Sunday, December 20, 2009

Nature to Ease the Stress

I spent yesterday with G. and her friend E. We went hiking near Inverness, in the lush hills near the Pacific Ocean. It was a much needed break from the hyper urgent feeling of these times.

Christmas has left me feeling worried abut budgeting and sad that our traditions are not very family oriented. I am working all of this X-mas week, making some much needed dollars to pay off that fantastic wedding we just had. A part of me want to wake up late with my husband on Xmas day, eat crab and exchange gifts. I want to create our own tradition...oh well, maybe when we have kids, I will be more willing to make the sacrifice.

I guess in some way, I am creating tradition. This is the second mushroom hunting trip I have made with G. I really am enjoying it. I plan on making her a photo album of all of our finds for her birthday. I think that will be an awesome project.

Friday, December 4, 2009

I am grateful for...

I am grateful for my wonderful husband, his patience, his understanding, and his love.

I am grateful for my inspiring career.

I am grateful that some people are brave enough to say this just is not fair when it comes to people losing their homes and their lives to afford health care, or just losing their lives since they cannot afford healthcare.

I am grateful for nature - one of my biggest inspirations.

I am grateful for the many wonderful friends I have in all parts of the world. You all are my family as much as you are my friends.

I am grateful for having good knees.

I am grateful for the thank you card my nephew just sent me.

I am grateful to live in the US, where I am allowed to say and do just about anything I want as a woman.

I am grateful for my family, even those I do not agree with. Without your input, I wold not have become the passionate person I am. Uncle David, without your input, my passions may have gotten the best of me. So without both sides, I am nothing.

The last month was a month of establishing tradition. Ryan and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving together. We travelled to Portland, OR to help a friend recuperate from knee surgery, and to spend time with some other lovely friends. Julie Spanks was a fantastic hostess, and Nascar, she and I made a sublime thanksgiving dinner. Pattycakes almost burned down the house in her pain induced stupor, but was out of bed everyday after her surgery and progressing nicely to a renewed knee.

The photo is from an awesome camping trip I took with Gabby back in September. Really a delightful weekend, full of mushroom hunts and fractal sightings!

I am still defining processes and system failures at work, although I am also training a new nurse for the floor. Precepting a new nurse is such hard work, as it really makes you look deeply at the errors in your own practice.

This week I cared for a 22 year old Cantonese girl with Tuberculosis that caused an aortic aneurysm. This girl is so scared. She awaits a surgery that may involve cutting her chest open to stent the aneurysm. Her tuberculosis got out of control after not finishing TB treatment in 2002. It is my guess she could not afford the treatment. Now a much more invasive procedure, to treat an even more complicated effect of the disease, all because preventative health care is not available to people with minimal or no health insurance who are immigrants to our country. I attempted to appease her anxiety by finding magazines for her to read, and bringing the interpreter in to talk about her concerns and worries. I was reminded that she was only 22, when she lit up with the magazine I brought in with the Twilight characters in the cover.

I am grateful to be in service to a girl like that. May this experience with my hospital shape her into a more informed consumer of healthcare.

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About Me

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I am Nurse Bacon, a registered nurse who works hard and and lives a full life with her husband, Nascar Pitcrew. A little surly and a little sensitive, I am very much enamored with life and its nuances.