Photo Friday

Thank goodness Westy doesn't mind being home alone during the day. In fact, I think he enjoys having the place to himself:

Halfway There

Or at least I will be after today.

My prac is going pretty well. The evaluations I've gotten from the nurses I've been working with have all been positive - this is not to say there hasn't been constructive criticism but overall they seem pleased with me. My facilitator is happy with me as well, and I'm learning a lot. The CCU isn't as terrifying as I pictured it but that my be because it's more of a high dependency unit than a proper cardiac unit or even a critical care unit. This is not to say there aren't patients who have heart problems, or who are quite ill but there are no ventilators or anything incredibly complex. I have decided to continue on in the CCU, with my facilitator pulling me off to do things in the ED when they come in, like catheterizations or watch an insertion of a chest tube.

I am also nearly through the backlog of items in my feed reader. I did delete a whole bucketload of posts from a few blogs without reading them, but they were science and gossip sites that post many times in one day and together totalled over 200 posts. Yeah, I don't have that kind of time.

The worst thing about this week has been not seeing the kids. I am on evening shifts from 3pm-11pm, although I've had 2 days where I've done 1pm-9pm owing to debriefings. Sure I complain that I rarely get time to myself, but this is too much time. Miss Thing and Sparky leave around 7am for the bus to go to work/school respectively, and while I have been taking them this week I don't see them until the next morning. Her Majesty has been wanting to go to her before school program all week because she loves riding the minibus to school, so I drop her off after 8am and again don't see her until the next morning. Since her before and after school program is connected with Clive's day care I drop Clive off at the same time. He's still quite sad when I leave - still a Mama's Boy - and so I won't see him smiling at me until the next morning. And I miss them so much. I guess I'm not such a terrible mother after all if all this time without them is not sitting quite right. I wouldn't mind an evening shift now and again, but it's not something I'd want to do a lot of.

And now off to scare up a photo for Photo Friday, since it's only just dawned on me what day is actually is.

Superhero Me

I always knew I needed my very own cape and superhero outfit to help me during my day. And now I have one:

Jealous? Don't be - you can have one, too! Just go here and get your own.

Everyone deserves to be a superhero.

Sadness

I was going to do a mid-week Skinfest but after reading a certain blog I've been following I'm just not up for it.

(please take note that I'm not going to put any links in - right now it just seems gratuitous. If you're really keen to find the sites either Google them or email me.)

I learned of Lisa, her blog Clusterfook and her third cancer diagnosis some time ago from Dave at Blogography. After putting up a brave fight, she is now in the final stages of her cancer and is in such pain and taking so much medication that she often doesn't recognize her husband or two pre-teen daughters.

Not only am I incredibly sad for Lisa's family, but this has dredged up some painful memories of watching my own father die from lung cancer that had spread to his brain (among other places) some 13 years ago. It has also brought up a fear that I harbour - that something would happen to me whilst my children were still young. I accept that I will die someday, and I'm not afraid of it. I don't want it to happen for many, many decades but death doesn't scare me. What makes me want to throw up is the fear that my young children would have to watch me suffer, or be without me. My own mother was 11 when her father died, and I know the lasting impact it has had on her life. I would give literally everything I own, sign my soul away if I believed such a thing were possible, to not have that happen. And yet it happens all the time. It's happening to Lisa's daughters right now and it makes me so... sad doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm sad and angry and scared and frustrated and just want to scream at the injustice of it all while crying my eyes out.

So no Skinfest today. Just sadness.

(A Very Late) Photo Friday

This is what I would've put up last Friday, if I had the time. I was at one of our local libraries just before I started this clinical prac madness with Her Majesty, enjoying a little bonding time with just the two of us, when this alphabetical fiction listing signage caught my eye:

Week 2

So today begins week 2 of my 4 week clinical prac experience. Week 1 was pretty good. I did many things I've never done before and have become slightly more comfortable around EKGs/ECGs, although I doubt I'll ever love them. My facilitator is a good bloke and the staff on the unit have been fantastic.

I'm on the evening shift this week, so I have a few hours each morning after getting the kids off to school/child care. Today I did some shopping, made dinner and cleared out my email box, made some phone calls and got the pool going again. Phew! I haven't really touched the 250+ feeds in my feed reader - just checked one or two - and will be pouring through stuff tomorrow. The Hermit is in charge this week of getting kids to their various after school activities - keep your fingers crossed for him! He lucked out during my last prac as he only had to get Her Majesty to swimming. Now he's got footy for 2 kids, plus one day of swimming, plus a teenager who may need a lift home after work, plus a busy 2 year old! Should be fun. At least I'll be helping him out by making dinner every night for him to reheat (for which I had to give instructions on how to perform this mystery of reheating dinner).

So with any luck I'll get caught up on some posts this week. Not today, as it's already after noon and I still need to get stuff done before I head off to prac. But tomorrow look for new stuff, possibly a mid-week Photo Friday and Skinfest to make up for missing the weekend if you folks are agreeable.

Now it's time to down more caffeine and get back to it! Where'd I leave my cape???

Knackered

I am dead on my feet. Or I would be if I was still on my feet - this post brought to you from my bed, where I'm on my netbook before I collapse into blissful unconsciousness. And it's raining - I love the sound of the rain on my roof... although perhaps not this much!

Just so you know, I have been assigned to the CCU ward for 2 weeks, after which time I'll likely swap with another student and go to the ED for the remaining 2 weeks. The staff in the CCU so far have been very nice, but while the first 'C' stands for 'critical' and not 'cardiac' like I thought, the bottom line is it is mainly cardiac patients and most of the truly critical patients get transferred to the larger hospitals. Meh. I hope it'll pick up during the 2 weeks I'm there.

I just have to manage prac with sports trainings and work - which is why I'm so tired. So in the interests of getting not having so many 20 hour days like I did on Monday, I'm rolling over and going to sleep now. TTFN.

The Difference

Expect to see a lot of short silly posts like this one from me the next few weeks. I've started my next round of nursing clinical prac today - thanks to the joys of post-dating I did this one up last night. But don't tell anyone - you can all think I'm SuperMooselet!!

Oh wait... never mind.

Vista still blows.

Saturday Skinfest

You knew my on-time performance couldn't last forever, didn't you? Since I'm super busy, even at 10pm on a Sunday night what with starting clinical prac tomorrow and trying to co-ordinate a house full of people, let's just get to it:

Little things do come in small(er) packages - Lance Hohaia is proof!

Brett Stewart & David Williams. This is so... yeah, but is it wrong that I still find it kinda hot? Even the bear is checking it out - c'mon!!!

Craig Wing still looks studly.

Bar Rafaeli has a really stupid name, but she's with Leonardo DiCaprio and made the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition cover. No idea why, really...

More skin next week!

Soundtrack of My Life

I know I'm going to be hella busy these next few weeks, so I'm stocking up on posts. I stole this meme from a Facebook friend, but like most memes I do I'm not going to tag anyone. Take it if you want, ignore it if you want. In the words of a teenager, whatever!

Here's how it works...
1. Open your music library (iTunes, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For the first question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...just type it in!
7. I'm not playing tag, so forget step 7. :-)


IF YOUR LIFE WERE A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

Waking Up:
Don't Cry, Guns N' Roses

First Day of School:
Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles

Falling in Love:
Careless Memories, Duran Duran

Losing Virginity:
King Arthur, Jerry Marchand (Irish harp music)

Fight Song:
Valleri, The Monkees (shut up!)

Break Up:
New Moon On Monday, Duran Duran

Prom:
With Or Without You, U2

Life:
Forgiven, Alanis Morissette

Mental Breakdown:
Hello Goodbye, The Beatles

Driving:
When I Come Around, Green Day

Flashback:
Blast Off To Nowhere, Powerman 5000

Getting Back Together:
The Castle Courtyard in the Rain, Jerry Marchand

Wedding:
Revolution, The Beatles

Birth of Child:
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2

Final Battle:
Sister Christian, Night Ranger

Death Scene:
Da Pacem, Domine - Introit, Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos (Gregorian Chant... I find it relaxing)

Hmmmmm, some of these are very appropriate. Others are just weird. And I can hear some of you laughing at me over the fact I have The Monkees on my iPod. I'll have you know I have very fond childhood memories of rushing home from the beach during summer vacations to watch The Monkees in the afternoons (and I'm convinced Axl Rose did as well given his dance moves are eerily reminiscent of Davey Jones)!

Would you buy my soundtrack?

Photo Friday

This is an incredible photo, and while I'm sure most of you would've seen it by now it's worth sharing anyway:

Koalas generally don't drink water - this poor thing drank 3 bottles!

This amazing picture - snapped by a volunteer firefighter on his mobile phone - has actually generated a bit of controversy. Gossip website TMZ has been slammed for poking fun at the picture, and there have been claims that the koala, a female since named Sam, was not in a bushfire but was a victim of backburning. These claims are false - while she was not a victim of the horrific fires that claimed so many lives she was in an area where 31 homes were destroyed and firefighters were backburning to prevent further losses.

The story doesn't end there, however. On a more positive note Sam was picked up by wildlife carers and is now having the serious burns on her paws treated. Not only does she have a bucketload of human admirers, but a furry one as well. Fellow fire survivor Bob, a male koala, has taken quite a shine to Sam. I know we're not supposed to place human characteristics onto animals but how else would you put it:

That's Bob sitting upright with his paw on Sam.

If you haven't already, please consider donating something to the victims - both animal and human - of this overwhelming tragedy. If you don't live in Australia and so can't stop by any of the banks or drop a few coins into a collection tin, or even if you do, consider the Australian Red Cross or even buying a copy of that picture up top (proceeds go to the Country Fire Authority in Victoria).

Stay safe everyone!

Cheeky Tawny

Jump into the WayBack Machine for a moment to this post I did back in May 2006 about some of the different birds I get here at Chez Mooselet. Here's what I said about the Tawny Frogmouth (picture from somewhere on the internets, not me) at the time:

Looks like an owl, doesn't it? It's not, as it lacks the sharp talons of the owl. But it is nocturnal. I've come home a few times at night and have found one sitting on my gate, hanging out. We face off for a few minutes before he decides to move up into one of the trees to let me through. Thanks mate!

When I got home last night just after 2 am (so does that make it 'this morning' instead of 'last night'?) from The Large Grocery Store That Employees Me I encountered another of these beautiful birds once again sitting on my gate. He swivelled his head around and peered at me with his yellow eyes as I came down the driveway and turned off my high beams. No need to blind the little guy after all. Then I reached down to pause my iPod and waited for Tawny to flap away like they usually do.

Except he didn't. He turned his head back around and continued doing whatever it was that he was doing before I came home. I flashed him a few times with my high beams, but all that did was cause him to glare at me over his shoulder. I was trying not to startle him and so was reluctant to get out of the car before he flew off, but he wasn't leaving me much choice. I was bone tired and wanted a piece of The Hermit's birthday cake before I collapsed into bed. I put my window down.

"Ok look, " I called to him, and he again did that 180 thing with his head that is cool yet freaky. "I need to get up this driveway so I can get home, so you need to move. You can go back when I'm through, I promise."

He didn't budge. My next step was to open the car door; if the sound of my diesel engine wasn't enough to put him off surely the door opening would. Ha! I shut the door - perhaps the sound of it slamming would do the trick. Silly me. I took a few steps towards him - nothing. He wasn't even watching me now.

"Oh, come on. I'm tired," I whined. I clapped my hands once, twice... even threw in a little foot stomp. I think he laughed at me, quietly, in his head. "Go on, shoo!" More clapping, a few steps closer still. I was practically on top of him and considering giving him a shove when, with a final look of what could only be described as disgust, he flew off into a nearby tree where he prompty turned his back on me.

Must've been a teenager.

Self-Portraits

After my Photo Friday with Her Majesty's artwork, Momma Mooselet went to the bench where she stores our old baby photos and childhood paraphernalia and scanned these self-portraits of Yours Truly, which she sent to me:

Beginning of kindergarten, circa September 1974

End of kindergarten, circa June 1975

So you can see why I never became an artist. How could I - look at my hands in that second picture! How could I draw with hands like that?!

Happy Birthday

Today is Sparky's birthday. He's another year older - now 14 - but sadly not another year wiser. Don't ask. Typical teenage boy stuff than makes me want to bang my head against my desk.

Tomorrow is The Hermit's birthday. I am not allowed to tell you his age on penalty of death. When Her Majesty asked him how old he was he shaved a decade off his age. Really, made me out to be a cradle snatcher. He used to do this to Sparky when Sparky was Her Majesty's age, and Sparky fell for it hook, line and sinker. Until he was about 10, when he clued in.

Of course Sparky was also afraid of ET... no one ever claimed Sparky was very bright.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Sparky and The Hermit:

If it looks familiar to long-time readers, it's because I used it 2 years ago. Sue me... it's hot and humid and I'm so over summer and having zero energy. Besides, it's a frickin' cute picture.

Devestation

As of this writing, there are 84 confirmed deaths in the Australian state of Victoria where massive bushfires have been raging for days. As crews are able to get back into areas that were inaccessible, that number is expected to rise. It is now officially the worse bushfire disaster in Australian history, easily surpassing the 75 killed in the notorious Ash Wednesday fires in 1983.

You can read all about it here, or the news source of your choice.

For those totally unfamiliar with Australian geography, I am nowhere near this area and so am fine.

I am, however, feeling overwhelmed and immensely saddened by it all. How does this sort of thing happen? Some fires may have been deliberately set. If that's true and people died as a result, no punishment is too harsh. I'm not certain I believe in a God anymore - and an event like this where innocent people died what had to be a horrible death is just another nail in my belief coffin, as it were.

But what an event of this scope does do is make me aware that a lot of my complaints are just plain petty and not worth very much in the grand scheme of things. I'm still here, my family is still here and we're healthy and safe. Really, everything else is a bonus that I should be thankful for.

Let's hope it will be over soon without further loss of life.

UPDATE: The Courier Mail is reporting the death toll has increased to 108 as of 7am Monday.

Saturday Skinfest

Another busy weekend, what else is new. Actually I got caught up on a lot of housework yesterday, five loads of laundry are drying outside and now here I am, getting ready to post the Skinfest early Saturday in anticipation of running about like a headless chook. Swimming lesson for Clive, footy sign-ons for Sparky and Her Majesty and 5 hours at The Large Grocery Store That Employees Me. Oh, and find some time to pick up a few supplies for the house.

Right! Let's make it happen, cap'n:

Chris Lawrence, for Miss WTF.

Billy Slater, for Mumfies.

For those who like Cowboys.

For anyone who likes Victoria Secret models.

More skin next week.

Alessandra Ambrosio pic from The Superficial, Chris Lawrence & Billy Slater from Hot Aussie Footy Players Shirtless (I think) and Cowboys from Tottyland (I think). Must label photos better. Links may be NSFW.

Photo Friday

It's nearly that time of year again:

click to enlarge - it's very pretty. From early 2007 season.

Tomorrow I take Sparky and Her Majesty to sign-on for footy. This will be Sparky's 6th year, Her Majesty's 1st. Both are very excited the season is starting again. Yeah, me too!

Where To Go?

A few of you have given your suggestions as to where I should try and go for my next clinical prac in my final nursing class. I do have a leg up on a new student in that, well, I'm already a practicing nurse, albeit one who's been out of the game for nearly 7 years. I had many clinical experiences through my original school, and while I spent the majority of my working time in a medical/surgical setting I did a few stints elsewhere and got to know the nurses in some of the other areas of the US Hospital That Employeed Me. I know what I like and I know what I'm not overly fond of.

Here is a break down of the three areas I could potentially be placed into and why they fall into my "not overly fond of" category:

CCU - CCU stands for the Coronary Care Unit, where people with cardiac (that's the heart for those who are completely hopeless with medical terminology) problems end up. Heart attacks, post-op bypasses, pacemakers, valve replacements... these are the types of patients a typical CCU could expect. Now as an organ, the heart is pretty cool and I have a fairly good grasp of the cardiac system and the problems that arise when it goes wonky in a myriad of different ways. The problem is it bores the hell out of me, and ECGs (or EKGs) confuse me. To me there are 3 types of ECGs - "normal", "what the hell is that", and "oh shit". "Normal" is recognizable to me, and "oh shit" is pretty obvious as well. It's the many, many forms of "what the hell is that" that I don't care for. At the US Hospital That Employed Me I would occasionally have to float down to the cardiac ward when they were short staffed and spent enough time there to know I didn't want to work there.

Pediatrics (or as the Aussies spell it Paediatrics) - Now I have nothing against kids - after all I have four of the creatures little darlings myself. I did two pediatric clinicals with my original training, one in an acute setting at a large tertiary hospital an the other at a Shriners Hospital and I enjoyed both, particularly Shriners. And if my pedi rotation could be all Sunshine and Rainbows where all the kids got better it would be fantastic. It's not all Sunshine and Rainbows, though. Abused kids, terminally ill kids... I'd go to pieces. Not there - I'm professional enough to hold it together at the bedside (and I say this not in a bragging way, but because I've done it) - but later. My family does not need any more stress, plus I'd never let my kids out of their rooms. I sometimes wonder if I'm selling myself short, because on the plus side the successes would be awesome and I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from my nursing by making a difference. But my stomach gets into knots when I think about pediatrics and I don't know if it's because I'm just scared or because I really don't want to do it.

Emergency Department (or ER, ED, Casualty) - Ugh. Talk about your stress and adrenaline. Young, old, minor injuries, major trauma, medical, surgical, cardiac, pediatrics, obstetrics, violence, alcohol, drugs... all in one place! Some people love the challenge, the variety, the not knowing of what's behind the curtain. I'm not one of those people. At least I don't think I am. The ED is one area I never did any clinical work in, although I've spent plenty of time in them as a patient and as the mother/spouse of the patient. I knew some great ER nurses during my time at the US Hospital That Employed Me, but I've never been drawn to that area. It's never appealled to me for reasons that I never explored, just took it as it was. You see people - both patients and families - at their low points in general when you're a nurse, and I reckon the Emergency Room is the at the far end of that scale. There is also a far increased chance of violence there. Now I've had my share of physical abuse from (mostly) demented and psychotic patients, but no where on the scale it happens in the ER.

So there it is. What do you think? If you were me, where would you go? If there are any folks out there who have experience in any of these places, am I totally wrong? What do they have to offer me that I'm missing, that'll make me say "hey, this is pretty sweet"? Maybe I'm looking at it wrong - instead of seeing which area I can get the most out of and what will mesh with my prior experience and my interests, I should be looking at it from the student standpoint of any experience is worthwhile and I need to suck it up and get through it.

I suppose I'll find out in a week and a half, one way or the other.

Well That's a Bummer

I've just found out that the ward I really wanted at my next clinical prac - Peri-Op - has been cancelled by the facility. So now my choices will be Cardiac Care Unit, Pediatrics, or the Emergency Department.

So unfair.

Not only do I have little to no interest in any of these areas, but the (what I consider to be weird) schedule of AM and PM shifts means lots of extra coordinating schedules with the Hermit in terms to getting various children with where they'll need to go for school/sports/work. Peri-op was a win/win in terms of it was something I was really interested in plus it was all AM shifts.

Hell.

I find that I often appreciate the way things are done here versus the way they're done back in the States. This is not one of them. Thank chocolate I'm not taking any lecture classes, which continue during pracs, on top of trying to juggle family and a job. And they wonder why there's a nursing shortage.

On the plus side, there are now 2 weeks Her Majesty can still be taken to school by me in the mornings instead of the child care centre, thereby saving us some money. One must look for the silver lining in these situations, no matter how dim they may be.

Damn... I was really looking forward to seeing someone cut open, too.

Beats Me

Dammit...

The post I had planned for today, courtesy of some pictures sent to me by Momma Mooselet, doesn't want to play nice. No doubt because I am horrifically close to reaching my 12GB monthly data limit on my ADSL plan and will be forced onto dial-up speed until the 7th.

If anyone out there in Australia knows of a better internet plan, with a different provider (I'm with Telstra), I'd love to hear it. We need an "unlimited" plan - I put "unlimited" in quotes because here in Australia there really is no such animal like in the States. Hell, I'm barely 20km from the heart of Brisbane and I still can't get broadband.

So what can we talk about? The fact that I've spent a week waiting for the weather to get back to Brisbane-normal of sunny, hot and humid instead of humid, not-as-hot and sun/rain/sun/no wait, more rain/sun again/ha ha, fooled you it's raining again. Meanwhile the laundry has been piling up to epic proportions until I caved in yesterday and started using the dryer? Yeah, not very exciting...

Or how Her Majesty has been asking me every chance she gets when we're going to go and sign her up for footy, just like Sparky? Answer - this weekend. She wants pink footy boots, which will clash horribly with the red and black socks that will no doubt reach the tops of her thighs but will look cute all the same. Yeah, that won't get interesting until I have photos...

How about the fact I have over a dozen USB cables in my desk? I think they're breeding...

The Superbowl is on and I don't care? Yeah, me and a whole bunch of other people...

I've drunk 4 Diet Cokes already, and it's only 1pm? I heard a study that considered 3 cups of coffee excessive and I really thought they were joking. You too? Oh, never mind...

I can't think of anything either. Exciting life we lead, isn't it? I'll try and have more tomorrow.