craziness

What a day at work today, I work on a 10 bedded unit, all single rooms and all the team go above and beyond for all our Pt's, so much so that some don't want to leave! Today i get to work to find 3 empty beds and 2 further Pt's for discharge!!!!!!!!!!! what a crazy few hours trying to find appropriate Pt's for our empty beds. I wore many hats today, saleswoman to many Pt's all who were so glad to have a single room.

Needless to say after 3 admissions and 2 discharges i left an hour later than i should have done and we still had the fourth admission to do, my heart sank at the start of the day as Mondays truly are the worst day at work with a huge team meeting which today lasted well over an hour. I truly thought it was going to be such a stressful day with all the movement, trying to coordinate everything but it was calmness, organised movement and great nurses who just all said 'no worries, head down and get the admits done' it was great and I'm truly blessed to work with such wonderful people.

The best part of my day was walking through the door and being greeted by waggly bottoms and snuggles of the dogs 'unconditional love' is there game...so much joy they give me. Then hubby finally got home from Vancouver, its an awful drive after such a long day for him, we made dinner together, yes its highly unusual he's very much the boss in the kitchen and if you asked him its the only place he's boss.

So now I'm blogging to who ever pops by here to read about my life or see that I'm moaning again! hubby is catching up on the golf and the waggly tails are fast asleep just the usual grind in my life but I'm blessed with health and happiness and really haven't got anything to moan about, in my line of work there's always someone worst of than me, I'm the lucky one.

vacation is almost here :)

Another week over, yippee not that I'm wishing my life away but come next Friday I'm on vacation till the new year and I cannot wait to have some me time, spend the usual Christmas festivities skyping with family, some of the time off maybe spent revising for the CNA exam i have next year. The past week at the office has been 'okay' as far as the office goes, its always a extra difficult time working in palliative care. The team did a surprise for one of our long stay Pt's, we decorated the room for Xmas, what a wonderful reaction we got, sometimes its those moments that make the job so worthwhile!

what are friends for?

Recently a friend of mine had a recent loss. This friend had to make the hardest decision of taking her loving companion of 18yrs to the vets to go for the long sleep, clearly heartbreaking, I'm an animal lover myself. I dread the day when I have to take anyone of my pets to be put to sleep. I know this friend will read this soon and I just wanted her to know that despite the heartache and pain that your feeling you had no choice but to try and hope for the best but it wasn't meant to be, you're sadness will take a long time to subside and things will ease in your heart eventually! This blog update isn't to upset you but to show you how much you are loved and your friends care so very much

I came across this quote and just wanted to share it with you as I know you'll be reading my blog:


“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
― A.A. Milne

a little OT

Did a little overtime night shift last night, first time in a long time and it came at just the right time with Christmas just around the corner. Its the first OT in a long time, well i do work Monday to Friday. Trying to sleep before shift was a complete nightmare i lay there for hours with rubbish going round and round in my head, needless to say i didn't sleep so bye the time i got home this morning i had been awake for 24 hours! not to be recommended. Luckily the shift was quite nice, no issues and wonderful co-workers. Slept till 2pm then got up to watch the UK X-Factor results and I am sooooooo  happy that James Arthur won, he will be an international star!

Stressed!!!!

So glad the working week is finally over, its been totally stressful for everyone, with the increased acuity on the unit, patients coming and going so fast, emotions running high, two very emotional losses for the team that affected everyone for a number of days, and the the education for the 'chosen ones' for the purpose of the drug study. All in all it has been a testing week and the reality is cancer sucks!!!!!

On top of all of that myself and broke shopaholic had our cheques cashed so it means we are both committed to taking the Canadian Nurses Association exam in Hospice Palliative Care Nursing, so its head down and get studying for the exam in April 2013.

On the plus side I've had numerous accounts of good news- the process for my bestie and family to emigrate next year has started. I also recently won tickets for the Largest dog show in Canada and some abbotsford heat tickets... that will be a first! never been to a hockey match before.

the past years highlights

Well as i mentioned the other day its been 18months since I blogged, in that time my bestie and family visited Canada, my step-son tom was also here and it was wonderful for such a fun packed McGuinness reunion. Tom missed his girlfriend whilst he was here but had many late nights staying in touch with the lovely Charis through Skype. Koli thoroughly enjoyed her time with her cousin Tom, they did lots of things together. We were blessed with wonderful weather well until the week they had to return home, when it rained for a few days, after Tom went home my mum arrived for her annual visit, my wonderful husband waited on her hand and foot, she does get on with him so well...its a good job really.

Work has continued to be busy, the weeks fly by and with the job comes many patients and families that present new challenges and experiences for the wonderful team i work with. So many changes have happened at work in the day to day stuff, to lots of new staff, those more experienced are my saviour in supporting the new comers to there careers in palliative care nursing, its certainly not for the faint hearted. Ive been adjusting to the role of Patient Care Coordinator (head nurse) and there are days when i really wonder what on earth i was thinking when i applied for the job, the biggest loss is time away from the job, Mon-Friday is extremely hard on our unit, whilst i don't miss the 12hour shifts i do miss the 4-5days off, i know its a compromise but i miss not being able to chill out, meet up with my friends and have some me time instead I'm consumed by chores on my days off and just vegetate, is this really what i want from my job? Who knows!

Christmas 2011 flew bye and here we are approaching Christmas 2012!!!!!! I have done all my Christmas shopping, went to the postal service in the U.S today and sent everything off for family in the UK. Ive even bought my hubby his Xmas pressies, they are wrapped and this weekend I will be putting up our tree, its not the easiest tree to put up, should have thought of that when we purchased it. But i make it a fun occasion, Christmas music is usually playing and this year I'm skyping with Lindsay..aka my bestie and we`ll put our trees up together-totally looking forward to that. My nephew and I surprised my mum with a paid flight from the UK to Canada next year how funny it was to tell her that she was so happy, so she will be here next year for a month. Before she arrives Tom will be here with his girlfriend, its introduce my girlfriend to my dad`situation, we have lots planned and were really excited about meeting her...cant wait to meet you Charis.

ive been away sooooooo long!!!!!

WOW has it really been 18months since I last blogged, how time flies by and i wish i could say I've been having fun all the time but alas that's not been the case. I will no doubt spend the next 18 months catching up on the last. My last entry back in June 2011 was a few days before the arrival of my Bestie, her hubby and my niece, that was such a long time ago. The 2 week vacation came and went so quickly i found myself at YVR departures in what felt like a blink of an eye, that was such a sad day BUT the fun filled days in between were a blast.

Here are a few photos.....

This is me and my best friend sat at our bar having a few spritzers I'm sure this was the day after they had arrived!!! It felt like we had never been apart, you know that feeling just pick up where you left off, it was great, my hubby is serving the drinks and generally doing a great job of keeping everyone happy

Me and my Bestie...Lindsay

Me and my Niece....Koli

This is Koli one of my nieces, some say she could pass as my daughter, id agree, she is a typical red head! so full of beans and really had a great time in Canada, she was truly the entertainment factor on the trip, took easily to scrap booking and had a great time.

 

 We all went for a few days to Whistler, my favourite place so far, our family was in awe of the scenery, the drive up there alone is breathtaking. We made the usual stops on the way, walmart for supplies and we took them to Brandy Wine Falls, Koli proved she has no fear of heights, they loved the waterfall and the walk down to the lake. Chris took many photos for his album, he has been studying photography at university in the UK so he was able to get some fantastic shots for his portfolio.

On our way into Whistler village we heard the train coming, off the guys go to get some shots and came back with these.... The Rocky Mountaineer!



The rocky Mountaineer

We went around the shops...well it would have been rude not to...Koli found this its one of the stores window displays, the picture doesn't do it justice, the whole Grizzly Bear Skeleton is stood up in the window, the look on her face at the size of it was so funny.