Perioperative Nursing II.

So I started having my duty in the Delivery Room since Tuesday but I only got to scrub in (as second scrub, to be exact) last Friday. We were refreshed with the Surgical Handwash and Rub (Yeah, it's not hand SCRUB anymore! THANK GOD! Haha!), DR instruments and setup and how to operate some machines (My favorite is the monitoring machine used by the anaesthesiologist and the one used in recovery room). Nothing exciting much with the case though because it’s an Elective Caesarean Section delivery and I’ve seen it before already. It was a 3:00 pm case that day and since we need to complete 5 cases each for Minor and Major surgeries, I waited for it. Expecting that the case would be on time, I was wrong. It started around 3:45 pm already because the anaesthesiologist had another case that was not done yet so we waited for her. The cute thing is, the surgeon and the anaesthesiologist assigned to do the CS were a couple but I was more surprised to find out that the gynecology surgeon was the male and the anaesthesiologist was the female! I expected it would be the other way around. Hehe. The surgeon’s good by the way. Aside from the CS, he also did a cosmetic gyne-type of surgery. The patient had a very ugly scar on her abdomen due to a prior operation. She wanted to have it removed and since her abdominal skin was distended due to pregnancy, the surgeon removed the skin (including the subcutaneous fats) with the scar, continued with opening the peritoneum through that same area then stitched it up! Very nicely done. Goodbye extra scar and too much distended skin and hello one clean and straight CS line. Anyway, I was on duty for 12 hours that day since I waited for the case to be finished. The nurse that I was with in the case told me to scrub out already but I didn’t because I think that is just unprofessional. Oh, but I badly wanted to because my friends were already waiting for me for 3 hours at Trinoma! Haha.

25 May 2010. Tuesday. Practicing gowning and gloving. :)

I really would love to work in The Medical City. It makes me feel good about my profession. Okay, that’s kind of a biased statement because the Operating Room is my favourite place in the hospital. But then again, I don’t feel like I’m a slave and maxed out beyond my limit that unfortunately leads to inadequate service and care for my patients. Yeah, call me a bad nurse but try working in a public hospital and you’ll get what I mean. And I also noticed that for the past two weeks, I’m not ranting! Hahaha! So definitely, this will lead me to printing my resume and submitting it to the Nursing Service or HR Department of The Medical City! :) I have a very good and positive feeling that it’s going to be my workplace. IT DEFINITELY IS. It should be! Haha! if you go back to my previous entry, I said that I wanted to explore being a nurse and I wanted to work in the OR so here it is! A blessing from God! :) See, He still wants me to try and be a nurse.

On the other side of things, I mentioned earlier that my friends were waiting for me at Trinoma last Friday. We were supposed to talk about our coming case presentation then have dinner with Dr. Menguita and Ma’am Rachel. Since I was late, we weren’t able to talk much about our case. We just nattered actually! Haha! I missed my groupmates!

Dinner at Avenetto! Dr. Menguita’s treat for us. Yey, I love it! :)

Perioperative Nursing.

I took a leave of absence for almost a month from my training in Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center to attend another training, Perioperative Nursing, at The Medical City which started last Thursday. So yeah, I’ve been a little busy these past few days. Thank God, we have no duty at Jose Reyes tomorrow due to preparation for our case presentation (Yes, I train at two hospitals as of the very moment.). I get to rest fi-nuh-lly! But I still have to polish what I made for our case presentation. Thank God also that we have what seems to be a 2-week ‘off duty’ in Jose Reyes due to a 3-day non-compulsory seminar scheduled this coming week and a 3-day case presentation series next week. At least I’m not that physically tired (only mentally!) in the coming weeks because I don’t need to report back in Jose Reyes until my group’s scheduled case presentation.

Anyway, let me share my experiences in the first four days of my Perioperative Training:

• It’s my first time to go to The Medical City and boy was I amazed! All this time, though I’ve heard of Medical City before (Well, this is a new Medical City. They were located before behind Megamall if I’m not mistaken.), I still thought St. Luke’s (the one in Global is not counted since that one is very new) was the most ‘sosyal’ hospital in the Philippines! I was wrong! The Medical City feels like Seattle Grace Hospital, very Grey’s Anatomy-ish! I love it and I would love to work there! It’s like the dream workplace! :)
• Private kung private, cutting-edge kung cutting-edge!
• We were toured in the OR and it’s the best and biggest OR I’ve ever seen! We were taught how instruments are sterilized, how they are disinfected, how machines and OR tables function. VERY COOL! (Ha! I know how to operate the machine! :p)
• For a medical professional like me, the hospital ambiance itself is very intimidating. Much more the doctors that work there! It’s a big and known hospital and it’s where some, if not most, VIP patients are brought. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Therefore, there’s pressure to really be the best which is kinda scary and hard to reach. But not impossible! (Yeah, that’s the spirit! Haha!)
• It feels like going to school again. We had lectures for the first three days. Funny because my aunt is also my ‘classmate’. Hehe. And we topped the first pre-test exam! How’s that huh? Haha! :)

So far, that’s the only kwento I have… There will be more though! :) I would be on duty on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Delivery Room so wish me luck! I have to refresh my gowning and gloving skills though. Haha! :)

Missed Opportunity.

May 8 was my Lola’s first death anniversary. May 12 was my Lolo’s first death anniversary.

It seemed just like yesterday when the news hit us. I didn’t actually know how to react and what to feel at that time. I was shocked. I was blank. I was stressed out due to my upcoming board exam at that time. I was sad.

And since I was busy and concentrating on my review, they didn’t let me come to my grandparents’ burial in the province. I was their very first granddaughter and I wasn’t there. My whole family, my cousins, my uncles and my aunts were there. I was only present on the first day of my grandmother’s wake at St. Peter’s and I headed the next day to Antipolo for my review. Then four days later, I received a text message from my mom saying that my grandfather also died. I felt helpless because I was thinking, ‘What kind of granddaughter am I? My grandparents died and where am I?’ I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to be there but I can’t. The last time I saw my grandfather was a year before he died. The last time I saw my grandmother was in the hospital, a month before she died. I was in Nursing school and I wasn’t able to even take care of my own relative. I didn’t even had the chance to say goodbye properly.

Even until now. I wasn't able to go with my father to visit my grandparents in the cemetery.

I still have that guilt feeling in me that I still haven’t let go. I still feel that there’s something I haven’t done for them yet. Though I never fail to pray for them. But I still want to see them… which I really intend to do by December (if we are going to spend the holiday there) or by next year…

Madonna Morning! :)

To pump up my day, I normally listen to happy or feel-good songs over my iPod. So this morning, I turned on my iPod but unfortunately it was out of battery (My brother most probably used it up last night). Since we have no radio here in our apartment, I looked for cd’s to play and here’s my interesting and unexpected find:

MUH-DUH-NNAAAHHH!

I believe this is my uncle’s property. I don’t know how it ended up here but Thank God, it did! I think he bought it somewhere else or ordered online and eventually left it here.

I love eeetttt! :) I am currently listening to it while typing this. I am an 80’s baby but I wasn’t coherent and very much aware with my environment when Madonna was uber famous and was at the top of the music charts. Thanks to my music aficionado father who was listening to her when I was, hmm, 8 or 9 or 10? The first song of Madonna that I knew was Crazy for You. I love it ever since! That’s my number one Madonna song! I even requested it to a friend of mine, Vinch, to sing it for my 18^th birthday party. :) That song had a few revivals but nothing beats the original! :)

I love the 80’s music! And I love Madonna! :) Only a few people know this (my very, very close friends actually) fact about me. But I recently admitted and announced in my Facebook page my adoration for 80’s music and Madonna! :) Glee even had an episode that featured Madonna songs, I loved that episode! I watched it 3 times! Haha!

Okay, enough talk about Madonna. :) Need to go back to my paperworks! :)

Test Shots.

07 May 2010, Fri

- Tito arrived from his vacay in US.
- Hence, the arrival of my new baby, Soleil. It's a camera given to me by my aunt! :) Thanks Tita Marge, you rock! Haha. :)
- Had dinner at Pizza Hut and spent the night (and the rest of the nights) in his hotel room.

08 May 2010, Sat
- Momma's Day! :)
- It's my Lola's 1st Death Anniversary. We didn't 'celebrate' it though. Nagpa-Mass lang. Only my father, my uncle and aunt and cousins from father's side will be going to the province to visit her (and my Lolo's) in the cemetery.
- Had dinner at Super Bowl.

09 May 2010, Sun
- Lunch at Seaside as celebration for Mother's Day and despedida for Tito because he's going back to work again.
- Food fest at its finest! :)

*Shots were taken using my new baby! More pics at my Multiply! (for private viewing though.) :)*

Next stop: ER! :l

Goodbye Female Medical Ward, Hello ER! :)

Oooh, scary. But I'm looking forward to it and I believe it's gonna be exciting. Haha.