Some 2020 Stuff

Well 2020 has turned out to be an interesting year, hasn't it? 

Before COVID 19 struck I had the privilege to go visit my best friend Shelby back in New Orleans. It felt like Springtime there with all the blooming flowers and greenery.

One of my favorite parts about the city (besides the food) is all the houses. Each home has such individuality and features that distinguish it from its neighbors. Just look how cute this pink one is, I love it!

My little godson Charlie. Such a cute little dude. Shelby and I went to a nursery because she was looking for some plants, and it turned out to be more like a petting zoo because they had tons of animals! Cats, chickens, ducks, turtles, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits... you name it. Charlie LOVED all the animals, and he smiled so big when he pet the cats! It was so cute.

This pig was awesome. I'd scratch his ears and he'd roll over on his side and go to sleep. I wish I could've taken him home.

I have always had a fascination with the macabre, and New Orleans has it's fair share of cool cemeteries and ghostly tours. Shelby and I revisited the Metairie Cemetery, which we went to last year, but this time we did an audio walking tour, and learned about various historical figures buried there. So many beautiful, elaborate tombs with stained glass and iron doors. I wish Utah had stuff like this.

Nate fulfilled his dreams and bought a RZR. Which I am so glad because he needs to do more stuff for himself. He's been having fun taking it out with friends and family.

Little Boone came home from college on Christmas Eve and stayed past New Years, then he came home again last week to visit for Spring Break, and has extended his stay indefinitely now that we're all 'quarantined'. Great having all the siblings together.

Grandpa Abbott's birthday! He's 79, wow that's old.

Nate, Melon and I went 'snowshoeing' up AF Canyon, but the snow was so packed down we didn't end up even needing to use the snowshoes. Melon was in heaven running around and rolling in the snow, peeing on every tree and bush.

Here's a picture of Wal Mart a couple weeks ago. The Coronavirus has caused mass panic and there hasn't been any toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning products or baking supplies on the shelves for weeks. Good thing I don't live roll to roll and had several packages of toilet paper stashed at home prior to all this. Restaurants are only allowing take out, movies theaters are closed, school has been moved to online and church has been cancelled. What a time to be alive. Also there was an earthquake too. Maybe the world is ending?

To be continued.

Christmas 2019

Ah December. The best month of all the year. I am in a continual state of looking forward to it, and I am truly saddened that the holiday season has yet again come and gone, but in an effort to keep the spirit alive let's relive some of the memories that we created.

One of my favorite things about when we used to live in Ogden was the Roy City Christmas lights, they do such a phenomenal job! So even though we don't live there anymore I made Nathan take me there to admire them anyway. Every single tree is wrapped in a different color of lights, this photo really doesn't do it the justice it deserves.

Making treats at Grandma Greene's. This year it only took me two tries to get the divinity right! I'm not much of a candy maker but I do love divinity. Each year I try to make different flavors, like this year I tried pistachio (it was weird, never again), but the original will always be the best. Ignore my strange facial expression, I think I was beginning a yawn when this photo was taken.

While my parents were on vacation my Grandma Greene, Nate and I put up their Christmas tree.

And what Christmas would it be without sacrificing my thumbs to put together Grandma Abbott's Christmas shelves, thumb tacking each light and strand of tinsel.

It was also our first Christmas in our new home! It really makes our Wal Mart tree look so tiny, it was such a perfect apartment tree, but I think next year we will have to invest in a bigger one. Melon still approved though.

We had our annual gingerbread house making party for my birthday! (I turned 27 - blehhh). And at last I got an ice cream cake! I've been asking for one for several years now, so happy at last my wish came true.

Here's the house my Grandma Abbott made. She was so proud of it, I had to share.

And here's my house! I was really proud of the little porch.

We went to Luminaria, which was amazing as always. We took my Grandma and Grandpa Abbott to it this year and they absolutely loved it.

Christmas Eve dinner was spent at my parents. Unfortunately I had to work the night shift so I missed out on bingo :(

Boone flew home from college on Christmas Day in the evening so we waited to open up presents until he was there! Here we all are in our Hawaii gear. It was kind of fun waiting to open presents until nighttime because then you just got to anticipate it all day long.

All the siblings together.

And I can't forget meow meow who loves to lay on the couch next to the Christmas tree.

Some Life Updates

This year I've really tried to step back and spend less time on social media, and take less photos with my phone. Just try to enjoy moments, rather than stress about documenting them. Which has been nice, but also sad because I have a lot less photos to share, haha.

Life has been going pretty good I'd say. Nathan and I moved into our brand new house, which has been amazing, but also a little stressful. For some reason I thought all I had to do was save up for the down payment and then we'd be good???? Yeah no, you move in and realize all the OTHER stuff you still need, like putting in a yard, blinds, furniture, etc. etc. It's crazy all the things that come along with buying a brand new house. 

I've made a half decent effort though at trying to be disciplined and not just going out and spending all our money on decor, which has left me less poor, but also has left our house pretty empty. We have all the necessities, just not all the luxuries my heart desires! I am learning to be patient and recognize that over time I will eventually get our house all cozy and looking the way that I've imagined it.

King Melon. He had a hard time adjusting to the move. I can't blame him. He was living the good life at my parents, hanging out with their dog and going on runs and swimming every day at the pond. He's gotten a lot better though, and I think he's finally happy at his new house.

And BIG news, Nate turned 30!!!! 30 years old people. That is SO old. Like I remember when my dad turned 30, he had an Over the Hill birthday. Now my husband is 30?! How did this happen?

In all reality though 30 isn't that old. But it still seems like such a huge milestone in life.

I'm still working in the Shock-Trauma ICU, which I love, love, love. Learn something new everyday there and it constantly challenges me. I also got a one day a week job as a clinical instructor for a small nursing program which I am really liking! Gives me some extra money and I do genuinely love teaching, so it gives me an outlet to teach and mentor nursing students which is fun and fulfilling.

AND. It's ALMOST CHRISTMAS! My favoritest time of the whole year. I've decided on my wrapping paper theme this year.... red and green! Which sounds like not even a theme but I have never actually done red and green before. Last year was silver and gold, I've done gold and red, brown paper wrapping, silver and green... but never red and green. So this is uncharted territory, people. Look out!

The Conclusion of Being an Annual Passholder

It always was my dream to be a Disneyland Annual Passholder, and since I got one last October it has been every bit as awesome as I had anticipated it to be. Being able to go to the park any day or time for as little or as long as I liked was an amazing feeling. Plus the discount on food and merchandise was nice.

However my pass has expired now and I've decided not to renew it. I've concluded that I'd rather go to Disneyland just once a year and make it a special trip, as opposed to going 5 times in year. I thought I'd never hear myself say this but Disneyland just isn't quite as special when you make it too familiar. Just like a favorite song, if you listen to it over and over, it's not quite the same. I want to preserve the magic and splendor of Disneyland, I don't want it to lose its sparkle and shine.

So for that reason I've put my (albeit short lived) annual passholder-ness to rest.

Our last trip in September was pretty amazing though. My aunt pulled some strings with people in high-er (than us) places and got us a deal at the Grand Californian. I never ever thought in a million years I'd get to stay at that hotel!!! Being able to walk from the hotel directly into the parks and vice versa (especially at the end of a long day when you're legs are throbbing) was worth the money in and of itself! The rooms were nice as well, and they left little chocolates on the pillows every night!

The pools were a nice perk too.

Oh Mickey, the very best of them all.

I got to see the recently remodeled castle with its new vibrant blue tiers! For some reason I thought they were remodeling the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough as well, but they didn't.

Bo and I got the Mickey waffles at Carnation Cafe. Does anyone remember Disneyland before you had to get reservations to restaurants?? I mean you used to be able to just walk in and get seated. Now you have to reserve a table MONTHS in advance. Kind of sad.

My mom, my aunt, me and my cousin all went (which is the usual Disneyland crew) and my mom also invited her friend Vivian, to come as well. Which was so, so fun. She'd never been to Disneyland before in her life so it was fun seeing her go on all the rides and experience everything for the first time. 

It was Halloween time so they had all their decorations up! Check out this awesome candy corn planter. I love it!

I was aware that people occasionally got chosen to steer the Mark Twain, but never before had it happened to ME. But somehow we were the lucky winners and each of us took a turn 'steering' the boat! We even got some very official certificates. 

All in all it was another very magical trip to Disneyland!

What's it like to work in the ICU?

Alright peeps, let me first preface this by saying I have only worked as a registered nurse in my ICU for a grand total of three months. So please make no assumptions that I know all there is to know about working in an ICU. I have still so many things I have yet to experience and learn. I'm just so excited about everything and really wanted to document this for my own purposes (to look back on 5 years from now and laugh at how much I didn't know) and also for anyone who may be even mildly interested in knowing what goes on in an ICU in the hospital.

Also, another caveat, most of these photos are going to be stock photos I found online because taking pictures of patients in the hospital is generally frowned upon. So bear in mind that the photos are representative of a general idea of what an ICU looks like and is not my ICU specifically.

Finally, without further ado, let us begin.

What is an Intensive Care Unit anyway?

•  To put it simply, the ICU is the place in the hospital where the sickest, most critically ill patients go. There they can be taken care of by doctors who specialize in intensive care (they're called Intensivists... go figure).

 What does an ICU nurse do?

• Well all the main nurse type stuff you'd normally think of, like administering meds, performing assessments, etc etc. However ICU nurses are also trained on how to perform more advanced skills like caring for arterial lines, obtaining central venous pressures, titrating a myriad of high risk medications, among many other things (but perhaps more on that later). However in my opinion what really sets an ICU nurse apart is their ability to intensely and diligently monitor their patients and be able to interpret and act upon any changes that may occur.

An example of what an ICU monitor may look like. Each colored line is a waveform that represents a different type of measurement such as heart rate, blood pressure,oxygen level, etc.

The patients are usually complicated.

• I saw this meme not too long ago that said something to the effect of the ICU is the place where there's a tube for every hole and if there's not a hole we make one... and put a tube in it. Which is pretty accurate actually. When you walk into a room in the ICU it can be very overwhelming to see someone hooked up to so many different things, especially when you don't understand what they are. I try to explain what each thing is to patient's family members because it is very traumatizing to see a patient with a tube down their throat and one coming out of their chest, and another coming out of their nose... it's a lot to take in.
• Additionally, patient's in the ICU generally don't have just one thing wrong with them, it's typically a whole slew of issues. Multiple organs are failing in the setting of a person with multiple diseases, or someone with multiple traumatic injuries. One intervention that you do to help one issue the patient is having may exacerbate another problem. It's a fine balance of risks and benefits and overall what is the option that is going to lead to the best outcome for the patient? 

 

Death is common.  

• Critical care medicine has definitely come a long way since it began in the 1960's. More people now survive their life threatening illnesses thanks to advancements in critical care than would have 50 years ago, or even 15 years ago! However the mortality rate in most ICU's is still 10%-29% (that statistic comes from the Society of Critical Care Medicine), leading the ICU RN to witness and be around death quite regularly.
• With this amazing advancement in medical technology and our ability to keep people alive comes some serious ethical issues. Some things can be and are worse than death, and the possibility of only surviving on long term life support with low quality of life are all issues that are very real. Family members and the medical team are sometimes faced with difficult decisions on whether to continue intervention or to allow the person to pass naturally. Ethical issues such as these can be common place in the ICU, and there's usually not an exact right or wrong answer (I could continue talking about ethics in the ICU but for the sake of time I will refrain... anyone who is interested in further discussion can message me). 

We get to play with some pretty cool technology. 

• Most everyone have heard the phrase 'life support', but if you're not around it all the time you probably don't really know what that means. I know prior to my nursing education I didn't. Life support is anything that helps support essential life functions. That could mean having a tube placed in your airway and connected to a ventilator to help you breathe, or IV medications that raise your blood pressure, or a machine that filters your blood like a kidney would and then returns it back to you. There is so many different things we can utilize in the ICU to support organ functioning and keep people alive, and depending on which ICU you work in and what types of patients it specializes in you may work more with one thing than another.

The ICU IS AWESOME.

• I suspect I've already lost a lot of people's attention cuz this is getting a wee bit long, and I could seriously go on forever because I just love critical care so much, but we will end it here. Suffice it to say that the ICU is really an incredible place that honestly does save lives and I feel so honored to have the privilege to work where I do and with such amazing people who I look up to and have the opportunity to be mentored by.

Summer Thus Far

Whelp. Summer of 2019 has been pretty good so far. Nathan and I went to Goblin Valley back in June. I hadn't been there since I was 16 years old and all I could remember from that time was the Goblin Valley was a magical, wonderful place and so naturally I had a desire to return. We rented an Airbnb in a small town nearby which worked out pretty nice because we got to retreat to an air conditioned place when the heat become too much. After spending half a day there we drove through Capitol Reef which was AMAZING. I didn't really take any photos but suffice it to say it was breathtaking.

 Went to the Genola Rodeo this year, courtesy of our brother in law, Buck. The fireworks show afterwards was totally on par as well, the soundtrack was this amazing mix of patriotic music and the  Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, haha.

My uncle Bean got the CUTEST little lab whose name is Koufax. Isn't he a fur angel? So soft and perfect.

Our house is coming along and getting closer to being done. They've painted the outside and inside and now we're just waiting for light fixtures, plumbing, cabinets and flooring. It's small but it's exactly what I've always wanted! Small little white cottage. I can't wait until I can surround it with flowers, bushes and vines, and fill the inside with warm, cozy furniture and delicious food.

I'm officially off orientation. That means I'm FLYING SOLO people. Yup, on my own in the Shock Trauma ICU taking care of critically ill patients. My first two weeks have been a little more intense than I had anticipated as I've received new admissions on every single shift. Typically when you admit someone to the ICU they are in the sickest state they are going to be in and they need to be resuscitated and stabilized. I was so scared beforehand, worried about if I was going to be able to do what needed to be done to care for these patients. But I've said a lot of prayers and know that if I work hard and continue to study and learn that Heavenly Father will help me to remember all that I need to know to keep my patients safe, and have the resources and help that I need when I need it. And so far I definitely have! The Shock Trauma team is amazing and have helped and assisted me through some potentially dicey situations. I am so grateful to have what is literally my dream job, and be surrounded by very supportive people. I love love love critical care.