All at Sea - with a bucket and spade!

This was a set of two chairs in the lounge of Leah’s doll’s house. I’ve been playing. The one on the left has been revamped for the bedroom. I’ll keep the other one in the lounge but not as it is. Haven’t decided what to do with the lounge! I’m hoping to get the refurb done in time for the Poole’s coming back from Australia in about a week. They went on boxing day. I’ve really missed them. I’m counting the days….

Some time ago I blogged this postcard. It was a real lifesaver for me at one time. I blogged a photo of it at an angle. Apparently it isn’t available anymore and no-one else has uploaded it. It often comes up as searched in my blog stats. So here’s a better (face on) version if anyone wants to print out their own copy

I like this

More from the Naked Pastor here.

Today is my last shift of the first of an eight week placement. It’s wierd because it’s gone pretty quick even though I haven’t enjoyed it.

It’s without question providing loads of learning opportunities. Some to do with people/relationships, some to do with nursing/health and some to do with me.

The first two shifts were fantastic. I tend to go in all guns blazing and keen to get involved. I’m not usually too nervous once I get there, even though I might stress for a couple of days beforehand

The third day was hideous. I hated it. And last night wasn’t that great. Today is day five and I’m on a late shift. Obviously, this is a public website, accessible to anyone who cares to type the relevant search terms into google or some other search engine. I only use google. Must check out some of the others one of these days. Anyway, because this is a public website I wouldn’t go into great detail about the reasons why Wednesday was so horrible. But suffice to say, some of it’s me and some of it isn’t.

I think I just do run out of steam by the third day of any new job and I guess placements are going to be similar. Partly I start to get tired physically (and on a dementia ward it’s tiring emotionally aswell) and partly I start to need a bit of reassurance and feedback. The trouble is if you’re fairly self-reliant on day one and day two, nobody realises you’re going to start needing feedback on the third. So my confidence dips. I’m also wondering whether coming in so dynamically and fairly confidently might not be the best approach for some various team members. All very interesting. I think the NMC would be happy with my reflective approach to survival in placement! If there’s one thing I’ve learned really quickly, it’s don’t be too eager. Just watch and observe. Offer to help if it’s something you can do but don’t take it personally if you’re told not to worry. And have a go if you are asked to do something.

It’s also interesting watching the dynamics on the ward. It’s not fun being the student thrown into the mix. But horrible as that is, it’s also a learning opportunity. I’m sort of watching and sussing out what’s going on. Some team members are liked and listened to much more than others. I’m watching what they’re doing and saying and how they go about things. And some people really are not popular. They’re working day is sooo much less fun. I’m kind of watching what’s going on there aswell.

As for the nursing stuff, I think there’s two main areas I’m getting to grips with. One is the nature of the relationship between the nurse and the patient and the other is ethics. I don’t think I’m up to wording the kind of things I’m thinking about. It’s sort of all to do with the fact that the person sitting in the chair not knowing what day of the week it is had a good job, raised a family, kept a home and stuff. And it’s all gone. And the basic right of informed consent and being informed generally and assessing the level and working it all out. I’ve decided not to blog any examples, not even vague ones. So nothing I say will make any sense whatsoever. I think it would be insensitive to families of people with dementia for me as a first year student to ramble on about what I think could be done better and so on. I just don’t really have enough experience to give any kind of balanced view. So I’ll get myself a note-book! It’s all going round in my head.

Well, it’s that time. Time for a bowl of cereal and a coffee then I’ll get ready. A coffee and on my bike!

Trying to cheer myself up after my third day on placement. Two days were great - well, mostly. Today wasn’t so hot but there you go. I’m sure I’ll have worse days.

I’m on an older age psychiatry ward specialising in dementia. The patients are all okay enough. Not saying it’s easy because it isn’t. Most people desperately want to leave and go home - some want to go home to people that aren’t even alive anymore. You’re constantly asked to open the doors. Most don’t remember that they aren’t allowed to leave so you have to constantly remind people they’re in hospital and can’t go home today. Then they become distressed or (although I haven’t been directly affected) agitated and aggressive. A couple of the patients don’t want to be left alone so stick by you like glue - one on each arm. One lady kept asking me if somebody was going to kill her. It’s hard because although you really care and want to make the person feel better, it gets draining having to keep saying the same thing over and over for three or four or maybe even six hours. It starts to feel robotic for you which feels horrible because for the other person, the conversation is new every time. And they’re frightened or upset. In the middle of all that everybody has to have blood pressure, pulse, respirations and SATS done every day. Some are diabetic so blood sugar needs to be checked aswell. And that’s without having to make sure nobody falls over and everyone’s toileting needs are dealt with and everyone eats and drinks enough.

And today, the staff were stressed. And when the staff are stressed, it’s not fun for the students! Probably the less said…

Anyway, I found this funny video on a facebook group this evening and it made me smile

Had a busy weekend. Pete and Lorraine came round on Friday. We had candles. Mainly because IKEA just opened up in Coventry. After a very nice chicken Jalfrezi, Emma made butterscotch angel delight. And the can of cream from new years eve came out. Pete Burnett, candles and aerosol cream is a bad combination!

I also filled in a few of my practice grids for placement. It’s all pretty complicated really but it’s starting to become clearer thanks to Lorraine  

3 cats and a rabbit is the name of Emma’s blog. I’m avoiding work. All I have to do is tidy up my last essay. It will take a couple of hours. Read it through. Tweak a few sentences. Shift a couple of paragraphs. Check my appendices and my references. It’s due in Thursday but Emma will take it in for me when she’s at the Uni on Monday which would really save me some stress later in the week.

Instead, I’ve cleaned the kitchen, tidied the lounge, uploaded photo’s to flickr, checked facbook and now blogged about each of my pets (below). It’s almost at the point where I really have nothing else I can use to avoid the inevitable

Moses, the first, the biggest, the best

Moses will be seven this year. Scary thought because I want him to live forever. We got him from McDonalds. Nowadays Sunday afternoons are filled with crafting, DIY, odd jobs, homework and occasionally friends and family. But then we were renting a little two up two down in a dodgy street with drug dealers for neighbours. The rooms were tiny and there weren’t many of them so you couldn’t really do anything creative without bringing every day life to a standstill. There was always music blaring from one house or another so it was nice to get out. There were two murders in the street during the two years we lived there. Anyway, enough of all that. We went to McDonalds this particular Sunday and met up with somebody I knew and some friends of hers. One of her friends was trying to find a home for a kitten she had. She was a bit of an animal lover and took in two kittens seperately and then found they were totally incompatible. She shared a house with some guys who enjoyed teasing him so it wasn’t really a happy little life he was living. Moses, who was then called Zorro, had taken to living behind the freezer and just coming out for food.

To cut a short story even shorter, we went and bought a few bits and collected him the next day. He was about two months old. He was so scared the first night, he had the most amazing diarrhoea all over my bedroom floor. It wasn’t pleasant. He’s still a timid soul but he stands up for himself. Mostly it’s only me and Emma than get to see him being lovely. He takes every opportunity to climb onto an available lap and stetch out for a long nap. Very very occasionally he’ll risk walking up to a frequent visitor - usually a Burnett or a Poole - and have his head fussed briefly. And he has been known to climb onto Jeanette’s and Lorraine’s lap. It’s funny because nobody dares move in case it scares him off.

Most of his visits to the vet have involved either his sensitive skin (general mankiness and a bad reactions to flea bites) or fights (wounds that go bad and turn into absesses and then pop and leave open wounds - yuk). And he tears Emma to shreds every time he has to be given flea treatment. You should see what he’s done to her arms!

This is Charlotte or Charlie or Charlie Girl. She’s the only pet we actually chose and paid for. She’s also the only one that has never been ill and required treatment from the vet. She’s had her jabs and been ‘done’ but no unscheduled care (Sorry - I’ve been reading up on the NHS plan and unscheduled care, scheduled care and chronic disease management).

Emma got sacked almost four years ago. Long story. Nasty nasty employers with a history of bullying people and sacking people who won’t be bullied. Thankfully she was in a union and negotiations resulted in a decision for Emma not having to work out her notice period. As she’d already applied somewhere else (her current post) and had an interview lined up, she had a month off with full pay. And a month off with pay means time to settle in a new kitten! So we scoured notice boards in local shops and went to see a newborn litter a few days later. Charlie was the one who tried to climb up inside the leg of Emma’s jeans. So we picked her.

Charlie was a very affectionate kitten and pretty laid back. but she’s grown quite independant as she’s got older. She’s often outdoors doing her own thing, whatever that is. Sometimes I feel guilty because I wonder if she’d be happier in a house without other cats. Moses and Peanut keep her in her place, particularly Moses. But when she cuddles up to me in bed and purrs like a train, I think she’s probably okay. Maybe girl cats are just less ‘needy’ than boy cats?