Doggy crackdown

I've been slack about posting lately, but don't really think I have much to say. Well, I think of plenty of things to go on about while I'm at work or in traffic, but by the time I get home I really just want to eat soy ice cream on the couch and watch Blind Date. Because I'm just that boring. So lets see...work: There are some really sick patients, dying of cancer. Nothing new there. I've had the same patient for a couple of weeks, "N". She's intubated, sedated, in droplet isolation. Very well sedated, in fact. Although the other night I was doing her assessment and talking to her, then I told her how her sister had just called me to check on her and what she had said, and when I glanced up at her face, her eyes had opened a bit and she had tears on her cheeks. The scientific part of me thinks it was coincidental, that she was agitated from my assessment, and the tears are a reflexive reaction. But I probably tell myself that because believing the other way, that she heard me and reacted to me talking about her sister, is really sad. Of course, I always assume my patients can hear me and understand me, regardless of their outward appearance and mental status.

I've been in chemo class for three days, bringing back memories of sitting in lectures for long periods of time in the special kind of hell we call nursing school. Interestingly, all of my colleagues at the class agreed that nursing school was a special kind of degrading, humiliating, frustrating hell, and that we didn't realize the full horror of it until we were done (thank god!), yet we'd all gone to different schools, even different types of schools (private, public, BSN, ADN). Anyway, my butt hurts from sitting and I got a few more wrinkles and headaches from the horror that is daytime traffic, but now I know how to safely administer chemotherapy. I've also been pondering my next step...as in, okay, I'm ICU certified now, and I plan on getting more ICU experience...then what? Should I travel, move to a different area (med surg ICU, PACU, NICU?), or think about going back to school? The thing about nursing is that there is no defined career trajectory for you...like in business, you start as an intern, and you progress upwards on the company's track until you're a [soulless] corporate manager. But in nursing, you have a gazillion options and no one defines your path for you, you just figure it out. Which is why I love this job, I'm just sayin'...got some thinkin' to do.

Oh, and the doggy crackdown!! Yesterday there were some "uniformed" Humane Law Enforcement people at my beloved Magnuson Park, intefering with Doggy Good Times and ticketing owners who didn't have valid dog licenses. Which seems quite counterproductive, because I think the city's already stretched humane enforcement budget could much better be spent arrested dog abusers and improving animal shelters, but NO, they come after some of the most responsible dog owners with their very happy and well-cared for dogs. Whatever. We still sort of enjoyed our park visit, however we had to sneak in and out of the side entrances. Oh, and now I have dog licenses. So phooey on you, mr. dog cop. Doggy smells bacon.