Serendipity

So I seriously don't know how this happens...I say I'm going to more diligent about posting and I did really well....and then....life happens :)
Beautiful, serendipitous, lucky life that I have. So I'll give some quick updates.

CCI - I LOVE being a nurse and I am having such a ridiculously good time in the Critical Care Internship.
Since my last post, I finished the Surgical ICU (which I loved!!!) Give me a surgical wound any day and I'm a happy girl. I also went through my rotation on Neuro Critical Care unit...one word: Bbbbbrrrrraaaiiiinnnssssss!!! (Say this is your best zombie voice please). Don't get me wrong, NCC was cool but brains are squishy! I just started last week in the Medical ICU, which will be interesting for me. Patients are really, really sick to be on MICU. But I do have some friends that work there so I don't feel soooo out of place. The internship will be finished in December, the last rotation will be through Burn Trauma ICU, which I am literally scared to death of. I have learned so much about myself and I feel like I'm gaining the most amazing experiences. I still don't know which one will be my first choice, but I'm working really hard to have ALL the managers want to hire me, then I can get my pick. (Still the overachiever.) Stay tuned on the CCI front.

The Boy - he's still a teenager for all his 18 years. Lovable, messy, at times irresponsible, teenager. This is the part about being a parent that is new and uncharted for me: how to let your children make grown-up life decisions without interfering or giving too much of my own opinion. It gives me serious anxiety. That is all I can say about that right now.

Ramblings about Salt Lake City - I did finally make it all the way up City Creek Canyon (12 miles roundtrip) which is quite the accomplishment for me. And yes, I know I should have gone with someone, hiking by yourself can be dangerous....but I really needed to do it by myself, for myself. The leaves are all turning in my beloved city, which makes it even more lovable. This fall has been so lovely, but I will not lie and say I am looking forward to winter, but I am literally counting down the days until Spring :)

Just one of the numerous creatures I saw this summer in City Creek

Serendipity is when someone finds something that they weren't expecting to find. In the last year, I have found things that I didn't know I wanted or was not expecting in the least. Serendipity usually refers to happy things. Unfortunately all my discoveries have not been happy. But what has been the most serendipitous thing to happen to me is that I when I started being true to myself, I rediscovered my true source of happiness - myself. I told someone recently that if more of us just got out of our own way and let the universe bring us what we needed, we would all be so much happier. The smile on my face is enormous these days.

The boy at 18

Yesterday, the boy turned 18. I was a little sad. I remember when he was a baby, entranced by watching basketball on TV (thank goodness for SportsCenter). I remember his first day of Kindergarten. I remember the first time he hit a three pointer in a game. I remember the first time we went to the ER for a sports injury. I remember the first time he told me he liked a girl. I remember when he told me he would always take care of me. Now, I will be able to remember his 18th birthday and how much fun we had as son and momma. I can only hope that he will still want to tell me about his days, want and seek my opinion and be my friend as well as my son. He always has been and always will be my most awesome accomplishment.

The boy, Senior Year...and some other thoughts.

This last week I took the boy to get all registered in preparation for starting his Senior Year of high school. Walking through those impressive front doors of the most bad-ass high school in the state, West High (yes, I am a Panther as well, class of 93, woot-woot), I was having a lot of mixed emotions. First: Disbelief. I truly can't believe that he is a senior and that he will soon be 18 years old. I'm so excited for what this year holds for him, because I remember having that same feeling as I started my senior year of high school. Now for those of you who don't want to do the math, yes it was during my senior year that my life forever changed and I found myself pregnant with this little miracle in my belly. So, my second emotion that gripped me was fear & apprehension at all once. I can only hope that I have taught him the importance of responsibility and why I want his story to be so different from mine. Once I reminded myself of that, the last emotion that calmed me down was that of happy anticipation. The memories and stories he'll build for himself this year will be ones that I hope he will carry with him forever. And I'm so excited that I'll be in the position to do everything I can to make those stories great.

I also had the supreme opportunity this week to see "my boys" 311 in concert once again. That will make 17 shows for me. I know a lot of people don't get it, but simply put, it makes me happy. So rather that trying to explain, I'll let the expressions on my face do the talking.

"Be Positive and Love Your Life!" 

Umm, August how did you get here already??!?!

I seriously believe that the older I get, the faster time goes by. And not just years and decades, because they do! I'm still claiming that it is some weird space-time continuum mix-up that The Boy will be 18 in September. Lately, I've just been amazed at how quickly a month, a week or a day can go by. It only seems like a few days ago that I was still in school, worrying about exams or doing yet another completely useful care plan. But now look, here it is the first day of August and I'm worrying about my patients last lab results and I'm filling out yet another completely useful Plan of Care. (Fellow U nurses feel free to laugh here). I think it must be my Aries nature to be so excited for the next thing in my life, that I forget to fully process the events before the next one comes along. It is only when some guidepost comes along, like the last "summer" month, to realize how much time has really passed. This summer really has been spectacular so far. For all the reasons and events that I've talked about here, but for so many other ones little ones that I should not let pass without recognition.
So here is my summer memory list so far, in ode to my friend Jarah and her many lists.

Nurse party IV's

Hammocks in the dark

Napping while floating in a lake

Homemade chili cheese fries

A/C with a remote control

Blue lights at the Larkspur Lounge

City Creek at dusk

Impromptu dance parties

"Alan, Alan, hey Alan, oh my, that's Steve"

Kenny Powers

Live music on a summer breeze

Breakfast for Dinner

Fireworks in the rain

Feeling freedom at 40 mph on a bad ass scooter

Now if you know me at all, you know that I will squeeze every drop of satisfaction that I can get out of summer, so I think this list is only half way done.

CCI update: Finished my shifts in the Emergency Dept and I loved it!!! I was really surprised that I liked it so much, I guess I just really had a different idea of what it would be like. So the rest of this rotation includes Huntsman Special Care which is also awesome. I did my Med-Surg rotation on this floor and the staff that work there are special angel nurses. The Oncology ICU is slated to open in October (I think) and will be a really amazing place to work and grow as a nurse. Here is my one fear: I'm going to love everywhere that I go. Maybe I should count that as a positive.

First day as a nurse....in the ER!

  ER pic

Ok, so I have to admit my long standing love affair with the tv show "ER." I think I possibly watched every episode. I loved the characters and the amazing and crazy stories they came up with. Even as the cast changed (I will always hold a place in my heart for Dr. Doug Ross & Nurse Carol Hathaway) I always tuned in to see what would happen next.
So you can imagine what theme music was playing in my head as I worked my first shift as a nurse and I was in the ED!! The Critical Care Internship includes a rotation in the ED and mine just happened to be my first rotation. Now, the U of U ED is a wholly different place than a fictional tv ER, but it was crazy just the same. EMS & LifeFlight crews were continually bringing patients into the trauma bays and it was like a finely choreographed ballet watching everyone work together. I just tried to keep my eyes and ears open, ask questions of my awesome fellow, Farrah, and by the end of the shift, I was caring for one patient on my own. Very exhilarating!! Back tonight for more fun.
Speaking of the internship, the first week consisted of ALOT of orientation (which means sitting and listening all day). But I did enjoy meeting the rest of my cohort and there are some really interesting people who moved from all over to be here. Georgetown, Dartmouth, Connecticut, Ogden :) and then little ol' Emily, Utah girl. I know this is going to be a great experience getting to know them as well as the fellows who will be training us.
Stay tuned!

What a lovely way to start a job

http://presentoutlook.com/quote-images/

So tomorrow is the big day, I start my new job!! In reality, today was my "start date" but because I am already a hospital employee, I didn't have to sit through that orientation again. So, I spent my first day as a working nurse sleeping in and going to brunch with my friend, Lisa. It was lovely. Tuesday and Wednesday will be the hospital Nursing orientation, Thursday computer training, Friday CCI meeting and we'll find out how all of this is supposed to work.
I put this quote up because I wanted to remind myself how I got to this point. Now, because I have reached that goal, I need to set myself another one. Maybe it should be the finish all the things and situations that I have left undone because I have not had the time or energy to devote to them. I think that would be a good place to start. Also, I will try and take my lunch to work. Really try.

It's not goodbye, it's I'll see you later

So I didn't think I was going to be as melancholy as I am today. I'm leaving a job as an HCA (aide) that I've had for five years for a new job as a RN. While I've been so excited for what adventures lie ahead of me, it's just been within the last few days that I've been thinking about everything that I'm leaving behind. This is the longest that I've ever had one job and I've really grown to love and respect my friends and coworkers.
Some of my favorite memories are of 2 East, the unit that once was. I remember talking to the baby fish in our fishtank, decorating for seemingly every holiday, Christine and I putting on a Christmas pageant for an antepartum patient who was feeling down, avoiding the practical jokes the CF boys tried to play on us, being excited to see what theme Somer would decorate her room in and making cookies in the toaster oven. It was so hard on the whole staff when we merged with the maternity unit. Many staff members left for other jobs and the ones who were left, we all felt like orphaned step-children. The last day of 2 East, I defaced University Hospital property for the first (and only) time by writing on the ceiling of the nursing station "Emily was here, 311 4 life."
In the two years since the merge, I've also grown to love many of the maternal-newborn staff and have made wonderful memories with them. I really feel like I wouldn't have made it through nursing school if my co-workers hadn't been so supportive of me. That is one truly amazing thing about nurses, is that we really take care of our own.
I wanted to do something for my co-workers to say goodbye and give them something to remember me by. So I folded oragami stars -- A LOT of oragami stars. On the inside I wrote quotes from songs, poems and anything else that I find inspiration from. That way, whenever they're feeling down and I wasn't there anymore to say something silly, they could open their star and smile.

So it's not goodbye, it's I'll see you later. Love you wonderful, amazing and caring women!!