There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.

For the first time, I felt like an epic fail of a nurse this past Monday. It was my first day with three patients, two of which were total care (meaning everything under the sun has to be done for them), and the other of the three being scheduled to go for a cardiac cath-- this wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that upon their return, you have to take vitals every 15 minutes for the first hour, every 30 minutes for the next two hours and then every hour for the next four hours. Plus, she ended up having to pee like every 10 minutes, so because she wasn't allowed to get out of bed for 4-5 hours after the cath, I had to put her on a bed pan. My one total care pt had, among other meds, 4 IV meds due, all at 2 fucking pm. ALL. Not to mention more at 4pm, and more at 6pm. My other patient was also incontinent and insisted that she was in Alaska most of the day. She also had meds.

The meds aren't so bad, but when combined with short intervals of time in which to give them and complex patients needing various things at the same time, it's enough to drive one batty. I don't know how I would have been able to hold my head above water if my preceptor hadn't been there to help me out. We still left at 8:30pm that night. Ugh.

Despite all this, I still love being a nurse. I love my job and wouldn't trade it for anything. Knowing that I'm making a difference and taking good care of people (at least emotionally) makes the tough, crazy days all worth it. And there are lots of crazy days.

In other news, which the readers following this blog are already aware of, I am officially dating Jason. He is super, and from what I've gotten to know over the last month seems to possess all the qualities I seek in a partner. So, we'll see what happens! :)

I argued with a guy at the bar last night, and another friend today, about the status of the health care system and debate here in the U.S. They tried to convince me that "big government take-over" would be horrible and take away everyone's choice and blah blah blah communismscarystupidhearsaybullshit. I posted this link comparing Canada's and the States' health care systems on my Facebook page today. I read through it and checked out some of the references and it's pretty good stuff. I'm all about socialized health care. I strongly, STRONGLY believe that it should never be a business venture; rather, it should be a right of every single citizen, NO MATTER WHAT. Don't come to me with your "oh woe are the insurance companies, poor them." Poor them? They're stuffing money in their pockets on a daily basis and in increasing increments at the expense of their payers' health. Fuck them, they can go under for all I care.

That's about it for now. Picture post coming soon!