Are you READY???!

I am!  I shall attempt to blog THREE, that's right, THREE times each week!  The blogs will compose of Thankful Tuesdays, in which we post the things we're grateful for; Catch-up Wednesdays, where I'll catch you all up to what we've been doing the past week; and Flashback Fridays, where Jordan and I will share one of our favorite memories, because our blog is our journal.

That was the longest run on sentence ever.

So today is Catch-up Wednesday!  This will be a long post my dears, because I haven't really blogged anything since December (with the exception of my Christmas vacation post).  It's not going to be in order either, because I can't remember when everything happened.

1. We decorated our house for Christmas.  I love getting a real tree every year.  It makes the whole house smell amazing!

2. Jordan and I went to Maymont (my favorite place in Richmond) for a Christmas celebration!  We rode in a horse-drawn carriage, got a tour of the civil war era mansion all decorated for Christmas, interacted with "characters" dressed in their period attire, ate treats, and roasted marshmallows over a bonfire while listening to carolers.  It was awesome.  In addition to seeing the mansion, we also saw some of the sets used for the filming of the "Lincoln" movie!  So cool!

3. Our ward Christmas party was so fun. I helped decorate a table for the dinner and was blown away by the creativity of some people's tables! There was a beautiful program and we felt the Spirit strongly testifying of the divinity of Christ.

4. Jordan and I celebrated Christmas on Hanukkah...because we would be in Utah for Christmas.  Haha!  I thought it was hilarious.  Jordan got me new pots and pans, Wii Zumba, and a shredder.  I got him a hand blender, a Nintendo 3DS, and some 3DS games.  It was very fun :)

5. I quit my job!  I'm quite glad.  I'll just leave it at that, haha.  My new job will start Feb. 6.  I'm so so excited.  The hospital is only a mile away, pays more than the other one, has amazing benefits, and (drum-roll, please) I'll be working DAYS!!!  Heck freaking yes!  No more sleeping during the day for me.  I'm still going to be working in Psych.  I love working with psychiatric patients.  The only downside I can see is that I will miss this view every morning from my other job...

6. Jordan likes to hold on to certain pieces of clothing.  Like a shirt he had from high school.  Needless to say, it had a ton of holes in it.  His mom had tried to throw it away and he "saved it" from the trash.  I tried to persuade him many times to throw it away and had no success, until he got the exact same shirt on our shopping trip in Park City.  He then agreed to put the shirt down, and I took pictures to document.

7. As part of the Richmond Mormon Chorale, we performed again at the Beth Ahaba Concert a little over a week ago.  It was wonderful!  We sang Peace in the Valley.  Sorry the video is fuzzy!

8. I have read 6 books so far this year, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Magic Study, Poison Study, and Fire Study!  The "Girl" series is SO good.  Seriously.  Graphic, yes, but so good.

9. And lastly, a bit of humor.  Jordan cut his hair a few weeks ago, and decided to surprise me with a "transition" phase.

Thankfully, it didn't last long!  Bahahaha!

Plastic Chef

It's Jordan. My mom told me yesterday that I needed to blog. I told her Melyn already did a post this week, but then she clarified that she wanted me to blog. So here's me blogging in 5 minutes. Last night Melyn had to work. When she works the Saturday evening shift (which is every other week), she calls a substitute to play the organ the next morning so she can just go to bed when she gets home. However, today she went to sacrament meeting herself so she didn't have to call a substitute. This meant she would be going to bed later, around 11 a.m. Keep in mind that she's been up since 9 a.m. the previous day. I don't know how she did it, but she did.

What this all means is when she finally did go to bed, she wouldn't be getting up until 7 p.m. The responsibility of cooking dinner tonight fell on me. I can cook, but really only things that don't require more than three ingredients. We had a southwestern chicken dish scheduled for tonight, and it definitely went way above my three ingredient rule. It reminded how cooking real meals is really hard. Too much multi-tasking. Among other things, I spilled lime juice in our silverware drawer, got taco powder stains on our white dish towel (Melyn hopes they'll come out), and used way more cooking utensils than I needed too. But the chicken dish turned out ok (if we got sick, I guess we'll find out in a couple of hours). Melyn even rated the meal 5 stars. Well, she really likes the recipe, though I can guarantee my rendition of it needs work. Maybe in the future I'll get more practice on how to cut cilantro, but right now I'm very content with Melyn being in charge of cooking duty. She is so much better at it anyways.

Wow!

People.  People - I am so sorry.  I have abandoned you.  Work has been crazy, and although that's no excuse, that's really why I haven't been blogging as much as I usually do.  Jordan's been insanely busy with school as well, so that's why he hasn't blogged.  I promise we are alive and doing fine!

Since we last blogged, Jordan started a new course in school, Hematology.  He's not enjoying it.  Just ask him.  But he is doing well and has his test for it next week.

One of Jordan's hard drives crashed (yes he has three, actually) and almost lost everything.  Thankfully, this hard drive was still under warranty and he sent it away to get fixed.  We learned the importance of backing up your hard drive regularly (hence, the third hard drive).

I FINALLY (cue angels singing) got my schedule for six weeks in advance!  My employer has had a hard time since I got hired, and they've only been giving me my schedule a week in advance.  Really great for the social life, let me tell you.

We are going to Disney World with Jordan's family in two weeks and I'm SO excited to see everyone, especially our new nephew!

Yesterday was our ward trunk or treat, and I dressed up as Tinkerbell.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, but will get one soon.

I've started couponing and getting the Sunday paper, and it's working out great so far!  The paper is only $2.50 and I got over $11 worth in coupons last Sunday!

And last but not least...I got an iPhone!!!!  I looooooove it!  It's like having my computer in my pocket!  I don't know how I survived for so long without one.

The Bad Week.

So as you can tell by the following posts, this has been a bad week.

Tuesday: 5.8 earthquake, patient elope from work.
Thursday: patient dies at work.
Saturday: Hurricane Irene, category 1.
Wednesday: first Microbiology test for Jordan.  :P

I Feel Happy!

Oh so Happy! Pretty too, haha. Oh how I love musicals.

Anyways, I seem to have reached a consensus about what to do - thank you to everyone who responded with advice. I'm going to document occurrences of bad nursing and bad management and then when I have enough evidence, I'm going to compile it all into a letter or report of some kind and give it to the Chief Nursing Officer. I'm still not sure whether I should present it anonymously or not. Upside to doing it anonymously is that they can't get mad at me or fire me. Downside is...that they won't know it was me promoting the change, that they won't know I'm a leader and problem solver. If my report doesn't change anything, I'm going to move on. There's no point in staying at a job when I KNOW that there are better ones out there. Speaking of which, I want to get a part-time med-surg/ICU/ER job to keep my skills up, and REALLY want to work at VCU! That way I'll get my foot in the door. I've wanted to work there since Jordan applied for medical school there!

I've been to the pool four times in the past week. It's been great, and I'm getting so tan!

Jordan and I had FHE for the first time in about a year tonight, and it was fabulous. I've really been needing to feel the Spirit lately, and this helped tremendously. I've also started trying to read the scriptures more by myself and praying more often.

I've kind-of decided that I'm going to work full-time until Jordan graduates, and then I'll work part-time. Even though we'll have kids, I really don't want to have a humongous mountain of debt (like $200,000 worth plus interest). I'm so blessed to have this profession, to have a degree, and to have a job. It will make the financial strain that much less painful. It will be hard, but the baby wouldn't even remember (we're not planning on a baby until next year) that we were working/studying all the time. Plus, when Jordan's a resident, he'll be making an income. Even though it will only be about $15 per hour (for 80 hours a week!!) it's something.

I've also started narrowing down "my" choices for Jordan's residency. So far the following states and cities are out:

No Residency Programs:

Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

Very Violent Cities:

Birmingham, Alabama

Little Rock, Arkansas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Charleston, West Virginia

Louisville, Kentucky

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Washington, D.C.

Baltimore, Maryland

Camden, New Jersey

Charleston, South Carolina

Miami, Florida

Atlanta, Georgia

Chicago, Illinois

Springfield, Illinois

Detroit, Michigan

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Kansas City, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

Toledo, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Memphis, Tennessee

Springfield, Massachusetts

Brockton, Massachusetts

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Houston, Texas

Albany, New York

Buffalo, New York

Wow that's a lot longer list than I though it was. Like I said, this is "my" list, and Jordan will have the ultimate choice. Just don't really want to live in a violent/crime-ridden city. The GREAT news about this is that Richmond, Hawaii, Salt Lake City, California, New York City, Boston, and Raleigh all made the cut!

Not a Splurge Shopper, Studying, and Work

For those who have been wondering about my shopping, no, I am not going on a shopping spree!  Haha, I am the slowest person when it comes to making decisions about clothes.  I take forever to narrow down my choices.  There is no way that I could spend ALL day at the mall, it drives me crazy just spending a couple hours there!  So no, I'm not going to be buying all these clothes at once - they'll be bought over the space of a year or more.

Jordan has been attending all of his classes and labs for this first class of the year.  So far, so good!  He has recognized that his energy peaks during the morning, so that's the best time for him to study and review.  Last year, he stayed home and watched the lectures when they were posted online in the afternoon, and it seemed more difficult.  So hopefully with attending lectures, he'll pass all his tests with flying colors!  Speaking of which, his first test is on Friday.  Wish him luck!  Also, I've been trying to talk with him more about what he's learning so that it can solidify in his brain.  It's been interesting, as I've learned more than I did in nursing school!  It also helps me to feel like I'm involved with his schooling.

Lastly...work.  I really, really, really need some advice guys.  I know there are people out there who read this blog who don't know me, and I could use your advice too.  I'm very, very frustrated with the people I work with.  The actual patient load is great, and I love this kind of nursing.  But the people...ugh.  Let me tell you.  The unit manager (UM) is supposed to be in charge, and the unit coordinator (UC) does the schedule and other stuff that I don't know about.  The UC was hired a couple years ago, and has basically taken over the UM's job.  The UM constantly defers to the UC's ideas.  That's the first problem.  The UM doesn't do her job.

The UC has some major, deep-set issues.  She seems like she has a chip on her shoulder.  She is friends or family with about 6 or 7 of the staff, and constantly gives them preferential treatment over everyone else.  She lets them work whenever the heck they want, lets them come into work or leave work whenever the heck they want, lies to administration to cover for them (this has been witnessed by several employees), and is a brat to everyone that she's not friends with.  She has a major chip on her shoulder about her position and her dominance over the UM.  Almost all the staff members have made complaints about this woman and her behavior to the UM, but obviously since the UM does whatever the UC wants, the complaints go nowhere.  They have also complained to the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), and there have been some investigations, but this woman and the UM have been given chance after chance to shape up and no real action has been taken.

The UC is supposed to make out the unit schedule, and as truly horrifying as it sounds, the schedule is only ever made out a week in advance.  And even then, there are holes in the schedule so that some of the units don't even have enough coverage.  The UC has been offered help with this aspect of her job.  One RN even made out the schedule for this week and had all holes filled, and the UC went back and changed it, making tons of empty spaces.  She doesn't utilize her part-time staff to help fill in the holes, and lets her best friends work whenever they want, so there are obvious issues there.  She doesn't allow people who aren't part of the clique to work any overtime, but lets her friends work 56 hours a week.  Not only is this not fair to staff members, but it's unsafe for patient care as well.  If the unit is not appropriately staffed, and there are multiple psychotic patients, one of the patients or staff members could get hurt, leading to multiple legal issues against the nurses and the hospital.  For example: Every other week I work on the unit with only 8 beds.  The other nurse who usually works with me is the UC's sister, so she comes in almost every day TWO hours late!!!  This makes the nurse from the previous shift have to stay so that the unit is staffed appropriately.  But, if the nurse decides to leave (not right) then it's just me waiting two hours.  If a patient decided to freak out and kill or seriously injure me, no help would be available for two hours.  This is SERIOUS.  We're dealing with people's lives!

There are a couple things I could do.
1. Quit, find another job.
2. Don't say anything, wait for it to get better.
3. Voice my concerns with the CNO and maybe even the CEO to get some action, and consequently get in trouble with the UM and UC.
4. Find another job part-time and stay here full-time.  Transition to full time at the other job if this one doesn't improve.

I really don't know what to do.  Please, please help me.

Random Post!

I've been posting a lot lately because I work nights, and last night and tonight I've only had THREE whole paitents!  Wow!  So needless to say, I've had almost 6 hours every night to do whatever I want, including watching movies, reading my Kindle, and blogging.  I have so much on my mind, and want to get it all out, so you guys get to read a list.

1. I think Lady Gaga has saved my life.  Haha!  I listen to her every morning coming home from work, and if it wasn't for her loud and lovely music, I would fall asleep every drive home.

2. It has been SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hot here in Virginia!  Seriously - like 100 degrees with 70% humidity.  The heat indices have been upwards of 115 degrees!  I want to go to the pool so bad, but I'm worried about getting heat stroke.  Oh, and you know the pictures of the country with colors according to heat?  Virginia was entirely pink.  Pink is hotter than red, FYI.  Haha :)

3. I'm needing to get some new clothes.  I looked up some wardrobe essentials for women and found this site.  With essentials, you can have fewer clothes, but more looks because of the versatility of the clothes.  Love that!  I'll just have a billion accessories to have cute, diverse looks.  Lol.

4. I'm so excited for my SIL, Lindsey and her fiance Matt to get married!  Cannot wait to see everyone - we're coming out August 12th and leaving the afternoon of the 14th.  It'll be quick, but I NEED to see my nephews.  Love them and miss them so much!

5. I've been thinking seriously about someday getting my Psychiatric Mental-Health Nurse Practitioner.  This is an advanced nursing degree that gives you most of the privileges of a doctor, including having patients and prescribing medications.  I'll do that after Jordan is done with residency and fellowship.  I think it would be the most awesome thing for Jordan and I to have a practice together.

6. I seriously love FlyLady.  Her incredible FREE system has literally saved me and my home from CHAOS.  My home is almost completely decluttered, it's organized, and it's clean all the time - I could have unexpected company over!  Check her out.  Just take babysteps!

7. My sleep has been so random this past week.  I slept 6 hours in 2 days last weekend and then 15 hours in one day this week.  Ugh!  Just want my boss to put my schedule on a pattern so I don't have to work different days every week!

Drama, Drama

I enjoy my new job.  I really do.  But I've found that there is indeed drama wherever you work.  I HATE being told that I'm going to do one thing, and then someone changes their mind last minute (literally) and tell you to do something else.  Example One: I was told that during orientation, I would NEVER be nursing by myself.  I asked if I would even pass medications by myself, and my boss said I wouldn't.  That she "would never allow that."  Well, the next day, I come in and they want me to pass medications.  And it's only me and the charge nurse.  No one orienting me.  I couldn't believe it!  I was fine passing medications, but that's not the point.  It's the fact that she told me one thing and then scheduled me to do the totally opposite thing.  Example Two: I came into work expecting to orient with the charge nurse.  They were short staffed (this happens a lot apparently, especially in psych, but I'll get into that later) and they decided that I would be a good person to sit out in the hall and check on the patients every 15 minutes for 8 hours.  Now, I really honestly don't mind doing this - but the point is that I was IN ORIENTATION AS CHARGE NURSE - NOT PSYCH TECH!  Example Three: I was told that I would orient as charge nurse JUST on the unit with only 8 patients.  I walk into work, and the evening staff tell me I'm supposed to go to the unit with 15 patients to charge.  I WOULDN'T HAVE MINDED IF SHE HAD PUT ME ON THE SCHEDULE FOR THE BUSIER UNIT - but she just changes her mind namby pamby!  Rarrrrr!!!!!  Whew.

I've found that you just need to get in, do you work the best you can, help other people, and then leave.  Leave your work at home.

There are definite pluses to this job.  I LOVE having an in-house pharmacy.  I LOVE having an in-house lab.  And I LOVE that when you page the doctors, they actually call you back!  The actual work is EEEASSSSY.  Seriously.  I can't believe how much I used to run around at the-place-that-shall-not-be-named, and felt like I was accomplishing nothing.  And I LOVEEEEE the patients!  They're hilarious!  And annoying.  But mostly entertaining.  Now please don't take this as psych nurses (or any nurses for that matter) laughing at their patients.  It's just a way to relieve stress from the job.  We deal with very stressful patients, who don't care about their lives, who make the dumbest decisions, and come back month after month doing the same thing.  So we need to find some way to laugh.

I really do love my job.  I like seeing psychotic/depressed people become well-functioning, or as well-functioning as is possible.

Work

Well, my first few days have been great! :)  I spent a week in the classroom, learning about all the policies and procedures and nursing things like that.  A lot of the things I learned about didn't apply to me because I work in Behavioral Health, but I wanted to learn everything just in case I need to float to a different unit in the future.

Today was my first "real" day.  I worked 7-3, and I'm EXHAUSTED!  I think the reason I'm so tired is because I have to wake up at 5:00 AM to get ready :(  I am not a morning person.  I got the next two weeks of orientation all figured out.  I'm orienting on all shifts just so I know what everyone does.  I'm also going to be able to orient as long as I need so that I'm comfortable.  I'll be working 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM three times a week in a row, every other weekend once I'm out of orientation.  Which means I'll have about 3 and a half days off every week!  Yay!

The unit I oriented on today has two nurses with eight patients.  Hallelujah!  It was busy, but not insane.  I was able to leave for lunch and got out on time!  The night nurse said I'm going to get bored on nights, but there are always things that I can do to keep myself busy.  And I'll take bored over insanely busy any day.  :)

This is It!!!

Happy Mother's Day to our wonderful Moms today.  You are both incredible and wonderful :)  We love you so much!

Today is my last day of working at this...this...place.  Hallelujah!  I'm so so so excited!  I hate working there so much, and they keep trying to persuade me to stay.  Stay for what?  They're not even offering me any more pay or a different wing!!  Plus, they've all been so RUDE about my career choice as a psychiatric nurse, that I am glad to say GOOD RIDDANCE.  You know, psychiatric nurses are there for a reason, and they DO help people and they SERVE A NEED.  Where will these people be going when they have a psychotic break?  To a psych hospital.  With psych nurses.  Who will be glad to help you figure out what went wrong.  People should be glad and grateful there are people like me who want to work in psych.  Just like I'm grateful there are nurses who work in OB/GYN, because I could never do that.  Ugh.  Ugh!!  Glad to get this all off my chest.  Thanks for letting me rant and rave people.

My Dream Job

People who know me well know that I've loved the field of psychology and psychiatry ever since high school.  My high school psychology class introduced me to the wonders of the human brain and all the things that can go wrong with it.  I studied Abnormal Psychology right before I graduated high school and was determined to be either a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psych nurse.  A close family member (somewhat unfortunately) told me that I shouldn't be a psychiatrist or psychologist.  I determined I would be a nurse at that point in my life.

During my sophomore year in college, I worked as a CNA at a geriatric psychiatric facility in Salt Lake City.  One of the best jobs I've ever had - I learned a lot, got beaten up and bitten by patients, and had a grand old time.  I was sure my future as a psychiatric nurse was guaranteed. So I went to nursing school, awaiting the day that I would begin my Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing course in my senior year.   As I knew I would, I LOVED it.  I loved it so much that I chose to make it my focus in my Nursing Capstone class.  My capstone was at the University of Utah 5 West unit, where they bring in people from off the streets and from the prison.  

I had hoped that Jordan would be accepted to the University of Utah and that after working in Med-Surg for a year, I could transfer to 5 West and work there for the rest of my career - it was that good of a place.  Then we got the email that we would move to Virginia - unknown territory.  Did they have good psych facilities out there?  Would I even be able to get a job, considering my lack of experience and resources?  Well, I have discovered that there are indeed amazing facilities in Virginia to help those with mental health problems - facilities that have been around for over 100 years, back when they called these places "sanatoriums."  

My lack of experience has been made up for by working at my current job with over 20 patients and dealing with their family members as well - if that's not psych nursing, I don't know what is!  After working at my current place of employment for almost 8 months, I am VERY happy to say I've found something different.  I will begin working at a small hospital 40 minutes south of me that has an amazing psychiatric unit!  I will work with another nurse and take care of 8 patients.  It will be SUCH a huge change, a change for the better.  

Pros:

1. Psych Nursing!  Helloooo!  My dream job!!

2. Smaller unit, less patients

3. More fulfilling - I'll be able to do more nursing care instead of "pushing pills."

4. I'll lead group sessions with patients.

5. Cheaper health insurance

6. Good staff retention - means it's a good place to work because the people like working there!

7. Hopefully I'll have less overtime...I don't really like staying 3 hours over my shifts to complete my work.

8. Work less days a week for the same amount of time - 3 to 4 days each week

9. The hospital system has hospitals all over the country, so if we need to move for residency, I can just transfer to another hospital!

Cons:

1. Pay is a little less.

2. It's 40 minutes both ways driving.

Basically, I'm stoked!  I start working there May 16, and will quit my current job May 8.