Monday, June 15, 2009

Stringish things!

Good morning! Please lookee, lookee at what I received in the mail! I was lucky enough to win Marcie Patch's giveaway...please see her blog button on the right side of my blog. She is an incredibly talented quilt designer and maker, and I won two of her patterns! I have been eyeing these patterns for a while now...and was so lucky to win them. Her patterns are very concisely, well written and fun to follow. She also sent a very nice note and a neat box of quilt note cards. Thank you Marcie!!
Remember the string quilt of my last post? I have been hand quilting it...some of the strings were pretty large, so I jut kind of meandered through the widest strings. Fun!

Strings? Threads? Of course, if you see them here, it must be your imagination. :)



Another string pieced quilt I just started...I love this!! Pretty turquoise in the middle. We shall see how it turns out.
Below is my nursing weekend...pretty intense! Skip right over if you want, but if you are interested, it is pretty fascinating.
*****************************Nursing************************************
I worked the last 3 days, 14 hours days. I was in charge, which means I am in charge of critical care, 25 employees, 20 patients. And was doing staffing for the whole hospital, deciding where to best utilize staff to maintain and care for each pt. And I had my own patients too. Of course, we were short staffed. Whewww!!! and then.....
__________________________________________________________________
The ER called. "You need to take a full cardiac arrest patient and place him on hypothermia protocol."
Egads!! I have been reading about this and knew we would start this, and the huge medical centers have been doing this for some time...but we just received our cooling hypothermia machine and protocol on FRIDAY! and this was Saturday, and of course I had no idea how to do this. But the patient needed it....I would give it my all.
___________________________________________________________________
So up came the 78 year old patient. He was eating breakfast at home, and just did not feel well, called 911, and the paramedics got there just in time to see him do a nose dive...full arrest, code blue. Shock, shock, shock, epinephrine, intubated (breathing tube placed), scoop and run for the hospital. 1 hour later, he was with me.
Sooooo, we placed huge IV's (central and arterial lines), and ran the equivalent of ice water through him. When he was about 92 degrees F, we placed the cooling machine on him, and kept him cool all weekend. This is in theory supposed to stop the cellular damage of the organs, most importantly the brain. So, temperature measured constantly, blood pressure measured constantly, whoops, low BP, started on levophed, vasopression, epinephrine drips. Too acidotic, started bicarb drip. Sugar too high, started insulin drip. Pt now waking up, had to sedate on diprivan drip. Pt shivering, had to paralyze with a nimbex drip. OH, NO!! V-tach!! Shock, Shock!! Amiodorone drip. Whoops, no urine output, start continuous dialysis. Turn, oral care, turn, careful of his flesh, remember he is super cold and circulation is poor. Foot pumps/ted hose on. I can't tell you how labor intensive this was....just incredible!! And remember, none of the nurse's had been trained on this at all. Hurry up, read and figure it out. HURRY!!
__________________________________________________________
Today, he is warming up slowly. He is waking up. So we shall see if we saved his brain and other organs. I found out later...he is a hugely important person in the country, a bishop of a church. Not that it makes a bit of difference to me! Every person gets the same treatment, you know?
Thanks for listening...you nurses out there can relate for sure!
________________________________________________________________
Gratitude's:
Technology, to give patients a chance to live who otherwise would have surely succumbed.
Day OFF!
Telephone, so I can check up on this patient.
JulieK


21 comments:

Stina Blomgren said...

Congratulations... what alovely win.. Marcies patterns are so lovely!!! :o)))

Sue H said...

God bless all our wonderful nurses!!! Love your quilts, and esp4ecially love the strings with the turquoise. That's going to be very fun to see!

Karen said...

What a time you had with your job! You have to love your job to be able to do it. My daughter is a registered nurse in a nursing home. I don't know how she does it.
The turquoise is going to be very good in your new string quilt.
And lucky you on the win from Marcie. She does great patterns.

Amelia said...

Like I have said before - I want you as my nurse should the occation arise. Julie, you are remarkable.

Love the turquoise string quilt...that color just pops when used with the other colors.

Have a great week - rest abit.

Mary-Kay C. said...

Good work. If I get sick, you can take care of me.

Loris said...

Congrats for the patterns and strong work for the supervising and critical care work. Makes for a very full life! Hope your pt does well. He had great care!

Ali Honey said...

The turquoise string is going to be beautiful.

I'm not a medical person but think your team did an amzing job. Nurses save more lives than docters probably but never get the creadit due. Well done!

*karendianne. said...

What great hand quilting you're doing there. Love it and you know, I happen to think Marcie Rocks!

Julie, what a fascinating read on this new protocol. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of work this took. I'd be interested to hear more about this though if you care to share.

Bless you for your glowing spirit.

Stephanie D said...

Holy Cow! What a weekend!
This is why I now work in a small hospital. Used to work in a really crazy critical cardiac care, but I just can't do that anymore.

I really like that new string quilt you've started!

PamKittyMorning said...

I hope you keep us up to date, I'm so curious how that all worked out.

Libby said...

Wow - that's quite learning curve. I'm sure the man and his family are grateful for all you've done.

Love the prize - Marcie's patterns are great *s*

Unknown said...

I am with Pam, keep us up to date. I hope he recovers and does well. Sounds like you did a great job and were really on top of it!

meggie said...

Never really a dull moment when you are a nurse!
Love your quilts & projects.

Quilter Kathy said...

The hand quilting photos make me feel very happy! And your work day description makes me feel exhausted! You are amazing!

Nicole said...

Wow, your story gave me major goose bumps! How far we have come!

Teresa said...

You know, I think I will just stick to working with numbers and computers that I can just turn off and walk away from. I have the utmost admiration for nurses!

I just love the quilting you are doing on your string quilt. Kind of a folksy affect. And that turquoise one you have started is going to be striking.

Unknown said...

Wow Julie, I just read about your weekend of work. Having spent a lot of time at the hospital lately it was fascinating. You nurses are the best.
Then was surprised to see you hand quilting the strings. Looks great.

Anonymous said...

Hello Julie, congrats on your lovely win from Marcie.....gorgeous patterns.....how do you do it Julie......one incredibly remarkable nurse.......hugs lyn

Finn said...

Hello Julie Q, what a busy week you have had! The quilting looks wonderful on your string quilt, look just like I would have done with utility quilting...great choices!! COngrats on the win! Now you need some time to make those patterns *VBS*
Your hospital recalled experience was awesome...and how wonderful that these new things accomplish what used to be impossible. You did great!!! Big, big hugs, Finnie

QuiltChick said...

I just found your blog, and signed up to follow. I too am a quilter and an RN, but I do psych nursing. Not so much life and death but a different type of drama! I am enjoying reading your past posts. Thanks!

Marilyn Robertson said...

I love the way you are hand quilting your string quilt. That will be a beauty when it is finished!

Puffins and purples!!

I was tempted by Puffins...a squirrelly breed!!  LOL!  This fabric was shared with me, and I have been loved these bright, candy corn colors...