On the homefront.

Is it really only Tuesday? It seems like this week is dragging on, but maybe that's because I've been on call FOREVER! Can you believe tomorrow is August? YIKES! In trying to fix the schedule so we're on call for blocks of time longer than a week, I put myself on call through August 8. I have had mostly uninterrupted sleep, with a couple of completely random calls here and there...nothing serious. I go off call for outpatient on Friday, so I'll only be on donor call after that. Ta DA! :)

We've had busy weeks at the hospital, with all the transplants going on and such. I've been on inpatient this week, and we've had some major milestones! We've had babies get off the ventilator, babies have to go back on the ventilator, and babies get ready to go home.

I have Oliver this week, and he's been a precious baby. He's hilarious. He got into a little bit of trouble on Friday when he bit the vet tech. In Oliver's defense, the guy did sneak up on him and go to put something on Oliver's neck...so it wasn't entirely his fault. Oliver is such a pansy to anyone who knows him. Two hours after he got home from the vet, he had already curled up on my friend Amanda's lap and showed her his stomach. The vicious, vicious beast! :) Now he's completely passed out on the couch with his sister. Sweet baby.




Well, nothing else is really going on around here. Hopefully things will get interesting this weekend, but since it seems everyone around me is going out of town except me, should be interesting. Have a great weekend! :)

Miracles abounding.

Being on call certainly opens up a whirlwind of emotions, which I believe I have mentioned in numerous blogs. This weekend, it was CRAZY! Of course, I hadn't been on what we call "donor call" in 2 weeks. This means I am the one the surgeon calls if there's a transplant. Starting last Friday, I've been on both donor call and outpatient call (when the post-transplants have questions). At 9AM Friday morning, after only being on call 2 hours, I already had a transplant to plan! All went well, and I was able to go home around 1AM. Saturday, I had planned to spend the day reading the new Harry Potter book. Well, our hospital transferred in a patient to be evaluated for transplant, so I spent the day giving orders and getting financial approval. That night, I went to the movies and saw both Harry Potter and Ratatoiulle. SUCH good movies! I got home about 2AM (it was a late movie!) and happily went to sleep....excited to spend Sunday afternoon reading my book. Well, that happy sleep was interrupted by a phone call at 4AM regarding ANOTHER transplant! That's 2 in less than 36 hours! YIKES! :) The second transplant was my precious little angel that missed out on a heart earlier in the week....we had miracles all OVER the place!

Needless to say, I've been spending my week getting caught up on the sleep I missed over the weekend. I'm on call again this weekend, but I am NOT on outpatient call too...so hopefully I'll just get to hang out and SLEEP! Liberty is VERY excited to have me actually sleep in my own bed...so I know she's going to be glad I'm home. I also get Oliver back tomorrow...so there will be PLENTY of fun around here! It's always a little quiet without Oliver. I think Liberty will be happy to see him.

I need so badly to go on vacation! I checked my time off today and I have 200 hours saved up! That is WAY too much vacation to keep to myself! I am planning a trip to Mexico this fall with some friends, but I just need to get it set in stone. I've also gotten a lot more fiesty about my time on call. I was going to have to be on call my birthday weekend, but thankfully, I am not because I said NO WAY and now I'll be free for partying!

No other news to report. Puppies are happy. Babies are getting new hearts. I am finally well rested again. Life goes on.

The pros and cons.

Last night, we received a heart offer for my favorite little baby. I've been there for this family since they were told she needed a transplant. There's just some families that you bond with more than others...and this family is so special to me! I got to be the one to tell them we had a heart for their baby, which is absolutely one of the most exciting things I have been able to do. This mom is absolutely amazing to me. After her initial excitement about her daughter's life being saved, her thoughts went straight to the donor family and started lifting up prayers for them in their time of need.

I also had to turn around 12 hours later and tell them the heart wasn't good anymore and their daughter would not be getting her life-saving transplant that night. I have begun to despise that conversation. Please keep this precious family in your prayers. It's an absolutely emotional roller coaster, and I know they would be so thankful for these prayers. I am just so thankful we discovered the heart was unacceptable before it was placed in this precious little girl.

I go back on call Friday. Nights spent with two phones and a pager. YIPPEE! Should be interesting when we have 2 kids sitting right at the top of the list! :) We tend to get heart offers almost every other day...so I'm sure sleepless nights are in order! I took a nap this afternoon after being up all night, and I feel so much better, but nothing prepares you for the adrenaline rushes of this job!

Well, guess I should find something for dinner...and Liberty is begging!

The calm...

Well, I've been off call for a week now...and I can't say I haven't enjoyed it! How nice is it to go to sleep uninterrupted, and sleep with NO phone/computer/pager next to my bed! It's weird to think how comforting that is! :) I have almost remembered what it is to have a normal existance! :) Of course, I go back on call in a week or so, but I think it will be different this time. Hopefully, it will be for the better.

I have had one of my favorite babies admitted this week. Her mom and I have formed such a bond, and I absolutely LOVE their family. She's sitting at the top of the transplant list right now, and I pray EVERY DAY that an offer comes through for her. She's such a little angel and I absolutely LOVE her parents.

Not much else is going on. I have been very bored at work this week, mostly because my counterpart wont' let me help her...but that's okay. I don't know if I would want to have her help me! It's such DRAMA in the heart transplant office!

Oliver went back to Becca's this week. I think Liberty really misses him! Her grandma was here earlier in the week, and now she's just mourning the loss of both of them. She's currently curled up in a little ball next to me...she's so insane.

Oliver ALSO learned to climb trees this week! At Grandma's house, he was obsessed with finding squirrels...any way he could! If that meant climbing trees, he was all for it! I'll have to post the picture of him climbing the trees...he's so funny!



That's pretty much the week! Working. Bored. That's IT! Pray for heart offers on my three waiting babies!

Only one more day....

After three weeks, three heart offers that didn't go through (but still kept me up all night!), two transplants (one of which I am getting ready to go to right now!), I AM READY TO BE DONE WITH CALL! At least for this one, I got a 1/2 hour of sleep instead of NONE! Hooray for small blessings! Let's just say I will be more than happy to return the stupid transplant phone and not wear my pager ALL DAY! :)

I do love my job. It's just hard to like it at 3:01AM when I know I'll be busy all day...on minimal sleep. Poor puppies. They will be pitiful, I am sure. Ah, there goes the alarm clock. I set FOUR alarms to make sure I woke up. Of course, I got paged an hour before I was supposed to wake up, and wasn't able to go back to sleep. Ah, the 2nd alarm goes...perhaps I should turn them off!

The cry of the unable...

Before anyone gets any wild ideas about me reproducing, let me be the first to tell you I have NO current plans for this. I just have a few friends who are battling infertility and this video was especially moving to me. There are so many people having children who shouldn't be....and so many trying that can't.

Caught up!

You never EVER realize how much value sleep has until you don't get it! Since I didn't sleep a wink on Monday night, I spent the rest of the week catching up! I am happy to say that I am now caught up! :) I've got only a few more days on my own, and then I'm going on a mini-vacation! I leave Thursday morning for my grandma's house in Central Texas and I'll be back Sunday night with my mother in tow! She's gonna spend a few days visiting up here. Liberty and Oliver are very excited to go visit the country...they mostly just like the yard! My grandma says there are lots of foxes and deer out this year...I'm sure that will absolutely torture Oliver. He does love to chase things...

I had an appointment with my cardiologist on Friday. He was mildly concerned that my resting heart rate is usually over 100. It should be 60-80. He gave me a medication to take when I feel it racing. The ironic thing is that since my co-worker has left town, I haven't had one single palpitation! He told me he would write a letter asking for her to be fired if I wanted! :) He also let me look at my echo. It was basically normal with a touch of mitral valve regurgitation. This isn't a problem right now, but we'll see what it does later on. That's why I have a murmur. Overall a good visit! I haven't filled the prescription yet...I'm such a bad nurse! :)

This weekend I got most of my house clean! I even dusted! I attempted vacuuming, which lasted a good hour before Oliver started shredding his toy carcasses all over the house. I gave up on the clean floor. At least I attempted. I still need to finish cleaning the bathroom, but that shouldn't take too long. I HATE cleaning and I really despise spending my long awaited weekends doing it.

Anyways. This should be a nice short week, especially since I'll only be working TWO days! I'm going to be on my first call this week....which means I'll get all the calls from our post-transplants at any hour of the day. I'm sure someone will have a wonderful 4th of July and try to injure themselves and need to call me. That will be LOADS of fun! I don't even know if I'll be able to go see fireworks! I'd never be able to hear a call over those!

Well, I'd better continue cleaning...or at least attempting to avoid it. Liberty is currently being punished in the bathroom for peeing on the floor. She's been in there almost an hour. She's normally decided she's done by now and barked...but no such barking.

Ah, I went and saw Ratatouille this weekend! I HIGHLY recommend it! It was SO SO cute! Pixar does such a great job!

Have a great week!