katie's life as an RT

May 14 and May 17

Time goes by so fast here and it seems we are always getting into something. Therefore, I have a little bit of catch-up to do on the old blog. Lindsey reminds me every day ;) I have 2 shifts at the hospital to catch you up on. I worked Friday (night shift) with Michelle. She is a really cool girl from Canada…not to mention a great nurse! We of course worked with Alex and Svetlana who always seem to work every night shift. Some how, (probably because I'm the youngest person here) a couple of the Ukrainian doctors have decided that they need to play matchmaker between Alex and I. Let me remind you Alex is an 18 year old nurse. He also wears a white lab coat unbuttoned half way with no under shift…sooooo basically my dream guy haha. I can't quite convince them that I'm too old for him so they make little comments (I don't speak Russian or Ukrainian but I'm capable of interpreting conversations in which both our names are mentioned multiple times haha). Today I got "You two can suction the patient TOGETHER" haha. Lindsey and Scottie eat it up! :) Anyways, it was a busy night at the beginning of the shift which gradually calmed down. I got to practice my extubation skills on 3 patients. Very cool to get in on all the action. I loved it and maybe got a little greedy trying to extubate everyone haha. One of the patients was a little girl around 4 that got a cath. Normally, she would not have come back to the ICU but she was still intubated (she was my first extubation :) ). She was the sweetest girl ever! She was very wild immediately after cath but once she was back to being herself she was very calm and sweet. She would politely wave me over when she wanted something. I gave her a coloring book and some stickers and she loved them. She had an uneventful night. The next patient was a 17 year old girl that had a fistula repaired. She apparently also had a cath at some point because she had the biggest hematoma I have ever seen! IT was from her groin to her knee! An ultrasound was done on it today to make sure everything looked ok. She was also very sweet. She didn't speak much english but she told me I was a "very good girl" before I left…heart warming :) Besides some emesis episodes her night was also steady. The little BT shunt pt. kept us a lot busier. She needed a few boluses along with tweaking of some meds. She didn't look good most of the night but she has been a trooper. During my day shift today she progressed nicely after we got some fluid off of her and looked the best I've seen her yet. I think she will do fine. Her mother is so cute. She sits by her side for hours watching her every move. She is very nervous. It is hard not being able to comfort your patients and families as thoroughly as normal…a thumbs up and a smile only do so much I'm sure. Another patient we had was named Elina, a PDA ligation with down's syndrome. She was the cutest thing ever! We got to extubate her as well! She did well all night and made the cutest facial expressions. She did get grumpy from time to time but when she got upset her mom would appear out of the woodwork and start breastfeeding. She calmed right down everytime haha :) The last patient Friday night was a 24 year old girl named Natasha. The surgeons did an Aortic Valve replacement on her. She was extubated soon after coming up from the OR and did well all night. She also spoke a little english and was super sweet.

Today, I worked day shift with Bonnie! Very awesome nurse from Dallas, TX. We had a steady flow of patients from the OR throughout the day so we stayed busy. We started off the day with the little BT shunt and the man that got a cabbage done so we were excited to get more patients. Today was also a great day to extubate! The first case was a pink Tet named Gobdyn (not sure that's right) who was supposed to receive a full repair. But, once in the OR he only needed his ASD closed. He also had some pulmonary Hypertension issues and hydrocephalus. He did well in the OR and because they were able to finish his case more quickly than expected they threw a third patient on the OR schedule. Post-op he was doing well when we left. The second case was a PDA ligation on a little girl name Niculina ( I think). She was also adorable of course. We extubated her as soon as she woke up. Shortly after extubation when she started to wake up more her mother brought in this training toliet and started to put her on it. The girl had a foley catheter and I couldn't believe she had to poop so of course being the expert translator that I am I asked the woman if she had to "fart noise" haha. She of course understood me bc like I said I'm an expert and she said she knew the girl had a catheter but she thought she had to poop. SHE SPOKE ENGLISH! haha. Scottie Day was cracking up and tried to tape me asking her with my sweet skills! The last patient of the day was a 4 month old little girl who they thought also needed a shunt. However, once they opened her up through a thoracotomy incision they discovered she had a very large PDA and decided not to place a shunt and to simply close her back up. (It might seem odd that the defects weren't exactly what was anticipated before the surgeons began but their echo machines are a lot older than ours and it is much more difficult to get a clear image.) She came back a little sick requiring some blood & fluid boluses and remained intubated when we finished our shift. It was very odd that she was so sick because she didn't have anything done. She started to warm up towards the end of our shift and I think she'll do better extubated. I think she'll bounce back. Lindsey and Caroline are on tonight so they will take great care of her. We have been blessed with some of the cutest patients and nicest parents. The people of Ukraine are very nice in general but the patients/families are extremely grateful. Natasha the 24 year old called the team "The doctor's with the golden hands." The local staff is also a blast to work with. I brought my cardiac defects manual and flip cards from the unit and they love them! We are definitely teaching them but they are teaching us a lot as well. Welp, I better get to bed…I have big plans of dunking myself in the spring with the locals in the morning! :)

-Katie