Week 9 of Semester 5 - Pediatrics Begins

I finally started my pediatric rotation!  I was so excited/scared about it that I could hardly sleep the night before.  What if I can't handle the kids?  What if I totally SUCK at working with kids?  I had been reading about all the different play techniques to persuade children to let me do my job.  It had sounded very difficult.  

Lucky for me, my first patient was an eight year old.  This meant that I could talk to child and the child was very cooperative. (Yessssss!)

Halloween, Sponge Bob, and Tape

We had an animated discussion about Halloween costumes and Sponge Bob (Thank goodness I knew just barely enough about Sponge Bob to keep up with the conversation.) Apparently Halloween is a hot topic among kids right now.  I'll have to remember all my holidays so I can use them as distraction topics.

I almost cried when I had to pull tape off to remove some IV's.  The tape was firmly stuck to the child's arm hair.  Poor child... there was so much tape, so much hair, and so much pain  :(  We had to experiment together to see whether is was less painful to rip fast or rip slowly.  The answer seemed to depend on the amount of hair involved and the particular type of tape I happened to be pulling off.  Grr...

My time with my first patient was limited as the child was discharged pretty early in the day.  I wandered around the hallways helping my classmates out and visiting with little kids.  It was really fun.  

Baby Time

My favourite was helping one of my classmates out with a baby.  She had to run off to get some medication ready and I got to hold the baby while she was gone.  The baby was very fussy and upset, but some rocking, singing, and soothing later, the baby was snoozing in my arms.  It was so sweet  :)  Cuddles with babies are the best  :)

NICU

Soon, I was running out of things to do.  My teacher (the best teacher EVER) asked if I would like to spend the rest of my afternoon observing at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).  I could barely contain my excitement.  The NICU is where I would like to work one day!

Up I went to the NICU.  I had to surgical wash my hands (up to my elbows!)  I thought that was super cool, partly because I also enjoyed my experience observing in the operating room in semester 3.

NICU First Impression

My first impression of the NICU was that it was really hot and humid.  It's kind of like a tropical area because of all the moisture and heat that is needed to keep the babies in womb-like conditions.  Then I saw all the specialized incubator boxes that they keep the babies in.  They are all covered with a blanket so that it stays dark inside the incubators.

I got to peek into all the "boxes" and look at the tiny babies, the nurses told me about how the different babies got there and how they were kept alive, and I even got to see a surgery!  A doctor and a medical student inserted an umbilical vein catheter and they positioned me strategically so that I got an awesome view.  Oh, it was my lucky day!

I really enjoyed my time there.  The nurses were super nice.  I loved that they took me around as they fed the babies and cared for them so that I could watch what they were doing.  They would explain to me about what they were doing, why as they did it, and answered all my questions.  I was really impressed.

Lookin' Good

I have to say, compared to Mental Health, this Pediatric rotation seems more natural to me.  I really wanted to help the mental health patients, but I feel really comfortable on the Pediatric ward.  Part of what makes this rotation especially nice for me is that all the really sick children are transferred to Children's Hospital.  So the kids on my ward are usually pretty healthy.  That means that I actually get to see my hard work end in success when the kids feel better and go home.  There's something to be said about feeling good about your job.

I noticed that some of the nurses don't really love Pediatrics though.  Some of them are transferring out to other areas like Public Health.  They tried out Pediatrics and it wasn't really their thing.  That's not to say that they aren't super Pediatric nurses though.  They were kind of fantastic (so it's a shame they are leaving!).  I guess I'll find out eventually what area I love too.  So far, Peds is not so bad at all...

Have a great week!

P.S. - The pictures are from my stroll at the edge of the woods!  The mushrooms just popped up one morning and I had to take some pics to show you.  They are literally about 6 inches or bigger in size each!  Cool, huh?  

Crabs and Toadstools

On a particularly leisurely stroll the other day, a friend and I spotted a dog happily flipping rocks at the beach. Curious, we decided to flip a few rocks of our own. Do you know what we found?

Yes! Underneath the rocks were little crabs! We'd turn one over and poor, newly homeless crabs would scuttle away, frightened by the fearsome, laughing giants. Can you spot the little crabs hiding in this picture? There are at least five of them.
We scooped a few up to take a closer look. Eeeps! He looks so crabby! The key to picking up crabs is to push down on the top of their shell (to hold them in place) and pinch them (don't crush them!) between your fore finger and thumb from behind their body. Then they can't pincher you.

I learned this from my dad when I was little.

After displacing many unhappy crab inhabitants, we headed to the woodsy trails.
My friend pointed out something unfamiliar and orange at the edge of the trail. What could it be?
Gasp! A toadstool! I have never seen a real, live toadstool so I was flattered to finally find one. I took pictures, but was careful not to touch it. Real toadstools are poisonous. Did you know that? Don't eat them like Super Mario.

Have a happy day!

Cool Animation on Composting

I found a cool flash animation on composting on this site.
They also have a lot of good recommendations on how to make a good compost. I learned that you can reduce the stench of your compost by adding brown materials like leaves, straw, hay, and shredded newspaper so that your compost is less compacted and wet. I think I will add some shredded newspaper to my compost. My compost really reeks and mushrooms are starting to grow all throughout it. I'm not an expert on this, but be careful of the mushrooms that grow in your compost. They can be poisonous and inhaling the spores when you stir the compost can make you feel sick. Fungi is part of the decomposition process, but I think mine is growing mushrooms because it is too wet. There's a good article with pictures on how good compost should look like here.