Wednesday, January 25, 2012

In which Nurse Jo performs an assessment:

Nobody died over the last four days: good.

TPA given to two people who needed it: good.

TPA given to one person who has a factitious/psychological disorder: well, no harm done.

Intubation of one patient: very, very good call.

Extubation of another patient: good. I'm glad her daughters got to be there.

Lotioning of a patient: Jeebus grits, why did this woman have to use Johnson's Baby Lotion? I hadn't smelled that smell in better than twenty years. It took me back to watching my grandmother get ready in the morning, in her alcove lined with mirrored closets, and her vanity mirror with Johnson's on the table.

I think I might have to go buy some Johnson's Baby Lotion just for the helluvit.

Self:

Oh, dear.

Noticeable right nasolabial flattening. Left neck musculature overcompensates for right on swallow. Left and right shoulder shrug equal. Right facial and neck dermatomes non-compensatory; total extinction of buccal and mandibular distributions. Compensation adequate.

Crooked smile: my new trademark.

15 comments:

  1. Being alive: Priceless.

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  2. the factious disorder patient that received TPA must have been pretty convincing!

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  3. Glad you are here to smile at all.

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  4. Anonymous8:24 AM

    So why did they give TPA to a person without obvious signs of CVA on MRI?

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  5. MRI would've delayed treatment until he was out of the time window.

    And Bobbie: No kidding! Nobody notices the asymmetry but me. I was just kind of hoping to be able to feel my right cheek by this time. I miss my right cheek. ;-)

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  6. A crooked smile. Usually assumed to be a "wry" expression. It just advertises your sense of humor. Nothing more.

    Just form following function is all.

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  7. Juicy Fruit gum. I am the strange lady in the grocery checkout line sniffing the Juicy Fruit and putting it back down. That was the only gum my granny ever chewed. I would never have survived my childhood wIthout my granny. I found you through Reader's Digest. I hesitated reading your blog when I realized you were bAttling cancer as I just lost my precious sister to that wicked crap. Glad I did. Glad you are kicking it in the ass. A crooked smile is beautiful!

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  8. I'm kind of new to reading your blogge, and haven't made it through all the archives. Do you have nerve damage in your face?

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  9. Comrade: Welcome! I had oral cancer; the surgery deadened a couple of nerves in my face.

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  10. jo:

    Now, with that wry grin, you really look like a smartie every time someone makes an inopportune comment.

    You go girl! Just tell 'em ya got that way fighting big C, and C LOST!

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  11. Crooked smiles are adorable, fetching, and sincere. And...you can smile. And you have Max. Yea YOU!!!

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  12. "There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
    He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
    He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
    And they all lived together in a little crooked house."

    ----(Traditional English Nursery Rhyme, first published 1842)


    My own slight, residual asymmetrical smile is on my left instead of my right, (i.e., usually noticeable only to me, too), from a 2004 migraine stroke............ which was N.U.T.H.I.N.' compared to what you've been through, though, Jo!!............ but which was initially very hard for me to "deal with," (all specific wretched circumstances, at the time, considered).

    Now, (particularly when I'm fatigued), I'll sometimes notice-the-droop in the mirror; however, I still have that little Stroke Notch I cut into my *Life Scars, Visible & Occult, Belt*; so whenever I see the droop, I'll just finger that slash mark on my (figurative) leather belt; and remind myself............ (which you know far better than I do, damn-good NICCU Nurse that you are, Jo!!)............ just how genuinely lucky I am............ to be *a.l.i.v.e.*

    ('Let us know, seriously, if you buy some some Johnson's Baby Lotion to "take yourself back"!!)

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  13. Laura9:46 PM

    All I could think with the Johnson's story was "It puts the lotion on its skin..."

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  14. What edition of Reader's Digest should I be lookin at?

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  15. Keep smiling, Jo. I've never seen you, but you are so smart and brave that I know how beautiful you are without having to see you! It shines right through your words.

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