40 years...

40 years....

40 years ago today I started full-time employement as an RN in the Cardiac surgical ICU

  I was thrown into the fire of a very busy critical care unit fresh out of nursing school. 

I always knew I wanted to be where the action was and this ICU proved to be just that.

 It prepared me for the job I loved the most and stuck with for 16 year...

The Emergency room!

I had a very brief orientation and was told I just needed to dive-in.

I remember my first trauma code, medical code and pediatric code like it was yesterday

You never forget those thing.... and believe me there were many "things" I wish I could erase from my memory, but the good far out weighed that bad, there was a lot of that too.

Once an ER nurse...always an ER nurse, it kind of gets in your blood.

My 40 year pin I received in the mail this week

It's been 18 years since I left the Emergency Room, since them I have recovered patients from surgery, sedated patients for proceedures, then finally to my current job... I do lumbar punctures, 

something typically performed by MD's but we nurses are an elite group of 7 who have mastered-the-art, and we do it well 

I love it and  this is where I'll retire in a year or so.

Photo from my days in Interventional radiology, where I sedated patients

Throughout the 40 years of nursing,

I have cried with my patients, wiped their tears, laughed with them, held their hands and prayed with them. 

I have received hugs that don't wanna let go, firm grip handshakes, kisses on the cheek and pats on the back.

...but there is another side to my career, and I can speak for many. 

This profession is not for the weak of heart!  

We have been up to our elbows in every body fluid possible, 
we've been spit-at, swung-at, swore-at and threatened. 
 We've desperately worked to save lives, to make split-second decision, 
we have those "gut feelings".... we all know "that feeling", and we act on it! 
We are sometimes the last voice or last touch a person experiences before they die...
these are the hard things.

We are nurses, the backbone of the hospital, the patients advocate and friend. 
We encourage, reassure, and 
sometimes have to use a bit of tough love. 

We are Nurses.

Prayer has always been vital in my job as a nurse...

My hands are very important in my work as I need to guide a 3.5 - 5 inch needle into my patients backs

 until I reach the spinal fluid, so yes I pray before each patient quietly at the bedside, 

"Lord please take my hands and guide them right where they need to go"!

When I get that needle to where I need to be, it's always a quiet, "thank you Lord"  :)

I recieved this certificate in the mail this week, along with a gift certificate for dining-out

 and a code to pick out a "Service Anniversary gift"

Here's what I picked (with Rick's help) a pressure washer to have at the cabin.

Retirement is right around the corner, I have mixed feeling but look forward to this final year of my nursing career.  Meeting new people, caring for those who scared and awaiting a diagnosis, hanging out with my co-workers, lots of laughs, hugs and a sense of knowing that this is who I was created to be.