New Post-- "Junkyard in the Sky"

So, I was checking out our blog, changing some of the layout... figured I'd better say something. My issue now is: what to blog about? I have so many things on my mind that I can't commit to spending time "blogging about them". This last week or so has been pretty busy. I just came off of 4 12's back to back (I worked the last 4 nights 7pm-7am back to back)... Weekend shifts tend to be more "adventuresome" than weeknight shifts... only one set of doctors (the ones on call all weekend), we tend to not move so many patients out of the ICU-- even if they are no longer "ICU Quality" patients--- (you know, if they are well enough to talk, hit the call bell, and get out of bed on their own, they don't need to be in the ICU!)... we always admit a crazy one or two (many times the same crazy, druggie that we admitted the previous weekend)... people tend to die on weekends (no it has nothing to do with the level of care that they are or are not getting from the weekend staff! It's just the way it is... they were feeling crappy all week, put off going to the doctor... by Friday afternoon they tell their husband or wife: "If I don't feel any better by Monday, I'm going to the doctor." Then what do you know, they fall out on their way back to the car from Sunday services and someone calls 911... this is when they get delivered to the hospital E.R. where 10 other folks have done the same thing in addition to the drug seekers in the waiting room, the nursing home patients who get dropped off because the nursing home staff is too low to care for all the patients on the weekend so they make up some story that "granny had a seizure" so they can lighten the load in the ol' nursing home... and all the other runny nose, bumped toes, fits, farts, and freckles waiting in the weekend E.R. front lobby... so they get resuscitated, admitted and then shipped up to the ICU where they proceed to try to die again and again for the next 24 hours all while their family, who is in shock from this sudden chain of events, try to process everything and deal with the idea that grandpa or grandma very well could be gone when they wake up tomorrow and should we keep him/her on life support or shouldn't we....)
Yeah, I know it's sad isn't it? But hey, that's what I do for a living. Sometimes it's hard to be a person and work in this environment. I think we should look at having nurses who's job is merely just to comfort and tend to the family while their loved one is at death's door, meanwhile us 'behind the scenes' nurses are able to focus on patient care, keeping the patient alive and pushing them towards wellness/recovery.
Sometimes I feel like a mechanic. See, we specialize in old cars and moderately old cars or younger cars who've been wrecked or never properly worked before or have been driven recklessly for the most of their functional lives, but now want a fighting chance of just staying road worthy..... see, we don't necessarily "fix them", but we take them from a broken down state and with the guidance of our elusive "master mechanics" (uhm, doctors) we spend countless hours and resources tinkering with their motors or their computers or their starters and water pumps until these cars run well enough to go to the next stage (leaving out of the ICU and going to the "floor")... this stage I would compare to being a test drive or two. Only for some cars, they'll never get a test drive, but at least they'll have their engines started up and revved up a few times, but that's about it. The ones who's engines are now functional and their test drives have been successful... they'll be put back on the highway until their next collision (unless they just drive right off the cliff, then we never see them back in the garage... barring that, most cars come back and stay at the garage from time to time until they either drive off the cliff or end up in that Junk yard in the sky).... Anyway, you get the picture. So, as a mechanic, it's easy (easier) to work on someone's ol' Studebaker (even though they don't make any more parts for that car) and try to keep it running so that they can take it back to their garage or showroom or front yard, than it is to put a new Volvo or Mazda, with a totaled frame and a burnt up engine, up on the rack and try to rebuild it and get it going again... typically, if you can get the Mazda or Volvo back on the road, you know it will never drive like it used to ... I mean nowhere near what it used to. And you say what's the problem with that, you got the car back on the road?... Well, us mechanics, most of us see ourselves as a Mazda or Volvo and it's not fun to think of yourself being broken down into pieces in some greasy ol' mechanics garage... I mean, the ol' Studebaker's and Model T's... they've been around for a while, they've got some miles on them and they really haven't been driving "right" for quite some time anyway, so you feel good when you can get a few more miles out of them and let people enjoy checking out a piece of history... But even if you get a totaled car back to looking like a Mazda or Volvo ... eventually... that totalled car will be a Studebaker... and more than likely sooner than it should...

What's your point Scott? You had me, then you lost me, then you had me, now I'm not sure where you're going with all this... you say.
Well, I'm not exactly sure, I'm probably just trying to work some things out. See, regardless of what you may read on this blog, or hear from my mouth... I really do enjoy what I do as an ICU Nurse. I really do feel blessed to be a part of helping people overcome great adversity as well as being able to comfort those who are left mourning their loved ones whom we were not able to help. I'm constantly amazed at how far we've come in the world of medicine where we can stop beating hearts and lungs, drain them of blood, reroute their plumbing, then re-inflate and restart them so that they can have (hopefully) a better quality of life than they had before or so that they can live to see their grandchildren... etc. I guess what gets me is how many people on both sides of the garage (mechanics, master mechanics, and Mazdas, Volvos, Model T's, and Studebakers) are driving around without their lights on... I mean none of this would be possible or even worth it if not for our Father in Heaven and our Savior's love for us. So, on this note, I'll try to wrap this ramble up by apologizing up front if I annoy or offend any of you when I compare a Studebaker with someone's grandma or a Mazda with someones brother, it's really just one of my coping mechanism. I'm really compassionate and sympathetic on the inside. I firmly believe that we can and will endure all trials and tribulations if we would only do 2 things: Continue to have faith in Jesus Christ, and keep a good sense of humor.... if you don't or can't do those 2 things, then you're on a fast-track to the Junkyard in the Sky!