I have a very predictable routine. You could even say it's quite boring. I get up at the same time every morning. I hit snooze the same number of times. Two back-up alarms go off. I get up, brush my teeth, shower, and I won't bore you with the rest of the details, but it's the same every single day. I take the same roads, drive in the same lane, and always hit 15 Mile and John R at 6:06 a.m. I park in the same garage, on the same floor, in the same spot each shift, and I look at the time clock on the way in and get a chuckle. It's always 6:18 a.m. My lunch goes in the fridge, I head to my locker, change my shoes, put my badge on and my necessities in my pockets, and head to the kitchen. I make a pot of coffee and have a conversation with Sherry or Denise from dietary. We ... View Post
“Crafty” Coconut Custard Pie
Ingredients: 1-1/3 cup of sugar 3 eggs 1/3 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 stick melted butter or margarine 1 cup coconut Directions: Mix together the first 5 ingredients. Add the coconut. Pour into an unbaked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on your oven - until golden brown. This recipe is one handed down from my dear friend Sue Craft, and I simply cannot publish this until in true Sue Craft style, I add a little riddle. So here goes: Q: What’s the best thing to put into Sue Craft's Coconut Custard Pie? A: Your teeth! ... View Post
Humbled By A Hamster
I'm divorced, but jokingly often refer to myself as "recycled - recovered, stronger, even better"..... I'm also fiercely independent (although I can think of at least ONE friend who will beg to differ). Maybe what I view as independent has now been clearly identified in the past 24 hours as just plain prideful. Yeah - that's it. I'm really just full of pride and stubbornness. You see, I'd rather fork out $500 to get a room painted than let someone do it for free. Why? Because I don't want to feel indebted to someone for a favor. If I choose to do something nice for someone, I don't want it to be because I now feel obligated because they did something for me. The problem with that is this - I am actually ROBBING someone of doing something nice just for me because of the ... View Post
Hey Nurses – Let’s Talk Moral Injury
There isn't a day that goes by I don't know of something I'd just love to write about. The shifts in what I like to refer to as my "school shoes and scrubs" at the hospital definitely give me the most material with which to work. Often, especially lately though, I come home and my mind just goes blank. Over the past year I haven't decided if that's because I'm simply too exhausted after a 12-hour shift, or I'm just getting better at keeping my mouth shut (or in this case, my laptop). Maybe I worry that what I'd love to get out of my head, off of my heart, or off of my CHEST just might offend someone. Maybe what I think is just irrelevant or inappropriate - even if it IS true. Maybe as a Christian I'm worried about offending those who aren't because I'm supposed to live ... View Post
The eye doctor and the Eye Doctor
Readers. They come in packages of four at my favorite store for $9.99. My first pair was 1.0 strength. I bought them after my friend Jean at work pointed out that I was unknowingly squinting while on the computer. I didn't believe her because I'd never worn glasses in my life, so I began paying attention to myself, and sure enough - the day I couldn't read a tiny little bottle at work in the middle of doing a procedure at work in the ICU, the physician told me to put on my glasses. Glasses? I don't wear glasses. I've never worn glasses. Guess what. That night? I stopped at TJ Max and bought a four-pack. That was the year I turned 50. Now I'm 56 and have graduated from 1.0 all the way up to 3.0, and am now on the verge of not finding the next strength in the ... View Post
Grace Defined
Every month I sit at the kitchen table, pay my bills, and divvy up my cash into envelopes - each for something different. It's the "envelope system" created by Dave Ramsey in his Financial Peace University program. $200 for groceries, $120 for gas, $70 for hair, $50 for gifts, and the list goes on. When the envelope is empty - that's it. All gone. No more. Now, I must wait until I earn some more. This morning, however, I was putting that cash into the envelopes and began thinking about a challenging question someone posed to me a couple of years ago. Insisting that I didn't understand what grace was, they asked me to define it. "Getting something I don't deserve" wasn't a satisfying enough answer for that individual, and since that time I have thought about the ... View Post
It’s Not About Me
She walked into the room and directly to the bedside of my patient. She made eye contact, smiled, made sure the blanket was covering his shoulders. She told him she was going to be his night shift nurse, and reassured him that she would take good care of him. She winked at him and gently touched his hand. Then, the nurse taking over for me walked over to the corner of the room where our patient's wife sat. She was crying, scared, anxious, had not gotten much rest, and had just made the most difficult decision in her life. She had signed her husband onto hospice. The nurse got down on her knees on the floor in front of our patient's wife. I'll never forget it. She knelt on that filthy ICU floor, because at that moment the most important people in the world were her ... View Post
Removing My Badge
I want to tell you a story. It's a story about my friend - my MICUBFFAW, and how she influenced me, and my patient care. Several years ago our unit manager assigned each Registered Nurse a "Medical Intensive Care Unit Best Friend Forever At Work." My particular MICUBFFAW and I just happen to still work on our floor, and I still tease her, "Hey - MICUBFFAW!" One day, I heard a story about my MICUBFFAW, and I heard it from a patient's wife. I can't recall the details of this patient's illness or the circumstances surrounding their hospitalization. But I remember the patient, I remember that he suffered from dementia, and I remember that his darling wife had the neatest Scottish accent ever. She visited us several days after her husband's discharge and brought home made ... View Post