A Few Fun Facts About E.J.

From the outset, it's been a goal of mine to avoid making this a personal blog. I've hoped to share with you what my work is like without revealing too many specifics of who I am. After some conversations with a great personal blogger, I've realized that I'm flat out of material reconsidered this stance. After all, how many NICU man-nurses named E.J. are there, really?

With some of my concerns over anonymity assuaged, I warn you that my personal life is not rife with exciting material. However, here is a list of random things you might not have known from reading my posts alone.

1. I have issues with handedness. I'm not ambidextrous, as I can't do anything with both hands. But I do some things right-handed and other things left-handed. Right? IV starts, arterial sticks, throw a ball, swing a bat, use scissors. Southpaw? Hold a pen, use a fork, impress my friends with chopsticks.

2. My modest living space is being overtaken. Not by (too many) rodents or termites, but by books. Currently I'm reading this one, which may not be surprising... and this one. In regard to the latter, I generally don't like fiction, but it's a baseball classic. I'm just trying to decide whether Malamud's sparse use of punctuation is intriguing or maddening.

3. My mom and dad met at my dad's first wedding. Despite that Springeresque beginning, they remain happily married after nearly 35 years.

4. I've grown an incredible amount as a nurse in 3 1/2 years, but I also notice that I complain a little more, roll my eyes a lot more, and have to work to see the good in people at times. It is no longer charming when mom is 28 years old and a G8L9. I'm working on it though.

5. Often I have trouble sleeping on the nights before I work a shift as an agency nurse. The people, policies and procedures are different on agency assignments and it adds some stress, but it helps broaden my perspective.

6. I'm a foodie. I love obscure restaurants and ethnic cuisine of nearly any type. My sister-in-law is fond of saying that I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first.

That's enough self-disclosure for now. Maybe more later.

Confucius Reads This Blog

My venture to the local Chinese restaurant tonight yielded a fortune cookie with a great message:

You have a charming way with words.

I'm not sure if that's in reference to my writing on Uncompromised Airways, but I do know that it's better than the last fortune I received.

An admirer is concealing his affection for you.

Toastmasters

I thought I would take this opportunity to post about an organization that has helped me tremendously as I prepared for and assumed a role as a nurse. Since 2003, I've belonged to Toastmasters, an international organization that helps people become better communicators and stronger leaders. I joined Toastmasters when I realized that I enjoyed teaching and I felt it would strengthen my presentation skills. In reality, it has done much more than that.

Most people familiar with Toastmasters will associate it with practicing prepared speeches. That's certainly part of it. But I honestly think that the real benefit for me has come in my day-to-day communication, rather than in the more rare instances when I teach or present.

Table Topics, which seemed like cruel and unusual punishment when I joined, is the portion of every Toastmasters meeting where members are able to practice speaking off the cuff in response to questions on a given theme. Now when I am able to comfortably answer unexpected questions from an administrator, a new parent or a nursing student, I know that I owe much of that ability to Toastmasters.

Evaluations are my favorite part of every Toastmasters meeting. That's the time when a member highlights a speaker's strengths and suggests opportunities for growth in the next speech. I won't suggest that I've been successful in confronting a physician's inappropriate orders every time, but Toastmasters evaluation techniques certainly make that confrontation much less difficult.

The good news is that, whereever you live, there's likely a Toastmasters club very near to you. Check one out! I hope you'll experience the kind of personal and professional growth that I have.

A Point Where It Hits You

Up to a point, it's really neat work. Admitting a baby at the extreme edge of viability, working your hardest to correct a myriad of issues, responding to sudden condition changes, updating the family in a way that conveys the seriousness without eliminating the hope you can feel them wrapped in.

Ventilator changes, blood transfusions for anemia, antibiotics, phototherapy, surfactant. Lots of blood draws, but not too many or he'll just become more anemic. Fluid boluses and dopamine for low blood pressure, sodium bicarbonate for acidosis. Balancing the need for monitoring equipment with the need to preserve extremely delicate, gelatinous skin.

"So, in other words, we should take this one day at a time?"

"We often say that we take things one hour at a time in here, maam."

Man, this kid is busy. What's wrong with my art line? Is that really his blood pressure? He's one tough little $&*! - that's for sure.

For a good while, it's fun and a great challenge. And then there's the point, often for me on the third day, where reality sinks in like a ton of bricks. (Enter 23 weeks, 500, male, yes and yes.)

It can leave you trying to reach back in your mind for those success stories... or maybe it just leaves you longing for a cold shower, a colder drink and a couple of days of doing absolutely nothing at all.

A Getting Along Problem: Food for Thought

Here is an interesting take on difficult people from Alfred Adler, an early 20th century Austrian psychiatrist.

"A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to assert his superiority, and you must deal with him from that point of view."

That's refreshing, as it provides another option for me when I'm tempted to kick 'em upside the head.

What Makes Me Happy

On the heels of the post about the happiness study, I thought I'd comment on a few things that make me happy, specifically in relation to the work I do in the neonatal intensive care unit.

- Babies who monkey around. There's something so hilariously sweet about a baby who can reach up and white knuckle the edge of the isolette as you're trying to pull him out for a weight or a bath.

- Extubations. Is there any better feeling than when a baby no longer needs the assistance of a ventilator to breathe? Even better: extubations where you get to skip the nursing torture device known as nasal CPAP and go straight to a nasal cannula.

- Discharge day. Even if it's a really chronic, sick kid and even if you're a little uncertain (okay, scared out of your mind) about the family situation, on some level it feels like a huge victory to get the child beyond the walls of the NICU. That's especially true for the kiddos whose "day of life" has gotten into the triple digits.

- Beer burps. So amazing the force that can be generated by a little three or four pound preemie after chugging 10 mL of milk.

Time for work. More later!