Angela's Blog

Someone asked me what a "normal" day is like.   Let me tell you what we have come to expect.
About 5:30am a student/resident comes in and makes a visual review taking notes for the checkin.   
About 6:30am the Ortho arm team arrives and assesses the status of her broken arm/elbow.   Next the wrist team arrives and assesses.   About 7:00am the night nurse checks in one final time and then runs off to the transition meeting with the day team.   The aides do a room/room handoff with night staff prepping day staff on who needs a bath, who had what bodily functions occur, who gets rotated next, etc.  About 8:00am the day nurse shows up and takes vital signs, check out what is going on and lets us know what we might expect if anything unusual is planned:  sitting in the chair, seeing the speech pathologist, etc.   About 8:30 the General Surgery team arrives and checks her incisions, asks how her night was, and generally corroborates all that was heard in the transition meeting.

We are then pretty much on our own for exercises, changing her boot for her foot, brushing her hair, etc.   About 10am someone arrives to do something and before you know it, it is 1:00pm.   Again we typically have an hour or so to brush teeth, do exercises again, read to her, or something.   During the week there are people to talk to, arrangements to make, insurance calls, talking to the police, answering phone calls, writing emails, etc.   Another vital sign check about 4:00pm.   Shift change occurs at 7:00pm with the night nurse coming on and the same transition meeting occurs only passing day to night.    Then a 10pm check, a 1:30am check, a 3:30am check and before you know it, it is 5:30 again.

Some of the tests they do include:  blood work, tummy gas work, medications, checking to see if the contents of her stomach are processing, blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, pulse, and activity levels.

Tonight is my night at the hospital so I am going to grab my first nap.

Gnight.