Yellowstone

I was able to finally get more than two days off in a row.
I actually managed to get four off! So Annalie and I went on an adventure to Yellowstone.
I admit I was most excited to just drive my car and find out how the gas mileage did on just highway. (32 mpgs.) in Yellowstone, just going 45 and using cruise control I got 39 mpg! Rock on!
Anyway....
I picked Annalie up from her house after she had worked the night shift for 12 hours. I was so proud. She lasted until about 2pm and even then only slept for an hour and was recharged for the day. The drive was great. It seriously felt like it was just a nice afternoon drive and we made it up there by 3. We started exploring Yellowstone right off and went to a few geyser spots and then saw old faithful.
The best part of old faithful was the visitor's center. We went around and we bored until we found the kid's section. We learned a lot from this little diseased looking girl. The next best part was watching all the people wait for old faithful to erupt. Chinese people taking pictures, people asking dumb questions. And this one guy with a disposable camera that kept taking the crappiest pictures of the geyser. Entertainment at its finest!

That first night we went back to West Yellowstone and ate at a restaurant where we both ordered Bison to eat. We were so sick of the bison crossing the road and causing too many tourists to be idiots, we thought it would be great to eat one to show them who was boss. Delish!
We slept in a hotel that night. I slept great, Annalie was up at 2 and never fell back asleep.
We paced up in the morning and headed up to mammoth to reserve a campsite for the night. Lots of bison crossings later we made it and found a nice spot and put up our tent. We then decided to go on some hikes. One hike we went on had some crazy warning signs about bears that kind of freaked us out. We hiked in a little bit then got too freaked out and turned around. Haha.
We then drove around to the geysers again, ate lunch at a pretty riverside place, and continued on the "loop." Annalie fell asleep almost instantly every time we were in the car. Haha. But I woke her up when we got to cool places. Like West thumb, where we saw a bear! And Yellowstone lake. And then stopped at the mud volcano and did that little hike. Tired and worn out, we drove back to our campsite and made dinner.
We went to sleep fearing bears. I brought this book called "death in Yellowstone" about how people have died there. The chapter on bear attacks was terrifying. I thought it would be fun to read in the tent for scary stories but no! I was too scared. I didnt sleep much that night.
We ate, packed up, and started on our way up to Tower. I think this part was my favorite part of Yellowstone. Gorgeous. And hardly any people. We saw this beautiful waterfall. I kept asking Annalie what she would do if I fell of of the cliff. Basically she would leave me to die.
We did a couple more hikes. One to the "lost lake" that was so quiet and pretty. Again, scared of bears we returned right afterwards. And one to a waterfall. Then we went back on our way to see the grand canyon of Yellowstone. That was pretty and wow, I didn't pretend to fall off that cliff. Crazy.


We drove down to the Teton National park. We decided to camp there for the night. I'm so glad we did. It was breath taking. So gorgeous. And I was so happy to get out of the car and stop driving for the day. We set up camp and went down to the lake side and had some good talks about how amazing nature is and God is to create it all and how we are so glad to understand that and our place in the world. Deep conversations.
We ate a ton of food and then cleaned up in a hurry before it started pouring rain. That made me less scared of bears, luckily enough. We spent the evening in our tent, texting Cyann and reading about more deaths by lightning and falling off of cliffs. Annalie made a bracelet. And we fell asleep.
The next day we explored the Teton park a little bit more and stopped in Jackson Hole for lunch before setting out for our drive in the middle of nowhere Wyoming back home. It was a boring drive. But Annalie got some good sleep in and I jammed out to my iPod tunes.
We made it home. I was so tired.
It was a great trip. I miss it up there already. It was just a great trip to remember all the beauty in the world and that there is a world outside of work.
Can't wait to go back again!

Happy Nurse's Week

Got a call from a doctor. He starts chewing me out because his patient wasnt at his appointment this morning. I said I'm sorry but I don't arrange transport or handle the appointments. He goes off about how this appointment was important and not only that, but that he wrote it and it was a direct order from a doctor. I find myself apologizing to him again when in all reality he should apologize to me and to our transport lady who he reduced to tears. What a jerk.

Mrs. Pill popper has fallen again. 5th time in 3 weeks. She won't call for help when she gets up because it's embarrassing. I have to go console her while she's crying on the floor and make sure she's okay but also get mad at her for not being safe.

Mr. Creepy smells. But won't take a shower. We've talked to him multiple times and he just won't budge. We give up. So later when I come into his room to give him something, he yells at me for my staff treating him terribly and lets out a string of swear words to get his point across. I just have to stand there and take it.

Ms. Hypochondriac wants me to call the doctor RIGHT now for some new problem. But I know the doctor hates her and won't see her. Instead, she calls his office and yells at a nurse. 5 minutes later I get a phone call from said doctor demanding to know why she's so mad and why she called his office. Joy.

Miss Princess calls me into her room. I ask what I can help her with and she begins to tell me how inconsiderate I am for forgetting to put her sock on after I changed her bandages on her leg. I apologize but she rips me a new one for forgetting and being so terrible to her.

Ms. Talker tells me she wants pain pills right in the middle of a million other things I have to do. An hour later my CNA tells me that she is threatening to call 911 because she hasn't gotten them yet. So I drop everything to please her and have to put up with her telling me how I'm not doing my job right.

Mrs. Confused is confused again and doesn't know where she is or where her husband is. I have to break the news to her that her husband died several years ago and she just can't remember it.

I get a phone call from the hospital. "Hey, this is so and so RN from the hospital here to give you report on Ms. New lady." I put her on hold for a second and ask my manager, "am I getting an admit?" "oh yeah. No one told you??" Nope. Last to know.

Miss Tiny lady's blood pressure is super low. I run in to check on her. She's just fine. As I'm leaving the room she says, "thanks for checking on me. It means a lot." she grabs my hand and says, "Can I have a hug? I'm so lonely." I give her a hug and talk with her for five minutes. She tells me how much that helped her.

Mr Cancer returns from his check up appointment. He feels like crap from all the chemo and radiation he had to go through the past three months. I walk into his room so see how he is doing and instead he reaches out to hug me. He cries on my shoulder and then says, "They got it. My cancer is all gone! I get to go home in two weeks!" This time I give him a hug. We cry together for a few great moments.

Some days I wonder why it's even worth it. Without fail something amazing happens that reaffirms why I would ever put up with all this stress.

Happy nurse's week to all my fellow nurses. We amaze me.