justify the things you do

Today was so good.
Let's start with dinner! I made some lasagna spinach rolls up, inspired by this recipe, which I completely tweaked and made my own.

Mario Batali=hero! This sauce is great: all basic ingredients you can pronounce, short list, no preservatives or extra sugar. Just pure food.


My mixture included whole milk ricotta. Now, normally, I WOULD go ahead and use the part-skim variety, but then there are times when I just want something that is as close to the source as it can get. All of those fat free and low fat food items are much more handled and processed. That isn't to say I don't utilize them! Because I do! I actually buy fat-free organic milk and yogurt.

However, here is an interesting passage from Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food:

Page 153-154:

Very often food science's efforts to make traditional foods more nutritious make them much more complicated, but not necessarily any better for you. To make dairy products low fat, it's not enough to remove the fat. You then have to go to great lengths to preserve the body or creamy texture by working in all kinds of food additives. In the case of low-fat or skim milk, that usually means adding powdered milk. But powdered milk contains oxidized cholesterol, which scientists believe is much worse for your arteries than ordinary cholesterol, so food makers sometimes compensate by adding antioxidants, further complicating what had been a simple one-ingredient whole food. Also, removing the fat makes it that much harder for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins that are one of the reasons to drink milk in the first place.





But for this dish, I wanted something untouched, for the most part. It had ricotta cheese, a shredded cheese Italian blend, organic portabella mushrooms, and s/p. I used whole wheat lasagna, of course!




They were so cute! A before and after going in and out of the oven!




mmmm cheesy and bubbly..








On the side we enjoyed toasted Ezekial 7 grain bread. A bit on the expensive side, but worth it.



The rest are some random pictures we took before going out for dessert!











We knew exactly where to go for dessert!
Frida's Cafe and Bakery!






Stay tuned for an update in the AM about the jazz concert we attended!

it's all greek to me!

Not a whole lot to report on the ICU job front. I've basically been in awe by how sick people can get so quickly. Sepsis=scary! I'm also in awe by how quickly they can also turn around and get better all because of great care. I love it!

I don't work again until Wednesday, but I have two labs in a row on Monday and Tueday.
Monday is apparently a lecture on diabetes and Tuesday will be the actual lab portion with stations. The CCIP instructors said the diabetic lecture is something we will not soon forget, as it is taught by someone who is quite enthusiastic, getting the crowd involved, etc. We'll see...;)

Mirza and I went out last night to a greek restaurant (we also went last Friday too!) and it was great as usual. We started with an appetizer of hummus with pita. The pita was warm and toasty, but soft. Last week we both got huge dinner plates, but yesterday decided to go for sandwiches.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera to photograph the deliciousness, but I got the portabella mushroom sandwich, which consisted of: portabella mushrooms, onions, red peppers, tomatoes, and A LOT of taziki sauce stuffed into a gorgeous pita bread! I LOVE taziki sauce. I also got a side of Mediterranean pasta salad.
Mirza got the same thing, but substitute the mushrooms for lamb souvlaki and the pasta salad with french fries!:)
I'm glad that I went with a vegetarian entree. I didn't feel weighed down by the meal like I would have if I had chosen chicken or french fries:/
We also talked about how if and when we finally get a chance to travel, we probably wouldn't even care about seeing all the famous landmarks, we'd only be interested in eating. Because really, who cares about the coliseum when you have amaaaaazing food!?

Schedule for today includes working on my endocrine modules, 11:30 yoga, cleaning, food shopping, and hanging out with Mirza. He teaches guitar all day Saturday, so it gives me time to catch up on this kind of stuff!!

I leave you with the ferocious Max!

1:1

CCIP is moving along quickly! We've finished the cardiac modules and are now doing hemodynamics. Luckily, my nursing program was excellent about teaching this, so it isn't completely foreign to me. Also, since we did have Sim Man at school, we had a lot of opportunities to look at monitors and waveforms, etc. That being said, I've been in tele the past year and did not need to know any of this information, so there is still a learning curve. Everyday I learn more and more, yet it seems the more I learn, the more I realize there is even more stuff to know *slaps forehead*...

The past two days were a definite learning experience! Halfway through the day on Wednesday, our assignment changed from 2:1 to 1:1. The 1:1 was originally admitted to the hospital for an elective takedown colostomy, ventral hernia repair, and ileostomy insertion. He then went septic and was transfered to us and subsequently went into respiratory distress and was placed on the vent. I won't get into the details of his history too greatly, but he needs dialysis 4 times per week. He became a 1:1 assignment because we started CRRT (Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy) on him.

The last few days have been good because I'm getting "used to" titrating drips, which is not something nurses do on the floors. For example, he was on neosynephrine because of his hypotension. As the ICU nurse, we have to increase or decrease the drug to effect the patient's blood pressure and get the numbers we want to see. I love this part of ICU nursing because I feel much more autonomous! He was also on an amiodarone, propofol, and heparin gtt (drip).

As for the CRRT, it was difficult figuring out the numbers and such, but I THINK I got the hang of it...


(our machines look way more modern than this. We use NxStage)




In other "exciting" news...they started a Monthly nursing journal club at work. Each month we will get together and choose one nursing journal research article to discuss. We had the first meeting yesterday to discuss logistics of the meetings, and we went over an article from Critical Care Nurse regarding Rapid Response Teams. Here's the article:
http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/cgi/content/full/29/3/66

My ICU has had a RRT since 2004. I can't wait until I'm "competent" enough to be the one who carries the beeper and feel like a bad ass when I go up on the floor and help the nurses, haha!!


A long way to go...

Poor Taylor Swift!!! Kanye West sucks, for real.

Sunday dinner!

Man, so after all of my decorating (ha ha) today, I was feeling totally lazy. Mirza came over after the gym to see my apartment and he liked it. We almost ordered a pizza because I was, "waaaah, I don't want to go to the store!!" But I said, "No, we can't order pizza because then I will just feel dirty, disgusting, and guilty after..."

So, he left to go shower/practice and I headed to the store...

I decided to try THIS!!!


HOLY MOTHER, I am glad I did. I honestly didn't think the flavors would be so awesome, but everything just pops. Roasted veggies are...the bomb! yes, I said it, the bomb.

Roasted Vegetables on Creamy Polenta:

I used: 1/2 zucchini, 1/2 summer squash, 1/2 tomato, 1/4 red onion, 1/2 eggplant, 1 portobello mushroom cap, 1/2 red bell pepper...















And of course, I spruced mine up with some feta...because, you know, everything is betta' with feta!

Transforming my living room

So, for about the last year, I've lived in my lovely, but very blank and undecorated apartment. I never felt brave enough to buy any artwork for the walls, nothing ever felt right. Well, this weekend, I decided it was time for my apartment to stop feeling so cold. As I've heard Oprah say numerous times,"Your home should rise up and greet you." Cheesy, but I love Oprah.

This is the before picture taken last October when I moved in:


Everything has stayed that way pretty much for the entire year, except I had different pillows on the couch.

And this is what I did this weekend (I'm not done!):



New rug from Ross: $24.99!!





Pillows came as a set of two from Kohl's...were marked down from $39.99 to $17.99 TOTAL.
And the metal art was from Marshall's for $45 total!





Grand total for revamp: Less than $90...
I still need something on that far wall. I am thinking some sort of shelving and a mirror. We'll see...
Hey, I'm no interior designer, but it is definitely better than before.


Edit:
Ok, here are a few experiments:



I definitely like the flower one more...






hmmmmmmm

September 11th.

9/11



To choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities. So, how did we get here? Don't look for the answer in story books. Imperfect human knowledge may be a bumpy, pot-holed street, but it's the only road to wisdom worth taking.

CHEST COMPRESSIONSSSSSSSS

I did chest compressions today!! First time EVER!! So exciting and scary.LOVED IT!!

I love my job, I LOVE ICU!!

Results of oatmeal experiment!

So, what were the results of my oatmeal experiment?

Well...









I must say, it turned out pretty good. I did end up adding a pinch of salt and sugar to my single bowl, but overall, it was good. There wasn't a strong flavor, it was mild, but I wouldn't call it bland either. Either way, it rescued me for the morning until I was able to go shopping and buy oatmeal!! Also, I added a little bit of coconut oil to the mix.
And I enjoyed it with some delicious raisin cinnamon monk's toast
(it was the only raisin cinnamon bread I could find without HFCS or other weird things at Publix).

Experiment

So, I just realized that I am out of oatmeal for the morning. I eat oatmeal with peanut butter toast literally every morning for breakfast. Yeah. I'm boring, but it's like...I can't live without this combo.
The solution: overnight steel cut oatmeal in the mini-crock pot. Since I'm in dire need of grocery shopping...

as evidenced by this empty fridge...

"How embarrassing - a house full of condiments and no food"


...my ingredients are quite limited. I literally have no fruit. But guess what I DO HAVE??? Yes, that's right, Amazing Grass Chocolate Green SuperFood Drink Powder!!! In a single packet!!


I tossed it in the crockpot with my oats, water, some vanilla, and cinnamon and I will let you all know the results of my hopefully tasty and nutritious breakfast. That or I'll go hungry because it tastes like ass...

Clinical days 3 and 4!

Wed and Thursday were my two "clinical days."
The day begins at 4am when my alarm goes off! They start promptly at 5:30, which for some may be difficult, but I love it! I know that in a few months I will be doing nights until I can get on days, but getting home at 6:30 instead of 8 is magnificent!
Wednesday was honestly kind of boring. Our two patients were mostly stable and could have potentially been medical or tele patients. When I spoke to Mirza on the phone, I was like, "Yeah, today is kind of boring ...nothing really crazy going on with my patients." To which he then replied, "so basically, no one is dying, so it is boring." haha so sad, but true...

Pt #1: Pt transferred from the floor to have aquapheresis
Pt #2: Pt who sat in bed for 2 weeks and as a result, had funky electrolytes and other issues.

Aquapheresis is new to this unit, but it is really neat. Here is the website: http://www.chfsolutions.com/


I took the course and got a little certificate. But basically, it is SORT OF like dialysis, but you can use a peripheral or central site. It takes blood out of the body and before returning it back, removes a set amount of excess fluid into the drainage container. The patient gets to keep their other electrolytes, plasma, albumin, etc. The system is geared towards CHF-ers mostly. Love it!!

Besides that, the day was slow. However, it was nice because the nurse I was working with went through all the books on the unit and talked about scheduling, vacations, floating, etc. This was helpful because sometimes this stuff never gets explained well during orientation. It is kind of like "drive-by" teaching and then you forget, but she literally sat down and went over the essentials.
Get this: I never have to float to med-surg or tele!! They only float between the units!! AAH LOVE.

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I'm going out to lunch with a friend from nursing school today and enjoying my 4 days off. I switched my schedule from Mon and Tues to Tues and Wed, so I could have more time off to be with Mirza and study.