Not Photo Friday

I have a great picture for you, really... But I've been to a neighbourhood Christmas party and after several White Russians, not a great deal of substantial food and less sleep I'm a wee bit tipsy. And so can't figure out how to get the picture off my phone and onto the computer for you. Far too complicated for me right now.

So I'm just going to make a general announcement (that I already made on Facebook this arvo - if you already know then don't ruin the surprise for everyone else). I got assessed and checked off on my chemotherapy administration.

Doesn't sound too flash, does it? It is for me, because it means I can finally work on my own. This is a huge deal for me as I will feel more like a part of the team and less of a burden to my co-workers and preceptor. I hate feeling like that, like I'm slowing people down. Have I ever mentioned I'm kinda a control freak and set high expectations for myself?

My assessment consisted of our unit clinical facilitator watching me administer a few types of chemo, quizzing me on what I was doing, policies, and general knowledge about other common types of chemotherapy we give. All while I was wearing my Personal Protective Equipment - face shield, mask, gown, gloves; I really need to get a photo to show you how full on it is. I had two minor stumbles... and you can tell how much of a control freak I am by the fact I kept track of how many questions I didn't know the answer to... but otherwise did well. I actually did a bit of a celebratory dance at the nurse's station when it was over.

I still have module work to do, but I'm taking a break from them until after Christmas. And if it was obvious I'm still really liking my job. I'll get into that a bit more another time, but now it's time to sleep off the effects of this evening.

Busy

Sorry I've been absent, if there's anybody left reading my poor neglected blog. But this has been my brain lately:



But things really are looking up once I get past Christmas. I've had my 3 month evaluation at work that went very very well and I should be able to have my Chemotherapy Administration Assessment either next week or just after Christmas. That will allow me to be independent, which is good. Not that my preceptor hasn't been good - she's great and has boosted my confidence a lot - but I'd like to be helping the whole team out, which I can't do right now. It's a little frustrating.

And Christmas has me spinning - only 9 sleeps to go and I'm not close to being done. I'm heading out today (my day off) but I've got Her Majesty and Clive with me so I can't do anything for them. On the plus side I don't have to work Christmas Day, so I really can't complain.

I'm feeling less passive, just really tired still. I honestly think once I get past Christmas things will ease up. Or maybe I'm just kidding myself, and it'll be as crazy as usual and I'll come up with another excuse.

OK, this was kind rambling but did you SEE the picture up there? Think about how I feel!

I will try to get on later today and do a post updating you on how my spawn are. In short - very well and driving me batty.

Priorities, Doc

My preceptor and I were reading through a patient's history yesterday. This is fairly standard procedure before giving chemo - we want to know a bit about the patient so we know we're giving the appropriate treatment, what questions to ask and to get an overall picture of the person. The Medical Oncologists dictate their notes, so at least they're legible - the down side of this practice is that on the day of treatment there is nothing written, often leaving us going "what the hell is going on?"

But I digress... We were reading a fairly extensive summary of past history and the current investigation (current meaning 2008 when it was found) for suspected bowel cancer. Lots of medical jargon and an entire typed page later, the patient has fairly nasty colon cancer. That sucks. Treatment plan listed, thanks for referring, blah blah blah... My preceptor and I are about to skip ahead a bit when I notice the single line PS at the top of the next page:

PS - CT scan shows liver metastasis.

What??? Uh, a spread of cancer to the liver is pretty fucking serious. In fact, it renders the cancer incurable. And you mention it as a post script???

We shake our heads and skip ahead. The patient has done remarkably well and is still with us a year+ after her diagnosis. This does not mean her cancer is cured or the doctors were wrong... it means it hasn't spread further and she continues with active treatment to continue to prolong her life. Just so we're clear. We then find this sentence opening a recent progress note:

She has recently returned from a holiday in New Zealand, where she had a good time despite the poor weather.

You can't make this shit up. A HUGELY significant finding that changes treatment from possibly curative to palliative gets a PS, and a vacation in shitty weather gets the headline?


Dear Doctor, please go and look up "priority" in a dictionary before dictating more notes. Your nursing staff will appreciate it.