tell us to shut up because we had been singing for 6 hours straight. I think back and I am sure we were so annoying. We did have fun though and still do! When we get together even today, we sing. Back in the day I named our group the Pixie stixs as a joke, but it stuck. As annoying as we may be, music is our passion, and we love being together. We were talking the other day and figured out we all loved the movie "Music and Lyrics" which according to popularity was a disaster for Hollywood. I guess we are all crazy!